New chapter of rights museums set to tell story

Posted on 21st February 2012 in The monuments of world
Janice Parker visited the National Civil Rights Museum on Monday while visiting Memphis from New York City. Several new rights museums are slated to open around the country.

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Janice Parker visited the National Civil Rights Museum on Monday while visiting Memphis from New York City. Several new rights museums are slated to open around the country.

ATLANTA — Drive through any state in the Deep South and you will find a monument or a museum dedicated to civil rights.

A visitor can peer into the motel room in Memphis where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was staying when he was shot or stand near the lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where four young men began a sit-in that helped end segregation.

Other institutions are less dramatic, like the Tubman African American Museum in Macon, Ga., where Jim Crow-era toilet fixtures are on display alongside folk art.

But now, a second generation of bigger, bolder museums is about to emerge in a handful of major cities.

Atlanta; Jackson, Miss.; and Charleston, S.C., all have projects in the works. Coupled with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, which breaks ground in Washington this month, they represent nearly $750 million worth of plans.

Collectively, they also mark an emerging era of scholarship and interest in the history of both civil rights and African-Americans that is to a younger generation what other major historical events were to their grandparents. “We’re at that stage where the civil rights movement is the new World War II,” said Doug Shipman, the chief executive officer for the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, a $100 million project that is to break ground in Atlanta this summer and open in 2014.

“It’s a move to the next phase of telling this story,” he said.

The collection at the museum, which is to be set on 21/2 acres of prime downtown real estate donated by Coca-Cola, will include 10,000 documents and artifacts from King and a series of paintings based on the life of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., by the artist Benny Andrews, who died in 2006.

Like many of the new museums, the Atlanta center aims higher than the first wave of monuments to the period. It will link the civil rights movement to global human rights, exploring how, for example, King’s speeches helped fuel the Arab Spring.

Although the momentum for the new museums is strong, the recession has shaved the size and shape of some of the projects, and raising money can be a challenge.

John Fleming, the director of the International African American Museum planned for Charleston and a former president of the Association of African American Museums, points to the United States National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, Va. That project led by former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder, was supposed to open on 38 acres in 2004. The project recently went into bankruptcy, and people who donated money and artifacts are upset.

Although exactly what went wrong is still being debated, Fleming said that in part the project aimed too high and did not adjust as the economy softened. Fleming’s own project began as an $80 million, 70,000-square-foot museum. Now, it is smaller by $30 million and 20,000 square feet.

“Most black museums have difficulty raising funds,” Fleming said. “Being truthful, I don’t think people in the African-American community have stepped up to the plate in terms of making significant donations to these projects.”

Other directors disagree, saying a generation whose parents or grandparents lived through the 1950s and 1960s are now elected officials and on foundation boards, where they have influence over where cultural dollars are spent.

“The folks who actually participated in the civil rights movement are getting to an age where legacy is important,” said Lonnie G. Bunch III, director of the Smithsonian’s African-American museum.

Interpreting history requires the passage of time, and the museums show a maturation of a movement whose seminal events are now a half-century past — enough time, scholars say, for a new interpretation of what they mean.

The election of President Barack Obama, Shipman says, “caps the civil rights era and opens up the next chapter. There is a distance that allows new questions to be asked.”

As with the Holocaust and other historical events that eventually moved from painful reality to memorials and then to museums and academic scholarship, the importance of the civil rights movement gets heightened as the last of the participants begin to die.

“In some ways, it’s very much like the old Civil War veterans passing from the scene. Suddenly, the Civil War became more important,” said Philip Freelon, the architect who has designed most of the major civil rights museums in the country, including the projects at the Smithsonian and in Atlanta and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, a long-stalled project that finally secured $20 million from the state Legislature last April after then-Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, spoke in its favor.

For some, however, there is concern that the movement to isolate the era in bigger and better museums helps people avoid meaningful conversations about the day-to-day racism that still expresses itself in everything from interactions at a grocery store to the presidential election.

“All of these efforts are important, but we still have not addressed the issue of race in America, and until we do, that hydra is going to keep raising its ugly head,” said Ayisha Cisse-Jeffries, vice president for global affairs and international policy at the African American Islamic Institute.

And then there is the question of attendance. With so many new museums with similar themes, are there enough interested visitors to go around?

“This is part of the larger museum boom globally,” Freelon said. “The business of cultural tourism is on the rise as baby boomers get older. They want to go places where history happened. They want to go back home.”

‘More places to go’

The National Civil Rights Museum, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has welcomed new civil rights-themed museums as a way to increase interest in the heritage themes it represents.

When Atlanta announced plans for its new museum in 2006, the former chairman of the Memphis institution, the late Benjamin Hooks, said: “In my mind, it won’t be competition. For a long time, black people had no place to go. Now they have more places to go than they can get to.”

Museum president Beverly Robertson called it part of a “symbiotic relationship” among heritage museums. Robertson said the museums fill a “void in American history and in our education system” about black history and the history of the civil rights movement. She said Memphis “will always be a place of importance as the place where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his life in the battle for civil rights. It’s hallowed ground.”

– Michael Lollar: (901) 529-2793

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Presidents Day 2012: Controversy Engulfs Eisenhower Memorial

Posted on 20th February 2012 in The monuments of world
(Gehry & Partners)

A rendering of the memorial. (Gehry & Partners)

Along Washington, D.C.’s National Mall, an array of neoclassical monuments give tribute to the country’s leaders. But a new arrival would break the mold and has caused recent controversy.

Frank Gehry’s proposed Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial focuses on the 34th president’s youth in Kansas. The pastoral monument uses woven steel tapestries to illustrate the president’s life amongst a bucolic environment filled with trees and a statue depicting Eisenhower as a boy.

The Memorial Commission unanimously approved the design in March 2010, picking it over hundreds of other proposals.

However, the Eisenhower family has objected to the design, saying that it does not depict the World War II Allied commander and president’s full accomplishments, and focuses excessively on his humble upbringing.

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In a January letter, Anne Eisenhower, representing the family, called for an “indefinite delay” and review of the project.

“Celebrating Eisenhower’s roots rather than his accomplishments risks isolating Ike from contemporary visitors, especially those from urban industrialized parts of the country and immigrant communities,” she wrote, and also questioned the durability of the material and placement in front of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building.

Gehry, who is best known for his cascading steel structures, is a polarizing figure, but this commission is a particularly tricky approval process. Although he appears to continue to have the support of the commission, the intervention of the Eisenhower family and its dissatisfaction with the design represents a formidable obstacle.

And unlike typical commercial buildings, with their concrete goals of usage and square footage, a memorial has a more elusive task: encapsulating a person or event, and communicating the architect’s vision of its legacy.

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Member of Parliament Rodney Weston Announces Funding for New Cenotaph in Saint John

Posted on 20th February 2012 in The monuments of world

SAINT JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK–(Marketwire -02/20/12)- On behalf of the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, Rodney Weston, Member of Parliament for Saint John, today announced up to $2,750 in funding for a new cenotaph at the Wade-Myles Aviation Park in Millidgeville. The funding, provided through the Community War Memorial Program, will support the construction of the new monument on the site of the former Millidgeville Municipal Airport and Royal Canadian Air Force Station.

“Monuments and cenotaphs serve as permanent symbols of the pride and gratitude Canadians share for our nation’s truest heroes,” said Minister Blaney. “Building new memorials and restoring existing ones can inspire a renewed sense of remembrance within the community. This is why our Government supports the construction and restoration of cenotaphs and monuments in Canadian communities.”

“Our community memorials serve as lasting reminders of the achievements and sacrifices of our Veterans and the men and women who continue to serve our country today,” said Mr. Weston. “This contribution will help ensure that the Millidgeville Community Cenotaph will be a place of remembrance and reflection for future generations.”

The Canadian Aviation Historical Society in Saint John is responsible for the future cenotaph that will be located next to the M. Gerald Teed Memorial School. The new monument will be made of stone and will bear a brass plaque commemorating four local individuals who lost their lives while serving in the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War.

Through the Community War Memorial Program, our Government is fulfilling its commitment to further commemorate the courage and sacrifices of our Veterans and members of our armed forces. Partnerships are established with community groups and local organizations to build new cenotaphs and monuments.

Applications to the Community War Memorial Program can be submitted at any time during the year and are reviewed on a quarterly basis. Interested non-profit groups and other organizations may be eligible for funding to build new memorials or to make major additions to existing ones.

For more information, visit www.veterans.gc.ca.

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African-American Museums Rising to Recognize Civil Rights

Posted on 19th February 2012 in The monuments of world
By KIM SEVERSON
Published: February 19, 2012

ATLANTA — Drive through any state in the Deep South and you will find a monument or a museum dedicated to civil rights.

A visitor can peer into the motel room in Memphis where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was staying when he was shot or stand near the lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where four young men began a sit-in that helped end segregation.

Other institutions are less dramatic, like the Tubman African American Museum in Macon, Ga., where Jim Crow-era toilet fixtures are on display alongside folk art.

But now, a second generation of bigger, bolder museums is about to emerge in a handful of major cities.

Atlanta; Jackson, Miss.; and Charleston, S.C., all have projects in the works. Coupled with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, which breaks ground in Washington this week, they represent nearly $750 million worth of plans.

Collectively, they also mark an emerging era of scholarship and interest in the history of both civil rights and African-Americans that is to a younger generation what other major historical events were to their grandparents. “We’re at that stage where the civil rights movement is the new World War II,” said Doug Shipman, the chief executive officer for the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, a $100 million project that is to break ground in Atlanta this summer and open in 2014.

“It’s a move to the next phase of telling this story,” he said.

The collection at the museum, which is to be set on two and half acres of prime downtown real estate donated by Coca-Cola, will include 10,000 documents and artifacts from Dr. King and a series of paintings based on the life of Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, by the artist Benny Andrews, who died in 2006.

Like many of the new museums, the Atlanta center aims higher than the first wave of monuments to the period. It will link the civil rights movement to global human rights, exploring how, for example, Dr. King’s speeches helped fuel the Arab Spring.

Although the momentum for the new museums is strong, the recession has shaved the size and shape of some of the projects, and raising money can be a challenge.

John Fleming, the director of International African American Museum planned for Charleston and a former president of the Association of African American Museums points to the United States National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, Va. That project, led by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, was supposed to open on 38 acres in 2004. It recently went into bankruptcy, and people who donated money and artifacts are upset.

Although exactly what went wrong is still being debated, Mr. Fleming said that in part the project aimed too high and did not adjust as the economy softened. Mr. Fleming’s own project began as an $80 million, 70,000-square-foot museum. Now, it is smaller by $30 million and 20,000 square feet.

“Most black museums have difficulty raising funds,” Mr. Fleming said. “Being truthful, I don’t think people in the African-American community have stepped up to the plate in terms of making significant donations to these projects.”

Other directors disagree, saying a generation whose parents or grandparents lived through the 1950s and 1960s are now elected officials and on foundation boards, where they have influence over where cultural dollars are spent.

“The folks who actually participated in the civil rights movement are getting to an age where legacy is important,” said Lonnie G. Bunch III, director of the Smithsonian’s African-American museum.

Interpreting history requires the passage of time, and the museums show a maturation of a movement whose seminal events are now a half-century past — enough time, scholars say, for a new interpretation of what they mean.

The election of President Obama, Mr. Shipman says, “caps the civil rights era and opens up the next chapter. There is a distance that allows new questions to be asked.”

As with the Holocaust and other historical events that eventually moved from painful reality to memorials and then to museums and academic scholarship, the importance of the civil rights movement gets heightened as the last of the participants begin to die.

“In some ways, it’s very much like the old Civil War veterans passing from the scene. Suddenly, the Civil War became more important,” said Philip Freelon, the architect who has designed most of the major civil rights museums in the country, including the projects at the Smithsonian and in Atlanta and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, a long-stalled project that finally secured $20 million from the State Legislature last April after Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, spoke in its favor.

The package also comes with an additional $18 million to build a state history museum next door.

That Mississippi would commit money to a civil rights museum at a time when the recession has put a tourniquet on state spending speaks to its cultural importance, backers said.

“These museums throughout the South are really a sea change,” said William Ferris, a University of North Carolina folklorist who edited the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. “In Mississippi, to see a major civil rights museum is heartening in every sense.”

For some, however, there is concern that the movement to isolate the era in bigger and better museums helps people avoid meaningful conversations about the day-to-day racism that still expresses itself in everything from interactions at a grocery store to the presidential election.

“All of these efforts are important, but we still have not addressed the issue of race in America, and until we do, that hydra is going to keep raising its ugly head,” said Ayisha Cisse-Jeffries, vice president for global affairs and international policy at the African American Islamic Institute.

And then there is the question of attendance. With so many new museums with similar themes, are there enough interested visitors to go around?

“This is part of the larger museum boom globally,” Mr. Freelon said. “The business of cultural tourism is on the rise as baby boomers get older. They want to go places where history happened. They want to go back home.”

Directors say the idea is to create a network of institutions that enhance each other rather than detract. And each place intends to have a specific focus. In Charleston, where fund-raising is beginning for a museum dedicated to slavery, visitors will be able to walk the ground where 40 percent of the Africans who would be sold as slaves arrived.

The museum in Washington will be the most prominent of them all. An estimated four million visitors are expected to walk through the doors each year. The National Museum of American History sees about five million people.

Its vast collection will be more archival, and will include the original “Soul Train” sign, the dress that Rosa Parks wore the day she refused to give up her seat on the bus and the gospel hymn book that belonged to Harriet Tubman.

As with many museums and collections dedicated to African-American history — there are more than 200 in the country — the goal is to use black history as a lens on America.

“It is a new day, and the new day means this isn’t a time to remedy prior omissions,” Mr. Bunch said. “It really is a time to say this is how to understand who we are as Americans.”

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The leader who provided undaunted leadership – Ven. Dr. Bellanwila Dharmaratana

Posted on 18th February 2012 in The monuments of world

He can stand tall as being a committed world leader bringing peace after defeating the world’s most ruthless terrorists. Reconciliation – his mission while putting all efforts to develop the country, which is rising from the debris of a deadly conflict.


A book on Buddha Charitaya with pictures was presented to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by the head of Singapore Meditation Centre and Sangha Nayaka Ven. Weragoda Saradha Thera. Pic : Chandana Perera

“With the end of three painful decades of conflict, terrorism has firmly been consigned to the past in Sri Lanka. As we heal these wounds, a new era of peace and development has dawned upon our nation. With Sri Lanka continuing on the path of development, we have requested our friends in the international community to be partners in this process”, President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his two-day official visit to Singapore last week appealed to the international community.

Singapore

President Rajapaksa, visited Singapore on an invitation extended by President Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam said bilateral relationship between the two countries has acquired a new dynamism, particularly in the economic and commercial sectors.” The total bilateral trade between our two countries is expanding and accounts for approximately USD 2 billion. There are over hundred Singaporean companies in Sri Lanka at present with many technical and business collaborations. Strengthened by the basic structures in place for a robust economic partnership, Singapore is in a unique position to harness the many opportunities for investment presented in my country”.

“I thank my gracious host for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to me and my delegation and the meticulous arrangements to make our visit most fruitful. Your Excellency’s appointment to the highest office in September last year demonstrates the confidence placed in you by the polity of Singapore. I am confident that the relations between Sri Lanka and Singapore would flourish during your term of office and the current visit has laid an unshakable foundation to this end. I have been particularly touched by the expressions of goodwill and friendship extended by Your Excellency, the government, and the people of Singapore”.

“Sri Lanka and Singapore share a long tradition of close and cordial relations. Successive generations of our leaders have nurtured this friendship based on mutual respect and shared values. His Excellency Lee Kuan Yew being a visionary leader has on his many visits to my country, amply commented on the diverse possibilities held by Sri Lanka to become a growth model in Asia. Similarly, to Sri Lanka, Singapore has been a hub for economic interaction and development in Asia. Also, Singapore has a special place in the hearts of the Sri Lankan people.

Your country clearly demonstrates the strength of unity in diversity which has become a source of great inspiration to us in Sri Lanka, having watched Singapore’s transformation from a city state to a modern metropolis and its rapid pace of development”.

“Our bilateral relations marked an important milestone in 1979 when Sri Lanka established a resident High Commission in Singapore. Building on these historic foundation ties between our two countries have grown and expanded rapidly over the years. While our cooperation now extends to several spheres from defence, trade and investments to education, health, sports and culture, we also share many common platforms in a number of regional and international fora. Such interactions have paved the way to jointly face emerging challenges and also exploit new opportunities”.

Labour opportunitie

“One other sector that our two countries could benefit enormously is enhancement of labour opportunities. I note with satisfaction that many Sri Lankans are productively contributing to the economies of several ASEAN including Singapore and North East ASEAN countries. A regularized mechanism by which skilled and semi-skilled labour from Sri Lanka is allowed access into the Singapore labour market would enrich both our economies”.

At the meeting with President Rajapaksa, Singapore President Keng Yam, who appreciated the on-going reconciliation program said it was important for Sri Lanka to work towards building a new country setting aside the past.

He assured to continue to support Sri Lanka in its developmental efforts as Sri Lanka has embarked on a process of rehabilitation, reconciliation and growth. “We hope to see an enduring peace in Sri Lanka, one that would facilitate the development and growth of the country and its people,” he said delivering his speech at the state banquet hosted in honour of President Rajapaksa.

“Sri Lanka is no stranger to Singapore. One of the early architects of Singapore, the late S Rajaratnam, was a Sri Lankan who left an indelible mark on Singapore’s history. Among his many achievements, we wrote the Singapore National Pledge, which continues to be recited daily by all our school children, reminding us of the core values of unity and multi-racial harmony that form the very foundation of a peaceful and prosperous Singapore society. Today, Singaporeans of Sri Lankan ancestry have done very well in areas ranging from education to medicine to law. They continue the tradition set by the early pioneers, contributing to the development of Singapore’s economy, culture and society”.

Friendship

“Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Sri Lanka in 1970, the friendship between our two countries has blossomed. People-to-people linkages continue to grow over the years, with Singapore playing host to many visiting Sri Lankan professionals, students and travellers. Singaporeans, whether they are of Sri Lankan heritage or not, are working with Sri Lankans in the rebuilding of their country.

Let me just mention one such effort. Last year some Singaporeans got together to refurbish and enhance the services of the Children’s Section of the Jaffna Public Library.

Supported by organizations such as the Singapore International Foundation, the National Library Board, the Prima Group and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this project demonstrated the underlying bonds of friendship and goodwill between our peoples.

New friendships were also formed as librarians from the Jaffna Library came here for training and impressed our librarians with their enthusiasm and dedication to bring new outreach programmes and skills home. The ties have been forged serve to bridge the miles that separate us across the waters of the Indian Ocean”.

“With the end of the conflict in 2009 and the return of peace, Sri Lanka is perched on a new cusp of development and growth. I understand that 2011 was a record year for visitor arrivals – with tourists flocking once again to your beautiful beaches, historic temples and heritage monuments. Foreign investors are also returning to tap on Sri Lanka’s economic potential. Just last year, Mustafa announced a $ 144 million dollar investment in Sri Lanka.

There are some 300 Sri Lankan companies registered in Singapore. Singapore companies like Prima, Shing Kwan and Pico have also long invested in Sri Lanka, and continue to step up their operations.

On its part, the Sri Lankan government has identified construction and industrial park development, as well as InfoComm Technology development, as priority sectors for investment. These areas coincide with the niche competencies of many Singapore companies.

I am optimistic that there will be more companies that will venture across to participate in the present and future prospects of Sri Lanka.

It is thus fitting that, a Memorandum of Understanding on Investment was signed between the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF). I congratulate the BOI and the SBF for taking this important step forward.

It signals their mutual interest and commitment to work together and pave the way for greater economic cooperation between our two countries”.

Rapid development

During his visit he met Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Presidential residence in Singapore had appreciated the rapid development which Sri Lanka has achieved in the wake of the victory over terrorism, having faced a war for three decades.

The Prime Minister also expressed his great satisfaction for the opportunity to assist Sri Lanka’s development process. Premier Loong had expressed his government’s willingness to support Sri Lanka to become a knowledge hub, especially in the field of IT.

President Rajapaksa apprised the Singapore Prime Minister of Sri Lanka’s achievements in infrastructure development taking place in the country, especially in the North and East and the progress made in resettling displaced people.

The Dendrobium Mahinda Shiranthi, a new orchid hybrid, was named after President Rajapaksa and First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa in honour of their visit to Singapore.

The new orchid was named and introduced to President Rajapaksa and First Lady by the Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Poon Hong Yuen when the President visited the Singapore Botanic Gardens on February 15.

Among the ministers who had discussions with President Rajapaksa were Singapore Defence Minister Dr. Eng Hen and Youth Service Minister Chan Chung Sing. He also visited the biggest water management project in Singapore, the Marina Barrage.

Founder of the Buddhist Library in Singapore, Saghanayaka and Head of the Buddhist Centre in Singapore Ven. Dr. Bellanwila Dharmaratana Thera said that the only leader who provided undaunted leadership to erase the black marks of three decades long terrorism is President Rajapaksa. He added that because of this undaunted and courageous Leadership one can claim with pride that he or she is a Sri Lankan.

The prelate made this statement in the Anusasana made by him when he met the President in Singapore. Ven. Bellanwila Dharmaratana Thera said, that though the members of the Maha Sangha are engaged in religious propagation work abroad, they fell sorry about the way of living of some persons in spite of the adverse global economic trends. He emphasized that no one should take advantage of unavoidable price hikes of goods including oil prices to get their narrow objectives fulfilled.

The prelate recollected that the Maha Sanga had to engage in the propagation of Dhamma under immense difficulties during the past period of about 40 years when the country suffered for the adverse security condition.

Venerable Dharmaratana Thera further said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa who took over the country in 2005 controlled terrorism and directed the nation to the correct path and everyone should provide him support with confidence.

The prelate added that relations with the priests in Buddhist centres in the North of Sri Lanka should be reinforced.

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Masked gunmen steal dozens of antiquities from birthplace of ancient Greek Olympics

Posted on 18th February 2012 in The monuments of world

By The Associated Press

Onlookers and police gather outside the antiquities museum in Ancient Olympia, where two masked armed robbers tied up a guard and made off with dozens of artifacts. Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece — Two masked gunmen stormed into a small museum at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southern Greece on Friday, smashing display cases with hammers and making off with dozens of antiquities up to 3,200 years old, authorities said.

It was the second major museum theft in as many months in debt-crippled Greece, and a culture ministry unionist said spending cuts have compromised security at hundreds of museums and ancient sites across the country. With unemployment at 21 percent and Greece’s economy in its fifth year of recession, crime, poverty and homeless rates also have been increasing.

Friday’s robbers targeted the museum of the ancient Games at Olympia, a few hundred yards (meters) away from the world heritage site’s main museum that contains priceless statues and bronze artifacts excavated at the holiest sanctuary of ancient Greece.

Officials said 65 artifacts were stolen by the robbers, who tied up the only site guard, a 48-year-old woman.

Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos submitted his resignation after the morning robbery, but it was unclear whether it had been accepted by Prime Minister Lucas Papademos. Geroulanos traveled on Friday to ancient Olympia, some 210 miles (340 kilometers) southwest of Athens.

“This is a very sad day … a tragedy,” ministry Secretary-General Lina Mendoni said.

Police in Olympia and neighboring regions set up roadblocks for the thieves, who are believed to have escaped in a car driven by an accomplice, while a police helicopter combed the area and special investigators were rushed in from Athens.

“According to the results of the investigation so far, unknown persons, this morning, at about 07:34 a.m., immobilized the guard of the museum and removed bronze and clay objects from the displays, as well as a gold ring,” a police statement said.

A culture ministry official said the stolen antiquities dated from the 9th to the 4th centuries B.C., apart from the seal-ring which dates to Late Bronze Age Mycenaean times and was found in another part of southern Greece.

“They took small objects made of bronze and pottery — figurines, vases and lamps — and the ring,” the official said. “The artifacts were behind reinforced glass panels which fracture like a car windscreen, and the thieves grabbed whatever small objects they could reach through the holes they opened.” Continued…

A spokesman for museum guards urged emergency government action to protect historic sites and museums, warning that spending cuts taken to save the country from bankruptcy have eroded security.

“The cutbacks imposed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have hurt our cultural heritage, which is also the world’s heritage” said Yiannis Mavrikopoulos, head of the culture ministry museum and site guards’ union.

“There are no funds for new guard hirings,” he said. “There are 2,000 of us, and there should be 4,000, while many have been forced to take early retirement ahead of the new program of layoffs. We face terrible staff shortages. As a result, our monuments and sites don’t have optimum protection — even though guards are doing their very best to protect our heritage.

Officials said the robbers seemed to have poor information on the museum, asking the guard where they could get golden wreaths and a valuable stamp collection — which are not part of the display.

“They seem to have operated more as if they were carrying out a holdup” rather than a professional museum heist, the ministry official told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation.

The ancient Olympics were the most important sporting festival in ancient Greece, held every four years and lasting up to five days. They started in 776 B.C. and lasted until A.D. 394 when Roman emperor Theodosius abolished the festival, deeming it pagan. The site hosted an Olympic event during the Athens 2004 Games, when the shot-put was held in the ancient stadium.

The flame for each modern Olympics is lit in a special ceremony at ancient Olympia — and the ceremony for the London Games will be held there on May 10.

Olympia Mayor Efthimios Kotzas urged authorities to improve security.

“The level of security is indeed lacking,” Kotzas told state-run NET television. “These are treasures. A piece of world heritage has been lost, thanks to these thieves. … I think (authorities) should have been more mindful and the security should have been more serious.”

Friday’s robbery is the second major museum theft in the past two months in Greece. In January, thieves made off with art works by 20th-century masters Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian from the National Gallery in one of the best-guarded areas of central Athens. Continued…

In that pre-dawn heist, the burglars also took a pen and ink drawing of a religious scene by Italian 16th-century painter Guglielmo Caccia. As they fled, thieves abandoned a fourth work by Mondrian. No arrests have been made.

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Museum robbed at Greece's Ancient Olympia

Posted on 17th February 2012 in The monuments of world

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Two masked gunmen stormed into a small museum at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southern Greece on Friday, smashing display cases with hammers and making off with dozens of antiquities up to 3,200 years old, authorities said.

It was the second major museum theft in as many months in debt-crippled Greece, and a culture ministry unionist said spending cuts have compromised security at hundreds of museums and ancient sites across the country. With unemployment at 21 percent and Greece’s economy in its fifth year of recession, crime, poverty and homeless rates also have been increasing.

Friday’s robbers targeted the museum of the ancient Games at Olympia, a few hundred yards (meters) away from the world heritage site’s main museum, which contains priceless statues and bronze artifacts excavated at the holiest sanctuary of ancient Greece.

Police said about 60 artifacts were stolen by the robbers, who tied up the only site guard, a 48-year-old woman.

Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos submitted his resignation after the morning robbery, but it was unclear whether it had been accepted by Prime Minister Lucas Papademos. Geroulanos traveled on Friday to ancient Olympia, some 210 miles (340 kilometers) southwest of Athens.

“This is a very sad day … a tragedy,” ministry Secretary-General Lina Mendoni said.

Police in Olympia and neighboring areas set up roadblocks, while special investigators were rushed in from Athens.

“According to the results of the investigation so far, unknown persons, this morning, at about 07:34 a.m., immobilized the guard of the museum and removed bronze and clay objects from the displays, as well as a gold ring,” a police statement said.

A culture ministry official said the stolen antiquities dated from the 9th to the 4th centuries B.C., apart from the seal-ring which dates to Late Bronze Age Mycenaean times and was found in another part of southern Greece.

“They took small objects made of bronze and pottery — figurines, vases and lamps — and the ring,” the official said. “The artifacts were behind reinforced glass panels which fracture like a car windscreen, and the thieves grabbed whatever small objects they could reach through the holes they opened.”

A spokesman for museum guards urged emergency government action to protect historic sites and museums, warning that spending cuts taken to save the country from bankruptcy have eroded security.

“The cutbacks imposed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have hurt our cultural heritage, which is also the world’s heritage” said Yiannis Mavrikopoulos, head of the culture ministry museum and site guards’ union.

“There are no funds for new guard hirings,” he said. “There are 2,000 of us, and there should be 4,000, while many have been forced to take early retirement ahead of the new program of layoffs. We face terrible staff shortages. As a result, our monuments and sites don’t have optimum protection — even though guards are doing their very best to protect our heritage.

Officials said the robbers seemed to have poor information on the museum, asking the guard where they could get golden wreaths and a valuable stamp collection — which are not part of the display.

“They seem to have operated more as if they were carrying out a holdup” rather than a professional museum heist, the ministry official told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation.

The ancient Olympics were the most important sporting festival in ancient Greece, held every four years and lasting up to five days. They started in 776 B.C. and lasted until A.D. 394 when Roman emperor Theodosius abolished the festival, deeming it pagan. The site hosted an Olympic event during the Athens 2004 Games, when the shot-put was held in the ancient stadium.

The flame for each modern Olympics is lit in a special ceremony at ancient Olympia — and the ceremony for the London Games will be held there on May 10.

Olympia Mayor Efthimios Kotzas urged authorities to improve security.

“The level of security is indeed lacking,” Kotzas told state-run NET television. “These are treasures. A piece of world heritage has been lost, thanks to these thieves. … I think (authorities) should have been more mindful and the security should have been more serious.”

Friday’s robbery is the second major museum theft in the past two months in Greece. In January, thieves made off with art works by 20th-century masters Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian from the National Gallery in one of the best-guarded areas of central Athens.

In that pre-dawn heist, the burglars also took a pen and ink drawing of a religious scene by Italian 16th-century painter Guglielmo Caccia. As they fled, thieves abandoned a fourth work by Mondrian. No arrests have been made.

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Honor Flight for area WWII Veterans

Posted on 16th February 2012 in The monuments of world

Updated: Wednesday, 15 Feb 2012, 11:49 PM EST
Published : Wednesday, 15 Feb 2012, 11:26 PM EST

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – Their mission is to send as many World War Two veterans on a trip of a lifetime.

But they’re still a few thousand dollars short of their goal.

In April, veterans from Tippecanoe County will be leaving on an Honor Flight to Washington D.C. to see the World War II memorial and other monuments at our nation’s capitol.

Many Gold Star mothers and fathers whose sons died serving our country, are a part of the Greater Lafayette’s Honor Flight Network, and are helping organize the area’s first Honor Flight.

Gold Star mother, Pam Mow, said so far they’ve raised nearly $58,000 but are still short about $7,000 to send nearly 100 local vets on this flight.

She said while its an honor to help organize this Honor Flight, she said the veteran’s are even more excited for this once in a lifetime trip.

“They are so excited and some of them say this is the best thing they’ll ever be able to do in their life. The sad thing is that they’re aged and we need to get them out there in this lifetime because this is the end of their life and we really want to make sure we get them out there,” Gold Star Mother, Pam Mow said.

To Donate Send a Check to:

Lafayette Honor Flight
P.O Box 275
Lafayette, IN 47902

Or donate online at:  http://lafayettegoldstarmothers.org/
 

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Regina company uses barcodes to link gravestones to memorial information on web

Posted on 15th February 2012 in The monuments of world

VANCOUVER – If you visit Edouard Garneau‘s grave in Seattle, you’ll see the usual bits of information etched into his bench-style headstone — his name, when he was born, and the date that he died last August at the age of 78.

And you’ll also find a small square barcode, known as a QR code, next to his name. Scan it with a smartphone, and you’ll be taken to a detailed online obituary and a photo gallery featuring Garneau, his family and even a picture of him posing with talk show host Jay Leno.

“I just think it’s a wonderful thing when someone who knows Ed goes on there — it brings someone who’s gone a little closer,” says his 76-year-old wife, Faye Garneau.

“I’m going to have one when I go, only I’m going to write it before I go,” she adds with a laugh, “so I can get everything I want on it.”

Gravestones are the latest use for QR codes, complex barcodes that can link smartphones with the web. The Seattle-based company that produced Garneau’s grave marker made headlines last year for becoming one of the first in North America to offer the technology, and now a Canadian company has become what it believes is the first in this country to follow suit.

Remco Memorials, based in Regina with offices across Western Canada, introduced its QR code system in December, offering to print the barcodes onto rugged vinyl stickers and attaching them to grave markers. Once scanned with a compatible smartphone, a visitor is taken to either an online obituary hosted by Remco or another website, such as a memorial Facebook page.

Company president Dave Reeson says he hasn’t sold any of the QR code headstones yet — the frozen ground of Western Canadian winters means many people wait until the spring to purchase grave markers — but he says there’s been considerable interest from people searching for a unique way to memorialize their loved ones.

“There’s only so much you can say on a cemetery monument; you can say so much more using this technology,” says Reeson.

“What has tweaked the interest of our consumers is that we’re taking a fairly traditional profession and we’re using the leading-edge technology to add something to it.”

Remco’s QR codes add $75 to the cost of a grave marker, which can run anywhere from a few hundred dollars to many thousands.

As with most forms of technology, Reeson knows the QR code, the websites they link to and the phones that scan them likely won’t be around forever — a problem he’s addressed by making the barcodes removable.

“It was part of our thought process, and I would say the application of QR code technology may only be with us for a period of years,” says Reeson.

“The temporary nature of the technology drove us to use vinyl, as opposed to permanently engraving that QR code in the granite.”

Technology has slowly been making its way into the grieving process, with online obituaries and memorial websites now commonplace.

Some cemeteries offer smartphone apps with databases of graves and maps to find them. Others allow users to plot their family member’s grave using GPS technology and then share the location with others.

For David Quiring, whose company Quiring Monuments made Edouard Garneau’s QR-enabled headstone, incorporating the web into how people remember the dead opens up a world of possibilities, whether it’s through QR codes or whatever technology replaces them.

“Who’s to say how long QR codes will be around? But there will be other ways to connect with information on the web for many years,” says Quiring.

“We’re putting stuff on that website that we couldn’t possibly carve on the monument. It’s much more robust memorialization than we’ve ever been able to do.”

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Sky Poker's Cardstacker Challenge Landmark Build Begins as Guinness World Record Holder Bryan Berg Prepares to Rebuild …

Posted on 15th February 2012 in The monuments of world

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM–(Marketwire -02/15/12)- It took just seven days to build Rome so Sky Poker are giving Bryan ‘The Cardstacker’ Berg exactly the same amount of time to deck out his gravity-defying playing card masterpiece. Sky Poker’s highly anticipated Cardstacker Challenge, which sees the Guinness World Record Holder build a UK landmark entirely out of freestanding playing cards at Aspers Casino, Stratford, has reached exciting new heights as the votes are in! The public have spoken, and Bryan Berg will be rebuilding Big Ben and Parliament at an impressive 14 feet wide and 7 1/2 feet tall, solely out of playing cards, with no tape, no glue, and no tricks! Sky Poker, the UK’s leading online poker firm, can announce that Aspers Casino is now a construction zone, as men (one man) are at work. The build has begun!

Big Ben and Parliament were up against some of the UK’s finest monuments, but the iconic Thames-side vista won the hearts of voters all over the country. This win is convenient for The Cardstacker himself, who can take a short trip to Embankment for inspiration, before heading back to nearby Stratford.

The build takes place in Aspers Casino near Stratford’s trendy Olympic village. Watch as one of London’s most historic landmarks comes to life in the fashionable East End.


Where: Aspers Casino
Live Build
When: 2-10pm, 15 - 22 February 2012
Exhibition
22-26 February 2012
Knockdown
27 February 2012
(All visitors must be over 18)

The Cardstacker Challenge Landmark Build celebrates Sky Poker’s Play the Nation event.

The build reaches a climax on 27 February 2012 as the Cardstacker’s creation faces The Knockdown! Visit the Sky Poker Facebook Page to find out all latest details about the demolition.

Has The Cardstacker met his biggest challenge yet? Guests aged 18 and over are invited to see Bryan Berg building live daily at Aspers Casino Westfield Stratford City, 312 The Loft, Montfichet Road, Olympic Park, London.

About SkyPoker.com

Sky Poker is the British Sky Broadcasting’s online poker division, which allows users to play poker online on their website, and screens selected hands from various tournaments and cash games on Sky Poker TV, allowing players on the site to become the stars of the TV channel. Sky Poker focuses on UK poker players, with all play at the tables in pounds rather than dollars, as well as its own Sky Poker Tour around the country.

Sky Poker is licensed and regulated by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC).

About Cardstacker Bryan Berg

Guinness World Record Holder for the Tallest House of Freestanding Playing Cards since 1992, cardstacker Bryan Berg also created the original Guinness World Record for the Largest House of Freestanding Playing Cards in 2004. Since age 17, Berg has been commissioned to break his own records more than a dozen times. His most recent tallest tower stood 26 feet, and his most recent largest contained 219,000 cards and required 44 days to construct. He continues to hold both records. Berg uses no tape, no glue, no folding, and no other tricks in his structures – just freestanding playing cards. Using a grid technique informed by patterns found in nature, his cardstacking has been tested in an engineering lab to support more than 660 pounds per square foot. Berg is trained as an architect, and earned a Master in Design Studies from Harvard. Cardstacking is Berg’s full-time job. He has travelled throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa building projects for science and art museums, television, and special events.

About Aspers Casino

Aspers is a high quality and upscale British casino operator. A joint venture between the Aspinall family and Crown Limited, one of the world’s leading gaming companies, Aspers Westfield Stratford City is the first of its kind to open in the UK. Open 24 hours per day, 364 days of the year, all guests over 18 are welcome. Aspers is a socially responsible game operator.

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