Friday 31 August 2018

MARY ANN NICHOLS: JACK THE RIPPER'S FIRST VICTIM

A sketch showing the Whitechapel Murders victims
Yesterday, The Grandma finished her Intermediate Language Practice manual but tomorrow, she's going to start a new one: First Certificate Language Practice.

Today, she has done a little pause in her grammar studies but she has remembered the figure of Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, who was the first victim of Jack The Ripper and was killed on a day like today in 1888.

Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols (26 August 1845-31 August 1888) was one of the Whitechapel murder victims. Her death has been attributed to the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack The Ripper, who is believed to have killed and mutilated at least five women in the Whitechapel area of London from late August to early November 1888.

Mary Ann was born to locksmith Edward Walker and his wife Caroline on 26 August 1845, in Dean Street in London. On 16 January 1864 she married William Nichols, a printer's machinist, and between 1866 and 1879, the couple had five children: Edward John, Percy George, Alice Esther, Eliza Sarah, and Henry Alfred. Their marriage broke up in 1880 or 1881 because of disputed causes. Her father accused William of leaving her after he had an affair with the nurse who had attended the birth of their final child, though Nichols claimed to have proof that their marriage had continued for at least three years after the date alleged for the affair. He maintained that his wife had deserted him and was practising prostitution. Police reports say they separated because of her drunken habits.

More information: Casebook: Jack the Ripper

Legally required to support his estranged wife, William Nichols paid her an allowance of five shillings a week until 1882, when he heard that she was working as a prostitute; he was not required to support her if she was earning money through illicit means. Nichols spent most of her remaining years in workhouses and boarding houses, living off charitable handouts and her meagre earnings as a prostitute. She lived with her father for a year or more but left after a quarrel; her father stated he had heard she had subsequently lived with a blacksmith named Drew in Walworth

Whitechapel, London, 1888
In early 1888, the year of her death, she was placed in the Lambeth workhouse after being discovered sleeping rough in Trafalgar Square, and in May left the workhouse to take a job as a domestic servant in Wandsworth.

Unhappy in that position, she was an alcoholic and her employer, Mr Cowdry, and his wife, were teetotallers, she left two months later, stealing clothing worth three pounds ten shillings.  At the time of her death, Nichols was living in a Whitechapel common lodging house in Spitalfields, where she shared a room with a woman named Emily "Nelly" Holland.

At about 23:00 on 30 August, Nichols was seen walking the Whitechapel Road; at 00:30 on 31 August she was seen to leave a pub in Brick Lane, Spitalfields.

More information: Historical Events

An hour later, she was turned out of 18 Thrawl Street as she was lacking the fourpence required for a bed, implying by her last recorded words that she would soon earn the money on the street with the help of a new bonnet she had acquired.

She was last seen alive standing at the corner of Osborn Street and Whitechapel Road at approximately 02:30, one hour before her death, by her roommate, Emily Holland. To Holland, Nichols claimed she had earned enough money to pay for her bed three times that evening, but had repeatedly spent the money on alcohol.

A meat cart driver named Charles Allen Lechmere, who also used the name Charles Cross, claimed to have discovered Mary Ann Nichols lying on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck's Row, since renamed Durward Street, Whitechapel at 3:40 AM, about 150 yards from the London Hospital and 100 yards from Blackwall Buildings. Her skirt was raised.
 
Jack The Ripper in the press
Another passing cart driver on his way to work, Robert Paul, approached and saw Lechmere kneeling over the body. Lechmere called him over. He expressed his opinion that she was dead, but Paul was uncertain and thought she might simply be unconscious.

They pulled her skirt down to cover her lower body, and went in search of a policeman. Upon encountering PC Jonas Mizen, Lechmere informed the constable: She looks to me to be either dead or drunk, but for my part, I believe she's dead. The two men then continued on their way to work, leaving Mizen to inspect Nichols' body.

As Mizen approached the body, PC John Neale came from the opposite direction on his beat and by flashing his lantern, called a third policeman, PC John Thain, to the scene.

More information: Huffington Post

As news of the murder spread, three horse slaughterers from a neighbouring knacker's yard in Winthrop Street, who had been working overnight, came to look at the body. None of the slaughterers, the police officers patrolling nearby streets, or the residents of houses alongside Buck's Row reported hearing or seeing anything suspicious before the discovery of the body.

PC Thain fetched surgeon Dr Henry Llewellyn, who arrived at 04:00 and decided she had been dead for about 30 minutes. Her throat had been slit twice from left to right and her abdomen mutilated with one deep jagged wound, several incisions across the abdomen, and three or four similar cuts on the right side caused by the same knife, estimated to be at least 15–20 cm long, used violently and downwards.  

Jack The Ripper's victim on The Illustrated Police News
Llewellyn expressed surprise at the small amount of blood at the crime scene, about enough to fill two large wine glasses, or half a pint at the most. His comment led to the supposition that Nichols was not killed where her body was found, but the blood from her wounds had soaked into her clothes and hair, and there was little doubt that she had been killed at the crime scene by a swift slash to the throat. Death would have been instantaneous, and the abdominal injuries, which would have taken less than five minutes to perform, were made by the murderer after she was dead. 

When a person is killed, further wounds to their body do not always result in a large amount of blood loss. When the body was lifted a mass of congealed blood, in PC Thain's words, lay beneath the body.

As the murder had occurred in the territory of the Bethnal Green Division of the Metropolitan Police, it was initially investigated by the local detectives, inspectors John Spratling and Joseph Helson, who had little success. 

More information: All That's Interesting

Elements of the press linked the attack on Nichols to two previous murders, those of Emma Elizabeth Smith and Martha Tabram, and suggested the killing might have been perpetrated by a gang, as in the case of Smith. The Star newspaper instead suggested a single killer was the culprit and other newspapers took up their storyline. Suspicions of a serial killer at large in London led to the secondment of Detective Inspectors Frederick Abberline, Henry Moore and Walter Andrews from the Central Office at Scotland Yard.

Although Llewellyn had speculated that the attacker could have been left-handed, he later expressed doubt over this initial thought, but the belief that the killer was left-handed endured.

The Grandma in Whitechapel, London
Rumours that a local character called Leather Apron could have been responsible for the murder were investigated by the police, even though they noted there is no evidence against him

Imaginative descriptions of Leather Apron, using crude Jewish stereotypes, appeared in the press, but rival journalists dismissed these as a mythical outgrowth of the reporter's fancy. John Pizer, a Polish Jew who made footwear from leather, was known by the name Leather Apron and was arrested despite a lack of evidence. He was soon released after the confirmation of his alibis. Pizer successfully obtained monetary compensation from at least one newspaper that had named him as the murderer.

After several adjournments, to allow the police to gather further evidence, the inquest concluded on 24 September. On the available evidence, Coroner Baxter found that Nichols was murdered at just after 3 a.m. where she was found.


More information: PRI

In his summing up, he dismissed the possibility that her murder was connected with those of Smith and Tabram since the lethal weapons were different in those cases, and neither of the earlier cases involved a slash to the throat. However, by the time the inquest into Nichols' death had concluded, another woman, Annie Chapman, had been murdered, and Baxter noted The similarity of the injuries in the two cases is considerable. The police investigations into the murders of Chapman and Nichols were merged.

The subsequent murders of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes the week after the inquest had closed, and that of Mary Jane Kelly on 9 November, were also linked by a similar modus operandi, and the murders were blamed by the press and public on a single serial killer, called Jack The Ripper.

More information: History


All English people have a fascination 
with Jack The Ripper. 
I don't know why, 
because it's so dreadful, 
but such a strange, 
endearing part of our culture. 
Morbid fascination sums it up.

Jane Goldman

Thursday 30 August 2018

'ELS VERDS': UNESCO INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE

The Grandma in Cal Figarot, Vilafranca
Vilafranca del Penedès is the capital of the county of the Alt Penedès in Catalonia. It is situated in the Penedès Depression on the left bank of the Foix River, and on the main axis of communication from Barcelona to Tarragona and València.

The town was founded in the middle of the 12th century as a result of the decline of Olèrdola, which had been until then the main local centre. It was established as the seat of a vegueria in 1304. The Corts were held in the town in 1218 under King Jaume I, and again in 1358–59 and in 1367. King Pere III El Cerimoniós died while staying at the royal palace in Vilafranca in 1285.

The gothic Church of Santa Maria, the royal palace (Palau Reial) and the Palau Baltà, are situated in the historic town centre. The Palau Reial, from the thirteenth century houses the town museum, with collections of archeology, paleontology, ornithology, ceramics and sacred art, and a Museum dedicated to Wine, the Vinseum. Other notable monuments include the Church of Sant Joan, the Convent of Sant Francesc and a number of old merchants' houses such as the Palau del Fraret, Palau Macià, the Casal dels Gomà, the Casal del Marquès d'Alfarràs and
Cal Figarot, Casa Via Raventós the headquarters of the Castellers de Vilafranca.

More information: Turisme Vilafranca

Vilafranca is a centre for the local wine industry, along with neighbouring Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. Other local industries include textiles, metallurgy, food processing and construction materials. It is also an important commercial centre.

On August, 30 Vilafranca celebrates Sant Fèlix, its Patron Saint Festival. This day is very important not only for Vilafranca but for all Castellers fans because the city invites the best Colles Castelleres (Human Towers Groups) to participate in the event. Castellers were inscribed in 2010 on the UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The local colla is Castellers de Vilafranca also known as Els Verds (The Greens) because of the colours of its shirt.

More information: Turisme Vilafranca

The Grandma has assisted to this wonderful event and has participated in it because it doesn't matter your size, your weigt or your force, everybody can participate in the construction of a castell or human tower.

During the travel to Vilafranca, The Grandma has finished her Intermediate Language Practice manual. The last lesson (Vocabulary 21) has talked about People and nothing better to do that participate in an international event like Sant Fèlix to be surrounded by the people of Vilafranca and its Castellers.

More information: People

The Castellers de Vilafranca is a cultural and sporting association whose main objective is to build castells also known as human towers. It has the status of a public-interest association. The group was founded in 1948 in response to the increased interest in human tower building in Vilafranca del Penedès, a Catalan tradition that has evolved since the 18th century Ball de Valencians, a dance from València.

The Grandma helps in the 3 de 10 castle
Nowadays, the Castellers de Vilafranca have about 400 active human tower building members of all ages, with no discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, sex or social status.

They share the common goal of building human towers, democratic values, cooperation and teamwork, a constant desire to surpass themselves, and a will to maintain a lead over a select and competitive group of rival human tower associations. The group’s headquarters is Cal Figarot, Casa Via Raventós, a house located in downtown Vilafranca del Penedès and specially adapted for human tower building activity.

The group is one of the most important organizations in Vilafranca del Penedès and has represented Catalan culture abroad numerous times. The association has more than five hundred official supporters, and has the support of several public and private institutions. 

In addition to hosting and participating in human tower exhibitions, it also organizes other cultural activities, such as small-scale concerts, a poetry contest, a massive bicycle event, a dominoes tournament, food events and a human tower school for kids.

The Castellers de Vilafranca’s efforts to preserve and promote popular Catalan culture have been recognized by the town of Vilafranca del Penedès, which awarded the group with the Medalla de la Vila (the town medal), and by the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan Government) with the Creu de Sant Jordi (Cross of Saint George).

More information: The Telegraph


Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. 
Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive.

Jamais Cascio

Wednesday 29 August 2018

SEARCHING THE LEGENDARY DRAGON OF BANYOLES

The Grandma is arriving to Banyoles
The Grandma wants to visit Banyoles. She has a meeting with Claire Fontaine, Joseph de Ca'th Lon and Tina Picotes.

Banyoles is a city located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia. The town is the capital of the Catalan county El Pla de l'Estany. It is most famous for the Lake of Banyoles, a natural lake located in a tectonic depression. It was the venue for the rowing events in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics Games


Banyoles is a very important place thanks to the Darder Museum, La Draga Achaeological Park and the Farga d’Aram, a mill where handmade paper is created.

If you visit Banyoles, before sailing along the lake, you must know the legend of the dragon. Later, it's your option if you want to continue sailing or you prefer staying at the ground to avoid this fierceous creature.

During the trip from Barcelona to Banyoles, The Grandma has been studying two new lessons of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Vocabulary 19 & 20).


Tina Picotes has already arrived to Banyoles. She’s in the cloister of Sant Esteve’s Monastery waiting the arrival of Joseph de Ca'th Lon, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma. She’s reading the ancient legend of the dragon of the lake...

Tina Picotes in Sant Esteve's Monastery
At the end of the 8th century, a fantastic creature, enourmous, scared the people of Banyoles. It lived in a cave between the lake and the town  known as 'Clot del Drac' nowadays. It was a cave scarved on the rocks. 

Some years later, this place was dried and it became in a large cultivation land, known popularly as 'La Daga'. It was in the north of the current city and to the left of the Besalú's road.

The monster was similar to the Prehistoric animals because of its giant measures and it was very horrible. It had all the body covered by spines of bones that helped it to protect itself. It had long wings and a pointed dorsal spine from the neck to the tail. It could expulse fire by its eyes and it had a bad-smelt breath. In fact, when it blew, the plants dried; the fountains were poisoned; the lands smelt badly and it infected diseases to animals and people. He also was always hungry and there were no animals near it because it was able to eat them with only one bite.

People were scared and Banyoles seemed a damn town. Its poor inhabitants lived with fear and they repeated crying:

-The dragon! The dragon!

Visiting the lake of Banyoles and searching the dragon
They had the home doors closed and all their animals protected because of the dragon that had devoured all people and animals that it had found in its way.

People left the town day by day and the little place became a desert. The population thought that they must arrive to a deal with the dragon and it demanded a child to be eaten. Every day, a child was offered, one day a boy another day a girl. It was horrible but it was the only way to keep the rest pf the population saved.


This story was listened by Charlemagne and his army. Many of his soldiers tried to fight against the dragon but they were eaten by the creature. Charlemagne tried to kill the dragon by himself but he lost his sword although saved his life. It was a miracle but the emperor realized that it was impossible to win with humans methods.


They needed a religious man and they found Saint Mer, an old eremite who accepted the proposal. He went to the dragon’s cave and started to pray. He took his cape and he threw it against the dragon which lost all its fury. Later, the eremite finished with the creature that had tortured the people of Banyoles.


Claire Fontaine wants to visit La Farga, an industrial building rectangular and gable roof located on the route of the main canal, south of the town of Banyoles. Originally only had two plants, disposal of industrial and material used as a dwelling. Built from slabs and blocks of travertine. Banyoles forge copper is mentioned in a document from 1685 where the mayor general of Catalonia granted the establishment of a forge copper.

Claire Fontaine at La Farga d'Aram, Banyoles
It was later extended and passed down to direct or indirect heirs until, in the late 19th century, the Escatllar family carried out its last conversion into a paper factory. The two activities coexisted until it was closed in the mid-20th century.

In 1983, the building passed from the Farga d’Aram to Banyoles Town Council, which has adapted the ground floor to producing handmade paper. It's a fantastic way to mix the ancient art of creating paper and the real need of recycling.

Sastres Paperers currently manages the use of this mill and produces completely traditional paper, but it also carries out activities and workshops for disseminating this profession and providing training in it, for private individuals, schools and/or groups.

More information: Sastres Paperers

After sailing along the lake, the four friends have visited La Draga Achaeological Park, an important  Neolithic village that Joseph de Ca'th Lon knows very well.

La Draga is located in one of the banks of the lake of Banyoles. Some important material, dated on the VI millennium BC, was found 20 years ago in this Neolithic village.

Joseph de Ca'th Lon visits La Draga, a Neolithic village
This site is exceptional for its preservation in an aquatic environment. Some wooden tools, basketry and pottery objects and other items related to the daily life of the community were discovered in perfect condition. La Draga is an exceptional example of the Neolithic period in Catalonia.

The archaeological park offers the opportunity to visit some of these huts have been rebuilt near the lake. There are workshops and activities that reproduce the life and activities of the Neolithic.

The inhabitants of La Draga belong to a group linked Cardial culture. These early farmers were Mediterranean have created new tools.

La Draga Neolithic site is the only one on the Iberian Peninsula have been recovered intact wooden handles like adzes, sickles, stems arrow, bows, spears, digging sticks, spindles, spoons, stirrers and wedges. It also found fragments of vessels of wood, baskets and plant ropes and numerous objects of personal adornment.


More information: Patrimoni GenCat


It makes a big difference to recycle.
It makes a big difference to use recycled products.
It makes a big difference to reuse things, 
to not use the paper cup and each time you do, 
that's a victory. 

Emily Deschanel

Tuesday 28 August 2018

SHANIA EILLEEN TWAIN: LIFE'S ABOUT TO GET GOOD

Shania Twain
Today, The Grandma is preparing new material for future English classes. Before this, she has been studying two more lessons of her Intermediate Language Practice (Vocabulary 17 & 18).

The Grandma loves country music and she wants to congratulate Shania Twain for her anniversary. She was born on a day like today in 1965 and she is one of the most beautiful and important voices of country pop music. It's difficult to choose only one song of her successful career but The Grandma remembers the first Shania's song which she listened some years ago, The Woman in Me, a masterpiece.


Shania Eilleen Twain (August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and among the best-selling music artists of all time. Her success garnered her several honorific titles including the Queen of Country Pop.

Raised in Timmins, Ontario, Twain pursued singing and songwriting from a young age before signing with Mercury Nashville Records in the early 1990s. Her self-titled debut studio album saw little commercial success upon release in 1993.

After collaborating with producer and later husband Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Twain rose to fame with her second studio album, The Woman in Me (1995), which brought her widespread success; it sold 20 million copies worldwide, spawned widely successful singles such as Any Man of Mine, and earned her a Grammy Award.

Shania Twain
Her third studio album, Come On Over (1997), became the best-selling studio album of all-time by a female act in any genre and the best-selling country album, selling nearly 40 million copies worldwide. 

Come On Over produced twelve singles, including You're Still the One, From This Moment On and Man! I Feel Like a Woman!, and earned Twain four Grammy Awards. Her fourth studio album, Up! (2002), was also certified Diamond in the United States.

In 2004, Twain retired from performing and began an indefinite hiatus from music, revealing years later that diagnoses with Lyme disease and dysphonia led to a severely weakened singing voice. She chronicled her vocal rehabilitation on the own miniseries Why Not? with Shania Twain in 2011 and released her first single in six years, Today Is Your Day, as well as publishing her autobiography, From This Moment On.
Twain returned to the concert stage the following year with an exclusive concert residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Shania: Still the One, which ran until 2014. In 2015, she launched the North American Rock This Country Tour, which was billed as her farewell tour. 

Twain released her fifth studio album and first in 15 years in 2017, Now, and embarked on the Shania Now Tour in 2018.

More information: Shania Twain

Twain has received five Grammy Awards, 27 BMI Songwriter Awards, stars on Canada's Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. According to the RIAA she is the only female artist in history to have three consecutive albums certified Diamond by the RIAA. Altogether, Twain is ranked as the 10th best-selling artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era.

After graduating from Timmins High in June 1983, Twain was eager to expand her musical horizons. After the demise of the band Longshot, Twain was approached by a cover band led by Diane Chase called Flirt and they toured all over Ontario.

Shania Twain with Céline Dion
Twain assembled a demo tape of her songs and her Huntsville manager set up a showcase for Twain to present her material to record executives. She caught the attention of a few labels, including Mercury Nashville Records, who signed her within a few months. During this time, she changed her name to Shania, which was said to be an Ojibwa word which means on my way.

Twain met producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange after he heard her original songs and singing from her debut album; he then offered to produce and write songs with her. They first met at Nashville's Fan Fair in June 1993 and quickly became close. They were married on December 28, 1993. Lange and Twain either wrote or co-wrote the songs that would form her second studio album, The Woman in Me.

Twain is a vegetarian and a devotee of Sant Mat, an Eastern spiritual philosophy. In 2009, she was reported as having the perfect face. The BBC reported on a study on this, led by the University of Toronto and the University of California, San Diego, which appeared in the journal Vision Research.

On May 15, 2008, it was announced that Twain and Lange were separating after Lange allegedly had an affair with Twain's best friend, Marie-Anne Thiébaud. Their divorce was finalized on June 9, 2010.

On December 20, 2010, it was revealed that Twain was engaged to Swiss Nestlé executive Frédéric Thiébaud, the ex-husband of Marie-Anne. They were married on January 1, 2011 in Rincón, Puerto Rico.

More information: The Guardian


Yes, you can lose somebody overnight, yes, 
your whole life can be turned upside down. 
Life is short. It can come and go like a feather in the wind. 

Shania Twain

Monday 27 August 2018

THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR CAPUCHIN IN SANT RAMON

The Grandma at the Capuchins lands, Sant Boi
The Grandma has returned to Barcelona after travelling along the Nile River. She has enjoyed the trip a lot and she must dedicate some days to put her photos and notes in order. It's impossible to choose only one memory of all the travel but she has learnt a lot of new information about mummies.

The Grandma has decided to go to the library to borrow a new book. She has chosen Rosemary Border's Ghost Stories, an interesting book full of stories of ghosts and paranormal activity. She has started reading the first chapter of the book.

After visiting the library, The Grandma has studied two new lesson of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Vocabulary 15 & 16).

More information: Places & Food and Drink

The Grandma has remembered an old story about the Capuchin Order which has something in common with the Ancient Egypt: mummification. It was a story written by Sylvia Lagarda-Mata and published in her fantastic books Fantasmes de Barcelona (Ghosts of Barcelona) and Misteris de Catalunya per passar por (Mysteries of Catalonia to have fear). The Grandma wants to explain that interesting story...

Old memories of Sant Ramon, 1924
In the moonlit nights, when all the surrounding woods remain silent, you can feel the somorous voices that sing Gregorian songs coming, along the winding path that goes from Sant Boi de Llobregat to the hermitage of Sant Ramon, the summit of Montbaig.

Suddenly, the procession stops on a bend. Barefoot, with its brown habit, the white cord at the waist and the hood covering their faces, the spectral friars move forward until they reach the garden square in front of the hermitage, now in shadows. And as soon as they begin to climb up the large stairway leading up to the front door, they disappear as mysteriously as they have appeared.

Their hesitating and uncertain step reminds us of the resurrectioned mummies...

And maybe that's what they are!


More information: Britannica

From the middle of the 16th century, the Capuchin Order developed a macabre funerary practice that consisted of mummifying the deceased friars. The method became so famous that it even gave its name: to be buried in the way of the Capuchin.


This religious order was born in 1520 in Italy, separated from the Franciscans. The communities were small, ten or twelve members, who lived with simplicity and austerity, preaching the Franciscan spirit of poverty, observing rigorous fastings and penances and taking care of the disadvantaged. His name comes from the long and sharp hood of his habit.

In Catalonia, the Capuchin Order arrived in 1578, by special request of the Consell de Cent. And they established convents in several cities and towns, where they still profess. Under the plant of the old convents of Girona, currently in the Museum of History of the City, and Figueres, now converted into an auditorium, the corpse dryers are still preserved.

Old memories of the old Psychiatric Hospital
The process of conserving the bodies of the deceased, perfected by the years of practice of the monks, consisted of the following: first, the bodies of the deceased brothers were placed in small underground cells called coladors, a kind of vertical niches with some banks of stone where the corpses were sitting, before covering the entrance.

For a couple of years, with the shortage of air and humidity, the bodies were dehydrating naturally, and the internal fluids were escorted by the holes that had been practiced in the banks. After this time, the individual tufts were demolished, the mummified bodies were removed, they were cleaned with vinegar, and they were allowed to dry outdoors.

More information: Capuchins

Finally, they were dressed in their habit and hanged in nearby units, along with other mummified monks. In this way, some macabre exhibition halls were created, gradually becoming one of the most important parts of the architecture of Capuchin convents. There they were contemplated and venerated by their alive brothers, as a reminder of the brevity of life and the need for captivity and humility.

In Sant Boi de Llobregat, the Capuchin Community was soon established: in 1579, they built a convent in the neighborhood of El Molí Nou, which they dedicated to the Visitation of the Virgin. But sixteen years later, for reasons of unhealthiness, the Provincial Government decided to close it. The building passed into the hands of another mendicant order, the Servants of Mary. After the 1835 dissolution, he was occupied by the brothers of Sant Joan de Déu, who established the famous mental health center today known as the Psychiatric Hospital.
 
Perhaps because of this, because they no longer have a room to rest for all eternity, the Capuchin Order of Sant Boi wake up at night, mummified, in the Baix Llobregat county.

In Palermo, Sicily, the Capuchin Order was very famous because of its methods of mummification.

More information: Palermo Catacombs


I was an anthropology major in college, 
and I've had a lifelong fascination 
with Egyptology, mummies, 
and all sorts of bizarre cultural practices.

Tess Gerritsen

Sunday 26 August 2018

GIZA & CAIRO: THE END OF THE MYSTERY ON THE NILE

The Grandma at Giza in the past
The trip is arriving to the end. The travel along the Nile River has been an incredible and unforgettable experience. Every member of the group has different favourite places to choose and to explain and they have edited some videos to remember their travel.

Joseph de Ca'th Lon loves Archaeology and he has chosen the Land of the Pharaohs as his best experience. For Tina Picotes and Claire Fontaine it's impossible to choose only one site and they prefer to remember every place they have visited. The Grandma is a fan of Saint George and she remembers with a special feeling the visit to the Copts and Saint George's churches.

They are living the lasts hours in Egypt and they're enjoying the wonderful pyramids of Giza and the incredible activity of the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Before finishing this amazing travel, The Grandma has studied two new chapters of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Vocabulary 13 & 14).


For The Grandma, it has been a very special travel because she wanted to discover the origins of Saint George, a very important figure for lots of communities and for their culture.


  
Giza is the third-largest city in Egypt and the capital of the Giza Governorate. It is located on the west bank of the Nile, 4.9 km southwest of central Cairo.

Giza's most famous land form and archaeological site, the Giza Plateau, holds some major monuments of Egyptian history, and is home to the Great Sphinx. Once thriving with the Nile that flowed right into the Giza Plateau, the pyramids of Giza were built overlooking the ancient Egyptian capital city of Memphis, across the river from modern day Cairo.


Joseph de Ca'th Lon & The Great Sphinx, Giza
The Giza Plateau is also home to Egyptian monuments such as the tomb of Pharaoh Djet of the First Dynasty, as well as that of Pharaoh Ninetjer of the Second Dynasty.

The Great Pyramid of Giza at one time was advocated (1884) as the location for the Prime Meridian, a reference point used for determining a base longitude. Giza lies less than 20 km north of Mn Nefer, Memphis, which means the beautiful wall in the ancient Egyptian language, and which was the capital city of the first unified Egyptian state since the days of Pharaoh Narmer.

Memphis was the ancient Pharaonic capital of the Old Kingdom. Its St. George cathedral is the episcopal see of the Coptic Catholic Eparchy of Giza.

The Giza pyramid complex is an archaeological site on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo. It includes the three Great Pyramids, Khufu/Cheops, Khafre/Chephren and Menkaure, the Great Sphinx, several cemeteries, a workers' village and an industrial complex. It is located in the Western Desert, approximately 9 km west of the Nile River at the old town of Giza, and about 13 km southwest of Cairo city centre.

More information: History

The pyramids, which have historically been common as emblems of ancient Egypt in the Western imagination, were popularised in Hellenistic times, when the Great Pyramid was listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is by far the oldest of the ancient Wonders and the only one still in existence.

The Pyramids of Giza consist of the Great Pyramid of Giza, also known as the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu and constructed c.2560 – c.2540 BC, the somewhat smaller Pyramid of Khafre or Chephren a few hundred meters to the south-west, and the relatively modest-sized Pyramid of Menkaure or Mykerinos a few hundred meters farther south-west.


The Grandma, Joseph & The Great Sphinx, Giza
The Great Sphinx lies on the east side of the complex. Current consensus among Egyptologists is that the head of the Great Sphinx is that of Khafre. Along with these major monuments are a number of smaller satellite edifices, known as queens pyramids, causeways and valley pyramids.

Khufu’s pyramid complex consists of a valley temple, now buried beneath the village of Nazlet el-Samman; basalt paving and nummulitic limestone walls have been found but the site has not been excavated. The valley temple was connected to a causeway which was largely destroyed when the village was constructed.


The causeway led to the Mortuary Temple of Khufu. From this temple the basalt pavement is the only thing that remains. The mortuary temple was connected to the king’s pyramid. The king’s pyramid has three smaller queen’s pyramids associated with it and five boat pits. The boat pits contained a ship, and the 2 pits on the south side of the pyramid still contained intact ships. One of these ships has been restored and is on display. Khufu's pyramid still has a limited collection of casing stones at its base. These casing stones were made of fine white limestone quarried from the nearby range.

More information: National Geographic

Khafre’s pyramid complex consists of a valley temple, the Sphinx temple, a causeway, a mortuary temple and the king’s pyramid. The valley temple yielded several statues of Khafre. Several were found in a well in the floor of the temple by Mariette in 1860. Others were found during successive excavations by Sieglin (1909–10), Junker, Reisner, and Hassan.


Khafre’s complex contained five boat-pits and a subsidiary pyramid with a serdab. Khafre's pyramid appears larger than the adjacent Khufu Pyramid by virtue of its more elevated location, and the steeper angle of inclination of its construction, it is, in fact, smaller in both height and volume. Khafre's pyramid retains a prominent display of casing stones at its apex.

Visiting The Great Sphinx, Giza
Menkaure’s pyramid complex consists of a valley temple, a causeway, a mortuary temple, and the king’s pyramid. The valley temple once contained several statues of Menkaure.

During the 5th Dynasty, a smaller ante-temple was added on to the valley temple. The mortuary temple also yielded several statues of Menkaure. The king’s pyramid has three subsidiary or queen’s pyramids. Of the four major monuments, only Menkaure's pyramid is seen today without any of its original polished limestone casing.

The Sphinx dates from the reign of king Khafre. During the New Kingdom, Amenhotep II dedicated a new temple to Hauron-Haremakhet and this structure was added onto by later rulers.

Khentkaus I was buried in Giza. Her tomb is located in the Central Field, near the valley temple of Menkaure. The pyramid complex of Queen Khentkaus includes: her pyramid, a boat pit, a valley temple and a pyramid town.


Most construction theories are based on the idea that the pyramids were built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place. The disagreements center on the method by which the stones were conveyed and placed and how possible the method was.

More information: Discover Magazine

In building the pyramids, the architects might have developed their techniques over time. They would select a site on a relatively flat area of bedrock, not sand, which provided a stable foundation. After carefully surveying the site and laying down the first level of stones, they constructed the pyramids in horizontal levels, one on top of the other.

For the Great Pyramid of Giza, most of the stone for the interior seems to have been quarried immediately to the south of the construction site. The smooth exterior of the pyramid was made of a fine grade of white limestone that was quarried across the Nile. These exterior blocks had to be carefully cut, transported by river barge to Giza, and dragged up ramps to the construction site. Only a few exterior blocks remain in place at the bottom of the Great Pyramid. During the Middle Ages, 5th century to 15th century, people may have taken the rest away for building projects in the city of Cairo.

The Grandma & Claire contemplate the pyramids
To ensure that the pyramid remained symmetrical, the exterior casing stones all had to be equal in height and width. 

Workers might have marked all the blocks to indicate the angle of the pyramid wall and trimmed the surfaces carefully so that the blocks fit together. During construction, the outer surface of the stone was smooth limestone; excess stone has eroded as time has passed.

The pyramids of Giza and others are thought to have been constructed to house the remains of the deceased Pharaohs who ruled over Ancient Egypt. A portion of the Pharaoh's spirit called his ka was believed to remain with his corpse. Proper care of the remains was necessary in order for the former Pharaoh to perform his new duties as king of the dead. It's theorized the pyramid not only served as a tomb for the Pharaoh, but also as a storage pit for various items he would need in the afterlife.  


The people of Ancient Egypt believed that death on Earth was the start of a journey to the next world. The embalmed body of the King was entombed underneath or within the pyramid to protect it and allow his transformation and ascension to the afterlife.

The sides of all three of the Giza pyramids were astronomically oriented to the north-south and east-west within a small fraction of a degree. The arrangement of the pyramids is a representation of the Orion constellation according to the disputed Orion Correlation Theory.


More information: UNESCO


When we find something new at Giza, 
we announce it to the world. 
The Sphinx and the Pyramids are world treasures. 
We are the guardian's of these treasures, 
but they belong to the world.

Zahi Hawass


Cairo is the capital of Egypt. The city's metropolitan area is one of the largest in Africa, the largest in the Middle East and the Arab world, and the 15th-largest in the world, and is associated with ancient Egypt, as the famous Giza pyramid complex and the ancient city of Memphis are located in its geographical area.


Located near the Nile Delta, modern Cairo was founded in 969 CE by the Fatimid Dynasty, but the land composing the present-day city was the site of ancient national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo.  

Tina Picotes in the market, Cairo
Cairo has long been a center of the region's political and cultural life, and is titled the city of a thousand minarets for its preponderance of Islamic architecture.

Cairo is located in northern Egypt, known as Lower Egypt, 165 kilometres south of the Mediterranean Sea and 120 kilometres west of the Gulf of Suez and Suez Canal. The city lies along the Nile River, immediately south of the point where the river leaves its desert-bound valley and branches into the low-lying Nile Delta region.

Until the mid-19th century, when the river was tamed by dams, levees, and other controls, the Nile in the vicinity of Cairo was highly susceptible to changes in course and surface level. 


More information: Lonely Planet

Over the years, the Nile gradually shifted westward, providing the site between the eastern edge of the river and the Mokattam highlands on which the city now stands. The land on which Cairo was established in 969, present-day Islamic Cairo, was located underwater just over three hundred years earlier, when Fustat was first built.

Low periods of the Nile during the 11th century continued to add to the landscape of Cairo; a new island, known as Geziret al-Fil, first appeared in 1174, but eventually became connected to the mainland. Today, the site of Geziret al-Fil is occupied by the Shubra district. The low periods created another island at the turn of the 14th century that now composes Zamalek and Gezira. Land reclamation efforts by the Mamluks and Ottomans further contributed to expansion on the east bank of the river.


Visiting the Salah El Din Citadel, Cairo
Because of the Nile's movement, the newer parts of the city, Garden City, Downtown Cairo, and Zamalek, are located closest to the riverbank. The areas, which are home to most of Cairo's embassies, are surrounded on the north, east, and south by the older parts of the city.  

Old Cairo, located south of the centre, holds the remnants of Fustat and the heart of Egypt's Coptic Christian community, Coptic Cairo. The Boulaq district, which lies in the northern part of the city, was born out of a major 16th-century port and is now a major industrial centre. 

The Citadel is located east of the city centre around Islamic Cairo, which dates back to the Fatimid era and the foundation of Cairo. While western Cairo is dominated by wide boulevards, open spaces, and modern architecture of European influence, the eastern half, having grown haphazardly over the centuries, is dominated by crowded tenements, and Islamic architecture.

More information: Ask Aladdin

Egyptians often refer to Cairo as Maṣr, the Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the city's importance for the country. Its official name al-Qāhirah  means the Vanquisher or the Conqueror, supposedly due to the fact that the planet Mars, an-Najm al-Qāhir, the Conquering Star, was rising at the time when the city was founded, possibly also in reference to the much awaited arrival of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu'izz who reached Cairo in 973 from Mahdia, the old Fatimid capital. The location of the ancient city of Heliopolis is the suburb of Ain Shams, Eye of the Sun.


Claire Fontaine in the Cairo Citadel
The Coptic name of the city is Kashromi which means man breaker which is akin to Arabic al-Qāhirah . Sometimes the city is informally referred to as Kayro by people from Alexandria.

The area around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis that was the old capital of Egypt, had long been a focal point of Ancient Egypt due to its strategic location just upstream from the Nile Delta. However, the origins of the modern city are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium. 


Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was continuing to decline in importance, the Romans established a fortress town along the east bank of the Nile. This fortress, known as Babylon, was the nucleus of the Roman and then the Byzantine city and is the oldest structure in the city today. It is also situated at the nucleus of the Coptic Orthodox community, which separated from the Roman and Byzantine churches in the late 4th century.

More information: Britannica

Many of Cairo's oldest Coptic churches, including the Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a section of the city known as Coptic Cairo.

The Church of St. George is a Greek Orthodox church within Babylon Fortress in Coptic Cairo. It is part of the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of St George under the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa

The church dates back to the 10th century or earlier. The current structure was rebuilt following a 1904 fire, construction was finished in 1909. Since 2009, the monastery's hegumen has had the rank of bishop with title Bishop Babylonos.

The Grandma at the Church of Saint George, Cairo
St. George is the only round church in Egypt, but unlike the original Church of the Holy Sepulchre and its many imitators, such as Rome's Santa Stefano Rotondo and London's Temple Church, this is only for practical reasons, it is built atop the foundations of a Roman round tower.

Inside, the dark interior is heavy with incense and pierced by sunbeams that filter through its stained glass windows. A closed flight of steps leads down into the old Roman tower, once believed to be peopled by devils.


Next door, the Monastery of St. George is now the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. The monastery rarely admits tourists.


More information: Britannica

There are another Church of St. George and a Convent of St. George, the latter of which opens its chapel to visitors and has some English-speaking nuns. Both of these institutions are Coptic Orthodox.

The Church of Saint George is situated in the district of Old Cairo, is an area known as Coptic Cairo, the first settlement of Christians in central Egypt back in the 10th Century. The word Copt means Egyptian Christian.

The Grandma loves Saint George, Cairo
The Church of Saint George is located about 30 minutes from Downtown Cairo, Saint Georges Church sits in the heart of Old Coptic Cairo in the Old Cairo district. It is located amongst several other Churches in a private Christian community which has been established and preserved since the 10th Century.

The Church of Saint George, which is Greek Orthodox,was built by Athanasius during the reign of Ibn Marwan, Governor of Egypt, and was mentioned in the History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church and by Al-Maqrizi.

The church was destroyed by fire in the middle of the last century and later reconstructed without cupolas. The modern church, of the four pillar type, is without architectural interest, but the Qa’at Al-Irsan, the Nuptial Hall, which belong to the complex, is a small palace from the 13th/14th century measuring 15 by 12 meters. The hall contains beautiful tracery and carving reminiscent of ornamentation found in some Cairo mansions from the Mameluke Period.

Old Cairo is well and truly a fantastic part of Cairo where visitors can easily spend an entire day or more exploring the many ancient sites.

More information: Coptic Cairo

The Coptic area in particular is a place not to be missed, since it is home to many famous religious buildings, one of which is the delightful Church of St. George. In fact, many visitors believe that the Church of St. George is the most eye catching building in the area.

Dragon weather vane, Church of St. George, Cairo
The interior of the Greek Orthodox St. George church is accessed through the massive front doors. The interior of the church is renowned for its beautiful stained glass and the abundance of rich darkly stained wood. The closed stairs go down into the ruins of the older Roman tower.

There are some interesting places to visit in the Coptic area. The Coptic Museum; Hanging Church; Ben Ezra Synagogue; Church of St. Barbara and the Coptic St. George Church are all within easy walking distance of each other.

It's possible to ascend the steps along the Roman towers and see a relief of St. George slaying a dragon on the outer brickwork of the wall. Inside, the austere ancient artwork grace the church with depictions of St. George and his quest to defend Christianity.
 
 More information: Smithsonian


I love the Middle East. I love the colors and smells 
and cadence of Arabic spoken in the streets of Cairo. 
Kai Bird