Studies of the construction have proved that the town hall was located at the same place in the 13th century. The 600-year-old building was built upon the old town hall's brickwork. A stone building was there in 1250. A building with a meeting room (consistorium) and a basement (cellarium civitatis) is mentioned in 1322. As the town grew richer and more powerful, it was rebuilt. At the end of the 14th century, the building was as tall as it is now, but it was narrow and without the tower. Only the arcade-gear, which differed from the current one, referred to the fact that it was not an ordinary dwelling house.
By the 14th century, Tallinn (old name: Reval) developed into one of the most important intermediate ports of the Hanseatic trade road between Europe and Russia. The 15th century was the heyday of the Hanseatic city Tallinn, when the city was largely rebuilt thanks to the profits from trade. The central article that made its way from Europe through Tallinn to Russia, was salt. Salt was followed by fabrics and herring. Metals, wine and spices were also important. Although some of the things mentioned stayed at the local market, most of it went on to Russia. Crops were the most important from the goods taken from Tallinn to the west. Rye, wood, flax and limestone were from Livonia. Most building monuments that have remained to this day, come from the 15th century: Middle Age merchant houses, churches, guild halls and including the town hall.
The major work began at the beginning of the 15th century. The town council celebrated Easter of 1402 in the old building. The construction started right after the holidays. The leading master of the building was probably stonemason Ghercke. It is possible that the leading masters, including Ghercke, came from downtown Toompea, where extensive works had ended in the last quarter of the 14th century in the fortress, the circular wall of Great Toompea and in the Cathedral (toomkirik). 600 logs, 581 balks, 46 pairs of girders and 107 burdens of stone were brought to the construction site. The stones were brought from Lasnamäe, where a stonemasons village was located. The names of the carriers have been documented. Crude stones were brought for the bricklaying, but some of the details had to be made of cut stone. The main construction – foundations, walls and vaults – was built out of limestone brought from the limestone plateau, limestone brought from stone pits near the city and all put together using lime mortar. In 1403, the stones were cut and an arcade, pillars supporting the vaults, window jambs, etc. were built. The pillars of the arcade and the main portal in the western section that had an important role in the development of the building style of Tallinn, were built by Ghercke himself and his helpers. The smaller southern portal of the cathedral (Tallinna Toomkirik) was used as an example. It is known that the stonemason Yckmele built the pillars for the wine cellar and 200 blocks for the outer corners of the building. The windows were built by master Keyzner, one of the large family of stonemasons. Master Ghercke and his two helpers were paid five Rigan marks (one Rigan mark weighed 207.8 g of silver).
The construction work was finished at the end of 1404. The masters who had placed the tiles, glazed the windows and cleaned up the debris, got their salaries. The town council celebrated Christmas in a new building. The construction had lasted for two and a half years. The builders worked only in summer. A white lime coating covered the walls and left clean stone-constructions, that were made glossy, for many centuries.
The construction works continued later: the roof and a tower were repaired, the windowpanes and staircases were changed and the ovens were set. The Golden Age of the historical Tallinn was a period from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 16th century. The economical prosperity of the Hanseatic times made architecture and artistic creations possible. The vane Old Thomas was established above the town hall in 1530 (the current vane is its exact copy; the initial vane is in the town hall's basement and the vane from 1996 is in the city museum (Linnamuuseum)). Heinrich Hartmann, who was from a well-known molder family, prepared a bell for the town hall at the end of the 16th century. In the 17th century the town hall got a new spire that was made by master builder Greiger Graff.
The sharp Gothic spire was replaced with a current spire in a Late Renaissance style in 1627–1629. "It can be said by the bricks with one sign, that several of the façade works, the repairs of the tower’s console and gable, the installation of new decorative gargoyles and the works of the interior, were done in the same time or at least solidly," architect Teddy Böckler said. "Apparently, the partitions were built in the grand hall between the pillars and the bulkhead at the height of the consoles, between the years 1630 and 1650. The fireplaces were built to heat these small rooms. Formerly, there were no rain deflectors that would reach the ground. The dragon-headed gargoyles from stone or iron were on the eaves instead of these. They had to lead the water away from the building. The coppersmith Daniel Pöppel hammered dragon-headed gargoyles from the copper-plates simultaneously with finishing the tower.  Now they are in the town hall because of their beauty.
In 1652–1652, the main entrance of the town hall was rebuilt and transferred to the central part of the building, which is characteristic of Baroque architecture. The main portal was closed. The arcade and the windows of the basement and the first floor, which revealed the originality and representation of the town hall, were walled up. The citizens' hall was divided into two floors and was divided into separate rooms. In 1860, the quadrangular windows were built ogival.
In 1944, the spire of the town hall burst into flames and was destroyed in the bombing of Tallinn in the World War II. This was the push to renovation after the war. The restorations were extensive. The tower was restored in 1952. In 1959–1960, the arcade was opened again and the traces of reconstructions from the previous century were removed. In 1971–1975 (architect Teddy Böckler, interior decorators Leila Pärtelpoeg and Udo Umberg), the walls and ceilings that had been built later were demolished and the town hall was constructed into a representative institution of Tallinn.
The tower's wooden structure that had been restored in 195, was partly rotten by 1996 and the tin coating was broken. So, the spire and the Old Thomas with a symbolic meaning were both replaced. The Old Thomas could have fallen down in case of a bigger storm. The works began in the beginning of 1996, when the needed details were prepared in Albu parish. The parts of the tower were transported to Tallinn in June – the assembly and covering with copper tiles had already begun. It took 1.4 tonnes of copper plates to cover the wooden structure of the tower. In the last week of work on Wednesday, the tower's parts were put together and initially, the Old Thomas was placed on the tower next to the town hall tower. The old tower had to be strengthened so that it would not decay during the work. The upper part was raised at 8:45 a.m. Initially the work was planned to be finished at 3:00 p.m but was delayed until night. The wind rose and when only the last part of the tower was left to be raised, there was a risk that the wind would disturb the work. Finally, at 7:00 p.m., the last part of the tower was taken to its place. The tower's construction and placement were worked out by the project office Sille, engineer Danil. Plans were carried out by AS Stinger, led by Voldemar Metsaallik. The spire was put up with the help of Pekkaniska aerial platform.
During the restorations in 1970, one huge medieval hall was restored. It had been rebuilt as smaller chambers for over 300 years. The ovens' two foot chimneys that were built to heat the chambers were demolished from the hall to the vaulted ceiling. The hole in the vaulted ceiling that was hacked there in the 17th century was covered with a plastered wooden base hanging on the ropes.
In 1996, the Old Thomas might have lost his sword when the old tower was lifted down. The Old Thomas' fastenings were almost completely unfixed and the water dripped from the tower sphere underneath the vane. Apparently, the sword could have fallen down with a storm on the town hall's roof or ended up in the house of a souvenir collector. In Tõnu Lauk's opinion, the Old Thomas decayed quickly because in 1952, the statue was left unpainted. In addition, nothing was done to prevent the rusting of fixing details. In addition, the wooden structure was built improperly. Water flowed in and the tower rotted quickly. During the construction of the new tower and a vane, these mistakes were kept in mind. Old Thomas was primed with red tin, painted and partly gilded. The light-green vane is allegedly exactly the same as the original. Old Thomas' face, neck, feet, sword, flag and the tower sphere on which the statue stands are golden. It took about four grams of golden plates for all of this. The change occurred in 1992 from architect Böckler from AS Vana Tallinn. He stated that complete gilding was not common before. The first Old Thomas from the year 1530 was also partly gilded. The original of Old Thomas and the dragon-head-shaped gargoyles that are also partly gilded confirm that saying.
The spire had lost its initial shape until that time because of the many restoration projects over the years. The current tower is more like the Niguliste church. It is more slim so that there is no room to move in the external balcony. The current spire is more characteristic of the 17th century Late Renaissance period. Until the construction works in autumn, the spire was red but then it was coloured green. Reconstructing the tower cost the city administration 1.8 million crowns in the old currency (Estonian crowns). The money was taken from the town's budget.
Tallinn Town Hall's attic was cleaned in 2002 and 2003. The construction company demolished the chimney to "the level of the attic floor" that had emerged from the rubbish that had accumulated in the vaults. The people undertaking the demolition did not dig through it themselves. About 300 tonnes/70 truckloads of rubbish were carried out from the vault's top. The vast majority was the ground that filled the gaps between arch domes and which historically fulfilled the role of heating. More than 300 findings were found during the excavation, among them were unique documents and things. During the past ten years they have been examined, cleaned and preserved and a small selection of them is on exhibition in the town hall's attic. Letters written to the town council and aldermen from the 14th–16th centuries, medieval firefighting equipment, tools, revolutionary leaflets from the year 1905, and more are on display. Teddy Böckler (born 17 May 1930 – died 8 December 2005), was Tallinn Town Hall's restoration architect from 1959 until the last restoration phase that was finished according to his project in 2006.
Most of the elements of the interior decor were not thrown away as the town hall's architect back then – Böckler – thought that they were a nice, complete and dignified part of the interior. In addition to the citizen's hall furniture, carbon black polyester lacquer partition doors called piano doors, which were very fashionable at the time and are in harmony with the other black elements of the interior, remained. The director of the town hall, Elviira Liiver Holmström, said that in addition to being restored, the town hall was partly reconstructed. Because of this, the town hall kitchen got back its casing pipe, which was once demolished. The chimney is partly a stairway where a spiral staircase leads to the attic. The attic was cleaned of dust and renovated and has become a museum and place for exhibitions.
In 2003, on 17 April, a huge piece of chimney from the 17th century that had been found while excavating the layer of rubbish in the attic fell through the big hall's ceiling; the hall was closed to events until 5 May. According to Böckler, the human-height piece from the fireplace stayed untouched during the restoration works in the 1970s. Two-metre high parts on the foot chimney were cleaned during the excavation of the Town Hall's attic. The brick lost its support from friction and relied on the wooden cover of the vaulted ceiling, of which the rope broke at night. At the moment of the accident, there were no people in the room.
In 2008, a medieval well and different models were found under the floor. The accounting room located on the second floor that had been the aldermen's workroom – and from the end of the 19th century until the 1970s the mayor's cabinet – was innovated in the same year. Tallies from the 16th and 17th century were copied, the copies were exhibited and the whole room was redesigned.
In 2009, Tallinn Town Hall underwent repairs for two months from February to March and the building was closed. Major repairs were planned. Initially there were plans to make floor repairs and large renovations. Floor tiles from dolomite were planned to be replaced with limestone. In addition to excavation, an underground drainage was planned to be opened to examine its condition; in addition, the expected findings were intended to be exhibited. Due to the lack of money, the scale of the project declined. Repairs were done in the basement hall, but events were not held in the upper hall due to the construction dust and noise. The walls of the ceiling had become friable to the touch and had started to decay. The ceiling in the basement was cleaned from the hatched and dirty latex colour and whitewashed. In addition, repairs were made in the staff room, which was given new furniture and lighting, as the rooms were too dim before the repairs.


The town hall tower was built along with the town hall in 1402–1404. In the beginning, the tower had a gothic style pyramid spire, which was replaced in 1627 by a renaissance-shaped spire (height 26 metres). The height of the tower starting from the lower part of the arcade is 64 metres.
It is possible to climb up into the Town Hall tower and see the old town from a completely different angle. It is not possible to get to the tower's dome edge where the borders can be seen, but the first windows can still be reached (exactly to the tower's clock). Half of the windows have metal nets in front of them; the others have bars. The staircase leading up is steep, but as the tower is not very high, it is not a problem. The scent of gingerbread comes from a nearby restaurant, Olde Hansa.
Writings about the tower's history can be seen. The narrow staircase allows only one guest to come and go. So, getting from one side to the other is not very simple, however the stair bays sometimes give the opportunity to let faster people pass. The staircase leading to the tower has 115 stairs. The clock balcony is located 34 metres above the ground.


In 1547, the Tallinn town council ordered arrases and bench tapestries. The tapestries were knitted using dyed wool with natural textile colors. They were made in the Netherlands in the city of Enghien. The details of the story of King Solomon are depicted in the tapestries. On each one there are three Tallinn coats of arms as an identification of the client and the year the tapestry was made (1547) is written above the coat of arms. Since 1937, these tapestries have belonged to the Tallinn City Museum. There are copies in the Tallinn Town Hall.
The nine-metre original of the Tallinn tapestries is kept in the Tallinn City Museum textile warehouse. The tapestries, which are five and a half centuries old, are so valuable that they cannot be touched with bare hands. The copy in Tallinn Town Hall was made in Oxford, England by a company named Hines of Oxford for the 600th birthday of the Tallinn Town Hall. The tapestry-making was directed by photographs and unfaded wool samples taken from the back of the carpet.
Göran Bo Hellers, a professor at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, looked at the tapestry woven in the Netherlands in 1547 and found that a medieval political message is hidden in it, which invites Tallinn to join Europe. He thinks that the message in the tapestries invites Estonia to a Catholic state and under the central power of Brussels. Five hundred years before that happened, Karl V tried to connect different parts of Europe into a unitary Europe. He tried to become the ruler of the united Europe and the pictures depicted on the tapestries propagate that in 1547. The ancient King Solomon could represent Karl V himself, the emperor of Holy Roman Empire. The Netherlands, the country where the original tapestries were made, belonged to Catholic Emperor Karl at that time. Tallinn had become Lutheran during the Reformation. Five and a half centuries later the dream of Karl V came true. Despite some minor disagreements, Europe is more united than ever and Estonia is again a part of Europe.
The seven colorful tapestries that decorate the main building in Tallinn were ordered from the Netherlands by the alderman Arent Pakebusch, who had prepaid 150 marka. After finishing the tapestries in 1548, he paid 341.5 marka and 4 killings. Two eight-metre-long tapestries depict Israel's king and a country gold-coverer Solomon's stories about his life from the Old Testament.
Five shorter tapestries depict colorful plant ornaments. The tapestries were brought into the parlour of the Town Hall only in very solemn cases. The tapestry brought the room to life and made the walls, which act as wind baffle plates, warmer. Tallinn Town Hall ordered the medieval tapestries' copies from an Oxford company, Hines of Oxford.
According to the words of Elvira Liiver, it is a miracle that the tapestries have survived. In the 20th century, there were two occasions when Tallinn almost lost its valuable tapestries. In 1909, the city administration had very many Estonians in it despite Estonia belonging to the Russian empire. City commissioner and businessman Albert Koba wanted to sell the tapestries and build a school or a hospital with the money. The community stepped forward. Very many articles were published, even in the newspapers of Riga and Saint Petersburg. With the help of public pressure, the tapestries were not sold. During the First World War, the famous tapestries were taken in sealed boxes to Moscow to be safely hidden away for the duration of the war. They could easily have stayed there, as did the assets of the University of Tartu. Politician Jaan Poska managed to obtain the return of the tapestries, along with other valuables from Russia, with the Treaty of Tartu (Tartu Rahu). The tapestries have been the property of the City Museum (Linnamuuseum) since 1937.


The change of the squire did not necessarily bring any important changes for the town council. A separate chapter of the history of the municipality of Tallinn is the so-called vicegerency time, when the empress Katherine II temporarily replaced the town council as the city administration with the city duma with her city law in 1785 – the so-called charter to cities. The former rights of the town council were restored by emperor Paul I.
A breakthrough in the history of the municipality of Tallinn started in 1877 on 26 March, when the general Russian city law of 1870 was validated in the Baltic cities with the ukase of emperor Alexander II. The town council was replaced by an elective council (duma) and the city agency (uprava). The duma also chose the mayor. The first elections of the Tallinn duma took place on 24 and 25 November 1877. The first meeting of the new duma was on 22 December 1877; Oscar Arthur von Riesemann was chosen to be the first mayor in this meeting. The town council only remained as a judicial authority.
On 9 July 1889 the Russian court act of 1864 inured and the Tallinn town council was eliminated. The last festal meeting of the town council was held on 17 November 1889.
The town council is a shorter form of the magistrate. The magistrate was a council that led independent cities during the Middle Ages. The time of the development of the town council is not known. It could have been in the 1230s, when Danish, German, Scandinavian and Slavic craftsmen and merchants started to gather in the already-existing Estonian settlement. The Tallinn town council was mentioned for the first time in the record given by Erik IV on 15 May 1248, which validated Tallinn's right to use the Lübeck law. The rights of Lübeck's citizens were an example. From that time on, the Tallinn town council remained the leading institution of almost all of the fields of the city for six and a half centuries.
The victory of such independent cities was an important step at that time which meant that the city was free from the power of the king and the feudal lords.  The feudals thought that the existence of such cities was "breaking the laws of God and humans". This victory did not come easy. The struggle was successful only thanks to the fact that cities were striving for independence all over Europe.
Each year, the town council extradited its own regulations and orders (Bursprake, Willküre) supporting on the Lübeck law, which were publicly announced to the citizens. When making more important decisions, the town council had to consider the opinions of important guilds, the most powerful of which was the Great Guild. The fact that both the town council and the Great Guild used the same image on their coat of arms – a white cross on a red background – refers to their close relations. The members of the town council were elected to a lifelong position, but after a certain amount of time they were allowed to disconnect themselves from their duties so as to develop their businesses. In August 1255, the rights of Tallinn were revalidated, a month after the first Codex of Tallinn was put together, which had 99 articles in it. Fourteen parchment pages have remained from the codex (the 15th is ruined, but the text has copied itself on the clean 16th page).


"In the year 1525, on a Sunday after the day of Fabianus and Sebastianus, the honorable Town Council let everybody and anyone, who were connected to this city, both clergymen and seculars, to strongly ask and announce that if anyone has any property such as gold, money and other valuables, silver forging, odds-and ends, seals, historical records, or any other wealth, that belongs to the Black brother's monastery and has been gotten from the monks in there as a deposit or in any other way or kept by self, the honorable Town Council must know about this at once and it must be given to them. Otherwise everything that is found from anybody or that is arrested, is considered to be stolen and according to this, the hider of this wealth is not left unpunished."
The regulation of the town council cited above contains, in a combined manuscript, earlier parts which were written in the early 16th century and later parts from the 1550s. In addition, there exist transcripts whose original versions originate from the beginning of the 15th century. The basic part volume contains different craftsmen constitutions including different versions about painters, spinners, stonemasons, smiths, goldsmiths, bakers, sadlers, butchers, teamsters, furriers and cobblers constitutions from the 15–16th centuries.
In addition to these, there are some Town Council regulations, of which the most interesting ones are ff.79r–89r provisions from the Reformation regarding reorganizations of church life in 1524 and 1525. The important part of what is known about the town hall actions is connected to the Reformation – for example, new church management, demands to return church property stolen due to iconoclasm, and in this context, awareness of the existence the iconoclastic movement itself generally originates from this archival document.
A regulation on 22 January 1525 was driven by the fact that dissolution of the fraternity of the Ministerial Brothers of Tallinn did not help to regain the important part of the fraternity's property, because the brothers had hidden more valuable moveables and documents largely near Harju and Viru vassals, but also partly in the houses of citizens. After the dissolution of the fraternity on 12 January 1525, the management of the abbey (prior Augustinus Emsinckhoff, lecturer and subprior Thomas de Reken and procurator David Sliper) was taken into custody to force them to reveal information about the location of the abbey's treasure and privileges. The reports of all three have remained, but are not dated. Judging from the hints that can be found in these letters about the negotiations between the procurator and prior about the issue of treasure, the reports were compiled probably after issuing the town council regulation.
At the time of issuing the regulation, it was probably known the houses of Tallinn's citizens contained the property; its exact location was apparently unknown. It cannot be excluded that the town hall had more complete details or at least assumptions about the concealer; however, unwilling to use force, they initially attempted to seize the property voluntarily. Interesting is the wording of the regulation. Firstly, it is remarkable that the regulation does not refer to the citizens or inhabitants, but to everyone connected to the town.
As it was said, the Dominicans did not only store their property in the houses of Tallinn's inhabitants; the town hall could have had information about it (the penalization of the people living outside of the town was a juridical problem for the town hall). Appealing to the clergy as well as to laypeople was a formality of the stronghold of the elite in that time because the prosecution of clergymen was very doubtful in a Catholic town.
Some expressions that concern the distribution of the brothers' property are with a certain content and refer to the fact that the delivery process took place according to all the moveable deposition rules cannot be excluded that with a judicial involvement. What these rules were like is unknown – any remaining medieval acts from Tallinn do not describe such a procedure. It is possible that a more universal civil right was used.
There are no facts about the results of agitation. It can be assumed that nothing important was achieved – there are no longer inventories of the abbey's property among the town hall's documents and the conventory's archives need separate investigation. The regulation cited above is only one example of how energetically the secular power intervened in church life at the time of the Reformation.


The Tallinn Town Hall had its own watch guard. The guards kept order in the town, but also observed whether the enemy was approaching the city or if a fire had broken out from the tower. When a disaster endangered the city, the alarm was raised on the clock balcony. The creator of the alarm clock, which dates back to the year 1586, is Tallinn artillery craftsman Hinrik Hartmann. There is  writing on the lower edge of the clock stating Au olgu jumalale kõrges. Issanda aastal 1586. Igaüks hoidku oma tuld ja lõket, et sest linnale mingit kahju ei tekiks. The meaning of this is:
"Glory to God in the highest. Year 1586 of our Lord. Everyone should keep their own fire and bonfire so as not to cause any harm to the city." Until the 20th century, the clapper of the alarm was pulled from the rope on the hour according to the number of hours. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the chimes have been struck by a clock which is located on the town hall's façade, with the help of an electronic system.


Tallinn had already experienced several air raids, but in 1944, 8,000 buildings, allegedly a third of the capital of Estonia and about 50% of its housing, were destroyed in the bombings of 9 and 10 March.
A medieval weighing house along with many other buildings was destroyed by a bomb hitting the Town Hall Square.
The air raid started unexpectedly in the evening at 7:15 p.m. and its first wave lasted until 9:25 p.m. At 1:00 a.m.a second wave of bombers arrived in the city and the bombs kept on falling until half past three in the morning. About 280 of the Red Army's bombers took part in both of the air raids. A massive number of explosive, incendiary and phosphorus bombs were dropped on the city. The spire of the Tallinn Town Hall burst into flames in the first air raid.


Tama Cemetery (多磨霊園, Tama Reien) in Tokyo is the largest municipal cemetery in Japan. It is split between the cities of Fuchu and Koganei within the Tokyo Metropolis. First established in April 1923 as Tama Graveyard (多磨墓地, Tama Bochi), it was redesignated Tama Cemetery in 1935. It is one of the largest green areas in Tokyo.


Around 1900, Tokyo had five public cemeteries - Aoyama, Somei, Yanaka, Zoshigaya and Kameido. As the population of Tokyo grew, and cemetery space grew scarce, there was a need to build a cemetery outside of the city limits of Tokyo. In 1919, city park manager Kiyoshi Inoshita issued a plan to establish a large park/cemetery to the north, east and west of Tokyo. Tama, to the west of Tokyo, was selected in 1920, with construction started two years later. It was said that the site was chosen because of access to transportation infrastructure, such as the Kōshū Kaidō, Keiō Line, Seibu Tamagawa Line, and Chūō Main Line. The cemetery was opened in 1923. The planned northern and eastern cemeteries are Sodaira and Yahashira, respectively.
In 1934, Gensui The Marquis Tōgō, the naval war hero, was buried in Tama Cemetery, spreading the popularity of the cemetery.  During World War II, Kawasaki Ki-61 from nearby Chofu Airfield were hidden and repaired in the cemetery. Some facilities in the cemetery still have bullet holes from U.S. strafing.
Use of the cemetery increased, with the last open spot used in 1963. Since 1963, only reburials and other such uses have opened up new spaces. In 1962 a green lawn-type cemetery was added, and in 1993, Mitama Hall, a columbarium, was added.


Aikawa Yoshisuke (1880-1967), the founder and first president of the Nissan zaibatsu between 1931 and 1945
General Anami Korechika (1887-1945), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, and War Minister at the surrender of Japan. Although outspoken against the Japanese surrender to Allied forces in 1945, he is noted for his stance against the Kyūjō coup attempt. His sense of honour and respect for the emperor's wish to end the war, left him no choice but to commit seppuku the morning after signing the surrender documents.
General Baron Araki Sadao (1877-1966), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Army before World War II and one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the late Japanese Empire
Arita Hachirō (1884-1965), the Minister for Foreign Affairs for three terms, who is believed to have originated the concept of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Azuma Ryōtarō (1893-1983), Governor of Tokyo from 1959 to 1967
Vice Admiral Fukudome Shigeru (1891-1971), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II
Lt-General Furushō Motoo (1882-1940), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Army
Baron Tanaka Giichi (1864-1929), a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and the 26th Prime Minister of Japan from 20 April 1927 to 2 July 1929
Hara Shūjirō (1871-1934), a politician who served as Minister for Colonial Affairs in the Empire of Japan
General Hayashi Senjūrō (1876-1943), the Imperial Japanese Army commander of the Chosen Army of Japan in Korea during the Mukden Incident and the invasion of Manchuria, and 33rd Prime Minister of Japan from 2 February 1937 to 4 June 1937
Gensui The Marquis Tōgō Heihachirō (1848-1934), a Gensui (or 'marshal-admiral') in the Imperial Japanese Navy and one of Japan's greatest naval heroes
Baron Honjō Shigeru (1876-1945), a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during the early period of the Second Sino-Japanese War
General Ichinohe Hyoe (1855-1931), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Army
Ino Hiroya (1891-1980), a politician and cabinet minister in Japan
Lt-General Inoue Masakichi (1886-1975), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II
Admiral Inoue Shigeyoshi (1889-1975), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II and a Vice-Minister of the Navy
Kanemitsu Tsuneo (1877-1955), politician and cabinet minister in the Empire of Japan
Lt-General Kawagishi Bunzaburō (1882-1957), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Army during the early stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Baron Den Kenjirō (1855-1930), a cabinet minister in the pre-war government of the Empire of Japan and the 8th Japanese Governor-General of Taiwan from October 29, 1919 to September 1923
Baron Hiranuma Kiichirō (1867-1952), a prominent pre–World War II right-wing Japanese politician and the 35th Prime Minister of Japan from 5 January 1939 to 30 August 1939
Kinoshita Mokutarō (1885-1945), a Japanese author, Dramaturge, poet, art historian and literary critic
Kishida Ryūsei (1891-1929), a Taishō and Shōwa period painter
Kitagawa Fuyuhiko (1900-1990), a Japanese poet and film critic
Count Kodama Hideo (1876-1947), a politician, and wartime cabinet minister in the Empire of Japan
Gensui Koga Mineichi (1885-1944), a commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet
Kurata Hyakuzō (1891-1943), a Japanese essayist and playwright on religious subjects that was active during the Taishō and early Shōwa periods
Vice Admiral Kurita Takeo (1889-1977), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II
Matsuda Genji (1876-1936), a politician and cabinet minister in the Empire of Japan
Mishima Tokushichi (1893-1975), a Japanese metallurgist
Mishima Yukio (1925-1970), a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director
Nakajima Chikuhei (1884-1949), founder of the Nakajima Aircraft Company and a cabinet minister for several posts
Noda Kōgo (1893-1968), a Japanese screenwriter most famous for collaborating with film director Ozu Yasujirō
Admiral Okada Keisuke (1868-1952), senior naval commander who served as the 31st Prime Minister of Japan from 8 July 1934 to 9 March 1936
Lt-General Sakurai Shōzō (1889-1985), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II
Admiral Baron Kataoka Shichirō (1854-1920), an early senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy
Richard Sorge (1895-1944), a German communist and spy who worked for the Soviet Union
Victor Starffin (1916-1957), the first professional baseball pitcher in Japan to win three hundred games
Gensui Sugiyama Hajime (1880-1945), Chief of the Imperial Army General Staff Office and, later, Minister of War in the Imperial Japanese Government during World War II between 1937 and 1944
Taniguchi Masaharu (1893-1985), a Japanese New Thought leader, founder of the Seicho-no-Ie religious movement
Lt-General Tatekawa Yoshitsugu (1880-1945), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II and ambassador to the Soviet Union that concluded the 1941 Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact
Tokonami Takejirō (1866-1935), a Japanese politician who served as Home Minister and Railway Minister
Tomoyuki Yamashita (1885-1946), a Japanese general, dubbed "The Tiger of Malaya", executed for war crimes
Gensui The Marquis Saigō Tsugumichi (1843-1902), a Japanese politician and admiral in the Meiji Period
Admiral Tsukahara Nishizō (1887-1966), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II
Uchimura Kanzō (1861-1930),  author, Christian evangelist, and the founder of the Non-church Movement in the Meiji and Taishō period
General Ugaki Kazushige (1868-1956), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Army, the 5th principal of Takushoku University, and twice Governor-General of Korea
General Ushiroku Jun (1884-1973), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Army
Vice Admiral Baron Shibayama Yahachi (1850-1927), a senior commander in the early Imperial Japanese Navy
Yamamoto Jōtarō (1867-1936), a bureaucrat, politician and entrepreneur in late Meiji and early Taishō period
Yamahata Yōsuke (1917-1966), a Japanese photographer best known for extensively photographing Nagasaki the day after it was bombed
Gensui Yamamoto Isoroku (1884-1943), a Japanese Marshal Admiral and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II
Yosano Akiko (1878- 1942), Japanese author, poet, pioneering feminist, pacifist, and social reformer
Admiral Yoshida Zengo (1885-1966), a senior commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II
General Kusunose Yukihiko (1858-1927), a senior commander in the early Imperial Japanese Army
Shōhei Ōoka (1909-1988), novelist, literary critic, and translator of French literature. Best known for Nobi (Fires on the Plain, 1951).
Edogawa Ranpo (1894-1965),  Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery fiction.
Machiko Soga (1938-2006), Japanese voice actress and actress best known for her villainous roles in tokusatsu
Jun Seba (1974-2010), Japanese record producer, DJ, composer, and arranger, better known by his stage name Nujabes
Rash Behari Bose (1886–1945), Indian Revolutionary Activist and Father of Shinjuku Nakamuraya "Indian Curry" West Bengal


Tambomachay (possibly from Quechua tampu inn, guest house, mach'ay cave, or machay drunkenness, to get drunk or "spindle with thread") is an archaeological site associated with the Inca Empire, located near Cusco, Peru. An alternate Spanish name is El Baño del Inca ("the bath of the Inca").
It consists of a series of aqueducts, canals and waterfalls that run through the terraced rocks. It is situated near springs such as the one called Timpuc Puquiu, a boiling spring on the northern bank of the Timpuc River and the spring near Huaylla Cocha community. These natural springs were channeled through three waterfalls that still flow today.
The function of the site is uncertain: it may have served as a military outpost guarding the approaches to Cusco, as a spa resort for the Incan political elite or imperial baths. It could have also served a religious function since sacred water fountains were found almost all of major Incan temple such as Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Machu Picchu. There are sources that refer to Tambomachay as one of the nine ceques built along the Road of Antisuyu, describing it as an Incan house where sacrifices were also made.


The Tampere City Hall (Finnish: Tampereen Raatihuone; Swedish: Tammerfors rådhus) is a Neo-Renaissance building in Tampere, Finland, situated at the edge of the Tampere Central Square. The current city hall was built in 1890 and was designed by Georg Schreck. The palacial building has many halls and the city of Tampere holds many events there. During the Great Strike in 1905, the so-called "Red Manifest" was read from the balcony of the Tampere City Hall.


The estate was closely associated during the 18th century with Frederick the Great. As Crown Prince, Frederick was stationed by his father in Küstrin, 5 km south-east of Tamsel along the Oder river.  Between August 1731 and February 1732, the Prince was a guest at Tamsel, and became clearly infatuated with the 24-year-old Frau von Wreech shortly before his reluctant marriage.  In his letters, the Prince referred to Tamsel as 'Calypso's island'.

25 years later, after a nearby battle Battle of Zorndorf with Russian forces on 30 August 1758, King Frederick visited Tamsel once again.  The estate had been looted and burned, and several children and teachers killed.
In May 1840, on the hundredth anniversary of Frederick II's accession to the throne, a statue was erected in the park to honour the King and his ties to Tamsel.  The statue is a replica of Christian Daniel Rauch's "Victoria" and the pedestal is inscribed with the text of Jeremiah 3:27: "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke of his youth."
After the last of the male Wreeches died without heirs, the castle passed into the ownership of a daughter of Luise Eleonore, who married Count Doenhoff.  In 1945 the castle was briefly the headquarters of the Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov.  The estate was largely spared damage during the Second World War, and EU funding in the late 1990s has been used for its partial restoration. The building is today partially empty, with areas used for a Kindergarten and lending library.
Theodor Fontane devotes a chapter to the estate and chapel in his Walks through the March of Brandenburg, Vol II "Oderland".
Hans Bentzien's My blackbird sings in Tamsel is a small illustrated volume, providing a history of Brandenburg and Tamsel.


The estate's chapel incorporates a Hall of Fame for Schöning, with its left transept holding statues, arms, and trophies. A double niche there hosts large stone statues of Field Marshal Hans Adam von Schöning and his wife. To the left is a marble bust of their son (Johann Ludwig von Schöning, 1675–1713).

Hans Adam von Schöning's large, copper coffin is also held in the chapel. It is decorated with a golden (or silver) crucifix and the family emblem, and the walls are decorated with flags inscribed:
Der hochwohlgeborene Herr, Herr Hans Adam von Schöning auf Tamsel, Warnick, Birkholz, Churf. Sächs. wohlbestallt gewesener General-Feldmarschall, wirklich Geheimer und Geheimer Kriegsrath, Obrister der Leibgarde zu Fuß, wie auch über ein Regiment Cürassiers und ein Regiment Dragoners, ward geboren zu Tamsel den 1. Oktober 1641, starb selig zu Dresden, den 28. August 1696.
The honorable gentleman, Mr. Hans Adam von Schöning on Tamsel, Warnick, Birkholz, Churf. Saxon. comfortably installed before in the General Field Marshal, and Privy council Privy really, colonel of the Guards on foot, as well as a regiment and a regiment of dragoon Cürassiers, was born to the first Tamsel October 1641, died blessed to Dresden, 28 August 1696.
Other notable coffins are those of Wreech's wife Eleonore Luise, who died at age 60, and of her sons, Friedrich Wilhelm von Wreich and Ludwig Graf von Wreich, the last two Wreeches.


MacDonogh, Giles (2001). Frederick the Great. New York. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-312-27266-1.
Fontane, Theodor (1880). Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg. Vol. II.
Bentzien, Hans (1996). Meine Amsel singt in Tamsel. Berlin. ISBN 3-929592-25-8.


The Tanzawa Mountains (丹沢山地, Tanzawa-sanchi) are a mountain range in the Kantō region in Japan. The mountain range covers the northwestern part of Kanagawa Prefecture and touches the prefecture borders of Shizuoka Prefecture to the west and the Yamanashi Prefecture to the north.


Mount Hiru 1,673 m (5,489 ft) (蛭ヶ岳 Hiru-ga-take)
Mount Fudō 1,614 m (5,295 ft) (不動ノ峰 Fudō-no-mine)
Mount Hinokiboramaru 1,601 m (5,253 ft) (檜洞丸 Hinokibora-maru)
Mount Tanzawa 1,567 m (5,141 ft) (丹沢山 Tanzawa-san)
Mount Tō 1,491 m (4,892 ft) (塔ノ岳 Tō-no-dake)
Mount Shindainichi 1,340 m (4,400 ft) (新大日 Shin-dainichi)
Mount Ōyama 1,252 m (4,108 ft) (大山 Ō-yama)


The mountain range offers moderate to strenuous trails.
The most popular peaks among climbers are Mount Tō (塔ノ岳) and Mount Ōyama (大山) (in the eastern part of the mountains), mainly due to their easier transportation access from Yabitsu Pass. However, the tallest of these mountains is Mount Hiru, which is 1,673 metres (5,489 ft). In comparison, Mount Tō is 1,491 m (4,891 ft) high and Mount Ōyama is 1,252 metres (4,108 ft) high. The western part is less often visited but offers the opportunity of river trekking or sawanobori (a form of mountaineering).
Climbers come from around Japan, and there has been a growing number of international climbers.


Fishing is popular activity within the rivers of Tanzawa. Many types of fish can be caught such as trout and yamame.


The Tanzawa Mountains are most accessible by Kanagawa Route 70, which runs between Hadano and Miyagase. The highest point of the route is Yabitsu Pass, approximately 11 km from Hadano. Toward the middle of the route is Kiyokawa Village, which offers lodging, camping, and fishing, and has a trail-head for hiking the mountains. Campsites can be found along Route 70. Another place of interest is Lake Miyagase, which is man-made and filled with a dam.


The landscape of the Tanzawa Mountains consists of rivers, streams, forests, mountains, valleys, and ridges. Like much of Japan, the moist climate allows for lush vegetation which offers habitats for a variety of wildlife.
The forestry is mixed and consisting of nearly half of the trees coniferous and the other half deciduous. The coniferous trees include Japanese cedar (杉) and Hinoki cypress (檜), and are mainly seen in the lower altitudes near the valleys. The deciduous trees include Japanese mountain maple (山紅葉) and Japanese beech, and are more common in the higher altitudes. Flowers can be found throughout the year, such as Rhododendron.
The area is populated with Japanese deer (鹿), Japanese raccoon dog (狸), Japanese flying squirrel and Japanese serow. There is also the Asiatic black bear throughout the mountains. Additionally, hundreds of species of birds such as kingfisher. Along the river banks, frogs and lizards can be commonly found.


The Tanzhe Temple (Chinese: 潭柘寺; pinyin: Tán Zhè Sì; lit. 'Temple of Pool and Zhe Tree') is a Buddhist temple situated in the Western Hills, a mountainous area in western Beijing. At one time, it was one of the most important temples in the nation.  The temple is located near China National Highway 108 in the Mentougou District of Beijing.
Built in the Jin Dynasty (266–420), it has an age of around 1,700 years. Tanzhe Temple is one of the oldest temples in Beijing.  The area of the entire temple is 100 mu (6.8 hectares), and its arrangement of halls is akin to that found in the Ming and Qing dynasties.


Tanzhe Temple was first established in the 1st year of Yongjia period (307) in Western Jin dynasty (265-317) with the name of Jiafu Temple (嘉福寺) and was later renamed Xiuyun Temple (岫云寺) by Kangxi Emperor (1662-1772) in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). But since there was a dragon pool behind the temple and mulberry trees in the mountain, so people always call it "Tanzhe Temple". For the reason that it was first built earlier than Beijing city, so there is a saying that "there comes first the Tanzhe Temple, then the Beijing city" (先有潭柘寺，后有北京城).
Tanzhe Temple entered the most glorious period in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), four emperors, namely Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722), Yongzheng Emperor (1723-1735), Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795) and Jiaqing Emperor (1796-1820) all came to Tanzhe Temple to worship Buddha, which elevated its position and attracted more people to the temple.


Most of the existing buildings in the temple are from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and there are pagodas from various historical periods such as the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. The over 900 rooms and 638 halls still maintain in the style of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The two "Emperor trees" by the Hall of Three Sages were planted during the Liao Dynasty (907-1125) about 1,000 years ago.
The spacious and imposing buildings are arranged in three main northsouth axes. Along the central axis are the Archway, the shanmen, Deveraja Hall, Mahavira Hall and Vairochana Pavilion.
The temple's central hall is its Mahavira Hall. 24 m (79 ft) in length, 33 m (108 ft) wide. Buddhist monks regularly perform religious ceremony here.
The temple is divided between the Hall of Abstinence, the Ordination Altar and the Hall of Guanyin. The latter has received fame because of its association with Princess Miaoyan, daughter of Kublai Khan. The princess is said to have entered nunnery here in the 13th century. The indentations can be found on the stone on which she always knelt and prayed within the hall. Supposedly she was also buried within the temple compound.
To the right of the main courtyard lies a separate yard containing stone monuments built in different styles over a period of several centuries and housing the remains of eminent monks.


The Mahavira Hall has double-eave hip roofs (重檐庑殿顶) covered with yellow glazed titles, which symbolize a high level in Chinese architecture. Under the eaves is a plaque with the words "Fuhai Zhulun" (福海珠轮; Fuhai means the western paradise and Zhulun means a big ship.) written by Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795) in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). On each end of the main ridge is a giant glazed Chiwen with colorful glaze and vivid style. It was made in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). Chiwen is a legendary animal with a dragon head and fish tail. In the ancient time, people placed Chiwen at both ends of houses' main ridges to prevent water leakage, avoid fire and protect their family. It was said that when Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722) once came to Tanzhe Temple, he saw the Chiwen was going to leave, he ordered to build a long gilded chain and plug a sword to lock and prevent it from escaping.


Tanzhe Temple has a large scale of tomb pagodas built near it. Now near 70 pagodas built in different dynasties are entirely preserved. They are of various types, such as stone column pagodas (石经幢式塔), monolayer square pagodas (方形单层浮屠式塔), dense-eave brick pagodas (密檐式砖塔) and overturned-bowl shaped pagodas with Tibetan style (覆钵形藏式石塔).


The Taoyuan Hakka Culture Hall (traditional Chinese: 桃園市客家文化館; simplified Chinese: 桃园市客家文化馆; pinyin: Táoyuán Shì Kèjiā Wénhuàguǎn) is a Hakka cultural center in Longtan District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.


The hall mainly displays the exhibition of Hakka culture, antiques and introduces all kinds of Hakka activities.


The hall regularly holds exhibitions, such as the 2016 Hakka Tung Blossom Festival in Taoyuan etc. The hall also holds various Hakka language-related events to promote the use of the language among youths and offer financial incentives to youths who wish to take the language test.


Tapsa (Pagoda Temple) and the Stone Pagodas of Mount Mai is a small Korean Buddhist Temple complex found in the Maisan (Horse Ear Mountain) in Jinan County, North Jeolla Province, South Korea.


The Tapsa Temple complex is found on Maisan (Horse Ear Mountain) under the cliff, south of Maibong (peak) within the Maisan Provincial Park complex, where today there remains at least 80 of Yi Gap Yong's Pagodas.
"Bizarre" is a term often used to describe the appearance of the somewhat alien looking landscape.  The style of the stone pagodas found here is very unusual and quite different from that of the stone pagodas, typical of the Shilla era, that employed fine stone cutting techniques.  It is this unusual appearance that draws so many visitors to Tapsa each year.
Many years after Yi Gap Yong started his project the site became a Buddhist Temple and Yi became an ordained monk.  A white statue of Yi Gap Yong, holding a wooden walking stick, rests comfortably at the foot of his temple complex.
Visitors to Maisan Provincial Park frequently visit Eunsusa (Buddhist Temple) and/or Geumdangsa (Buddhist Temple) on the way to, or from, the better known Tapsa that lies between these two temples on the path through the park.


Ohbangtap (Five Directions Pagoda)
Yaksatap (A God of Good Health Pagoda)
Walgwangtap (Moon Light Pagoda)
Ilgwangtap (Sun Light Pagoda)
Chungangtap (Center Rocking One Pagoda)
Shinjangtap (God of Defense Pagoda) minor pagodas - many which surround and protect the major pagodas


Daeungjeon (Main sanctuary or worship hall)
Sansingak (Hall for the Mountain Gods)
Youngsingak (Hall for Rites)
Jonggak (Bell Pavilion)
Mirukbul (Maitreya Buddha Statue)
Temple dormitory for monks


Tata Castle, built at the mid 14th-century on the northern tip of Lake Öreg (Old Lake), is one of the jewels of Tata, Hungary. Its blooming can be dated to the reign of Sigismund of Luxembourg (r. 1433–1437) and Mátyás Hunyadi (r. 1458–1490) as the summer resort of the king and a favoured residence. It was burnt by Habsburgs and later renovated. The walls of the castle reflect the marks of romantic style which is due to the Esterházy family who used to live here.


The Tavole Palatine ("Palatine Tables") are the remains of a hexastyle peripteral Greek temple of the sixth century BC, dedicated to the goddess Hera and the god Apollo. The temple, located near the Bradano river in the south of Italy, was part of a countryside sanctuary and remains of the wall of the temenos and of a very ancient altar are visible.


The remains are located in the archaeological area of Metapontum, on the last of the Givoni, ancient sandbanks near the right bank of the river Bradano, built over the remains of a neolithic village on the prehistoric road from Siris-Heraclea, about three kilometres from the ancient city of Metapontum.
The temple, restored in 1961, was initially attributed to the cult of the goddess Athena, but a fragment of a vase found in the course of the 1926 archaeological excavations turned out to be a votive dedicated to the goddess Hera, showing that she was the patron of the sanctuary.
Until the nineteenth century, the Tavole Palatine were also known locally as the Mensole Palatine (Palatine Shelves) or Colonne Palatine (Palatine Colonnade), probably in reference to the struggles of the French Paladins against the Saracens. The temple was also called the Scuola di Pitagora (School of Pythagoras) in memory of the great philosopher Pythagoras. In the Middle Ages it was also called the Mensae Imperatoris (Tables of the Emperor), probably referring to the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II who camped at Metapontum during his expedition against the Saracens in 982.


The temple was composed of a central naos, preceded by a pronaos and with an adyton at the rear. Fifteen columns with twenty flutes and Doric capitals survive. Of these fifteen columns, ten are on the north side and five on the southern side. Originally there were thirty-two columns, since the temple had a peristasis of twelve columns on each long side and six on each short side. The stylobate was 34.29 m (112.5 ft) long and 13.66 m (44.8 ft) wide, the naos 17.79 m × 8.68 m (58.4 ft × 28.5 ft). The temple has decayed significantly because it was built with local limestone (so-called mazzarro). In the fifth century BC, the temple had a tiled roof with multi-coloured decoration in the Ionic tradition, with leonine protomes and gargoyles.
Numerous remains of terracotta decoration, statuettes and ceramics, along with smaller column fragments were found near the temple during the 1926 excavations and are now kept at the Museo archeologico nazionale di Metaponto.


The Tay Bridge (Scottish Gaelic: Drochaid-rèile na Tatha) carries the railway across the Firth of Tay in Scotland between Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife. Its span is 2.75 miles (4.43 kilometres). It is the second bridge to occupy the site.
Plans for a bridge over the Tay to replace the train ferry service emerged in 1854, but the first Tay Bridge did not open until 1878. It was a lightweight lattice design of relatively low cost with a single track. On 28 December 1879, the bridge suddenly collapsed in high winds. The incident is one of the greatest bridge-related engineering disasters to have occurred. An enquiry determined that the bridge was insufficiently engineered to cope with high winds.
It was replaced by a second bridge constructed of iron and steel, with a double-track, parallel to the remains of the first bridge. Work commenced on 6 July 1883 and the bridge opened in 1887. The new bridge was subject to extensive testing by the Board of Trade, which resulted in a favourable report. In 2003, the bridge was strengthened and refurbished, winning a British Construction Industry Engineering Award to mark the scale and difficulty of the project.


Proposals to build a bridge across the Tay date to 1854 but it was not until 15 July 1870 that the North British Railway Tay Bridge Act received royal assent. On 22 July 1871, the foundation stone of the bridge was laid.
The bridge was designed by engineer Thomas Bouch, who received a knighthood following the bridge's completion. The bridge was a lattice-grid design, combining cast and wrought iron. The design had been used by Thomas W. Kennard in the Crumlin Viaduct in South Wales in 1858, after the use of cast iron in The Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace was not as heavily loaded as a railway bridge. An earlier cast-iron design, the Dee bridge collapsed in 1847, having failed because of poor use of cast-iron girders. Gustave Eiffel used a similar design to create several large viaducts in the Massif Central in 1867.
The original design was for lattice girders supported by brick piers resting on the bedrock, shown by trial borings to lie at no great depth under the river. At either end of the bridge, the single track ran on top of the bridge girder, most of which lay below the pier tops. At the centre section of the bridge (the high girders), the railway ran inside the bridge girder, which was above the pier tops to give clearance for the passage of sailing ships. To accommodate thermal expansion, there were non-rigid connections between girders and piers.
As the bridge extended out into the river, by December 1873, it became clear that the bedrock lay much deeper; too deep to act as a foundation for the bridge piers. Bouch redesigned the bridge to reduce the number of piers and increase the span of the girders. The pier foundations were no longer resting on bedrock; instead they were constructed by sinking brick-lined wrought-iron caissons onto the riverbed, removing sand until they rested on the consolidated gravel layer which had been misreported as rock, and then filling the caissons with concrete.
To reduce the weight that the ground underneath the caissons would have to support, the brick piers were replaced by open lattice iron skeleton piers. Each pier had multiple cast-iron columns taking the weight of the bridging girders, with wrought iron horizontal braces and diagonal tiebars linking the columns to give rigidity and stability. The basic concept was well known, having been used by Kennard in the Crumlin Viaduct in South Wales in 1858. Bouch had used the technique for viaducts, including the Belah Viaduct (1860) on the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway line over Stainmore, but for the Tay Bridge, even with the largest practicable caissons, the pier dimensions were constrained by their size. Bouch’s pier design set six columns in a hexagon maximising the pier width but not the number of diagonal braces directly resisting sideways forces.


Like all UK rail lines, the Tay Bridge was subject to a Board of Trade inspection before it could carry passenger trains. The inspection was conducted 25–27 February 1878 by Major General Hutchinson of the Railway Inspectorate, who measured the deflection of the 245 ft (75 m) bridge girders under a distributed load of 1.5 tons per foot (5 t/m) due to heavy locomotives, travelling at up to 40 mph (65 km/h), as less than 2 inches (50 mm). He reported that "these results are in my opinion to be regarded as satisfactory. The lateral oscillation [roughly, rhythmic side-to-side movement], as observed by the theodolite when the engines ran over at speed, was slight and the structure overall showed great stiffness".
Hutchinson did require some minor remedial work to be performed, and also issued a "recommendation" to impose a 25 mph (40 km/h) speed limit on traffic passing over the bridge. Subsequently, Hutchinson explained to the Inquiry that he had suggested this speed limit because of the minimal taper on the piers. The inspection report added: "When again visiting the spot I should wish, if possible, to have an opportunity of observing the effects of high wind when a train of carriages is running over the bridge".
On 1 June 1878, the Tay Bridge was opened for passenger traffic, with formal opening ceremonies having taken place during the previous day, in the course of which Thomas Bouch was made a burgess of Dundee "in respect of his meritorious services as engineer of the bridge. ..." On 20 June 1879, Queen Victoria crossed the bridge during her return south from staying at Balmoral; Bouch was presented to her before she did so. On 26 June 1879, he was knighted by the Queen at Windsor Castle.


On the night of 28 December 1879 at 7:15 p.m., the bridge collapsed after its central spans gave way during high winter gales. A train with six carriages carrying seventy-five passengers and crew, crossing at the time of the collapse, plunged into the icy waters of the Tay. All seventy-five people on board were killed. The disaster stunned the whole country and sent shock waves through the Victorian engineering community. The ensuing enquiry revealed that the design of the bridge had not accommodated for high winds. At the time of the collapse, a gale estimated at force ten or eleven (Tropical Storm force winds: 55–72 mph/80–117 km/h) had been blowing down the Tay estuary at right angles to the bridge. The train engine (North British Railway no. 224) was salvaged from the river and subsequently restored for service on the railway.
The collapse of the bridge, despite opening only nineteen months earlier after being found safe by the Board of Trade, had a long-term effect on wider society. According to some commenters, it is still regarded as having been the most notorious bridge disaster to have ever occurred in the British Isles. The disaster was commemorated in "The Tay Bridge Disaster", one of the best-known verse efforts of William McGonagall. Today, the stumps of the original bridge piers are still visible above the surface of the Tay even at high tide.
In 2005, Scottish playwright Mike Gibb and composer Mairi Paton premiered their musical titled Five Pound and Twa Bairns in Dundee. It focuses on three fictional women from very different backgrounds who lose men in the disaster. The musical has had several further productions, including three separate sold-out runs at Dundee Rep Theatre.


Almost immediately following the Tay Bridge failure, the North British Railway company began to develop plans for its reconstruction or replacement. During 1880, barely six months after the accident, the North British Railway (Tay Bridge) Bill for a construction of a new bridge was submitted to Parliament. The bill was reviewed by a special committee, chaired by Sir Lopes Massey Lopes, 3rd Baronet; Lopes drew attention to the substantial pressure for safety factors to be considered in light of the loss of the earlier bridge, including the need to examine the suitability of the location. In response to this inquiry, Mr Walker, the general manager of the North British Railway, stated his opinion that there was no more suitable site than what had been chosen, emphasising the relatively large interchange of traffic in the area and the importance of making the line as direct as practically possible. Additionally, a number of local witnesses, who included several leading merchants from Dundee, spoke favourably of the proposed location.
Plans for the reconstructed bridge were submitted by civil engineer Sir James Brunlees. His proposed design would have involved doubling the piers of the first bridge by installing the new columns on the east side of each of the existing piers, while arched brickwork would have been used to join the old and new elements alike. On top of these foundations, a brick decking would be laid that was wide enough to carry two sets of girders as well as a double-track layout. Brunlees proposed that the permanent way should be laid on the upper booms of the girders. The addition of bowstring girders, positioned 20 feet (6.1 m) high over the fairway, was considered to have much less exposure to the wind and greater lateral stiffness than the girders of the first bridge. The girders would also have been doubled, to be capable of resisting 200 pounds (91 kg) to the square foot of wind pressure, while the piers as designed were to be capable of resisting a pressure of 900 lb per square foot. Overall, Brunlees' proposed structure would have possessed greater strength for resisting lateral pressure over the original. This proposal had an estimated total cost of £356,323. While it was carefully considered, the Board of Trade regarded the practice of connecting the old bridge to a new design to be dangerous. It rejected both the proposed design and the overall bill.
The North British Railway, placing great importance on the connection between Fife and Forfarshire, was committed to developing a viable design. During August 1880, the noted railway engineer William Henry Barlow, of Barlow & Sons, London, was consulted on the matter. Following experiments upon the first bridge's remains, Barlow gave his opinion that the intact portions should be abandoned in favour of a new structure spanning between the two shores. Adopting this as the basis of their next submission, a new bill was raised and put before a select committee of the House of Commons on 10 May 1881. With little alteration or suggestions issued, this was soon passed. During November 1881, a contract for the new bridge's construction was awarded to Messrs William Arrol & Co of Glasgow. For the new bridge's design, Messrs Barlow elected to refrain from using any untested engineering principles, instead choosing to strictly adhere to established methodology.


The second Tay Bridge is a straightforward pier-and-lattice girder bridge; aside from its considerable length, it lacks any distinguishing characteristics. It has an overall length of 10,780 feet (3,290 m), which is covered by a total of 85 spans. These spans are ordinary brick arches, backed by cement concrete and set on top of piers which are supported by pairs of columns. Wanting to avoid a repeat of the fate of the First Tay Bridge, a principal intention of the design is stability, followed in importance by measures to minimise the bridge's weight and the adoption of aesthetically pleasing shaping where possible without compromising on structural strength.
The piers, which are primarily built from brick and concrete, are enclosed by a wrought iron caisson up to the low-water mark, above which a brick exterior is used, which cannot be infiltrated by water. The submerged portions are cased with blue vitrified brick. Above the high-water mark, each pair of piers have a connecting masonry section, terminating at the superstructure's base. Due to the high proportion of masonry on the piers, they were extremely heavy, which meant that Messrs Barlow worked to minimise the structure's weight without the piers being weakening. As such, a graceful iron superstructure was adopted.
Above the brickwork, two firmly braced octagonal columns continued upwards to meet the inner members in the form of an arch. Other members were used to provide a bed for the girders to provide for substantial pier that took much of its weight away from the basal area. Since the Second Tay Bridge's completion, the lattice girder arrangement has become a commonplace feature, near-universally adopted for bridge construction. The configuration provides for a high levels of compression strain despite the girders being comparatively light. The decking is composed of steel and is surrounded both sides of the bridge by a closely knit latticework, which functions as a wind screen as well as somewhat protecting the workers.


On 9 March 1882, the work on the second bridge commenced, located 18 metres (59 ft) upstream of, and parallel to, the original bridge. The first portions of the bridge to be erected were built upon the southern shore; work proceeded for some time before construction activities were initiated on the northern shore. Despite this, the majority of the bridge was erected simultaneously at both ends, continuing until the centre girders were connected and the junction was completed. Only some of the girders of the old bridge were reused for the new structure, and none were used without being subjected to considerable testing beforehand. It is believed that fourteen men lost their lives during the bridge's construction, most by drowning.
Large quantities of materials were used in the construction of the bridge. In terms of wrought iron, 16,300 tons were used for the piers and girders; if the 118 girders from the previous bridge are also included, the total weight is believed to amount to roughly 19,000 tons. 3,500 tons of steel was also used, while the cast iron elements of the piers weighs 2,500 tons, for a combined 25,000 tons of iron and steel having been used. Around 10 million bricks, possessing a combined weight of 37,500 tons, were used to build both the approaches to the bridge and the cylinders. The total weight of the concrete used is 70,000 tons. Additionally, the bridge contains around 3,000,000 rivets.
The estimated cost for the second bridge was £640,000; while this figure was overrun, it did not prove to have been overly optimistic. When the construction work is broken down, the founding of the piers was calculated as having cost £282,000, the installation of the girders and parapets £268,000, while £90,000 was involved in producing the approaches and arches. Some additional costs of roughly £16,000 had been incurred to improve the approach to the bridge from Newport; the branch line was reconstructed for a distance of half a mile eastward. When combined with the £350,000 cost of the first Tay Bridge, the North British Railway had spent roughly a million pounds to bridge the Tay.


Prior to entering service, the completed structure was subjected to an extensive examination by inspectors working for the Board of Trade. Being keen to avoid a repeat of the disaster of the first Tay Bridge, the second bridge was subjected to stringent testing, which in some cases simulated conditions that were far in excess of any ever likely to be encountered during the entirety of its service life. According to the reports submitted, the results from this testing were satisfying, clearing the way for operational use. On 11 June 1887, the first passenger-carrying trains passed along the second Tay Bridge. On 20 June 1887, which also happened to be the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession, the bridge was opened for use by general traffic.
The second Tay Bridge has remained in use to the present day. To protect the structure from sustaining damage, the double-heading of locomotives is restricted on trains that traverse the bridge; it has been stipulated that some combinations of consecutive locomotives must be separated by at least 60 feet (18 m) using barrier or reach wagons.
During 2003, a £20.85 million strengthening and refurbishment project on the bridge won the British Construction Industry Civil Engineering Award, in consideration of the staggering scale and logistics involved. More than 1,000 metric tons (1,100 short tons) of bird droppings were scraped off the ironwork lattice of the bridge using hand tools, and bagged into 25-kilogram (55 lb) sacks. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of rivets were removed and replaced, all of which was being done by workers who were in exposed conditions while high over a firth with fast-running tides.


The Teatro Comunale Alighieri is an opera house located at 2 Via Mariani in Ravenna, Italy and designed by the Venetian architects, Tommaso Meduna and his brother, Giambattista who had designed the second La Fenice theatre after the fire of 1836 .  The new Teatro Comunale Alighieri was inaugurated on 15 May 1852 with a production of Meyerbeer's Robert le diable, followed by Giovanni Pacini's Medea.
It presently offers a program of up to six operas during the season which runs from November to April.
For about 125 years following 1723, Ravenna had one main theatre for the presentation of opera, the Teatro Comunitativo located outside the centre of the city.  It featured a lavishly decorated, U-shaped baroque auditorium with 97 boxes on four tiers. In the 50 years following 1802, it presented 170 operatic productions, 24 of which were by Rossini, 22 by Donizetti, and 10 by Verdi.  However, the 1830s and 1840s revealed its inadequacy, and plans were made to build a new theatre in the heart of the city; the cornerstone of the replacement theatre was laid in 1840.
With construction continuing until 1852, the new Teatro Comunale was named for the famous poet, Dante Aligheri, who had been exiled from Florence and then spent the last four years of his life in Ravenna.  Reflecting the style of the Venetian brothers, the exterior of the Alighieri is neo-classical with a four ionic columns and a portico with statues of four Muses.  With 118 boxes in four tiers plus a gallery, the auditorium was constructed in the traditional horseshoe shape with 830 seats.
As befitting his position as the major operatic composer of the day, Giuseppe Verdi's operas were dominant at the new theatre during its first fifty years; of other composers' works, Donizetti's operas were the only ones which appeared regularly until 1870 and those of Bellini vanished after 1866.  However, French grand opera survived until the 20th century.
Since its foundation in 1990, the annual June/July Ravenna Festival has presented a very diverse range of operas at the Alighieri. These have included rare works by Salieri, Auber, and Cherubini as well as less performed operas by many of the standard 19th-century composers plus more popular works.


The Teerhof is a peninsula between the River Weser and the Kleine Weser, opposite the city centre of Bremen, Germany. It was first mentioned in 1624 as "Theerhof" when it was the northernmost part of an island. Today it consists mainly of residential buildings and the Weserburg modern art museum.


The name Teerhof means "tarring yard" as it was here ship hulls and ropes were once tarred for the local shipyard. Up to the end of the 19th century, mixed industrial and residential developments led to a widely varying collection of buildings. By the 1930s, the Teerhof was made up of storehouses, small production facilities, a coffee factory and housing. All the buildings were almost completely destroyed during the Second World War. The Weserburg coffee factory which was also seriously damaged was repaired and reopened in 1949. When it closed in 1973, the building was sold to the city and was used for various cultural events including artists' ateliers and art exhibitions, until it was decided it should become a collectors' museum.
In 1967, a tall insurance building was built on the southeastern section of the peninsula. In 1977, after decades of neglect the Danish architects firm Dissing & Weitling were charged to develop the area. In 1992, rows of three to seven storey red-brick apartment buildings were completed in a style resembling that of the old storehouses. The Weserburg Museum opened in September 1991 as a collectors' museum, the first of its kind in Europe. Its name was changed to "Weserburg | Museum of Modern Art" in 2007. There are currently plans (2014) to extend the museum which will now remain permanently on the peninsula.
A pedestrian bridge to the Schlachte was completed in 1992. Built in 1994, Bremen University's Gästehaus Teerhof overlooking the river has 17 double apartments and six singles as well as a meeting room for 50 people. More recently (c. 2009), an office building for Beluga Shipping Gmbh (now bankrupt) was constructed on the peninsula.


WikiWeb_Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art_1

According to Farah Pahlavi, the former Empress of Iran, the idea for this museum happened when she was in conversation with artist Iran Darroudi during a gallery opening in the 1970s and Darroudi mentioned she wished there was a place to show work more permanently. The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art museum was supposed to be a place to show contemporary and modern Iranian artist alongside other international artists doing similar work.
The museum was designed by Iranian architect and cousin of the queen, Kamran Diba, who employed elements from traditional Persian architecture. It was built adjacent to Laleh Park, Tehran, and was inaugurated in 1977. The building itself can be regarded as an example of contemporary art, in a style of an underground New York Guggenheim Museum. Most of the museum area is located underground with a circular walkway that spirals downwards with galleries branching outwards. Western sculptures by artists such as Ernst, Giacometti, Magritte and Moore can be found in the museum's gardens.
The selection of the art was done under Farah Pahlavi and the budget was from the National Iranian Oil Company. Pahlavi personally met many of the artists whose work was part of the museum collection, including the Western artists Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Henry Moore, Paul Jenkins, Arnaldo Pomodoro. Some people involved in the process of selecting art were the Americans, Donna Stein and David Galloway, and Kamran Diba, the architect and director of the museum, and Karimpasha Bahadori, who was the Chief of Staff of the cabinet.
After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Western art was stored away in the museums vault until 1999 when the first post-revolution exhibition was held of western art showing artists such as David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. Now pieces of the Western art collection are shown for a few weeks every year but due to the current conservative nature of the Iranian establishment, most pieces will never be shown.
It is considered to have the most valuable collection of Western modern art outside Europe and the United States, a collection largely assembled by founding curators David Galloway and Donna Stein under the patronage of Farah Pahlavi. It is said that there is approximately £2.5 billion worth of modern art held at the museum. The museum hosts a revolving program of exhibitions and occasionally organizes exhibitions by local artists.


WikiWeb_Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art_2

In 1977, the Empress of Iran, Farah Pahlavi, purchased expensive Western artwork, in order to open this contemporary art museum. This museum was a controversial act, because the country's social and economic inequalities were rising and the government at the time was acting as a dictatorship and not tolerating the rising opponents, a few years later the Iranian Revolution took place. A few art pieces did not survive the revolution including a public statue by Bahman Mohasses deemed un-Islamic and a 1977 Warhol painting, a portrait of Farah Pahlavi.
Le Monde art critic André Fermigier wrote an article in 1977 called "A museum for whom and for what?", "questioning the link between an Iranian child and a Picasso or a Pollock". And Farah Pahlavi responded to this criticism, noting that Iranians can understand modern art, not all Iranians were living in remote villages, and this issue with modern art was not unlike one that had existed in France.
A touring exhibitions was planned for autumn 2016 in Berlin, (Germany), consisting of a three-month tour of sixty artworks, half Western and half Iranian. The show was to run for three months in Berlin, then travel to the Maxxi Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome for display from March through August. However, the plan has been indefinitely postponed because the Iranian authorities have failed to allow the paintings to leave the country, also noting after the revolution these painting have not yet been shown in Iran.
Collection curator Donna Stein wrote a memoir, The Empress and I: How an Ancient Empire Collected, Rejected and Rediscovered Modern Art (2021), because she felt she was not properly credited for her role in curating this collection.


WikiWeb_Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art_3

This is a list of artists featured in the permanent collection at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.
Ansel Easton Adams: Canyon de Chelly
Yaacov Agam: More than 10 oil and acrylic works
Aydin Aghdashloo: Identity: in praise of Sandro Botticelli and other works
Francis Bacon: Two Figures Lying on a Bed With Attendants
Giacomo Balla
Max Beckmann
Georges Braque
Alexander Calder
Mary Cassatt
Edgar Degas
André Derain: Golden Age
Jim Dine
Marcel Duchamp
André Dunoyer de Segonzac
James Ensor
Max Ernst: Capricorn
Paul Gauguin: Still Life with Head-Shaped Vase and Japanese Woodcut
Alberto Giacometti: Standing Woman, Walking Man 1
Adolph Gottlieb
George Grosz
Richard Hamilton
Noriyuki Haraguchi: Matter and Mind
Edward Hopper
John Hoyland
Jasper Johns
Donald Judd
Wassily Kandinsky
Abbas Kiarostami
František Kupka
Fernand Léger
Roy Lichtenstein
René Magritte: The Therapeutae
Marino Marini: Horse and Rider
Joan Miró
Bahman Mohasses: Tryst
Claude Monet
Henry Moore: Two–Pieces Reclining Figure, Three–Pieces Reclining Figure, Oval with Points
Giorgio Morandi
Noreen Motamed
Edvard Munch
Jules Pascin
Peter Phillips
Pablo Picasso: Baboon and Young, Painter and Model
Camille Pissarro
Jackson Pollock: Mural on Indian Red Ground
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Maurice Prendergast
Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Gabrielle with Open Blouse
Jean-Paul Riopelle
Diego Rivera
Henry Peach Robinson: Landing the Catch
James Rosenquist
Georges Rouault
Sterling Ruby
Ali Akbar Sadeghi: Myth & Math and Unwritten
Sohrab Sepehri
Pierre Soulages
Parviz Tanavoli: Sanctified 1
William Turnbull
Louis Valtat
Vincent van Gogh: At Eternity's Gate
Victor Vasarely
Édouard Vuillard
Andy Warhol: Suicide (Purple Jumping Man), portraits of Mick Jagger, Marilyn Monroe, and Mao Zedong
James Whistler
Fritz Winter
Manouchehr Yektai


The Telfair Academy  is a historic mansion at 121 Barnard Street in Savannah, Georgia.  It was designed by William Jay and built in 1818, and is one of a small number of Jay's surviving works. It is one of three sites owned by Telfair Museums. Originally a family townhouse belonging to the Telfair family, it became a free art museum in 1886, and thus one of the first 10 art museums in America, and the oldest public art museum in the South.  Its first director, elected in 1883, was artist Carl Ludwig Brandt, who spent winters in Savannah.   It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.


Telfair Academy is located in historic central Savannah, on the west side of Telfair Square.  It occupies an entire block, bounded by Barnard, West President, North Jefferson, and West State Streets.  It is a two-story masonry structure, built out of brick finished in stucco. Its entrance is a form typical of architect William Jay, with a projecting four-column portico that is accessed via side-facing stairs.  The columns are of a composite order, and the portico's entablature is continued around the building as a stringcourse.  Unlike the symmetrical exterior, the interior of the house is asymmetrical, its unusually shaped rooms including an octagonal drawing room, round-ended dining room, and long drawing room with rounded ends.  The building's west wing is its former carriage house, which was adapted in the 1880s as part of the building's conversion to a museum, and has fine Adam style woodwork.
The house was designed by William Jay and built in 1818 for Alexander Telfair, son of Edward Telfair, one of Georgia's early post-independence governors.  The site on which it was built previously housed the official residence of Georgia's colonial royal governors.  In 1875 Alexander's sister, Mary, bequeathed the house, including its furnishings and family collections, to the Georgia Historical Society, which opened the first art museum in the southeastern United States here in 1886.  The house was remodeled and expanded to be a museum by architect Detlef Lienau.


Telfair Academy features furnished period rooms that highlight the museum's collection of decorative arts and many family furnishings including beautiful 19th and 20th century American and European paintings and sculptures. In front of the building are statues of Rembrandt, Rubens, Phidias, Raphael, and Michelangelo (see the link to Commons below).


In addition to these works from notable European and American artists, Telfair Academy houses fine and decorative artworks representing Savannah's history and from native Savannah artists.
Myrtle Jones - self-taught streetscape and portrait painter; studied briefly at the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences under Emil Holzhauer and others.


The cargo Ship Temple Hall was built by Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. in Dundee, Scotland in 1954.
In 1977 she was re-named the Telamon, managed by Armour Shipping Inc. in Greece.
On the 31 October 1981, The Telamon was on route from Ivory Coast to Thessaloniki when she sprung a leak and was forced to run aground in Arrecife, Lanzarote.


The Temple of Aphaia (Greek: Ναός Αφαίας) or Afea is located within a sanctuary complex dedicated to the goddess Aphaia on the Greek island of Aigina, which lies in the Saronic Gulf. Formerly known as the Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, the great Doric temple is now recognized as dedicated to the mother-goddess Aphaia. It was a favourite of the Neoclassical and Romantic artists such as J. M. W. Turner. It stands on a c. 160 m peak on the eastern side of the island approximately 13 km east by road from the main port.
Aphaia (Greek Ἀφαία) was a Greek goddess who was worshipped exclusively at this sanctuary. The extant temple of c. 500 BC was built over the remains of an earlier temple of c. 570 BC, which was destroyed by fire c. 510 BC. Elements of this older temple were buried in the infill for the larger, flat terrace of the later temple, and are thus well preserved. Abundant traces of paint remain on many of these buried fragments. There may have been another temple in the 7th century BC, also located on the same site, but it is thought to have been much smaller and simpler in terms of both plan and execution. Significant quantities of Late Bronze Age figurines have been discovered at the site, including proportionally large numbers of female figurines (kourotrophoi), indicating – perhaps – that cult activity at the site was continuous from the 14th century BC, suggesting a Minoan connection for the cult.  The last temple is of an unusual plan and is also significant for its pedimental sculptures, which are thought to illustrate the change from Archaic to Early Classical technique. These sculptures are on display in the Glyptothek of Munich, with a number of fragments located in the museums at Aigina and on the site itself.


The periegetic writer Pausanias briefly mentions the site in his writings of the 2nd century AD, but does not describe the sanctuary in detail as he does for many others.  The temple was made known in Western Europe by the publication of the Antiquities of Ionia (London, 1797). In 1811, the young English architect Charles Robert Cockerell, finishing his education on his academic Grand Tour, and Baron Otto Magnus von Stackelberg removed the fallen fragmentary pediment sculptures. On the recommendation of Baron Carl Haller von Hallerstein, who was also an architect and, moreover, a protégé of the art patron Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, the marbles were shipped abroad and sold the following year to the Crown Prince, soon to be King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Minor excavations of the east peribolos wall were carried out in 1894 during reconstruction of the last temple.
Systematic excavations at the site were carried out in the 20th century by the German School in Athens, at first under the direction of Adolf Furtwängler. The area of the sanctuary was defined and studied during these excavations. The area under the last temple could not be excavated, however, because that would have harmed the temple. In addition, significant remains from the Bronze Age were detected in pockets in the rocky surface of the hill. From 1966 to 1979, an extensive second German excavation under Dieter Ohly was performed, leading to the discovery in 1969 of substantial remains of the older Archaic temple in the fill of the later terrace walls. Ernst-Ludwig Schwandner and Martha Ohly were also associated with this dig, which continued after the death of Dieter Ohly until 1988. Sufficient remains were recovered to allow a complete architectural reconstruction of the structure to be extrapolated; the remains of the entablature and pediment of one end of the older temple have been reconstructed in the on-site museum.


In its earliest phase of use during the Bronze Age, the eastern area of the hilltop was an unwalled, open-air sanctuary to a female fertility and agricultural deity.  Bronze Age figurines outnumber remains of pottery. Open vessel forms are also at an unusually high proportion versus closed vessels. There are no known settlements or burials in the vicinity, arguing against the remains being due to either usage. Large numbers of small pottery chariots and thrones and miniature vessels have been found. Although there are scattered remains dating to the Early Bronze Age such as two seal stones, remains in significant quantities begin to be deposited in the Middle Bronze Age, and the sanctuary has its peak use in the LHIIIa2 through LHIIIb periods. It is less easy to trace the cult through the Sub-Mycenean period and into the Geometric where cult activity is once more reasonably certain.


Furtwängler proposes three phases of building at the sanctuary, with the earliest of these demonstrated by an altar at the eastern end dating to c. 700 BC. Also securely known are a cistern at the northeast extremity and a structure identified as a treasury east of the propylon (entrance) of the sanctuary. The temple corresponding to these structures is proposed to be under the later temples and thus not able to be excavated. Furtwängler suggests that this temple is the oikos (house) referenced in a mid-7th-century BC inscription from the site as having been built by a priest for Aphaia; he hypothesizes that this house of the goddess (temple) was built of stone socles topped with mudbrick upper walls and wooden entablature.  The top of the hill was slightly modified to make it more level by wedging stones into the crevices of the rock.


Ohly detected a (stone socle and mudbrick upper level) peribolos wall enclosing an area of c. 40 by 45 m dating to this phase. This peribolos was not aligned to the axis of the temple. A raised and paved platform was built to connect the temple to the altar. There was a propylon (formal entrance gate) with a wooden superstructure in the southeast side of the peribolos. A 14 m tall column topped by a sphinx was at the northeast side of the sanctuary. The full study and reconstruction of the temple was done by Schwandner, who dates it to before 570 BC. In his reconstruction, the temple is prostyle-tetrastyle in plan, and has a pronaos and – significantly – an adyton at the back of the cella.
As is the case at the temples of Artemis at Brauron and Aulis (among others), many temples of Artemis have such back rooms, which may indicate a similarity of cult practice.  The cella of the temple of Aphaia had the unusual feature of having two rows of two columns supporting another level of columns that reached the roof. The architrave of this temple was constructed in two courses, giving it a height of 1.19 m versus the frieze height of 0.815 m; this proportion is unusual among temples of the region, but is known from temples in Sicily. A triglyph and metope frieze is also placed along the inside of the pronaos.  These metopes were apparently undecorated with sculpture, and there is no evidence of pedimental sculpture. This temple and much of the sanctuary was destroyed by fire around 510 BC.


Construction of a new temple commenced soon after the destruction of the older temple. The remains of the destroyed temple were removed from the site of the new temple and used to fill a c. 40 by 80 m terrace within the overall sanctuary of c. 80 by 80 m. This new temple terrace was aligned on north, west, and south with the plan of the new temple. The temple was a hexastyle peripteral Doric order structure on a 6 by 12 column plan resting on a 15.5 by 30.5 m platform; it had a distyle in antis cella with an opisthodomos and a pronaos.  All but three of the outer columns were monolithic. There was a small, off-axis doorway between the cella and the opisthodomos. In similar design but more monumental execution than the earlier temple, the cella of the new temple had two rows of five columns, supporting another level of columns that reached to roof. The corners of the roof were decorated with sphinx acroteria, and the central, vegetal acroterion of each side had a pair of kore statues standing one on either side, an unusual feature. The antefixes were of marble, as were the roof tiles.
Dates ranging from 510 to 470 BC have been proposed for this temple. Bankel, who published the complete study of the remains, compares the design features of the structure with three structures that were near contemporaries:
The Athenian Treasury at Delphi
The Doric Temple in the Marmaria area of Delphi
The temple of Artemis at Delion on Paros
Bankel says the temple of Aphaia is more developed than the earlier phase of this structure, giving it a date of around 500 BC. The metopes of this temple, which were not found, were slotted into the triglyph blocks and attached to backer blocks with swallowtail clamps. If they were wooden, their lack of preservation is to be expected. If they were stone, then they may have been removed for the ancient antiquities market while the structure was still standing.  The altar was redone for this phase as well.
If still in use by the 4th century, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.


The marbles from the Late Archaic temple of Aphaia, comprising the sculptural groups of the east and west pediments of the temple, are on display in the Glyptothek of Munich, where they were restored by the Danish neoclassic sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. These works exerted a formative influence on the local character of Neoclassicism in Munich, as exhibited in the architecture of Leo von Klenze. Each pediment centered on the figure of Athena, with groups of combatants, fallen warriors, and arms filling the decreasing angles of the pediments. The theme shared by the pediments was the greatness of Aigina as shown by the exploits of its local heroes in the two Trojan wars, one led by Heracles against Laomedon and a second led by Agamemnon against Priam. According to the standard myths, Zeus raped the nymph Aigina, who bore the first king of the island, Aiakos. This king had the sons Telamon (father of the Homeric hero Ajax) and Peleus (father of the Homeric hero Achilles). The sculptures preserve extensive traces of a complex paint scheme, and are crucial for the study of painting on ancient sculpture. The marbles are finished even on the back surfaces of the figures, despite the fact that these faced the pediment and were thus not visible.
Ohly had contended that there were four total pedimental groups (two complete sets of pediments for the east and west sides of the temple); Bankel uses the architectural remains of the temple to argue that there were only three pedimental groups; later in his life, Ohly came to believe that there were only two, which was shown persuasively by Eschbach.  There were shallow cuttings and many dowels used to secure the plinths of the sculptures of the west pediment (the back of the temple). The east pediment used deep cuttings and fewer dowels to secure the plinths of the statues. There were also a number of geison blocks that had shallow cuttings and many dowels like the west pediment, but that did not fit there. Bankel argues that sculptures were set on both the east and the west pediments with these shallow cuttings, but that the sculptures of the east pediment were removed (along with the geison blocks cut to receive them) and replaced with a different sculptural group. This replacement appears to have been carried out before the raking geisa were installed on the east pediment, since the corner geisa were not cut down to join to the raking geisa: i.e. the 1st phase of the east pediment was replaced with the 2nd phase before that end of the temple was completed. As the eastern facade of the temple (the front) was the most important visually, it is not surprising that the builders would choose to focus additional efforts on it.


The first Trojan war, not the one described by Homer but the war of Heracles against the king of Troy Laomedon is the theme, with Telamon figuring prominently as he fights alongside Heracles against king Laomedon. This pediment is thought to be later than the west pediment and to show a number of features appropriate to the Classical period: the statues show a dynamic posture especially in the case of Athena, chiastic composition, and intricate filling of the space using the legs of fallen combatants to fill the difficult decreasing angles of the pediment. Part of the eastern pediment was destroyed during the Persian Wars, possibly by a thunderbolt. The statues that survived were set up in the sanctuary enclosure, and those that were destroyed, were buried according to the ancient custom. The old composition was replaced by a new one with a scene of a battle, again with Athena at the center.


The second Trojan war – the one described by Homer – is the theme, with Ajax (son of Telamon) figuring prominently. The style of these sculptures is that of the Archaic period. The composition deals with the decreasing angles of the pediment by filling the space using a shield and a helmet.


Bankel, Hansgeorg. 1993. Der spätarchaische Tempel der Aphaia auf Aegina. Denkmäler antiker Architektur 19. Berlin; New York: W. de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110128086.
Cartledge, Paul, Ed., 2002. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece, Cambridge University Press, p. 273.
Cook, R. M. 1974. The Dating of the Aegina Pediments. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 94 pp. 171. doi:10.2307/630432
Diebold, William J. 1995. "The Politics of Derestoration: The Aegina Pediments and the German Confrontation with the Past." Art Journal, 54, no2 pp. 60–66.
Furtwängler, Adolf, Ernst R. Fiechter and Hermann Thiersch. 1906. Aegina, das Heiligthum der Aphaia. München: Verlag der K. B. Akademie der wissenschaften in Kommission des G. Franz’schen Verlags (J. Roth).
Furtwängler, Adolf. 1906. Die Aegineten der Glyptothek König Ludwigs I, nach den Resultaten der neuen Bayerischen Ausgrabung. München: Glyptothek: in Kommission bei A. Buchholz.
Glancey, Jonathan, Architecture, Doring Kindersley, Ltd.:2006, p. 96.
Invernizzi, Antonio. 1965. I frontoni del Tempio di Aphaia ad Egina. Torino: Giappichelli.
Ohly, Dieter. 1977. Tempel und Heiligtum der Aphaia auf Ägina. München: Beck.
Pilafidis-Williams, Korinna. 1987. The Sanctuary of Aphaia on Aigina in the Bronze Age. Munich: Hirmer Verlag. ISBN 9783777480107
Schildt, Arthur. Die Giebelgruppen von Aegina. Leipzig : [H. Meyer], 1895.
Schwandner, Ernst-Ludwig. 1985. Der ältere Porostempel der Aphaia auf Aegina. Berlin: W. de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110102796.
Webster, T. B. L. 1931. "The Temple of Aphaia at Aegina," Journal of Hellenic Studies, 51: 2, pp. 179–183.