Early life.

Urban was born in Sokolov in 1967 and grew up in Bohemia. He spent a part of his childhood living in the Czechoslovak embassy in London before moving back to Prague to study Nordic and English Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, which included a year studying abroad at Oxford University. After graduating he worked as an editor for Mladá fronta, then as editor-in-chief for Argo, the publishing house which later released his books. In 1996 Urban won the Mladá fronta Prize for his translation of "Flaubert's Parrot" by British writer Julian Barnes.

Literary career.

Urban's first novel was "The Final Mark on the Manuscripts", released in 1998, a mockumentary novel released under the pseudonym "Josef Urban", also the name of the novel's narrator. The book's plot revolves around the manuscripts of Dvůr Králové and of Zelená Hora. It was positively received and later re-issued by Argo in 2005 under Urban's real name.  Later the same year, Urban released his best-known work, "The Seven Churches", (), a Gothic historical thriller set in Nove Mesto, Prague, about a man named Kvetoslav Svach, and how he is linked to murders in seven cathedrals of the city. It has been acclaimed as a masterpiece of modern gothic literature; Urban was praised as "the dark knight of Czech literature" and the book has been translated into 11 languages (English, German, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Russian, Spanish, Slovene, Croatian, Polish, and Bulgarian). "The Seven Churches" was the first of a loose trilogy known as the "church trilogy".  "Hastrman" came out in 2001. The novel received the Magnesia Litera Award for prose writing, and has been translated into Hungarian. A film based on the novel was produced in 2018. It is a controversial, uncompromising story combining motifs from Czech myths and folktales with the issue of ecology. Urban follows the story of a water-goblin through several centuries to create a parable for the environmental damage caused by humans. This book was followed the following year by "Memoirs of an MP", the so-called "sexy novel" and a considerable departure from Urban's previous books, which was described as "the most searing, most bizarre and most anarchistic condemnation of democratic totalitarianism".  Urban next returned to the final two books of the "church trilogy": "Shadow of the Cathedral" (2003), which sold out within two weeks of its release, and "Santini's Language" (2005), which drew comparisons to Dan Brown. In 2007 Urban released "Fields and Palisades: The Myth of the Princess and the Farmer", a version of the story of Přemysl the Ploughman and Libuše, the legendary origin story of the Czech people, as part of the Canongate Myth Series. This was followed by 2008's "Dead Girls", an anthology of gothic mysteries written between 2002 and 2006. A review in Czech daily "Právo" said that "Urban writes wonderful gothic mystery stories – and even Jakub Arbes might envy him this collection". "Lord Mord", released the same year, is set amid the slum clearance of Prague in the late 19th century, in which the murder of prostitutes is employed as an allegory for the harm caused to the city.  In 2011 Urban released "Boletus arcanus", a satire about drug dependency and human need that references the Czech pastime of mushroom picking. "Praga Picolla", released the following year, is a more traditional historical novel set in the time of the First Czechoslovak Republic. This was followed in 2014 by "She Came From The Sea", a detective mystery about a girl who emerges from the sea on the British coast one day without explanation. In 2015, Urban released "Urbo Kune", a sci-fi tinged novel written as a response to a request from Vienna architect, Jan Tabor, for European artists and writers to join a project dedicated to a united Europe.

Personal life.

Urban now lives in the Bohnice district of Prague, and works as a writer, translator, and editor in a publishing house.

Miloš Urban (born 4 October 1967 in Sokolov, Czech Republic) is a Czech novelist and horror writer, known as the "dark knight of Czech literature". He is best known for his 1999 novel "Sedmikostelí", a Gothic crime horror set in Prague, which was translated into 11 languages. He is also a translator, and has translated works by authors including Isaac Bashevis Singer and Julian Barnes into Czech. He was the winner of the 2002 Magnesia Litera prize for prose writing for his 2001 novel "Hastrman", as well as the 1996 Mladá fronta prize for his translation of Barnes' "Flaubert's Parrot". As well as the Czech Republic, Urban's books have found considerable commercial success in Spanish-speaking countries.

Miloš Urban (* 4. října 1967 Sokolov, vlastním jménem (do osmi let věku) Miloš Svačina) je český spisovatel, překladatel a redaktor.


Properties.

Perlite softens when it reaches temperatures of. Water trapped in the structure of the material vaporises and escapes, and this causes the expansion of the material to 7–16 times its original volume. The expanded material is a brilliant white, due to the reflectivity of the trapped bubbles. Unexpanded ("raw") perlite has a bulk density around 1100 kg/m (1.1 g/cm), while typical expanded perlite has a bulk density of about 30–150 kg/m (0.03–0.150 g/cm).

Occurrence.

Perlite is a non-renewable resource. The world reserves of perlite are estimated at 700 million tonnes.  The confirmed resources of perlite existing in Armenia amount to 150 million m, whereas the total amount of projected resources reaches up to 3 billion m. Considering specific density of 1.1 ton/m confirmed reserves in Armenia amount to 136 mln. tons.  Other reported reserves are: Greece - 120 mln. tons, Turkey, USA and Hungary - about 49-57 mln. tons.  Perlite world production led by China, Turkey, Greece, USA, Armenia and Hungary summed up to 4.6 mln. tons in 2018.

Use.

Because of its low density and relatively low price (about US$50 per tonne of unexpanded perlite), many commercial applications for perlite have developed. In the construction and manufacturing fields, it is used in lightweight plasters, concrete and mortar (masonry), insulation and ceiling tiles. It may also be used to build composite materials that are sandwich-structured or to create syntactic foam. In horticulture, perlite can be used as a soil amendment or alone as a medium for hydroponics or for starting cuttings. When used as an amendment it has high permeability / low water retention and helps prevent soil compaction. Perlite is an excellent filtration aid and is used extensively as an alternative to diatomaceous earth. The popularity of perlite usage as a filter medium is growing considerably worldwide. Perlite filters are fairly commonplace in filtering beer before it is bottled.  Small quantities of perlite are also used in foundries, cryogenic insulation, and ceramics (as a clay additive). It is also used by the explosives industry. Due to thermal and mechanical stability, non-toxicity, and high resistance against microbial attacks and organic solvents, perlite is widely used in biotechnological applications. Perlite was found to be an excellent support for immobilization of biocatalysts such as enzymes for bioremediation and sensing applications.

Substitutes.

Perlite can be substituted for all of its uses. Substitutes include:

Occupational safety.

As perlite contains silicon dioxide, goggles and silica filtering masks are recommended when handling large quantities.

United States.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set the legal limit (permissible exposure limit) for perlite exposure in the workplace as 15 mg/m total exposure and 5 mg/m respiratory exposure over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) of 10 mg/m total exposure and 5 mg/m respiratory exposure over an 8-hour workday.

Perlite is an amorphous volcanic glass that has a relatively high water content, typically formed by the hydration of obsidian. It occurs naturally and has the unusual property of greatly expanding when heated sufficiently. It is an industrial mineral and a commercial product useful for its low density after processing.

Perlit je amorfní vulkanické sklo s vysokým obsahem vody. V přírodě se běžně vyskytuje a mezi jeho zvláštní vlastnosti patří, že po dosažení určité teploty velmi výrazně zvětšuje svůj objem (expanduje).


Origin and development.

The word "deacon" is derived from the Greek word "diákonos" (διάκονος), which is a standard ancient Greek word meaning "servant", "waiting-man", "minister", or "messenger".  It is generally assumed that the office of deacon originated in the selection of seven men by the apostles, among them Stephen, to assist with the charitable work of the early church as recorded in.  The title "deaconess" (διακόνισσα "diakónissa") is not found in the Bible. However, one woman, Phoebe, is mentioned at Romans 16:1–2 as a deacon (διάκονος "diákonos") of the church in Cenchreae. Nothing more specific is said about her duties or authority, although it is assumed she carried Paul's Letter to the Romans. The exact relationship between male and female deacons varies. In some traditions, the title "deaconess" was also sometimes given to the wife of a deacon.  Female deacons are mentioned by Pliny the Younger in a letter to the emperor Trajan dated c. 112. “I believed it was necessary to find out from two female slaves (ex duabus ancillis) who were called deacons (ministrae), what was true—and to find out through torture (per tormenta)”This is the earliest Latin text that appears to refer to female deacons as a distinct category of Christian minister.  A biblical description of the qualities required of a deacon, and of his household, can be found in.  Among the more prominent deacons in history are Stephen, the first Christian martyr (the "protomartyr"); Philip, whose baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch is recounted in ; St. Phoebe, who is mentioned in the letter to the Romans; Saint Lawrence, an early Roman martyr; Saint Vincent of Saragossa, protomartyr of Spain; Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the mendicant Franciscans; Saint Ephrem the Syrian; and Saint Romanos the Melodist, a prominent early hymnographer. Prominent historical figures who played major roles as deacons and went on to higher office include Athanasius of Alexandria, Thomas Becket, and Reginald Pole. On June 8, 536, a serving Roman deacon was raised to Pope, Silverius.  The diaconate has been retained as a separate vocation in Eastern Christianity, while in Western Christianity it was largely used in cathedrals and as a temporary step along the path toward priestly ordination. In the 20th century, the diaconate was restored as a vocational order in many Western churches, most notably in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and the United Methodist Church.

Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, Methodism.

In the Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches, the diaconate is one of the major orders — the others being bishop, presbyter (priest), and, historically, subdeacon. Deacons assist priests in their pastoral and administrative duties, but often report directly to the bishops of their diocese. They have a distinctive role in the liturgy of the Eastern and Western Churches.

Western Catholicism.

Beginning around the fifth century, there was a gradual decline in the diaconate as a permanent state of life in the Latin Church. The development of a "cursus honorum" (sequence of offices) found men entering the clerical state through tonsure, then ordination to the minor orders of lector, porter, exorcist, acolyte before ordination to the major orders of sub-deacon and deacon, all stages on the path to priesthood. Only men destined for priesthood were permitted to be ordained deacons. As seminaries developed, following the Council of Trent, to contemporary times, the only men ordained as deacons were seminarians who were completing the last year or so of graduate theological training, so-called "transitional deacons."  Following the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council ("Lumen gentium" 29), in 1967 Pope Paul VI issued the motu proprio "Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem", reviving the practice of ordaining to the diaconate men who were not candidates for priestly ordination. These men are known as "permanent deacons", in contrast to those continuing their formation, who were then called "transitional deacons". There is no sacramental or canonical difference between the two, however, as there is only one order of deacons. The period of formation to the permanent diaconate varies from diocese to diocese as determined by the local ordinary, but it usually entails a period of prayerful preparation and several years of study. Diaconal candidates receive instruction in philosophy, theology, study of the Bible, homiletics, sacramental studies, evangelization, ecclesiology, counseling, and pastoral care and ministry before ordination.  They may be assigned to work in a parish by the diocesan bishop, where they are under the supervision of the parish pastors, or in diocesan ministries. Unlike most clerics, permanent deacons who also have a secular profession have no right to receive a salary for their ministry, but many dioceses opt to remunerate them anyway.  During the Mass, the deacon's responsibilities include assisting the priest, proclaiming the Gospel, announcing the General Intercessions, and distributing Communion. They may also preach the homily. As clerics, deacons are required to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Deacons, like priests and bishops, are ordinary ministers of the sacrament of Baptism and may witness at the sacrament of Holy Matrimony outside of Mass. Deacons may lead funeral rites outside Mass such as the final commendation at the gravesite or the reception of the body at a service in the funeral home, and may assist the priest at the Requiem Mass. They can also preside over various services such as Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and they may give certain blessings. While in ancient history their tasks and competencies varied, today deacons cannot hear confession and give absolution, anoint the sick, or celebrate Mass. The vestments most particularly associated with the Western Rite Catholic deacon are the alb, stole and dalmatic. Deacons, like priests and bishops, must wear their albs and stoles; deacons place the stole over their left shoulder and it hangs across to their right side, while priests and bishops wear it around their necks. The dalmatic, a vestment especially associated with the deacon, is worn during the celebration of the Mass and other liturgical functions; its use is more liberally applied than the corresponding vestment of the priest, the chasuble. At certain major celebrations, such as ordinations, the diocesan bishop wears a dalmatic under his chasuble, to signify that he enjoys the fullness of the three degrees of Holy Orders – deacon, priest, and bishop.  The diaconate is conferred on seminarians continuing to the priesthood no sooner than 23 years of age (canon 1031 of the Code of Canon Law). As a permanent state. the diaconate can be conferred on single men 25 or older, and on married men 35 or older, but an older age can be required by the episcopal conference. If a married deacon is widowed, he must maintain the celibate state. Under some very rare circumstances, however, deacons who have been widowed can receive permission to remarry. This is most commonly done when the deacon is left as a single father. In some cases, a widowed deacon will seek priestly ordination, especially if his children are grown.  A deacon is not styled "Father" as a priest would be, but as "Deacon", abbreviated variously as "Dn." or "Dcn." This preferred method of address is stated in the 2005 document of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Directory for the Formation, Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States. The proper address in written correspondence for all Deacons of the Latin (Roman Rite) Catholic Church in the United States is "Deacon "Name"", although it is not uncommon to see "Rev. Mr." sometimes used. "Rev. Mr.", however, is more often used to indicate a transitional deacon (i.e., preparing for ordination to the priesthood) or one who belongs to a religious institute, while Rev. Deacon is used as the honorific for permanent deacons in many dioceses (e.g. Rev. Deacon John Smith, or Deacon John Smith). The decision as to whether deacons wear the Roman collar as street attire is left to the discretion of each bishop for his own diocese. Where clerical garb is approved by the bishop, the deacon can choose to wear or not wear the "collar".  Deacons, like seminarians, religious, and the two other orders, bishops and priests, pray the Liturgy of the Hours; however, deacons are usually only required to pray Morning and Evening Prayer.

Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholicism.

In addition to proclaiming the Gospel and assisting in the distribution of Holy Communion, the deacon censes the icons and people, calls the people to prayer, leads the litanies, and has a role in the dialogue of the Anaphora. In keeping with Eastern tradition, he is not permitted to perform any Sacred Mysteries (sacraments) on his own, except for Baptism "in extremis" (in danger of death), conditions under which anyone, including the laity, may baptize. When assisting at a normal baptism, it is often the deacon who goes down into the water with the one being baptized (). In contrast to the Roman Catholic Church, deacons in the Eastern Churches may not preside at the celebration of marriages, as in Eastern theology the sacrament is conferred by the nuptial blessing of a priest.  Diaconal vestments are the sticharion (dalmatic), the orarion (deacon's stole), and the epimanikia (cuffs). The last are worn under his sticharion, not over it as does a priest or bishop. The deacon usually wears a simple orarion which is only draped over the left shoulder but, if elevated to the rank of archdeacon, he wears the "doubled-orarion", meaning it is passed over the left shoulder, under the right arm, and then crossed over the left shoulder (see photograph, right). In modern Greek practice, a deacon wears this doubled orarion from the time of his ordination. Also, in the Greek practice, he wears the clerical kamilavka (cylindrical head covering) with a rim at the top. In Slavic practice, a hierodeacon (monastic deacon) wears the simple black kamilavka of a monk (without the rim), but he removes the monastic veil (see klobuk) when he is vested; a married deacon would not wear a kamilavka unless it is given to him by the bishop as an ecclesiastical award; the honorary kamilavka is purple in colour, and may be awarded to either married or monastic clergy.  As far as street clothing is concerned, immediately following his ordination the deacon receives a blessing to wear the "Exorasson" (Arabic: "Jib'be", Slavonic: "Riassa"), an outer cassock with wide sleeves, in addition to the "Anterion" (Slavonic: "Podraznik"), the inner cassock worn by all orders of clergy. In the Slavic practice, married clergy may wear any of a number of colours, but most often grey, while monastic clergy always wear black. In certain jurisdictions in North America and Western Europe, a Roman collar is often worn, although this is not a traditional or widespread practice.  A "protodeacon" (Greek: πρωτοδιάκονος: "protodiakonos", "first deacon") is a distinction of honor awarded to senior deacons, usually serving on the staff of the diocesan bishop. An "archdeacon" is similar, but is among the monastic clergy. Protodeacons and archdeacons use a double-length orarion even if it is not the local tradition for all deacons to use it. In the Slavic tradition a deacon may be awarded the doubled-orarion even if he is not a protodeacon or archdeacon.  According to the practice of the Greek Orthodox Church of America, in keeping with the tradition of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the most common way to address a deacon is "Father". Depending on local tradition, deacons are addressed as either "Father", "Father Deacon", "Deacon Father", or, if addressed by a bishop, simply as "Deacon".  The tradition of kissing the hands of ordained clergy extends to the diaconate as well. This practice is rooted in the Holy Eucharist and is in acknowledgement and respect of the eucharistic role members of the clergy play in preparing, handling and disbursing the sacrament during the Divine Liturgy, and in building and serving the church as the Body of Christ.  Anciently, the Eastern churches ordained women as deaconesses. This practice fell into desuetude in the second millennium, but has been revived in some Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. Saint Nectarios of Aegina ordained a number of nuns as deaconesses in convents. Deaconesses would assist in anointing and baptising women, and in ministering to the spiritual needs of the women of the community. As churches discontinued ordaining women as deacons, these duties largely fell to the nuns and to the priests' wives.

Anglicanism.

In Anglican churches, deacons are permitted to marry freely before or after ordination, as are Anglican priests. Most deacons are "transitional", that is, preparing for the priesthood and they are usually ordained priests about a year after their diaconal ordination. However, there are some deacons who do not go on to receive priestly ordination, so-called "permanent deacons" or “vocational deacons”. Many provinces of the Anglican Communion ordain both women and men as deacons. Many of those provinces that ordain women to the priesthood previously allowed them to be ordained only to the diaconate. The effect of this was the creation of a large and overwhelmingly female diaconate for a time, as most men proceeded to be ordained priests after a short time as a deacon.  Anglican deacons may baptize and in some dioceses are granted licences to solemnize matrimony, usually under the instruction of their parish priest and bishop. Deacons are not able to preside at the Eucharist (but can lead worship with the distribution of already-consecrated communion elements where this is permitted), nor can they pronounce God's absolution of sin or pronounce the Trinitarian blessing. In most cases, deacons minister alongside other clergy.  An Anglican deacon wears an identical choir dress to an Anglican priest: cassock, surplice, tippet and academic hood. However, liturgically, deacons usually wear a stole over their left shoulder and fastened on the right side of their waist. This is worn both over the surplice and the alb. A deacon might also wear a dalmatic.

Methodist churches.

In Methodism, deacons began as a transitional order before ordination as elders (presbyters). In 1996, the United Methodist Church ended the transitional deacon and established a new Order of Deacons to be equal in status with the Order of Elders. Both men and women may be ordained as deacons. Deacons serve in a variety of specialized ministries including, but not limited to, Christian education, music, communications and ministries of justice and advocacy. Unlike United Methodist elders, deacons must find their own place of service. Nevertheless, the bishop does officially approve and appoint deacons to their selected ministry. Deacons may assist the elder in the administration of Sacraments, but must receive special approval from a bishop before presiding over Baptism and Holy Communion. United Methodist deacons are present in North America, Europe and Africa.  The Methodist Church of Great Britain also has a permanent diaconate—based on an understanding of the New Testament that deacons have an equal, but distinct ministry from presbyters. Deacons are called to a ministry of service and witness, and "to hold before them the needs and concerns of the world". The original Wesleyan Deaconess Order was founded by Thomas Bowman Stephenson in 1890, following observation of new ministries in urban areas in the previous years. The order continued as the Wesley Deaconess Order following Methodist Union in 1932, but, following the admission of women to "The Ministry" (as presbyteral ministry is commonly termed in the Methodist Church), a number of deaconesses transferred and recruitment for the WDO ceased from 1978. The 1986 Methodist Conference re-opened the order to both men and women and the first ordinations to the renewed order occurred during the 1990 Conference in Cardiff, which coincided with celebrations of 100 years of diaconal service in British Methodism; deaconesses had previously been ordained at their annual convocation.  The Methodist Church of Southern Africa ordains deacons who constitute a diaconal order, similar to that in the British church.

Reformed churches.

Church of Scotland.

There are two distinct offices of deacon in the Church of Scotland. The best-known form of diaconate are trained and paid pastoral workers. The permanent diaconate was formerly exclusively female, and it was in 1988, the centenary year of the diaconate, that men were admitted to the office of deacon. The offices of deacon and minister are now both open to both women and men; deacons are now ordained (they were previously "commissioned").  The other office of deacon can be found in congregations formerly belonging to the pre-1900 Free Church of Scotland, with a "Deacons' Court" having responsibility for financial and administrative oversight of congregations. Only a few congregations still retain this constitutional model, with most having since adopted the Church of Scotland's "Model Constitution" (with a Kirk Session and Congregational Board) or "Unitary Congregation" (with just a Kirk Session). Most of the Free Church congregations united with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1900 creating the United Free Church of Scotland, which itself united with the Church of Scotland in 1929.  The congregations of the post-1900 Free Church of Scotland which did not join the UF Church in 1900 continue to have Deacons.

Presbyterian churches.

One of John Calvin's legacies was to restore the diaconate as a servant ministry. Individual congregations of the various Presbyterian denominations, such as the Presbyterian Church (USA), Presbyterian Church in America and Orthodox Presbyterian Church, also elect deacons, along with elders. However, in some churches the property-functions of the diaconate and session of elders is commended to an independent board of trustees.

Dutch Reformed churches.

In many Dutch Reformed churches deacons are charged with ministries of mercy. As such, the deacons are also members of the local church council. A special feature of the Dutch Reformed churches is the fact that the diaconate of each local church is its own legal entity with its own financial means, separated from the church itself, and governed by the deacons.

Uniting Church in Australia.

In the Uniting Church in Australia, the diaconate is one of two offices of ordained ministry. The other is Minister of the Word.  Deacons in the Uniting Church are called to minister to those on the fringes of the church and be involved in ministry in the community. Deacons offer leadership in a ministry of service to the world. The primary focus of the ministry of Deacon is on care and compassion for the poor and oppressed and in seeking social justice for all people. They take both an active role in leadership in such actions themselves, but are also play a key role in encouraging other Uniting Church members in similar action.  Some examples of service that Deacons may take include: prison chaplaincy, acting as youth or community workers, in community service agencies, in schools and hospitals, or in mission placements in Australia or overseas. Although the primary responsibility for worship in congregations lies with the Ministers of the Word, Deacons have a liturgical role appropriate to their distinctive ministry, including ministries where their main leadership is within a congregation.  In the Uniting Church both ministers of the word and deacons are styled "The Reverend".  The Uniting Church has recognised deacons since union, but it was not until the 6th Assembly in 1991 that the Uniting Church began ordaining deacons. This was partly because the historical, theological and sociological roles of deaconesses and deacons was being widely discussed in Churches throughout the world at the time that the Basis of Union was being drafted

Other traditions.

Deacons are also appointed or elected in other denominations, though this is less commonly seen as a step towards the clerical ministry. The role of deacon in these denominations varies greatly from denomination to denomination; often, there will be more emphasis on administrative duties than on pastoral or liturgical duties. In some denominations, deacons' duties are only financial management and practical aid and relief. Elders handle pastoral and other administrative duties.

Iglesia ni Cristo.

Iglesia ni Cristo's deacons serve as worship service's strict etiquette checkers in male's seatings, deaconesses are their female counterparts. They also serve as offering collectors and other Church duties during worship services. Deacons are required to be married people of strong faith and good example. There is also a head deacon, who leads the congregation in prayer before the sermon and the prayer for voluntary offerings. They were also can be promoted to Bishops, if they are faithful to the rules.

Amish.

The Amish have deacons, but they are elected by a council and receive no formal training.

Church of the Brethren.

The Church of the Brethren also have deacons, as do other Brethren denominations. They are elected by the congregation to serve in ministries of compassion. They are elected for life in some congregations.

Baptists.

Baptists traditionally recognize two ordained positions in the church: Elders (Pastors) and Deacons, as per 1 Timothy 3. Some Baptist churches in the Reformed tradition recognize elder and pastor as separate offices.  Baptists have traditionally followed the principle of the autonomy of the local church congregation, giving each church the ability to discern for themselves the interpretation of scripture. Thus, the views among Baptist churches as to who becomes a deacon and when, as well as what they do and how they go about doing it, vary greatly: some Baptist churches have the deacons decide many of the church affairs, while others have deacons in serving roles only.  The predominant view among Baptist churches (especially theologically conservative ones, including the majority of Southern Baptist and Independent Baptist churches) is that a deacon must be a male, and married (or a widower) and not divorced previously. If a deacon subsequently divorces, he must relinquish his office (but if his wife dies he may continue to serve). However, there are Baptist churches where women are allowed to be deacons or deaconesses (primarily in the United Kingdom and in the United States among African-American and theologically moderate churches). In the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, deacons can be any adult male member of the congregation who is in good standing.  In some African American Missionary Baptist churches and in churches affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. male and female deacons serve as one board. Other churches may have two separate boards of deacons and deaconesses. Most often the deacon or deacon candidate is a long-standing member of the church, being middle aged, but younger deacons may be selected from among members of a family that has had several generations in the same church. They are elected by quorum vote annually. Their roles are semi-pastoral in that they fill in for the pastor on occasion, or support the pastor vocally during his sermon. They may also lead a special prayer service, generally known as "The Deacon's Prayer." Their other roles are to accompany the pastor during Communion by handing out the remembrances of bread and wine (or grape juice) and to set a good example for others to follow. Their administrative duties sometimes include oversight of the treasury, Sunday school curriculum, transportation, and various outreach ministries.  See Baptist Distinctives for a more detailed treatment of Deacons in churches in other Associations, particularly the UK.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The office of Deacon is generally open to all 12- and 13-year-old male members of the church; all are encouraged to become Deacons. Duties include:

Church of Christ.

In accordance with Church of Christ doctrine and practice, only males may serve as deacons (deaconesses are not recognized), and must meet Biblical qualifications (generally I Timothy 3:8-13 is the Biblical text used to determine if a male is qualified to serve as deacon). A deacon may also be qualified to serve as an elder (and, in fact, may move into that role after a period of time if his service as deacon is considered acceptable).  The role of the deacon varies, depending on the local congregation. Generally a deacon will have responsibility for a specific non-spiritual function (e.g. finance, building and grounds, benevolence); however, the deacons (like the rest of the congregation) are under the subjection of the elders, who have spiritual and administrative authority over the deacon's function.  In congregations which lack qualified elders (where, in their absence, the men of the congregation handle leadership duties), a deacon would have ruling authority, but not due to his position as a deacon.

New Apostolic Church.

In the New Apostolic Church, the deacon ministry is a local ministry. A deacon mostly works in his home congregation to support the priests. If a priest is unavailable, a deacon will hold a divine service, without the act of communion (Only Priests and up can consecrate Holy Communion).

Jehovah's Witnesses.

Deacons among Jehovah's Witnesses are referred to as ministerial servants, claiming it preferable to translate the descriptive Greek term used in the Bible rather than merely transliterate it as though it were a title. Appointed ministerial servants aid elders in congregational duties. Like the elders, they are adult baptized males and serve voluntarily.

Deaconesses.

The title "woman deacon" or "deaconess" appears in many documents from the early Church period, particularly in the East. Their duties were often different from that of male deacons; women deacons prepared adult women for baptism and they had a general apostolate to female Christians and catechumens (typically for the sake of modesty). Women appear to have been ordained as deacons to serve the larger community until about the 6th century in the West. Liturgies for the ordination of women deacons had similarities with as well as differences from those for male deacons. Opinions on the sacramental nature of the ordination vary: some scholars argue that the ordination of women deacons would have been equally sacramental to that of male deacons, while others say that women deacons of history were not sacramentally ordained in the full sense, as determined in the Catholic Church by Canons 1008 and 1009 of the Code of Canon Law.  The Catholic Church presently does not recognise the validity of female ordinations, be it to the diaconate or any other clerical order. In August 2016, the Catholic Church established a Study Commission on the Women's Diaconate to study the history of female deacons and to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons. The Russian Orthodox Church had a female diaconate into the 20th century. The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece restored a monastic female diaconate in 2004.

Cognates.

The Greek word "diakonos" (διάκονος) gave rise to the following terms from the history of Russia, not to be confused with each other: ""dyak"", ""podyachy"", ""dyachok"", in addition to "deacon" and "protodeacon".

Scots usage.

In Scots, the title "deacon" is used for a head-workman, a master or chairman of a trade guild, or one who is adept, expert and proficient. The term "deaconry" refers to the office of a "deacon" or the trade guild under a "deacon".  The most famous holder of this title was Deacon Brodie who was a cabinet-maker and president of the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons as well as being a Burgh councillor of Edinburgh, but at night led a double life as a burglar. He is thought to have inspired the story of "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".

A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican church, view the diaconate as part of the clerical state.

Jáhen či diakon (z řeckého διάκονος "diakonos", služebník, nebo také číšník) je v křesťanských církvích označení pro pověřeného člověka, který vykonává službu charitativního a administrativního charakteru, aktivně se podílí na bohoslužbách, předčítá posvátné texty, vyučuje náboženství a podobně. Pro svůj úřad musí být vysvěcen. V katolické, pravoslavné, anglikánské, starokatolické a husitské církvi je jáhenství prvním stupněm svátosti svěcení (jáhen » kněz » biskup), v mnohých jiných tuto funkci zastávají laikové.


Early life.

Karpov was born on May 23, 1951, in Zlatoust in the Urals region of the former Soviet Union, and learned to play chess at the age of 4. His early rise in chess was swift, as he became a Candidate Master by age 11. At 12, he was accepted into Mikhail Botvinnik's prestigious chess school, though Botvinnik made the following remark about the young Karpov: "The boy does not have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession." Karpov acknowledged that his understanding of chess theory was very confused at that time, and later wrote that the homework Botvinnik assigned greatly helped him, since it required that he consult chess books and work diligently. Karpov improved so quickly under Botvinnik's tutelage that he became the youngest Soviet National Master in history at fifteen in 1966; this tied the record established by Boris Spassky in 1952.

International career.

Young master.

Karpov finished first in his first international tournament in Třinec several months later, ahead of Viktor Kupreichik. In 1967, he won the annual European Junior Championship at Groningen. Karpov won a gold medal for academic excellence in high school, and entered Moscow State University in 1968 to study mathematics. He later transferred to Leningrad State University, eventually graduating from there in economics. One reason for the transfer was to be closer to his coach, grandmaster Semyon Furman, who lived in Leningrad. In his writings, Karpov credits Furman as a major influence on his development as a world-class player.  In 1969, Karpov became the first Soviet player since Spassky (1955) to win the World Junior Chess Championship, scoring an undefeated 10/11 in the finals at Stockholm. In 1970, he tied for fourth place at an international tournament in Caracas, Venezuela, and was awarded the grandmaster title.

Top-Class Grandmaster.

He won the 1971 Alekhine Memorial in Moscow (equal with Leonid Stein), ahead of a star-studded field, for his first significant adult victory. His Elo rating shot from 2540 in 1971 to 2660 in 1973, when he shared second in the USSR Chess Championship, and finished equal first with Viktor Korchnoi in the Leningrad Interzonal Tournament. The latter success qualified him for the 1974 Candidates Matches, which would determine the challenger to the reigning world champion, Bobby Fischer.

Candidate.

Karpov defeated Lev Polugaevsky by the score of +3=5 in the first Candidates' match, earning the right to face former champion Boris Spassky in the semifinal round. Karpov was on record saying that he believed Spassky would easily beat him and win the Candidates' cycle to face Fischer, and that he (Karpov) would win the following Candidates' cycle in 1977. Spassky won the first game as Black in good style, but tenacious, aggressive play from Karpov secured him overall victory by +4−1=6. The Candidates' final was played in Moscow with Korchnoi. Karpov took an early lead, winning the second game against the Sicilian Dragon, then scoring another victory in the sixth game. Following ten consecutive draws, Korchnoi threw away a winning position in the seventeenth game to give Karpov a 3–0 lead. In game 19, Korchnoi succeeded in winning a long endgame, then notched a speedy victory after a blunder by Karpov two games later. Three more draws, the last agreed by Karpov in a clearly better position, closed the match, as he thus prevailed +3−2=19, moving on to challenge Fischer for the world title.

Match with Fischer in 1975.

Though a world championship match between Karpov and Fischer was highly anticipated, those hopes were never realised. Fischer not only insisted that the match be the first to ten wins (draws not counting), but also that the champion retain the crown if the score was tied 9–9. FIDE, the International Chess Federation, refused to allow this proviso, and after Fischer's resignation of the championship on June 27, 1975, FIDE declared that Fischer forfeited his crown. Karpov later attempted to set up another match with Fischer, but the negotiations fell through. This thrust the young Karpov into the role of World Champion without having faced the reigning champion. Garry Kasparov argued that Karpov would have had good chances, because he had beaten Spassky convincingly and was a new breed of tough professional, and indeed had higher quality games, while Fischer had been inactive for three years. This view is echoed by Karpov himself. Spassky thought that Fischer would have won in 1975 but Karpov would have qualified again and beaten Fischer in 1978.

World champion.

Determined to prove himself a legitimate champion, Karpov participated in nearly every major tournament for the next ten years. He convincingly won the very strong Milan tournament in 1975, and captured his first of three Soviet titles in 1976. He created a phenomenal streak of tournament wins against the strongest players in the world. Karpov held the record for most consecutive tournament victories (9) until it was shattered by Garry Kasparov (14). As a result, most chess professionals soon agreed that Karpov was a legitimate world champion.  In 1978, Karpov's first title defence was against Korchnoi, the opponent he had defeated in the 1973–75 Candidates' cycle; the match was played at Baguio, Philippines, with the winner needing six victories. As in 1974, Karpov took an early lead, winning the eighth game after seven draws to open the match. When the score was +5−2=20 in Karpov's favour, Korchnoi staged a comeback, and won three of the next four games to draw level with Karpov. Karpov then won the very next game to retain the title (+6−5=21).  Three years later Korchnoi reemerged as the Candidates' winner against German finalist Robert Hübner to challenge Karpov in Merano, Italy. Karpov handily won this match, 11–7 (+6−2=10), in what is remembered as the "Massacre in Merano".  Karpov's tournament career reached a peak at the Montreal "Tournament of Stars" tournament in 1979, where he finished joint first (+7−1=10) with Mikhail Tal ahead of a field of strong grandmasters completed by Jan Timman, Ljubomir Ljubojević, Boris Spassky, Vlastimil Hort, Lajos Portisch, Hübner, Bent Larsen and Lubomir Kavalek. He dominated Las Palmas 1977 with 131⁄2/15. He also won the prestigious Bugojno tournament in 1978 (shared), 1980 and 1986, the Linares tournament in 1981 (shared with Larry Christiansen) and 1994, the Tilburg tournament in 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, and 1983, and the Soviet Championship in 1976, 1983, and 1988.  Karpov represented the Soviet Union at six Chess Olympiads, in all of which the USSR won the team gold medal. He played first reserve at Skopje 1972, winning the board prize with 13/15. At Nice 1974, he advanced to board one and again won the board prize with 12/14. At La Valletta 1980, he was again board one and scored 9/12. At Lucerne 1982, he scored 61⁄2/8 on board one. At Dubai 1986, he scored 6/9 on board two. His last was Thessaloniki 1988, where on board two he scored 8/10. In Olympiad play, Karpov lost only two games out of 68 played.  To illustrate Karpov's dominance over his peers as champion, his score was +11−2=20 versus Spassky, +5=12 versus Robert Hübner, +6−1=16 versus Ulf Andersson, +3−1=10 versus Vasily Smyslov, +1=16 versus Mikhail Tal, and +10−2=13 versus Ljubojević.  Karpov had cemented his position as the world's best player and world champion by the time Garry Kasparov arrived on the scene. In their first match, the World Chess Championship 1984 in Moscow, the first player to win six games would win the match. Karpov built a 4–0 lead after nine games. The next 17 games were drawn, setting a record for world title matches, and it took Karpov until game 27 to gain his fifth win. In game 31, Karpov had a winning position but failed to take advantage and settled for a draw. He lost the next game, after which 14 more draws ensued. Karpov held a solidly winning position in Game 41, but again blundered and had to settle for a draw. After Kasparov won games 47 and 48, FIDE President Florencio Campomanes unilaterally terminated the match, citing the players' health. Karpov is said to have lost 10kg over the course of the match. The match had lasted an unprecedented five months, with five wins for Karpov, three for Kasparov, and 40 draws.  A rematch was set for later in 1985, also in Moscow. The events of the so-called Marathon Match forced FIDE to return to the previous format, with a match limited to 24 games (with Karpov remaining champion if the match finished 12–12). Karpov needed to win the final game to draw the match and retain his title, but lost, surrendering the title to his opponent. The final score was 13–11 (+3−5=16) in favour of Kasparov.

Rivalry with Kasparov.

Karpov remained a formidable opponent (and the world No. 2) until the early 1990s. He fought Kasparov in three more world championship matches in 1986 (held in London and Leningrad), 1987 (in Seville), and 1990 (in New York City and Lyon). All three matches were extremely close: the scores were 111⁄2–121⁄2 (+4−5=15), 12–12 (+4−4=16), and 111⁄2–121⁄2 (+3−4=17). In all three matches, Karpov had winning chances up to the very last games. In particular, the 1987 Seville match featured an astonishing blunder by Kasparov in the 23rd game. In the final game, needing only a draw to win the title, Karpov cracked under time pressure at the end of the first session of play, missed a variation leading to an almost forced draw, and allowed Kasparov to adjourn the game with an extra pawn. After a further mistake in the second session, Karpov was slowly ground down and resigned on move 64, ending the match and allowing Kasparov to keep the title.  In their five world championship matches, Karpov scored 19 wins, 21 losses, and 104 draws in 144 games.  Karpov is on record saying that if he had had the opportunity to play Fischer for the crown in his twenties, he could have been a much better player as a result.

FIDE champion again (1993–1999).

In 1992, Karpov lost a Candidates Match against Nigel Short. But in 1993, Karpov reacquired the FIDE World Champion title when Kasparov and Short split from FIDE. Karpov defeated Timman – the loser of the Candidates' final against Short.  The next major meeting of Kasparov and Karpov was the 1994 Linares chess tournament. The field, in eventual finishing order, was Karpov, Kasparov, Shirov, Bareev, Kramnik, Lautier, Anand, Kamsky, Topalov, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Illescas, Judit Polgár, and Beliavsky; with an average Elo rating of 2685, the highest ever at that time. Impressed by the strength of the tournament, Kasparov had said several days before the tournament that the winner could rightly be called the world champion of tournaments. Perhaps spurred on by this comment, Karpov played the best tournament of his life. He was undefeated and earned 11 points out of 13 (the best world-class tournament winning percentage since Alekhine won San Remo in 1930), finishing 21⁄2 points ahead of second-place Kasparov and Shirov. Many of his wins were spectacular (in particular, his win over Topalov is considered possibly the finest of his career). This performance against the best players in the world put his Elo rating tournament performance at 2985, the highest performance rating of any player in history up until 2009, when Magnus Carlsen won the category XXI Pearl Spring chess tournament with a performance of 3002. Chess statistician Jeff Sonas considers Karpov's Linares performance the best tournament result in history.  Karpov defended his FIDE title against Gata Kamsky (+6−3=9) in 1996. In 1998, FIDE largely scrapped the old system of Candidates' Matches, instead having a large knockout event in which a large number of players contested short matches against each other over just a few weeks. In the first of these events, the FIDE World Chess Championship 1998, champion Karpov was seeded straight into the final, defeating Viswanathan Anand (+2−2=2, rapid tiebreak 2–0). In the subsequent cycle, the format was changed, with the champion having to qualify. Karpov refused to defend his title, and ceased to be FIDE World Champion after the FIDE World Chess Championship 1999.

Towards retirement.

Karpov's classical tournament play has been seriously limited since 1997, since he prefers to be more involved in Russian politics. He had been a member of the Supreme Soviet Commission for Foreign Affairs and the President of the Soviet Peace Fund before the Soviet Union dissolved. In addition, he has been involved in several disputes with FIDE. In the September 2009 FIDE rating list, he dropped out of the world's Top 100 for the first time.  Karpov usually limits his play to exhibition events, and has revamped his style to specialize in rapid chess. In 2002 he won a match against Kasparov, defeating him in a rapid time control match 21⁄2–11⁄2. In 2006, he tied for first with Kasparov in a blitz tournament, ahead of Korchnoi and Judit Polgár.  Karpov and Kasparov played a mixed 12-game match from September 21–24, 2009, in Valencia, Spain. It consisted of four rapid (or semi rapid) and eight blitz games and took place exactly 25 years after the two players' legendary encounter at the World Chess Championship 1984. Kasparov won the match 9–3.  Karpov played a match against Yasser Seirawan in 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri, an important center of the North American chess scene, winning 8–6 (+5−3=6).  In November 2012, he won the Cap d'Agde rapid tournament that bears his name (Anatoly Karpov Trophy), beating Vassily Ivanchuk (ranked 9th in the October 2012 FIDE world rankings) in the final.

Personal life after retirement.

Since 2005, he has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia. He has recently involved himself in several humanitarian causes, such as advocating the use of iodised salt. On December 17, 2012, Karpov supported the law in the Russian Parliament banning adoption of Russian orphans by citizens of the US.  Karpov expressed support of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and accused Europe of trying to demonize Putin. In August 2019, Maxim Dlugy said that Karpov had been waiting since March for the approval of a non-immigrant visa to the United States, despite frequently visiting the country since 1972. Karpov had been scheduled to teach a summer camp at the Chess Max Academy. Dlugy said that Karpov had been questioned at the US embassy in Moscow about whether he planned to communicate with American politicians.

Candidate for FIDE Presidency.

In March 2010 Karpov announced that he would be a candidate for the presidency of FIDE. The election took place in September 2010 at the 39th Chess Olympiad. In May a fund-raising event took place in New York with the participation of his former rival Garry Kasparov and of Magnus Carlsen, both of whom supported his bid and campaigned for him. Also Nigel Short announced he supported Karpov's candidacy. However, on September 29, 2010, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was reelected as President of FIDE, winning the election by 95 votes to 55.

Style.

Karpov's "boa constrictor" playing style is solidly positional, taking no risks but reacting mercilessly to any tiny errors made by his opponents. As a result, he is often compared to his idol, the famous José Raúl Capablanca, the third World Champion. Karpov himself describes his style as follows:Let us say the game may be continued in two ways: one of them is a beautiful tactical blow that gives rise to variations that don't yield to precise calculations; the other is clear positional pressure that leads to an endgame with microscopic chances of victory... I would choose [the latter] without thinking twice. If the opponent offers keen play I don't object; but in such cases I get less satisfaction, even if I win, than from a game conducted according to all the rules of strategy with its ruthless logic.

Hobbies.

Karpov's extensive stamp collection of Belgian philately and Belgian Congo stamps and postal history covering mail from 1742 through 1980 was sold by David Feldman's auction company between December 2011 and 2012. He is also known to have a large chess stamp and chess book collections. His private chess library consists of over 9000 books.

Books.

Karpov has authored or co-authored several books, most of which have been translated into English.

External links.

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. Karpov played five matches against Kasparov for the title from 1984 to 1990 without ever defeating him in a match, later becoming FIDE World Champion once again after Kasparov broke away from FIDE in 1993. He held the title until 1999, when he resigned his title in protest against FIDE's new world championship rules. For his decades-long standing among the world's elite, many consider Karpov one of the greatest players in history.

Anatolij Jevgeněvič Karpov ( Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, * 23. května 1951, Zlatoust) je ruský šachista, který byl mistrem světa v šachu (1975–1985). V letech 1993–1999 z období rozdvojení titulů byl mistrem světa v šachu podle FIDE.


Etymology and names.

Before the 5th century, the city was known as "Argantorati" (in the nominative, "Argantorate" in the locative), a Celtic Gaulish name Latinized first as "Argentorate" (with Gaulish locative ending, as appearing on the first Roman milestones in the 1st century BC), and then as "Argentoratum" (with regular Latin nominative ending, in later Latin texts). That Gaulish name is a compound of "-rati", the Gaulish word for fortified enclosures, cognate to the Old Irish "ráth" (see ringfort), and "arganto(n)-" (cognate to Latin "argentum", which gave modern French "argent"), the Gaulish word for silver, but also any precious metal, particularly gold, suggesting either a fortified enclosure located by a river gold mining site, or hoarding gold mined in the nearby rivers.  After the 5th century, the city became known by a completely different name Gallicized as Strasbourg (Lower Alsatian: "Strossburi"; ). That name is of Germanic origin and means 'town (at the crossing) of roads'. The modern "Stras-" is cognate to the German "Straße" and English "street", all of which are derived from Latin "strata" ("paved road"), while "-bourg" is cognate to the German "Burg" and English "borough", all of which are derived from Proto-Germanic "*burgz" ("hill fort, fortress").  Gregory of Tours was the first to mention the name change: in the tenth book of his "History of the Franks" written shortly after 590 he said that Egidius, Bishop of Reims, accused of plotting against King Childebert II of Austrasia in favor of his uncle King Chilperic I of Neustria, was tried by a synod of Austrasian bishops in Metz in November 590, found guilty and removed from the priesthood, then taken ""ad Argentoratensem urbem, quam nunc Strateburgum vocant"" ("to the city of Argentoratum, which they now call "Strateburgus""), where he was exiled.

Geography.

Location.

Strasbourg is situated at the eastern border of France with Germany. This border is formed by the Rhine, which also forms the eastern border of the modern city, facing across the river to the German town Kehl. The historic core of Strasbourg, however, lies on the Grande Île in the river Ill, which here flows parallel to, and roughly from, the Rhine. The natural courses of the two rivers eventually join some distance downstream of Strasbourg, although several artificial waterways now connect them within the city.  The city lies in the Upper Rhine Plain, at between and above sea level, with the upland areas of the Vosges Mountains some to the west and the Black Forest to the east. This section of the Rhine valley is a major axis of north–south travel, with river traffic on the Rhine itself, and major roads and railways paralleling it on both banks.  The city is some east of Paris. The mouth of the Rhine lies approximately to the north, or as the river flows, whilst the head of navigation in Basel is some to the south, or by river.

Climate.

In spite of its position far inland, Strasbourg's climate is classified as oceanic (Köppen: "Cfb"), but a "semicontinental" climate with some degree of maritime influence in relation to the mild patterns of Western and Southern France (only considering the country internally). The city has warm, relatively sunny summers and cool, overcast winters. Precipitation is elevated from mid-spring to the end of summer, but remains largely constant throughout the year, totaling annually. On average, snow falls 30 days per year.  The second highest temperature ever recorded was in August 2003, during the 2003 European heat wave. This record was broken, on June 30, 2019, when it was registered. The lowest temperature ever recorded was in December 1938.  Strasbourg's location in the Rhine valley, sheltered from the dominant winds by the Vosges and Black Forest mountains, results in poor natural ventilation, making Strasbourg one of the most atmospherically polluted cities of France. Nonetheless, the progressive disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city have reduced air pollution.

History.

The Roman camp of Argentoratum was first mentioned in 12 BC; the city of Strasbourg which grew from it celebrated its 2,000th anniversary in 1988. The fertile area in the Upper Rhine Plain between the rivers Ill and Rhine had already been populated since the Middle Paleolithic.  Between 362 and 1262, Strasbourg was governed by the bishops of Strasbourg; their rule was reinforced in 873 and then more in 982. In 1262, the citizens violently rebelled against the bishop's rule (Battle of Hausbergen) and Strasbourg became a free imperial city. It became a French city in 1681, after the conquest of Alsace by the armies of Louis XIV. In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War, the city became German again, until 1918 (end of World War I), when it reverted to France. After the defeat of France in 1940 (World War II), Strasbourg came under German control again; since the end of 1944, it is again a French city. In 2016, Strasbourg was promoted from capital of Alsace to capital of Grand Est.  Strasbourg played an important part in Protestant Reformation, with personalities such as John Calvin, Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Capito, Matthew and Katharina Zell, but also in other aspects of Christianity such as German mysticism, with Johannes Tauler, Pietism, with Philipp Spener, and Reverence for Life, with Albert Schweitzer. Delegates from the city took part in the Protestation at Speyer. It was also one of the first centres of the printing industry with pioneers such as Johannes Gutenberg, Johannes Mentelin, and Heinrich Eggestein. Among the darkest periods in the city's long history were the years 1349 (Strasbourg massacre), 1518 (Dancing plague), 1793 (Reign of Terror), 1870 (Siege of Strasbourg) and the years 1940–1944 with the Nazi occupation (atrocities such as the Jewish skeleton collection) and the British and American bombing raids. Some other notable dates were the years 357 (Battle of Argentoratum), 842 (Oaths of Strasbourg), 1538 (establishment of the university), 1605 (world's first newspaper printed by Johann Carolus), 1792 (La Marseillaise), and 1889 (pancreatic origin of diabetes discovered by Minkowski and Von Mering).  Strasbourg has been the seat of European Institutions since 1949: first of the International Commission on Civil Status and of the Council of Europe, later of the European Parliament, of the European Science Foundation, of Eurocorps, and others as well.

Districts.

Strasbourg is divided into the following districts:

Main sights.

Architecture.

The city is chiefly known for its sandstone Gothic Cathedral with its famous astronomical clock, and for its medieval cityscape of Rhineland black and white timber-framed buildings, particularly in the "Petite France" district or "Gerberviertel" ("tanners' district") alongside the Ill and in the streets and squares surrounding the cathedral, where the renowned "Maison Kammerzell" stands out.  Notable medieval streets include "Rue Mercière", "Rue des Dentelles", "Rue du Bain aux Plantes", "Rue des Juifs", "Rue des Frères", "Rue des Tonneliers", "Rue du Maroquin", "Rue des Charpentiers", "Rue des Serruriers", "Grand' Rue", "Quai des Bateliers", "Quai Saint-Nicolas" and "Quai Saint-Thomas". Notable medieval squares include "Place de la Cathédrale", "Place du Marché Gayot", "Place Saint-Étienne", "Place du Marché aux Cochons de Lait" and "Place Benjamin Zix".  In addition to the cathedral, Strasbourg houses several other medieval churches that have survived the many wars and destructions that have plagued the city: the Romanesque "Église Saint-Étienne", partly destroyed in 1944 by Allied bombing raids; the part-Romanesque, part-Gothic, very large "Église Saint-Thomas" with its Silbermann organ on which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Albert Schweitzer played; the Gothic "Église protestante Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune" with its crypt dating back to the seventh century and its cloister partly from the eleventh century; the Gothic "Église Saint-Guillaume" with its fine early-Renaissance stained glass and furniture; the Gothic "Église Saint-Jean"; the part-Gothic, part-Art Nouveau "Église Sainte-Madeleine" etc. The Neo-Gothic church "Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux Catholique" (there is also an adjacent church "Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux Protestant") serves as a shrine for several 15th-century wood-worked and painted altars coming from other, now destroyed churches and installed there for public display; especially the Passion of Christ. Among the numerous secular medieval buildings, the monumental "Ancienne Douane" (old custom-house) stands out.  The German Renaissance has bequeathed the city some noteworthy buildings (especially the current "Chambre de commerce et d'industrie", former town hall, on "Place Gutenberg"), as did the French Baroque and Classicism with several "hôtels particuliers" (i.e. palaces), among which the "Palais Rohan" (1742, now housing three museums) is the most spectacular. Other buildings of its kind are the "Hôtel de Hanau" (1736, now the city hall); the "Hôtel de Klinglin" (1736, now residence of the préfet); the "Hôtel des Deux-Ponts" (1755, now residence of the military governor); the "Hôtel d'Andlau-Klinglin" (1725, now seat of the administration of the Port autonome de Strasbourg) etc. The largest baroque building of Strasbourg though is the 1720s main building of the "Hôpital civil". As for French Neo-classicism, it is the Opera House on Place Broglie that most prestigiously represents this style.  Strasbourg also offers high-class eclecticist buildings in its very extended German district, the "Neustadt", being the main memory of Wilhelmian architecture since most of the major cities in Germany proper suffered intensive damage during World War II. Streets, boulevards and avenues are homogeneous, surprisingly high (up to seven stories) and broad examples of German urban lay-out and of this architectural style that summons and mixes up five centuries of European architecture as well as Neo-Egyptian, Neo-Greek and Neo-Babylonian styles. The former imperial palace "Palais du Rhin", the most political and thus heavily criticized of all German Strasbourg buildings epitomizes the grand scale and stylistic sturdiness of this period. But the two most handsome and ornate buildings of these times are the "École internationale des Pontonniers" (the former "Höhere Mädchenschule", with its towers, turrets and multiple round and square angles and the "Haute école des arts du Rhin" with its lavishly ornate façade of painted bricks, woodwork and majolica.  Notable streets of the German district include: "Avenue de la Forêt Noire", "Avenue des Vosges", "Avenue d'Alsace", "Avenue de la Marseillaise", "Avenue de la Liberté", "Boulevard de la Victoire", "Rue Sellénick", "Rue du Général de Castelnau", "Rue du Maréchal Foch", and "Rue du Maréchal Joffre". Notable squares of the German district include "Place de la République", "Place de l'Université", "Place Brant", and "Place Arnold".  Impressive examples of Prussian military architecture of the 1880s can be found along the newly reopened "Rue du Rempart", displaying large-scale fortifications among which the aptly named "Kriegstor" (war gate).  As for modern and contemporary architecture, Strasbourg possesses some fine Art Nouveau buildings (such as the huge "Palais des Fêtes" and houses and villas like "Villa Schutzenberger" and "Hôtel Brion"), good examples of post-World War II functional architecture (the "Cité Rotterdam", for which Le Corbusier did not succeed in the architectural contest) and, in the very extended "Quartier Européen", some spectacular administrative buildings of sometimes utterly large size, among which the European Court of Human Rights building by Richard Rogers is arguably the finest. Other noticeable contemporary buildings are the new Music school "Cité de la Musique et de la Danse", the "Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain" and the "Hôtel du Département" facing it, as well as, in the outskirts, the tramway-station Hoenheim-Nord designed by Zaha Hadid.  The city has many bridges, including the medieval and four-towered "Ponts Couverts" that, despite their name, are no longer covered. Next to the "Ponts Couverts" is the "Barrage Vauban", a part of Vauban's 17th-century fortifications, that does include a covered bridge. Other bridges are the ornate 19th-century "Pont de la Fonderie" (1893, stone) and "Pont d'Auvergne" (1892, iron), as well as architect's futuristic "Passerelle" over the Rhine, opened in 2004.  The largest square at the centre of the city of Strasbourg is the Place Kléber. Located in the heart of the city's commercial area, it was named after general Jean-Baptiste Kléber, born in Strasbourg in 1753 and assassinated in 1800 in Cairo. In the square is a statue of Kléber, under which is a vault containing his remains. On the north side of the square is the Aubette (Orderly Room), built by Jacques François Blondel, architect of the king, in 1765–1772.

Parks.

Strasbourg features a number of prominent parks, of which several are of cultural and historical interest: the "Parc de l'Orangerie", laid out as a French garden by André le Nôtre and remodeled as an English garden on behalf of Joséphine de Beauharnais, now displaying noteworthy French gardens, a neo-classical castle and a small zoo; the "Parc de la Citadelle", built around impressive remains of the 17th-century fortress erected close to the Rhine by Vauban; the "Parc de Pourtalès", laid out in English style around a baroque castle (heavily restored in the 19th century) that now houses a small three-star hotel, and featuring an open-air museum of international contemporary sculpture. The Jardin botanique de l'Université de Strasbourg (botanical garden) was created under the German administration next to the Observatory of Strasbourg, built in 1881, and still owns some greenhouses of those times. The "Parc des Contades", although the oldest park of the city, was completely remodeled after World War II. The futuristic "Parc des Poteries" is an example of European park-conception in the late 1990s. The "Jardin des deux Rives", spread over Strasbourg and Kehl on both sides of the Rhine opened in 2004 and is the most extended (60-hectare) park of the agglomeration. The most recent park is "Parc du Heyritz" (8,7 ha), opened in 2014 along a canal facing the "hôpital civil".

Museums.

As of 2020, the city of Strasbourg has eleven municipal museums (including "Aubette 1928"), eleven university museums, and at least two privately owned museums ("Musée vodou" and "Musée du barreau de Strasbourg"). Five communes in the metropolitan area also have museums (see below), three of them dedicated to military history.

Overview.

The collections in Strasbourg are distributed over a wide range of museums, according to a system that takes into account not only the types and geographical provenances of the items, but also the epochs. This concerns in particular the following domains:

University museums.

The Université de Strasbourg is in charge of a number of permanent public displays of its collections of scientific artefacts and products of all kinds of exploration and research.

Demographics.

The commune of Strasbourg proper had a population of 280,966 on 1 January 2017, the result of a constant moderate annual growth which is also reflected in the constant growth of the number of students at its university (e. g. from 42,000 students in 2010 to 52,000 students in 2019). The metropolitan area of Strasbourg had a population of 785,839 inhabitants in 2016 (French side of the border only), while the transnational Eurodistrict had a population of 958,421 inhabitants.  In the Middle Ages, Strasbourg (a Free imperial city since 1262), was an important town. According to a 1444 census, the population was circa 20,000; only one third less than Cologne, then a major European city.

Culture.

Strasbourg is the seat of internationally renowned institutions of music and drama: Other theatres are the "Théâtre jeune public", the "TAPS Scala", the "Kafteur"...

Education.

Universities and tertiary education.

Strasbourg, well known as centre of humanism, has a long history of excellence in higher-education, at the crossroads of French and German intellectual traditions. Although Strasbourg had been annexed by the Kingdom of France in 1683, it still remained connected to the German-speaking intellectual world throughout the 18th century, and the university attracted numerous students from the Holy Roman Empire, with Goethe, Metternich and Montgelas, who studied law in Strasbourg, among the most prominent. With 19 Nobel prizes in total, Strasbourg is the most eminent French university outside of Paris.  Up until January 2009, there were three universities in Strasbourg, with an approximate total of 48,500 students (another 4,500 students are being taught at one of the diverse post-graduate schools):  As of 1 January 2009, those three universities have merged and now constitute the Université de Strasbourg. Schools part of the Université de Strasbourg include:

Primary and secondary education.

International schools include:  Multiple levels:  For elementary education:  For middle school/junior high school education:  For senior high school/sixth form college:

Libraries.

The Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire (BNU) is, with its collection of more than 3,000,000 titles, the second-largest library in France after the Bibliothèque nationale de France. It was founded by the German administration after the complete destruction of the previous municipal library in 1871 and holds the unique status of being simultaneously a students' and a national library. The Strasbourg municipal library had been marked erroneously as "City Hall" in a French commercial map, which had been captured and used by the German artillery to lay their guns. A librarian from Munich later pointed out "...that the destruction of the precious collection was not the fault of a German artillery officer, who used the French map, but of the slovenly and inaccurate scholarship of a Frenchman."  The municipal library Bibliothèque municipale de Strasbourg (BMS) administrates a network of ten medium-sized librairies in different areas of the town. A six stories high "Grande bibliothèque", the "Médiathèque André Malraux", was inaugurated on 19 September 2008 and is considered the largest in Eastern France.

Incunabula.

As one of the earliest centers of book-printing in Europe (see above: History), Strasbourg for a long time held a large number of incunabula — books printed before 1500 — in its library as one of its most precious heritages: no less than 7,000. After the total destruction of this institution in 1870, however, a new collection had to be reassembled from scratch. Today, Strasbourg's different public and institutional libraries again display a sizable total number of incunabula, distributed as follows: "Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire", ca. 2,120, "Médiathèque de la ville et de la communauté urbaine de Strasbourg", 349, "Bibliothèque du Grand Séminaire", 238, "Médiathèque protestante", 66, and "Bibliothèque alsatique du Crédit Mutuel", 5.

Transportation.

Train services operate from the "Gare de Strasbourg", the city's main station in the city centre, eastward to Offenburg and Karlsruhe in Germany, westward to Metz and Paris, and southward to Basel. Strasbourg's links with the rest of France have improved due to its recent connection to the TGV network, with the first phase of the TGV "Est" (Paris–Strasbourg) in 2007, the TGV "Rhin-Rhône" (Strasbourg-Lyon) in 2012, and the second phase of the TGV Est in July 2016.  Strasbourg also has its own airport, serving major domestic destinations as well as international destinations in Europe and northern Africa. The airport is linked to the "Gare de Strasbourg" by a frequent train service.  City transportation in Strasbourg includes the futurist-looking Strasbourg tramway that opened in 1994 and is operated by the regional transit company Compagnie des Transports Strasbourgeois (CTS), consisting of 6 lines with a total length of. The CTS also operates a comprehensive bus network throughout the city that is integrated with the trams. With more than of bicycle paths, biking in the city is convenient and the CTS operates a cheap bike-sharing scheme named "Vélhop"'. The CTS, and its predecessors, also operated a previous generation of tram system between 1878 and 1960, complemented by trolleybus routes between 1939 and 1962.  Being a city on the Ill and close to the Rhine, Strasbourg has always been an important centre of fluvial navigation, as is attested by archeological findings. In 1682 the "Canal de la Bruche" was added to the river navigations, initially to provide transport for sandstone from quarries in the Vosges for use in the fortification of the city. That canal has since closed, but the subsequent "Canal du Rhone au Rhine", "Canal de la Marne au Rhin" and "Grand Canal d'Alsace" are still in use, as is the important activity of the "Port autonome de Strasbourg". Water tourism inside the city proper attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists yearly.  The tram system that now criss-crosses the historic city centre complements walking and biking in it. The centre has been transformed into a pedestrian priority zone that enables and invites walking and biking by making these active modes of transport comfortable, safe and enjoyable. These attributes are accomplished by applying the principle of "filtered permeability" to the existing irregular network of streets. It means that the network adaptations favour active transportation and, selectively, "filter out" the car by reducing the number of streets that run through the centre. While certain streets are discontinuous for cars, they connect to a network of pedestrian and bike paths which permeate the entire centre. In addition, these paths go through public squares and open spaces increasing the enjoyment of the trip. This logic of filtering a mode of transport is fully expressed in a comprehensive model for laying out neighbourhoods and districts – the Fused Grid.  At present the A35 autoroute, which parallels the Rhine between Karlsruhe and Basel, and the A4 autoroute, which links Paris with Strasbourg, penetrate close to the centre of the city. The "Grand contournement ouest" (GCO) project, programmed since 1999, plans to construct a highway connection between the junctions of the A4 and the A35 autoroutes in the north and of the A35 and A352 autoroutes in the south. This routes well to the west of the city and is meant to divest a significant portion of motorized traffic from the unité urbaine. The GCO project is opposed by environmentalists, who created a ZAD (or Zone to Defend).

Strasbourg Public Transportation Statistics.

The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Strasbourg, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 52 min. 7% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 9 min, while 11% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is, while 0% travel for over in a single direction.

European role.

Institutions.

Strasbourg is the seat of over twenty international institutions, most famously of the Council of Europe and of the European Parliament, of which it is the official seat. Strasbourg is considered the legislative and democratic capital of the European Union, while Brussels is considered the executive and administrative capital and Luxembourg the judiciary and financial capital.  Strasbourg is the seat of the following organisations, among others:

Eurodistrict.

France and Germany have created a Eurodistrict straddling the Rhine, combining the Greater Strasbourg and the Ortenau district of Baden-Württemberg, with some common administration. It was established in 2005 and is fully functional since 2010.

Sports.

Sporting teams from Strasbourg are the Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (football), Strasbourg IG (basketball) and the Étoile Noire (ice hockey). The women's tennis Internationaux de Strasbourg is one of the most important French tournaments of its kind outside Roland-Garros. In 1922, Strasbourg was the venue for the XVI Grand Prix de l'A.C.F. which saw Fiat battle Bugatti, Ballot, Rolland Pilain, and Britain's Aston Martin and Sunbeam.

Honours.

Honours associated with the city of Strasbourg.

Notable people.

In chronological order, notable people born in Strasbourg include: Eric of Friuli, Johannes Tauler, Sebastian Brant, Jean Baptiste Kléber, Louis Ramond de Carbonnières, François Christophe Kellermann, Marie Tussaud, Ludwig I of Bavaria, Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, Louis-Frédéric Schützenberger, Gustave Doré, Émile Waldteufel, René Beeh, Jean/Hans Arp, Charles Münch, Hans Bethe, Maurice Kriegel-Valrimont, Marcel Marceau, Tomi Ungerer, Elizabeth Sombart, Arsène Wenger, Petit and Matt Pokora.  In chronological order, notable residents of Strasbourg include: Johannes Gutenberg, Hans Baldung, Martin Bucer, John Calvin, Joachim Meyer, Johann Carolus, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Georg Büchner, Louis Pasteur, Ferdinand Braun, Albrecht Kossel, Georg Simmel, Albert Schweitzer, Otto Klemperer, Marc Bloch, Alberto Fujimori, Marjane Satrapi, Paul Ricoeur and Jean-Marie Lehn.

Twin towns and sister cities.

Strasbourg is twinned with:  Strasbourg has cooperative agreements with:

Strasbourg (,, ;, ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Grand Est region of France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located at the border with Germany in the historic region of Alsace, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin department.

Štrasburk (francouzsky "Strasbourg", německy "Straßburg", alsasky "Strossburi") je hlavní město regionu Grand Est ve Francii a historická metropole Alsaska na levém břehu Rýna s 237 100 obyvateli. V minulosti patřil střídavě k Německu a k Francii, což ovlivnilo i jeho vzhled. Nejznámější stavbou je katedrála Notre-Dame de Strasbourg z 12. – 15. století, postavená z červeného pískovce. Některé městské domy ze 17. století mají vnější fasády hrázděné. Ve Štrasburku sídlí Rada Evropy, Evropský parlament a Evropský soud pro lidská práva.


Overview.

A megatsunami is a tsunami – a large wave due to displacement of a body of water – with an initial wave amplitude (height) measured in several tens, hundreds, or possibly thousands of metres.  Normal tsunamis generated at sea result from movement of the sea floor. They have a small wave height offshore, are very long (often hundreds of kilometres), and generally pass unnoticed at sea, forming only a slight swell usually of the order of above the normal sea surface. When they reach land, the wave height increases dramatically as the base of the wave pushes the water column above it upwards.  By contrast, megatsunamis are caused by giant landslides and other impact events. This could also refer to a meteorite hitting an ocean. Underwater earthquakes or volcanic eruptions do not normally generate such large tsunamis, but landslides next to bodies of water resulting from earthquakes can, since they cause a large amount of displacement. If the landslide or impact occurs in a limited body of water, as happened at the Vajont Dam (1963) and Lituya Bay (1958) then the water may be unable to disperse and one or more exceedingly large waves may result.  A way to visualize the difference, is that an ordinary tsunami is caused by sea floor changes, somewhat like pushing up on the floor of a large tub of water to the point it overflows, and causing a surge of water to "run-off" at the sides. In this analogy, a megatsunami would be more similar to dropping a large rock from a considerable height into the tub, at one end, causing water to splash up and out, and overflow at the other end.  Two heights are sometimes quoted for megatsunamis – the height of the wave itself (in water), and the height to which it surges when it reaches land, which depending upon the locale, can be several times larger.

Recognition of the concept of megatsunami.

Geologists searching for oil in Alaska in 1953 observed that in Lituya Bay, mature tree growth did not extend to the shoreline as it did in many other bays in the region. Rather, there was a band of younger trees closer to the shore. Forestry workers, glaciologists, and geographers call the boundary between these bands a trim line. Trees just above the trim line showed severe scarring on their seaward side, whilst those from below the trim line did not. The scientists hypothesized that there had been an unusually large wave or waves in the deep inlet. Because this is a recently deglaciated fjord with steep slopes and crossed by a major fault, one possibility was a landslide-generated tsunami.  On 9 July 1958, a 7.8 strike-slip earthquake in southeast Alaska caused 90 million tonnes of rock and ice to drop into the deep water at the head of Lituya Bay. The block fell almost vertically and hit the water with sufficient force to create a wave that surged up the opposite side of the head of the bay to a height of 1720 feet (524 m), and was still many tens of metres high further down the bay, when it carried eyewitnesses Howard Ulrich and his son Howard Jr. over the trees in their fishing boat. They were washed back into the bay and both survived.

Analysis of mechanism.

The mechanism giving rise to megatsunamis was analysed for the Lituya Bay event in a study presented at the Tsunami Society in 1999; this model was considerably developed and modified by a second study in 2010.  Although the earthquake which caused the megatsunami was considered very energetic, and involving strong ground movements, several possible mechanisms were not likely or able to have caused the resulting megatsunami. Neither water drainage from a lake, nor landslide, nor the force of the earthquake itself led to the megatsunami, although all of these may have contributed.  Instead, the megatsunami was caused by a large and sudden impulsive impact when about 40 million cubic yards of rock several hundred metres above the bay was fractured from the side of the bay, by the earthquake, and fell "practically as a monolithic unit" down the almost vertical slope and into the bay. The rockfall also caused air to be "dragged along" due to viscosity effects, which added to the volume of displacement, and further impacted the sediment on the floor of the bay, creating a large crater. The study concluded that:  A 2010 model examined the amount of infill on the floor of the bay, which was many times larger than that of the rockfall alone, and also the energy and height of the waves, and the accounts given by eyewitnesses, concluded that there had been a "dual slide" involving a rockfall, which also triggered a release of 5 to 10 times its volume of sediment trapped by the adjacent Lituya Glacier, as an almost immediate and many times larger second slide, a ratio comparable with other events where this "dual slide" effect is known to have happened.

List of megatsunamis.

Modern.

1792: Mount Unzen, Japan.

In 1792, Mount Unzen in Japan erupted, causing part of the volcano to collapse into the sea. The landslide caused a megatsunami that reached high and killed 15,000 people in the local fishing villages.

1883: Krakatoa.

The eruption of Krakatoa created pyroclastic flows which generated megatsunamis when they hit the waters of the Sunda Strait on 27 August 1883. The waves reached heights of up to 24 metres (79 feet) along the south coast of Sumatra and up to 42 metres (138 feet) along the west coast of Java.

1958: Lituya Bay, Alaska, US.

On July 9, 1958, a giant landslide at the head of Lituya Bay in Alaska, caused by an earthquake, generated a wave that washed out trees to a maximum altitude of at the entrance of Gilbert Inlet. The wave surged over the headland, stripping trees and soil down to bedrock, and surged along the fjord which forms Lituya Bay, destroying two fishing boats anchored there and killing two people.

1963: Vajont Dam, Italy.

On October 9, 1963, a landslide above Vajont Dam in Italy produced a surge that overtopped the dam and destroyed the villages of Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta, Villanova and Faè, killing nearly 2,000 people.

1980: Spirit Lake, Washington, US.

On May 18, 1980, the upper 460 metres (1,509 feet) of Mount St. Helens collapsed, creating a landslide. This released the pressure on the magma trapped beneath the summit bulge which exploded as a lateral blast, which then released the pressure on the magma chamber and resulted in a plinian eruption.  One lobe of the avalanche surged onto Spirit Lake, causing a megatsunami which pushed the lake waters in a series of surges, which reached a maximum height of 260 metres (853 feet) above the pre-eruption water level (~975 m asl/3,199 ft). Above the upper limit of the tsunami, trees lie where they were knocked down by the pyroclastic surge; below the limit, the fallen trees and the surge deposits were removed by the megatsunami and deposited in Spirit Lake.

2015: Taan Fiord, Alaska, US.

On October 17, 2015, the side of a mountain collapsed, at the head of Taan Fiord, a finger of Icy Bay in Alaska. Some of the resulting landslide came to rest on the toe of Tyndall Glacier, but about of rock with a volume of about fell into the fjord. The landslide generated a megatsunami with an initial height of initial height of about that struck the opposite shore of the fjord, with a run-up height there of.  Over the next 12 minutes, the wave traveled down the fjord at a speed of up to, with run-up heights of over in the upper fjord to or more in its middle section, and or more at its mouth. Still probably tall when it entered Icy Bay, the tsunami inundated parts of Icy Bay′s shoreline with run-ups of before dissipating into insigificance at distances of from the mouth of Taan Fiord, although the wave was detected away.  Occurring in an uninhabited area, the event was unwitnessed, and several hours passed before the signature of the landslide was noticed on seismographs at Columbia University in New York City.

Potential future megatsunamis.

In a BBC television documentary broadcast in 2000, experts said that they thought that a landslide on a volcanic ocean island is the most likely future cause of a megatsunami. The size and power of a wave generated by such means could produce devastating effects, travelling across oceans and inundating up to inland from the coast. This research was later found to be flawed. The documentary was produced before the experts' scientific paper was published and before responses were given by other geologists. There have been megatsunamis in the past, and future megatsunamis are possible but current geological consensus is that these are only local. A megatsunami in the Canary Islands would diminish to a normal tsunami by the time it reached the continents. Also, the current consensus for La Palma is that the region conjectured to collapse is too small and too geologically stable to do so in the next 10,000 years, although there is evidence for past megatsunamis local to the Canary Isles thousands of years ago. Similar remarks apply to the suggestion of a megatsunami in Hawaii.

British Columbia.

Some geologists consider an unstable rock face at Mount Breakenridge, above the north end of the giant fresh-water fjord of Harrison Lake in the Fraser Valley of southwestern British Columbia, Canada, to be unstable enough to collapse into the lake, generating a megatsunami that might destroy the town of Harrison Hot Springs (located at its south end).

Canary Islands.

Geologists Dr. Simon Day and Dr. Steven Neal Ward consider that a megatsunami could be generated during an eruption of Cumbre Vieja on the volcanic ocean island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands, Spain.  In 1949, this volcano erupted at its Duraznero, Hoyo Negro and Llano del Banco vents, and there was an earthquake with an epicentre near the village of Jedey. The next day Juan Bonelli Rubio, a local geologist, visited the summit area and found that a fissure about long had opened on the east side of the summit. As a result, the west half of the volcano (which is the volcanically active arm of a triple-armed rift) had slipped about downwards and westwards towards the Atlantic Ocean.  Cumbre Vieja is currently dormant, but will almost certainly erupt again. Day and Ward hypothesize that if such an eruption causes the western flank to fail, a mega-tsunami could be generated.  La Palma is currently the most volcanically active island in the Canary Islands Archipelago. It is likely that several eruptions would be required before failure would occur on Cumbre Vieja. The western half of the volcano has an approximate volume of and an estimated mass of. If it were to catastrophically slide into the ocean, it could generate a wave with an initial height of about at the island, and a likely height of around at the Caribbean and the Eastern North American seaboard when it runs ashore eight or more hours later. Tens of millions of lives could be lost in the cities and/or towns of St. John's, Halifax, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Miami, Havana and the rest of the eastern coasts of the United States and Canada, as well as many other cities on the Atlantic coast in Europe, South America and Africa. The likelihood of this happening is a matter of vigorous debate.  The last eruption on the Cumbre Vieja occurred in 1971 at the Teneguia vent at the southern end of the sub-aerial section without any movement. The section affected by the 1949 eruption is currently stationary and does not appear to have moved since the initial rupture.  Geologists and volcanologists are in general agreement that the initial study was flawed. The current geology does not suggest that a collapse is imminent. Indeed, it seems to be geologically impossible right now, the region conjectured as prone to collapse is too small and too stable to collapse within the next 10,000 years. They also concluded that a landslide is likely to happen as a series of smaller collapses rather than a single landslide from closer study of deposits left in the ocean by previous landslides. A megatsunami does seem possible locally in the distant future as there is geological evidence from past deposits suggesting that a megatsunami occurred with marine material deposited 41 to 188 meters above sea level between 32,000 and 1.75 million years ago. This seems to have been local to Gran Canaria.  Day and Ward have admitted that their original analysis of the danger was based on several worst case assumptions. A 2008 paper looked into this worst-case scenario, the most serious slide that could happen (though unlikely and probably impossible with present day geology). Although it would be a megatsunami locally in the Canary Isles, it would diminish in height to a regular tsunami when it reached the continents as the waves interfered and spread across the oceans.  For more details see Cumbre Vieja criticism.

Hawaii.

Sharp cliffs and associated ocean debris at the Kohala Volcano, Lanai and Molokai indicate that landslides from the flank of the Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes in Hawaii may have triggered past megatsunamis, most recently at 120,000 BP. A tsunami event is also possible, with the tsunami potentially reaching up to about in height According to the documentary "National Geographic's Ultimate Disaster: Tsunami", if a big landslide occurred at Mauna Loa or the Hilina Slump, a tsunami would take only thirty minutes to reach Honolulu. There, hundreds of thousands of people could be killed as the tsunami could level Honolulu and travel inland. Also, the West Coast of America and the entire Pacific Rim could potentially be affected.  Other research suggests that such a single large landslide is not likely. Instead, it would collapse as a series of smaller landslides.  In 2018, shortly after the beginning of the 2018 lower Puna eruption, a National Geographic article responded to such claims with "Will a monstrous landslide off the side of Kilauea trigger a monster tsunami bound for California? Short answer: No."  In the same article, geologist Mika McKinnon stated:  Another volcanologist, Janine Krippner, added:  Despite this, evidence suggests that catastrophic collapses do occur on Hawaiian volcanoes and generate local tsunamis.

Cape Verde Islands.

Steep cliffs on the Cape Verde Islands have been caused by catastrophic debris avalanches. These have been common on the submerged flanks of ocean island volcanoes and more can be expected in the future.

A megatsunami is a very large wave created by a large, sudden displacement of material into a body of water.

Megatsunami je naprosto zničující vlna, která se od „klasické“ tsunami liší svou výškou, velikostí zasaženého území a do určité míry i způsobem vzniku. Z geologických stop plyne, že jejich výskyt je vzácný, ale vzhledem ke své síle jsou značně devastující, ač zpravidla zasahují jen omezené území.