Today, The Grandma has been talking by Meet with Joseph de Ca'th Lon, one of her closest friends.
Joseph loves Archaeology, and he has travelled to Israel to know more about the last discoveries that have been published in Science, talking about a Middle Pleistocene Homo from Nesher Ramla.
Nesher Ramla is an archaeologicaland palaeoanthropological site in southeastern Ramla, in the transition from the mountains of western Judea to the Mediterranean coastal plain, in central Israel.
Nesher Ramla is located in a limestone quarry owned by the cement company Nesher Israel and has been investigated since 2010. The site is a one-meter-thick karst funnel filled with sediment that was discovered and secured by the Israel Antiquities Authority when it was planned to extract the rock.
The cavity was used in the period from about 160,000 to 120,000 years ago, mainly through stone tools, as a place of residence for groups of nomadic people. A study published in 2021 reported the discovery of fossils of hominins with pronounced archaic features, on the basis of which they were not assigned to either Neanderthals or early Homo sapiens, but were called Nesher-RamlaHomo.
Complete qualitative and quantitative analyses of the parietal bones, jaw, and lower second molar revealed that this Homo group exhibits a distinctive combination of archaic and Neanderthal features. The discoverers believe that these specimens represent the last survivors of a Levantine Middle Pleistocenepaleodema that was probably involved in the evolution of MiddlePleistocene Homo in Europe and Asia.
Nesher Ramla Homo was an efficient hunter of large and small game, used firewood as fuel, cooked or roasted meat, and kept campfires.
These findings provide archaeological support for the characterization of cultural interactions between different human lineages during the Middle Palaeolithic,and suggest that the mixture between Middle Pleistocene Homo and archaic Homo sapiens had already occurred at that time.
Lithic analysis reveals that this Homo dominated stone tool production technologies previously known only to Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. The Levallois stone carving methods they used are indistinguishable from those of Homo sapiens of their time. The most likely explanation for such a close similarity is the cultural interactions between these two populations.
Today, The Grandma has returned to Begues to spend a wonderful day with her friend Montse. They have visited some of the most beautiful places in a village that has thousands of years of history to tell and hundreds of places, buildings and archaeological remains to display.
If you want to enjoy history, nature and some extraordinarily fantastic people, visit Begues,and you will discover how time stops and catches you and nature liberates you at the same time. It is always an unforgettable experience and a great pleasure to go to Begues.
First, Montse and The Grandma have visited the primitive church of SantCristòfol whose first reference to is a notarial document from the year 981, of which no remains are known. The characteristics of the facing of some walls made of large ashlars of red sandstone, found in archaeological excavations carried out in the sacristy, seem to correspond to the second Romanesque or transitional one (12th-13th centuries). They must not correspond, then, to the primitive temple of the ninth or tenth centuries, but to a later one, Romanesque, which has not been preserved either.
The fact that the church did not appear as a parish until the middle of the 13th century may indicate that it was formerly a church built by the community of smallholders in the area, but without the character of a parish, as the tax linked to the functions paid by all the inhabitants in the parish of Sant Miqueld'Eramprunyà and, in any case, to the lords of the castle as lords of the church.
The first mention of the existence of this parish with a rural notary is from 1264. A document from 1279 refers to the rector of Sant Cristòfol de Begues and in 1413 we have a first explicit mention of the rectory, because in the pastoral visit the repair of the rectory is demanded. It must be assumed, then, that the Romanesque temple became insufficient to cater for the growing number of attendees in the parish due, above all, to sixteenth-century French immigration.
Thus, between 1575 and 1579 this new church was built on what had been the parish cemetery. It is a nave church, with a polygonal apse and covered with very homogeneous Renaissance Gothic vaults. The most outstanding element is the Renaissance portal, with a triangular pediment supported by 2 columns, above which is the image of Saint Christopher and on the sides those of Saint George and Saint Michael the Archangel. The sundial on the cover dates from 1878, and corresponds to a 19th century renovation, at which time the red and yellow glazed flake roof that covers the bell tower must also be placed.
Later, Montse and The Grandma have visited La Rectoria. It is adjacent to the apse of the church and with the south façade facing south. It is a building with the appearance of a farmhouse, presided over by a porch that occupies the entire main façade. Until 1930, the old rectory was still the rector's house, and probably only on the ground floor did farmers live. It ceased to be used as such when the new church and rectory in the centre of the village was built in 1931, and later the old one was sold to Mr. Queralt, a person who actively participated in the arrangement of the road from Gavà to Begues in the 1940s.
La Rectoria is a building attached to the old church of Sant Cristòfol. It has its origins in the thirteenth century, having small several later reforms. The characteristic porticoes galleries on the façade must date from the 18th century.
For centuries the church and rectory were isolated in depopulation, until in 1828 the rector was allowed to parcel out the bad lands of the environment for economic and security reasons, thus beginning the suburb of La Rectoria.
The suburb of La Rectoria was set up from 1830 on the lands of the diocese in order to give protection and economic resources (censuses) to the rector who, until then, lived in the open, in a very vulnerable situation to the insecurity of the age. The houses on Carrer de Sant Cristòfol, Cal Traginer and Cal Fusteret were built during the 19th century, while Cal Gaietano could well be from the 18th century.
To the south of the church and next to the road to Gavà is Cal Paulo, a building with a square floor plan, three floors and a roof on four sides, following the classicist models starting to build in 1840 and completed in 1896. It was owned by the canon, and it seems that initially it was supposed to be a convent, but in fact throughout the twentieth century it was a farmhouse with its neighbourhood and various terraced sheds.
Finally, Montse and The Grandma have visited El Mur, a wonderful place located in a privileged environment. This viewpoint is an ideal place to enjoy the silence and contemplate a totally panoramic landscape of the south of the Baix Llobregat. It is a space dedicated to reflection, tranquillity and meditation. For this reason, it has been christened the Space of Silence.
The viewpoint includes a park with trails designed to stimulate the senses of sight, smell and hearing, with four sensory walks along the paths of the viewpoint. Colours, smells, contemplation and meditation are the four axes that guide these routes.
It has public benches, services and a material store to store the equipment needed to organize activities around meditation and contemplation.
One of the main attractions of the viewpoint is the paths that run just below the vaults of the entrance. You can walk along the paths until you reach the so-called viewpoint of the cave, from where you can see an extensive panorama of the Llobregat Delta.
Today, The Grandma is relaxing at home. She has been watching some films interpreted by one of her favourite actors, John Cusack, who is also a political activist, who was born on a day like today in 1966.
John Paul Cusack (June 28, 1966) is an Americanactor, producer, screenwriter, andpolitical activist.
He began acting in films during the 1980s and has since starred in more than 85 films, including Sixteen Candles (1984), Tapeheads (1988), Say Anything... (1989), Bullets over Broadway (1994), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Being John Malkovich (1999), High Fidelity (2000), Runaway Jury (2003), Igor (2008), 2012 (2009), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), The Frozen Ground (2013) and Maps tothe Stars (2014). He is the son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his older sisters are actresses Joan and Ann Cusack.
Cusack was born in 1966 in Evanston, Illinois. He was born into an Irish Catholic family, the son of writer-actor-producer and documentary filmmaker Richard J. Cusack (1925–2003), originally from New York City, and Ann Paula Nancy Cusack, originally from Massachusetts, a former mathematics teacher and political activist. John's siblings Ann and Joan are also actors. Cusack has two other siblings, Bill and Susie.
The family moved from Manhattan, New York, to Illinois and were friends of activist Philip Berrigan. Cusack graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1984, where he met Jeremy Piven, and spent a year at New York University before dropping out, saying that he had too much fire in his belly.
Cusack began acting in films in the early 1980s. He made his breakout role in Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing (1985). He also starred in Cameron Crowe's directorial debut film, Say Anything... (1989).
Cusack played a con artist in Stephen Frears' 1990 neo-noir film The Grifters. After establishing New Crime Productions, Cusack co-wrote the screenplay for and starred in George Armitage's crime film Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), in which he played an assassin who goes to his 10-year-high school reunion to win back his high school sweetheart.
In Spike Jonze's fantasy film Being John Malkovich (1999), Cusack played a puppeteer who finds a portal leading into the mind of the eponymous actor, John Malkovich. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Director (Jonze), Best Original Screenplay (Charlie Kaufman) and Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Keener).
Cusack was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor-Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in High Fidelity (2000), based on Nick Hornby's novel.
In Roland Emmerich's disaster film 2012 (2009), he played a struggling novelist who attempts to survive the apocalypse and save mankind. Cusack played Edgar Allan Poe in James McTeigue's biopic film The Raven (2012) and starred in David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars (2014).
Later, he starred in video on demand films, including The Factory, The Numbers Station, The Frozen Ground, Drive Hard (2014), The Prince (2014), Reclaim (2014), Cell (2016), Arsenal (2017), Blood Money (2017) and Singularity (2017).
In 2014, Cusack criticized Hollywood saying the mega-corporations have stepped in with 50-producer movies, franchises being king, and stars being used as leverage. He called Hollywood, a whorehouse and people go mad.
Between 2005 and 2009, Cusack wrote blogs for The Huffington Post, which included an interview with Naomi Klein. He voiced his opposition to the war in Iraq and the Bush administration, calling the government's world-view depressing,corrupt, unlawful, and tragically absurd. He also appeared in a June 2008 MoveOn.org advertisement, where he made the claim that George W. Bush and John McCain have the same governing priorities.
Cusack criticized the Obama administration for its drone policy in the Middle East and its support of the National Defense Authorization Act, and became one of the initial supporters of the Freedom of the Press Foundation in 2012.
In June 2015, he stated in an interview with The Daily Beast that when you talk about drones, the American Empire, the NSA, civil liberties, attacks on journalism and whistleblowers, (Obama) is as bad or worse than Bush. However, he later scolded the publication for misquoting him in order to make an interesting headline.
In 2015, Cusack, Daniel Ellsberg and Arundhati Roy met Edward Snowden, a fugitive from the US because of his leaks of classified information, at a Moscow hotel room. This meeting was converted into a book co-authored with Roy titled Things That Can and Cannot Be Said. The book is mainly a transcript of the conversation between Snowden, Roy, and Cusack, with photos and illustrations as well as a list of references.
When applied to politics and taken to its extreme, kitsch is the mask of death. Fascism was all aesthetics There was no core principle to it. There was no truth to it.
Today, The Grandma is relaxing at home. She has been reading one of her favourite books, Sailing AloneAround the World, written by JoshuaSlocum the adventurer from Nova Scotia, who completed the first solo circumnavigation of the globe on a day like today in 1898 and who disappear eleven years after aboard the Spray,his boat, when he was beginning a new adventure.
Joshua Slocum (February 20, 1844-on or shortly after November 14, 1909) was the first person to sail single-handedly around the world.
He was a Nova Scotian-born, naturalized American seaman and adventurer, and a noted writer. In 1900, he wrote a book about his journey, Sailing Alone Around the World, which became an international best-seller. He disappeared in November 1909 while aboard his boat, the Spray.
Joshua Slocum was born on February 20, 1844 in Mount Hanley, AnnapolisCounty, Nova Scotia (officially recorded as Wilmot Station), a community on the North Mountain within sight of the Bay of Fundy. The fifth of eleven children of John Slocombe and Sarah Jane Slocombe née Southern, Joshua descended, on his father's side, from a Quaker, known as John the Exile who left the United States shortly after 1780 because of his opposition to the American War for Independence. Part of the Loyalist migration to Nova Scotia, the Slocombes were granted 2.0 km2 of farmland in Nova Scotia's Annapolis County.
He made several attempts to run away from home, finally succeeding, at age fourteen, by hiring on as a cabin boy and cook on a fishing schooner, but he soon returned home.
In 1860, after the birth of the eleventh Slocombe (Joshua changed the spelling of his last name later in his life) child and the subsequent death of his kindly mother, Joshua, then sixteen, left home for good. He and a friend signed on at Halifax as ordinary seamen on a merchant ship bound for Dublin, Ireland.
From Dublin, he crossed to Liverpool to become an ordinary seaman on the British merchant ship Tangier (also recorded as Tanjore), bound for China. During two years as a seaman, he rounded Cape Horn twice, landed at Batavia (now Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies, and visited the Maluku Islands, Manila, Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, and San Francisco. While at sea, he studied for the Board of Trade examination, and, at the age of eighteen, he received his certificate as a fully qualified Second Mate. Slocum quickly rose through the ranks to become a Chief Mate on British ships transporting coal and grain between the British Isles and San Francisco.
In 1865, he settled in San Francisco, became an American citizen, and, after a period of salmon fishing and fur trading in the Oregon Territory of the northwest, he returned to the sea to pilot a schooner in the coastal trade between San Francisco and Seattle. His first blue-water command, in 1869, was the barque Washington, which he took across the Pacific, from San Francisco to Australia, and home via Alaska.
He sailed for thirteen years out of the port of San Francisco, transporting mixed cargo to China, Australia, the Spice Islands, and Japan. Between 1869 and 1889, he was the master of eight vessels, the first four of which (the Washington, the Constitution, the Benjamin Aymar and the Amethyst) he commanded in the employ of others. Later, there would be four others that he himself owned, in whole or in part.
While in the Philippines, in 1874, under a commission from a British architect, Slocum organized native workers to build a 150-ton steamer in the shipyard at Subic Bay. In partial payment for the work, he was given the ninety-ton schooner, Pato, the first ship he could call his own.
The Slocum family continued on their
next ship, the 326-ton Aquidneck.
In 1884, Slocum's wife Virginia
became ill aboard the Aquidneck in Buenos Aires and died.
After sailing
to Massachusetts, Slocum left his three youngest children, Benjamin
Aymar, Jessie, and Garfield in the care of his sisters; his oldest son
Victor continued as his first mate.
After being stranded in Brazil with his wife and sons Garfield and Victor, he started building a boat that could sail them home. He used local materials, salvaged materials from the Aquidneck and worked with local workers. The boat was launched on May 13, 1888, the very day slavery was abolished in Brazil, and therefore the ship was given the name Liberdade, the Portuguese word for freedom.
In the northern winter of 1893/94, Slocum undertook what he described as, at that time, being the hardest voyage that I have ever made, without any exception at all. It involved delivering the steam-powered torpedo boat Destroyer from the east coast of the United States to Brazil.
In Fairhaven, Massachusetts, he rebuilt the 11.20 m gaff rigged sloop oyster boat named Spray.
On April 24, 1895, he set sail from Boston, Massachusetts. In his famous book, Sailing Alone Around the World, now considered a classic of travel literature.
After an extended visit to his boyhood home at Brier Island and visiting old haunts on the coast of Nova Scotia, Slocum departed North America at Sambro Island Lighthouse near Halifax, Nova Scotia on July 3, 1895.
More than three years later, on June 27, 1898, he returned to Newport, Rhode Island, having circumnavigated the world, a distance of more than74,000 km.
Slocum's return went almost unnoticed. The Spanish-American War, which had begun two months earlier, dominated the headlines. After the end of major hostilities, many American newspapers published articles describing Slocum'samazing adventure.
In 1899, he published his account of the epic voyage in Sailing Alone Around the World, first serialized in The Century Magazine and then in several book-length editions. Reviewers received the slightly anachronistic age-of-sail adventure story enthusiastically.
Slocum's book deal was an integral part of his journey: his publisher had provided Slocum with an extensive on-board library, and Slocum wrote several letters to his editor from distant points around the globe.
Slocum's Sailing AloneAround the World won him widespread fame in the English-speaking world. He was one of eight invited speakers at a dinner in honour of Mark Twain in December 1900.
Slocum hauled the Spray up the Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York for the Pan-American Exposition in the summer of 1901, and he was well compensated for participating in the fair.
In 1901, Slocum's book revenues and income from public lectures provided him enough financial security to purchase a small farm in West Tisbury, on the island of Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts.
Slocum and the Spray visited Sagamore Hill, the estate of US President Theodore Roosevelt on the north shore of Long Island, New York. Roosevelt and his family were interested in the tales of Slocum's solo circumnavigation.
On November 14, 1909, Slocum set sail in the Spray from Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts for the West Indies on one of his usual winter voyages. He had also expressed interest in starting his next adventure, exploring the Orinoco, Rio Negro and Amazon Rivers.
Slocum was never heard from again. In July 1910, his wife informed the newspapers that she believed he was lost at sea.
In 1924, Joshua Slocum was declared legally dead.
Slocum was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.
If the Spray discovered no continents on her voyage, it may be that there were no more continents to be discovered. She did not seek new worlds, or sail to pow-wow about the dangers of the sea.
Today, The Grandma is relaxing at home. She likes aviation, and she has been reading about the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, considered the first functionalhelicopter, that first flown on a day like today in 1936.
The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 is often considered the first practical, functional helicopter,first flown in1936.
It was also known as the Fa61,as Focke began a new company -Focke-Achgelis- in 1937.
Professor Henrich Focke, through his development of the Fw 186, and through the efforts of producing the C.19 and C.30 autogyros under licence, came to the conclusion that the limitations of autogyros could be eliminated only by an aircraft with a powered rotor, the helicopter.
He and engineer Gerd Achgelis started the design for this helicopter in 1932. A free-flying model, built in 1934 and propelled by a small two-stroke engine, brought the promise of success.
Today, the model can be seen in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
On 9 February 1935, Focke received an order for the building of a prototype, which was designated the Fw 61; Focke referred to it as the F 61.
Roluf Lucht of the technical office of the RLM extended the order for a second aircraft on 19 December 1935. The airframe was based on that of a well-tried training aircraft, the Focke-Wulf Fw 44 Stieglitz.
Using rotor technology licensed from the Cierva Autogiro Company, a single radial engine drove twin rotors, set on tubular steel outriggers to the left and right of the fuselage. Each main rotor consisted of three articulated and tapered blades, driven by the engine through gears and shafts. Longitudinal and directional control was achieved using cyclic pitch and asymmetric rotor lift.
The counter-rotation of the two rotors solved the problem of torque-reaction, as also shown by Louis Bréguet. The small horizontal-axis propeller directly driven by the engine was purely to provide the necessary airflow to cool the engine during low speed or hovering flight, and provided negligible forward thrust.
Only two aircraft were produced. The first prototype, the V 1 D-EBVU, had its first free flight on 26 June 1936 with Ewald Rohlfs at the controls.
By early 1937, the second prototype, V 2 D-EKRA, was completed and flown for its first flight. On 10 May 1937, it accomplished its first autorotation landing with the engine turned off.
Focke-Achgelis began work on a two-seat sports version of the Fw 61, the Fa224, which would have used an Argus As 10C engine and had greater performance. However, the Fa 224 never left the drawing board at the outbreak of World War II.
Today, The Grandma has visited one of her favourited places, the Crypt of Colònia Güell in Santa Coloma de Cervelló, an incredible place designed and built by Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan architect who is considered one of the greatest of all time, who was born on a day like today in 1852.
The Grandma wants to talk about Antoni Gaudí,his works and his life to commemorate his birthday and to pay homage to his legacy.
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (25 June 1852-10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism.
Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, sui generis style. Most are located in Barcelona,including his main work, the church of the SagradaFamília.
Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion.
He considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces.
Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the Modernist movement which was reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work transcended mainstream Modernisme,culminating in an organic style inspired by natural forms.
Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and moulding the details as he conceived them.
Gaudí's work enjoys global popularity and continuing admiration and study by architects. His masterpiece, the still-incomplete Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Catalonia. Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
Gaudí's Roman Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname God's Architect and led to calls for his beatification.
Antoni Gaudí was born on 25 June 1852 in Riudoms or Reus, to the coppersmith Francesc Gaudí i Serra (1813–1906) and Antònia Cornet i Bertran (1819–1876). He was the youngest of five children, of whom three survived to adulthood: Rosa (1844–1879), Francesc (1851–1876) and Antoni.
Gaudí's family originated in the Auvergne region in southern France. One of his ancestors, Joan Gaudí, a hawker, moved to Catalonia in the 17th century; possible origins of Gaudí's family name include Gaudy or Gaudin.
Gaudí's first projects were the lampposts he designed for the Plaça Reial in Barcelona, the unfinished Girossi newsstands, and the Cooperativa ObreraMataronense building. He gained wider recognition for his first important commission, the Casa Vicens, and subsequently received more significant proposals.
At the Paris World's Fair of 1878 Gaudí displayed a showcase he had produced for the glove manufacturer Comella. Its functional and aesthetic modernista design impressed Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell, who then commissioned some of Gaudí's most outstanding work: the Güell wine cellars, the Güell pavilions, the Palau Güell, the Park Güell and the crypt of the church of the ColòniaGüell.
Gaudí also became a friend of the marquis of Comillas, the father-in-law of Count Güell, for whom he designed El Capricho in Comillas.
In 1883 Gaudí was put in charge of the recently initiated project to build aBarcelona church called Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada
Família.
Gaudí completely changed the initial
design and imbued it with his own distinctive style. From 1915 until
his death he devoted himself entirely to this project.
Given the number of commissions he began receiving, he had to rely on his team to work on multiple projects simultaneously. His team consisted of professionals from all fields of construction.
Several of the architects who worked under him became prominent in the field later on, such as Josep Maria Jujol, Joan Rubió, CèsarMartinell, Francesc Folguera and Josep Francesc Ràfols.
In 1885, Gaudí moved to rural SantFeliu de Codines to escape the cholera epidemic that was ravaging Barcelona. He lived in Francesc Ullar's house, for whom he designed a dinner table as a sign of his gratitude.
The 1888 World Fair was one of the era's major events in Barcelona and represented a key point in the history of the Modernisme movement. Leading architects displayed their best works, including Gaudí, who showcased the building he had designed for the Compañía Trasatlántica. Consequently, he received a commission to restructure the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council, but this project was ultimately not carried out.
In
the early 1890s Gaudí received two commissions from outside of
Catalonia, namely the Episcopal Palace, Astorga, and the Casa Botines in
León. These works contributed to Gaudí's growing renown across Spain.
In 1891, he travelled to Málaga and Tangiers to examine the site for a
project for the Franciscan Catholic Missions that the 2nd marquis of
Comillas had requested him to design.
In
1899 Gaudí joined the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc, a Catholic artistic
society founded in 1893 by the bishop Josep Torras i Bages and the
brothers Josepand Joan Llimona. He also joined the Lliga Espiritual de
la Mare de Déu deMontserrat, another Catholic Catalan organisation. The
conservative and religious character of his political thought was
closely linked to his defence of the cultural identity of the Catalan
people.
At
the beginning of the century, Gaudí was working on numerous projects
simultaneously. They reflected his shift to a more personal style
inspired by nature.
In
1900, he received an award for the best building of the year from the
Barcelona City Council for his Casa Calvet. During the first decade of
the century Gaudí dedicated himself to projects like the Casa Figueras,
better known as Bellesguard, the Park Güell, an unsuccessful
urbanisation project, and the restoration of the Cathedral of Palma de
Mallorca, for which he visited Majorca several times.
Between
1904 and 1910 he constructed the Casa Batlló and the
Casa Milà, two of his most emblematic works.
As
a result of Gaudí's increasing fame, in 1902 the painter Joan Llimona
chose Gaudí's features to represent Saint Philip Neri in the paintings
for the aisle of the Sant Felip Neri church in Barcelona. Together with
Joan Santaló, son of his friend the physician Pere Santaló, he
unsuccessfully founded a wrought iron manufacturing company the same
year.
After moving to Barcelona, Gaudí
frequently changed his address: as a student he lived in residences,
generally in the area of the Gothic Quarter; when he started his career
he moved around several rented flats in the Eixample area.
Finally,
in 1906, he settled in a house in the Güell Park that he owned and
which had been constructed by his assistant Francesc Berenguer as a
showcase property for the estate. It has since been transformed into the
Gaudí Museum.There he lived with his fatherand his niece Rosa Egea
Gaudí. He lived in the house until 1925, several months before his
death, when he began residing inside the workshop of the Sagrada
Família.
The
decade from 1910 was a hard one for Gaudí. During this decade, the
architect experienced the deaths of his niece Rosa in 1912 and his main
collaborator Francesc Berenguer in 1914; a severe economic crisis which
paralysed work on the Sagrada Família in 1915; the 1916 death of his
friend Josep Torras i Bages, bishop of Vic; the 1917 disruption of work
at the ColòniaGüell; and the 1918 death of his friend and patron Eusebi
Güell. Perhaps because of these tragedies he devoted himself entirely
to the Sagrada Família from 1915, taking refuge in his work.
Gaudí devoted his life entirely to his profession. Those who were close to him described him as pleasant to talk to and faithful to friends. Among these, his patrons EusebiGüell and the bishop of Vic, Josep Torras iBages, stand out, as well as the writers Joan Maragall and JacintVerdaguer,thephysician Pere Santaló and some of his most faithful collaborators, such as FrancescBerenguer and LlorençMatamala.
Gaudí was always in favour of Catalan culture but was reluctant to become politically active to campaign for its autonomy.
In 1920 he was beaten by police in a riot during the Floral Games celebrations.
On 11 September 1924, National Day of Catalonia, he was beaten at a demonstration against the banning of the Catalan language by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera.
Gaudí was arrested by the Civil Guard, resulting in a short stay in prison, from which he was freed after paying 50 pesetas bail.
On 7 June 1926, Gaudí was taking his daily walk to the Sant Felip Neri church for his habitual prayer and confession. While walking along the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes between Girona and Bailén streets, he was struck by a passing number 30 tram and lost consciousness. Assumed to be a beggar, the unconscious Gaudí did not receive immediate aid. Eventually some passers-by transported him in a taxi to the Santa Creu Hospital, where he received rudimentary care.
By the time that the chaplain of the Sagrada Família, Mosén Gil Parés,recognised him on the following day, Gaudí's condition had deteriorated too severely to benefit from additional treatment.
Gaudí died on 10 June 1926 at the age of 73 and was buried two days later. A large crowd gathered to bid farewell to him in the chapel of Our Lady of MountCarmel in the crypt of the Sagrada Família.
Gaudí is usually considered the great master of Catalan Modernism, but his works go beyond any one style or classification. They are imaginative works that find their main inspiration in geometry and nature forms.
Gaudí studied organic and anarchic geometric forms of nature thoroughly, searching for a way to give expression to these forms in architecture.
Some of his greatest inspirations came from visits to the mountain of Montserrat, the caves of Mallorca, the saltpetre caves in Collbató, the crag of Fra Guerau in the Prades Mountains behind Reus, the Pareis mountain in the north of Mallorca and Sant Miquel del Fai in Bigues i Riells.
This study of nature translated into his use of ruled geometrical forms such as the hyperbolic paraboloid, the hyperboloid, the helicoid and the cone, which reflect the forms Gaudí found in nature.
Ruled surfaces are forms generated by a straight line known as the generatrix, as it moves over one or several lines known as directrices. Gaudí found abundant examples of them in nature, for instance in rushes, reeds and bones; he used to say that there is no better structure than the trunk of a tree or a human skeleton. These forms are at the same time functional and aesthetic, and Gaudídiscovered how to adapt the language of nature to the structural forms of architecture. He used to equate the helicoid form to movement and the hyperboloid to light.
Trencadís, also known as pique assiette, broken tile mosaics, bits and pieces, memoryware, and shardware, is a type of mosaic made from cemented-together tile shards and broken chinaware used by Gaudí in his works.
Several of Gaudí's works have been granted World Heritage status by UNESCO: in 1984 the Park Güell, the Palau Güell and the Casa Milà; and in 2005 the Nativity façade, the crypt and the apse of the Sagrada Família, the Casa Vicens and the Casa Batlló in Barcelona, together with the crypt of theColònia Güell in Santa Coloma de Cervelló.
Paraboloids, hyperboloids and helicoids, constantly varying the incidence of the light, are rich in matrices themselves, which make ornamentation and even modelling unnecessary.
Today is Saint John and The Grandma has been reading about an incredible andmysterious case that occurred in Europebetween the 14th and 17th centuries, a social phenomenon where groups of people started to dance erratically without explanation until they collapsed from exhaustion and injuries.
It is a phenomenon named St. John'sDance, St. Vitus' Dance or tarantism in Europe that was firstly reported when a sudden outbreak of St. John's Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, on a day like today in 1374.
Dancing mania, also known as dancing plague, choreomania, St. John's Dance, tarantism and St. Vitus' Dance, was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries.
It involved groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time. The mania affected men, women, and children who danced until they collapsed from exhaustion and injuries.
One of the first major outbreaks was in Aachen, in the Holy Roman Empire in 1374, in modern-day Germany, and it quickly spread throughout Europe; one particularly notable outbreak occurred in Strasbourg in 1518 in Alsace, also in the Holy Roman Empire, now France.
Affecting thousands of people across
several centuries, dancing maniawas not an isolated event, and was
well documented in contemporary reports. It was nevertheless poorly
understood, and remedies were based on guesswork.
Often musicians
accompanied dancers, due to a belief that music wouldtreat the mania,
but this tactic sometimes backfired by encouraging more to join in.
There is no consensus among modern-day scholars as to the cause of
dancingmania.
The several theories proposed range from religious cults being behind the processions to people dancing to relieve themselves of stress and put the poverty of the period out of their minds.
It is speculated to have been a mass psychogenic illness, in which physical symptoms with no known physical cause are observed to affect a group of people, as a form of social influence.
Dancing mania is derived from the term choreomania, from the Greek choros (dance) and mania (madness), and is also known as dancing plague. The term was coined by Paracelsus, and the condition was initially considered a curse sent by a saint, usually St. John the Baptist or St. Vitus, and was therefore known as St. Vitus' Dance or St. John's Dance.
Victims of dancing mania often ended their processions at places dedicated to that saint, who was prayed to in an effort to end the dancing;incidents often broke out around the time of the feast of St. Vitus.
St.
Vitus' Dance was diagnosed, in the 17th century, as Sydenhamchorea.
Dancing mania has also been known as epidemic chorea and epidemic
dancing. A disease of the nervous system, chorea is characterized by
symptoms resembling those of dancing mania, which has also rather
unconvincingly been considered a form of epilepsy.
Other
scientists have described dancing mania as a collective mental
disorder, collective hysterical disorder and mass madness.
The earliest-known outbreak of dancing mania occurred in the 7th century, and it reappeared many times across Europe until about the 17th century, when it stopped abruptly. One of the earliest-known incidents occurred sometime in the 1020s in Bernburg, where 18 peasants began singing and dancing around a church, disturbing a Christmas Eve service.
Further outbreaks occurred during the 13th century, including one in 1237 in which a large group of children travelled from Erfurt to Arnstadt, about 20 km, jumping and dancing all the way, in marked similarity to the legend of the PiedPiper of Hamelin, a legend that originated at around the same time.
Another
incident, in 1278, involved about 200 people dancing on a bridge over
the River Meuse resulting in its collapse. Many of the survivors were
restored to full health at a nearby chapel dedicated to St. Vitus. The
first major outbreak of the mania occurred between 1373 and 1374, with
incidents reported in England, Germany and the Netherlands.
On
24 June 1374, one of the biggest outbreaks began in Aachen, Germany,
before spreading to other places such as Cologne, Flanders, Franconia,
Hainaut, Metz, Strasbourg, Tongeren, Utrecht, and countries such as
Italy and Luxembourg.
Further episodes occurred in 1375 and 1376, with
incidents in France, Germany and Netherlands, and in 1381 there was an
outbreak in Augsburg. Further incidents occurred in 1418 in Strasbourg,
where people fasted for days and the outbreak was possibly caused by
exhaustion. In another outbreak, in 1428 in Schaffhausen, a monk danced
to death and, in the same year, a group of women in Zurich were
reportedly in a dancing frenzy.
Another of the biggest outbreaks occurred in July 1518, in Strasbourg,where a woman began dancing in the street and between 50 and 400 people joined her. Further incidents occurred during the 16th century, when the mania was at its peak: in 1536 in Basel,involving a group of children; and in 1551 in Anhalt, involving just one man.
Dancing mania appears to have completely died out by the mid-17th century.
According to John Waller, although numerous incidents were recorded, the best documented cases are the outbreaks of 1374 and 1518, for which there is abundant contemporary evidence.
The outbreaks of dancing mania varied, and several characteristics of it have been recorded. Generally occurring in times of hardship, up to tens of thousands of people would appear to dance for hours, days, weeks, and even months.
Women have often been portrayed in modern literature as the usual participants in dancing mania, although contemporary sources suggest otherwise. Whether the dancing was spontaneous, or an organized event, is also debated. What is certain, however, is that dancers seemed to be in a state of unconsciousness, and unable to control themselves.
In
Italy, a similar phenomenon was tarantism, in which the victims were
said to have been poisoned by a tarantula or scorpion. Its
earliest-known outbreak was in the 13th century, and the only antidote
known was to dance to particular music to separate the venom from the
blood. It occurred only in the summer months. As with dancing mania,
people would suddenly begin to dance, sometimes affected by a perceived
bite or sting and were joined by others, who believed the venom from
their own old bites was reactivated by the heat or the music. Dancers
would perform a tarantella, accompanied by music which would eventually cure the victim, at least temporarily.
Some
participated in further activities, such as tying themselves up with
vines and whipping each other, pretending to sword fight, drinking large
amounts of wine, and jumping into the sea. Some died if there was no
music to accompany their dancing. Sufferers typically had symptoms
resembling those of dancingmania,such as headaches, trembling,
twitching and visions.
As with dancing mania, participants apparently did not like the colour black, and women were reported to be most affected. Unlike dancing mania, tarantism was confined to Italy and Southern Europe.
It was common until the 17th century, but ended suddenly, with only very small outbreaks in Italy until as late as 1959.
As the real cause of dancing mania was unknown, many of the treatments for it were simply hopeful guesses, although some did seem effective. The 1374 outbreak occurred only decades after the Black Death, and was treated similarly: dancers were isolated, and some were exorcized. People believed that the dancing was a curse brought about by St. Vitus; they responded by praying and making pilgrimages to places dedicated to St. Vitus.
Prayers were also made to St. John the Baptist, who some believed also caused the dancing. Others claimed to be possessed by demons, or Satan, therefore exorcisms were often performed on dancers.
Numerous hypotheses have been proposed for the causes of dancing mania,and it remains unclear whether it was a real illness or a social phenomenon. One of the most prominent theories is that victims suffered from ergot poisoning, which was known as St. Anthony's fire in the Middle Ages. During floods and damp periods, ergots were able to grow and affect rye and other crops. Ergotism can cause hallucinations and convulsions, but cannot account for the other strange behaviour most commonly identified with dancing mania.
Other theories suggest that the
symptoms were similar to encephalitis, epilepsy, and typhus, but as with
ergotism, those conditions cannot account for all symptoms.
Numerous sources discuss how dancing mania, andtarantism, may have simply been the result of stress and tension caused by natural disasters around the time, such as plagues and floods.
Another popular theory is that the outbreaks were all staged, and the appearance of strange behaviour was due to its unfamiliarity. Religious cults may have been acting out well-organized dances, in accordance with ancient Greek and Roman rituals. Despite being banned at the time, these rituals could be performed under the guise of uncontrollable dancing mania.
It is certain that many participants of dancing mania were psychologically disturbed, but it is also likely that some took part out of fear, or simply wished to copy everyone else.
Sources agree that dancing mania was one of the earliest-recorded forms of mass hysteria, and describe it as a psychic epidemic, with numerous explanations that might account for the behaviour of the dancers. It has been suggested that the outbreaks may have been due to cultural contagion triggered, in times of particular hardship, by deeply rooted popular beliefs in the region regarding angry spirits capable of inflicting a dancing curse to punish their victims.
For all that exists in man, whether good or evil, is rendered conspicuous by the presence of great danger. His inmost feelings are roused -the thought of self-preservation masters his spirit- self-denial is put to severe proof, and wherever darkness and barbarism prevail, there the affrighted mortal flies to the idols of his superstition, and all laws, human and divine, are criminally violated.
June 23. The Grandma is going to participate in one of her favourite traditions, LaFlama del Canigó. It is always a special day for TheGrandma, but this 2021 is even more special and TheGrandma wants to think of all people who have suffered the COVID pandemic directly and all people who are suffering injustices, prosecutions and are deprived of liberty unfairly. We will run thinking of you.
Every year,
she participates in this traditional event, carrying the flame some
kilometres. It is her way to collaborate in this tradition that evokes
the common roots of the Catalan Countries.
Due to the current situation, TheGrandma
has taken all the possible precautions, but she has reached her goal.
Today, she wants to talk about this tradition linked to the summer
solstice and Sant Joan, the patron of the Catalan Countries.
La Flama del Canigó is a Catalan tradition linked to the summer solstice that takes place in various places in the Catalan Countries every year, between 22 and 23 June.
It begins with the renovation of the fire at the top of the Canigó and culminates with the lighting of the bonfires on the night of Sant Joan after the flame, carried by volunteers, spread throughout the country.
It is related to other
summer solstice fire festivals in the Pyrenees, such as the Isil, Alins,
Durro, Vilaller, Barruera, Pont de Suert and Andorra faults or the Haro
burn of the Val d'Aran, where the fire coming down from the mountain is
also the protagonist of the night. But beyond this festival, the Canigó
Flame has a symbolism linked to the persistence and vitality of Catalan
culture.
In 1955, Francesc Pujada, a villager from Arles de Tec (Vallespir, Northern Catalonia), driven by his enthusiasm for the Canigó massif and inspired by the epic poem by Jacint Verdaguer (Canigó, 1886) took the initiative, together with Esteve Albert and Josep Deloncle, to light the fires of the Night of Sant Joan at the top of this mountain and, from there, to spread the flame throughout all the regions of the Catalan Countries.
Thus began the tradition of the Canigó Flame, which connected with the millennial celebration of the summer solstice linked to fire and its collective significance.
The new tradition gained strength in a short time, so that, according to ÒmniumCultural, today it is practically impossible to find a single bonfire in NorthernCatalonia that is not lit with the Canigó Flame.
La Flama del Canigó
In 1966 the
fire crossed the border between the French and Spanish states for the
first time and reached Vic. Despite the Franco dictatorship, the
tradition spread throughout the Principality of Catalonia,oftenunderground, as a symbol of the survival of Catalan culture.
Gradually the network spread, and the fire that descends from the Canigó also reached the Valencian Country and Balearic Islands.
There are
currently dozens of organizations that celebrate the festival by
spreading the flame that is lit on the beautiful top of the Canigó and is preserved in the Castellet de Perpinyà. Barcelona receives the flame in Plaça de Sant Jaume with the cobla, the eagle and the giants of the city, and from there it goes to the neighborhoods.
In Terres de l'Ebre and the Priorat,
every year a different village welcomes it, and people from the neighbouring counties gather there, who go in a caravan of cars, with the
heir and heiress of the major festival of each locality. Alacant has kept alive the tradition of the fires of Sant Joan in the Valencian Country. Other cities also have their tradition, such as Tarragona in the Serrallo.
Every June 22, a group of hikers from the Cercle de Joves de Perpinyà catch the fire that has been lit in the kitchen of the Casa Pairal Museum, in Castellet de Perpinyà, since 1965, and climb to the top of the Canigó, 2,784 metres, where they light a new bonfire, after reading a manifesto.
At dawn on June 23, they begin the descent with the renewed Flame. Together with the group of hikers of the Cercle Jove many other people gather at the top to catch the flame and thus begin the journey to different parts of the CatalanCountries doing relays on foot, by bike, by car and even in lute in the Ebre to make it possible for the Flame to spread through towns and cities and arrive in time to light the bonfires on the night of Sant Joan.
Every year, the Canigó Flame is received by the Parliament of Catalonia in an institutional event, as well as by town councils, county councils and cultural, social and sports organizations in more than 350 municipalities in the Catalan Countries.
In this way, and thanks to hundreds of volunteers,
the fire coming from the mountain illuminates the popular festivals
that take place around the fire. It is estimated that about 3,000 bonfires were lit that night, with the fire coming from the top of the Canigó.
To make this ritual possible, on the weekend before Sant Joan, hundreds of people from all over the Catalan Countries and, especially, from NorthernCatalonia, are in the Cortalets refuge, in the Cadí valley, at the foot of the Canigó. They arrive on Saturday night and stay at the shelter or camp with tents nearby.
The next morning they perform the first ritual of the Focs de Sant Joan: go up to the top of the Canigó
and leave the small bundles of firewood that each one has brought from
their city, town, village or orchard. The branches and twigs are tied
with a ribbon that bears the name of the place where they come from, and
some have drawings and writings with wishes to burn at the bonfire of Sant Joan.
All these bundles of firewood are left stacked around the iron cross at
the top of the mountain until the night the bonfire is lit.
Ja les podeu fer ben altes les fogueres aquest any cal que brillin lluny i es vegin els focs d'aquest Sant Joan. Cal que es vegin de València, de Ponent i de Llevant...
I en fareu també en la Serra perquè els vegin més enllà... i el crit d'una sola llengua s'alci dels llocs més distants omplint els aires encesos d'un clamor de Llibertat!
