Quakes threaten Wellington's monuments

Posted on 20th May 2012 in The monuments of world

By Charlotte Shipman

The Wellington City Council is busy identifying earthquake prone buildings around the capital. But there could be another significant quake risk in the form of public monuments and statues.

Many of those are more than 100 years old.

Cloaked in mesh and scaffolding, the bell tower at the National War Memorial is undergoing earthquake-strengthening work.

Inside it houses the third largest carillon in the world. Its 74 bells alone weigh 70 tonnes.

In the 1980s, steel bracings were attached. Now, more will be added.

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage is responsible for eight statues and memorials around Wellington. So far only the War Memorial has been flagged as an earthquake risk. That doesn’t mean others aren’t.

“It’s about evaluating risk,” says Wellington City councillor Iona Pannett. “Is it going to kill lots of people?”

For now, the Wellington City Council’s focus is on falling masonry, not falling marble.

“Buildings obviously have the capacity to kill hundreds of people and that’s where the priority has to be,” says the councillor. “People first, not buildings and monuments.”

Christchurch’s fatal earthquake shook the bronze John Godley statue off its plinth. It was 144 years old.

The Seddon Memorial is more than 100 old, yet the towering, 18m granite column and bronze statue on top hasn’t been assessed and may or may not be a quake risk.

But there’s uncertainty as to whether it’s the ministry or the council which is responsible for assessing quake risk.

The council admits it doesn’t even know how many sculptures and monuments it’s responsible for around the city, but says it’s aiming to get them all assessed in the next two or three years.

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Under the spell of Istanbul

Posted on 17th May 2012 in The monuments of world


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View of Istanbul from the Golden Horn

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Topkapi Palace symbolises the eternal vigilance of the Ottoman Sultan against injustice

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Dolmabache Palace was an administrative centre for Ottoman Empire replacing the Topkapi Palace until 1922

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Enderun Library within the Topkapi Palace compound

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The Blue Mosque in its grandeur under the bright sunlight as seen from Sultan Ahmad Garden, at the northern side Pictures by Rizauddin Ibrahim

AHH… historic Istanbul! This crosses my mind the moment I lay my eyes on classic Ottoman buildings and the architecturally European-flavoured ones set along the shores of the Golden Horn.

I am on a boat cruise along the waters of the Golden Horn, a natural estuary of the Bosphorus Strait that divides this capital of Turkey into two continents — Asia in the east and Europe in the west.

That boat cruise is a surreal yet amazing voyage between the two continents.

The Golden Horn is a 7.5km- long, narrow estuary that forms a protected natural harbour.

For thousands of years, it has been a port of call for ships from the Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman.

Here was where the city once began and here is where I begin my journey in historic Istanbul.

ANCIENT DOMES AND TOWERS

Looking at the city skyline from where I am on the boat, I can already feel the historic aura. First, I clearly see the domes and towers of Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and Blue Mosque which date from the year 530 to 1600.

As the boat cruises along the coast, one cannot help feeling impressed at the sight of Dolmabahce Palace, (1856), and Beylerbeyi Palace, a summer palace completed in 1865.

And there are many hundreds of years-old wooden villas and mansions along the shores that will make anyone envious of their owners.

Then comes the Rumeli Hasari or Rumeli Fortress that will leave you awestruck by its sheer supreme look. It was the largest fortress built by Sultan Mehmed Istanbul II in 1451 to control the sea routes of the Bosphorus to prevent aid from the Black Sea reaching the Turkish Siege of Constantinople in 1453.

Constantinople is the Byzantine name for Istanbul. It was under siege many times before Mehmet The Conqueror took the city in 1453 and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Before that, it was the capital of powerful Roman and Byzantine Empire.

These ancient empires left these symbols of their past glories and best of all, these remnants are not scattered ruins of dull grey stones but large buildings which have defied the ravages of time. All these can now still be seen in the Sultan Ahmed District.

ROYAL DISTRICT

The Sultan Ahmed District is the heart of historic Old Istanbul. It is located on the peninsula bounded by bodies of water to north, east and south — the Golden Horn, Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara, respectively. The area was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1985.

This is where Constantinople was located at the southern bank of the Golden Horn and parts of the defence wall of the old city still remain at the coast. Located on the European side of Istanbul, the old city is the best base for sightseeing in Istanbul.

As the most historic part of Istanbul, Sultan Ahmet District is where all the city’s significant landmarks like Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia and Topkapi Palace are located. Making it a complete tourist destination, the area has a number of good restaurants and hotels too.

HIPPODROME OF CONSTANTINOPLE

Though public transport is easily accessible, going on foot is the best choice to explore the old city. You should not miss going to Sultan Ahmed Square, actually the Hippodrome of Constantinople, the sporting and social centre of the city during the Byzantium era where horse or chariot racings were held.

Today, several fragments of the original structure that adorned the square during its glorious time are still standing. They are the monuments of the Spiral Column, Thutmosis Obelisk and Walled Obelisk.

The most recent addition to the square is the German Fountain, which is an octagonal domed fountain in neo-Byzantine style, constructed by the German government in 1900 to mark the German Emperor Wilhelm II’s visit to Istanbul in 1898.

THE BLUE MOSQUE

Adjacent to the Hippodrome is the Blue Mosque, or its official name, Sultan Ahmed Mosque. Built from 1609 to 1617, it is called the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles that adorn the walls of its interior. However, the tiles are mostly on the upper level, which is difficult to see.

Coming from the Hippodrome, I walk through a grand doorway on the western side to go to its inner courtyard.

Its architecture is better appreciated from the outside, especially under the bright sunlight from the Sultan Ahmed Garden at the northern side.

This grand building of Ottoman architecture with six minarets and cascading layers of domes is a sight to behold.

HAGIA SOPHIA

As you admire the Blue Mosque and praise its architect, Sadefkar Mehmet Aga, tribute should also be given to Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus, the architects of neighbouring Hagia Sophia.

They designed Hagia Sophia 1,000 years before Mehmet Aga was born. History goes that Sultan Ahmed 1, the Sultan of Ottoman ordered the Blue Mosque to be built to rival Hagia Sophia. And the result is two great architectural achievements standing next to each other in Istanbul’s main square.

Hagia Sofia or Aya Sofia in Turkish which means Church Of Holy Wisdom, was built from year 532 to 537.

At that time, its wide, flat dome was considered a daring engineering feat and became the world’s most impressive building and made it the greatest church in Christendom.

It then was turned into a mosque when Ottoman conquered the city in 1453 and continued to serve as Istanbul’s most revered mosque until 1935 when Kamal Ataturk turned it into a museum as we see it today.

Unlike the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia is best admired from the inside, especially from the mezzanine level. From this floor, the view of the prayer hall is the most impressive. The natural light is slightly dimmed under its massive dome but gloriously lit by the glittering gold from the 30 million pieces of tiny golden tiles.

These tiny pieces of tiles are mosaic images of the Virgin Mother, Jesus, saints, emperors and empresses, as well as geometric patterns.

As it was once a mosque, the wall has Islamic calligraphy arts that inscribe religious names including that of the first four caliphs Abu Bakar, Umar, Uthman and Ali.

It is under this great dome of Hagia Sophia that I find a perfect mix of both Ottoman and Byzantium, or Islamic and Christian.

These are the characteristics of two different cultures from two great empires that have affected present Istanbul.
 

TOPKAPI PALACE

Next to Hagia Sophia is Topkapi Palace, home of Ottoman Sultan for 400 years and the heart of Ottoman Empire.

The initial construction began in 1459 but after that, over centuries,  the Palace Complex expanded to cover 80 hectares! This centuries-long construction included the major renovation after the 1509 earthquake and 1665 fire.

At its peak, the palace is home to 4,000 people but it is now the Topkapi Palace Museum housing many collections of historic objects from all over the Ottoman Empire and precious heirlooms that once belonged to Ottoman Sultans themselves.

A short visit to this palace will not do justice to it for it is a huge complex, made of four main courtyards and many smaller buildings.

The assortment of small buildings is fine architecture on its own. They are a result of the directives by many previous Ottoman Sultans who individually added and changed various structures and elements in the palace.

But the finest of all is the Fourth Courtyard or Imperial Sofa, the innermost private sanctuary of the Sultan and his family and has a number of pavilions, kiosks, gardens and terraces.

Here also is the special chamber called Chamber of the Sacred Relic, which includes the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle.

The pavilion houses what are considered the most sacred relics of the Muslim world, including the cloak of the Prophet Muhammad, two swords, a bow, one tooth, hairs of his beard, his battle sabres, autographed letters and other relics.

Several other sacred objects are also on display, such as the swords of the first four Caliphs, the staff of Moses, the turban of Joseph and a carpet belonging to Muhammad’s daughter.

The upper terrace has the Iftar Kiosk and Baghdad Kiosk where the Sultan customarily breaks fast during Ramadan with the view of the Golden Horn in the background. This is the best place to end the tour in Topkapi Palace.
 

GRAND BAZAAR

For a city that is proud of its heritage and culture inherited from two major empires, there is life in this city that stubbornly clings on to its old world ambience. That is the Grand Bazaar.

The oldest and one of the world’s largest covered bazaars, the bazaar spreads over 61 covered streets with more than 3,000 shops. Record has it that the bazaar attracts between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily.

It offers an excellent shopping experience especially for souvenir hunting, from Turkish carpets, glazed tiles and pottery, copper and brassware, apparel made of leather, cotton and wool, music instrument to all sorts of other things.

Thanks to the ambience, I can’t help but feel like entering Aladdin’s cave in some shops selling antiques.

This is the place to hone bargaining skills, which usually involves prospective clients having tea with the traders while bargaining for the right price.

Shopping in the Grand Bazaar is what many visitors list as among the things to do when visiting Istanbul. But for a more sizzling time, have a fine dinner with a belly dancing show thrown in.
 

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Vayama Highlights Top International Destinations for Students

Posted on 16th May 2012 in The monuments of world

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Vayama.com, the online travel agency that specializes in international travel, announces today a list of international cities that provide a wealth of history and culture for students who want to continue their education outside of the classroom. Each destination highlights popular attractions and local cuisine along with other insights about the culture and its people.

“Traveling internationally is great for students as it creates a sense of independence while also providing a once in a lifetime learning experience that cannot be found inside a classroom,” said Thomas Kent, vice president of marketing at Vayama.com. “Our experts at Vayama.com have developed a list of some of the most culturally rich cities on the planet that provide an abundance of great food, entertainment and historical attractions so that students can get a firsthand look at how people around the world live, work and play.”

Casablanca, Morocco
Morocco is a country that is rich in culture and etiquette as it is home to a variety of backgrounds and religions. The cultural diversity in Morocco is so abundant that a separate unique identity can be found in each city within the country. Students should visit Casablanca as it is not only world famous because of the 1942 Hollywood romantic classic, but is also home to the Hassan II mosque, the largest mosque in the country and the seventh largest mosque in the world. A true taste of Moroccan culture can be found in its cuisine, which contains an extensive blend of spices along with a large range of Mediterranean fruits, vegetables and common meats such as mutton lamb, beef, chicken, camel, rabbit and seafood.

Istanbul, Turkey
 Turkey is packed with over 2000 years of history that is illustrated in its monuments that are placed throughout the country and date back to Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods. Istanbul is the most populated city in Turkey and is the country’s cultural and financial center. Great historical attractions in Istanbul include the Hagia Sophia, a mosque and now museum that originally opened in 360 ac, and the Topkapi Palace that was home to the Ottoman Sultans for nearly 400 years. Students should be sure to check out the local bazaars, Turkish delight and the national drink Raki, an unsweetened hard alcoholic drink.

Shanghai, China
In the 18th century Shanghai was just a small fishing and textiles town, but it has since grown to be the largest city in the world. It is known as the birthplace of modern culture in China. Tourists flock to the city for its historical landmarks, stunning architecture, flourishing nightlife and great shopping. Students should be sure to check out The Bund, which is one of the most famous attractions that sits on its world famous waterfront boulevard and is lined with 1920′s art deco buildings along the Huangpu River. The Pudong district is also popular as it is home to the gleaming 21st century towers and some of the best-known buildings in China such as the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. Shanghai cuisine is popular worldwide and many are shocked to find that sugar is one of the key ingredients along with soy sauce and alcohol.

Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Buenos Aires contains a mix of old-world traditions, but is chock full of contemporary attitude. It is Latin America’s third largest economy and a top tourist destination known for its European style architecture and rich culture life. Students should take in such local experiences as a tango show and enjoy the traditional barbeque techniques called asado. Buenos Aires offers a unique history that can be viewed by simply visiting the old-world cafes, colonial architecture, outdoor markets and the La Recoleta cemetery where Eva Peron (Evita) was laid to rest.

Bangkok, Thailand
 Bangkok is the largest city in Thailand and is known as the “city of angels.” It is the political, social and economic center of Thailand and one of the leading cities in Southeast Asia. Students who travel to Bangkok will discover that the city is not only living in the modern world, but also surrounded by tradition. The city has some of the country’s most visited historical venues such as the Grand Palace, the official residence of the Kings of Siam since 1782 and Wat Pho, a temple that is known as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage. Thai food plays a tremendous role in the country’s culture and visitors do not have to travel very far to find something to eat as street carts can be found on every street corner and in many small Soi (lanes) that are full of varieties of food stalls.

About Vayama
Vayama is an online travel agency uniquely focused on international travel. The company offers travelers a vast selection of flights through its online booking engine that taps into inventory not available on other online travel websites. Launched in 2007, Vayama has continued to expand its online international travel services to include features such as 24/7 customer service, premium economy airfare, hotels, activities and car rentals.

For regular Vayama updates, follow us at www.twitter.com/Vayama become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/VayamaTravel or visit www.Vayama.com.

About Travix International B.V.
Vayama is part of Travix International B.V., a global travel company that manages an extensive portfolio of international travel websites operating under the brands: Vayama (USA), CheapTickets (Europe & Asia), Vliegwinkel.nl (Netherlands), BudgetAir (The Netherlands, United Kingdom, UK, USA, Canada & France), Flugladen (Germany) and EasyToBook.com (Worldwide).

Travix operates in 16 countries, employs 430 staff and has combined sales in excess of USD $1.1Billion.

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Americna Express $1 Million Grant Aids Japan, India Sites

Posted on 14th May 2012 in The monuments of world

The Cathedral Church of St. Michael in Coventry, England; the historic center of Brazil’s Salvador de Bahia; and the earthquake-ravaged city of Sawara, Japan, are among World Monuments Fund sites that will share a $1 million restoration grant from American Express Foundation.

The other sites are the Ruta de la Amistad in Mexico City, 22 sculptures created for the 1968 Olympic Games; the Canterbury Provincial Government Buildings in Christchurch, New Zealand; and the fragile Balaji Ghat in Varanasi, India.

“It’s a great boost to have corporate support for the World Monuments Watch,” WMF President Bonnie Burnham said by phone. “The visibility of these grants will make the public more aware of the importance of saving these buildings and sites.”

Founded in 1965, the WMF has worked to preserve more than 600 architectural and cultural sites in about 130 countries such as St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

American Express has given more than $10 million to the nonprofit from 1996 to 2006, aiding the conservation of more than 150 heritage sites around the world. The aid program was renewed last year with American Express pledging $5 million during the next five years to the fund’s “at-risk” sites.

The grant for the restoration of the Coventry cathedral will aid the development of a management plan for the ruins, stabilize its structure and restore medieval stained glass salvaged during World War II.

A portion of the grant will assist the rebuilding effort of seven Edo-period (1603-1867) townhouses (known as machiya) in Sawara that function as residences and workspaces. Government funding and insurance policies covered some of the rebuilding costs. More than a third of the city’s 300 machiya were damaged in the March 2011 earthquake, Burnham said.

“The authorities in Sawara had a shortfall, and the (American Express) grant will help them close the gap,” Burnham said.

To contact the writer on this story: Patrick Cole in New York at pcole3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff in New York at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.

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Bicycle tourists stop in Ellwood City

Posted on 14th May 2012 in The monuments of world

ELLWOOD CITY — Just after noon Friday, John Ominski was in front of the Ellwood City municipal building, snapping a picture of the borough’s World War I monument.

“I like checking out these old monuments,” he said.

He’s seen a lot of them over the last few weeks. On April 28, Ominski and his companion, Joanne Pendleton, set out from their home in Silver Spring, Md., by bicycle on what they plan to be a cross-country trip.

They arrived in Ellwood City Friday. Ominski and Pendleton are experienced bicycle tourists, with trips along the Pacific Coast, Blue Ridge Parkway, and Alaska and Europe over the last 20 years, although this is their most ambitious effort so far.

Since Ominski recently retired, it freed up the three to four months they expect to take traveling to Washington state.

So far, they have followed the Greater Allegheny Passage trail, which runs from Maryland to Pittsburgh, and stopped in Ellwood City en route to Erie via a series of trails. Ominski’s conclusion about Ellwood City might differ from that of locals who note the closed storefronts along Lawrence Avenue.

“We’ve found that every little town is different,” he said. “Ellwood City looks like a pretty nice place. The downtown is busier than in other small towns.”

He said the trip has already been interesting, and listed a stop in Connellsville, Fayette County, where a local historian gave him a lecture on the region’s geology and history.

“We’ve seen a lot of wildlife on the bike trails,” he said.

Pendleton said the weather has been pretty mild for their trip, which is fortunate, because their touring bikes are loaded with camping gear. Since leaving home, they have camped at sites along the trail, except for one particularly rainy night last week when they slept indoors at a hotel near McKeesport, Allegheny County.

After going through Ellwood City on Friday, they headed north for Erie before a planned jaunt west.

Their planned route will carry them through the northwest — the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho and Washington — before arriving at the Pacific, although they admitted it won’t be a round trip.

“We’re going to fly back,” Pendleton said.

© 2012 Ellwood City Ledger. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Out of the box

Posted on 12th May 2012 in The monuments of world

When historians in Scotland announced a week ago that they had found a shoe box containing rare photographs of Calcutta taken exactly 100 years ago, they could scarcely have anticipated the reaction they have had to their remarkable discovery.

Clare Sorensen, an architectural historian who is gathering as much information as possible about the photographs, admitted to The Telegraph: “We are a bit blown away by the amount of interest.”

The Edinburgh headquarters of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), where 178 glass plate negatives were found in a shoe box, have been inundated with emails and phone calls.

“What we have seen in the last few days is there’s certainly a lot of interest from Calcutta because it’s photographs of their city,” disclosed Sorensen. “The people of Calcutta are very proud of their city.”

She has become almost a female Feluda trying to decipher as much as possible about each and every photograph. One idea is to make high quality prints from the negatives, now all digitised, and hold an exhibition in Calcutta. That would serve the purpose of people providing information about streets or paras they might recognise.

“The New Bengal Club is gone,” she noted. “I think it was probably built in 1909 and demolished in the 1950s. It was enormous.”

The identity of the photographer remains a mystery though the chances are he was a Scottish civil servant who took the pictures in January 1912 when King George V and Queen Mary came to Calcutta after attending the Delhi Durbar on December 12, 1911. Although the Emperor had announced he was shifting the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, the city’s administration lit up the main public buildings and organised spectacular guards of honour to accord the royal couple a ceremonial welcome.

A Reuters report, on January 4, 1912, said: “The King and Queen attended the races in Calcutta yesterday afternoon…. Their Majesties were greeted with an ovation…. their Majesties, who took their seats in the Royal stand amid a further outburst of cheering.”

Metro asked Krishna Dutta, author of Calcutta: A Cultural History, to look at the photographs.

“It seems to me very little of the everyday lives lived in the place has changed much over 100 years,” she commented. “It has only become more crowded and congested now.”

But a Calcutta resident, who knows the city of his birth intimately, spotted differences. “Streets have become wider, bridges and flyovers can be seen running across the entire city, thus increasing connectivity and accessibility. But free space nowadays is a rare sight. The architecture, too, has changed drastically from big old houses with high roofs and giant windows to multi-storeyed buildings and flats. However, places like BBD Bag have been successful in retaining the old-world charm.”

One slight jaundiced architectural journalist remarked: “Nothing aesthetically pleasing has been built in Calcutta since the British left.”

Sorensen had no idea Calcutta would become her ruling obsession when she visited the city in 2008 with the Calcutta Scottish Heritage Trust that is surveying and renovating the Scottish cemetery.

Back in Edinburgh last year, one of her colleagues, Lesley Ferguson, head of collections, found the shoe box with the 3.5in x 4.5in glass negatives in smaller boxes inside marked “The Imperial Glass Plate Company”.

Sorensen recalled the moment. “She showed me one which looked like India. I knew it was Calcutta straight off — the first slide had the Post Office across the tank in Dalhousie Square — I have seen the building. It hasn’t changed much. I was gripped.”

She added: “For me what stands out is what a good eye the photographer had.”

Of the 178 images, some 100 are of Calcutta; the rest have been taken in Odisha or the Bengal countryside, according to Prof Barun De, former chairman of the West Bengal Heritage Commission whom Sorensen consulted.

De speculated that the unknown photographer had some spoken Bengali, judging from the relaxed smiles on the faces of his subjects. The Gangasagar festival attracted pilgrims and musicians from out of town, said De.

Sorensen is also gathering information on the Scots who lived and often died in Calcutta. “A lot of Scots were connected with education, missionary work and jute.”

Given the long relationship between Scotland and India in general and Bengal in particular, Sorensen has been pondering the merits of holding an exhibition on Calcutta bringing together material from the major national collections.

“It’s fantastic that a small shoe box contained such a treasure trove of photographic imagery, but in some ways it’s not unusual,” she said. “Our experience as an archive has shown us that some of the most interesting discoveries can be made in the most unlikely of places.”

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World-class biking in our own back yard – Utah has an enormous variety of bike trails

Posted on 11th May 2012 in The monuments of world

Utah has an enormous variety of bike trails

Utah is the place where mountain bikers’ dreams go on vacation. No matter what type of riding you like to do, what time of year you like to do it, you can rest assured that you will find it somewhere in Utah.

Whether you are on the fast-banking turns of the Draper downhill, the world-famous slick rock trail in Moab or right here in the South Fork of Provo Canyon riding the Big Spring Hollow trail, you are riding in an area that is the mountain bikers’ Mecca.

“I love that I can ride local during the workweek and then take a short road trip north or south and find a completely different type of trail,” said Matt Hillman, 26, from Rigby, Idaho studying Public Health. “All the trails are so diverse and challenging in their own ways.”

Matt Hillman on Porcupine Rim overlooking Castle Valley

Utah Valley Trails

There are a good amount of trails that extend south from Payson up north to Alpine. However, Provo Canyon is a good place to start experiencing local trails. There are trails for the inexperienced and out of shape biker, as well as to the avid ones.

For a novice rider, a good place to start would be the Provo Canyon Race Loop. This trail offers a gentle climb with many variations in its route that can be matched to any skill level. If you are a seasoned vet and want to challenge yourself and get a good cardio burn, you might want to venture to the Windy Pass trail that will provide you with 3,300 feet of tough vertical climbing. If you are looking for a fun trail that doesn’t require too much skill or endurance, but is a lot of fun, the Big Spring Hollow trail will not disappoint.

Across Utah Lake in Eagle Mountain bikers will find an extremely fun park. The Mountain Ranch Bike Park offers a wide array of man-made obstacles like teeter-totters, pump tracks and skill-enhancing ramps. Above the bike park there are also quite a few trails that are extremely fun.

“I used to ride park back in Vegas, so this is a fun mixture of mountain biking and park riding,” said John Thuet, a recent BYU graduate. “I also like the downhill trail on the backside of the park. It’s pretty epic.”

Southern Utah Trails

Southern Utah has some of the most challenging and scenic trails in the world. People from all over the country and the planet go to Moab to ride the legendary Slick Rock Trail that gives you 14 miles of pedaling over solid rock. Right past the Slick Rock Trail Head, you can venture up to one of the best downhills ever conceived, Porcupine Rim. Porcupine Rim takes its riders on a 25-mile downhill that is technical, fast and over the top in a few places. From Porcupine, bikers will get a grand view looking over the Castle Valley Monuments and the Colorado River.

Sharing the Slick Rock Trail with Jeepers

Moab has seen an influx in the number of visitors in recent years according to the City of Moab website. Because of this influx, the City of Moab and biking enthusiasts have been building new trails in the surrounding areas. Some of the new trails include: Mag 7, DinoFlow, EKG, Pipe Dream and many more.

Another area that is filled with fun southern-Utah trails is the St.George area. Gooseberry Mesa is a trail that will push its riders to the limit. It combines large sections of slick rock riding with tight-turning dirt single track trails. The Mesa will make riders wonder why they do anything else with their time except live on a bike. Close to Gooseberry is the J.E.M. trail that is a fun steady ride which is scenic going up and extremely fast and rhythmic coming back down. The Zen trail and Bear Claw Poppy are popular trails located near the Green Valley Gap in St.George. Bear Claw has many steep drops that will keep the adrenaline pumping and the Zen trail will take you to your happy place with its above-it-all views.

Point of the Mountain Trails

Corner Canyon in Draper has received a lot of attention lately as the trail system has exploded in numbers in the area. A new tunnel has now joined the trails of Corner Canyon with 633 acres in Little Valley. Little Valley Trails will be a good addition to the Draper Downhill Trail, Rush Trail and Ann’s trail.

Riders Find Trails on Point of the Mountain

On the southern side of the point of the mountain are the famous trails of American Fork Canyon and Lambert Park. Both of these areas provide a large trail system that will have something to offer to any rider.

With a plethora of trails to choose from, things can get a little overwhelming. The best thing to do is find someone that has ridden some of the trails and go with them. If you have biking experience, and have an adventurous spirit, you can navigate to the utahmountainbiking.com website and find a trail near you and start biking today.

Randal Clayton

Randal Clayton is a reporter for the Daily Universe

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Ancient Maya workshop for astronomers discovered

Posted on 11th May 2012 in The monuments of world

Archeologists have discovered Maya astronomical tables that are hundreds of years older than any previously discovered — and which pour more cold water on the myth that the society predicted the world would end in 2012.

The wall markings, which date from the 9th century, were discovered in the ancient Maya city of Xultun, in the northeastern corner of Guatemala. Found in a small room, the markings include a series of Maya paintings, a chart tracking lunar cycles, and another wall that appears to track Mars and Venus.

“This particular room seems to be have been used by a scribe or astronomers in order to record this information, either copying it out of books or preparing it to be put into books, and used the wall as sort of a blackboard,” excavation leader William Saturno of Boston University told CBC’s Bob McDonald. The full interview can be heard on Quirks & Quarks at noon Saturday on CBC Radio One.

Saturno and others reported their discovery in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.

The discovery was made by one of Saturno’s undergraduate students, who poked his head into the room on his lunch break, hoping to find paintings. He noticed a couple of red lines on a piece of wall that had been exposed when the city was looted 30 years ago.

Xultan was large — about 16 square kilometres — but has long since been grown over by the rain forest. “Finding [the paintings] inside a house so close to the surface was truly remarkable,” Saturno said.

Most of the information about Maya astronomy comes from two preserved bark-paper books that date back to the 14th or 15th century. The lunar chart found in the room is about 600 years older.

Astronomical records were key to the Maya calendar, which has received some attention recently because of doomsday warnings that it predicts the end of the world this December. Experts say it makes no such prediction. The new finding provides a bit of backup: The calculations include a time span longer than 6,000 years that could extend well beyond 2012.

“Why would they go into those numbers if the world is going to come to an end this year?” observed Anthony Aveni of Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., an expert on Maya astronomy. “You could say a number that big at least suggests that time marches on.”

One wall contains a calendar based on phases of the moon, covering about 13 years. The researchers said they think it might have been used to keep track of which deity was overseeing the moon at particular times.

Aveni said it would allow scribes to predict the appearance of a full moon years in advance, for example. Such record-keeping was key to Mayan astrology and rituals, and may have been used to advise the king on when to go to war or how good this year’s crops would be, he said.

“What you have here is astronomy driven by religion,” he said.

On an adjacent wall are numbers indicating four time spans from roughly 935 to 6,700 years. It’s not clear what they represent, but maybe the scribes were doing calculations that combined observations from important astronomical events like the movements of Mars, Venus and the moon, the researchers said.

Why bother to do that? Maybe the scribes were “geeks…who just got carried away with doing these kinds of computations and calculations, and probably did them far beyond the needs of ordinary society,” Aveni suggested.

The room also contains images of the Maya king wearing a headdress of blue feathers. In front of him, a young man who appears to be a scribe reaches out toward him. Both men are surrounded by people wearing an identical costume — a white loin cloth and a headdress with a single red feather.

Saturno said the room provides an unusual look at the Maya.

“Normally in Maya society we get to look at the king and then we get to look at maybe a couple of elites associated with them,” he said. “And we talk about the masses, the population. We don’t get a lot of opportunity to look at what Maya scientists and astronomers and writers were doing in their workspaces.”

Experts unconnected with the discovery said it was a significant advance.

“It’s really a wonderful surprise,” said Simon Martin, co-curator of an exhibit about the Maya calendar at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

While the results of the scribes’ work were known from carvings on monuments, “we’ve never really been able to identify a working space, or how they actually went about things,” Martin said.

The new work gives insight into that, he said, and the fact the room had a stone roof rather than thatching supports previous indications that the scribes enjoyed a high social standing.

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Developer to build $5M, oversized cross in Missouri

Posted on 11th May 2012 in The monuments of world
  • bransoncross.png

    An artist’s rendering of the 200-foot-tall cross to be built in Branson, Mo. (Courtesy: Kerry Brown)

Public symbols of Christianity are under attack around the nation, but not in Branson, Mo., where county officials have approved a 200-foot cross that will rival American icons like the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge, according to its developer.

Kerry Brown said the “God-given vision” of the Branson Cross came to his father Dean two decades ago after he bought land atop Bear Mountain near the intersections of U.S. highways 160 and 65 in Branson, tourist mecca famous for its country music venues.

“It started as a vision with a 7-foot-tall cross just so people would have a place to go and meditate with the Lord,” Brown told FoxNews.com. “As time went on, additional portions of the vision came to him and ultimately it was to build the largest cross that anyone has ever seen.”

Brown hopes to have the $5 million project completed by the end of 2013. The cross will feature a 100-foot crossbeam and twin elevators to the 17-story-tall horizontal bar. The project is being funded by donations, and though Brown declined to say how much he’s taken in, a website associated with the effort said some $410,000 has been raised so far. Much of the expense will go to preparing the mountaintop site.

“It’s going to be a family-friendly, free admission venue where people can have an encounter with Jesus Christ.”

- Kerry Brown, developer

“My goal is to have much of the land prepared this year,” he said. “Getting construction materials up the hill is going to need a 45 degree road to get to the top.”

After receiving zoning approval from the Taney County Planning and Zoning Commission four years ago, Brown said fundraising for the project began in earnest in December.

“We’ve been working up to this for a while,” he said. “But at this point, we still have quite a ways to go. Our dollar amount doesn’t come near what we need at this point.”

Brown, a former attorney now living in Branson, is hoping the estimated eight million people who travel in and out of Branson each year will propel the cross into an international tourist destination.

“I know St. Louis has the Gateway Arch and San Francisco has the Golden Gate Bridge, and those are all fantastic monuments, but they’re all secular monuments,” he said. “This will be the first monument to the spirit of man and there’s a reason why it’s being built in the heartland of the nation. It’s absolutely in the right place at the right time and it’s going to have ten times the spirituality as any one of those monuments.”

Very little opposition to the project has been received by Brown, who said he hopes to make the Branson Cross free to all visitors.

“It’s going to be a family-friendly, free admission venue where people can have an encounter with Jesus Christ,” he said. “But we’re getting ready to move forward on this pretty quickly here and I’m sure at some point somebody will come and try to step in the way.”

Elsewhere in the nation, like in Woonsocket, R.I., public displays of Christianity are under fire. A national atheist organization is demanding that the city remove a cross from a 91-year-old memorial honoring hometown soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their county.

Although the memorial has stood in the parking lot of the Woonsocket fire station for decades with no complaints, the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation began last month calling for it to be stripped of the cross that sits atop it, claiming it violates the First Amendment’s freedom of religion clause. The group also wants the Woonsocket Fire Department to remove “The Firefighter’s Prayer” and a picture of an angel from its website.

Also last month, a federal judge approved a land swap that may end an 11-year legal battle over the right to display a cross honoring Veteran of Foreign Wars veterans in a remote part of the Mojave Desert in Barstow, Calif.

U.S. District Judge Robert Timlin in California on April 23 signed an order allowing the so-called Mojave Cross to return to Sunrise Rock. The National Park Service, under terms of the settlement, will transfer the title for the one-acre parcel in exchange for five acres of donated land.

The cross was erected in 1934 as a tribute to World War I veterans. In 2001, the American Civil Liberties Union sued, alleging religious symbols shouldn’t be displayed on public land.

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Obituary: Jack Benaroya, 90, was a prolific developer and quiet philanthropist

Posted on 11th May 2012 in The monuments of world

Originally published May 11, 2012 at 8:50 AM | Page modified May 11, 2012 at 9:28 PM

There’s Benaroya Hall. And the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason Medical Center.

Plus a host of office, industrial and business parks in and around Seattle that over the past half-century have borne the Benaroya name.

They’re all monuments to the outsized impact Jack Benaroya had on the city to which he moved with his Lebanese immigrant parents nearly 80 years ago.

Mr. Benaroya, a pioneering real-estate developer and philanthropist who had an aversion to publicity, died Friday, May 11. He was 90.

Starting in the 1950s, he built what became the Northwest’s largest privately held commercial real-estate empire, then sold it in 1984 for $315 million — just before the market tanked.

His family got back into real estate in the 1990s, but Mr. Benaroya became better-known for his philanthropic activities.

Through his family foundation, he donated $15 million in 1993 to the Seattle Symphony for a new concert hall. At the time it was the largest gift ever to a Seattle nonprofit — but at first Mr. Benaroya didn’t want his identity made public and didn’t want the hall named after him.

“If he hadn’t stepped up, I don’t think we would have the world-class orchestra we have today,” said Leslie Chihuly, who chairs the symphony’s board.

Tully’s Coffee founder Tom O’Keefe met Mr. Benaroya more than 30 years ago, when O’Keefe was a young commercial real-estate broker. The developer wasn’t loud or talkative, he said, “but he was a man you could learn much from, without him thinking he was teaching.

“I’ve always been in awe of the guy. That feeling never left.”

Mr. Benaroya was born in Montgomery, Ala., in 1921, and spent his boyhood in California before coming to Seattle in 1933. He graduated from Garfield High School in 1939, went to work for his family’s beer distributorship, then served with the Navy in the Philippines during World War II.

He got into real estate in his 30s, at first building post offices. On a trip to Dallas around 1960 he saw something novel — a well-designed “industrial park,” with warehouses surrounded by lawns, shrubs, trees and sidewalks — and resolved to bring the concept to the Northwest.

It took off. The Jack A. Benaroya Co. built industrial parks, later called business parks, in South Seattle, the Eastside, South King County and Portland.

“Jack was a man who understood that people work better in a beautiful environment,” said Joel Benoliel, whom Mr. Benaroya hired as the company’s general counsel in 1978. “He loved things that were orderly and well-kept.”

Later the Benaroya Co. developed off-price retail projects in Tukwila that anticipated today’s outlet malls. Altogether, its holdings grew to 97 buildings covering 365 acres.

“He always was a step ahead of the market,” a broker said of Mr. Benaroya when the company was sold. “Time and time again he was way out in front.”

After the 1984 sale, Mr. Benaroya became a venture capitalist. He was an early investor in Starbucks.

But philanthropy became his primary focus. “One of my favorite quotations is, ‘Public service is the rent you pay for the space you occupy on this Earth,’ ” Mr. Benaroya told a reporter in 1993. “I really believe that to be true.”

Among his passions: research on type 1 diabetes, after a grandson was diagnosed with the disease. A $3.5 million gift in 1997 from the family foundation helped Virginia Mason build the research center for autoimmune diseases that bears the Benaroya name.

“Perhaps [Mr. Benaroya's] most significant accomplishment was showing an entire community what it means to give back,” said Gary Kaplan, Virginia Mason’s chairman and CEO.

In addition to the arts and medical research, Mr. Benaroya’s philanthropic causes included education and the Jewish community. While some gifts received much attention, “he liked even better the things he did that nobody knew about,” said Benoliel, now a Costco senior vice president.

For instance, he said, years ago Mr. Benaroya endowed scholarships that allow four young African-American men from Garfield to attend the University of Washington each year.

Mr. Benaroya chose Garfield because he was an alum, the UW because he’d always wanted to go there, and African-American young men because his research told him they were a group particularly in need, Benoliel said.

He would host lunches for the scholarship winners, ask them to share their stories and dreams and invite past winners who had launched successful careers.

“He’d always be beaming,” Benoliel said.

Mr. Benaroya served on numerous boards including the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, United Way of King County, Temple de Hirsch Sinai, Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, the Stroum Jewish Community Center and the Pilchuck Glass School.

When he turned 80 in 2001, then-Mayor Paul Schell proclaimed his birthday “Jack Benaroya Day.”

Chihuly, the symphony board chairwoman, said she last saw Mr. Benaroya in Palm Springs, Calif., in January. He was frail, she said, but still liked to get out to galleries and artist receptions: “This guy loved art. He loved music.”

In addition to his wife of 70 years, Rebecca (Becky), Mr. Benaroya is survived by a sister, Rose Newhouse, of Seattle; children Donna Benaroya, of Seattle, Alan Benaroya, of San Diego and Larry Benaroya, of Seattle; four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A public memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Monday, May 14, at Benaroya Hall. Seattle Symphony musicians, led by conductor laureate Gerard Schwarz, will perform.

The family suggests remembrances to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Seattle Guild, Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason or the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Material from The Seattle Times archives is included in this report.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com

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