title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The specific Black sea climate is milder than the inland parts of the country and the sea influence lowers the effect of the occasional cold air masses from north-east. Average precipitation is the lowest for the country and sunshine is abundant. The summer begins in early May and lasts till early October. Temperatures in summer usually vary during the day and between at the night. Seawater temperature during the summer months is usually at the range . In winter temperatures are about during the day and at night. Snow is possible in the coldest months, but can quickly melt. The highest temperature ever recorded was in July 1927 and the lowest in February 1929.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna is the administrative centre for Varna county (област, "oblast", area). On the other hand, Varna municipality (община, "obshtina", borough) comprises the city and five suburbs: Kamenar, Kazashko, Konstantinovo, Topoli, and Zvezditsa, served by the city public transport system.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The municipal chief executive is the Mayor (кмет, "kmet": the word is cognate with count). Since the end of the "de facto" one-party communist rule in 1990, there have been four mayors: Voyno Voynov, SDS (Union of Democratic Forces), "ad interim", 1990–91; Hristo Kirchev, SDS, 1991–99; Kiril Yordanov, independent, 1999–2013; Ivan Portnih, GERB, 2013–present.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The City council (общински съвет, "obshtinski savet", the 51-member legislature) is the city's legislative body composed of 51 members. As of January 2015 it consists of: centre-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), 22 council members; centre-right/right-wing Reformist Bloc Patriotic Front (Bulgaria), 6; centre-left Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), 5; "Varna" Coalition including Attack, 4; other smaller parties, groups and independent members, 14.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna regional court is one of the busiest courts in the country. The city also headquarters the district, administrative, and military court, and a court of appeal as well as regional, military, and appellate prosecutor's offices.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The city is divided by law into five boroughs (), each with its mayor and council: Asparuhovo, Mladost, Odessos (the historic centre), Primorski (the largest one with official population of 102,000 also comprising the seaside resorts north of the city centre), and Vladislav Varchenchik. The boroughs are composed of various districts with distinctive characters and histories. The villages too have а mayor or a mayoral lieutenant (кметски наместник, "kmetski namestnik").


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna was rumoured to be the hub of . Some sectors of the economy, including gambling, corporate security, tourism, real estate, and professional sports, were believed to be controlled in part by business groups with links to Communist-era secret services or the military.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: However, it is noted that in Varna, the so-called "mutri" (Mafia) presence was by no means as visible as it was in smaller coastal towns and resorts. Over the last couple of years, crime has subsided, which is said to have contributed to Varna being named as Bulgaria's Best City to Live In (2007); in 2007, the regional police chief was promoted to the helm of the national police service.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Norway, Russia – Consulate General, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The first population data date back to the mid-17th century when the town was thought to have about 4,000 inhabitants, while the first population census in 1881 counted 24,555. According to the 1883 census, it was the second-largest in Bulgaria after Ruse. Thereafter Varna became Bulgaria's third-largest city and kept this position steadily for the next 120 years, while different cities took turns in the first, second, and fourth places.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: In January 2012, the city of Varna has a population of 334,781, which makes it the third-largest city in Bulgaria, while the Varna Municipality along with the legally affiliated adjacent villages had 343,643 inhabitants. The unofficial metro area (including Varna municipality and adjacent parts of Aksakovo, Avren, Beloslav, and Devnya municipalities, and excluding adjacent parts of Dobrich Province) has an estimated population of 475,000. Here, the "Varna-Devnya-Provadiya agglomeration" is not considered identical to the "Varna metro area".


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna is one of the few cities in Bulgaria with a positive natural growth (6300 births vs. 3600 deaths in 2009) and new children's day care centers opening (6 expected in 2009).


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Since December 2006, various sources, including the Bulgarian National Television, national newspapers, research agencies, the mayor's office, and local police, claim that Varna has a population by present address of over 500,000, making it the nation's second-largest city. Official statistics according to GRAO and NSI, however, have not supported their claims. In 2008, Deputy Mayor Venelin Zhechev estimated the actual population at 650,000. In December 2008, Mayor Kiril Yordanov claimed the actual number of permanent residents was 970,000, or that there were 60% unregistered people. In January 2009, the "Financial Times" said that "Varna now draws about 30,000 new residents a year." The census, carried out in February 2011, enumerated 334,870 inhabitants.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: If unregistered population plus the commuters from the adjacent municipalities are taken into consideration, the real population of the city during a work day reaches 400,000. Varna attracts 2 to 3 million tourists a year, as the holidaymakers may reach as many as 200,000 daily during the high season. Thus, there are about 600,000 people in the city in July and August.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Most Varnians (варненци, "varnentsi") are ethnic Bulgarians (94%). Ethnic Turks rank second with 3%; however by 2009, Russians and other Russian-speaking recent immigrants with no Bulgarian citizenship, estimated at over 20,000, perhaps have outnumbered them, additionally there is a growing number of new Asian and African immigrants and corporate expatriates. These are mostly students of the medical university of Varna. There is a comparable number of Romani (1% of the population) mostly in three distinctive and largely impoverished neighbourhoods: Maksuda; Rozova Dolina in the Asparuhovo district; and Chengene Kula in the Vladislavovo district, while Varna is spearheading several programs on Romani integration. Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and other long-standing ethnic groups are also present although in much smaller numbers. With the departure of most Turks and Greeks and the arrival of Bulgarian refugees and settlers from inland, Northern Dobruja, Bessarabia, and Asia Minor, and later, of refugees from Macedonia, Eastern Thrace and Southern Dobruja following the Second Balkan War and the First World War, ethnic diversity gave way to Bulgarian predominance, although sizeable minorities of Gagauz, Armenians, and Sephardic Jews remained for decades.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: According to the 1876 census of the Danube Vilayet in the Ottoman Empire, the population of Varna consisted of a majority of Bulgarians (50%) and a minority of Muslims (over 40%). A significant part were Turkish-speaking Christians (Gagauzes) who identified as Bulgarians.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: According to the 1881 census in Bulgaria, the Turkish language was a mother tongue for 8903 people (36.25%), for 6721 was the Bulgarian (27.36%), for 5,367 was Greek (21.85%) and Tatar for 837 (3.41%). By ethnic group, ethnic Bulgarians were then 6,714, of whom 4478 men and 2236 women.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: According to the latest 2011 census data, the individuals declared their ethnic identity were distributed as follows:


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: In Varna Municipality 290,780 declared as Bulgarians, 11,089 as Turks, 3,535 as Romani and 34,758 did not declare their ethnic group.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Economically, Varna is among the best-performing and fastest-growing Bulgarian cities. In 2016 the unemployment rate is 3.5% and the average salary is nearly 900lv (450€) per month.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The economy is service-based, with 61% of net revenue generated in trade and tourism, 16% in manufacturing, 14% in transportation and communications, and 6% in construction. Financial services, particularly banking, insurance, investment management, and real-estate finance are booming. As of December 2008, the fallout of the global financial crisis has not yet been hard. The city is the easternmost destination of Pan-European transport corridor 8 and is connected to corridors 7 and 9 via Rousse. Major industries traditionally include transportation (Navibulgar, Port of Varna, Varna Airport), distribution (Logistics Park Varna), shipbuilding (see also Oceanic-Creations), ship repair, and other marine industries.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: In June 2007, Eni and Gazprom disclosed the South Stream project whereby a offshore natural gas pipeline from Russia's Dzhubga with annual capacity of was planned to come ashore at Varna, possibly near the Galata offshore gas field, en route to Italy and Austria. Nevertheless, the project was stopped due to the EU-Russia conflict.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: With the nearby towns of Beloslav and Devnya, Varna forms the Varna-Devnya Industrial Complex, home to some of the largest chemical, thermal power, and manufacturing facilities in Bulgaria, including Varna Thermal Power Plant and "Sodi Devnya", the two largest cash privatisation deals in the country's recent history. There are also notable facilities for radio navigation devices, household appliances, security systems, textiles, apparel, food and beverages, printing, and other industries. Some manufacturing veterans are giving way to post-industrial developments: an ECE shopping mall is taking the place of the former VAMO diesel engine works and the Varna Brewery is being replaced by a convention centre.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Tourism is of foremost importance with the suburban beachfront resorts of Golden Sands, Riviera Holiday Club, Sunny Day, Saints Constantine and Helena attracting around 1 million foreign tourists in 2016. The resorts received considerable internal and foreign investment in the late 1990s and early in the first decade of the 21st century, and are environmentally sound, being located reassuringly far from chemical and other smokestack industries. Varna is also Bulgaria's only international cruise destination with 36 cruises for 2014 and a major international conference and SPA centre. Varna South Bay is also becoming a popular area for tourists


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Real estate boomed in 2003–2008 with some of the highest prices in the country, by fall 2007 surpassing Sofia. In 2017 Varna is second in terms of construction projects.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: In retail, the city not only has the assortment of international big-box retailers, now found in larger Bulgarian cities, but boasts made-in-Varna national chains with locations spreading over the country such as retailer Piccadilly, the famous restaurant chain "Happy" and pharmacy chain "Sanita". Mall Varna, Grand Mall and Delta Planet Mall are the three largest shopping centres in Varna, turning the city into an attractive shopping destination. The city has many of the finest eateries in the nation and abounds in ethnic food places.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: There is a plethora of Internet cafes and many places, including parks, are covered by free public wireless internet service. Varna is connected to other Black Sea cities by the submarine Black Sea Fibre Optic Cable System.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: In 2016 Varna won the vote of Darik Radio listeners and was awarded "Best city to live" and "Protector of History".


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna is accessible by air (Varna International Airport), sea (Port of Varna Cruise Terminal), railway (Central railway station), bus, and road.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Major roads include European roads Varna – Bucharest E70, Varna – Istanbul E87 and Varna – Constanta, Romania; national motorways Varna – Sofia A2 (Hemus motorway) and Varna – Burgas A5 (Cherno More motorway).


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: There are bus routes to many Bulgarian and international cities from two bus terminals. There are also train, ferry and roll-on/roll-off services to Odessa, Ukraine, Port Kavkaz, Russia, Poti and Batumi, Georgia.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The public transport system is managed by "City Transport Varna" and has been recently modernised. Ticket prices are reasonable: from 1lv (0.50€) for city zones to 3lv (1.50€) for routes Varna – Golden Sands. Along with local buses, trolleybuses, fixed-route minibus lines, there is also a large fleet of taxis.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: In 2021, a light rail (LRT) system was proposed by the municipality. It is expected to connect the airport with the central part of the city, with several underground sections and stations. The funding will be provided by the EU programmes.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: City landmarks include the Varna Archaeological Museum, exhibiting the "Gold of Varna", the Roman Baths, the Battle of Varna Park Museum, the Naval Museum in the Italianate "Villa Assareto" displaying the museum ship "Drazki torpedo boat", the Museum of Ethnography in an Ottoman-period compound featuring the life of local urban dwellers, fisherfolk, and peasants in the late 19th and early 20th century.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: You can see the highlight landmarks using Varna City Card – it combines all essential cultural locations, gives many discounts to tourists in restaurants and bars, and overall saves money.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The 'Sea Garden' is the oldest and perhaps largest park in town containing an open-air theatre (venue of the International Ballet Competition, opera performances and concerts), Varna Aquarium (opened 1932), the Festa Dolphinarium (opened 1984), the Nicolaus Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium, the Museum of Natural History, a terrarium, a zoo, an alpineum, a children's amusement park with a pond, boathouse and ice-skating rink, and other attractions. The National Revival Alley is decorated with bronze monuments to prominent Bulgarians, and the Cosmonauts' Alley contains trees planted by Yuri Gagarin and other Soviet and Bulgarian cosmonauts. The Garden is a national monument of landscape architecture and is said to be the largest landscaped park in the Balkans.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The waterfront promenade is lined by a string of beach clubs offering a vibrant scene of rock, hip-hop, Bulgarian and American-style pop, techno, and chalga. In October 2006, "The Independent" dubbed Varna "Europe's new funky-town, the good-time capital of Bulgaria". The city enjoys a nationwide reputation for its rock, hip-hop, world music, and other artists, clubs, and related events such as July Morning and international rock and hip-hop (including graffiti) venues.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The city beaches, also known as "sea baths" (морски бани, "morski bani"), are dotted with hot (up to 55°С/131 °F) sulphuric mineral water sources (used for spas, swimming pools and public showers) and punctured by small sheltered marinas. Additionally, the long, high Asparuhov most bridge is a popular spot for bungee jumping. Outside the city are the Euxinograd palace, park and winery, the University of Sofia Botanical Garden (Ecopark Varna), the Pobiti Kamani rock phenomenon, and the medieval cave monastery, Aladzha.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Tourist shopping areas include the boutique rows along Prince Boris Blvd (with retail rents rivalling Vitosha Blvd in Sofia) and adjacent pedestrian streets, as well as the large mall and big-box cluster in the Mladost district, suitable for motorists. Two other shopping plazas, Piccadilly Park and Central Plaza, are conveniently located to serve tourists in the resorts north of the city centre, both driving and riding the public transit. ATMs and 24/7 gas stations with convenience stores abound.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Food markets, among others, include supermarket chains Billa, Kaufland and Metro. In stores and restaurants, credit cards are normally accepted. There is a number of farmers markets offering fresh local produce; the Kolkhozen Pazar, the largest one, also has a fresh fish market but is located in a crowded area virtually inaccessible for cars.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Like other cities in the region, Varna has its share of stray dogs, calm and friendly, flashing orange clips on the ears showing they have been castrated and vaccinated. However, urban wildlife is dominated by the ubiquitous seagulls, while brown squirrels inhabit the Sea Garden. Cats are also everywhere in the city. In January and February, migrating swans winter on the sheltered beaches.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Notable old Bulgarian Orthodox temples include the metropolitan Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral (of the diocese of Varna and Veliki Preslav); the early-17th-century Theotokos Panagia (built on the site of an earlier church where Ladislaus III was perhaps buried); the St. Athanasius (former Greek metropolitan cathedral) on the footprint of a razed 10th-century church; the 15th-century St. Petka Parashkeva chapel; the seamen's church of Saint Nicholas; the Archangel Michael chapel, site of the first Bulgarian secular school from the National Revival era; and the Sts. Constantine and Helena church of the 14th-century suburban monastery of the same name.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The remains of a large 4th- to 5th-century stronghold basilica in Dzhanavara Park just south of town are becoming a tourist destination with some exquisite mosaics displayed "in situ". The remains of another massive 9th-century basilica adjacent to the scriptorium at Boris I's Theotokos Panagia monastery are being excavated and conserved. A 4th- to 5th-century episcopal basilica north of the Thermae is also being restored. There is also a number of newer Orthodox temples; two, dedicated to apostle Andrew and the local martyr St. Procopius of Varna, are currently under construction. Many smaller Orthodox chapels have mushroomed in the area. In early 2009, Vasil Danev, leader of the ethnic Organization of the United Roma Communities (FORO), said local Roma would also erect an Orthodox chapel.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: There is an Armenian Apostolic church; two Roman Catholic churches, a thriving Evangelical Methodist episcopal church offering organ concerts, active Evangelical Pentecostal, Seventh-day Adventist, and two Baptist churches.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Two old mosques (one is open) have survived since Ottoman times, when there were 18 of them in town, as have two once stately but now dilapidated synagogues, a Sephardic and an Ashkenazic one, the latter in Gothic style (it is undergoing restoration). A new mosque was recently added in the southern Asparuhovo district serving the adjacent Muslim Roma neighbourhood.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: On a different note, spiritual master Peter Deunov started preaching his Esoteric Christianity doctrine in Varna in the late 1890s, and, in 1899–1908, the yearly meetings of his Synarchic Chain, later known as the Universal White Brotherhood, were convened there.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: By 1878, Varna was an Ottoman city of mostly wooden houses in a style characteristic of the Black Sea coast, densely packed along narrow, winding lanes. It was surrounded by a stone wall restored in the 1830s with a citadel, a moat, ornamented iron gates flanked by towers, and a vaulted stone bridge across the River Varna. The place abounded in pre-Ottoman relics, ancient ruins were widely used as stone quarries.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Today, very little of this legacy remains; the city centre was rebuilt by the nascent Bulgarian middle class in late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western style with local interpretations of Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Baroque, Neoclassicism, Art Nouveau and Art Deco (many of those buildings, whose ownership was restored after 1989, underwent renovations).


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Stone masonry from demolished city walls was used for the cathedral, the two elite high schools, and for paving new boulevards. The middle class built practical townhouses and coop buildings. Elegant mansions were erected on main boulevards and in the vineyards north of town. A few industrial working-class suburbs (of one-family cottages with small green yards) emerged. Refugees from the 1910s wars also settled in similar poorer yet vibrant neighbourhoods along the city edges.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: During the rapid urbanisation of the 1960s to the early 1980s, large apartment complexes sprawled onto land formerly covered by small private vineyards or agricultural cooperatives as the city population tripled. Beach resorts were designed mostly in a sleek modern style, which was somewhat lost in their recent more lavish renovations. Modern landmarks of the 1960s include the Palace of Culture and Sports, built in 1968.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: With the country's return to capitalism since 1989, upscale apartment buildings mushroomed both downtown and on uptown terraces overlooking the sea and the lake. Varna's vineyards (лозя, "lozya"), dating back perhaps to antiquity and stretching for miles around, started turning from mostly rural grounds dotted with summer houses or "villa" into affluent suburbs sporting opulent villas and family hotels, epitomised by the researched postmodernist kitsch of the Villa Aqua.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: With the new suburban construction far outpacing infrastructure growth, ancient landslides were activated, temporarily disrupting major highways. As the number of vehicles quadrupled since 1989, Varna became known for traffic jams; parking on the old town's leafy but narrow streets normally takes the sidewalks. At the same time, stretches of shanty towns, more befitting Rio de Janeiro, remain in Romani neighbourhoods on the western edge of town due to complexities of local politics.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: The beach resorts were rebuilt and expanded, fortunately without being as heavily overdeveloped as were other tourist destinations on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, and their greenery was mostly preserved. New modern office buildings started reshaping the old centre and the city's surroundings.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: There are four BAS research institutes: Oceanology, Fisheries, Aero and Hydrodynamics, Metallography. The Institute of Oceanology (IO-BAS) has been active in Black Sea deluge theory studies and deepwater archaeology in cooperation with Columbia University, MIT, UPenn, and National Geographic.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna has some of the finest and oldest museums, professional arts companies, and arts festivals in the nation and is known for its century-old traditions in visual arts, music, and book publishing, as well as for its bustling current hip hop and pop-culture scene. Over the past few decades, it developed as a festival centre of international standing. Varna is a front-runner for European Capital of Culture for 2019, planning to open several new high-profile facilities such as a new opera house and concert hall, a new exhibition centre, and a reconstruction of the Summer Theatre, the historic venue of the International Ballet Competition.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: As early as the 1880s, numerous daily and weekly newspapers were published in Bulgarian and several minority languages. Local newspapers include: "Cherno More", "Chernomorie", "Dialog", "Narodno Delo", "Pozvanete", "Varna" (weekly), "Vlastta" (e-newspaper), "Varna Utre". The national newspapers' local editions are "24 Chasa More", "Morski Dnevnik", "Morski Trud". "Morski Sviat" and "Prostori" are the two major magazines published in Varna.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Local radio stations are Radio Varna opened in 1934, DarikNews (Varna), FM+ Varna, Radio Bravo, Alpha Radio (online radio). Local TV stations: BNT More, TV Cherno more, TV Varna.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Galaktika book publishing house occupied a prominent place nationally in the 1970–1990s, focusing on international sci-fi and marine fiction, contemporary non-fiction and poetry.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Publishing houses in Varna include: "Alfiola" (New Age), "Alpha Print" (advertising), "Atlantis", "Kompas", "Liternet" (poetry, fiction, non-fiction: electronic and print), Naroden Buditel (history), "Slavena" (history, children's books, travel, multimedia, advertising).


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Web portals include: Varna Info (general info, English), Moreto.net (general info, news), Chernomore.bg (news), Ida.bg (general info, news), Varnaeye (tourism, history, events and business), Varna-guide (travel guide), Programata (cultural guide), Varna-sport.com (sports), Varna na mladite (youth), Zdravochnik.bg (health guide).


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: In the late 19th century, Varna was considered the birthplace of Bulgarian football with a Swiss gym teacher, Georges de Regibus, coaching the first varsity team at the men's high school. Association football is the biggest spectator sport with two rival clubs in the nation's top professional league, Cherno More ("the Sailors"), founded in 1913 and four times national champion, including the first championship in 1925, and Spartak ("the Falcons"), founded in 1918, one time champion and participant in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983, when it reached the second knockout round and played Manchester United F.C.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: By 2018 Varna should have a redeveloped 1950's "Yuri Gagarin" stadium in accordance with UEFA/FIFA specifications.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Modern Bulgarian swimming dates to 18 May 1923 when the Bulgarian Public Marine Union was established in Varna. The organisation was the first to manage and administer swimming as a sport in Bulgaria. Famous Bulgarian swimmers from Varna are Aleksi Aleksiev (aka the Pope), Milko Rachev (aka Brother Milko), Maria Nikolova, Julian Rusev. Some of the leading swimming clubs are PSK Cherno More, KPS Asteri, KPS Torpedo, SKPS Albatros and KPS Cherno More.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Julian Rusev pool is the second oldest 50 m Olympic-size pool in the country, built in 1964 and located on the South beach in Varna. After a major redevelopment in 2008 council owned entity was established named Swimming Complex "Primorski". The 50m pool, now in line with FINA pool criteria, was adjacent to the water polo and diving pool "Aleksi Aleksiev". Subsequently, a third 25 m covered pool was built next to the diving pool along with a SPA & gym centre.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: On the first Sunday of August the marathon "Galata – Varna" takes place, the oldest Bulgarian swimming marathon. It dates back to 1939 and it attracts nearly 300 national and foreign swimmers. Bulgaria greatest swimmer Petar Stoychev holds the all-time record of 46 min for swimming the 4.5 km open water distance, crossing the Varna Bay.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Men's basketball (Euroins Cherno More), women's volleyball, gymnastics, boxing, martial arts, sailing and tennis are also vibrant. A karting racing and a go kart track and a hippodrome with a horseback riding school is located in the Vinitsa neighborhood. Varna karting track is biggest track in Bulgaria .It has more than 30pcs rental go kart and 10 buggies. Another horse club is located just 10 minutes' drive away from Varna in the nearby village of Kichevo. Asparuhov bridge is a major Bulgarian bungee jumping site managed by "Club Adrenalin". Cricket has been most recently introduced by ex-pats from cricket playing nations to the city's sport scene.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: In August 2007 a new public leisure centre was opened in Mladost district. The track-field stadium consists of football, basketball and volleyball fields and is part of a larger complex of sports facilities for mini-golf, tennis, biking, mini-lakes and ice-skating. Other public leisure centres opened in the Sea Garden, Asparuhov Park and elsewhere. The number and range of gym and recreation clubs in Varna have increased in recent years, which reflects the healthy lifestyle of the average Varna citizens.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: In the region, there are three golf courses—Lighthouse Golf Club, BlackSeaRama Golf & Villas and Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort. The three 18-hole golf courses are of professional quality, constructed in the region to the north of the city in the vicinity of Balchik and Kavarna.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna also hosts international competitions, including world championships, and national events in several sports on a regular basis, including auto racing and motocross, karting, open water swimming marathons. Bulgarian national basketball and volleyball teams host their games, including FIVB Volleyball World League games, at the Palace of Culture and Sports.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna athletes won one of the three medals for Bulgaria at the 2016 Summer Olympics and four of the 12 medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna, Illinois, a small town of 400 people, was named in this city's honour. The War of Varna was going on at the time.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varnensky District and its administrative centre in the Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia are named in commemoration of the taking of Varna by the Russian army during the 1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna Drive, in Toronto, Canada, is named after this city. There is also a hamlet in southern Ontario (Huron County) named Varna.


title: Varna, Bulgaria

text: Varna, an area just outside of Aarhus, Denmark. This was named after the Bulgarian city, because Baron Christian C. N. Gersdorff, a former owner of Marselisborg estate, had participated in Russian war service on the Black Sea coast.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: Blonde stereotypes are stereotypes of blonde-haired people. Sub-types of this stereotype include the "blonde bombshell" and the "dumb blonde". Blondes are stereotyped as more desirable, but less intelligent than brunettes. There are many blonde jokes made on these premises.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: The blonde bombshell is one of the most notable and consistently popular female character types in cinema. Many showbiz stars have used it to their advantage, including Jean Harlow, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Brigitte Bardot and Mamie Van Doren.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: There are several aspects to the stereotypical perception of blonde-haired women. On one hand, over history, blonde hair in women has often been considered attractive and desirable. Blonde hair has been considered attractive for long periods of time in various European cultures, particularly when coupled with blue eyes. This perception is exploited in culture and advertising.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: In contemporary popular culture, it is often stereotyped that men find blonde women more attractive than women with other hair colors. For example, Anita Loos popularized this idea in her 1925 novel "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". Blondes are often assumed to have more fun; for example, in a Clairol commercial for hair colorant, they use the phrase "Is it true blondes have more fun?" Some women have reported they feel other people expect them to be more fun-loving after having lightened their hair. In much of the Americas, the blonde stereotype is associated with being less serious or less intelligent. However, an analysis of IQ data carried out by the National Longitudinal Surveys on a survey database of American "baby boomers" (NLSY79 data), the natural blonde women in this population category (excluding African American and Hispanic persons) have a slightly higher mean IQ than brunettes, black and red-haired women.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: On the other hand, a blonde woman is often perceived as making little use of intelligence and as a "woman who relies on her looks rather than on intelligence." At the same time, people tend to presume that blondes are less serious-minded and less intelligent than brunettes, as reflected in "blonde jokes". The root of this notion may be traced to Europe, with the "dumb blonde" in question being a French courtesan named Rosalie Duthé, satirised in a 1775 play "Les Curiosités de la Foire" for her habit of pausing a long time before speaking, appearing not only stupid but literally dumb (meaning mute). The latter stereotype of "dumb blonde" is exploited in blonde jokes. In Brazil, this extends to blonde women being disparaged, as reflected in sexist jokes, as sexually licentious.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: Alfred Hitchcock preferred to cast blonde women for major roles in his films as he believed that the audience would suspect them the least, comparing them to "virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints", hence the term "Hitchcock blonde". This stereotype became so ingrained that it spawned counter-narratives, such as in the 2001 film "Legally Blonde", in which Reese Witherspoon succeeds at Harvard Law School despite biases against her beauty and blonde hair, and terms such as cookie-cutter blonde (CCB), implying standardized blonde looks and standard perceived social and intelligence characteristics of a blonde. Many actors and actresses in Latin America and Hispanic United States have blonde hair and blue eyes and/or pale skin, such as Christina Aguilera and Shakira.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: Annette Kuhn divides blonde stereotypes in cinema into three categories in "The Women's Companion to International Film":


title: Blonde stereotype

text: In cognitive linguistics, the stereotype uses expressivity of words to affect an emotional response which determines a gender role of a certain kind. In feminist critique, stereotypes like the blonde bombshell or the "dumb blonde" are seen as negative images that undermine the power of women.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: The blonde bombshell is a gender stereotype that connotes a very attractive woman with blonde hair. A review of English language tabloids from the United Kingdom has shown it to be a recurring blonde stereotype, along with "busty blonde" and "blonde babe".


title: Blonde stereotype

text: Jean Harlow started the stereotype with her film "Bombshell" of 1933. Following her, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren helped establish the stereotype typified by a combination of curvaceous physique, very light-colored hair and a perceived lack of intelligence. During the 1950s, the "blonde bombshell" started to replace the "Femme fatale" as the mainstream media stereotype. Marjorie Rosen, a historian of women in films, says of the two top blonde bombshells of the time that "Mae West, firing off vocal salvos with imperious self-assurance, and Jean Harlow, merchandising her physical allure for the masses, transformed the idea of passive female sexuality into an aggressive statement of fact".


title: Blonde stereotype

text: The notion of "dumb blonde" has been a topic of academic research reported in scholarly articles and university symposia, which tend to confirm that many people hold to the perception that light-haired women are less intelligent than women with dark hair. While there is no evidence that suggests that blondes are less intelligent than other people, it has been suggested that the state of being blonde creates opportunities that do not require investing in education and training. It is believed the first recorded "dumb blonde" was an 18th-century blonde French courtesan named Rosalie Duthé whose reputation of being beautiful and dumb, even in the literal sense of not talking much, inspired a play about her called "Les Curiosités de la Foire" (Paris 1775).


title: Blonde stereotype

text: A possible explanation is that attractive women have less pressing incentives to cultivate and demonstrate their intellect to ensure their future, since attractiveness is an asset, or correlatively that intelligent women have less pressing incentives to dye their hair to a presumed attractive color. The validity of this explanation is corroborated by its applicability to a similar pervasiveness of the "dumb athlete" stereotype. The dumb blonde stereotype (and the associated cognitive bias) may have some negative consequences and it can also damage a blonde person's career prospects.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1925) by Anita Loos originated as a comic novel and explores the appeal of blonde women. It spawned a musical on Broadway, and two films released in 1928 and 1953. The "Encyclopedia of Hair" describes Marilyn Monroe's blonde role in the second film as that of "a fragile woman who relied on her looks rather than on intelligence—what some people refer to as 'dumb blonde'." At the same time, in the film she demonstrates a certain amount of wit regarding her life position expressed in the song "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend". Madonna emulated that screen-persona of Monroe in her music video "Material Girl".


title: Blonde stereotype

text: Many blonde actresses have played stereotypical "dumb blondes", including Monroe (dyed blonde), Judy Holliday, Jayne Mansfield (dyed blonde), Carol Wayne and Goldie Hawn. Goldie Hawn is best known as the giggling "dumb blonde", stumbling over her lines, especially when she introduced "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" "News of the Future". In the American sitcom "Three's Company" the blonde girl (originally Chrissy, played by Suzanne Somers, and later Cindy and Terri) is sweet and naïve, while the brunette (Janet, played by Joyce DeWitt) is smart.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: Country music star Dolly Parton who recorded a song called "Dumb Blonde", famously said that dumb blonde jokes about her does not offend her because, "I know I am not dumb, and I am not blonde."


title: Blonde stereotype

text: There is a category of jokes called "blonde jokes" that employs the dumb blonde stereotype. It overlaps at times with other jokes that portray the subject of the joke as promiscuous and/or stupid. Some blonde jokes rely on sexual humour to portray or stereotype their subjects as promiscuous. Many of these are rephrased sorority girl or Essex girl jokes, much as other jokes about dumb blondes are based on long-running ethnic jokes. Many of these jokes are mere variants on traditional ethnic jokes or jests about other identifiable groups (such as Italian jokes involving Carabinieri, Sardarji jokes or Pathan jokes). Similar jokes about stereotyped minorities have circulated since the seventeenth century with only the wording and targeted groups changed.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: Blonde jokes have been criticized as sexist by several authors, as most blondes in these jokes are female, although male variations also exist. In fact, dumb blonde jokes are overwhelmingly female-specific: according to an extensive search in various publications and on the Internet, about 63% of dumb blonde jokes are directed exclusively at females (compared to less than 5% that directly referenced dumb blond men). Research indicates that because of this, men report being amused by blonde jokes significantly more than women do. The fact that most of these jokes target the invariably dim-witted, and sexually promiscuous, female makes them even more sexist. In the 20th century, a class of meta-jokes about blondes (i.e. jokes about blonde jokes) has emerged. In a typical plot of this type, a blonde complains about the unfairness of the stereotype propagated by blonde jokes, with a punch line actually reinforcing the stereotype.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: In a 16 November 2011 article titled ""Blondes vs. Brunettes: TV Shows with Betty and Veronica-Style Love Triangles"", media critic Tucker Cummings cited several TV shows that featured a "classic war between blonde and brunette love interests", including "The Office" (where lighter haired Pam Beesly competes with brunette Karen Filipelli for the attention of Jim Halpert), "Suits" (where blonde Jenny Griffith competes with brunette Rachel Zane for the attention of Mike Ross), and "Dexter" (where blonde Rita Bennent and brunette Lila West compete for the affections of Dexter Morgan, the main character). Typically, she wrote, "... the blonde (is) stable, and typifies the 'girl next door,' while (the) ... brunette, is haughty, and a bit more exotic." In Archie comics, Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge have been engaged in a mostly friendly competition for over 70 years.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: A number of studies have been conducted over the years to measure society's attitude toward blondes and brunettes. Some studies have shown that men, mainly those of Caucasian descent, find blonde women more attractive than brunettes, redheads, or women of other races who had darker hair, eyes, or complexion. Other studies, however, have shown that more men find brunettes more attractive, due to geographic location, familiarity and perceived emotional and cultural connection.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: In a 2012 interview with NBC News, Lisa Walker, Sociology Department Chair at the University of North Carolina said that hair color "absolutely" plays a role in the way people are treated and claimed that numerous studies had shown that blonde women were paid higher salaries than other women. In a study by Diana J. Kyle and Heike I. M. Mahler (1996), the researchers asked subjects to evaluate photographs of the same woman with "natural" (not dyed) looking brown, red, and blonde hair in the context of a job application for an accounting position. The researchers found that the blonde-haired applicant was rated as significantly less capable than her brunette counterpart. In addition, participants designated the female applicant's starting salary as significantly lower when she was depicted as a blonde than when she was shown with brown hair.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: A study that looked at the CEOs of the Financial Times Stock Exchange's (FTSE) top 500 companies investigated how hair color could be a potential barrier to professional success. In another study by Brian Bates, two sets of MBA graduates were given the same Curriculum vitae of the same women split between two sets of attached photos - blonde and brunette. The brunette was considered more for a managerial position and for a higher salary. A 2011 University of Westminster study evaluated how men perceived women who entered a London nightclub as a blonde or a brunette. The study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, used the same woman and had her dye her hair a different color for each visit. The results showed that, as a blonde, she was more likely to be approached for conversation than as a brunette. However, when the researchers interviewed the men who spoke to her, the men rated her more intelligent and attractive as a brunette than as a blonde.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: French magazine "Le Monde" believes that the rivalry is more prevalent in the United States. In a 2012 article, "Le Monde" argued that American TV has almost, without exception, characterized blonde women as having the positive values of purity, goodness, and sincerity, frequently at the expense of their brunette counterparts. The article provided several examples including "Bewitched" (where Samantha, the blonde witch, displays a sense of tolerance while her dark-haired cousin Serena plays the wild one), "Dynasty" (where blonde Krystal pitted against brunette Alexis), and "V" (in both the original series in 1984 and the remake in 2009 shows an intelligent, humanistic blonde battling a brunette leader of the alien cannibals).


title: Blonde stereotype

text: In Russia, according to a 2011 survey by the Southern Federal University, brunettes are considered more attractive than blondes. It is important to note that among the respondents in this study were 50% men and 50% women.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: One theory forwards, as an explanation, the concept of the feminization of blond hair, which can be seen by the overwhelming association of the dumb blond persona with females. This idea draws on the stereotype that females have a lower psychometric intelligence than males.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: At the same time, there are many examples where the stereotype is exploited only to combat it. The film "Legally Blonde" starring Reese Witherspoon featured the stereotype as a centrepiece of its plot. However, the protagonist turns out to be very intelligent and is shown to have been underachieving due to society's low expectations of her.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: Country music entertainer Dolly Parton, aware of this occasional characterization of her, addressed it in her 1967 hit "Dumb Blonde". Parton's lyrics challenged the stereotype, stating "just because I'm blonde, don't think I'm dumb 'cause this dumb blonde ain't nobody's fool". Parton has said she was not offended by "all the dumb-blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb. I'm also not blonde."


title: Blonde stereotype

text: The author of the comic strip "Blondie", Chic Young, starting with "Dumb Dora", gradually transformed the titular character into a smart, hard-working, family-oriented woman.


title: Blonde stereotype

text: In "The Simpsons" episode "To Surveil with Love" Lisa faces prejudice with her brunette peers because of her blonde hair. She dyes her hair dark brown to prove her point that not all blondes are dumb, and that people need to look past stereotypes.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) is a species of oceanic dolphin that is the only extant representative of the genus "Pseudorca". It is found in oceans worldwide but mainly in tropical regions. It was first described in 1846 as a species of porpoise based on a skull, which was revised when the first carcasses were observed in 1861. The name "false killer whale" comes from having a skull similar to the orca ("Orcinus orca"), or killer whale.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale reaches a maximum length of , though size can vary around the world. It is highly sociable, known to form pods of up to 50 members, and can also form pods with other dolphin species, such as the common bottlenose dolphin ("Tursiops truncatus"). It can form close bonds with other species, as well as have sexual interactions with them. But the false killer has also been known to eat other dolphins, though it typically eats squid and fish. It is a deep-diver; maximum known depth is ; maximum speed is ~ .


title: False killer whale

text: Several aquariums around the world keep one or more false killers, though its aggression toward other dolphins makes it less desirable. It is threatened by fishing operations, as it can entangle in fishing gear. It is drive hunted in some Japanese villages. The false killer has a tendency to mass strand given its highly social nature; the largest stranding consisted of 805 beached at Mar del Plata, Argentina. Most of what is known of this species comes from examining stranded individuals.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale was first described by British paleontologist and biologist Richard Owen in his 1846 book, "A history of British fossil mammals and birds", based on a fossil skull discovered in 1843. This specimen was unearthed from the Lincolnshire Fens near Stamford in England, a subfossil deposited in a marine environment that existed around 126,000 years ago. The skull was reported as present in a number of museum collections, but noted as lost by William Henry Flower in 1884. Owen compared the skull to those of the long-finned pilot whale ("Globicephala melas"), beluga whale ("Delphinapterus leucas"), and Risso's dolphin ("Grampus griseus")–in fact, he gave it the nickname "thick toothed grampus" in light of this and assigned the animal to the genus "Phocaena" (a genus of porpoises) which Risso's dolphin was also assigned to in 1846. The species name "crassidens" means "thick toothed".


title: False killer whale

text: In 1846, zoologist John Edward Gray put the false killer whale in the genus "Orca", which had been known as the killer whale ("Orcinus orca"). Till 1861, when the first carcasses washed up on the shores of Kiel Bay, Denmark, the species was presumed extinct. Based on these and a pod that beached itself three months later in November, zoologist Johannes Theodor Reinhardt moved the species in 1862 to the newly erected genus "Pseudorca", which established it as being neither a porpoise nor a killer whale. The name "false killer whale" comes from the apparent similarity between its skull and that of the killer whale.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale is in the family Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins). It is in the subfamily Globicephalinae; its closest living relatives are Risso's dolphin, the melon-headed whale ("Peponocephala electra"), the pygmy killer whale ("Feresa attenuata"), pilot whales ("Globicephala" spp.), and possibly snubfin dolphins ("Orcaella" spp.). Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala proposed a subspecies, "P. c. meridionalis", in 1945, though without enough justification; and William Henry Flower suggested in 1884 and later abandoned a distinction between northern and southern false killer whales; there are currently no recognized subspecies. But individuals in populations around the world can have different skull structure and vary in average length; Japanese false killers are 10–20% larger than South African ones. It can hybridize with the bottlenose dolphin ("Tursiops truncatus") to produce fertile offspring called "wholphins".


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale is black or dark gray; slightly lighter on the underside. It has a slender body with an elongated, tapered head and 44 teeth. The dorsal fin is sickle-shaped; and flippers are narrow, short, and pointed, with a distinctive bulge on the leading edge of the flipper (the side closest to the head). Average length is ~; females reach a maximum size of in length and in weight, and males long and . But on average, males and females are about the same size. Newborns can be long. Body temperature ranges from , increasing during activity. The teeth are conical, and there are 14–21 in the upper jaw and 16–24 in the lower.


title: False killer whale

text: A false killer reaches physical maturity at 8 to 14 years; maximum age in captivity is 57 years for males and 62 for females. Sexual maturity happens at 8 to 11 years. In one population, calving was at 7 year intervals; calving can occur year-round, though it usually occurs in late winter. Gestation takes ~15 months; lactation, 9 months to 2 years. The false killer is one of three toothed whales, the other two being the pilot whales, identified as having a sizable lifespan after menopause, which occurs at age 45 to 55.


title: False killer whale

text: As a toothed whale, a false killer can echolocate using its melon organ in the forehead to create sound, which it uses to navigate and find prey. The melon is larger in males than in females.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale has been known to interact non-aggressively with some dolphins: the common bottlenose dolphin, the Pacific white-sided dolphin ("Lagenorhynchus obliquidens"), the rough-toothed dolphin ("Steno bredanensis"), the pilot whales, the melon-headed whale, the pantropical spotted dolphin ("Stenella attenuata"), the pygmy killer whale, and Risso's dolphin.


title: False killer whale

text: A false killer may respond to distress calls and protect other species from predators, aid in childbirth by helping to remove the afterbirth, and has been known to interact sexually with bottlenose dolphins (see Wholphin) and pilot whales, including homosexually. It has been known to form mixed-species pods with those dolphins, probably due to shared feeding grounds. In Japan, these only occur in winter, suggesting it is tied to seasonal food shortages.


title: False killer whale

text: A pod near Chile had a cruising speed, and false killer whales in captivity were recorded to have a maximum speed of , similar to a bottlenose dolphin. Diving behavior is not well recorded, but one individual near Japan dove for 12 minutes to a depth of . In Japan, one individual had a documented dive of , and one in Hawaii , comparable to pilot whales and other similarly-sized dolphins. Its maximum dive time is likely 18.5 minutes.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer travels in large pods, evidenced by mass strandings; usually 10 to 20 members, though these smaller groups can be part of larger groups; it is highly social and can travel in groups of more than 500 whales. These large groups may break up into smaller family groups of 4 to 6 members while feeding. Members stay with the pod long-term, some recorded as 15 years, and, indicated by mass strandings, share strong bonds with other members. It is thought it has a matrifocal family structure, with mothers heading the pod instead of the father, like in sperm whales and pilot whales. Different populations around the world have different vocalizations, similar to other dolphins. The false killer whale is probably polygynous, with males mating with multiple females.


title: False killer whale

text: Generally, the false killer whale targets a wide array of squid and fish of various sizes during daylight hours. They typically target large species of fish, such as mahi-mahi and tuna. In captivity, it eats 3.4 to 4.3% of its body weight per day. A video taken in 2016 near Sydney shows a group hunting a juvenile shark. It sometimes discards the tail, gills, and stomach of captured fish, and pod members have been known to share food.


title: False killer whale

text: In the Eastern Pacific, the false killer whale has been known to target smaller dolphins during tuna purse-seine fishing operations; there are attacks on sperm whales ("Physeter macrocephalus"), and one instance against a humpback whale ("Megaptera novaeangliae") calf. Killer whales are known to prey on the false killer, and it also possibly faces a threat from large sharks, though there are no documented instances.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer is known to host parasites: trematode "Nasitrema" in the sinuses, nematode "Stenurus" in the sinuses and lungs, an unidentified crassicaudine nematode in the sinuses, stomach nematodes "Anisakis simplex" and "Anisakis typica", acanthocephalan worm "Bolbosoma capitatum" in the intestines, whale lice "Syncyamus pseudorcae" and "Isocyamus delphinii", and the whale barnacle "Xenobalanus globicipitis". Some strandings had whales with large "Bolbosoma" infestations, such as the 1976 and 1986 strandings in Florida.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale appears to have a widespread presence in tropical and semitropical oceans. The species has been found in temperate waters, but these occurrences were possibly stray individuals, or associated with warm water events. It generally does not go beyond 50°N or below 50°S. It usually inhabits open ocean and deep-water areas, though it may frequent coastal areas near oceanic islands.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale is thought to be common around the world, though no total estimate has been made. The population in the Eastern Pacific is probably in the low tens-of-thousands, and ~16,000 near China and Japan. The population around Hawaii has been declining.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale is known to be much more adaptable in captivity than other dolphins, being easily trained and highly sociable with other species, and as such it has been kept in several public aquariums around the world, such as in Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Australia. Individuals were mainly captured off California and Hawaii, and then in Japan and Taiwan after 1980. It has also been successfully bred in captivity. But Chester, an orphaned newborn who was stranded in Tofino on Vancouver Island in 2014 and rescued by Vancouver Aquarium, died from a bacterial erysipelas infection in 2017 at the age of three and a half. Being the fifth whale to die in the aquarium, Chester's death caused the Vancouver Park Board to ban the aquarium from acquiring more whales.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer has been known to approach and offer fish it has caught to humans diving or boating. It also takes fish off hooks, which sometimes leads to entanglement or swallowing the hook. Entanglement can cause drowning, loss of circulation to an appendage, or impede the animal's ability to hunt, and swallowing the hook can puncture the digestive tract or can become a blockage. In Hawaii, this is likely leading to the decline in local populations, reducing them by 75% from 1989 to 2009. The false killer is more susceptible to organochloride buildup than other dolphins, being higher up on the food chain, and stranded individuals around the world show higher levels than other dolphins. It has been known to ride the wakes of large boats, which could put it at risk of hitting the propeller.


title: False killer whale

text: In a few Japanese villages, the false killer is killed in drive hunts using sound to herd individuals together and cause a mass stranding or corral them into nets before being killed.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale regularly beaches itself, for reasons largely unknown, on coasts around the world, with the largest stranding consisting of 835 individuals on 9 October 1946 at Mar del Plata in Argentina. Unlike other dolphins, but similar to other globicephalines, the false killer usually mass strands in pods, leading to such high mortality rates. These can also occur in temperate waters outside its normal range, such as with the mass strandings in Britain in 1927, 1935, and 1936.


title: False killer whale

text: The 30 July 1986 mass stranding of 114 false killers in Flinders Bay, Western Australia was widely watched as volunteers and the newly created Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) saved 96 whales, and founded an informal network for whale strandings. The 2 June 2005 Geographe Bay stranding of 120 whales in Western Australia, the fourth in the bay, was caused by a storm preventing the animals from seeing the shoreline; this also caused a rescue effort of 1,500 volunteers by CALM.


title: False killer whale

text: Since 2005, there have been seven mass strandings of false killer whales in New Zealand involving more than one individual, the largest on 8 April 1943 on the Māhia Peninsula with 300 stranded, and 31 March 1978 in Manukau Harbour with 253 stranded.


title: False killer whale

text: Whale strandings are rare in southern Africa, but mass strandings in this area are typically associated with the false killer, with mass strandings averaging at 58 individuals. Hot-spots for mass stranding exist along the coast of the Western Cape in South Africa; the most recent in 30 May 2009 near the village of Kommetjie with 55 individuals.


title: False killer whale

text: On 14 January 2017, a pod of ~100 beached themselves in Everglades National Park, Florida; the remoteness of the area was detrimental to rescue efforts, causing the deaths of 81 whales. The other two strandings in Florida were in 1986 with three beached whales from a pod of 40 in Cedar Key, and 1980 with 28 stranded in Key West.


title: False killer whale

text: The false killer whale is covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS), and the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS). The species is further included in the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Conservation of the Manatee and Small Cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia (Western African Aquatic Mammals MoU) and the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region (Pacific Cetaceans MoU).


title: False killer whale

text: No accurate global estimates for the false killer whale exist, so the species is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN Redlist. In November 2012, the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recognized the Hawaiian population of false killers, comprising ~150 whales, as endangered.


title: Row echelon form

text: In linear algebra, a matrix is in echelon form if it has the shape resulting from a Gaussian elimination.


title: Row echelon form

text: column echelon form means that Gaussian elimination has operated on the columns. In other words, a matrix is in column echelon form if its transpose is in row echelon form. Therefore, only row echelon forms are considered in the remainder of this article. The similar properties of column echelon form are easily deduced by transposing all the matrices.


title: Row echelon form

text: Some texts add the condition that the leading coefficient must be 1 while others regard this as "reduced" row echelon form.


title: Row echelon form

text: The following is an example of a 4x5 matrix in row echelon form, which is not in "reduced" row echelon form (see below):


title: Row echelon form

text: Many properties of matrices may be easily deduced from their row echelon form, such as the rank and the kernel.


title: Row echelon form

text: A matrix is in reduced row echelon form (also called row canonical form) if it satisfies the following conditions:


title: Row echelon form

text: The reduced row echelon form of a matrix may be computed by Gauss–Jordan elimination. Unlike the row echelon form, the reduced row echelon form of a matrix is unique and does not depend on the algorithm used to compute it. For a given matrix, despite the row echelon form not being unique, all row echelon forms and the reduced row echelon form have the same number of zero rows and the pivots are located in the same indices.


title: Row echelon form

text: This is an example of a matrix in reduced row echelon form, which shows that the left part of the matrix is not always an identity matrix:


title: Row echelon form

text: For matrices with integer coefficients, the Hermite normal form is a row echelon form that may be calculated using Euclidean division and without introducing any rational number or denominator. On the other hand, the reduced echelon form of a matrix with integer coefficients generally contains non-integer coefficients.


title: Row echelon form

text: By means of a finite sequence of elementary row operations, called Gaussian elimination, any matrix can be transformed to row echelon form. Since elementary row operations preserve the row space of the matrix, the row space of the row echelon form is the same as that of the original matrix.


title: Row echelon form

text: The resulting echelon form is not unique; any matrix that is in echelon form can be put in an (equivalent) echelon form by adding a scalar multiple of a row to one of the above rows, for example:


title: Row echelon form

text: However, every matrix has a unique "reduced" row echelon form. In the above example, the reduced row echelon form can be found as


title: Row echelon form

text: This means that the nonzero rows of the reduced row echelon form are the unique reduced row echelon generating set for the row space of the original matrix.


title: Row echelon form

text: A system of linear equations is said to be in "row echelon form" if its augmented matrix is in row echelon form. Similarly, a system of linear equations is said to be in "reduced row echelon form" or in "canonical form" if its augmented matrix is in reduced row echelon form.


title: Row echelon form

text: The canonical form may be viewed as an explicit solution of the linear system. In fact, the system is inconsistent if and only if one of the equations of the canonical form is reduced to 0 = 1. Otherwise, regrouping in the right hand side all the terms of the equations but the leading ones, expresses the variables corresponding to the pivots as constants or linear functions of the other variables, if any.


title: Continuity equation

text: A continuity equation or transport equation is an equation that describes the transport of some quantity. It is particularly simple and powerful when applied to a conserved quantity, but it can be generalized to apply to any extensive quantity. Since mass, energy, momentum, electric charge and other natural quantities are conserved under their respective appropriate conditions, a variety of physical phenomena may be described using continuity equations.


title: Continuity equation

text: Continuity equations are a stronger, local form of conservation laws. For example, a weak version of the law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed—i.e., the total amount of energy in the universe is fixed. This statement does not rule out the possibility that a quantity of energy could disappear from one point while simultaneously appearing at another point. A stronger statement is that energy is "locally" conserved: energy can neither be created nor destroyed, "nor" can it "teleport" from one place to another—it can only move by a continuous flow. A continuity equation is the mathematical way to express this kind of statement. For example, the continuity equation for electric charge states that the amount of electric charge in any volume of space can only change by the amount of electric current flowing into or out of that volume through its boundaries.


title: Continuity equation

text: Continuity equations more generally can include "source" and "sink" terms, which allow them to describe quantities that are often but not always conserved, such as the density of a molecular species which can be created or destroyed by chemical reactions. In an everyday example, there is a continuity equation for the number of people alive; it has a "source term" to account for people being born, and a "sink term" to account for people dying.


title: Continuity equation

text: Any continuity equation can be expressed in an "integral form" (in terms of a flux integral), which applies to any finite region, or in a "differential form" (in terms of the divergence operator) which applies at a point.


title: Continuity equation

text: Continuity equations underlie more specific transport equations such as the convection–diffusion equation, Boltzmann transport equation, and Navier–Stokes equations.


title: Continuity equation

text: A continuity equation is useful when a "flux" can be defined. To define flux, first there must be a quantity which can flow or move, such as mass, energy, electric charge, momentum, number of molecules, etc. Let be the volume density of this quantity, that is, the amount of per unit volume.


title: Continuity equation

text: The way that this quantity is flowing is described by its flux. The flux of is a vector field, which we denote as j. Here are some examples and properties of flux:


title: Continuity equation

text: Mathematically, the integral form of the continuity equation expressing the rate of increase of within a volume is:


title: Continuity equation

text: In a simple example, could be a building, and could be the number of people in the building. The surface would consist of the walls, doors, roof, and foundation of the building. Then the continuity equation states that the number of people in the building increases when people enter the building (an inward flux through the surface), decreases when people exit the building (an outward flux through the surface), increases when someone in the building gives birth (a source, ), and decreases when someone in the building dies (a sink, ).


title: Continuity equation

text: By the divergence theorem, a general continuity equation can also be written in a "differential form":


title: Continuity equation

text: This general equation may be used to derive any continuity equation, ranging from as simple as the volume continuity equation to as complicated as the Navier–Stokes equations. This equation also generalizes the advection equation. Other equations in physics, such as Gauss's law of the electric field and Gauss's law for gravity, have a similar mathematical form to the continuity equation, but are not usually referred to by the term "continuity equation", because in those cases does not represent the flow of a real physical quantity.


title: Continuity equation

text: In the case that is a conserved quantity that cannot be created or destroyed (such as energy), and the equations become:


title: Continuity equation

text: In electromagnetic theory, the continuity equation is an empirical law expressing (local) charge conservation. Mathematically it is an automatic consequence of Maxwell's equations, although charge conservation is more fundamental than Maxwell's equations. It states that the divergence of the current density (in amperes per square metre) is equal to the negative rate of change of the charge density (in coulombs per cubic metre),


title: Continuity equation

text: Taking the divergence of both sides (the divergence and partial derivative in time commute) results in


title: Continuity equation

text: Current is the movement of charge. The continuity equation says that if charge is moving out of a differential volume (i.e., divergence of current density is positive) then the amount of charge within that volume is going to decrease, so the rate of change of charge density is negative. Therefore, the continuity equation amounts to a conservation of charge.


title: Continuity equation

text: If magnetic monopoles exist, there would be a continuity equation for monopole currents as well, see the monopole article for background and the duality between electric and magnetic currents.


title: Continuity equation

text: In fluid dynamics, the continuity equation states that the rate at which mass enters a system is equal to the rate at which mass leaves the system plus the accumulation of mass within the system.


title: Continuity equation

text: The time derivative can be understood as the accumulation (or loss) of mass in the system, while the divergence term represents the difference in flow in versus flow out. In this context, this equation is also one of the Euler equations (fluid dynamics). The Navier–Stokes equations form a vector continuity equation describing the conservation of linear momentum.


title: Continuity equation

text: If the fluid is incompressible (volumetric strain rate is zero), the mass continuity equation simplifies to a volume continuity equation:


title: Continuity equation

text: which means that the divergence of the velocity field is zero everywhere. Physically, this is equivalent to saying that the local volume dilation rate is zero, hence a flow of water through a converging pipe will adjust solely by increasing its velocity as water is largely incompressible.


title: Continuity equation

text: In computer vision, optical flow is the pattern of apparent motion of objects in a visual scene. Under the assumption that brightness of the moving object did not change between two image frames, one can derive the optical flow equation as:


title: Continuity equation

text: Conservation of energy says that energy cannot be created or destroyed. (See below for the nuances associated with general relativity.) Therefore, there is a continuity equation for energy flow:


title: Continuity equation

text: An important practical example is the flow of heat. When heat flows inside a solid, the continuity equation can be combined with Fourier's law (heat flux is proportional to temperature gradient) to arrive at the heat equation. The equation of heat flow may also have source terms: Although "energy" cannot be created or destroyed, "heat" can be created from other types of energy, for example via friction or joule heating.


title: Continuity equation

text: If there is a quantity that moves continuously according to a stochastic (random) process, like the location of a single dissolved molecule with Brownian motion, then there is a continuity equation for its probability distribution. The flux in this case is the probability per unit area per unit time that the particle passes through a surface. According to the continuity equation, the negative divergence of this flux equals the rate of change of the probability density. The continuity equation reflects the fact that the molecule is always somewhere—the integral of its probability distribution is always equal to 1—and that it moves by a continuous motion (no teleporting).


title: Continuity equation

text: Quantum mechanics is another domain where there is a continuity equation related to "conservation of probability". The terms in the equation require the following definitions, and are slightly less obvious than the other examples above, so they are outlined here:


title: Continuity equation

text: Either form may be quoted. Intuitively, the above quantities indicate this represents the flow of probability. The "chance" of finding the particle at some position and time flows like a fluid; hence the term "probability current", a vector field. The particle itself does "not" flow deterministically in this vector field.


title: Continuity equation

text: Multiplying the Schrödinger equation by then solving for , and similarly multiplying the complex conjugated Schrödinger equation by then solving for ;


title: Continuity equation

text: The Laplacian operators () in the above result suggest that the right hand side is the divergence of , and the reversed order of terms imply this is the negative of , altogether:


title: Continuity equation

text: The total current flow in the semiconductor consists of drift current and diffusion current of both the electrons in the conduction band and holes in the valence band.


title: Continuity equation

text: This section presents a derivation of the equation above for electrons. A similar derivation can be found for the equation for holes.


title: Continuity equation

text: Consider the fact that the number of electrons is conserved across a volume of semiconductor material with cross-sectional area, "A", and length, "dx", along the "x"-axis. More precisely, one can say:


title: Continuity equation

text: formula_27Here J denotes current density(whose direction is against electron flow by convention) due to electron flow within the considered volume of the semiconductor. It is also called electron current density.


title: Continuity equation

text: The key to solving these equations in real devices is whenever possible to select regions in which most of the mechanisms are negligible so that the equations reduce to a much simpler form.


title: Continuity equation

text: The notation and tools of special relativity, especially 4-vectors and 4-gradients, offer a convenient way to write any continuity equation.


title: Continuity equation

text: where is the 4-gradient and is an index labeling the spacetime dimension. Then the continuity equation is:


title: Continuity equation

text: in the usual case where there are no sources or sinks, that is, for perfectly conserved quantities like energy or charge. This continuity equation is manifestly ("obviously") Lorentz invariant.


title: Continuity equation

text: In general relativity, where spacetime is curved, the continuity equation (in differential form) for energy, charge, or other conserved quantities involves the "covariant" divergence instead of the ordinary divergence.


title: Continuity equation

text: For example, the stress–energy tensor is a second-order tensor field containing energy–momentum densities, energy–momentum fluxes, and shear stresses, of a mass-energy distribution. The differential form of energy–momentum conservation in general relativity states that the "covariant" divergence of the stress-energy tensor is zero:


title: Continuity equation

text: As a consequence, the "integral" form of the continuity equation is difficult to define and not necessarily valid for a region within which spacetime is significantly curved (e.g. around a black hole, or across the whole universe).


title: Continuity equation

text: Quarks and gluons have "color charge", which is always conserved like electric charge, and there is a continuity equation for such color charge currents (explicit expressions for currents are given at gluon field strength tensor).


title: Continuity equation

text: There are many other quantities in particle physics which are often or always conserved: baryon number (proportional to the number of quarks minus the number of antiquarks), electron number, mu number, tau number, isospin, and others. Each of these has a corresponding continuity equation, possibly including source / sink terms.


title: Continuity equation

text: One reason that conservation equations frequently occur in physics is Noether's theorem. This states that whenever the laws of physics have a continuous symmetry, there is a continuity equation for some conserved physical quantity. The three most famous examples are:


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: Ancient Egyptian art refers to art produced in ancient Egypt between the 6th millennium BC and the 4th century AD, spanning from Prehistoric Egypt until the Christianization of Roman Egypt. It includes paintings, sculptures, drawings on papyrus, faience, jewelry, ivories, architecture, and other art media. It is also very conservative: the art style changed very little over time. Much of the surviving art comes from tombs and monuments, giving more insight into the ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The ancient Egyptian language had no word for "art". Artworks served an essentially functional purpose that was bound with religion and ideology. To render a subject in art was to give it permanence. Therefore, ancient Egyptian art portrayed an idealized, unrealistic view of the world. There was no significant tradition of individual artistic expression since art served a wider and cosmic purpose of maintaining order (Ma'at).


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: Pre-Dynastic Egypt, corresponding to the Neolithic period of the prehistory of Egypt, spanned from to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period, around 3100 BC.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: Continued expansion of the desert forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to settle around the Nile and adopt a more sedentary lifestyle during the Neolithic. The period from 9000 to 6000 BC has left very little archaeological evidence, but around 6000 BC, Neolithic settlements began to appear all over Egypt. Studies based on morphological, genetic, and archaeological data have attributed these settlements to migrants from the Fertile Crescent returning during the Neolithic Revolution, bringing agriculture to the region.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: From about 5000 to 4200 BC, the Merimde culture, known only from a large settlement site at the edge of the Western Nile Delta, flourished in Lower Egypt. The culture has strong connections to the Faiyum A culture as well as the Levant. People lived in small huts, produced simple undecorated pottery, and had stone tools. Cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were raised, and wheat, sorghum and barley were planted. The Merimde people buried their dead within the settlement and produced clay figurines. The first Egyptian life-size head made of clay comes from Merimde.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Badarian culture, from about 4400 to 4000 BC, is named for the Badari site near Der Tasa. It followed the Tasian culture (c. 4500 BC) but was so similar that many consider them one continuous period. The Badarian culture continued to produce blacktop-ware pottery (albeit much improved in quality) and was assigned sequence dating (SD) numbers 21–29. The primary difference that prevents scholars from merging the two periods is that Badarian sites use copper in addition to stone and are thus chalcolithic settlements, while the Neolithic Tasian sites are still considered Stone Age.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Naqada culture is an archaeological culture of Chalcolithic Predynastic Egypt (c. 4400–3000 BC), named for the town of Naqada, Qena Governorate. It is divided into three sub-periods: Naqada I, II and III.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Amratian (Naqada I) culture lasted from about 4000 to 3500 BC. Black-topped ware continues to appear, but white cross-line ware – a type of pottery which has been decorated with crossing sets of close parallel white lines – is also found at this time. The Amratian period falls between 30 and 39 SD.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Gerzean culture (Naqada II), from about 3500 to 3200 BC, is named after the site of Gerzeh. It was the next stage in Egyptian cultural development, and it was during this time that the foundation of Dynastic Egypt was laid. Gerzean culture is largely an unbroken development of Amratian culture, starting in the Nile delta and moving south through Upper Egypt, but failing to dislodge Amratian culture in Nubia. Gerzean pottery has been assigned SD values of 40 through 62, and is distinctly different from Amratian white cross-lined wares or black-topped ware. It was painted mostly in dark red with pictures of animals, people, and ships, as well as geometric symbols that appear to have been derived from animals. Wavy handles, which were rare before this period (though occasionally found as early as SD 35), became more common and more elaborate until they were almost completely ornamental.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: During this period, distinctly foreign objects and art forms entered Egypt, indicating contact with several parts of Asia, particularly with Mesopotamia. Objects such as the Gebel el-Arak Knife handle, which has patently Mesopotamian relief carvings on it, have been found in Egypt, and the silver which appears in this period can only have been obtained from Asia Minor. In addition, Egyptian objects were created which clearly mimic Mesopotamian forms. Cylinder seals appeared in Egypt, as well as recessed paneling architecture. The Egyptian reliefs on cosmetic palettes were made in the same style as the contemporary Mesopotamian Uruk culture, and ceremonial mace heads from the late Gerzean and early Semainean were crafted in the Mesopotamian "pear-shaped" style, instead of the Egyptian native style.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The route of this trade is difficult to determine, but contact with Canaan does not predate the early dynastic, so it is usually assumed to have been by water. During the time when the Dynastic Race Theory was popular, it was theorized that Uruk sailors circumnavigated Arabia, but a Mediterranean route, probably by middlemen through Byblos, is more likely, as evidenced by the presence of Byblian objects in Egypt.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The fact that so many Gerzean sites are at the mouths of wadis which lead to the Red Sea may indicate some amount of trade via the Red Sea (though Byblian trade potentially could have crossed the Sinai and then taken to the Red Sea). Also, it is considered unlikely that something as complicated as recessed panel architecture could have worked its way into Egypt by proxy, and at least a small contingent of migrants is often suspected.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: Despite this evidence of foreign influence, Egyptologists generally agree that the Gerzean Culture is predominantly indigenous to Egypt.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Naqada III period, from about 3200 to 3000 BC, is generally taken to be identical with the Protodynastic period, during which Egypt was unified.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: Naqada III is notable for being the first era with hieroglyphs (though this is disputed), the first regular use of serekhs, the first irrigation, and the first appearance of royal cemeteries. The art of the Naqada III period was quite sophisticated, exemplified by cosmetic palettes. These were used in predynastic Egypt to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. By the Protodynastic period, the decorative palettes appear to have lost this function and were instead commemorative, ornamental, and possibly ceremonial. They were made almost exclusively from siltstone, which originated from quarries in the Wadi Hammamat. Many of the palettes were found at Hierakonpolis, a center of power in predynastic Upper Egypt. After the unification of the country, the palettes ceased to be included in tomb assemblages.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Early Dynastic Period of Egypt immediately follows the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, c. 3100 BC. It is generally taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the end of the Naqada III archaeological period until about 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: Cosmetic palettes reached a new level of sophistication during this period, in which the Egyptian writing system also experienced further development. Initially, Egyptian writing was composed primarily of a few symbols denoting amounts of various substances. In the cosmetic palettes, symbols were used together with pictorial descriptions. By the end of the Third Dynasty, this had been expanded to include more than 200 symbols, both phonograms and ideograms.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Old Kingdom of Egypt is the period spanning c. 2686–2181  BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid builders of the Fourth Dynasty. King Sneferu perfected the art of pyramid-building and the pyramids of Giza were constructed under the kings Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure. Egypt attained its first sustained peak of civilization, the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods (followed by the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom) which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Middle Kingdom of Egypt ( "The Period of Reunification") follows a period of political division known as the First Intermediate Period. The Middle Kingdom lasted from around 2050 BC to around 1710 BC, stretching from the reunification of Egypt under the reign of Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. The Eleventh Dynasty ruled from Thebes and the Twelfth Dynasty ruled from el-Lisht. During the Middle Kingdom period, Osiris became the most important deity in popular religion. The Middle Kingdom was followed by the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt, another period of division that involved foreign invasions of the country by the Hyksos of West Asia.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: After the reunification of Egypt in the Middle Kingdom, the kings of the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties were able to return their focus to art. In the Eleventh Dynasty, the kings had their monuments made in a style influenced by the Memphite models of the Fifth and early Sixth Dynasties. During this time, the pre-unification Theban relief style all but disappeared. These changes had an ideological purpose, as the Eleventh Dynasty kings were establishing a centralized state, and returning to the political ideals of the Old Kingdom. In the early Twelfth Dynasty, the artwork had a uniformity of style due to the influence of the royal workshops. It was at this point that the quality of artistic production for the elite members of society reached a high point that was never surpassed, although it was equaled during other periods. Egypt's prosperity in the late Twelfth Dynasty was reflected in the quality of the materials used for royal and private monuments.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Hyksos, a dynasty of rulers originating from the Levant, do not appear to have produced any court art, instead appropriating monuments from earlier dynasties by writing their names on them. Many of these are inscribed with the name of King Khyan. A large palace at Avaris has been uncovered, built in the Levantine rather than the Egyptian style, most likely by Khyan. King Apepi is known to have patronized Egyptian scribal culture, commissioning the copying of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. The stories preserved in the Westcar Papyrus may also date from his reign.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The so-called "" or "Tanite sphinxes" are a group of royal sphinxes depicting the earlier Pharaoh Amenemhat III (Twelfth Dynasty) with some unusual traits compared to conventional statuary, for example prominent cheekbones and the thick mane of a lion, instead of the traditional nemes headcloth. The name "Hyksos sphinxes" was given due to the fact that these were later reinscribed by several of the Hyksos kings, and were initially thought to represent the Hyksos kings themselves. Nineteenth-century scholars attempted to use the statues' features to assign a racial origin to the Hyksos. These sphinxes were seized by the Hyksos from cities of the Middle Kingdom and then transported to their capital Avaris where they were reinscribed with the names of their new owners and adorned their palace. Seven of those sphinxes are known, all from Tanis, and now mostly located in the Cairo Museum. were found in Tanis and are associated with the Hyksos in the same manner.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The New Kingdom, also referred to as the "Egyptian Empire", is the period between the 16th and 11th centuries BC, covering the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties of Egypt. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period. It was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of its power. This tremendous wealth can be attributed to the centralization of bureaucratic power and many successful military campaigns which opened trade routes. With the expansion of the Egyptian Empire, Kings gained access to important commodities such as cedar from Lebanon and luxury materials such as lapis lazuli and turquoise.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The artwork produced during the New Kingdom falls into three broad periods: Pre-Amarna, Amarna, and Ramesside.  Although stylistic changes as a result of shifts in power and variation of religious ideals occurred, the statuary and relief work throughout the New Kingdom continued to embody the main principles of Egyptian art: frontality and axiality, hierarchy of scale, and composite composition.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Pre-Amarna period, the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty of the New Kingdom, was marked by the growing power of Egypt as an expansive empire.  The artwork reflects a combination of Middle Kingdom techniques and subjects with the newly accessed materials and styles of foreign lands.  A large portion of the art and architecture of the Pre-Amarna period was produced by Queen Hatshepshut, who led a widespread building campaign to all gods during her reign from 1473 to 1458 B.C.E.. The queen made significant additions to the temple at Karnak, undertook the construction of an extensive mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri, and produced a prolific amount of statuary and relief work in hard stone.  The extent of these building projects was made possible by the centralization of power in Thebes and reopening of trade routes by previous New Kingdom ruler Ahmose I.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The Queen's elaborate mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri provides many well-preserved examples of the artwork produced during the Pre-Amarna period.  The massive three-level, colonnaded temple was built into the cliffs of Thebes and adorned with extensive painted relief.  Subjects of these reliefs ranged from traditional funerary images and legitimization of Hatshepsut as the divine ruler of Egypt to battle and expedition scenes in foreign lands.  The temple also housed numerous statues of the Queen and gods, particularly Amun-ra, some of which were colossal in scale.  The artwork from Hatshepshut's reign is trademarked by the re-integration of Northern culture and style as a result of the reunification of Egypt.  Thutmoses III, the predecessor to the Queen, also commissioned vast amounts of large-scale artwork and by his death Egypt was the most powerful empire in the world.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: During the New Kingdom - the 18th Dynasty especially - it was common for Kings to commission large and elaborate temples dedicated to the major gods of Egypt.  These structures, built from limestone or sandstone (materials more permanent than the mud brick used for earlier temples) and filled with rare materials and vibrant wall paintings, exemplify the wealth and access to resources that Egyptian Empire enjoyed during the New Kingdom.  The temple at Karnak, dedicated to Amun-ra, is one of the largest and best surviving examples of this type of state-sponsored architecture.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: Amarna art is named for the extensive archeological site at Tel el-Amarna, where Pharaoh Akhenaten moved the capital in the late Eighteenth Dynasty. This period, and the years leading up to it, constitute the most drastic interruption in the style of Egyptian art in the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms as a result of the rising prominence of the New Solar Theology and the eventual shift towards Atenism under Akhenaten. Amarna art is characterized by a sense of movement and a "subjective and sensual perception" of reality as it appeared in the world. Scenes often include overlapping figures creating the sensation of a crowd, which was less common in earlier times.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: The artwork produced under Akhenaten was a reflection of the dramatic changes in culture, style, and religion that occurred under Akhenaten's rule. Sometimes called the New Solar Theology, the new religion was a monotheistic worship of the sun, the Aten. Akhenaten placed emphasis on himself as the "co-regent", along with the Aten, as well as the mouthpiece of the Aten himself. Since the sun disk was worshiped at the ultimate life-giving power in this new theology, anything the sun's rays touched were blessed by this force. As a result, sacrifices and worship were likely conducted in open courtyards and the sunken relief technique which works best for outdoors carvings was also used for indoor works.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: Portrayal of the human body shifted drastically under the reign of Akhenaten. For instance, many depictions of Akhenaten's body give him distinctly feminine qualities, such as large hips, prominent breasts, and a larger stomach and thighs. Facial representations of Akhenaten, such as in the sandstone Statue of Akhenaten, display him with an elongated chin, full lips, and hollow cheeks. These stylistic features extended past representations of Akhenaten and were further employed in the depiction of all figures of the royal family, as observed in the Portrait of Meritaten and Fragment of a queen's face. This is a divergence from the earlier Egyptian art which emphasized idealized youth and masculinity for male figures.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: A notable innovation from the reign of Akhenaten was the religious elevation of the royal family, including Akhenaten's wife, Nefertiti, and their three daughters. While earlier periods of Egyptian art depicted the king as the primary link between humanity and the gods, the Amarna period extended this power to those of the royal family. As visualized in the relief of a royal family and the different talatat blocks, each figure of the royal family is touched by the rays of the Aten. Nefertiti specifically is believed to have held a significant cultic role during this period.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: Not many buildings from this period have survived, partially as they were constructed with standard-sized blocks, known as talatat, which were very easy to remove and reuse. Temples in Amarna, following the trend, did not follow traditional Egyptian customs and were open, without ceilings, and had no closing doors. In the generations after Akhenaten's death, artists reverted to the traditional Egyptian styles of earlier periods. There were still traces of this period's style in later art, but in most respects, Egyptian art, like Egyptian religion, resumed its usual characteristics as though the period had never happened. Amarna itself was abandoned and considerable effort was undertaken to deface monuments from the reign, including disassembling buildings and reusing the blocks with their decoration facing inwards, as has recently been discovered in one later building. The last King of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Horemheb, sought to eliminate the influence of Amarna art and culture and reinstate the tradition powerful of the cult of Amun.


title: Art of ancient Egypt

text: With a concerted effort from Horemheb, the last King of Dynasty Eighteen, to eradicate all Amarna art and influence, the style of the art and architecture of the Empire transitioned into the Ramesside Period for the remainder of the New Kingdom (Nineteen and Twentieth Dynasties).  In response to the religious and artistic revolution of the Amarna period, state-commissioned works demonstrate a clear return to tradition forms and renewed dedication to Amun-ra.  However, some elements of Amarna bodily proportion persist; the small of the back does not move back to its lower, Middle Kingdom, height and human limbs remain somewhat elongated.  With some modifications, 19th and 20th Dynasty Kings continued to build their funerary temples, which were dedicated to Amun-ra and located in Thebes, in their predecessors' style.  The Ramses Kings also continued to build colossal statues such as those commissioned by Hatshepsut.