Marches.

Moscow, December 16, 2006.

The first march of the series took place in Moscow on December 16, 2006.

Saint Petersburg, March 3, 2007.

The first march in Saint Petersburg took place on Saturday, March 3, 2007.

Political context and organization.

Taking place a year before the presidential election scheduled on March 2, 2008, the St. Petersburg protest also came ahead of the local elections to the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly to be held on March 11, 2007. While leaders of Communist party and democratic Union of Right Forces which were going to contest for votes didn't take part in the march (as well as other major parties), the action was joined by St. Petersburg department of social-liberal party Yabloko which had been eliminated from the upcoming local legislative election for technical reasons earlier in February.  The unsanctioned protest rally was organized by The Other Russia, a broad umbrella group that includes both left and right-wing opposition leaders, including National Bolshevik Party with its leader Eduard Limonov, far-left Vanguard of Red Youth, and far-left Labour Russia of Viktor Anpilov, as well as right-wing liberal people such as former world chess champion and United Civil Front leader Garry Kasparov and former Prime Minister of Russia and People Democratic Union leader Mikhail Kasyanov. Sergey Gulyayev, Mikhail Amosov and Natalya Yevdokimova, Democratic faction deputies in the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly who represented Yabloko, and Maxim Reznik, leader of the party in Saint Petersburg, took part in the protest, as well as other Saint Petersburg citizens of different ages and political persuasions. Gulyayev was elected chairman of the organizing committee.

Preventive countermeasures.

Governor Valentina Matviyenko, appearing on Channel 5 news bulletins on Friday evening (March 2), warned people not to join those she called extremists. Warnings were broadcast on public address systems in the underground advising people to stay away from the rally.  The police raided apartments of Saint Petersburg opposition activists early on Saturday morning and quite a few were pulled out of trains heading for St. Petersburg from Petrozavodsk and Murmansk.

Number of demonstrators.

The rally became one of the biggest demonstrations of the opposition in recent years.  Police stated that 800 participated in the march. According to correspondent of Vedomosti newspaper, there were more than 2,000 participants. Interfax news agency estimated the number of participant between 2,000 and 3,000. Saint Petersburg internet newspaper Fontanka.ru wrote that from 2,000 to 5,000 took part in the march. Newsru reported that the rally collected about 4,000 to 6,000 demonstrators. According to claims by Garry Kasparov the total number was around 6,000 protestors. On the article written at "Daily Journal" (ej.ru), Garry Kasparov stated that he believes around 7,000 individuals were taking part in the March, and on Nevsky Prospect, the main avenue of St. Petersburg, around 4,500 marched. Liberal opposition news website Grani.ru alleged that around 8,000–10,000 were participating in the march. The largest number was claimed by the leader of NDSM, Yulia Malysheva, who claimed there were 15,000 participants.  Russian police dispersed the protesters, detaining 113 people. According to police, all of the detainees were released shortly except for two bodyguards of Eduard Limonov, who got 15 days of arrest for "organization of mass disorders". Most of the detainees were convicted and given money penalties.

Course of events.

Despite the fact that the organizers had been denied permission for the rally by the city authorities, several thousand people defied the ban, facing about 3,000 police officers and OMON summoned up from St. Petersburg, the Republic of Karelia, Pskov, and Vladimir. They broke through several OMON cordons and marched from the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall down the city's main avenue, Nevsky Prospekt, as far as Gostiny Dvor and the building of the pre-1917 Saint Petersburg City Duma. Dozens of people were beaten by OMON with truncheons. Initially the protesters were going to march from Vosstaniya Square to Smolny, where the Saint Petersburg City Administration resides, but changed their plans on the fly, in direct violation of the law. Automobile traffic was blocked by the police cordons and protesters.  In a speech addressed to the marchers, Kasparov told the crowd, "This is our first real victory. I congratulate you on overcoming your fear. We will have victory when we get our Russia back. We have 364 days before the election in 2008."  After his speech, Kasparov declared the march to be over and stated that everyone should leave. At the same time, Michail Kasyanov left the march on a blue minibus.  People shouted "Russia without Putin!", "Shame!", "Give the elections back!", "This is our city!" and "Out with the corrupt authorities!" as well as slogans against the Gazprom City skyscraper construction project. They called for the dismissal of Governor Matviyenko, a close Putin ally, accusing her of corruption and interference with small businesses in favor of large state-owned corporations.  Tatyana Voltskaya, a journalist working for "Radio Free Europe" who witnessed the protest, said, "When I came I saw a very tight police cordon. The police had left only two very narrow corridors for people. I would say that to be inside it was very unsafe because of a possible stampede. Police officers were speaking through megaphones. They urged people to leave the square and not to disturb the public order. It was not possible to hear what they were saying because the crowd was shouting ‘Disgrace, disgrace!'"  Resolutions adopted by the March included: demands on federal policy (to allow opposition to participate in elections, reforms of judiciary, trials against corruptioners, restoration of direct gubernatorial elections abolished on Vladimir Putin's initiative in 2005); protests against actions of St. Petersburg Governor (mayor) Valentina Matviyenko and demands to dismiss her; and a block of social claims (such as usage of the stabilization fund to enhance pensions, or demonopolizing the market of public transportation).  Sergey Gulyayev, a member of the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly, said, "The government is afraid of the slightest disturbance. The government is fragile and scared, and will collapse with one push." Interior Ministry police moved through the protesters, taking Gulyayev's bullhorn, throwing it against a nearby building, and putting Gulyayev into a squad car in a headlock. As they did so protesters chanted, "Shame! Shame!"

Official reaction and media coverage.

Valentina Matviyenko called the protesters "guest stars from Moscow" and "youths of extremist persuasion", accusing them of stirring turmoil ahead of the legislative elections, venting their discontent with the city's perceived dynamic development, and receiving financial support from dubious sources, such as imprisoned Mikhail Khodorkovsky and emigrated Boris Berezovsky.  Since February 27, 2007 the official website of Dissenters' March has been DDoS-attacked several times.  According to Garry Kasparov, the major informational resource of the March was the radio station "Echo of St. Petersburg", which informed people in a timely manner on the progress of the march.  The march was covered on BBC, CNN and EuroNews. On Russian television the event was most fully described on national channel Ren-TV. The pictures showed violent clashes of OMON with protesters.  Gazprom Media-owned NTV gave only a brief account of the event (Photo), and in a special report about strategies of contention of the major parties prior to elections mentioned the March as a minor political event (Video).  Channel One described the rally as "a clash with police, provoked by hooligans".  State-owned Russia channel reported on the March: "Authorities of St. Petersburg called an attempt to carry out unsanctioned action of protest in centre of the city a provocation. Radicals of all kinds — from fascists to leftists, calling themselves "uncompromising opposition", carried out the 'March of the Discontented' at Nevsky. The Governor of the "Northern Capital" Valentina Matviyenko has issued assurances that it was backed by the people who are against the political stability in the city before elections." "Valentina Matviyenko was outraged that organizers of the March called on the people to bring children and old men with them; many did so. Ranks of marching people completely blocked traffic at Ligovsky Prospect. Despite precautions and appeals to break up, the mass of extremist persuasion moved to Nevsky, provoking militia to use force."

Nizhny Novgorod, March 24, 2007.

The protest in Nizhny Novgorod scheduled for March 24 was banned by the city authorities and effectively prevented by police, as many of its leaders and expected participants had been arrested in advance and cordons had sealed off the expected meeting place, Gorky Square. Many OMON (riot police) troops arrived there from other regions of Russia. Although a group of protesters defying the ban managed to get through the barriers, they all have been detained. In all, 102 people were detained during the protest at the square or on their way there according to the official figures, 11 of them from Moscow, 6 from St. Petersburg and one from Latvia.

Moscow, April 14, 2007, and Saint Petersburg, April 15, 2007.

Moscow.

On Saturday, April 14, 2007, dissenters marched in central Moscow. Roughly 9,000 police and OMON (riot police) forces were deployed in Moscow on Saturday according to the official figures, outnumbering the demonstrators by far. The troops arrived from Ryazan Oblast, Kaluga Oblast, Voronezh Oblast, Rostov Oblast, Lipetsk Oblast, Tver Oblast, North Ossetia, Udmurtia, Mordovia, Bashkortostan, and Mariy-El. Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, libertarian economist and former economic policy adviser to President Vladimir Putin Andrey Illarionov, National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov, former world chess champion and United Civil Front leader Garry Kasparov, screenwriter Viktor Shenderovich, opposition State Duma deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov, Union of Right Forces leader Nikita Belykh, as well as Georgy Satarov, Irina Hakamada, and many others took part in the rally.  Demonstrators were going to start the march at Pushkin Square, a prominent public space, but were denied permission by the authorities as Molodaya Gvardiya, youth wing of United Russia, had been given a permission to meet there for the same time. The authorities suggested the march organizers to hold their rally at Turgenev Square, a more peripheral spot. The pro-Kremlin youth group, which had obtained the permit in order to deny the central square to the protesters, did not hold a rally there, but the square was cordoned off by police on the night before the protest.  Defying the ban, participants of the anti-government protest, however, attempted to march about 2 km along the Boulevard Ring from Pushkin Square to Turgenev Square. Police dispersed about a half of them on their way there and detained some people, including Garry Kasparov, Yabloko youth wing leader Ilya Yashin, Yes! Youth Movement leader Maria Gaidar, Vanguard of Red Youth leader Sergei Udaltsov, People Democratic Youth Union leader Yuliya Malysheva, and National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov. Kasparov yelled out of a police van to a Canadian television crew "Tell your leaders this is a police state!" Police attempted, but failed to detain Mikhail Kasyanov, surrounded with bodyguards. Protesters chanted: "We need another Russia!", "Russia without Putin!", "No to the police state!", "Beasts! Fascists! Shame!", "This is our city!" From about 1,000 to 2,500 demonstrators managed to get through several OMON cordons and reach Turgenev Square, where Mikhail Kasyanov gave a speech. Kasyanov claimed that the protesters will seek free and fair elections.  As the demonstration ended, the remaining participants headed for the nearby metro station, but riot police formed a gauntlet on their way. Scores of demonstrators was beaten by police with truncheons and detained, as well as Russian and foreign journalists covering the event and passersby. According to police, about 170 or 250 protesters were detained during the event.  Kasparov was fined 1,000 rubles (about $40) by a court late in the evening and released.  Andrey Illarionov, former economic policy adviser to President Vladimir Putin and now a participant of the rally, claimed later on Saturday in an interview to the Echo of Moscow radio station that the authorities' treatment of the march had to be considered a criminal offense under Article 31 of the Russian Constitution.  The Moscow authorities called the protest attempt at provocation, successfully contained by the police.

Saint Petersburg.

The Sunday, April 15, 2007, rally in Saint Petersburg was organized for the second time in the city by the local subdivision of the Other Russia organization, led by Sergey Gulyayev, and supported by the local branch of Yabloko and its leader Maxim Reznik. This time the city authorities sanctioned the rally to be held between the noon and 2 p. m., but nevertheless refused to permit protesters to march to City Hall. President Vladimir Putin visited the city on the night before the event together with former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and American film actor of Belgian origin Jean-Claude Van Damme to watch a martial arts contest, but did not comment on the protest. Berlusconi noted that the number of anti-Putin protesters had been exaggerated by the media. The protest in Saint Petersburg started at noon on Sunday at Pionerskaya Square, under heavy police surveillance, including a hovering helicopter and scores of OMON (riot police), both local and summoned from Pskov, Novgorod, Tver, and Arkhangelsk, cordoning off the area. Neighboring quarters were also closed to traffic and pedestrians. There were at least 1,500 police according to the march organizers. Only those protesters who had come by 12 p. m. were allowed to enter the square, leaving a number of others outside the barriers. The total number of demonstrators gathered was estimated as over 3,000 by the organizers and about 500 according to the police. Earlier, on Friday and Saturday, police raided Saint Petersburg Yabloko headquarters to confiscate publicity material about the march, demanded information about those involved in the printing and distribution of it and detained several distributors. There were some speculation that Garry Kasparov failed to take part in the Saint Petersburg event because he had been released from police detention too late in the aftermath of the Saturday rally in Moscow.  During the meeting protesters chanted slogans targeting policies of President Vladimir Putin and Governor Valentina Matviyenko, demanding an end to corruption and police violence against dissenters, greater accountability of the authorities, as well as free mass media and elections, and claiming that they were not afraid. As in two hours protesters had begun to disperse, heading toward the nearby Pushkinskaya metro station, OMON started beating them as well as some passersby with truncheons. Some of the victims were later hospitalized. Police detained about 120 participants (according to official figures) including Eduard Limonov, Maxim Reznik and Sergey Gulyayev himself, with his left arm broken in the clash.

Reaction.

On Sunday evening, Russia TV Channel broadcast a shortened and recut version of a French documentary alleging that the recent revolutions in Eastern Europe (Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine) had been masterminded by the U.S. government, which had been heavily advertised and has been perceived by many as an effort to counter effects of the Saturday and Sunday protests. The protests themselves enjoyed little attention from the state-owned television channels.  In an interview on Russia Today TV aired on April 17, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Dissenters Marches of the weekend extremely insignificant. On April 16, European Commission spokeswoman Christiane Hohmann expressed concern over the police response and said that EU foreign ministers would raise the issue at talks with Russia in Luxembourg next week. U.S. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino also voiced concern over "an emerging pattern of use of excessive force" by the authorities with special reference to police's treatment of journalists.  However, opinions varied. On April 21, pro-Kremlin political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky claimed in his weekly program Real Politics aired on NTV that the OMON troops that had dispersed the protesters last week were to be considered heroes.

May 29, 2007: Voronezh.

A smaller march was held in Voronezh on May 29, 2007.  According to Garry Kasparov the authorities took maximum efforts to break the march and fulfilled their goals. The destination of the March was planned to be on Lenina Square in city center, but at the last hours city authorities transferred the meeting to Admiralteiskaya Square. Around 40 participants started movement from the city center. By 6:30 pm OMON had displaced the participants from the square and cleaned it.

November, 2007: Saint Petersburg and Moscow.

Other marches took place on November 24 in Moscow (5th), on November 25 in Saint Petersburg (4th), and in several smaller cities.  Police broke up anti-Putin demonstrations in Moscow, detaining former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who had become an outspoken critic of the government. Kasparov was sentenced on Saturday to five days imprisonment for organising an unsanctioned rally and refusing to obey police orders. He told reporters the charges were "unfounded" and accused the Russian leader of having recourse to scare tactics. In Saint-Petersburg Russian authorities geared for fresh protests on Sunday.  Human rights activist Lev Ponomarev, who was also arrested, accused the authorities of a "completely exaggerated reaction".  The Moscow march of November 24 was accompanied by actions in Ryazan, Kaluga, Rostov-on-Don and Nizhniy Novgorod.  On November 25 marches took part in Saint-Petersburg, where hundreds gathered as police moved in to make arrests, and also in Yaroslavl and Vladimir.

The Dissenters' March () was a series of Russian opposition protests that took place on December 16, 2006 in Moscow, on March 3, 2007 in Saint Petersburg, on March 24 in Nizhny Novgorod, on April 14 for the second time in Moscow, on April 15 again in Saint Petersburg, on May 18 in Samara, and on May 19 in Chelyabinsk. Some of them were featured in various media outlets.

La Marche du désaccord (en, littéralement « la marche de ceux qui ne sont pas d'accord ») est l'appellation donnée aux manifestations de l'opposition en Russie qui ont eu lieu le et le à Moscou, le 3 mars et le à Saint-Pétersbourg et le à Nijni Novgorod.


History.

First light.

The GTC began its preliminary observations on 13 July 2007, using 12 segments of its primary mirror, made of Zerodur glass-ceramic by the German company Schott AG. Later, the number of segments was increased to a total of 36 hexagonal segments fully controlled by an active optics control system, working together as a reflective unit. Its first instrument was the Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy (OSIRIS). Scientific observations began in May 2009.

Inauguration ceremony.

The Gran Telescopio Canarias formally opened its shutters on July 24, 2009, inaugurated by King Juan Carlos I of Spain. More than 500 astronomers, government officials and journalists from Europe and the Americas attended the ceremony.

MEGARA.

MEGARA (Multi-Espectrografo en GTC de Alta Resolucion para Astronomia) is an optical integral-field and multi-object spectrograph covering the visible light and near infrared wavelength range between 0.365 and 1 μm with a spectral resolution in the range R=6000-20000. The MEGARA IFU (also called the Large Compact Bundle, or LCB) offers a contiguous field of view of 12.5 arcsec x 11.3 arcsec, while the multiobject spectroscopy mode allows 92 objects to be observed simultaneously in a field of view of 3.5 arcmin x 3.5 arcmin by means of an equal number of robotic positioners. Both the LCB and MOS modes make use of 100 μm-core optical fibers (1267 in total) that are attached to a set of microlens arrays (with 623 spaxels in the case of the LCB and 92x7 in the case of the MOS) with each microlens covering an hexagonal region of 0.62 arcsec in diameter.

CanariCam.

The University of Florida's CanariCam is a mid-infrared imager with spectroscopic, coronagraphic, and polarimetric capabilities, which will be mounted initially at the Nasmyth focus of the telescope. In the future, when the Cassegrain focus of the telescope is commissioned, it is expected that CanariCam will move to this focus, which will provide superior performance with the instrument.  CanariCam is designed as a diffraction-limited imager. It is optimized as an imager, and although it will offer a range of other observing modes, these will not compromise the imaging capability. CanariCam will work in the thermal infrared between approximately 7.5 and 25 μm. At the short wavelength end, the cut-off is determined by the atmosphere—specifically atmospheric seeing. At the long wavelength end, the cut-off is determined by the detector; this loses sensitivity beyond around 24 μm, although the cut-off for individual detectors varies significantly. CanariCam is a very compact design. It is expected that the total weight of the cryostat and its on-telescope electronics will be under 400 kg. Most previous mid-infrared instruments have used liquid helium as a cryogen; one of the requirements of CanariCam is that it should require no expensive and difficult to handle cryogens.  CanariCam will use a two-stage closed cycle cryocooler system to cool the cold optics and cryostat interior down to approximately, and the detector itself to around, the temperature at which the detector works most efficiently. CanariCam is operational as of December 3rd, 2009.

OSIRIS.

The IAC's OSIRIS (Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy), is an imager and spectrograph covering wavelengths from 0.365 to 1.05 μm. It has a field of view (FOV) of 7 × 7 arcmin for direct imaging, and 8 arcmin × 5.2 arcmin for low resolution spectroscopy. For spectroscopy, it offers tunable filters.

The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GranTeCan or GTC) is a reflecting telescope located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, in the Canaries, Spain. It is the world's largest single-aperture optical telescope.

Le (GTC, « Grand Télescope des îles Canaries »), appelé quelquefois GranTeCan, est un télescope de de diamètre situé à l'observatoire du Roque de los Muchachos, à d’altitude, sur l'île de La Palma. Il est à ce jour, le plus grand télescope optique du monde.


Early life.

He was born in Moscow. His father was a Russian engineer who emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1924. Unable to find work, his father moved the family to Harbin, Manchuria in 1927. His mother died soon after moving to Harbin. In 1936, Volkoff's father returned to Russia but was exiled to the arctic camps as part of the Great Purge where he would die.

Education.

Volkoff returned to Vancouver and entered the University of British Columbia where he received a Bachelor of Arts in physics in 1934 and a Master of Arts degree in 1936. He then studied with J. Robert Oppenheimer at the University of California, Berkeley where he published his paper "On Massive Neutron Cores" and earned his Ph.D. in 1940.

Academic.

In 1940, he joined the physics department of the University of British Columbia as an assistant professor. During World War II he worked on the Manhattan Project at the Montreal Laboratory. From 1961 to 1970, he was the head of the department. From 1970 to 1979, he was the Dean of Science. He was a member of the University of British Columbia Senate for three periods: 1950 to 1954, 1961 to 1963, and 1969 to 1979.  He was the president of the Canadian Association of Physicists from 1962 to 1963.

Honours.

In 1946, he was made a member of the Order of the British Empire. In 1994, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for having "contributed to the general development of physics in Canada and, in particular, at the University of British Columbia".  He died in Vancouver in 2000.

George Michael Volkoff, (February 23, 1914 – April 24, 2000) was a Russian-Canadian physicist and academic who helped, with J. Robert Oppenheimer, predict the existence of neutron stars before they were discovered.

George Michael Volkoff, docteur ès Sciences, membre de la Société royale du Canada, ( – ) est un physicien et universitaire canadien qui, avec Robert Oppenheimer, a prédit l'existence des étoiles à neutrons avant qu'elles ne soient observées.


Gameplay.

"God of War II" is an action-adventure game with hack and slash elements. It's a third-person single-player video game viewed from a fixed camera perspective. The player controls the character Kratos in combo-based combat, platforming, and puzzle game elements, and battles foes who primarily stem from Greek mythology, including harpies, minotaurs, Gorgons, griffins, cyclopes, cerberuses, Sirens, satyrs, and nymphs. Other monsters were created specifically for the game, including undead legionnaires, ravens, undead barbarians, beast lords, rabid hounds, wild boars, and the army of the Fates, including sentries, guardians, juggernauts, and high priests. Many of the combination attacks used in "God of War" reappear, and the game features more than double the amount of boss fights and more difficult puzzles than the original. Platforming elements require the player to climb walls and ladders, jump across chasms, swing on ropes, and balance across beams to proceed through sections of the game. Some puzzles are simple, such as moving a box so that the player can use it as a jumping-off point to access a pathway unreachable with normal jumping, while others are more complex, such as finding several items across different areas of the game to unlock one door.  In addition to the regular health, magic, and experience chests that are found throughout the game world, there are three Uber Chests to be found. Two of these chests provide an additional increment to the Health and Magic Meters, respectively, and the third chest contains an abundance of red and gold orbs. Several urns are also hidden in the game (e.g., the Urn of Gaia) which, upon completion of the game, unlocks special abilities (e.g., unlimited magic) for use during bonus play.

Combat.

Kratos' main weapon is a pair of blades attached to chains that are wrapped around the character's wrists and forearms. Called Athena's Blades (also known as the Blades of Athena) in this game, they can be swung offensively in various maneuvers. As the game progresses, Kratos acquires new weapons—the Barbarian Hammer, the Spear of Destiny, and periodically, the Blade of Olympus—offering alternative combat options. Although Kratos begins the game with Athena's Blades and the magic ability Poseidon's Rage (both at maximum power), the blades' power is reduced and the magic is relinquished after an encounter with Zeus (Poseidon's Rage can be regained by obtaining a certain urn). As with previous games, Kratos learns to use up to four magical abilities, such as Typhon's Bane that acts as a bow and arrow for distant targets, giving him a variety of ways to attack and kill enemies. Other new magical abilities include Cronos' Rage, Head of Euryale, and Atlas Quake. The special ability Rage of the Gods, featured in the previous game is replaced by Rage

Synopsis.

Setting.

As with its predecessor, "God of War II" is set in an alternate version of ancient Greece, populated by the Olympian Gods, Titans, heroes, and other beings of Greek mythology. With the exception of flashbacks, the events are set between those of the games "" (2007) and "God of War III" (2010). Several locations are explored, including a real-world setting in the ancient city of Rhodes, and several fictional locations, including a brief scene in the Underworld, the Lair of Typhon, the Island of Creation and its locales, Tartarus, and a brief scene on Mount Olympus.  Rhodes, its skyline dominated by the massive statue, the Colossus of Rhodes, is a war-torn city under assault by Kratos,

Characters.

The protagonist of the game is Kratos (voiced by Terrence C. Carson), a Spartan warrior who became the God of War after killing the former, Ares. Other characters include Athena (Carole Ruggier), the Goddess of Wisdom; Zeus (Corey Burton), the King of the Gods and the main antagonist; several Titans—including Gaia (Linda Hunt), Atlas (Michael Clarke Duncan), Prometheus (Alan Oppenheimer), Typhon (Fred Tatasciore), and Cronos (Lloyd

Plot.

Kratos, the new God of War, is still haunted by nightmares of his past and is shunned by the other gods for his destructive ways. Ignoring Athena's warnings, Kratos joins the Spartan army in an attack on Rhodes, during which a giant eagle suddenly drains a huge chunk of his powers and animates the Colossus of Rhodes. While battling the statue, Zeus offers Kratos the Blade of Olympus, a mighty sword that Zeus had used to end the Great War, requiring Kratos to infuse the blade with the remainder of his godly power. Although now human, Kratos defeats the Colossus but is mortally wounded. The eagle reveals itself to have been Zeus all along, who states he was forced to

Development.

A sequel to "God of War" was first teased at the end of its credits, which stated, "Kratos Will Return". "God of War II" was officially announced at the 2006 Game Developers Conference (GDC). "God of War" Game Director David Jaffe stepped down and became the Creative Director of its sequel. "God of War"s lead animator Cory Barlog assumed the role of Game Director. In an interview with "Computer and Video Games" ("CVG") in June 2006, Barlog said that while working on the first few drafts of script, he studied the mythology extensively. He said that the mythology is so large that "the real difficulty is picking things that really fit within the story of Kratos as well as being easy to swallow for audiences." Although he loves the idea of teaching things through storytelling (in this case Greek mythology), Barlog said, "you can't let your story get bogged down by that." He said that in the game, players would see "a larger view of Kratos' role within the mythological world." He also said that he liked the idea of a trilogy, but there were no plans "as of right now."  Like "God of War", the game uses Santa Monica's Kinetica engine. Senior combat designer Derek Daniels said that for "God of War II", they were basing the magical attacks on elements (e.g., air and earth). He said the combat system was updated so that it flowed smoothly between attacks and switching between weapons and magic. He said that they were working for a similar balance of puzzle solving, exploration, and combat seen in the first game, and they used elements that worked in that game as a base for the overall balance. Unlike "God of War" where magic had a small role, Daniels said that for "God of War II", their goal was to make magic an integral part of the combat system and to make it more refined. Barlog said the game would feature new creatures and heroes from the mythology, and he wanted to put more boss battles in it. Commenting on multiplayer options, Barlog said that "there

Release.

"God of War II" was released in North America on March 13, 2007, in Europe on April 27, and May 3 in Australia. It was released in Japan on October 25 by Capcom, under the title. The North American version was packaged in a two-disc set. The first disc contained the game, and the second disc was dedicated to the game's development, including a diary of the game's production. The European/Australian PAL version was released as two different editions: a single-disc standard edition and a two-disc "Special Edition" with different box art and a bonus DVD. On April 6, 2008, it became available in the PlayStation 2 line up of Greatest Hits. Upon release, the game was banned in the United Arab Emirates due to "one topless scene".  Upon release, "God of War II" was commercially successful in multiple markets. In North America, it sold 833,209 copies by the end of March 2007, twice as many copies as the next-best selling game. It was the best-selling game in the UK in the first week of release. It sold over one million copies in the first three months after release, and in June 2012, Sony reported it sold more than 4.24 million copies worldwide.  The game and its predecessor, "God of War", were released in North America on November 17, 2009 as part of the "God of War Collection", featuring remastered ports of both games for the PlayStation 3 platform, with upscaled graphics and support for PlayStation 3 Trophies. It became available in Japan on March 18, 2010, Australia on April 29, and the UK on April 30. The "God of War II Bonus Materials"—content included on the second disc of the original North American PlayStation 2 version—was included with the retail version of the collection. "God of War Collection" was released as a digital download on the PlayStation Store on November 2, 2010, and was the first product containing PlayStation 2 software available via download. PlayStation Plus subscribers can download a one-hour trial of each game. The bonus materials, however, are not included in the digital download version.<ref name="GoWC 11/2"></ref> A PlayStation Vita version of "God of War Collection" was released on May 6, 2014. By June 2012, "God of War Collection" had sold more than 2.4 million copies worldwide. On August 28, 2012, "God of War Collection", "God of War III", and "" were included in the "God of War Saga" under Sony's line of PlayStation Collections for the PlayStation 3 in North America.

Other media.

Soundtrack.

"God of War II: Original Soundtrack from the Video Game", composed by Gerard K. Marino, Ron Fish, Mike Reagan, and Cris Velasco, was released on CD by Sony Computer Entertainment on April 10, 2007. Dave Valentine of Square Enix Music Online gave the soundtrack an 8 out of 10, and said that it features a wide variety of ominous orchestral pieces, and each composer's

Novel.

An official novelization of the game, titled "God of War II", was announced in July 2009, along with a novelization of the original "God of War". It was written by Robert E. Vardeman and published on February 12, 2013 by Del Rey Books in North America, and on February 19, 2013 in Europe by Titan Books. It is available in paperback, Kindle, and audio formats. The novel recounts the events of the game and adds even more layers than what the first book did in relation to the first game. The Sisters of Fate are given more story instead of only being the next to last boss fight of the game. They are introduced in Chapter 2 and have several chapters dedicated to what they were doing throughout Kratos' journey.

Reception.

Regarded as one of the best PlayStation 2 and action games of all time, "God of War II" received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic with a score of 93 out of 100, and a score of 92.68% from GameRankings. It has been praised for its story and improvements over its predecessor, such as gameplay and graphics. Chris Roper of IGN said that "God of War II" is "one of gaming's most intense and engaging experiences available." He said it "is practically devoid" of the minor flaws of the original, citing an example that players can now quickly navigate wall climbing, such as being able to vertically slide down walls. Furthering his praise of the gameplay, he said that it is one of the most "polished and refined experiences...in gaming." Although he said that the combat mechanics were practically identical to the original, he had no complaints, stating it is "for good reason as it was already perfect the first time out."  Kristan Reed of Eurogamer said that ""God of War II" sports one of the most satisfyingly honed game designs we've ever come across." He said that it would not overwhelm players and that it motivates them to improve their skills. He said that the balance "always feels spot-on," and the "learning curve is just right," adding that the magic attacks are more useful than those in "God of War". He also said that "God of War II"s gameplay, like the original, "finds a comfortable middle ground" between hardcore and casual players. Alex Navarro of GameSpot praised the pace of the game and the puzzle designs, and said the "scale of some of the levels is unbelievably massive." He also said that the story is interesting because it is more about what happens around Kratos, than what happens to him. Matt Leone of 1UP said that the strongest aspect "is how it excels as both a story and an action game," and it is the story that "allows the game to feel like a true sequel." Roper praised the scale of the levels, as well as the variety in environments, in comparison to the original installment, and said the art direction is "once again absolutely outstanding."  Reed praised the amount of detail and said that "at no stage did we ever see even a hint of frame-rate drop or v-syncing glitches." He also said that playing the game on the PS3 sharpens up the visuals. Navarro said that both the sound and graphics were "superb" and the technical graphics are impressive for the PlayStation 2. GameTrailers said that in terms of visuals, "there aren't that many PlayStation 2 games in the same league as "God of War II"." GameZone said that despite the issue of clipping, the game is "unbelievably gorgeous".  Roper said that there were a couple of puzzles "that seemed a little rough around the edges and whose otherwise straightforward solution suffered a bit from imperfect implementation." He also criticized the difficulty of unlocking some of the bonus content, as some requirements are "punishingly hard for most everyone." Reed, however, said if players can find any flaws, they are based on "personal taste", but also stated that regardless of refinement, "you can never quite replicate the wow factor of the original—even if it ends up being a better game." Navarro said that at times, the combat is "overly straightforward... and still prone to button mashing," and said that it was "a bit disappointing" that more was not done to the combat system. He criticized the cliffhanger ending and said a few of the bonus challenges "aren't all that great." GameTrailers criticized the invisible walls, stating that "There are places you should be able to go that you simply can't." They also cited inconsistency issues in regards to navigation. Leone said his "only real" disappointment is that he did not feel the game was evolving the series.

References.

Notes  Footnotes

God of War II is an action-adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). First released for the PlayStation 2 console on March 13, 2007, it is the second installment in the "God of War" series, the sixth chronologically, and the sequel to 2005's "God of War". The game is based on Greek mythology and set in ancient Greece, with vengeance as its central motif. The player character is protagonist Kratos, the new God of War who killed the former, Ares. Kratos is betrayed by Zeus, the King of the Olympian Gods, who strips him of his godhood and kills him. Slowly dragged to the Underworld, he is saved by the Titan Gaia, who instructs him to find the Sisters of Fate, as they can allow him to travel back in time, avert his betrayal, and take revenge on Zeus.

God of War II est un jeu vidéo d'action-aventure de type "" sorti en 2007 sur PlayStation 2 et développé par SCE Santa Monica Studio.


Biography.

He was born in Florence. Being less than eleven years old when his father died, Ridolfo was brought up by his uncle Davide Ghirlandaio, a painter of moderate talents. Vasari states that Ridolfo trained under Fra Bartolomeo.  His works between the dates 1504 and 1508 show a marked influence from Fra Bartolomeo and Raphael, with whom he was friends. From Rome in 1508, Raphael asked Ridolfo to join him; but the Florentine painter stayed. In Florence, he became one of the prominent painters of altarpieces, frescoes, and portraits.  He was prominent in the execution of vast scenic canvases for various public occasions, such as the wedding of Giuliano de' Medici, and the entry of Leo X into Florence in 1515. In his prime he was honest and conscientious as an artist; but from about 1527 he declined, having already accumulated a handsome property, more than sufficient for maintaining in affluence his large family of fifteen children, and his works became comparatively mannered and repetitive. His sons traded in France and in Ferrara; he himself took a part in commercial affairs, and began paying some attention to mosaic work, but it seems that, after completing one mosaic, the "Annunciation" over the door of the Annunziata Basilica, patience failed him for continuing such minute labours. In his old age Ridolfo was greatly disabled by gout. He appears to have been of a kindly, easy-going character, much regarded by his friends and patrons.

Works.

Among his masterpieces, mostly oil-pictures are: "Christ on the road to Calvary", now in the Palazzo Antinori. An "Annunciation" in the Abbey of Montoliveto near Florence, Leonardesque in style. In 1504, he completed the "Coronation of the Virgin". He painted a "Nativity" and a predella in the Oratory of the Bigallo, Florence, with five panels, representing the "Nativity" and other subjects. In 1514, on the ceiling of the chapel of St Bernard in the "Palazzo Pubblico", Florence, Ghirlandaio painted a fresco of the "Trinity", with heads of the twelve apostles and other accessories, and the "Annunciation". He also painted an "Assumption of the Virgin", who bestows her girdle on St Thomas, in the choir loft of Prato cathedral.  Around the same date, he painted a picture showing his highest skill, replete with expression, vigorous life, and firm accomplished pictorial method, "St Zenobius Resuscitating a Child" and a "Translation of the remains of St Zenobius". He also painted a "Virgin and various saints" at San Pietro Maggiore of Pistoia. In 1521, the "Pietà", at Sant'Agostino, Colle di Val d'Elsa, life-sized. Towards 1526, the "Assumption", containing a self-portrait. Ghirlandaio painted a portrait of a young Cosimo I de' Medici, future Grand-Duke. In 1543, a series of frescoes in the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli. In the National Gallery, London is "The Procession to Calvary". His "Portrait of a Man with a Pink" is in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. An "Adoration by the Shepherds" attributed to Ghirlandaio is displayed at the Snite Museum of Art at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana.  A great number of altar-pieces were executed by Ghirlandaio, with the assistance of his favorite pupil, Michele Tosini (who due to his mentor acquired the name "Michele di Ridolfo"). Other of his pupils were Mariano Grazidei of Pescia, Carlo Portelli of Loro in the Valdarno, and Baccio Gotti who moved to France.

Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (or Ghirlandajo) (Florence 14 February 1483 – 6 June 1561) was an Italian Renaissance painter active mainly in Florence. Ridolfo Ghirlandaio was the son of Domenico Ghirlandaio.

Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio (Florence, - 1561) est un peintre italien de la Renaissance, appartenant à l'école florentine, et le fils de Domenico Ghirlandaio.


Development.

In 1939, the Inspectorate for Motorized Troops (AHA/In 6) decided that it would be useful for small armored half-tracks to accompany tanks in the attack. They could satisfy requirements for which a larger vehicle wouldn't be needed, such as headquarters, artillery forward observer, radio, and scout vehicles.  Demag, the designer of the smallest half-track in service, the Sd.Kfz. 10, was selected to develop the "light armored troop carrier" ("leichter gepanzerter Mannschafts-Transportwagen") or Sd.Kfz. 250.  To this end, the Sd.Kfz. 10 hull was shortened by one road wheel station, and an armored hull ("Panzerwanne") constructed around the truncated running gear.  While intended as a derivative of a standard inventory item, eventually virtually every component was redesigned and specific to the Sd.Kfz. 250.

Description.

Power for the "Sd.Kfz. 250" was provided by a Maybach 6-cylinder, water-cooled, 4.17-litre (254 cu in) "HL 42 TRKM" gasoline engine of. It had a semi-automatic pre-selector transmission with seven forward and three reverse gears: Maybach SRG, type "VG 102 128 H", (SRG=Schaltreglergetriebe, VG=Variorex-Getriebe, H=Hohlachse).  Gears were first selected and then the change pedal depressed to change the ratio, the next gear could then be selected in advance. It could attain, but the driver was cautioned not to exceed.  Both tracks and wheels were used for steering. The steering system was set up so that gentle turns used just the steerable front wheels, but brakes would be applied to the tracks the farther the steering wheel was turned. The Sd.Kfz. 250 also inherited the track-sparing but more complicated rollers in place of the more commonplace toothed sprockets.  The track ran on four double roadwheels overlapping and interleaved in the so-called "Schachtellaufwerk" design used by nearly all German half-tracked vehicles, mounted on swing arms sprung by torsion bars, track tension being maintained by an idler wheel, mounted at the rear.  The front wheels had transversely mounted leaf springs and shock absorbers (the only ones fitted) to dampen impacts.  The "Sd.Kfz. 250" (and its parent, the Sd.Kfz. 10) were unique among German half-track designs as they used a hull rather than a frame or chassis.

Service history.

The vehicle was used in a wide variety of roles throughout World War II. The basic troop carrier version was used as an armored personnel carrier for reconnaissance units, carrying scout sections. This basic variant usually mounted one or two MG34 machineguns. Later variants carried 20 mm, 37 mm, and even 75 mm guns to support the more lightly armed versions (see table below).  Several special-purpose variants were seen early in the war. The 250/3 and 250/5 were command variants, with fewer seats but equipped with long-range radio equipment. These were used by battalion and higher commanders as personal command vehicles, most famously the 250/3 used by Erwin Rommel in the North African campaign. Early versions had large 'bedframe' antennas, which were easy to spot at long range, making them more vulnerable to artillery fire. Later variants dispensed with this and instead used the far less conspicuous whip antenna.  The "Sd.Kfz". 253 variant was fully enclosed, and was used by artillery forward observers to accompany tank and mechanized infantry units.  The initial design had a multi-facetted armoured body constructed from multiple plates, which gave good protection against small arms fire but was both slow and costly to manufacture, and resulted in a cramped interior.  Production of this early version stopped in October 1943 with some 4,200 built and the complex body-shape dropped in favour of a "neue art" (new version) with flattened crew compartment sides made from a single piece of armour. This greatly simplified manufacture but in both variants the level of protection was minimal above rifle-calibre small-arms fire and small artillery fragments: heavy machine guns, anti-tank rifles and virtually any form of artillery could perforate the Sd.Kfz. 250, even at long range.  In August 1943, Romania acquired a total of 27 armored half-tracks, of both the "251" and "250" types.

Variants.

Plus numerous field modifications  Such as adding light artillery pieces such as the Pak35/36 to the basic version

The Sd.Kfz. 250 (German: "Sonderkraftfahrzeug" 250;'special motor vehicle') was a light armoured halftrack, very similar in appearance to the larger Hanomag-designed Sd.Kfz. 251, and built by the DEMAG firm, for use by Nazi Germany in World War II. Most variants were open-topped and had a single access door in the rear.

Le Sd.Kfz. 250 ("Sonderkraftfahrzeug 250") était un semi-chenillé blindé léger, utilisé par la Wehrmacht de 1940 à 1945. Ressemblant au SdKfz 251, il possédait quatre axes de roues en contact avec le sol, contre six pour le 251; il ne pouvait emporter qu'une tonne de charge contre 3 tonnes pour le 251; il transportait, conducteur compris, contre 12 pour le 251.


716th Static Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)

Divisional history.

The 716.Infanterie-Divisionen was mobilized for occupation duties in the 15.Welle (Wave) Replacement Army on 02 May 1941, at WKr VI. Munster. After formation in Bielefeld, and transfer to Occupied France, it was assigned to AOK 15 in June 1941 and employed at Saint-Lo, and Soissons. It was transferred to AOK 7 in June 1942 and relocated to Normandy, with duties including coastal defence, air raid protection and defensive fortification construction. After short movements to Amiens and Brussels, when returned amongst the divisions in Normandy; few were as weak as the Inf-Div 716., it having no combat experience.  On D-Day, The Division was responsible for Küsten Verteidigung Abschnitt - Divisional Coastal Defensive Section: 7 KVA ‘H1’ - KVA Caen. Having the task of defeating landings it manned an extended line of defensible posts, along its assigned 47 km of Normandy Coast, and deployed all other unit resources then available above the Basse Normandie: Calvados-Baie de Seine Coastal Plain. Fighting with additionally allocated LXXXIV Korps resources, the tactical situation and the terrain saw the Division'split' across two Regimental Coastal Defensive Sections: Küsten Verteidigungs Gruppe Courseulles and Küsten Verteidigungs Gruppe Riva-Bella. To the west, K.V.-Gruppe Courseulles commanded all Divisional troops from Asnelles to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, seeing it attempt to defeat landings at Gold Beach and Juno Beach. In the east up to the AOK 7 / AOK 15 Boundary, K.V.-Gruppe Riva-Bella commanded the tactical situation from Langrune-sur-Mer to Le Home Varaville, becoming responsible to defeat landings at Sword Beach and by the British 6th Airborne Division; astride the River Orne.  During the fighting after D-Day, the division fought defensively around Caen and Villers-Bocage. According to the commanding officer, "Generalleutnant" Wilhelm Richter, ""My division had been defeated and badly beaten up in Normandy"". The division was removed from frontline duty on July 10, 1944, and was able to avoid the carnage of the Falaise Pocket. Redeployed to the southern France, the division took up coastal security positions in the region of Salses-Perpignan-Elne, close to the Spanish border. Thereafter, the division was ordered to withdraw on August 19, 1944, and retreated through Languedoc to the region around Lyon. After this movement the division was engaged by the French resistance before later arriving in the area of Sélestat in Alsace.  In October 1944, the 716th Infantry Division was in the region of Oberrhein (near Colmar) where it fought at Neunkirch-Obenhein and was nearly wiped out in heavy fighting in January 1945. The remains of the division was reconstituted as the 716th Volksgrenadier Division in April 1945 before surrendering to American troops at Kempten in May 1945.

Order of battle.

The 716th's complement when raised in 1941 was:  The 716th's complement during the June 1944 Normandy Campaign consisted of:

The 716th Static Infantry Division (German: "716. Infanterie-Division") was a World War II, German Army infantry division. It was raised on May 2, 1941, and sent to German-occupied France in June 1941. Many of the division's troops were elderly Germans and conscripts from other German occupied countries, especially Ukrainians. As a "bodenständig" (Static Unit) it was not equipped with the standard configuration of vehicles and heavy weapons. Much of the division's artillery and anti-tank guns were from captured armaments.

La Division d'Infanterie (en allemand : 716. Infanterie-Division ou 716. ID) était une division d'infanterie de l'Armée allemande ("Wehrmacht") pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.


Plot.

In Scotland, 994 A.D., Castle Wyvern is under attack by Vikings, led by the ruthless Hakon (Clancy Brown). The resident warriors struggle to repel the attack until the sun sets, where at night, the seemingly lifeless stone gargoyle statues awaken, revealing themselves to be real living gargoyles. Led by Goliath (Keith David), the powerful gargoyle clan subsequently defends the castle and successfully forces the Vikings to retreat. The human captain of the guard sees them as heroes, but their heroism does nothing to earn appreciation from Princess Katherine (Kath Soucie), the court wizard Magus (Jeff Bennet), or the other human residents, most of whom still see them as monsters and treat them with prejudice. Goliath's lover (Marina Sirtis) and the Captain (Ed Gilbert) argue that the gargoyles deserve more praise and dignity, especially since the castle is built on top of the land that originally belonged to the gargoyles, but Goliath adamantly insists that they must endure being misunderstood and protect the castle and all of its residents. The Captain urges Goliath to take his clan away from the castle the following night, but Goliath remains determined to protect the castle.  Meanwhile, three youthful gargoyles (Thom Adcox-Hernandez, Jeff Bennet, and Bill Fagerbakke) and their dog-like gargoyle hound (Frank Welker) are unfairly harassed by a paranoid mother in the courtyard, and despite their efforts to appease, they are forced to frighten their harassers to defend themselves. Goliath subsequently reprimands them for threatening the humans and orders them to remain in their nesting caverns where the clan's eggs are resting. Goliath and his older gargoyle mentor (Edward Asner) then proceed to chase after the Vikings but realize they were led into a diversion. Unable to return to the castle in time, the sun rises, forcing them back into stone sleep.  The castle is once again attacked by Hakon and the Vikings. But the captain of the guard, disgusted by the scorn and prejudice of his people against the gargoyles, betrays the castle and Princess Katherine to the Vikings, and the battle is lost during the day. Although he wants to leave the castle to the gargoyles, he fails to convince Hakon that the Gargoyles won't chase after them. He watches as Hakon destroyed the gargoyles while they are helpless in their stone sleep, due to him failing to convince Goliath to leave the castle with his clan the previous night.  That night, Goliath and his mentor return home to find the castle in ruins, the inhabitants gone, and most of his gargoyle brothers and sisters in rubble. Only the three gargoyle youths and their hound have survived due to Goliath previously sending them into the caverns. Enraged at the murder of their siblings and Goliath's mate, the surviving Gargoyles pursue the Vikings.  Far from the castle, the Vikings set up camp with Princess Katherine, Magus, and the other townspeople as their captives. With nowhere else to go to, having betrayed his people, the Captain remains with the Vikings, and Hakon taunts Magus by passively burning pages from his magic book of spells, the Grimorum Arcanorum. When the surviving gargoyles arrive to free the people, Hakon and the Captain flee with Princess Katherine, leaving Magus behind. Goliath pursues them, while the other gargoyles defeat the Vikings. Although the townspeople are saved, Magus is enraged that the gargoyles' arrival may have caused Katherine's death at Hakon's hands, and so he casts a curse on them.  Goliath catches up with Hakon, the Captain, and Katherine, and confronts the Captain for his treachery. When Hakon blames the slaughter of Goliath's siblings on the Captain, the Captain angrily attacks him and they both fall off a cliff to their deaths, while Goliath manages to save and free Katherine. But when he returns, he finds the remaining members of his clan in stone sleep, unable to wake even at night. Realizing that Katherine is alive and well, Magus realizes his grave mistake, and because the pages from the Grimorum Arcanorum needed to break the spell were burned, the gargoyle clan will remain cursed in stone sleep until "the castle rises above the clouds". Grief-stricken and alone, Goliath leaves his clan's eggs in the care of the guilt-ridden Katherine and Magus, and requests Magus to cast his spell on him, so that he can remain with his clan and share their fate.  A thousand years later, in 1994, opportunistic billionaire David Xanatos (Johnathan Frakes) claims the long abandoned Castle Wyvern and has it reconstructed at the top of his skyscraper in New York City, along with the sleeping gargoyles. Goliath finally awakens and happily reunites with his clan, but they are shocked to awaken in a completely different world in the late-20th century. Xanatos explains that he recovered and translated the Grimorum Arcanorum, and followed its instructions to awaken the gargoyles, written by Magus, and approaches them as a friend. Not long after their awakening, the castle is suddenly attacked by a group of armed commandos from a helicopter. The gargoyles defend the castle against the attackers until they flee.  The fight results in falling debris and damages to the streets below, causing police detective Elisa Maza (Salli Richardson) to climb up to the castle to investigate the battle. She discovers Goliath and the gargoyles, but they manage to hesitantly befriend each other. The gargoyles decide to name themselves after various locations in New York and explore their new surroundings. The elder mentor names himself Hudson, while the young trio name themselves Brooklyn, Lexington, and Broadway, and their hound is named Bronx.  Meanwhile, Xanatos reunites Goliath with his mate, who reveals herself to have survived the massacre of their clan and survived until the modern time, and the two lovers happily reunite. Having earned their trust, Xanatos convinces the clan to help steal back important data discs that were supposedly stolen from him during the commando attack.  After they successfully return from their mission, Elisa goes to speak with Goliath in private about the theft. They are suddenly attacked by the same commandos from before but manage to survive the attack through the night, and Elisa defends the sleeping Goliath during the day. Elisa investigates the theft and reveals to Goliath that the commandos were employed by Xanatos, and that Xanatos has been manipulating Goliath.  No longer needing the gargoyles, Xanatos sets his clan of robotic steel gargoyles to destroy them, but the real gargoyles manage to fight back and destroy the unintelligent robots. Xanatos and Goliath's mate reveal their true colors to the gargoyles and attack them armed with powerful laser guns. Goliath's lover reveals that her name is Demona, and that she is conspiring with Xanatos. She also reveals that a thousand years ago, before their clan was massacred by the Vikings, she conspired with the Captain of the guard to betray Princess Katherine and the townspeople so that the gargoyles could have the castle all to themselves, as the castle was built on their land and was rightfully theirs to begin with. But after many betrayals and deaths of their kind, she now hates all of humanity and considers the human race as their enemies. Goliath and the rest of the clan reject her desire to fight against the human race, and so she decides that Goliath is also her enemy and decides to kill him. As Demona is about to shoot Goliath, Elisa arrives just in time to intervene and tackles Demona causing her to accidentally fire her laser weapon at the castle, destroying a portion of it. Demona and Elisa fall from the collapsing castle ledge, but Goliath catches and saves Elisa, while Demona continues to fall to her apparent death.  Enraged at this loss, Goliath attempts to kill Xanatos until Elisa convinces him not to, claiming that if he does he would be no morally better than Demona. Xanatos is arrested for possession of stolen property and the few surviving gargoyles now accept their new lives in their new home in New York, with Elisa now their friend and confidante.

Reception.

"TV Guide" rated the film 2/4 stars. The reviewer called the art "acceptable" but said the style owes a debt to "".

Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken is a direct-to-video animated film from The Walt Disney Company. The film is actually the five-episode pilot ("Awakening") of the animated television series "Gargoyles" edited into one long feature film, approximately 100 minutes in length. As a result, numerous scenes from the original broadcast episodes were cut due to time constraints. In addition, a number of scenes were also moved around and some dialogue was changed. The episodes were produced and aired in 1994, and the film was released to laserdisc and VHS in February 1995 and featured an interactive VHS/LD board game. The pilot episodes have been released to DVD as part of "Gargoyles": Season 1.

"Gargoyles, le film (Gargoyles : The Heroes Awaken)" est un long-métrage d'animation des studios Disney. Sorti directement en vidéo en 1995, il est adapté de la série télévisée animée "Gargoyles, les anges de la nuit" (1994) dont ce film reprend les 5 premiers épisodes raccourcis, dans un nouveau montage de 80 minutes.


Plot.

In 1993, Martin (Elijah Wood), a US student at the University of Oxford, wants Arthur Seldom (John Hurt) as his thesis supervisor. He idolises Seldom and has learned all about him. He takes accommodation in Oxford at the house of Mrs. Eagleton (Anna Massey), an old friend of Seldom. Also in the house is her daughter, Beth (Julie Cox), who is her full-time caregiver – which she resents bitterly – and a musician by occupation.  In a public lecture, Seldom quotes Wittgenstein's "Tractatus" to deny the possibility of absolute truth. Hoping to impress his idol, Martin disputes this, asserting his faith in the absolute truth of mathematics: "I believe in the number pi". Seldom humiliates him, ridiculing his arguments and making him look foolish in front of the audience. Disillusioned, Martin decides to abandon his studies and goes to his office to collect his belongings. There, he encounters his office-mate, a bitter mathematician Podorov (Burn Gorman), who also failed to become a student of Seldom's.  Martin then returns to his residence, where he finds Seldom arriving to visit Mrs. Eagleton. The two men enter the house together and find Martin's landlady murdered. Seldom tells the police that he had received a note with his friend's address marked as "the first of a series". As Seldom is an authority on logical series, he argues that a serial killer is using murder as a way to challenge his intelligence. According to Seldom, "The only perfect crime that exists is not the one that remains unsolved, but the one which is solved with the wrong culprit."  Martin and Seldom discuss how easily the murder of the old lady might have been overlooked, particularly as she already suffered from terminal cancer. Martin suggests that the murderer is committing "imperceptible murders", meaning that the killer is choosing victims who are already dying therefore meaning that the police would be less likely to suspect foul play.  Martin goes to the hospital where his girlfriend Lorna (Leonor Watling) works. There he meets a religious fanatic (Dominique Pinon), who has a daughter in dire need of a lung transplant. He also runs into Seldom, who is visiting Kalman (Alex Cox), a former student who went mad and suffers from a debilitating cancer, with bone involvement. Soon after, the patient who shares the room with Seldom's friend dies of an apparent lethal injection and the authorities receive a second symbol: two interlocking arcs.  Martin and Lorna's relationship becomes strained as he becomes more obsessed with Seldom and the murders and discovers that Lorna had once been Seldom's lover. At a Guy Fawkes Night concert, Martin sees Podorov acting suspiciously and the police give chase, only to discover that Podorov had merely intended to hang an insulting banner from the school roof. While they are distracted a member of the orchestra collapses and dies from respiratory failure. A drawing of a triangle is found on his music stand. Afterwards, Seldom tells Martin a story about a nineteenth century man who had written a diary listing ways to kill his wife. When the wife discovered the diary she killed her husband but was acquitted by a jury on grounds of self-defense. Decades later, the diary was discovered to have been forged by the woman's lover. Seldom uses this story to explain that the perfect crime is not one which is never solved, but one which is solved incorrectly.  All of Oxford's mathematics community is excited as a local researcher claims to have solved Fermat's last theorem. The mathematicians, including Seldom and Martin, board a bus to head to the conference, but Martin jumps out after seeing Lorna passing on the street. The two reconcile and agree to take a long vacation away from Oxford, mathematics, and Seldom. After making love with Lorna, Martin realises that the sequence the killer has sent them all consist of Pythagorean symbols and that the fourth one will be a tetractys, consisting of ten points.  The police, thinking that the killer is obsessed with Seldom, believe that he means to target the bus which Seldom and the other mathematicians are on. However, the killer, as Martin realises, is actually the man he had met at the hospital. The man is a bus driver for a school for developmentally disabled children. Seeing the students as unfit to live and wanting to provide organ donors to save his own daughter's life, he blows up his bus, killing the children inside and himself. Afterwards, the police theorise that he had planned to escape the blast alive and had committed the other murders to present the deaths of the schoolchildren as the work of a serial killer, thus shifting blame from himself.  Afterwards, Lorna and Martin prepare to leave Oxford. However, Martin realises that Seldom has been lying to him the entire time. As Lorna leaves in disgust, Martin travels to meet Seldom. He explains what he has figured out.  Beth, wanting to be relieved of the responsibility of caring for her mother, had murdered the old woman as the police had initially suspected. In a panic, she had called Seldom, who came over to help cover up the crime. But Seldom arrived just as Martin did and so could not clean up the crime scene. Instead, he invented the story about receiving a note from the killer to throw suspicion off of Beth. The man at the hospital had died of natural causes with Seldom merely creating a fake injection mark and leaving a symbol behind. The death of the musician at the concert was a fortuitous accident which Seldom took advantage of.  Seldom argues that while he did indeed lie, his actions resulted in no deaths. However, Martin points out that the bus bomber took his inspiration from Seldom's string of murders. Seldom counters that all actions have unintended consequences and that one of Martin's casual comments to Beth had led to her murdering her mother.

Mathematical and philosophical references.

The characters debate several mathematical, physical and philosophical concepts such as logical series, Wittgenstein's rule-following paradox, Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty, Gödel's Theorem, circles, the Vesica Piscis, the possibility of perfect crime, Fermat's Last Theorem and its proof by Professor Wiles, the Taniyama conjecture, the tetraktys and the Pythagoreans. There are references, also, of the Butterfly effect.

Artistic license.

"Logic series" is not actually an established topic in mathematical logic or mathematics. Contrary to what Seldom states in his lecture at the beginning of the film, the argument of Wittgenstein's "Tractatus" does not actually proceed by the use of equations (with the exception of a few simple equations in Wittgenstein's introduction of the truth tables) and it is not expressed in the formal language of mathematical logic; the argument is rather a philosophical argument expressed in normal, albeit idiosyncratic, language.  Moreover, Professor Andrew Wiles, who solved Fermat's Last Theorem, is represented as "Professor Wilkin" of Cambridge University in the film, and Fermat's Last Theorem is represented as "Bormat's Last Theorem".  Contrary to a statement made early in the film, electromechanical computers (namely the "Bombe") played a crucial role in the breaking of the German "Enigma" cipher by British (and earlier, Polish) cryptographers during WW2.

Production.

The film is a Spanish-British-French production directed by Spanish Álex de la Iglesia. Before the confirmation of Elijah Wood in the film, Mexican actor Gael García Bernal had been considered for the role of the mathematics student. There were some weeks of speculation on who would play the lead. On 26 December 2006 Tornasol Films announced that Wood was cast in the lead role. de la Iglesia commented that he convinced Wood to accept the role for the script. De la Iglesia also praised Wood: "I'm delighted to work with Elijah, who undoubtedly has the most powerful eyes in the industry and who is perfect for the part".  British actor John Hurt was cast in the role of a professor of the university, who helps the young student in his quest to try to stop a series of murders. Actor Michael Caine had been considered for this role.  De la Iglesia described daily in his blog the peculiar situations that happened during the production of the film. The film is his first foray outside his typical black comedy genre into more dramatic fare.  Filming began on 22 January 2007 and finished on 24 March, with locations in Oxford and the Cast Courts of the Victoria and Albert Museum of London.

Release.

The film was picked up for UK release by Odeon Sky Filmworks, opening on 25 April 2008, and had a DVD release in the UK on 1 September 2008. However in the US, it was not picked up for release until 2010, with VOD set for 2 July 2010 and also theatres on 6 August 2010, distributed by Magnolia Pictures.  The DVD and Blu-ray Disc versions of the film were released on 5 October 2010.

Reception.

"The Oxford Murders" received mostly negative reviews. David Lewis, a critic for the "San Francisco Chronicle", wrote that despite the fact that "there were plenty of talented people involved", the film had a "clunky script" and was "just plain boring, from beginning to end". Jonathan Holland from "Variety" was less critical, calling the film a "polished but verbose whodunit", though he found fault with the dialogue and the romantic subplot. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 10%. Geoffrey Pullum, a professor of linguistics, wrote a scathing review.

The Oxford Murders is a 2008 British-Spanish drama film directed by Álex de la Iglesia. This thriller film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Argentine mathematician and writer Guillermo Martínez. The film stars Elijah Wood, John Hurt, Leonor Watling and Julie Cox.

Crimes à Oxford ("The Oxford Murders") est un thriller franco-britannico-espagnol réalisé par Álex de la Iglesia, sorti en 2008. Il s'agit de l'adaptation d'un roman du mathématicien et écrivain argentin Guillermo Martínez.


Career.

Known as the "Football Professor" because of his attention to detail and also as “Napoleon” because of his diminutive 1.61 meter stature, Cramer began his career at Viktoria Dortmund and Germania Wiesbaden. The beginning of his managerial career lead him to clubs such as Teutonia Lippstadt, VfL Geseke, FC Paderborn, and TuS Eving-Lindenhorst. At the turn of the year 1948–49, Cramer found himself in the service of the German Football Association (DFB) for the first time. Until 1963 he served with the designation as Head Coach for Western Germany under the DFB in Duisburg.  Little known, Cramer attempted to make the jump into a career in journalism at this point. He became lead editor for sports for German television station ZDF. Feeling largely isolated from the football world, Cramer decided to call it quits after only six months on the job. Afterward he was sent by the DFB to Japan to serve as a football instructor.  In order to strengthen its national team ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games four years later, the Japan Football Association had the idea in 1960 of bringing in a foreign professional coach. Cramer was ultimately selected for this role. Through Cramer's coaching and leadership, and the efforts of his players, the Japanese national team achieved a surprise upset of Argentina at the Tokyo Olympics. The significance of this result was not lost on Cramer who saw it as a confirmation that Japanese football was vastly improving. Cramer's efforts were not limited to the national team, as he also formulated and implemented policies for general development. The foundation of a first national league, the training of other coaches, and the strengthening of the national team would all contribute to Japan's success at the Mexico City Olympics four years later, where Japan would take home the bronze medal.  On 1 January 1964 Cramer returned to Germany to take up a position as an assistant to German national coach Helmut Schön. In this capacity he was a part of the coaching staff at the World Cup in 1966, where West Germany lost in the final to England. His talents were highly regarded by FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), which contracted him as a coach from 1967 to 1974 and sent him on a tour of the globe, but during this time, Cramer also ran the 1st FIFA Coaching Course in Japan in 1969, and sowed the seeds for a coach training structure in Japan. Additionally, on 1 August 1974, Cramer was selected by the United States Soccer Federation to become the head coach of the United States men's national football team.  During his time in national team service, Cramer received numerous coaching offers from German clubs in the Bundesliga, although he consistently turned them down. Then, on 16 January 1975, he took over the reins as manager of German giants FC Bayern Munich. At the beginning, Cramer faced heavy criticism in Munich, mostly because of his passive management style. With rumors of a sacking swirling around Cramer, he was strongly backed by team captain Franz Beckenbauer, who felt indebted to him because of his insistence that Beckenbauer be allowed to return to the German national team after initially being banned for impregnating a girl out of wedlock.  Cramer led Bayern to victory in the 1975 and 1976 European Champions Cup, in addition to capturing the World Club Cup in 1976. The 1976 Bundesliga season, however, saw Bayern unable to recapture their form and, after a season that saw them fail to defend their domestic title, Cramer was forced to resign his position. Cramer was involved in a trade between Bayern and Eintracht Frankfurt, which saw him take the top spot at Frankfurt, while Frankfurt coach Gyula Lorant made his way to Bayern. Neither club was happy with the trade, as Bayern finished a club worst 12th in the table, while Frankfurt's results were mediocre at best. As a result, the club parted ways with him on 30 June 1978.  Not until the 1982–83 season did Cramer find himself employed in the Bundesliga again, this time with club Bayer Leverkusen. At Leverkusen he managed to lead the club to their first top 9 finish in the league during his second year in charge. Failure to build on that accomplishment led to his dismissal after his third season in charge. Never to coach in the Bundesliga again, Cramer instead found coaching positions with various international clubs and associations around the world. In 2002 Cramer officially announced his retirement from football. In 2005, he was inducted into the Japan Football Hall of Fame.

Personal life.

Cramer served in World War II as a Senior Lieutenant with a German paratrooper division. For his international achievements, Cramer was awarded two honorary doctorates in addition to being presented with the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit) in Germany. In 1971, Emperor Hirohito also personally presented him with membership in the Order of the Sacred Treasure for his service to Japan. Furthermore, Cramer was an honorary chieftain in the Native American Sioux and Mohican tribes. Cramer died at the age of 90 on 17 September 2015.

Dettmar Cramer (4 April 1925 – 17 September 2015) was a German football player and coach who led Bayern Munich to the 1975 and 1976 European Cups. He was born in Dortmund. Cramer is commonly considered to be the father of modern football in Japan and is a member of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd Class. He also briefly coached the United States men's national soccer team.

Dettmar Cramer (né le à Dortmund et mort le à Reit im Winkl est un footballeur et entraîneur de football allemand.


History.

Dwars door België.

The race was first run in 1945 from Sint-Truiden to Waregem and was named "Dwars door België" "()" – a name it kept until 1999. Belgian cycling icon Rik Van Steenbergen won the inaugural race. From 1946 to 1964 the event was run as a stage race over two days – with the exception of 1948. The first stage started in Waregem and finished in the eastern Belgian provinces of Limburg or Liège; from which it returned to Waregem the next day. In 1948 and since 1965, it has been held as a one-day race. Two editions have been cancelled, in 1971 and during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Held in late March, the event traditionally marked the start of the "Flemish Cycling Week", which also includes E3 Harelbeke, Gent–Wevelgem, the Three Days of De Panne, and the Tour of Flanders. Dwars door Vlaanderen was contested mid-week, four days after Italy's "monument race" Milan–San Remo and a week and a half before the Tour of Flanders.

World Tour race.

In 2000 the event was renamed "Dwars door Vlaanderen" and Roeselare became the new starting place. The race was included in the inaugural UCI Europe Tour in 2005, classified as a UCI 1.1 event, and from 2013 to 2016 as a 1.HC race. The 2016 edition nearly had to be cancelled as it was scheduled one day after the 2016 Brussels bombings, causing security alert to be raised to the highest level in all of Belgium. On the evening of the event, organizers decided to continue as planned and the Belgian authorities gave clearance on the day of the race. The race was won by Jens Debusschere.  The 2017 edition was promoted to the UCI World Tour, cycling's highest tier of professional races. In 2018 Dwars door Vlaanderen was moved one week later on the calendar, from a position mid-week after Milan–San Remo to the Wednesday before the Tour of Flanders. At the same time the course was scaled down from 200 km to 180 km in length, and the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg climbs were cut from the race.

Route.

Dwars door Vlaanderen is one of several cobbled races in Flanders during Spring classics season. The race starts in Roeselare and finishes in Waregem, for a total distance of ca. 180 km. The bulk of the course is set in the hilly Flemish Ardennes. The first 80 km in West Flanders are mainly flat, after which the course becomes more selective with a dozen climbs in the hill zone in East Flanders. Despite annual changes, some of the regular climbs in the race are the Taaienberg, Kruisberg and Côte de Trieu. The top of the last climb, "Nokereberg", comes at 11 km from the finish. Additionally, there are several flat stretches of cobbles. Due to its hilly course in the Flemish Ardennes, the race is similar in nature to the Tour of Flanders, and is often used in preparation for the bigger event four days later.

Winners.

Multiple winners.

"Riders in italics are active"

Women's race winners.

Multiple winners.

"Riders in italics are active"

Dwars door Vlaanderen "()" is a semi-classic road bicycle race in Belgium, held annually since 1945. The race starts in Roeselare and finishes in Waregem, both in West Flanders. Since 2017 the event is included in the UCI World Tour.

À travers les Flandres ou À travers la Flandre (en néerlandais : "Dwars door Vlaanderen") est une course cycliste semi-classique qui se déroule en Belgique à la fin du mois de mars sur près de 200 kilomètres jusqu'à Waregem. L'épreuve est organisée depuis 1945 et elle fait partie de l'UCI World Tour depuis 2017. Elle est courue sous la forme d'une course par étapes de 1946 à 1964 (à l'exception de 1947).


Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Macédoine au Concours Eurovision de la chanson 2007

Before Eurovision.

Skopje Fest 2007.

In late 2006, MRT announced that Skopje Fest would return as the selection method for the 2007 Contest.

Competing entries.

A submission period was opened for composers to submit their entries. MRT received 150 submissions during the submission period, with MRT selecting the performer for each selected entry. The twelve competing artists and songs were announced on 6 January 2007. On 24 January 2007, MRT announced an additional three wildcard finalists, as well as changes to the initial list of participants.

Final.

The final took place on 24 February 2007 at the Universal Hall in Skopje, hosted by Milanka Rašić, Živkica Gjurčinovska and Igor Džambazov. Fifteen songs competed with the winner being selected by a regional televote from 12 districts across Macedonia. At the conclusion of the voting, Karolina Gočeva and the song "Mojot svet" was selected as the winner, receiving top marks (12 points) from all twelve voting districts.  In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show also featured guest performances by the "Rebis" Ballet, 2006 Macedonian entrant Elena Risteska, 2005 Croatian entrant Boris Novković and 2007 Belarusian entrant Dmitry Koldun.

At Eurovision.

Prior to the contest, Gočeva embarked on a promo tour to Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia. In addition to visiting the Balkan region, Karolina held a pre-contest concert at the Metropolis Arena in Skopje. "Mojot svet" underwent language changes for the contest with the majority of the song being performed in its original Macedonian language version and the final chorus of the song being performed in English.  Because Macedonia placed 12th at the 2006 contest,Karolina was forced to compete in the semi-final. Macedonia competed in the semi-final of the 2007 Contest on 10 May 2007 performing 18th, following Portugal and preceding the Norway. Macedonia qualified to the final, placing 9th in the semi-final and scoring 97 points. In the final, Macedonia performed 6th, following Finland and preceding the Slovenia. Macedonia placed 14th in the final, scoring 73 points.

Points awarded by Macedonia.

Semi-final.

Points awarded in semi-final:

Final.

Points awarded in the final:

See also.

Macedonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland. The Macedonian entry was selected through a national selection, "Skopje Fest 2007", organised by the Macedonian broadcaster Macedonian Radio-Television (MRT). Karolina Gočeva represented Macedonia with the song "Mojot svet", which qualified from the competition's semi-final and placed 14th in the final, scoring 73 points. Gočeva previously represented Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002.

La Macédoine a participé au Concours Eurovision de la chanson 2007 à Helsinki, en Finlande. C'est la participation de la Macédoine au Concours Eurovision de la chanson.


Career.

Born in Meerssen, Limburg, Meijer started his career at Fortuna Sittard (1987–89). He broke through in the early 1990s at Dutch Eredivisie club MVV Maastricht and was transferred to PSV Eindhoven in 1994, where he did not play much due to competition by team mates Ronaldo, Luc Nilis and Wim Kieft.  He then moved to German Bundesliga struggler KFC Uerdingen 05 in 1995, where he was one of the few bright spots in a hapless squad, and was picked up by Bayer 04 Leverkusen. There, he was paired up with Ulf Kirsten and formed one of the most intimidating striker duos of the Bundesliga.  After successful years, Meijer moved to Liverpool F.C. in 1999, where he failed to make an impression next to Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler. He was therefore loaned out to Preston North End for one season. He returned to the Bundesliga and joined Hamburger SV in December 2000. Meijer scored two goals in his time at Anfield, both coming in a League Cup tie against Hull City. He joined Liverpool fans in Dortmund prior to the 2000–01 UEFA Cup, where he drank and sang with Reds fans. Despite playing a limited number of games for Liverpool, Meijer was voted 99th in the fan-based poll, 100 Players Who Shook The Kop.  But it was only after moving to 2. Bundesliga club Alemannia Aachen, in 2003, where he finally regained success. In the autumn of his career, his strong play and dressing room presence propelled Aachen into the DFB-Pokal finals in 2003–04, losing to Werder Bremen, but earning a ticket into the UEFA Cup (as Bremen were German champions) and rejuvenating Alemannia financially. He was also named captain for the first time in his career. Meijer also was essential for Aachen's promotion into the Bundesliga after 36 years, in 2005–06.  Meijer ended his career that summer, stating he wanted to finish in style after this last big success.

International career.

Meijer earned his sole cap for the Netherlands during a 6–0 win against San Marino in 1993.

Coaching career.

He took on a post in the management of Alemannia Aachen. But after a very short time he was appointed assistant coach of the newly arrived Bundesliga team, working with Michael Frontzeck, who succeeded Dieter Hecking in September 2006. On 14 December 2009 was named as the new director of sport by his former club Alemannia Aachen and signed a contract between 30 June 2011. He is a patron of A.F.C. Liverpool, a club run by the fans of Liverpool F.C..

Erik Meijer (born 2 August 1969) is a retired Dutch footballer. Standing at, he was known as a header specialist.

Erik Meijer, est un footballeur néerlandais né le à Meerssen. Il est en 2011 entraîneur adjoint d'un de ses anciens clubs, l'Alemannia Aix-la-Chapelle.


Geography.

The holy river, Nahr Qadisha, runs through the valley for 35 km from its source in a cave (grotto) a little way below the Forest of the Cedars of God. The sides of the valley are steep cliffs that contain many caves, often at more than 1000m and all difficult of access. The most scenic section of the valley stretches for approximately twenty kilometers between Bsharri (Arabic: ), the hometown of Kahlil Gibran, and Tourza (Arabic: ).  It is here also that the Holy River, Nahr Qadisha, flows, its source being in a sacred mountain celebrated in the Scriptures.

The Cedars of God.

The Kadisha Valley is near the Forest of the Cedars of God, survivors of the ancient Cedars of Lebanon, the most highly prized building materials of the ancient world. The forest is said to contain 375 individual trees, two claimed to be over 3000 years old, ten over 1000 years, and the remainder at least centuries-old. The Lebanon Cedar (Cedrus Libani) is described in ancient works on botany as the oldest tree in the world. It was admired by the Israelites, who brought it to their land to build the First and the Second temples in Jerusalem. Historical sources report that the famous cedar forests were beginning to disappear at the time of Justinian in the 6th century AD.

History.

The Qadisha Valley's many natural caves have been used as shelters and for burials back as far as the Palaeolithic period. The Aassi Hauqqa (cave) in particular, near Hawqa, Lebanon, has yielded archaeological items indicating Palaeolithic, Roman, and medieval periods of use.  Since the early centuries of Christianity the Holy Valley has served as a refuge for those in search of solitude. Historians believe that the Kadisha Valley has had monastic communities continuously since the earliest years of Christianity. It was also at times a destination for Muslim mystics, or Sufis, who also visited it for meditation and solitude.  Early Christian communities fleeing persecution found refuge in the Kadisha. Among these groups were the Jacobites (Syriac Orthodox), Melchites (Byzantine Catholic), Nestorians, Armenians, and even Ethiopians. The Maronites, however, are the dominant Christian group in the valley. From the late 7th century, Maronites fled to the valley from their original areas of settlement in the Levante. At that time, they feared persecution from the Jacobites, who were non-Chalcedonian, and who persecuted Chalcedonian Maronites, and from Islamic attacks. Maronite settlement intensified in the 10th century following the destruction of the Monastery of St Maron. The Maronite monks established their new center at Qannubin, in the heart of the Qadisha, and monasteries quickly spread over the surrounding hills. Early Maronite settlement in the valley combined both community and eremitic life.  The Mameluk sultans Baibars and Qalaoun led campaigns in 1268 and 1283, respectively, against the fortress-caves, monasteries, and the surrounding villages. Despite these attacks, the Deir Qannubin monastery was to become the seat of the Maronite Patriarch in the 15th century and to remain so for 500 years. In the 17th century, the Maronite monks’ reputation for piety was such that many European poets, historians, geographers, politicians, and clergy visited and even settled in the Valley. The first printing press in the middle east was built in 1610 at the Monastery of Qozhaya in the Kadisha valley. It used Syriac characters. Also this printing press was the first to print in Arabic language

The Qadisha mummies.

Eight well preserved natural mummies of Maronite villagers dating back to around 1283 A.D. were uncovered by Fadi Baroudy, Pierre Abi Aoun, Paul Kahawaja & Antoine Ghaouch, a team of speleologists from the GERSL scientific organisation in the Qadisha Valley between 1989 & 1991. These were found in the 'Asi-al Hadath cave along with a wealth of artifacts.

World Heritage Site.

In 1998, UNESCO added the valley to the list of World Heritage Sites because of its importance as the site of some of the earliest Christian monastic settlements in the world, and its continued example of early Christian faith.

Christian monasticism in the valley.

The Kadisha (Holy) Valley is the site of some of the most ancient Christian monastic communities of the Middle East. The valley's natural caves, being comfortless, scattered, and difficult to access, provided monks and hermits sufficiently isolated and inhospitable conditions to live out Christian solitude, contemplation, and devotion. Many of the caves and irregularities in the cliff-sides were adapted to serve as individual dwellings (cells), chapels, and monasteries, and such buildings were further carved out of the cliff faces of the valley. Some have interiors covered with frescoes and facades. Around the caves there are terraced fields made by the hermits for growing grain, grapes, and olives.  While there are numerous monasteries in the valley, there are several main monastic complexes:

The Qannubin Monastery.

The Qannubin Monastery (Deir Qannubin (دير قنوبين)), is on the northeast side of the Qadisha Valley. It is the oldest of the Maronite monasteries; although its foundation is often attributed to the Emperor Theodosius the Great in 375AD, it is more likely that it was established by a disciple of St Theodosius the Cenobite. For the most part it is cut into the rock cliff side - monastic cells, church, cloister, and accommodation for travelers.  Qannubin used to be the See of the Maronite Patriarch.

The Monastery of St Anthony of Qozhaya.

The Monastery of Qozhaya (Deir Mar Antonios Qozhaya (دير مارانطونيوس قزحيا)) sits on the opposite flank of the Qadisha from Qannubin Monastery. Tradition has its foundation in the 4th century by St Hilarion, in honour of the Egyptian anchorite, St Anthony the Great, though the earliest documentary records date back only to around 1000AD. It was destroyed in the 16th century but quickly restored. It comprises a corridor, meeting room, and chapel, with a mill and a number of hermitages cut into the rock nearby.

The Monastery of Our Lady of Hawqa.

Saydet Hawqa is situated at an altitude of 1150m between Qannubin and Qozhaya Monasteries, at the base of an enormous cave. It was founded in the late 13th century by villagers from Hawqa. The hermitage appears to have been located on a wide platform at mid-level, where there is a water reservoir fed by channels. The upper level, only accessible by ladder, is a cave some 47m long, where the wealth of medieval pottery and arrowheads that have been found suggests its use as a refuge. Traces of fortifications have also been found in the Aassi Hauqqa (cave) at 1170m altitude. Archaeological finds show that this cave was in use in Palaeolithic, Roman, and medieval times.

The Monastery of Mar Sarkis.

The Monastery of Mar Sarkis, also called Ras Al Nahr, overlooks Ehden, Kfarsghab, Bane and Hadath El Jebbeh. Given its exceptional location overlooking the valley at an altitude of 1500m, the monastery is called "the Watchful Eye of Qadisha". It is dedicated to Saints Sarkis and Bakhos (Saints Sergius and Bacchus). The name "Ras Al Nahr" means "the top of the river" as it is in the vicinity of the Mar Sarkis source, the main contributor to the Qlaynsieh River which joins the Qannubin River in the valley.  The first church of Saints Sarkis and Bakhos was built in the mid 8th Century A.D. on the ruins of a Canaanite temple dedicated to a god of agriculture. Next to it, another church dedicated to Our Lady was constructed in 1198 A.D. Several buildings were added from 1404 till 1690, when Patriarch Estephan Douaihy restored part of the buildings.

The Monastery of Mar Lishaa.

Mar Lishaa or St Elisha (دير مار أليشع), mentioned first in the 14th century, is shared by two communities, a Maronite solitary order and the Barefoot Carmelite order. It consists of three or four small cells, a refectory, and some offices; the communal church includes four chapels cut into the rock-face.

Other monasteries.

Other monastic establishments in the Qadisha are the Monastery of Mar Girgis, with the Chapel of Mar Challita, the Monastery of Mar Yuhanna, the Monastery of Mar Abun, with the Hermitage of Mar Sarkis, and the Monastery of Mart Moura, Ehden and others.  There is another group of monasteries in the adjoining Hadchit Valley (Ouadi Houlat). These were founded by Ethiopian Monophysite monks expelled from the neighbouring town of Ehden and occupied by them before their communities scattered elsewhere. They include the hermitage-monastery complexes of Deir es-Salib, Mar Antonios, Mar Semaane, and Mar Assia, along with the isolated chapels of Mar Bohna and Mar Chmouna.  Bsharri, Dimane, Bane, Tourza, Hasroun, Bazaoun, Bqarqasha, Bqaa Kafra, Brissate, Hadchit, Blaouza, Hadath, Monastery of Qannoubine, Monastery of Hawqa, Monastery of  Arbet Qozhaya, Ehden, Kfarsghab, Hawqa, Aintourine, Sereel, El Fradiss, Mazraat En Nahr, Beit Balais, Monastery of Qozhaya, Monastery of Mar Sarkis Ras Al Nahr

Kadisha Valley (), also romanized as the Qadisha Valley and also known as the Kadisha Gorge or Wadi Kadisha (), is a gorge that lies within the Becharre and Zgharta Districts of the North Governorate of Lebanon. The valley was carved by the "Kadisha River", also known as the "Nahr Abu Ali" when it reaches Tripoli. Kadisha means "Holy" in Aramaic, and the valley, sometimes called the Holy Valley. It has sheltered Christian monastic communities for many centuries. The valley is located at the foot of Mount al-Makmal in northern Lebanon.

La vallée de Qadisha (connue aussi comme la vallée de Kadisha, Wadi Qadisha, Ouadi Qadisha, ou, "qadisha" venant du syriaque langue d'origine parlée avant l'arabe au Liban) est située au Liban dans le Gouvernorat du Nord. Avec la forêt des Cèdres de Dieu, elle est inscrite depuis 1998 sur la Liste du patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO.


History.

Historically, northern parts of Nankai District were located inside the walled city of Tianjin. The Tianfei Palace or Palace of the Queen of Heaven of the Yuan Dynasty was built in north-eastern Nankai in the year 1326. In the Ming Dynasty, the heart of the city of Tianjin was set up in Nankai. Nankai became part of the military garrisons during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the city wall served as a major defense system against foreign invasion in the late 19th century.

Administrative divisions.

There are 12 subdistricts in the district:

Geography.

Nankai District is located in the south-west corner of the urban Tianjin, bordered by Hongqiao District to the north, Hebei and Heping Districts to the north-east, Hexi District to the east and Xiqing District to the south-west. It occupies an area of. The natural topography is characterised by higher elevation in the north of the district and a lower elevation in the south, with the average altitude being 3 metres.

Demographics.

Nankai District has been one of the fastest growing districts in Tianjin since the formation of the People's Republic of China. The population was 220,000 in 1949. In 2006, the population was 925,000 and the density was 19621/km (50818/sq. mi.).  The rate of population growth has been negative since 1993 with the birth rate averaging 3.97% and death rate registering 4.56% in 2005.  The majority of people in Nankai District are Han Chinese. Small populations of ethnic minorities such as the Hui, Manchu and Mongol peoples also exist.

Transportation.

Metro.

Nankai is currently served by three metro lines operated by Tianjin Metro:

References.

People's Government of Tianjin Nankai District English Website

Nankai District () is a district of Tianjin, People's Republic of China. Nankai District borders the Hai River in the east and Chentangzhuang Railway in the west and south.

Le district de Nankai (南开区 ; pinyin : Nánkāi Qū) est une subdivision du centre de la municipalité de Tianjin en Chine.