George Meade (1815–1872) was a career military officer from Pennsylvania who is best known for his role as a Union general during the Civil War.  He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1835 and briefly served in the Army during the Second Seminole War. He began working as a civil engineer for railroad companies and the Department of War until reenlisting in the army in 1842.  Meade fought in the Mexican–American War and was promoted to first lieutenant for his heroic actions at the Battle of Monterrey.  From the 1850s until the onset of the Civil War in 1861, Meade was involved in coastal surveying and designing lighthouses, mainly for the Corps of Topographical Engineers. He was promoted to brigadier general at the beginning of war, but was badly wounded at the Battle of Glendale in 1862.  He recovered and led forces during major battles, including Antietam and Fredericksburg. In June 1863, Meade replaced General Joseph Hooker as commanding officer of the Army of the Potomac, and fought his greatest battle only days later at Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the war. He succeeding in defeating General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate forces, but was criticized by President Abraham Lincoln for allowing Confederate forces to retreat to Virginia. Meade continued to serve as the Army of the Potomac's commanding officer until the end of the war, though Ulysses S. Grant was appointed general-in-chief of all Union armies, superseding Meade's authority.
Unlike many Civil War generals, there were no calls for a memorial to Meade after his death in 1872 because he was not popular with Lincoln, Grant, or his fellow officers, though he was considered a hero in his native Pennsylvania.  In the 1910s, members of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and Society of the Army of the Potomac fraternal organizations lobbied the Pennsylvania General Assembly to fund a statue of Meade.  The state assembly commissioned the sculpture on October 18, 1913, and appropriated $200,000 for its construction.  Members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation lobbied Congress to approve the sculpture and an act of Congress authorized its erection on January 21, 1915.  Congress mandated that the sculpture design and site of the memorial be approved by the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA).  Because the memorial was a gift from the state of Pennsylvania, a Meade Memorial Commission was appointed by the state governor.  The commission, led by John W. Frazier, a veteran who fought with Meade at Gettysburg, was composed of architects, artists, and planners who agreed on very little.  Frazier was considered abusive and tactless, sending rude letters to the CFA and demanding certain requirements for the memorial.  This created an impasse which lasted until Frazier's death in 1918.  Following his death, the memorial commission finally chose a sculptor, a Pennsylvania native named Charles Grafly (1862–1929).
Grafly was a founder of the National Sculpture Society and longtime educator at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts who was best known for his portrait busts.  Although Grafly was at the peak of his career, the CGA was hesitant in approving him to design the sculpture because his symbolic works had been criticized for being incomprehensible.  The CFA finally agreed to consider Grafly and following several months of negotiations and changes, a preliminary sculpture design was approved in August 1918.  Grafly received $85,000 for his commission.  Several years of bickering about the final design and location of the memorial passed until March 28, 1922, when an official groundbreaking ceremony took place.  The chosen site was near 3rd Street NW in Union Square, a public park on Capitol Hill, and close to the large Ulysses S. Grant Memorial.  Before the memorial was installed, the last of the old Botanic Garden greenhouses were demolished and the Bartholdi Fountain was moved to make way.  The architects chosen to design the memorial were Grant Simon and Edward P. Simon of Philadelphia.  Piccirilli Brothers carved the memorial and the project contractor was the George A. Fuller Company.  The total cost of the memorial and its installation was $400,000.


The memorial was formally dedicated on October 19, 1927, becoming one of the last Civil War monuments erected in Washington, D.C.  By the time of the dedication, many of the GAR and Society of the Army of the Potomac members who championed the memorial had died and only a few Civil War veterans were able to attend the ceremony.  Prominent attendees at the ceremony included President Calvin Coolidge, his wife, Grace, Pennsylvania Governor John Stuchell Fisher, Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur, Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon, Secretary of Labor James J. Davis, and Senator Simeon D. Fess, the acting chairman of the memorial commission.  White, temporary pavilions adorned with greenery, national shields, and the coat of arms of Pennsylvania were built around the memorial for invited guests and members of the public.  The speaker's stand was decorated with palms, ferns, and autumn-colored flowers.  On either side of the memorial was the national flag; the left flag from the Civil War era had 35 stars and the right flag was the current 48-starred flag.
Northminster Presbyterian Church minister Hugh K. Fulton gave the invocation and Reverend J. H. Pershing led the dedicatory prayer.  A speech detailing Meade's life and career was given by Fisher which was followed by the unveiling of the memorial by Meade's daughter, Henrietta, who was escorted by Ulysses S. Grant III.  As the memorial was unveiled, a flock of pigeons, symbolizing peace, was released from an altar bearing the Army of the Potomac's emblem.  The Army Band played "The Star-Spangled Banner" as Army cannons were fired.  Fisher presented the memorial on behalf of the state of Pennsylvania to Coolidge on behalf of the American people.  Coolidge's remarks including the following: "On behalf of the Government of the Nation which he helped to save, I accept this memorial erected by the Commonwealth which has his own home and the home of his ancestors.  The conflict in which he took such an important part has long since passed away.  The peace which he loved has come.  The reconciliation which he sought is complete.  The loyalty to the flag which he followed is universal.  Through all of this shines his own immortal flame."  An elderly veteran who fought at Gettysburg collapsed as he was giving a speech recounting his experience during the battle.  Blanton Winship, at the time the president's chief military aid, and James F. Coupal, the president's physician, came to his aid.  He was able to finish his speech and the crowds cheered him.  The ceremony concluded with the band playing "Taps".


In 1969, the memorial was dismantled and placed in a storage facility at 42nd Street and Hunt Place NE when the Capitol Reflecting Pool was built atop Interstate 395's Third Street Tunnel.  It remained in storage for several years and members of the public began inquiring why the memorial had not been replaced.  Pennsylvania Representative William F. Goodling contacted the memorial coordinator for the National Capital Region of the National Park Service (NPS) while members of the Gettysburg Civil War Round Table (GCWRT) contacted Jeff Wolf to repair the sculpture, which had cracked in several places.  The GCWRT also contacted Maryland Representative Marjorie Holt who had requested the memorial be placed in her congressional district at Fort George G. Meade.  The memorial was repaired and in 1983 placed in a new plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue NW.  A formal rededication took place on October 3, 1984.
The memorial is one of eighteen Civil War monuments in Washington, D.C., which were collectively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 20, 1978, and the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites on March 3, 1979.  The memorial and surrounding park are owned and maintained by the NPS, a federal agency of the Interior Department.
Sculptor Henry Kirke Bush-Brown was chosen to design an earlier monument to Meade that stands on the Gettysburg Battlefield, located close to the point where Pickett's Charge was repulsed.  It was dedicated in 1896 and is a contributing property to the Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District.  The equestrian monument, the first of its kind erected on the battlefield, is one of hundreds of monuments and markers located throughout the historic district.


The memorial is located on the 300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the Judiciary Square neighborhood of Washington, D.C.  It stands in front of the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse and across the street from the National Gallery of Art's East Building.  The memorial is sited in the center of a public plaza and small park.
The cylindrical marble and granite sculpture is 10.6 ft (3.2 m) tall and 9 ft (2.7 m) wide.  Meade is depicted in his military uniform and standing at the front of the sculpture.  A male, winged figure representing War is on the rear side of the sculpture and is flanked by two memorial tablets.  Six allegorical figures representing qualities the artist believed necessary in a great military leader are on the sides of the sculpture: Chivalry, Energy, Fame, Loyalty, Military Courage, and Progress.  The male figure of Loyalty, on the proper right, and female figure of Chivalry, on the proper left, are removing Meade's military cloak, representing the "cloak of battle" that Meade leaves behind.  The figure representing Loyalty holds a wreath and garlands behind Meade representing his accomplishments.  The female figure representing Fame is behind Loyalty and is supported by the male figure of Energy.  Behind Chivalry is the male figure of Progress and male figure of Military Courage.  The latter is locking arms with War.  A gold finial of the state seal of Pennsylvania is at the top of the memorial.  The Milford pink granite base is 7.4 ft (2.3 m) tall with a diameter of 20.10 ft (6.13 m).
Inscriptions on the memorial include the following:
CHARLES GRAFLY. SC. / MCMXX–MCMXXV (on the sculpture)
MEADE (lower front of base)
EDWARD P. SIMON / GRANT M. SIMON / ARCHITECTS / EXECUTED BY PICCIRILLI BROS (rear of base)
THE COMMONWEALTH / OF PENNSYLVANIA / TO MAJOR GENERAL / GEORGE GORDON MEADE / WHO COMMANDED / THE UNION FORCES / AT GETTYSBURG (brass letters set into granite platform)


WikiWeb_George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge_0

The George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge (known locally as simply the Coleman Bridge) is a double swing bridge that spans the York River between Yorktown and Gloucester Point, in the United States state of Virginia. It connects the Peninsula and Middle Peninsula regions of Tidewater, Virginia. The bridge is the only public crossing of the York River, though State Route 33 crosses both of its tributaries (the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Rivers) at just above its source at West Point.


WikiWeb_George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge_1

Originally built in 1952, it was reconstructed and widened in 1995 through an unusual process which greatly reduced the time the important commuter artery was out-of-service from conventional methods. The current 3,750-foot (1,140 m)-long double-swing-span bridge carries United States Route 17, a four-lane arterial highway. The movable span is needed to allow ship access to several military installations that are upstream of the bridge, most notably, the United States Navy's Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. The roadways are almost 90 feet (27 m) above the river at the highest point of the bridge.  The bridge is the largest double-swing-span bridge in the United States, and second largest in the world.
The toll bridge was named for George P. Coleman, who from 1913 to 1922 was the head of the Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation, predecessor to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). The bridge has been one of the sites of a special program to establish and encourage nesting locations for the peregrine falcon population of Virginia.


WikiWeb_George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge_2

The George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge is a toll facility. Tolls are only collected northbound, and are used to pay for the expansion of the bridge to four lanes. Toll Collection Rates are as follows:
Bicycles 0¢
EZ-Pass (transponder required) 85¢
Motorcycles 85¢
Two-axle vehicles $2
Three-axle vehicles $3
Four- or more-axle vehicles $4
Bicycles taking advantage of the free crossing must use the established bicycle lane located to the right of the far right travel lane.


The Georgetown Waterfront Park is a national park completed in Washington, DC in the fall of 2011.  Part of the Georgetown Historic District, the park stretches along the banks of the Potomac River from 31st Street, NW to the Key Bridge. The result of many years of advocacy and fundraising, the site features several notable design elements. Now complete, the park links 225 miles (362 km) of parkland along the Potomac River stretching from Cumberland, Maryland to Mount Vernon, Virginia. The park was designed to passively complement the natural curve of the river.


The park has been in various stages of planning and development for several decades.  In 1968, the National Capital Planning Commission identified the Georgetown Waterfront as future parkland.  An agreement was reached between the National Park Service and the mayor of the District of Columbia to transfer 10 acres (40,000 m²) of land for the proposed park.
In recent years, the Georgetown waterfront has been redeveloped from industrial blight to a thriving commercial and residential destination.  Parts of the park site had served as a parking lot before construction began. The Washington Harbour complex and a movie theater on the Georgetown Incinerator site regularly draw crowds down to the waterfront.


The park features gently sloping grass hills and shade trees. The landscape blends with mixed-use paved pathways. The promenade provides panoramic views of Theodore Roosevelt Island, the Key Bridge, and the Kennedy Center.  Several distinctive design elements include an interactive fountain, river stairs, and scenic overlooks.  This part of the park, known as the Wisconsin Avenue Plaza, serves as a gateway to the Potomac River.


The community, dedicated to Saint Joseph, was founded in 1899 on the land of the Hof Wermelt, a farm given for the purpose by the Wermelt family, to the monks of Beuron Archabbey. It was formally declared an abbey in 1904. The first abbot was ordained in 1906, Raphael Molitor OSB.
In 1941 the community was expelled from Westphalia by order of the National Socialists, but the monks were able to return in 1946. In 1951 the community was able to establish a further monastery: Nütschau Priory (Kloster Nütschau) near Bad Oldesloe.
There is a graveyard in the abbey grounds, where among others there are buried Russian prisoners of war and deceased patients from the military hospital which occupied the premises in World War II.
The abbey is part of the Beuronese Congregation. As of 2020, the community numbers 37 monks.


Several of the monks are active in scholarly work; others work in pastoral care and the care of guests. There are two retreat-houses close to the abbey.
The Haus Ludgerirast offers room for up to 47 people taking part in different courses, seminars or retreats, of which there is a wide choice. Many people also spend their holidays near the abbey.
In the Haus St. Benedikt education centre (Jugendbildungsstätte) there is room for about 80 young people from all kinds of schools, for students or for family-groups with children (there is a playground nearby). There are also rooms for groups attending one-day events (lectures, retreats, meditation groups and so on).
The abbey itself can house about 10 (male) guests making retreats or wishing to take part in the community life of work and prayer.


Raphael Molitor from 1906 to 1948
Pius Buddenborg from 1948 to 1976
Clemens Schmeing from 1976 to 1999
Pius Engelbert from 1999 to 2006
Laurentius Schlieker since 2006 (elected as prior for three years, as abbot since 2009)


Getreidegasse runs parallel to, but one block back from, the Salzach river and today is part of a large pedestrian zone in the Old Town quarter. First mentioned as Trabegasse (derived from traben 'to trot') about 1150, when it led from the historic Salzburg trade centre to the northwestern suburb of Mülln, its name was changed several times before it became the Getreidegasse. The citizens received staple rights by the prince-archbishops in the 14th century, whereafter several large trading houses began to display their goods along the road. Subsequently, Getreidegasse became a favoured residential area for Salzburg patricians and public officials. Many buildings contain picturesque passageways and courtyards.
A large number of the historic residential houses have been turned into commercial premises in recent decades. While Getreidegasse is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions, several attempts have been made by the Salzburg city administration to retain the street's authentic character.
Every day, one can see the famous "puppet woman" (Marionettenfrau) with her brown basket on this street who has been selling puppets there since 1987.


The park is located at 67 River Road in East Haddam and consists of the castle (located in Lyme) and its grounds. It receives 350,000 annual visitors.  It reopened in 2002 after a four-year, $11 million restoration. It now includes a visitors' center and museum, hiking trails, and a picnic area.


William Gillette's "castle", called Seventh Sister and renamed "Gillette Castle" by Connecticut State in 1943, was built between 1914 and 1919 with an addition completed in 1924 on a 184-acre (74 ha) tract at the top of the southernmost of a chain of hills known as the Seven Sisters. Gillette died having no children, and his will precluded the possession of his home by any "blithering sap-head who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded". The State of Connecticut took over the property in 1943, renaming it Gillette Castle State Park. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Gillette originally planned to build his retirement home on Long Island until he discovered the cliffs of the Seven Sisters while traversing the Connecticut River in his houseboat, "Aunt Polly".
Gillette designed the home and personally overlooked every phase of the construction. Construction was performed by the Porteus-Walker Company, a leading contracting and wood-working firm based in Hartford, Connecticut founded by Gillette's childhood friend, Robert Porteus. It has been described as being designed in a medieval gothic, or an "American fairy tale mixed with European flair" style, or as "a weird blending of Victorian and Arts and Crafts". In the past, it had even been described as "Gillette's Folly".
The 3-story-plus-tower, 24-room, 14,000 sq ft home was built of wood, cement, and local Connecticut field stone, supported by a steel framework.  The exterior of the home is covered in field stone. Woodwork within the home is hand-hewn southern white oak. In some places, beams were set directly into the stones, anchored only by cement. The walls, in particular, were constructed similarly to a stage set, lacking two-by-four studs and mortar in critical places. It has been noted it was "a wonder the building didn't collapse" before the castle's multimillion-dollar restoration. Insulation included seaweed and paper. It took 20 workers from 1914 to 1919 (5 years) to complete the construction totaling a cost of over $1 million at the time. In the years Gillette lived in the home, he led and supervised thousands of refinements by local craftsmen.
The style of the home's interior reflects craftsman aesthetic popularized by Gustave Stickley. A number of oddities exist inside the home that were personally designed by Gillette and said to be examples of his "creative genius". These include:
47 unique doors and door locks throughout the castle. Each door is equipped with an external Steampunk-like latch intricately carved of wood. Trick locks made unlocking these doors a puzzle.
Unique furnishings including built-in couches and a movable table on tracks.
Light switches of carved wood.
A grand upper-floor balcony running the length of the downstairs main room. The walls on the second floor are notably short. This architectural feature is theorized to have been used to enhance Gillette's stature, making him appear taller to guests looking up at him from below.
A hand-carved bar, which opened with a secret latch.
A series of mirrors above the great hall allowing him to view visitors from his bedroom. This design is thought to have helped Gillette spy on guests and make dramatic entrances.
A fire suppression system complete with a water tower, integrated into the home's design, that feed a unique manual fire sprinkler on the second floor overlooking the living room.
Secret doors, passageway, and room. A secret door near the staircase leading to the rest of the home allowed Gillette to swiftly, unexpectedly, and theatrically appear to welcome or startle his guests. The secret room is only accessible by a staircase revealed after pulling down a handle. The room is small, and contains a fireplace.
A grand wooden staircase to the upper floors.
The home was notably decorated with a number of Tiffany lamps made of broken bottle fragments. It also had a heated bed. At one time, Gillette shared his home with up to 17 cats. For them, he designed finely crafted cat toys.
Gillette was particularly fond of his 3-mile-long narrow gauge railroad with an elaborate system of switches, trestles, bridges, turnouts, and a tunnel. Visitors, which reportedly included Albert Einstein, Helen Hayes, and Charlie Chaplin, could ride the railroad around the estate and speed along the 100-foot-plus cliffs of the Connecticut River. The railroad was complete with steam engine and an electric engine, and were later purchased by Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut. The remaining tracks were pulled up and the roadbed converted into walking trails. The engines were donated to the park in 1992, and are now on display at the Visitors' Center on the grounds. Gillette's "Grand Central Station" train stop still remains along with a replica on its roof of a metal cat figure.
The grounds also contained a root cellar, walking paths with near-vertical steps, a two-story gable-ended vernacular dwelling for servants, a small period barn, stone-arch bridges, wooded trestles spanning up to 40 ft (12 m), and fish pond.


Guisborough was well-established at the time of the priory's founding; the town's name refers to the fortified place of a Scandinavian called Gigr, who may have taken over a site established by the Anglo-Saxons or Romans who lived in the vicinity before the arrival of Vikings in the 8th and 9th centuries. A priest, church and mill were recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book which refers to the town as "Ghigesburg". Following the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror gave lands in the area to the Count of Mortain. He passed them to his friend Robert de Brus, Lord of Skelton, one of the largest landowners in the north, owning more than 40,000 acres (160 km²) in Yorkshire alone. William's Harrying of the North left the region in a severely depressed and depopulated state. There were few monasteries north of the River Humber and opportunities existed for new agricultural and religious developments. The Augustinian order came to England at the start of the 12th century and established houses in England, including major ones at Bridlington, Nostell and Kirkham. They were communities of canons living under the rule of St. Augustine, wearing dark robes that earned them the name the "Black Canons".
According to the priory's founding charter, Robert de Brus "founded a certain Monastery of a religious order in Gysburne  [sic], to the honour of God, and the holy Virgin Mary". He gave "to the same Church and the service of God in it, all Gysburne, with all things pertaining thereto it". The gift included lands amounting to twenty carucates and two oxgangs (roughly equivalent to about 2,500 acres (10 km²)), churches, mills and other possessions, and grants from others. The charter started that the endowment was to provide "material for ever for their buildings, and all other necessities of their house". The foundation was authorised by Pope Calixtus II and Thurstan, Archbishop of York. De Brus may have been emulating his peers in Yorkshire, who had founded monastic institutions for their religious obligations. The date of the foundation is unclear. The 14th-century canon and historian Walter of Guisborough gives it as 1129, but a charter of confirmation from Pope Calixtus dates to the period of his pontificate between 1119–24. The priory may have had two foundation charters, a shorter one dating possibly to 1119 and a detailed one dating to 1129 that may have been the definitive document. Robert de Brus appointed his younger brother, William de Brus, to be the first Prior of Gisborough and the Brus family continued to be the primary patrons of the priory and have a strong influence there.
The rights and privileges of the prior and canons grew over the centuries added to by royal grants. Henry III granted the rights of soc and sac, thol and theam and infangtheof. He established a Monday market at Guisborough and the right to hold an annual three-day fair to mark the feast of the Assumption (15 August). The proceeds and fees from these events supported the priory. The prior and canons were granted free warren in the lands around Guisborough and several nearby villages which was extended to more demesnes by Edward III, who permitted them to convert 80 acres (320,000 m²) of land into a deer park (now Park Wood). Henry IV gave them the twice-yearly right of frankpledge, the right of waif and stray and the return of briefs and writs which gave the priory a steady income from rents, fines, licences and other fees. The canons of Guisborough owned 4,000 sheep, mostly in Eskdale, in the 13th and 14th century.
The priory became known for its strict observance of the Augustinian rule and religious precepts. Its reputation for ducentes canonicam vitam ("living a canonical life") attracted Saint Malachy from Ireland who, as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux had a long and close involvement with Gisborough. The canons were closely associated with the Cistercians who, like the Augustianians, had a reformist outlook. One Gisborough canon, William of Newminster, moved to the Cistercia's Fountains Abbey to become its abbot. The priory was supported by the local people and records survive of numerous small grants, related to the almonry (the place or chamber where alms were distributed to the poor) and to support building work. The canons leased, bought and sold land and loaned money using property grants as collateral to benefit the priory's building fund. As the priory became more wealthy, discipline among its canons slipped and the Archbishops of York found it necessary to take corrective action in the late 13th century. A number of canons were sent to Kirkham and Bridlington for correction and Gisborough in turn took in disobedient canons from other places. The priory also became embroiled in a dispute with a local landowner, Robert de Thweng, who raided its properties and tithe barns in 1232 under the alias of "Will Wither", in the course of a dispute with the priory over the advowson of Kirkleatham parish church.
On 16 May 1289, the priory suffered a catastrophic fire. According to an account by Walter of Guisborough, a plumber soldering the lead roof forgot to put out his fire, causing the roof timbers to catch fire and molten lead ran down into the church below. Much of the building was destroyed and many effects, costly books, chalices and vestments were lost. The canons sought to raise funds for rebuilding. They petitioned the king to grant them the advowsons of the parish churches of Barnham, Easington and Heslerton, and in 1309 and 1311 the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham rewarded the priory's donors with indulgences granting remission of temporal punishment for sins. Most of the nave and chancel was rebuilt with the support of the de Brus family, whose coat of arms was displayed on its buildings.
Rebuilding probably took around a century to complete. Work was slowed by high costs and civil unrest in the early 14th century, when Scottish raiders repeatedly plundered the north of England. The priory's lands were reduced in value by the raids, diminishing its income. Its wealth was tapped by Archbishop Melton of York to make good his own losses in 1319, and in 1320 it had to take in refugees from monastic houses that had been forced to disperse to escape the raiders. Probably as a consequence of the troubles, in 1328 the priory petitioned the king to be exempted from the "clerical tenth" (a 10% tax on clerical property) and in 1344 it was granted permission to fortify its buildings. By 1380 its staff had diminished to 26 canons and two lay brothers.
The Yorkshire line of the de Brus family died out with the death of the childless Peter IV de Brus in 1272 but the priory was still patronised by the local nobility. The Fauconberg and Thweng families, who married Peter's sisters Agnes and Lucia, took over the patronage which continued for several centuries. Many prominent local nobles were buried there, as was the Scottish Robert V de Brus, grandfather of King Robert the Bruce. At least nine patrons and their families were buried in the priory between 1295 and 1411. The priory received substantial financial support from its patrons; in 1381 William, Lord Latimer provided funds to complete the north nave and donated £333 6s 8d (roughly equivalent to £1.6 million today) for a new belfry. He left the priory cattle from his manor at Ugthorpe, bequeathed a range of religious items, and made arrangements for his body to be interred there on his death.


In 1533 Henry VIII of England was excommunicated for divorcing Catherine of Aragon. The Act of Supremacy passed in 1534 declared Henry Supreme Head of the Church of England and the church's estate in England became part of the king's estate. In 1535 Henry ordered a comprehensive survey of the church's property, the Valor Ecclesiasticus. It found that Gisborough Priory had an annual net value of £628.6s.8d., which made it the fourth wealthiest monastic house in Yorkshire. In 1536 monasteries with less than £200 of annual income were suppressed, exempting the priory from the first wave of suppression.
A second survey carried out by the king's commissioners, Thomas Legh and Richard Leyton, provided for the final suppression on charges of a lack of quality of religious life. Prior James Cockerell of Guisborough was forced to resign and was replaced by Robert Pursglove, who was loyal to the king. The priory's dissolution was not welcomed by locals, who derived economic benefit from its presence – in 1536, around 500 families depended on it for their livelihood. The strength of feeling was recorded in a letter from Lord Conyers and Sir John Bulmer to Thomas Cromwell: "On Sunday, 11th  July [1539], at Gysburn in Yorkshire, when the parish priest was declaring the articles [of dissolution] directed by the King to the Archbishop of York, one John Atkeynson alias Brotton came violently and took book forth of the priest's hands, and pulled it in pieces." Popular discontent sparked the Pilgrimage of Grace, in which Prior Cockerell was implicated. When the revolt failed, he was hanged at Tyburn in London with the Prior of Bridlington, the Abbot of Jervaulx and the former Abbot of Fountains.
The priory was formally dissolved on 8 April 1540 and surrendered to the king's men on 22 December 1540, making it one of the last monastic houses in England to be suppressed. A proposal to found a secular college there came to nothing and the priory buildings – with the exception of the gatehouses and the great east window – were demolished. On 21 November 1541 Thomas Legh was granted a lease "of the buildings with the site and precincts of the Priory to be then demolished and carried away." Demolition was carried out by collapsing its central tower into the body of the church, crushing it in its fall and reducing it to rubble.
The site and lands were re-let in 1550 to Sir Thomas Chaloner, who later purchased the property outright. The Chaloners occupied the former priors' quarters in the west range before moving to their new mansion, Old Gisborough Hall, on Bow Street in the late-17th century. The priory remains were cleared and the fallen stonework looted or sold. The grounds were redeveloped as formal gardens within the grounds of Old Gisborough Hall. John Walker Ord, a local historian in the mid-19th century, described how the priory's stonework could be seen in many buildings around Guisborough. He deplored the profane uses to which it had been put:
I have seen with my own eyes broken pillars and pedestals of this august pile desecrated to the vile uses of gateposts, stands for rainwater casks, and stepping-stones over a common sewer. A richly ornamented doorway of the venerable priory forms the entrance to a privy. I have beheld with sorrow, shame, and indignation, the richly ornamented columns and carved architraves of God's temple supporting the thatch of a pig-house.
Some fragments of the priory travelled further afield. At Hardwick Hall near Sedgefield, a mock ruin was built incorporating sculptured stones brought from the priory. The priory's wealth became the stuff of local legends, one of which claimed an underground passage led from the priory to a cave under the hills in which a raven stood guard over a chest of gold.
The priory's lands around Guisborough were a source of wealth for the Chaloners. Around 1595, Sir Thomas Chaloner's son, also called Thomas, established England's first alum works at Belman Bank south of the town. Alum was an important product with a variety of industrial uses. It was especially important to the cloth industry as a mordant (a substance used to fix dyes on cloth). The supply of alum was controlled by a cartel controlled by the Papal States and Spain which were in conflict with England and exercised a virtual monopoly on the provision of alum to Christian Europe, as the import of cheaper Turkish alum was banned by Pope Paul II in the mid-15th century. Chaloner visited the Pope's alum works at Tolfa near Rome and noticed the soil and vegetation around them resembled those of his estate at Guisborough. On his return he established alum works at Belman Bank with the aid of workmen smuggled from Rome, earning him a papal excommunication. John Walker Ord casts doubt on the story, noting an account published a few decades afterwards stated that the workmen came from France and does not mention Chaloner's travels in Italy.
The only substantial part of the priory to survive was the eastern gable of the presbytery with its great east window. Its survival owed much to the rise of Romanticism in the 18th century. The portrayal of ruined buildings in idealised landscapes by J. M. W. Turner and his contemporaries inspired a fashion for the nobility and gentry to produce paintings of monasteries providing an incentive for landowners to preserve them as romantic ruins, rather than using them as quarries. Gisborough Priory's east window was one of the first examples of a monastic ruin to be retained for its visual qualities. It was incorporated into the grounds of Old Gisborough Hall as a romantic ruin and the sill of the great window removed to ensure an uninterrupted view. Fittingly, given his role in inspiring the east window's preservation, Turner himself sketched it in 1801 during a visit to Yorkshire.
East Lawn was laid out in front of the east window and was used for grand bazaars and fêtes until the early 20th century. A ha-ha was installed behind to keep cattle out of the grounds. To the south of the priory buildings the Long Terrace ran almost the full length of the grounds. It afforded access to the ruins via a flight of steps flanked by two carved demi-sea wolves, reflecting the coat of arms of the Chaloners. They were thought to be dragons by local people and the steps were referred to as the Dragon Steps.
Old Gisborough Hall was demolished around 1825 and the Chaloners built a mansion house, Gisborough Hall, about half a mile to the east in 1857. In 1932, Thomas Chaloner, 2nd Baron Gisborough transferred control of the priory to the Office of Works. which became the responsibility of the Ministry of Works, then the Department of the Environment and from 1984, English Heritage. It remains the property of Lord Gisborough; English Heritage is responsible for maintaining the ruins, while day-to-day running is managed by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.
According to folklore, the priory is haunted by the ghost of a monk in a black habit who returns annually to check that its buried treasure has not been disturbed. He is said to arrive at midnight on the year's first new moon to lower a ghostly drawbridge spanning a vanished moat. In 1966 and 1967 a hundred people turned out to watch and allegedly managed to spot a cowled figure, but in 1968 the few spectators who turned up saw nothing.


Gisborough Priory is characterised by a few highly visible remains. The priory church survives in a fragmentary state, dominated by the east wall of the presbytery that stands to its full height. Several of the priory church's column bases can also be seen, as can a number of excavated graves within the presbytery. Elsewhere on the site, the outline of the cloister is visible but is largely unexcavated, while the ruins of the west (or cellarer's) range constitutes the largest area of other remains above ground. A ruined gatehouse and a still-intact dovecote (the latter off-limits to visitors) stand on the western edges of the site.


Fragments of other buildings associated with the priory can be seen on the site. There was a cloister measuring 120 feet (36.5 m) square to the south of the priory church surrounded by domestic buildings or ranges. They replaced an earlier cloister and ranges destroyed in the fire of 1289 rebuilt to a new, larger, design. Processional doors on the cloister's north wall gave access to the nave of the church. In 1854, surviving arches and columns from the cloister were taken to London for display in the Crystal Palace where they provided the basis for a reconstruction of a medieval cloister in the "English National Art Court" section of the exhibition.
Fragments of the west range – the cellarer's range – are extant. It was entered from the west by an outer parlour, projecting from the north end of the range, where members of the community received visitors. The prior lived on the upper floor which comprised a hall, chamber and chapel dedicated to Saint Hilda. The prior's rooms were probably located above the outer parlour, as was the pattern at other monasteries, accessing the cloister and the outside world. The largest surviving fragment of the range comprises a cellarium or storehouse where supplies were kept. It is a vaulted undercroft of nine bays constructed from stone ashlar with its floor level below that of the cloister. It is relatively well-preserved and believed to have been divided by timber partitions which were later replaced in stone.
Most of the refectory (dining hall) range to the south of the cloister and the dorter range to the east, which contained the chapter house and dormitory, have yet to be excavated. Only the western end of the refectory range has been excavated; it presents a vaulted undercroft, three bays of which survive, above which the refectory was located on the first floor. A service passage survives between the kitchen and the refectory. The western part of the undercroft was used as a buttery in the late Middle Ages but would have had severely restricted headroom due to its raised floor.


The priory buildings stood at the centre of a walled precinct arranged in two courts, inner and outer with gatehouses at the entrances to both; the remains of the great gate of the inner court are extant but the outer gatehouse no longer survives. The gate comprised an outer porch, an inner gatehall and a porter's lodge on the ground floor with chambers above the arch. It survived intact into the early 18th century but only the outer porch remains. The structure consists of a single large round-headed archway on the outer side with two smaller arches of different sizes, both deeply rebated to accommodate doors, a few metres to the south. The larger arch was for wagons while pedestrians entered through the smaller arch. Little remains of the gatehall or the porter's lodge; the only remnants visible are the stub of its north wall and a latrine shaft.
The canons built an octagonal dovecote a short distance to the west of the west range. The dovecote is extant, though it cannot be visited and is not part of the priory grounds. Built in the 14th century, it was modified in the mid-18th century with the addition of a pyramidal roof tiled with Welsh slate and capped with an open-sided timber cupola. The original nesting boxes have been removed and the dovecote is used as a garden store.


Gisborough Priory was rebuilt three times; the ruins visible today are principally those of the third rebuild. The site was occupied in Anglo-Saxon times by at least one structure, possibly a timber-framed church or boundary wall, indicated by a number of postholes. It is believed there was a Saxon settlement in the vicinity as late-Saxon potsherds and an 8th-century coin have been found buried under the remains of the priory's west nave. The site was abandoned at some point and by the time the priory was built the land on which it stood was mostly under cultivation. Part of it was used as a graveyard in the early 12th century and an early Norman building was erected in the vicinity, possibly a temporary church.
The Norman priory, completed around 1180, was relatively short and narrow. It was constructed in the Romanesque style with twin aisles either side of the nave and a single tower at the west end, aligned with the main axis of the church. It could be entered from the north, via an external door, and the south via the cloister. The existence of the northward door suggests it was used by a secular congregation, possibly the local nobility and patrons. A number of graves associated with the first priory have been found in the south aisle's floor and against the north wall.
The priory was rebuilt around 1200 on a larger scale with the Romanesque church demolished to its first course of ashlar. The construction of the new church continued through much of the 13th century. The enlarged priory had twin towers at the west end flanking a large double doorway above which was a central rose window; piped water was provided using lead pipes from the cloister, under the church to buildings or standpipes to the north or west of the priory. The main body of the church comprised a nave with two aisles, transepts and a choir. The aisles were laid with geometric coloured tiles adjoining the sandstone columns of the nave. The north aisle was divided into alcoves or private chapels where a number of people – probably local nobles and gentry – were buried. An unusual feature of the church was a well, sunk into the nave, possibly built in an effort to safeguard its water supplies.
The effects of the fire that destroyed the priory in 1289 can be seen in scorched paving between the surviving pillars. It was thought the church had been completely rebuilt, but excavations in the 1980s show that a substantial amount of the less damaged west end was reused which resulted in a distinct inconsistency between the two ends, which were constructed in different architectural styles. Rebuilding was a major task that took several generations and was probably not completed until the end of the 14th century. It is unclear how much of the second priory survived the fire. Where the priory was rebuilt, its builders reused as much as possible; the core of the surviving eastern gable wall is full of fragments from the destroyed second priory.


Land immediately south of the priory was used by the Chaloners for formal gardens attached to Old Gisborough Hall. In the early 18th century they planted an oval-shaped double avenue of trees, the Monks' Walk, where stonework recovered from mid-19th century excavations was deposited. In between the trees was a manicured lawn used to hold musical and theatrical productions. The Monks' Walk fell into disuse and became overgrown but is under restoration by the Gisborough Priory Project.
In the late 19th century, Margaret Chaloner, wife of the first Lord Gisborough, laid out formal gardens of a typical late-Victorian and Edwardian design with elaborate bedding schemes and gravelled paths. There was a rose garden and a sunken Italian garden with an ornamental pool at its centre. They were open to the public for a small fee and could be entered through a gateway on Bow Street. The gardens are now freely accessible.
Further east, off the Whitby Road, is the Monks' Pond, the canons' fish pond. It presents a dramatic vista in which the priory arch is reflected and has often been photographed and painted. In 1908, the pond was the scene of an elaborate water tableau organised by Lady Gisborough to raise funds for the restoration of St Nicholas' Church. The pond was home to a number of exceptionally large fish, but pollution in 2000 caused by a sewage leak led to the death of more than 5,000 fish.


The priory was responsible for St Leonard's leper hospital at Hutton Lowcross to the south-west of Guisborough. The hospital was probably founded in the 12th century and became a dependency of the priory in 1275. It was last documented in 1339. Its fate is unclear but it probably survived until the Dissolution in 1540. Archaeological excavations in a field near Hutton Village in the 1960s did not find definite evidence of the leper hospital.
The priory may also have owned a cell at Scarth Wood at Whorlton. A grant issued by Stephen de Meynell in the reign of Henry I records the donation of the hamlet of Scarth to enable the priory to establish a cell for habitation by a single monk or canon. It is unclear whether the cell was built as Scarth is not mentioned in the priory's deeds or in Henry VIII's commissioners' valuation of its property. Fragmentary building remains at Scarth are recorded as existing in the mid-18th century. They were cleared by the start of the 19th century so there is no trace of whatever might once have stood there or indication of what it might have been used for.


In 1865–1867 Captain Thomas Chaloner and William Downing Bruce carried out the first major excavation by cutting a trench across the site. A number of features were discovered, including a stone coffin containing the skeleton of a tall man thought to be Robert de Brus, the remnants of a monumental shrine and painted roof bosses. Evidence of the 1289 fire was discovered in the form of pieces of fused metal – an amalgam of lead, silver and iron that had melted and penetrated the floor in the heat of the fire. The Office of Works carried out excavations in 1932 in conjunction with work to consolidate the walls and grounds so they could be opened to the public. Further work was carried out by Roy Gilyard Beer between 1947–54 for the Ministry of Works, which exposed more of the site and cleared material from the 19th century.
In 1985–86 Cleveland County Archaeology Section carried out a major excavation of the west end of the nave to consolidate an area of subsidence. Its cause was the collapse of an unrecorded burial vault. The excavations found more evidence of the fire of 1289 including scorched masonry, a shattered bell and broken grave-slabs. The remains of 47 people – 21 men, 17 women, 6 children and 3 of undetermined gender – were discovered, some of whom had been buried with grave goods including a gold finger ring and jet crosses. Two chalices and patens were found alongside the remains of two priests. The skeletons were cremated and the ashes scattered in the Monks' Walk in the Priory Gardens. A geophysical survey carried out to the west and east of the west range indicated the existence of the remains of other monastic buildings which have yet to be excavated.


Between its establishment and its dissolution, 24 priors were recorded holding office at Gisborough Priory. Their names and dates of taking office or periods when they held office, where known, were as follows:
William de Brus (1119–45?)
Cuthbert (1146–54)
Ralph (1174?–80)
Roald (1199–?)
Lawrence (1211–12)
Michael (1218–34)
John (1239–51, 1257)
Simon (date uncertain)
Ralph de Irton (1262)
Adam de Newland (1280)
William de Middleburgh (1281)
Robert de Wilton (1320–1)
John de Darlington (1346)
John de Horeworth or Hurworth (1364–93)
Walter de Thorp (1393)
John de Helmesley (1408)
John Thweng (1425)
Richard Ayreton (1437)
Richard de Hoton (1452)
Thomas Darlington (1455)
John Moreby (1475)
John Whitby (1491–1505)
John Moreby (1505)
William Spires (1511)
James Cockerill (1519–1534?)
Robert Pursglove (1537, 1539)


Historic England. "Gisborough Priory Augustinian monastery: late Saxon settlement, cemetery, monastic precinct and dovecote (1007506)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
Historic England. "Gisborough Priory Augustinian monastery: late Saxon settlement, cemetery, monastic precinct and dovecote (1007506)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
Harrison, B. J. D.; Dixon, Grace (1981). Guisborough before 1900. G. Dixon. ISBN 095078270X.
Whellan 1859, p. 187
Coppack 1993, p. 21
Coppack 1993, p. 20
Ord 1846, p. 176
Ord 1846, p. 177
Blakely 2005, p. 122
"History of Gisborough Priory". Retrieved 27 May 2022.
Blakely 2005, p. 167
Watt 2005, p. 26
Flanagan 2010, p. 122
Coppack 1993, p. 23
Coppack 1993, p. 25
Coppack 1993, p. 26
"Medieval Teesside" (PDF). Tees Archaeology. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
Coppack 1993, p. 27
Greene 2005, p. 99
Macmillan 2007, p. x
Leyland 1892, p. 38
Butler & Given-Wilson 1979, p. 238
Stöber 2007, p. 128–29
Stöber 2007, p. 90–91
Coppack 1993, p. 29
Coppack 1993, p. 30
Davison 2007, p. 7
"Proceedings at Meetings of the Royal Archaeological Institute". The Archaeological Journal. British Archaeological Association, Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 25: 247–49. 3 June 1868.
Ord 1846, p. 197
Parson & White 1828, p. 316
Murray 1867, p. 195
"North Yorkshire – Coast – Point 7 – Alum". BBC. 29 September 2006. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
de Roover 1999, pp. 153–55
Ord 1846, pp. 79–80
Greene 2005, p. 202
"Joseph Mallord William Turner - Guisborough Priory 1801". Tate Gallery. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
Darnton 2004, p. 52
Darnton 2004, p. 48
Cleveland County Archaeology Section 1993, p. x
"Priory wall wrecked by vandals". Durham County Publications. 29 June 2001.
Walker 1990, p. 70
Christian 1972, p. 91
Coppack 1993, pp. 9–11
Coppack 1993, p. 7
Coppack 1993, p. 12
Coppack 1993, p. 13
Webb 2000, p. 103
Santoro 2011, p. 425
Coppack 1993, pp. 13–14
"Opening of the Crystal Palace". The Morning Chronicle. London. 12 June 1854.
Coppack 1993, p. 15
Coppack 1993, p. 16
Coppack 1993, pp. 18–19
Coppack 1993, p. 3
Coppack 1993, p. 4
"Priory Dovecote, to West of St Mary's Priory Ruins, Guisborough". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
Greene 2005, p. 229
"Gisborough Priory Project – Vision". Gisborough Priory Project. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
Darnton 2004, p. 49
Darnton 2004, p. 51
Relton, Katie (4 September 2000). "5,000 fish die in ancient lake". Durham County Publications.
Historic England. "St. Leonards Hospital  (27694)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 6 August 2011.
Historic England. "Monument No. 26813". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 6 August 2011.
"Gisborough Priory – Archaeological Investigations". Museums in Redcar & Cleveland. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
Greene 2005, p. 220
"Gisborough Priory – Objects found with human burials". Museums in Redcar & Cleveland. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
Branagan, Mark (20 March 2009). "Medieval dead laid to rest once more". Yorkshire Post.
Whellan 1859, p. 189


Glastonbury Tor is a hill near Glastonbury in the English county of Somerset, topped by the roofless St Michael's Tower, a Grade I listed building. The entire site is managed by the National Trust and has been designated a scheduled monument. The Tor is mentioned in Celtic mythology, particularly in myths linked to King Arthur, and has several other enduring mythological and spiritual associations.
The conical hill of clay and Blue Lias rises from the Somerset Levels. It was formed when surrounding softer deposits were eroded, leaving the hard cap of sandstone exposed. The slopes of the hill are terraced, but the method by which they were formed remains unexplained.
Archaeological excavations during the 20th century sought to clarify the background of the monument and church, but some aspects of their history remain unexplained. Artefacts from human visitation have been found, dating from the Iron Age to Roman eras. Several buildings were constructed on the summit during the Saxon and early medieval periods; they have been interpreted as an early church and monks' hermitage. The head of a wheel cross dating from the 10th or 11th century has been recovered. The original wooden church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1275, and the stone Church of St Michael was built on the site in the 14th century. Its tower remains, although it has been restored and partially rebuilt several times.


The origin of the name Glastonbury is unclear, but when the settlement was first recorded in the late 7th and early 8th centuries it was called Glestingaburg. Of the latter name, Glestinga is obscure and may derive from an Old English word or Celtic personal name. It may derive from a person or kinship group named Glast. The second half of the name, -burg, is Anglo-Saxon in origin and could refer to either a fortified place such as a burh or, more likely, a monastic enclosure.
Tor is an English word referring to "a bare rock mass surmounted and surrounded by blocks and boulders", deriving from the Old English torr. The Celtic name of the Tor was Ynys Wydryn, or sometimes Ynys Gutrin, meaning 'Isle of Glass'. At this time the plain was flooded, the isle becoming a peninsula at low tide.


The Tor is in the middle of the Summerland Meadows, part of the Somerset Levels, rising to an elevation of 518 feet (158 m). The plain is reclaimed fen above which the Tor is clearly visible for miles around. It has been described as an island, but actually sits at the western end of a peninsula washed on three sides by the River Brue.
The Tor is formed from rocks dating from the early Jurassic Period, namely varied layers of Lias Group strata. The uppermost of these, forming the Tor itself, are a succession of rocks assigned to the Bridport Sand Formation. These rocks sit upon strata forming the broader hill on which the Tor stands; the various layers of the Beacon Limestone Formation and the Dyrham Formation. The Bridport Sands have acted as a caprock, protecting the lower layers from erosion.
The iron-rich waters of Chalice Well, a spring at the base of the Tor, flow out as an artesian well impregnating the sandstone around it with iron oxides that have reinforced it to produce the caprock. Iron-rich but oxygen-poor water in the aquifer carries dissolved iron (II) "ferrous" iron, but as the water surfaces and its oxygen content rises, the oxidised iron (III) "ferric" iron drops out as insoluble "rusty" oxides that bind to the surrounding stone, hardening it.
The low-lying damp ground can produce a visual effect known as a Fata Morgana when the Tor appears to rise out of the mist. This optical phenomenon occurs because rays of light are strongly bent when they pass through air layers of different temperatures in a steep thermal inversion where an atmospheric duct has formed. The Italian term Fata Morgana is derived from the name of Morgan le Fay, a powerful sorceress in Arthurian legend.


The sides of the Tor have seven deep, roughly symmetrical terraces, or lynchets. Their formation remains a mystery with many possible explanations. They may have been formed as a result of natural differentiation of the layers of Lias stone and clay or used by farmers during the Middle Ages as terraced hills to make ploughing for crops easier. Author Nicholas Mann questions this theory. If agriculture had been the reason for the creation of the terraces, it would be expected that the effort would be concentrated on the south side, where the sunny conditions would provide a good yield, but the terraces are equally deep on the northern side, which would provide little benefit. Additionally, none of the other slopes of the island has been terraced, even though the more sheltered locations would provide a greater return on the labour involved.
Other explanations have been suggested for the terraces, including the construction of defensive ramparts. Iron Age hill forts including the nearby Cadbury Castle in Somerset show evidence of extensive fortification of their slopes. The normal form of ramparts is a bank and ditch, but there is no evidence of this arrangement on the Tor. South Cadbury, one of the most extensively fortified places in early Britain, had three concentric rings of banks and ditches supporting an 44-acre (18 ha) enclosure. By contrast, the Tor has seven rings and very little space on top for the safekeeping of a community. It has been suggested, that a defensive function may have been linked with Ponter's Ball Dyke, a linear earthwork about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the Tor. It consists of an embankment with a ditch on the east side. The purpose and provenance of the dyke are unclear. It is possible that it was part of a longer defensive barrier associated with New Ditch, three miles to the south-west, which is built in a similar manner. It has been suggested by Ralegh Radford that it is part of a great Celtic sanctuary, probably 3rd century BC, while others, including Philip Rahtz, date it to the post-Roman period and link it to the Dark Age occupation on Glastonbury Tor. The 1970 excavation suggests the 12th century or later. The historian Ronald Hutton also mentions the alternative possibility that the terraces are the remains of a medieval "spiral walkway" created for pilgrims to reach the church on the summit, similar to that at Whitby Abbey.
Another suggestion is that the terraces are the remains of a three-dimensional labyrinth, first proposed by Geoffrey Russell in 1968. He states that the classical labyrinth (Caerdroia), a design found all over the Neolithic world, can be easily transposed onto the Tor so that by walking around the terraces a person eventually reaches the top in the same pattern. Evaluating this hypothesis is not easy. A labyrinth would very likely place the terraces in the Neolithic era, but given the amount of occupation since then, there may have been substantial modifications by farmers or monks, and conclusive excavations have not been carried out. In a more recent book, Hutton writes that "the labyrinth does not seem to be an ancient sacred structure".


Some Neolithic flint tools recovered from the top of the Tor show that the site has been visited, perhaps with a lasting occupation, since prehistory. The nearby remains of Glastonbury Lake Village were identified at the site in 1892, which confirmed that there was an Iron Age settlement in about 300–200 BC on what was an easily defended island in the fens. There is no evidence of permanent occupation of the Tor, but finds, including Roman pottery, do suggest that it was visited on a regular basis.
Excavations on Glastonbury Tor, undertaken by a team led by Philip Rahtz between 1964 and 1966, revealed evidence of Dark Age occupation during the 5th to 7th centuries around the later medieval church of St. Michael. Finds included postholes, two hearths including a metalworker's forge, two burials oriented north–south (thus unlikely to be Christian), fragments of 6th-century Mediterranean amphorae (vases for wine or cooking oil), and a worn hollow bronze head which may have topped a Saxon staff.


During the late Saxon and early medieval period, there were at least four buildings on the summit. The base of a stone cross demonstrates Christian use of the site during this period, and it may have been a hermitage. The broken head of a wheel cross dated to the 10th or 11th century was found partway down the hill and may have been the head of the cross that stood on the summit. The head of the cross is now in the Museum of Somerset in Taunton.
The earliest timber church, dedicated to St Michael, is believed to have been constructed in the 11th or 12th century; from which post holes have since been identified. Associated monk cells have also been identified.
St Michael's Church was destroyed by an earthquake on 11 September 1275. According to the British Geological Survey, the earthquake was felt in London, Canterbury and Wales, and was reported to have destroyed many houses and churches in England. The intensity of shaking was greater than 7 MSK, with its epicentre in the area around Portsmouth or Chichester, South England.
A second church, also dedicated to St Michael, was built of local sandstone in the 14th century by the Abbot Adam of Sodbury, incorporating the foundations of the previous building. It included stained glass and decorated floor tiles. There was also a portable altar of Purbeck Marble; it is likely that the Monastery of St Michael on the Tor was a daughter house of Glastonbury Abbey. In 1243 Henry III granted a charter for a six-day fair at the site.
St Michael's Church survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 when, except for the tower, it was demolished. The Tor was the place of execution where Richard Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, was hanged, drawn and quartered along with two of his monks, John Thorne and Roger James. The three-storey tower of St Michael's Church survives. It has corner buttresses and perpendicular bell openings. There is a sculptured tablet with an image of an eagle below the parapet.


In 1786, Richard Colt Hoare of Stourhead bought the Tor and funded the repair of the tower in 1804, including the rebuilding of the north-east corner. It was then passed on through several generations to the Reverend George Neville and included in the Butleigh Manor until the 20th century. It was then bought as a memorial to a former Dean of Wells, Thomas Jex-Blake, who died in 1915.
The National Trust took control of the Tor in 1933, but repairs were delayed until after the Second World War. During the 1960s, excavations identified cracks in the rock, suggesting the ground had moved in the past. This, combined with wind erosion, started to expose the footings of the tower, which were repaired with concrete. Erosion caused by the feet of the increasing number of visitors was also a problem and paths were laid to enable them to reach the summit without damaging the terraces. After 2000, enhancements to the access and repairs to the tower, including rebuilding of the parapet, were carried out. These included the replacement of some of the masonry damaged by earlier repairs with new stone from the Hadspen Quarry.
A model vaguely based on Glastonbury Tor (albeit with a tree instead of the tower) was incorporated into the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. As the athletes entered the stadium, their flags were displayed on the terraces of the model.


The Tor seems to have been called Ynys yr Afalon (meaning "The Isle of Avalon") by the Britons and is believed by some, including the 12th and 13th century writer Gerald of Wales, to be the Avalon of Arthurian legend. The Tor has been associated with the name Avalon, and identified with King Arthur, since the alleged discovery of his and Queen Guinevere's neatly labelled coffins in 1191, recounted by Gerald of Wales. Author Christopher L. Hodapp asserts in his book The Templar Code for Dummies that Glastonbury Tor is one of the possible locations of the Holy Grail, because it is close to the monastery that housed the Nanteos Cup.
With the 19th century resurgence of interest in Celtic mythology, the Tor became associated with Gwyn ap Nudd, the first Lord of the Otherworld (Annwn) and later King of the Fairies. The Tor came to be represented as an entrance to Annwn or to Avalon, the land of the fairies. The Tor is supposedly a gateway into "The Land of the Dead (Avalon)".
A persistent myth of more recent origin is that of the Glastonbury Zodiac, a purported astrological zodiac of gargantuan proportions said to have been carved into the land along ancient hedgerows and trackways, in which the Tor forms part of the figure representing Aquarius. The theory was first put forward in 1927 by Katherine Maltwood, an artist with interest in the occult, who thought the zodiac was constructed approximately 5,000 years ago. But the vast majority of the land said by Maltwood to be covered by the zodiac was under several feet of water at the proposed time of its construction, and many of the features such as field boundaries and roads are recent.
The Tor and other sites in Glastonbury have also been significant in the modern-day Goddess movement, with the flow from the Chalice Well seen as representing menstrual flow and the Tor being seen as either a breast or the whole figure of the Goddess. This has been celebrated with an effigy of the Goddess leading an annual procession up the Tor.
It is said that Brigid of Kildare is depicted milking a cow as a stone carving above one of the entrances to the tower.


Tor is often considered to have a Celtic etymology, but the Oxford English Dictionary lists no match in Cornish or Breton; the nearest Celtic word is the Welsh tẁr, from the Old Welsh tẁrr. The Old English torr is likely cognate with the Scottish Gaelic tòrr.


Glenbuchat Castle is a historic Z plan Scottish castle built in 1590 for John Gordon of Cairnbarrow to mark his wedding. It is located above the River Don, near Kildrummy, Aberdeenshire. The building is roofless, but otherwise in fairly good repair.
John Gordon married Helen Carnegie in 1590, a daughter of Robert Carnegie of Kinnaird in Angus. It is said that stone from Kildrummy Castle was used to build their new house.
The castle was taken and garrisoned after the battle of Glenlivet in 1594 by the king's forces.
The family sold the castle in 1738, and it remained in private hands until the 20th century. James William Barclay bought the castle in 1901, and Colonel James Barclay Milne, his grandson, placed it in state care in 1946. A local club purchased the surrounding parkland in 1948 and gave it to the state to ensure that the castle's surroundings would remain intact. Both the castle and the surrounding land are managed by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled ancient monument.


The Golan Archaeological Museum is a museum of the archaeological finds of the Golan Heights, located in Katzrin.
The museum features artifacts from all historical periods. Among these are artifacts and decorated architectural fragments from a number of Byzantine-period Christian churches and villages, including finds from Kursi, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, which is identified with Gergasa, the New Testament site of the "Miracle of the Gadarene swine" (Luke 8:22-39).
A room in the museum is dedicated to the story of Gamla, the Jewish town besieged and razed by the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War. A scale model and film are used to describe the conquest and destruction of the town and all of its inhabitants by Vespasian in 67 CE. On display are finds from the site, including arrowheads, ballista stones, clay oil lamps, and coins minted in the town during the siege.
Other artifacts of note in the museum are many columns, lintels and other architectural parts recovered from the ruins of ancient synagogues throughout the Golan Heights. These are elaborately carved with dedicatory inscriptions and with Jewish symbols.


The Golden Horn Metro Bridge (Turkish: Haliç Metro Köprüsü) is a cable-stayed bridge carrying the M2 line of the Istanbul Metro across the Golden Horn in Istanbul, Turkey. It connects Karaköy and Küçükpazarı on the European side of Istanbul, and is located between the Galata Bridge and Atatürk Bridge, approximately 200 m (660 ft) east of the latter. It is the fourth bridge across the Golden Horn and entered service on February 15, 2014.
The bridge enables a direct connection between Hacıosman metro station in the Sarıyer district (at the northern end of the M2 line), and the Yenikapı transport hub in the Fatih district (at the southern end of the M2 line.)


The idea of the bridge was first mooted in1952 but only really came to life during the period when Kadir Topbaş was mayor of Istanbul (2004-17).
After the new metro line was approved by the city's Monument Protection Board and the tunnels relating to it had been completed, the Metropolitan Municipality put out a tender for construction of the bridge. By 2005, a total of 21 proposals had been submitted to the Monument Protection Board, but none was found to be sufficiently in harmony with the city's skyline. Even the successful design, by architect Hakan Kıran, was considered controversial..
In November 2009, the proposed height of the towers was reduced from a projected 82 m (269 ft) to 65 m (213 ft) after UNESCO threatened to remove Istanbul from its list of World Heritage sites. The top level of cables was also reduced from 63 to 55 m (207 to 180 ft), and then lowered even further to 47 m (154 ft) in 2011. This revised design was approved in February 2012.
The bridge's conceptual design was carried out by French engineer and bridge specialist Michel Virlogeux, who also designed the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (Third Bosphorus Bridge) across the Bosphorus strait. Turkish architect Hakan Kıran was responsible for the architectural design and served as the construction supervision. Wiecon Consulting Engineers & Architects carried out the structural engineering work for the bridge. It was built by a partnership between the Italian firm Astaldi and the Turkish Gülermak Ağır Sanayi İnşaat ve Taahhüt A.Ş.
Construction began on January 2, 2009, and was initially meant to be completed within 600 days. Eventually it was finished on January 9, 2013. Test runs for the new metro began the next day, and the bridge went into service on 15 February 2014. The cost of the construction was €146.7 million.
Because of the historical character of the bridge's surroundings, the project underwent several revisions. For example, the discovery of a Byzantine-era vault on the Unkapanı/Küçükpazarı side of the bridge during excavation works for the pier foundations necessitated a redesign of the project. The design of the swing bridge operator's command building also had to be revised when the wall of a Byzantine-era basilica and a graveyard on the same bank came to light.
The eventual design pays homage to the city's maritime heritage with support towers shaped to look like horns and hull-shaped supports for the platforms.


The cable-stayed bridge has an overall length of 936 m (3,071 ft) between Azapkapı (Beyoğlu) and Unkapanı/Küçükpazarı (Fatih), and a span of 460 m (1,510 ft) over water. The longest span between the two towers is 180 m (590 ft). It is flanked by viaducts on both sides which connect the bridge with the metro tunnels on each side of the Golden Horn. Nine cables are connected to each side of the two towers in harp-design starting at a height of 47 m (154 ft). To reinforce the soft bedrock, dozens of steel pipe piles with diameters of 1,800 mm (71 in) and 2,500 mm (98 in), supplied from Europe, were driven more than 30 m (98 ft) deep into the ground using a hydraulic hammer . The two steel supporting towers are 65 m (213 ft) high, Each rests on a nine-pile group while for the side supports four- or five-pile groups were built.
The 12.6-metre-wide (41 ft) bridge carries two railway tracks between two 4.4-metre-wide (14 ft) sidewalks at a height of 13 m (43 ft) above sea level. The deck is a 4.45-metre-high (14.6 ft) box girder.
On the Unkapanı/Küçükpazarı side, a 120-metre-long (390 ft) swing bridge - essentially a cantilever structure - permits passage for large ships. It has 50-metre (160 ft) and 70-metre-long (230 ft) spans, which rest on a central pier. Controlled from a room on a platform between the bridge and the shoreline, the swing bridge turns at a right angle about the vertical axis after lifting, and provides about 40-metre-wide (130 ft) free clearance within four to six minutes. The swing bridge is intended to be open once a week between the hours of 1:00 and 5:00 in the summer time, and twice a week during these hours in the winter months.
A station with a 180-metre-long (590 ft) platform, suitable for holding an 8-car train, is situated in the middle of the bridge. It extends across the full length of the main span, and is capped with a 90-metre-long (300 ft) canopy. The metro line over the bridge is expected to transport around one million passengers daily.


The design of the Golden Horn Metro Bridge was initially controversial. Chambers of architects and city planners, as well as many citizens, complained that the plans originally approved by UNESCO had been changed without permission. The design  was also said to damage the city's historic skyline. However, now that the Metro is open fewer complaints are heard, and the Haliç station and walkways have eased communication between the areas on either side of the bridge for non-car owners.


On January 29, 1999, Giovanola roller coaster track arrived at Six Flags Magic Mountain. It was then confirmed that the new attraction would be a hypercoaster.
On November 11, 1999, Six Flags Magic Mountain announced that the new coaster would be named Goliath. The ride officially opened on February 11, 2000.
In November 2013, seat belts were added to Goliath and Full Throttle.
During the 2015 season, Goliath was covered in advertisements to promote Monster Hunter 4, a Nintendo 3DS game. A Gore Magola monster statue was displayed near the entrance. The queue line featured a supply hunt, large signs talking about the game, a camping sit and other props. Plus, the train was wrapped to look like the Gore Magola. A good luck sign was placed in the station and a larger sign was displayed near the exit.


Leaving the station, the train makes a nearly 180 degree right turn. The train then ascends the chain lift hill, reaching a height of 235 ft (72 m). Ascent slows toward the top of the chain lift hill, a safety feature that reduces stress on the chain; it is also an attempt to reduce positive g-forces and increases rider anticipation. The train begins accelerating down the initial 255 ft (78 m) drop, into an underground tunnel, reaching a speed of 85 miles per hour (137 km/h). Upon exiting the tunnel, the train heads upwards into a banked right turn that towers above Twisted Colossus. After completing the turn, the train heads down another drop, flattening out to pass by the onride camera. An airtime hill and banked left turn (rather than a helix on "Titan") follows into the mid-course brake run. The train is decelerated quickly and makes a hard left turn out of the brake section. Another 180 degree banked turn directs the train into a 585 degree, descending helix. Then, the track turns upwards and banks left. After an ascending right turn, the train reaches the final brake run.


120-foot (37 m) long tunnel at the bottom of the first drop.
Ride capacity: 1,600 passengers per hour.
Three five-car 30-passenger trains, with two abreast seating.
A small error was made while the ride's parts were being manufactured by Giovanola. The very last track piece before the final brake run was about 6 inches (150 mm) too short. The mistake was found while the final piece was being bolted to the ride, and a supplementary track piece had to be made to fill the 6-inch (150 mm) gap.


Appeared as “The Scream Monster” in Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
Appeared as “Aquaman: The Ride” in Entourage (Season 3 Episode 3 "Dominated")
Appeared in the Zoey 101 episode "Roller Coaster"
Appeared in James Corden's Carpool Karaoke video with Selena Gomez
Appeared in The Anna Nicole Show (2002)
Appeared in The King of Queens episode "Emotional Rollercoaster"


On June 2, 2001, a 28-year-old woman died from what was thought to be a heart attack while riding Goliath, later determined to be a brain aneurysm. The park closed the ride for several hours and reopened it the same day after it passed inspection.


Plans for Goliath were announced in September 2005, revealing the ride as a steel hypercoaster from Bolliger & Mabillard that will cost $20 million to construct. By the end of the 2005 season, the rides Great Gasp and Looping Starship were closed and removed from the park to make room for the new roller coaster. Foundations for Goliath's supports began to be poured in September 2005. In early October, track began to arrive at the park; erection of the supports and track began soon after. In November and December, construction on the lift hill was complete. In March 2006, Goliath's trains were delivered to the park. After construction on the track and testing was complete, the roller coaster opened to the public on April 1, 2006.


After being dispatched from the station, the train makes a left hand turn towards the 200 feet (61 m) chain lift hill. Once at the top, the train drops back down 170 feet (52 m) reaching a maximum speed of 70 miles per hour (113 km/h). Following the drop, the train goes over the first of its camelback hills, crossing over the Georgia Scorcher and providing the ride's tallest drop at 175 feet (53 m). As the train exits the park boundaries, it enters a banked left turn then its second camelback hill with a 129-foot (39 m) drop. Next, the train rises back up and enters a 540-degree downward helix before passing through a set of trim brakes and going over the third camelback hill, this time with a 118-foot (36 m) drop. The train then enters a horseshoe leading back into the park, followed by the final three camelback hills with a drop height of 79-foot (24 m), 56-foot (17 m), and 48-foot (15 m), each lower than the previous one, the second of which crosses over the Georgia Scorcher's brake run. Following a banked left turn, the train makes a quick drop before entering the final brake run leading back to the station. One cycle of the ride lasts about three and a half minutes.


The steel track of Goliath is approximately 4,480 feet (1,370 m) long and covers an area of about 8.5 acres (3.4 ha; 0.0133 sq mi). The height of the lift is 200 feet (61 m). The roller coaster has no inversions, though it does feature six camelback hills and a 540 degree helix. The track is painted orange while the supports are painted teal. Goliath was manufactured by Clermont Steel Fabricators located in Batavia, Ohio.


Goliath operates with two steel and fiberglass trains. Each train has nine cars which can seat four riders in a single row, for a total of 36 riders per train; each seat has its own individual lap-bar restraint. This configuration allows the ride to achieve a theoretical hourly capacity of 1,220 riders per hour. The structure of the trains are painted orange and teal, with matching colored restraints and seats.


Joel Bullock from The Coaster Critic and Mike from NewsPlusNotes both praised the g-forces experienced while going through the helix, and the amount of airtime Goliath has. Bullock described Goliath as, "not only the park’s best roller coaster, but arguably the best coaster in the South East (south of Virginia)." Mike Collins from Coaster Radio particularly enjoyed the section of the roller coaster that takes riders outside of the park boundaries. He also said that, "[Goliath is] a fun and fast coaster. It’s all about the airtime... and you get a lot of it."
In Goliath's opening year, it was voted the fourth best new ride for 2006 and the ninth best steel roller coaster in Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards. The roller coaster peaked at position four in 2009 and 2011.


On July 27, 2006, a 45-year-old man was found unresponsive and not breathing on Goliath after losing consciousness during the ride. Park employees began to treat the man before he was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead. After an inspection of the ride showed that the roller coaster was operating properly, it reopened to the public.


Originally, the residence of the governor of New France was at the Château St-Louis, in the capital, Quebec City. The monarch's representative continues to work and reside in that city; however, like Ontario, Quebec no longer has an official Government House, after Spencer Wood burned down in 1966. Instead he or she holds an office and a suite of rooms for entertaining near the Parliament Building.
From 1867 to 1881 lieutenant governors of Quebec maintained a separate working office at the Maison Sewell, after which it was moved to the old parliament buildings.  It remained there until 1979 when the office moved again to the Édifice André-Laurendeau, where all the fittings and furniture were brought to from the former location.  Inside are reception rooms, offices and support facilities.  The royal suite is the site of swearing-in ceremonies for Cabinet ministers, where royal assent is granted, and where the lieutenant governor receives his or her premier.  Whenever the sovereign or other members of the Royal Family are in the provincial capital, he or she resides at a hotel, usually the Château Frontenac.
The history of this park goes back at the very start of the French regime in 1633, when Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge, third governor of New France, occupied it. This estate and several other properties of the governor became one large estate (much larger than today’s park) on 9 April 1657 and was named the châtellenie of Coulonge. It was after his death that the estate was sold to the sisters of the Augustine order the Hôtel-Dieu, and on 12 May 1676, the Quebec Seminary acquired the property.
After the British conquest, the seminary, not having enough funds, sold one of the lots in 1780 to an English officer, Henry Watson Powell, who named this area Powell Place. To create comfortable living quarters, he had a villa, greenhouses and trails built. The park again changed its name in 1811, when Michael Henry Perceval became owner and called it Spencer Wood. However, its splendour today is owed in part to Henry Atkinson, who bought this land in 1833. With his gardener, he created an English-style garden with elms, oaks and trails. Without an owner in 1854, the estate was divided into several sections and the most imposing lot was bought by the government of the Province of Canada to house the governor general.
Six years later, a fire completely destroyed the governor general’s residence. The house was rebuilt in 1862, with a castle-like length of 56 metres (184 ft), a servant’s wing, and a winter garden. In 1870, Spencer Wood was sold to the province of Quebec and was then home to the lieutenant governor. A few modifications were made throughout the years, namely the fountain that we see today. The Spencer Wood estate was renamed Bois-de-Coulonge in 1950. In total, 21 lieutenant governors succeeded each other at this estate and the last one, Paul Comtois, died in the fire which destroyed the house on 21 February 1966, while trying to save the Blessed Sacrament from the private chapel. It was in 1986, after the estate was abandoned, that restoration was undertaken. Finally, the National Capital Commission of Quebec became its owner in 1996.


Gråborg is the ruin of a castle in Öland, Sweden. It is located in Algutsrum parish in Mörbylånga Municipality. The oldest parts of the ancient castle are probably from the 5th century. The castle was expanded in stages into the 12th century. During the Middle Ages, Gråborg was probably utilized as  a protected marketplace. It was the site of St. Knut chapel which  is also in ruins.


Gråsten Palace (Danish: Gråsten Slot)  is located at Gråsten in the Jutland region of southern Denmark. It is best known for being the summer residence of the Danish Royal Family.  The main house has a modern, all-white facade, with Venetian doors opening onto sweeping, manicured lawns and gravel walkways. The grounds include a huge stables court.


Gråsten  was in its first edition a small hunting castle built in the middle of the 16th century.
The  south wing of the present-day main house is believed to be built on the site of the second structure, that was built in 1603 to replace a hunting lodge which had been destroyed in a fire in the middle of the 16th century.  After about three and a half succeeding centuries of ownership by Danish nobles, Gråsten Slot was taken over by the State, extensively restored, and by 1935, it was the summer residence for then-Crown Prince Frederik, later King Frederik IX, and Crown Princess Ingrid, later Queen Ingrid, who adored the palace until her death in November 2000.  It is the usual venue for the royal family's official summer photo shoot.
In November 1845, Hans Christian Andersen visited Duke Christian August II at Gråsten Castle.
Legend had it that Gråsten Palace was where Andersen wrote The Little Match Girl, during his visit. However that is not the case.  Andersen wrote it when he visited Augustenborg Palace.


The estate area has an area of 6.6 square kilometres (2.5 sq mi).
The property includes a stables court, manicured lawns, and gravel walkways.
Graasten Palace Chapel in the north wing  is the only building remaining from the original baroque palace after a 1757 fire.
Despite a badly damaged interior from the Second Schleswig War, the chapel is decorated with 80 paintings. The chapel has bilingual congregations, with German and Danish services to accommodate the mix of local culture.


Grótta ([ˈkrouhta]) is a tied island at the extreme end of Seltjarnarnes in the Capital Region of Iceland. During high tide the tombolo is completely submerged, turning Grótta into an island.
The island is accessible by foot during low tide, giving people a window of about six hours to visit the island. Grótta and the region close by is a popular outdoor recreational area.
Grótta became a nature reserve in 1974 and it is forbidden to visit it during nesting season, from 1 May to 15 July. There are about 450 couples of arctic terns in Grótta.
A lighthouse was originally built in 1897, a new one was built in 1947. The local search and rescue association is named after long term lighthouse keeper Albert Þorvarðarson (1910–1973).
The main house has been deserted since 1970. The municipality acquired the buildings in 1994 and they are now used as occasional facilities for groups on school trips.


Grüner Heiner is a mountain of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is a Schuttberg, an artificial hill built from the ruins and rubble from World War II.


The Gran Casino del Sardinero is a leading gambling casino in the city of Santander in the autonomous community of Cantabria (Spain). It is in the Plaza de Italia in El Sardinero.


There had been a casino very popular with royalty in this location, but it was demolished after a fire in the 1890s and the present building erected. It opened in 1916, designed by architect Eloy Martínez del Valle.
Since it opened the casino has combined roulette and baccarat with dancing and staging of plays, musicals and operas. Not because it stopped being the focal point of summer fun, a situation which, however, was a remarkable turn during the post-war. The almost complete closure of their premises, except the theater which was assigned to art cinema and testing, continued until December 1, 1978, when it was reopened as a gambling casino after of the restoration carried out by the architect Ricardo Lorenzo, who kept the neoclassical style with modernist touches.
As of 2011 it has a game room and a room of slot machines, a restaurant, three dining rooms, two bars, installed in each of the gaming rooms, a café and a party room. It also has a showroom is usually the presence of works of art by various artists. The games played in the game room are roulette of single 0, blackjack, poker without discarding, and slot machines and electronic roulette in the machines room. Currently, has been incorporated the modality of Texas holdem tournament.
The Gran Casino sponsors and organizes various cultural and sporting events (Festival Internacional de Santander), photographic contests, sculpture and painting exhibitions, bowling, football, rowing and other activities.


WikiWeb_Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall_1

Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall ** (added 1997 - Building - #97000097)
Also known as G.A.R. Memorial Hall
1101 Massachusetts Ave., St. Cloud
Historic Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Architect, builder, or engineer: 	Chessman, M.W.
Architectural Style: 	Early Commercial
Area of Significance: 	Architecture, Community Planning And Development, Social History
Period of Significance: 	1900–1924, 1925–1949
Owner: 	Private
Historic Function: 	Social
Historic Sub-function: Meeting Hall
Current Function: 	Commerce/Trade, Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: 	Museum, Professional


WikiWeb_Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall_2

The hall was the meeting place of the Lucius L. Mitchell GAR Post No. 34, which was named for the first Union veteran to die in the St. Cloud colony, and which was one of 34 GAR posts in Florida. It is now the meeting place of the Lucius L Mitchell Camp No. 4 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the successor organization to the Grand Army of the Republic.


Grand Beach is one of a series of beaches on the east shore of Lake Winnipeg. Its fine white sand has made it an attractive summer destination since the early years of the twentieth century when the Canadian Northern Railway established an excursion line to the area. The resort developed by the railway included many amenities including a dance hall, piers and a carousel. Most of the visitors were Winnipeg residents travelling by train and returning to the city the same day.
The increase in car ownership and concurrent road improvement after the end of World War II resulted in a declining number of customers for the excursion trains. The railway did not rebuild the dance hall when it burnt down in 1950 and in 1963, the tracks were removed. Today, beachgoers still flock to Grand Beach, arriving by car along Manitoba Highway 59.


The park attracts thousands of visitors a year, and is a very popular tourist destination. Available activities include excellent bird watching, cycling and hiking trails, boating, fishing, kiteboarding and berry picking (saskatoons, chokecherries, and blueberries).  In the winter the park offers snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. There are numerous tourist attractions, which include food and merchandise vendors, recreation facilities, bike, hiking, and ski trails, a fishing dock, a boardwalk, and camping facilities. Forty-eight seasonal camp sites, all of which have electricity are located in the park. There are 306 casual campsites, in all about half offer electricity.
A park pass is required for vehicle entry to the park. Passes are available from regional businesses or at the park gate. There are also a few "free park entry weekends" per year, including Family Fishing Weekend, Canada Parks Day and the September Long Weekend.


The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM; Arabic: المتحف المصرى الكبير al-Matḥaf al-Maṣriyy al-Kabīr), also known as the Giza Museum, is an archaeological museum under construction in Giza, Egypt. When inaugurated, the GEM will be the largest archaeological museum in the world. It will house artifacts of ancient Egypt, including the complete Tutankhamun collection; many pieces will be displayed for the first time. The museum is sited on a plot of land of about 480,000 square metres (5,200,000 sq ft) approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Giza pyramid complex and is part of a new master plan for the Giza Plateau called Giza 2030.
The construction of the museum, carried out by a joint venture established by the Belgian company BESIX Group and the Egyptian company Orascom Construction, was scheduled to be completed in 2021. The opening of the museum had also been announced for 2021, however it has since been delayed again to late 2022.


The building design was decided by an architectural competition announced on 7 January 2002. The organisers received 1,557 entries from 82 countries, making it the second largest architectural competition in history. In the second stage of the competition, 20 entries submitted additional information on their designs. Judging was complete by 2 June 2003. The competition was won by architects Róisín Heneghan and Shi-Fu Peng, and their company Heneghan Peng Architects (Ireland) winning 250,000 dollars. Second place was awarded to Coop Himmelblau. Héctor Vigliecca and Luciene Quel (Brazil), Ruben Verdi (Italy), Michael Zimmermann, Engel und Zimmermann (Germany), Fernando Pardo Calvo y Bernardo Garcia Tapia, Nuno Filipe Morais Monteiro (Portugal) and Martin Roubik (Czech Republic) received Honorable Mention. The building is designed by Heneghan Peng Architects, Buro Happold and Arup. The landscape and site masterplan was designed by West 8, The exhibition masterplan, exhibition design and museology is by Atelier Brückner.
The building is shaped like a chamfered triangle in plan. It sits on a site 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) west of the pyramids, near a motorway interchange. The building's north and south walls line up directly with the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Menkaure. In front of the building is a large plaza, filled with date palms. One of the main features of the museum is the translucent stone wall, made of alabaster, that makes up the front façade of the building. Inside the main entrance is a large atrium, where large statues will be exhibited.
On 2 February 2010, Hill International announced that Egypt's Ministry of Culture had signed a contract with a joint venture of Hill and EHAF Consulting Engineers to provide project management services during the design and construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The total estimated project cost is US$550m, US$300m of which will be financed from Japanese loans, the remaining will be financed by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, other donations and international funds.
The new museum is designed to include the latest technology, including virtual reality. The museum will also be an international center of communication between museums, to promote direct contact with other local and international museums. The Grand Egyptian Museum will include a children's museum, conference center, training center, and workshops similar to the old Pharaonic places.


On 5 January 2002, then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak laid the foundation stone of the Grand Egyptian Museum. On 25 August 2006 the Statue of Ramesses II was moved from Ramses Square in Cairo to the Giza Plateau, in anticipation of construction of the museum. The Statue of Ramesses II, estimated to be approximately 3,200 years old, was moved to the entrance of the museum in January 2018.
In 2007, GEM secured a $300 million loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The Egyptian Government will fund $147 million while the remaining $150 million will be funded through donations and international organisations.
In late August 2008, the design team submitted over 5,000 drawings to the Egyptian Ministry of Culture. Following this, the construction tender was announced in October 2008. Earthmoving has begun to excavate the site for the building.
Tendering was due in September 2009, with an estimated completion date of 2013.
On 11 January 2012, a joint venture between Egypt's Orascom Construction (OC) and the Belgian BESIX was awarded the contract for phase three of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), a deal valued at $810 million.
In January 2018, Besix and Orascom brought in and installed an 82-ton, 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses II in the Grand Egyptian Museum. It was the first artefact to be installed in the Museum, during construction due to its size.
On 29 April 2018, a fire broke out near the entrance of the GEM but artifacts were not damaged and the cause of the fire was unknown.
In May 2018, the last of King Tutankhamun's chariots was moved to GEM.
In November 2018, the estimate for a full opening was pushed back to last quarter of 2020, according to Tarek Tawfik, GEM's director.
In April 2020, the planned opening of the museum was pushed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The GEM is available for private tours in advance of its official opening.


On 10 June 2018, the museum's "logo" was revealed, which will be used in the museum's promotional campaign in Egypt and the world. The Lebanese-Dutch logo was designed by Tariq Atrissi. The cost of the design amounted to 800,000 Egyptian pounds, which included the costs of designing the museum exhibition implemented by the German company "Atelier Bruckner".


The exhibition will cover about one-third of the total museum grounds displaying c.18,000 artifacts (c.5000 objects in the Tutankhamun galleries, and c.13,000 objects in the other galleries) from the museum's total collections of c.50,000 objects. The main attraction will be the first exhibition of the full tomb collection of King Tutankhamun. The collection includes about 5,000 items in total and will be relocated from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Other objects will be relocated from storages and museums in Luxor, Minya, Sohag, Assiut, Beni Suef, Fayoum, the Delta, and Alexandria.
In August 2021 the reconstructed Khufu ship, a solar barque, was relocated to the Grand Egyptian Museum from the Giza Solar boat museum beside the Great Pyramid.


The Grand Matsu Temple, also known as the Datianhou or Great Queen of Heaven Temple, is a temple to the Chinese Goddess Mazu, who is the Goddess of Sea and Patron Deity of fishermen, sailors and any occupations related to sea/ocean. The temple is located in the West Central District of Tainan on Taiwan.
It is open seven days a week, with free admission.