Korean War Veterans Memorial (Washington, D.C., U.S.A.)

Posted on 30 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Korean War Veterans Memorial

The Korean War Veterans Memorial, located southeast of the Lincoln Memorial and just south of the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, commemorates those who served in the Korean War. Our afternoon visit here coincided with the state visit of South Korean Pres. Moon Jae-In and we saw the wreaths he and US Vice-Pres Mike Pence laid at the memorial just this morning.

Wreath laid by South Korean Pres. Moon Jae-In

Wreath laid by US Vice-Pres. Mike Pence

Designed by Cooper-Lecky Architects, who oversaw collaboration between several designers, the Korean War Veterans Memorial’s design and construction was managed by the Korean War Veterans Memorial Advisory Board and the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Jandy at Korean War Veterans Memorial

On June 14, 1993, Flag Day, the groundbreaking for the Memorial was conducted by President George H. W. Bush. Faith Construction Company, the Richard Sherman Company, the Cold Spring Granite Company, the Tallix Art Foundry and the Baltimore District of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the companies and organizations involved in the construction, are listed on the memorial.

Statues designed by sculptor Frank Gaylord

On July 27, 1995, the 42nd anniversary of the armistice that ended the war, the memorial was dedicated by President Bill Clinton and Republic of Korea President Kim Young Sam, to the men and women who served during the conflict. On the day of its dedication, the memorial was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the management of the memorial was then turned over to the National Park Service, under its National Mall and Memorial Parks group.

The main memorial, in the form of a triangle intersecting a circle, has 50 m. (164 ft.) long, 200 mm (8 in.) thick walls; more than 100 tons of highly polished “Academy Black” granite from California; and more than 2,500 photographic, archival images (representing the land, sea, and air troops who supported those who fought in the war) sandblasted onto the wall. The Mural, created by Louis Nelson, has photographic images sandblasted into it depicting soldiers, equipment and people involved in the war. When reflected on the wall, there appear to be 38 soldiers, 38 months, and it is also representing the 38 parallel that separated the North and South Korea.

The Mural of Louis Nelson

Within the walled triangle are 19 stainless steel larger than life-size statues designed by Frank Gaylord, each between 2.21 m. (7 ft., 3 in.) and 2.29 m. (7 ft., 6 in) tall; and each weighs nearly 500 kgs. (1,000 lbs.). The figures, representing a platoon on patrol, were drawn from each branch of the armed forces – 14 from the U.S. Army, 3 from the Marine Corps, one is a Navy Corpsman, and one is an Air Force Forward Air Observer. All are dressed in full combat gear and dispersed among strips of granite and juniper bushes which represent the rugged terrain of Korea.

Pool of Remembrance

The United Nations Wall, a low wall to the north of the statues and path, lists the 22 members of the United Nations that contributed troops or medical support to the Korean War effort. The Pool of Remembrance, a shallow, 9 m. (30 ft.) diameter pool lined with black granite, is surrounded by a grove of linden trees (shaped to create a barrel effect, which allows the sun to reflect on the pool) with benches.

The numbers of dead

The numbers of wounded

Inscriptions list the numbers killed, wounded, missing in action and held as prisoners of war. A nearby plaque is inscribed: “Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met.” Additionally, right next to the numbers of American soldiers, are those of the United Nations troops in the same categories. Three bushes of the Rose of Sharon hibiscus plant, South Korea’s national flower, are at the south side of the memorial. A further granite wall bears the simple message, inlaid in silver: “Freedom Is Not Free.”

Freedom is not Free

Korean War Veterans Memorial: 900 Ohio Dr SW, Washington, DC 20024

Lincoln Memorial (Washington D.C., U.S.A.)

Posted on 30 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The Neo-Classical Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial, an iconic American national monument built to honor Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, is located on the western end of the National Mall , Situated on the Washington Monument–Capitol axis, this Neo-Classical monument overlooks the Potomac River, across from the Washington Monument. Behind it is the bridge to Arlington National Cemetery. Dedicated in 1922, it is one of several monuments built to honor an American president.

Jandy with the memorial in the background

Since the time of Lincoln’s death, demands for a fitting national memorial had been voiced. In 1868, three years after Lincoln’s assassination, the first public memorial (a statue by Lot Flannery) to Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., was erected in front of the District of Columbia City Hall.

Abraham Lincoln

Here is the historical timeline of the statue’s construction:

In 1867,Congress passed the first of many bills incorporating a commission to erect a monument for the sixteenth president but the matter lay dormant.
At the start of the 20th century, under the leadership of Senator Shelby M. Cullom of Illinois, six separate bills were introduced in Congress for the incorporation of a new memorial commission. The first five bills, proposed in the years 1901, 1902, and 1908, met with defeat because of opposition from Speaker Joe Cannon. The sixth bill (Senate Bill 9449), introduced on December 13, 1910, passed.
In 1911, the Lincoln Memorial Commission had its first meeting and U.S. President William H. Taft was chosen as the commission’s president. Progress continued at a steady pace.
By 1913, Congress had approved of the Commission’s choice of design and location. With Congressional approval and a $300,000 allocation, the project got underway.
On February 12, 1914, a dedication ceremony was conducted
The following month, actual construction began.
As late as 1920, the decision was made to substitute an open portal for the bronze and glass grille which was to have guarded the entrance.
On May 30, 1922, Commission president William H. Taft (who was, by then, Chief Justice of the United States) dedicated the Memorial and presented it to Pres. Warren G. Harding, who accepted it on behalf of the American people. Lincoln’s only surviving son, 78-year-old Robert Todd Lincoln, was in attendance. Robert Russa Moton, an African American educator and author, was one of the speakers at the dedication.

The Dedication

Here are some interesting trivia regarding the memorial:

In 2007, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) ranked the memorial as seventh, among 150 highest-ranked structures, in the AIA List of America’s Favorite Architecture.
It has always been a major tourist attraction and, since 2010, approximately 6 million people visited the memorial annually.
Like other monuments on the National Mall – including the nearby Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and National World War II Memorial – the memorial is administered by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks
The memorial’s columns, exterior walls and facade are all inclined slightly toward the building’s interior to compensate for a common feature of Ancient Greek architecture – perspective distortions which would otherwise make the memorial appear to bulge out at the top when compared with the bottom.
Since the 1930s, the memorial has become a symbolically sacred center focused on race relations, especially for the Civil Rights Movement. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Marian Anderson, the African-American contralto, to perform before an integrated audience at the organization’s Constitution Hall. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, at the suggestion of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, arranged for a performance, on Easter Sunday of that year, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a live audience of 70,000 and a nationwide radio audience.
Since October 15, 1966, the Memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The memorial grounds has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King Jr.‘s historic “I Have a Dream” speech honoring the president who had issued the Emancipation Proclamation 100 years earlier. It was delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which proved to be a high point of the American Civil Rights Movement. It is estimated that approximately 250,000 people came to the event. The D.C. police also appreciated the location because it was surrounded on three sides by water, so that any incident could be easily contained. On August 28, 1983, to reflect on progress in gaining civil rights for African Americans and to commit to correcting continuing injustices, crowds gathered again to mark the 20th anniversary of the Mobilization for Jobs, Peace and Freedom. In 2003, the spot on which King stood, on the landing 18 steps below Lincoln’s statue, was engraved in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the event.
The Memorial is replete with symbolic elements. The states of the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death are represented by the 36 columns and the inscriptions (with the dates in which they entered the Union), separated by double wreath medallions in bas-relief, in a frieze above the colonnade. The 48 states in 1922 (the year of the Memorial’s dedication) are represented by the 48 stone festoons above the columns and inscriptions above the cornice, on the attic frieze. The murals inside portray principles seen as evident in Lincoln’s life: Freedom, Liberty, Immortality, Justice, and the Law on the south wall; Unity, Fraternity, and Charity on the north. Cypress trees, representing Eternity, are in the murals’ backgrounds.
The statue has been at the center of two urban legends. Some claimed that the face of Gen. Robert E. Lee, looking back across the Potomac toward Arlington House, his former home (now within the bounds of Arlington National Cemetery), was carved onto the back of Lincoln’s head. The second popular urban legend is that Lincoln is shown using sign language to represent the president’s initials (his left hand shaped to form an “A” and his right hand to form an “L”). The National Park Service denies both legends.
From 1959 (the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth) to 2008, the United States one cent coin depicted the memorial, with statue visible through the columns, on the reverse side. The front bore a bust of Lincoln. The memorial also appears on the back of the U.S. five dollar bill. The front bears Lincoln’s portrait.

The One Cent Coin

The Lincoln Memorial, as one of the most prominent American monuments, has been featured in books, films, and television shows that take place in Washington. By 2003, it had appeared in over 60 films. In 2009, Mark S. Reinhart compiled some short sketches of dozens of uses of the Memorial in film and television. As of 2017, according to the National Park Service, “Filming/photography is prohibited above the white marble steps and the interior chamber of the Lincoln Memorial.” Today, due to restrictive filming rules, many of the appearances of the Lincoln Memorial are actually digital visual effects.

Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool seen from the Lincoln Memorial

Here a list of some of the movie and television films the memorial has appeared in:

In the 1939 American political comedy-drama film Smith Goes to Washington, the statue and its inscription provide inspiration to freshman Senator Jefferson Smith, played by James Stewart, in a key scene. The Park Service did not want director Frank Capra to film at the Memorial, so he sent a large crew elsewhere as a distraction while a smaller crew filmed Stewart and Jean Arthur at the Memorial.
In the science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still, the alien Klaatu visits the Memorial and is impressed by Lincoln’s words carved there.
Planet of the Apes (2001 American science fiction film)
X-Men: First Class (2011 American superhero film)
In the 2011 American science fiction action film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Megatron destroys the statue of Lincoln and then sits on the chair as a throne.
In the 2016 horror movie The Purge: Election Year, the Lincoln Memorial is shown with dead and burning bodies on the steps and the columns defaced with giant letters that spell out “PURGE,” written in human blood.
In the Line of Fire (1993 American political thriller film)
In the 2004 American adventure film National Treasure, while sitting on the steps of the Memorial, the main characters discuss the possibility of stealing the Declaration of Independence
In the 2009 American adventure fantasy comedy film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, the statue of Lincoln helps defeat the Horus warriors
In the” Lisa Goes to Washington” episode of The Simpsons
In the 1994 American epic comedy-drama film Forrest Gump, Forrest (Tom Hanks) delivers a speech standing on a podium in front of the Memorial facing the reflecting pool
In the 2013 American political action thriller film White House Down, U.S. President (Jamie Foxx) requests a fly-by of the Lincoln Memorial, at both the beginning and the end of the movie to pay homage to his hero.

Some of the fluted Doric columns at the colonnade

The Memorial, designed by Illinois-born architect Henry Bacon, in the form of a classic Greek Doric temple, features Yule marble from Colorado. The structure measures 57.8 m. (189.7 ft.) by 36.1 m. (118.5 ft.) and is 30 m. (99 ft.) high. It is surrounded by a peristyle of 36 fluted Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death, and two columns in-antis at the entrance behind the colonnade. Each of the 13 m. (44 ft.) high columns, with a base diameter of 2.3 m. (7.5 ft.), column, is built from 12 drums including the capital.

Cornice and frieze

Above the colonnade is a frieze. The cornice, composed of a carved scroll regularly interspersed with projecting lions’ heads, is ornamented, along the upper edge, with palmetto cresting. A bit higher is a garland, joined by ribbons and palm leaves, and supported by the wings of eagles. All ornamentation on the friezes and cornices was done by Ernest C. Bairstow.

The Memorial’s 13 to 20 m. (44 to 66 ft.) deep concrete foundation, constructed by M. F. Comer and Company and the National Foundation and Engineering Company, is encompassed by a 57 by 78 m. (187 by 257 ft.) rectangular, 4.3 m. (14 ft.) high granite retaining wall.

The main steps leading up to the shrine on the east side, intermittently spaced with a series of platforms, begin at the edge of the shimmering Reflecting Pool, rise to the Lincoln Memorial Circle roadway surrounding the edifice, then to the main portal. As they approach the entrance, the steps are flanked by two buttresses each crowned with a 3.4 m. (11-ft.) high tripod carved from pink Tennessee marble by the Piccirilli Brothers.

The author inside the Memorial

The Memorial’s interior is divided into three chambers by two rows of four 15 m. (50 ft.) high Ionic columns, each 1.7 m. (5.5 ft.) across at their base. The 18.3 m.(60 ft.) wide, 22.56 m. (74 ft.) deep, and 18.3 m. (60 ft.) high central chamber houses the statue of Lincoln while the north and south chambers display carved inscriptions of Lincoln’s second inaugural address and his Gettysburg Address, two well-known speeches by Lincoln.

Inscription of the Second Inaugural Address given March 4, 1865 by Lincoln barely one month before the end of the Civil War. Above it is the mural “Unity” done by Jules Guerin. The mural features the Angel of Truth joining the hands of two figures representing the North and South. Her protective wings cradle the arts of Painting, Philosophy, Music, Architecture, Chemistry, Literature, and Sculpture. Emerging from behind the music figure is a veiled image of the Future.

Pilasters, ornamented with fasces, eagles, and wreaths, border these inscriptions. Both inscriptions and adjoining ornamentation were done by Evelyn Beatrice Longman. Each inscription is surmounted by 18.3 by 3.7 m. (60 by 12 ft.) murals (“Unity,” above the Second Inaugural Address on the north wall, and “”Emancipation,” above the Gettysburg Address on the south chamber wall) by Jules Guerin. The murals’ paint incorporated kerosene and wax to protect the exposed artwork from fluctuations in temperature and moisture.

The inscription of the Gettysburg Address on the south chamber wall. The Gettysburg Address was given by Lincoln on April 19, 1863 in Gettysburg at the dedication of Soldiers’ National Cemetery.

Abraham Lincoln, 1920, the primary statue (of Georgia white marble) of the solitary figure of Lincoln sitting in contemplation, took four years to complete. It was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers under the supervision of the sculptor, Daniel Chester French.

The sitting statue of Abraham Lincoln

The statue, originally designed to be 3.0 m. (10 ft.) tall, was, on further consideration, enlarged to 5.8 m. (19 ft.) tall, from head to foot (the scale being such that if Lincoln were standing, he would be 8.5 m. or 28 ft. tall), to prevent it from being overwhelmed by the huge chamber. The widest span of the statue corresponded to its height.

Cheska and Kyle

Lincoln’s arms rest on representations of Roman fasces. This subtle touch associates the statue with the Augustan (and imperial) theme (obelisk and funerary monuments) of the Washington Mall. Between two pilasters discretely bordering the statue (one on each side) and above Lincoln’s head, is engraved an epitaph of Lincoln by Royal Cortissoz.

The Lincoln statue up close. The open hand represents compassion while the fist means decisiveness. The chair Lincoln is sitting on is Roman it is draped with the American flag.

The statue rests upon an oblong 3.0 m. (10 ft.) high, 4.9 m. (16 ft.) wide and 5.2 m. (17 ft.) deep pedestal of Tennessee marble, directly beneath which is a 10.5 m. (34.5 ft.) long, 8.5 m. (28 ft.) wide and 0.17 m. (6.5 in.) high platform of Tennessee marble. The statue weighed 159 tons (175 short tons) and was shipped in 28 pieces.

The epitaph of Lincoln by Royal Cortissoz

The ceiling, consisting of bronze girders ornamented with laurel and oak leaves, is set between panels of Alabama marble (saturated with paraffin to increase translucency). Bacon and French felt that the statue required even more light to supplement the natural light so, in 1929, they designed and installed metal slats in the ceiling to conceal floodlights, which could be modulated. In the 1970s, an elevator for handicapped was added.

Bronze girders, ornamented with laurel and oak leaves, at the ceiling

Underneath the Lincoln Memorial are exhibits that provide information on the creation of the memorial and its famous subject.

Civil Rights Exhibit

Lincoln Memorial: 2 Lincoln Memorial Cir NW, Washington, D.C. 20037, USA. Open 24 hours. Rangers are on duty from 9:30 AM to 10 PM daily.

How to Get There: The easiest way to get to the Lincoln Memorial is via Metrorail (the nearest Metro stations are Foggy Bottom and Smithsonian, both on the Orange, Blue and Silver lines) or Metrobus (take the 32, 34 or 36 routes). Capital Bikeshare also has a dock (Daniel French Drive SW) nearby.

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine (Baltimore, Maryland, USA)

Posted on 29 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — 10 Comments ↓

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historical Shrine

This historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from the September 13–14, 1814 attack by the British navy from Chesapeake Bay. The fort, a prominent tourist destination, is visited each year by thousands of visitors who come to see the “Birthplace of the Star Spangled Banner.”

Entrance to Fort McHenry

It’s also a popular spot for Baltimoreans to run, walk their dogs, enjoy a picnic or just sit by the waters of Chesapeake Bay and enjoy the breeze and views of the city.

View of Baltimore Harbor as seen from the fort

Listed are some interesting trivia regarding the fort:

This was named after early American statesman James McHenry (November 16, 1753 – May 3, 1816), a Scots-Irish immigrant and surgeon-soldier who was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Maryland and a signer of the United States Constitution. Afterwards, he was appointed United States Secretary of War (1796–1800), serving under Presidents George Washington and John Adams.
Fort McHenry was built on the site of the former Fort Whetstone which stood on Whetstone Point (today’s residential and industrial area of Locust Point) peninsula, which juts into the opening of Baltimore Harbor between the Basin (today’s Inner Harbor) and Northwest branch on the north side and the Middle and Ferry (now Southern) branches of the Patapsco River on the south side. The fort defended Baltimore from 1776 to 1797.
The new fort, built to improve the defenses of the increasingly important Port of Baltimore from future enemy attacks, is a bastioned pentagon, surrounded by a dry moat (a deep, broad trench) that served as a shelter from which infantry might defend the fort from a land attack. In case of such an attack on this first line of defense, each point, or bastion could provide a crossfire of cannon and small arms fire.
During the War of 1812, the 5.2 m. × 7.6 m. (17 ft. by 25 ft.) storm flag flown over Fort McHenry during the bombardment was replaced early on the morning of September 14, 1814 with a larger 9.1 m. × 12.8 m. (30 ft. by 42 ft.) garrison flag, sewn by Mary Pickersgill for $405.90, which signaled American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore. Francis Scott Key, a Washington lawyer who had come to Baltimore to negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes, a civilian prisoner of war, witnessed the bombardment from a nearby truce ship. The sight of the ensign inspired him to write the poem “Defense of Fort M’Henry.” The poem was later set to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven” and become known as the “Star Spangled Banner,” the national anthem of the United States.
It has become national tradition that when a new flag is designed, it first flies over Fort McHenry. The first official 49- and 50-star American flags were flown over the fort. The flags are still located on the premises.
In the event of a national emergency, the United States Codecurrently authorizes Fort McHenry’s closure to the public for use by the military for the duration of such an emergency.
Every September, the City of Baltimore commemorates Defenders Day in honor of the Battle of Baltimore. It is the biggest celebration of the year at the fort, it is accompanied by a weekend of programs, events and fireworks.
In 2013, under the America the Beautiful Quarters Program, Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine was honored with its own quarter.

The barracks

Here is a timeline of the fort’s history:

Designed by Frenchman Jean Foncin in 1798, the fort was built between 1798 and 1800.
During World War I, in order to convert the entire facility into an enormous U.S. Army hospital for the treatment of troops returning from the European conflict, an additional one hundred odd buildings (only a few of them remain) were built on the land surrounding the fort.
On September 13, 1814, beginning at 6 AM, British warships, under the command of Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, continuously bombarded Fort McHenry, under the command of Major George Armistead (April 10, 1780 – April 25, 1818) of the 3rd Regiment of U. S. Artillery, for 25 hours. The British ships were unable to pass Fort McHenry and penetrate Baltimore Harbor because of its defenses which included a chain of 22 sunken ships and the American’s 8, 11 and 16 kg. (18, 24 and 32-pounder) cannons. The British guns had a range of 3 kms. (2 miles) and their rockets had a 2.8 km. (1.75-mile) range, neither of which, fired at maximum range, were accurate. At one point during the bombardment, a bomb crashed through the fort’s powder magazine but, fortunately for the Americans, either the rain extinguished the fuse or the bomb was a dud.
On the morning of September 14, the British, having depleted their ammunition, ceased their attack. Only one British warship, a bomb vessel, received a direct hit from the fort’s return fire, which wounded one crewman. The Americans lost four killed (including Private William Williams, an African-American soldier, and a woman who was cut in half by a bomb as she carried supplies to the troops) and 24 wounded.
During the American Civil War, Fort McHenry served as a military prison, confining Confederate soldiers as well as a large number of Maryland political figures (including newly elected Baltimore Mayor George William Brown, the city council, the new police commissioner, George P. Kane; members of the Maryland General Assembly; several newspaper editors and owners; John Eager Howard,(local hero of the Revolutionary War; and Francis Scott Key‘s grandson, Francis Key Howard) who were suspected of being Confederate At this time, Fort McHenry also served to train artillery (hence the Rodman guns presently located and displayed at the fort).
During World War II, Fort McHenry was leased to the Coast Guard for port security work and as a fire training station aboard ships for nearly 28,000 U.S. Coast Guardsmen.
In 1925, the fort was made a national park
In 1931, the fort was finally deactivated and transferred to the National Park Service .
On August 11, 1939, it was redesignated a “National Monument and Historic Shrine, the only such doubly designated place in the United States.
On October 15, 1966, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
On September 10–16, 2014, the Star Spangled Spectacular was held at Fort McHenry to celebrate the bicentennial of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. The event included a parade of tall ships, a large fireworks show and the US Navy’s Blue Angels.

The Visitor Center

The kid-friendly Visitor Center has a Park Ranger-staffed information desk, book and souvenir store, a large museum, restrooms and a meeting place for Ranger programs.

The Park Ranger-staffed information desk

The kid-friendly Visitor Center has a Park Ranger-staffed information desk, book and souvenir store, a large museum, restrooms and a meeting place for Ranger programs.

Francis Scott Key and the Birth of the Star Spangled Banner. At right is the original draft of the song

The museum is divided into three main areas of interest. The first section, “Francis Scott Key and the Birth of the Star Spangled Banner,” is devoted to Francis Scott Key, the Star Spangled Banner, and the flag. An interactive touch-screen presentation details Key’s schedule leading up to his writing of the poem.

The Star Spangled Banner and the War of 1812. At the right is a uniform, 2 muskets (one with bayonet), powder horn and personal items of a soldier

The second area of the museum, where I spent about an hour, focused on the War of 1812. Its interactive touch-screen presentation, a key exhibit, allowed me to read about every battle in the war. Also on exhibit are military memorabilia such as uniforms and a cannon as well as personal items used by soldiers.

A cannon

A second section of the museum covers the Battle of Baltimore, with its centerpiece being a 10-minute film about the Battle of Baltimore, a combination of live action and CGI animated battle maps, and ends with an inspirational rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner,” with the audience standing and singing along, as the curtain rises to reveal the flag at Fort McHenry outside.

L-R: Kyle, Cheska and Grace. Behind is a copy of the original storm flag of the garrison

Film showings occur at the top of every hour and every half hour and its movie screen is part of the overall museum. During the showing, the lights were turned down, rendering the rest of the museum essentially shut down during this time. Only the exhibits that are backlit, such as the interactive touch-screens, can be seen.

Jandy at the entrance of the fort

The actual wheelchair accessible and stroller friendly fort is just a short walk from the Visitor Center. Outside the fort were re-enacters such as women hand washing the service men’s clothes, sewing a flag and learning how to write on slate boards. Inside were probably a dozen servicemen in full dress and carrying muskets.

Women re-enacters

Servicemen in uniform

Within the fort are exhibits on a variety of topics relating to the fort and its history such as the restored Commander’s Quarters, Junior Officers’ Quarters, Guard House and the Enlisted Men’s Quarters, all mainly devoted to garrison life during its most famous period of the War of 1812; the Gunpowder Magazine as well as the restored flag pole. The flag flown here is not the size of the fabled Star-Spangled Banner, but is a garrison flag that is four sizes smaller.

George Armistead

Junior Officers’ Quarters

Outside the fort proper is a reconstruction of the Upper Battery which, during the 1814 attack, was largely manned by volunteer militia artillerymen and merchant seamen (from ships within blockaded Baltimore Harbor) and armed with large-caliber smooth bore guns mounted on naval trucks or garrison carriages. They had wooden trucks with iron wheels and, to prevent their excessive recoil when fired, were attached to the wall by rope cables.

Upper Battery

The fort also boasts a fine collection of mid-nineteenth century artillery pieces. The Lower Battery, with brick-reinforced earthen rampart (replacing the earth-and-wooden one of the War of 1812), have circa 1875 15-inch Rodman smoothbore guns of Civil War vintage that were sleeved with rifled inserts.

The author with the Rodman cannons in the background

Adjacent to Fort McHenry lies a monument of Orpheus that is dedicated to the soldiers of the fort and Francis Scott Key.

Monument of Orpheus by Charles Niehaus

Statue of Col. George Armistead

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine: 2400 East Fort Ave, Baltimore, Maryland 21230, USA. Tel: +1-410-962-4290. Open daily, 9 AM – 6 PM (5 PM in the winter), closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Admission: adults (US$10), children 15 years old and younger (free).

How to Get There: The fort is easily accessible by water taxi from the popular Baltimore Inner Harbor. However, to prevent abuse of the parking lots at the Fort, the National Park Service does not permit passengers to take the water taxi back to the Inner Harbor unless they have previously used it to arrive at the monument.

Statue of Liberty National Monument (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on 26 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

The iconic Statue of Liberty

Our visit to New York City wouldn’t be complete without visiting its iconic Statue of Liberty. After breakfast at our hotel, we all took a taxi to Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, our gateway to Liberty Island, in Upper New York Bay. Though entrance to the national monument is free, we had to pay the cost (US$25.5 for adults and US$16 for children 4 – 12 years old) for the ferry service that all visitors must use.

A Statue Cruises ferry

Since 2007, Statue Cruises has been operating the transportation and ticketing facilities, replacing Circle Line, which had operated the service since 1953. The ferries also depart from Liberty State Park in Jersey City. After paying up, we all boarded our ferry that would take us to Liberty Island.

L-R: Cheska, Kyle (partly hidden), Grace, Jandy and the author at the third level of the ferry

Our ferry would also stop at Ellis Island, north of Liberty Island, making this a combined trip. Both islands, which comprise the Statue of Liberty National Monument, were ceded by New York to the federal government in 1800. To have best views of the Statue of Liberty, we all sat at the third level. Our sailing time to the island took approximately 15 mins.

Check out “Ellis Island Immigration Museum”

This colossal, Neo-Classical copper sculpture, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. An icon of freedom and of the United States, this statue’s foundation and pedestal was aligned so that it would face southeast, greeting ships entering the harbor from the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, it was a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad as vessels arriving in New York had to sail past it as they proceeded toward Manhattan.

Liberty Island

Here are some interesting trivia regarding the statue:

This robed female figure, representing Libertas (the Roman goddess of freedom), wears a stola and pella (gown and cloak, common in depictions of Roman goddesses) and holds a torch aloft above her head. In her left arm, she carries a tabula ansata (used to evoke the concept of law) inscribed in Roman numerals with “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI” (July 4, 1776), the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A broken chain, lies at her feet, half-hidden by her robes and difficult to see from the ground.
The statue is one of the earliest examples of curtain wall construction, in which the exterior of the structure is not load bearing, but is instead supported by an interior framework.
The pedestal’s poured concrete walls, up to 20 feet (6.1 m) thick (the concrete mass was the largest poured to that time), was faced with Stony Creek granite blocks (from the Beattie Quarry in Branford, Connecticut).
New York’s first ticker-tape parade was held during the statue’s dedication. The parade route, beginning at Madison Square, proceeded to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan by way of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, with a slight detour so the parade could pass in front of the World building on Park Row. As the parade passed the New York Stock Exchange, traders threw ticker tape from the windows, beginning the New York tradition of the ticker-tape parade. Estimates of the number of people who watched it ranged from several hundred thousand to a million.
Originally, the statue was a dull copper color but, shortly after 1900, a green patina (also called verdigris) caused by the oxidation of the copper skin, began to spread and, by 1906, had entirely covered the statue. The Army Corps of Engineers studied the patina for any ill effects to the statue and concluded that it protected the skin. The statue was painted only on the inside. The Corps of Engineers also installed an elevator to take visitors from the base to the top of the pedestal.
In 1917, during World War I, images of the statue were heavily used in both recruitment posters and the Liberty Bond drives that urged American citizens to support the war financially. This impressed upon the public the war’s stated purpose—to secure liberty and served as a reminder that embattled France had given the United States the statue.
The statue sustained minor damage (mostly to the torch-bearing right arm) on July 30, 1916, during World War I, when German saboteurs detonated carloads of dynamite and other explosives that were being sent to Britain and France for their war efforts, on the Black Tom peninsula in Jersey City, New Jersey, in what is now part of Liberty State Park, close to Bedloe’s Island. Seven people were killed, the statue was closed for ten days and the cost to repair the statue and buildings on the island was about US$100,000. Since 1916, the narrow ascent to the torch was closed for public safety reasons, and it has remained closed ever since.
In 1929, the only successful suicide in the statue’s history occurred when a man climbed out of one of the windows in the crown and jumped to his death, glancing off the statue’s breast and landing on the base.
The statue was only illuminated every night, all night, beginning in 1957. During World War II, the statue, though open to visitors, was not illuminated at night due to wartime blackouts. It was lit briefly on December 31, 1943, and on D-Day, June 6, 1944, when its lights flashed “dot-dot-dot-dash,” the Morse code for V, for victory. From 1944 to 1945, new, powerful lighting was installed and, beginning on V-E Day, the statue was once again illuminated after sunset. The lighting then was for only a few hours each evening.
In 1946, the interior of the statue within reach of visitors was coated with a special plastic so that graffiti could be washed away.
In 1984, when the statue was closed to the public for renovation, workers erected the world’s largest free-standing scaffold,which obscured the statue from view.
The Statue of Liberty was one of the earliest beneficiaries of cause marketing. Its fundraising arm, the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., raised more than $350 million in donations.
The statue and the island was closed to the public a number of times. From May to December 1938 and from 1984 to 1986 it was closed for renovation and restoration. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the statue and the island was again closed to the public. The island reopened at the end of 2001, the pedestal in August 2004 and the statue on July 4, 2009 (however, only a limited number of people would be permitted to ascend to the crown each day). The statue, including the pedestal and base, closed on October 29, 2011, for installation of new elevators and staircases and to bring other facilities, such as restrooms, up to code. The statue was reopened on October 28, 2012 but closed again a day later due to Hurricane Sandy. The statue and Liberty Island reopened to the public on July 4, 2013. For part of October 2013, Liberty Island, along with other federally funded museums, parks, monuments, construction projects and buildings, was closed to the public due to the United States federal government shutdown of 2013.
The current torch, installed in 1986, has a flame is covered in 24-caratgold which reflects the sun’s rays in daytime. It is lighted by floodlights at night.
is a frequent subject in popular culture. In music, the statue has been evoked to indicate support for American policies, as in Toby Keith‘s song “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).” In protest and opposition of the Reagan administration, it appeared on the cover of the Dead Kennedys‘ album Bedtime for Democracy.
In 1942, the torch is the setting for the climax of director Alfred Hitchcock‘s movie Saboteur. In the 1968 picture Planet of the Apes, the statue makes one of its most famous cinematic appearances in which it is seen half-buried in sand. In the 1996 science-fiction film Independence Day, it is knocked over while in the 2008 film Cloverfield, the statue’s head is ripped off.
In Jack Finney‘s time-travel novel Time and Again, the right arm of the statue, on display in the early 1880s in Madison Square Park, plays a crucial role.
Hundreds of replicas of the Statue of Libertyare displayed worldwide. A smaller version of the statue, one-fourth the height of the original and standing on the Île aux Cygnes, facing west toward her larger sister, was given by the American community in Paris to that city. A 9.1 m. (30 ft.) tall replica, which once stood atop the Liberty Warehouse on West 64th Street in Manhattan for many years, now resides at the Brooklyn Museum. From 1949–1952, in a patriotic tribute, the Boy Scouts of America, as part of their Strengthen the Arm of Liberty campaign, donated about 200 replicas of the statue, made of stamped copper and 2,500 mm. (100 in.) in height, to states and municipalities across the United States. During the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, a statue known as the Goddess of Democracy, though not a true replica, was temporarily erected. Similarly inspired by French democratic traditions, the sculptors took care to avoid a direct imitation of the Statue of Liberty. A replica of the statue, as well as other recreations of New York City structures, is also part of the exterior of the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The Statue of Liberty, as an American icon, has been depicted on the country’s coinage and stamps. It appeared on commemorative coins to mark its 1986 centennial and New York’s 2001 entry in the state quartersIn 1997, an image of the statue was chosen for the American Eagle platinum bullion coins and was placed on the reverse (or tails) side of the Presidential Dollar series of circulating coins. Two images of the statue’s torch appear on the current ten-dollar bill. However, the statue’s intended photographic depiction on a 2010 forever stamp instead proved to be the replica at the Las Vegas casino.
Between 1986 and 2000, New York State issued license plates with an outline of the statue to either the front or the side of the serial number. The Women’s National Basketball Association‘s New York Liberty used both the statue’s name and its image in their logo (however, the torch’s flame doubles as a basketball). Beginning in 1997, the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League depicted the statue’s head on their third jersey. The National Collegiate Athletic Association‘s 1996 Men’s Basketball Final Four, played at New Jersey’s Meadowlands Sports Complex, featured the statue in its logo. The Libertarian Party of the United States also uses the statue in its emblem.

The Statue of Liberty seen from our ferry

Édouard René de Laboulaye, French law professor and politician, president of the French Anti-Slavery Society, a prominent and important political thinker of his time and an ardent supporter of the Union in the American Civil War, was said to have commented in 1865 that any monument raised to U.S. independence would properly be a joint project of the French and U.S. peoples and he inspired Bartholdi to create the statue. Due to the post-war instability in France, work on the statue did not commence until the early 1870s and, in 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the statue with the U.S. providing the site and building the pedestal.

Frederic Auguste Bartholdi

Before the statue was fully designed, Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm. For publicity, the torch-bearing arm was exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and, from 1876 to 1882, in Madison Square Park in Manhattan before it was returned to France to join the rest of the statue.

The torch-bearing arm

The head was exhibited at the 1878 Paris World’s Fair. To experience a changing perspective on the statue, Bartholdi gave it bold Classical contours and applied simplified modeling, reflecting the huge scale of the project and its solemn purpose. The statue was first built in France.

The statue’s head

Aside from Bartholdi, the following were also involved in the construction of the statue:

Architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, the chief engineer of the project and Bartholdi’s friend and mentor, designed a brick pier within the statue, to which the skin would be anchored. After consultations with by the Paris firm of Gaget, Gauthier et Cie (Cie is the French abbreviation analogous to Co.), the metalwork foundry, Viollet-le-Duc chose copper sheets, the metal which would be used for the skin, and repoussé, the method used to shape it, in which the sheets were heated and then struck with wooden hammers. An advantage of this choice was that the entire statue would be light for its volume. The head and arm had been built with assistance from Viollet-le-Duc, who fell ill in 1879 and soon died, leaving no indication of how he intended to transition from the copper skin to his proposed masonry pier.
Gustave Eiffel, the innovative designer and builder of the Eiffel Tower, and structural engineer, Maurice Koechlin, decided to abandon the proposed masonry pier and instead build an iron truss To prevent galvanic corrosionbetween the copper skin and the iron support structure, Eiffel insulated the skin with asbestos impregnated with shellac. To make it easier for visitors to reach the observation point in the crown, Eiffel included two interior spiral staircases. He also provided access to an observation platform surrounding the torch. As the pylon tower arose, Eiffel and Bartholdi coordinated their work carefully so that completed segments of skin would fit exactly on the support structure. The components of the pylon tower were built in the Eiffel factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois-Perret.
Joachim Goschen Giæver, a Norwegian immigrant civil engineer, designed the structural framework for the Statue of Liberty. Working from drawings and sketches produced by Gustave Eiffel, he did the design computations, detailed fabrication and construction drawings, and oversight of construction.
Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal, succeeded Laboulaye (upon his death in 1883) as chairman of the French committee.
Richard Morris Hunt designed the pedestal on Bedloe Island. Containing elements of classical architecture, including Doric portals, as well as some elements influenced by Aztec architecture, its large mass is fragmented with architectural detail, in order to focus attention on the statue. In form, it is a truncated pyramid, 19 m. (62 ft.) square at the base and 12 m. (39.4 ft.) at the top, with four sides identical in appearance.
Charles Pomeroy Stone, a former army general, oversaw the construction work on the pedestal.
Frederick Law Olmsted, renowned landscape architect and co-designer of New York’s Central Park and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, supervised a cleanup of Bedloe’s Island in anticipation of the dedication.
Gutzon Borglum, who later sculpted Mount Rushmore, redesigned the torch, replacing much of the original copper with stained glass.

Check out “Eiffel Tower“

In a symbolic act, the first rivet placed into the skin, fixing a copper plate onto the statue’s big toe, was driven by United States Ambassador to France Levi P. Morton. The completed statue was formally presented to Ambassador Morton at a ceremony in Paris on July 4, 1884. By January 1885, after sufficient progress on the pedestal pedestal (its cornerstone was laid in 1884 and it was completed on April 1886) had occurred, the Statue of Liberty was disassembled and crated for its ocean voyage to New York City on board the French steamer Isère.

Liberty Island Pier

On June 17, 1885, the statue safely reached the New York port, with 200,000 people lining the docks and hundreds of boats putting to sea to welcome the French vessel. Upon arrival, it was assembled on the on what was then called Bedloe’s Island (officially renamed Liberty Island in 1956 by an Act of Congress).

The statue’s pedestal

A dedication ceremony on October 28, 1886, presided over by President Grover Cleveland (a former New York governor), marked the statue’s completion. Until 1901, the statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board and then by the Department of War. Since 1933, it has been maintained by the National Park Service. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge used his authority under the Antiquities Act to declare the statue a National Monument.

Liberty Island Pavilion

Diorama of Bartholdi inside pavilion

In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the statue transferred to the National Park Service (NPS) and, in 1937, the NPS gained jurisdiction over the rest of Bedloe’s Island. In 1965, nearby Ellis Island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument by proclamation of President Lyndon Johnson. In 1984, the Statue of Liberty was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The author with grandson Kyle

At the western end of Liberty Island is a group of statues, all works of Maryland sculptor Phillip Ratner, honoring those closely associated with the Statue of Liberty.

Emma Lazarus

Two Americans— Joseph Pulitzer (publisher of the New York World, a New York newspaper, who announced a drive to raise $100,000 for the statue) and poet Emma Lazarus (whose sonnet, “The New Colossus,” is uniquely identified with the Statue of Liberty)—and three Frenchmen—Bartholdi, Eiffel, and Laboulaye—are depicted.

Grace and Jandy

Kyle and Cheska

The statue has the following physical characteristics:

Height of copper statue – 46 m. (151 ft., 1 in.)
Foundation of pedestal (ground level) to tip of torch – 93 m. (305 ft., 1 in.)
Heel to top of head – 34 m. (111 ft., 1 in.)
Height of hand – 5 m. (16 ft., 5 in.)
Index finger – 2.44 m. (8 ft., 1 in.)
Circumference at second joint – 1.07 m. (3 ft., 6 in.)
Head from chin to cranium – 5.26 m. (17 ft., 3 in.)
Head thickness from ear to ear – 3.05 m. (10 ft.)
Distance across the eye – 0.76 m. (2 ft., 6 in.)
Length of nose – 1.48 m. (4 ft., 6 in.)
Right arm length – 12.8 m. (42 ft.)
Right arm greatest thickness – 3.66 m. (12 ft.)
Thickness of waist – 10.67 m. (35 ft.)
Width of mouth – 0.91 m. (3 ft.)
Tablet, length – 7.19 m. (23 ft., 7 in.)
Tablet, width – 4.14 m. (13 ft., 7 in.)
Tablet, thickness – 0.61 m. (2 ft.)
Height of pedestal – 27.13 m. (89 ft.)
Height of foundation – 19.81 m. (65 ft.)
Weight of copper used in statue – 27.22 tons (60,000 lbs.)
Weight of steel used in statue – 113.4 tons (250,000 lbs.)
Total weight of statue – 204.1 tons (450,000 lbs.)
Thickness of copper sheeting – 2.4 mm. (3/32 of an inch)

Back at Liberty Island Pier for ferry to Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty National Monument: Liberty Island, New York Harbor, New York City 10004, United States.Tel: +1 646 356 2150. Open daily (except December 25), 8:30 AM – 7 PM.

All ferry riders are subject to security screening, similar to airport procedures, prior to boarding. Visitors intending to enter the statue’s base and pedestal must obtain a complimentary museum/pedestal ticket along with their ferry ticket. You can buy tickets online at www.statueoflibertytickets.com.

Those wishing to climb the staircase within the statue to the crown purchase a special ticket, which may be reserved up to a year in advance. A total of 240 people per day are permitted to ascend: ten per group, three groups per hour. Large bags are not allowed on Liberty or Ellis Islands. Backpacks, strollers and large umbrellas are not permitted in the Monument. Climbers may bring only medication and cameras—lockers are provided for other items—and must undergo a second security screening.

National September 11 Memorial & Museum (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on 25 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial and 9/11 Memorial Museum), located at the former location of the Twin Towers (destroyed during the September 11 attacks) at the World Trade Center site, are the principal memorial and museum, respectively, that commemorate the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed 2,977 victims, and the World Trade Center bombing of 1993, which killed six.

September 11 Memorial Plaza

The memorial was designed by Israeli architect Michael Arad (whose Reflecting Absence, on January 2004,was selected as the winner, from among 5,201 entries from 63 countries, of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition) of Handel Architects, a New York- and San Francisco-based firm, who worked with landscape-architecture firm Peter Walker and Partners on the design.

Layout of Memorial Plaza

Featuring a forest of trees with two square pools in the center where the Twin Towers stood, its design was consistent with the original Daniel Libeskind master plan which called for the memorial to be 9.1 m (30 ft.) below street level (originally 21 m./70 ft.) in a plaza. Started on August 2006, the memorial was dedicated on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the attacks, an was opened to the public the following day. The museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014 and opened on May 21.

South Pool

Two 4,000 m²(1 acre) pools, with the largest man-made waterfalls (intended to mute the sounds of the city, making the site a contemplative sanctuary) in the United States, comprise the footprints of the Twin Towers, symbolizing the loss of life and the physical void left by the attacks. Delta Fountains engineered the fountain. Many parts of the memorial were planted by Walker with white oaks while almost 400 sweet gum and swamp white oak trees fill the remaining 24,000 m²(6 acres) of the Memorial Plaza, enhancing the site’s reflective nature.

Parapet on wall with bronze plates inscribed with victims’ names

The parapets of the walls of the memorial pools are attached with 76 bronze plates inscribed with the names, arranged according to an algorithm, of 2,983 victims – 2,977 killed in the September 11 attacks and six killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Flower offering for one of the victims

Around the perimeter of the North Pool are the names of the employees and visitors in the North Tower (WTC 1), the passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 11 (which struck the North Tower), and the 5 employees and a visitor, all adults, of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, all memorialized on Panel N-73.

North Pool

Around the perimeter of the South Pool are the names of the employees and visitors in the South Tower (WTC 2), the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 175 (which struck the South Tower), the employees, visitors, and bystanders in the immediate vicinity of the North and South Towers, the first responders (listed with their units) who died during rescue operations, the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 (which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania) and American Airlines Flight 77 (which struck the Pentagon), and the employees at the Pentagon.

Though company names are not included, the company employees and visitors are listed together. Passengers on the 2 United Airlines and 2 American Airline flights are listed under their flight numbers. The phrase “and her unborn child” follows the names of ten pregnant women who died on 9/11 and one who died in the 1993 attack.

Survivor Tree

The “Survivor Tree,” a symbol of hope and rebirth, is a 2.4 m.( 8-ft.) tall callery pear tree (planted during the 1970s near Buildings 4 and 5, in the vicinity of Church St.) which was recovered, badly burned with one living branch, from the rubble at the World Trade Center site on October 2001. Nursed back to health by the Bronx nursery, the then 9.1 m. (30 ft.) tall tree was returned, on December 2010, to the World Trade Center site and is now a prominent part of the memorial.

September 11 Memorial Museum

The September 11 Memorial Museum, dedicated on May 15, 2014 and opened to the public on May 21, was built at the former location of Fritz Koenig‘s The Sphere, a large metallic sculpture placed in the middle of a large pool between the Twin Towers. Designed by Davis Brody Bond, the museum, about 21 m. (70 ft.) below ground and accessible through a pavilion designed by Snøhetta, encloses 10,000 m² (110,000 sq. ft.) of publicly accessible space. Its exhibits include 23,000 images, 10,300 artifacts (including wrecked emergency vehicles, two tridents from the Twin Towers and pieces of metal from all seven World Trade Center buildings including the last piece of steel to leave Ground Zero in May 2002), nearly 2,000 oral histories of those killed (mostly provided by friends and families) and over 500 hours of video.

National September 11 Memorial & Museum: 180 Greenwich St, New York City, New York 10007. Open daily, 7:30 AM – 9 PM. Admission: US$24/adult, children below 12 years old is free.

Castle Clinton National Monument (New York City, U.S.A.)

Posted on 25 June, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Castle Clinton National Monument

The 0.4-hectare (1 acre), Medieval-looking Castle Clinton (or Fort Clinton), a circular sandstone fort previously originally known as West Battery and sometimes as Southwest Battery and Castle Garden, was the first American immigration station (predating Ellis Island), where approximately 7.7 million people arrived in the United States from 1855 to 1890. Lying near the northwestern corner of Battery Park, it serves as the park’s main attraction.

Some of the few noteworthy immigrants who passed through here include:

Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary) – the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of a typhoid fever pathogen
Nikola Tesla – a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system
Harry Houdini – Hungarian-born American escape artist, illusionist, stunt performer and mysteriarch, noted for his escape acts.
Emma Goldman – anarchist political activist and writer who played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century.
Joseph Pulitzer – Hungarian-born American newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World.
Friedrich Trumpf – German–American barber, businessman, and patriarch of the Trump family. He is the grandfather of Donald Trump.

Check out “Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration”

Built from 1808 to 1811, it has, over its active life, functioned as an administrative headquarters, a paymaster’s quarters and storage area for the United States Army (until 1821), a beer garden, exhibition hall, theater, and public aquarium. Castle Clinton stood slightly two blocks west of where Fort Amsterdam was built in 1626 (when New York City was known by the Dutch name New Amsterdam). By 1790, after the American Revolutionary War, Fort Amsterdam was demolished.

Castle Clinton National Monument plaque

Here is the historical timeline of Castle Clinton:

In 1807, a group of three commissioners, including Lt.-Col. Jonathan Williams (a grandnephew of Benjamin Franklin) of the United States Army Engineers, submitted a report that recommended the construction of fortifications in New York Harbor.
In 1808, construction of the fort began on a small artificial island just off shore which was connected to Battery Park by a 200-ft. long wood causeway and drawbridge.
In 1811, the fort was completed although modifications continued through the 1820s.
In 1817, West battery was renamed Castle Clinton, its current official name, in honor of New York City Mayor De Witt Clinton (who eventually became Governor of New York).
In March 1822, it was ceded to the city by an act of Congress.
In June 1824, the fort was leased to New York City as a place of public entertainment.
On July 3, 1824, it opened as Castle Garden (a name by which it was popularly known for most of its existence), an open-air structure serving, in turn, as a promenade, beer garden/restaurant, exhibition hall (new inventions such as the telegraph, Colt revolving rifles, steam-powered fire engines, and underwater electronic explosives were demonstrated there), opera house and theater.
That same year, it celebrated the arrival of Gen. Lafayette at the beginning of his year-long triumphal tour of America.
In 1844, a domed roof was placed to accommodate a 6,000-seat theater.
In 1850, to initiate her American tour, Swedish soprano Jenny Lind (the “Swedish Nightingale”), brought to America by by P.T. Barnum (famous for his American Museum full of “freaks” and, later, the famous circus which bears his name), gave two concerts for charity at the castle.
In 1851, European dancing star Lola Montez performed her notorious “tarantula dance” in Castle Garden.
In 1853–54, Louis-Antoine Jullien, the eccentric French conductor and composer of light music, gave dozens of very successful concerts mixing Classical and light music.
On June 17, 1851, the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company notably staged the New York premiere of Gaetano Donizetti‘s Marino Faliero.
On July 20, 1854, the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company also staged the New York premiere of Giuseppe Verdi‘s Luisa Miller at Castle Garden.
During the 1860s, landfill was used to expand Battery Park at which point the island containing the fort was incorporated into the rest of Manhattan Island.
In the first half of the 19th century, most immigrants arriving in New York City landed at docks on the east side of the tip of Manhattan, around South Street.
On August 1, 1855, Castle Clinton became the Emigrant Landing Depot, functioning as the New York State immigrant registration center (the nation’s first such entity).
On April 18, 1890, the S. government assumed control of immigration processing from the state government.
On January 2, 1892, after many unnecessary deaths and scandals over immigration workers cheating and stealing from immigrants, the immigration control was taken over by the federal government and the immigrant registration center was moved to the larger, more isolated Ellis Island
On June 15, 1897, a fire consumed the first structures on Ellis Island, destroying most of Castle Clinton’s original immigrant passenger records (it is generally accepted that approximately 7.7 million immigrants and, perhaps, as many as 10 million were processed during its operation).
On December 10, 1896, Castle Garden was opened as the site of the New York City Aquarium (designed by McKim, Mead & White) which, for many years, was the city’s most popular attraction, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to see its Beluga whale, sea lions and exotic fish. The structure was extensively altered and roofed over to a height of several stories, though the original masonry fort remained.
In 1941, Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Commissioner Robert Moses wanted to tear the structure down completely, claiming that this was necessary to build the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel.
In September 1941, to expedite construction of the tunnel, the city closed the New York Aquarium and moved its fish to other aquariums. The aquarium was not replaced until Moses opened a new facility on Coney Island in 1957.
On August 12, 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the legislation making the castle a U.S. National Monument.
In July 1947, the New York City Board of Estimate voted to demolish Castle Garden. However, the Board delayed the demolition for another year to allow the federal government to review the decision.
In May 1948, the Board voted to demolish the castle for the sixth time in as many years.
After another year of discussion, the New York State Assembly reversed its decision to allow the castle to be demolished.
On July 18, 1950, the federal government finally obtained the property after the city deeded the land and castle to the federal government.
In 1956, after funding had been secured, a project to renovate Castle Clinton was announced.
On October 15, 1966, Castle Clinton National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the 1970s, a major rehabilitation took place, largely restoring it to its original appearance.
In 1975, Castle Clinton was reopened.

Designed by John McComb Jr. and Jonathan Williams, West Battery had a red brick facade, 8-ft. thick walls and was roughly circular in shape, with a radius of approximately 28 m. (92 ft.).

The ticket office

About one-eighth of the circle was left “unfinished,” with a straight wall constructed between the “unfinished” segments.

Intended to complement the three-tiered Castle Williams (the East Battery, on Governors Island, named after Jonathan Williams) with crosshair fire so that the channel between them could be closed, West Battery was armed with 28 cannons, in casemated gun positions, which could fire a 32 pound cannonball a distance of 1.5 miles into the harbor. Although garrisoned in 1812, the fort never saw action in any war.

Currently administered by the National Park Service and now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, Castle Clinton is now a departure point for visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, housing an information center and ticket booths for the ferries.

Castle Clinton Museum

In 2009, it recorded nearly 4.08 million visitors. In addition, the fort contains a small history exhibit and occasionally hosts concerts.

Check out “Statue of Liberty National Monument”

Castle Clinton National Monument: Battery Park, 26 Wall St., Manhattan, New York City 10005. Tel: (212) 344-7220.

Mactan Shrine (Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu)

Posted on 27 May, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Mactan Shrine. On the left is the small building housing two plaques while on the right is the Magellan Monument

Part 4 of the Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort & Spa-sponsored City Tour

This shrine is dedicated in honor of Lapu-Lapu (the Philippines’ first National Hero) and the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and was erected on the supposed spot where the Battle of Mactan (April 27, 1521) took place. The shrine has three prominent monuments

Lapu-Lapu Monument

The 20-ft. high Lapu-Lapu Monument, beside the shore, features a bronze statue, on a pedestal, of Datu Lapu-Lapu, sculpted with great realism, holding a kampilan (curved sword) on his right hand and a shield on the left. The Magellan Marker, shaped like a large headstone, allegedly marks the spot where Magellan fell dead in the hands of Lapu-Lapu’s men.

Magellan Monument

A little farther away is the 30-ft. high Magellan Monument, on a base of several levels and surrounded by a low fence. It consists of plain, coralstone obelisk, on whose apex rests a sphere, mounted on a tall plinth that rests on a tripartite structure – an octagonal base, on which rests a tall quadrilateral structure, divided into a lower part, decorated with high relieves of vases, and an upper part pierced by narrow arches.

Relief of a vase

The monument is inscribed with texts. On one side is A Hernando de Magallanes, Ferdinand Magellan’s name written in the original Portuguese language.

Inscription with Magellan’s name

On a second side is the phrase Glorias Españolas (“Glory to Spain”), on the third is the phrase Siendo Gobernaor Don Miguel Creus (the Spanish governor of the Philippines at the time) and on the fourth side is the phrase 1866 Reinando Ysabel II (the Spanish monarch at that time).

Inscription with Gov. Miguel Creus’s name

The monument was said to have been built in 1866 during the administration of Augustinian Fr. Simon Aguirre, who was cura (parish priest), from 1857 to 1871, of Opon (the old name of Lapu-Lapu City).

The plinth with two plaques

Between the Lapu-Lapu and Magellan monuments stands the Philippine flag. East of the Magellan Monument is a small building housing a plinth flanked by plaques.

The Lapu-Lapu plaque

The plaque about Lapu-Lapu (installed by the Philippine Historical Committee in 1951) reads:

Lapulapu

Here on 27 April 1521, Lapulapu and his men repulsed the Spanish invaders, killing their leader Ferdinand Magellan thus Lapu Lapu became the first Filipino to have repelled European aggression.

The plaque about Magellan’s death

The other plaque about Ferdinand Magellan (installed by the Philippine Historical Committee in 1941) reads:

Ferdinand Magellan’s Death

On this spot Ferdinand Magellan died on April 27, 1521 wounded in an encounter with the soldiers of Lapu Lapu, Chief of Mactan Islands. One of Magellan’s ships, The Victoria, under the command of Juan Sebastian Elcano, sailed from Cebu on May 1, 1521 and anchored at San Lucar de Barrameda on September 6, 1522 thus completing the first circumnavigation of the earth.

The huge mural painting

Behind the plinth is a huge mural painting depicting the battle. The Battle of Mactan is reenacted along the shores near the shrine during the 27 April Kadaugan sa Mactan Festival.

The Kadaugan sa Mactan re-enactment site

Mactan Shrine: Punta Engano, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.

Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort & Spa: Buyong, Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City, 6015, Cebu. Tel: (032) 492-0100. Fax: (032) 492-1808. E-mail: maribago@bluewater.com.ph. Website: www.bluewatermaribago.com.ph. Metro Manila sales office: Rm. 704, Cityland Herrera Tower, 98 Herrera cor. Valero Sts., Salcedo Village, Makati City, Metro Manila. Tel: (02) 887-1348 and (02) 817-5751. Fax: (02) 893-5391.

Regina RICA (Tanay, Rizal)

Posted on 5 April, 2017 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Regina RICA

The 13.5-hectare Regina RICA, one of the most popular pilgrimage sites here in the Philippines, was established in 2009 by Sr. Mary Epifania “Eppie” F. Brasil, OP (founder of the Dominican Sisters of Regina Rosarii On May 13, 2005 in Quezon City). The sisters holds dear the words of Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner “In the days ahead, you will either be a mystic (one who has experienced God for real) or nothing at all.”

Handumanan

Their primary mission is to teach as many people as they can about contemplative prayer and the contemplative way of life. This wonderful place of prayer, pilgrimage and peace is not a park or a recreational activity area. Rather, it is for those seeking to experience God.

Souvenir Shop

Handumanan, the first place that will welcome you upon entering, has a souvenir shop, visitor center (where names are entered in the registration folder at the counter), a booth where you can write petitions and a donation area. RICA volunteers here also orient visitors of the do’s and dont’s while exploring the Regina RICA.

Our Lady of Regina RICA

The hilltop Regina RICA‘s centerpiece is the iconic, 71-ft. high statue of Our Lady of Regina Rica, a sculpture of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus made by the artist/sculptor, Jose “Jojo” Barcena Jr..

Smiling sculptured angel

Below her feet is a canopy of clouds with 17 sculptured angels – 16 smiling and the 17th, inside the mantle, which is the crying (symbolizing sorrow for the sins we commit).

The author

Inside the statue is an adoration chapel called SULOD (Sanctuary of Universal Love and Devotion), Regina RICA’s sanctuary of universal love and devotion chapel. Sulod is an Ilonggo word (the sisters are mostly Ilongga) meaning “enter.”

S Trail at El Shaddai Hills

Just like a pilgrim, the best way to experience Regina RICA is by foot. However, for those who can’t walk inside the facility, there are also shuttle vans or golf carts (PhP5 per pax) that can take visitors, from the gate, to the chapel and all the way to the SULOD on top of the hill and back down again.

Brick with footprints of those who gave their love offerings

There are 2 ways to get to Our Lady of Regina RICA and its SULOD. First, you can take Mary’s S (sacred) Trail at El Shaddai Hills, a pathway of 308 steps trail made with bricks (some with footprints of those who gave their love offering) that leads directly to the icon. Here, you have a great view of the RICA Chapel just below the hill.

Candle Station

Second, you can follow the Way of the Cross, 14 stations that leads you along a winding road that also leads you to the icon on top of the hill but also tours you to Regina RICA’s other facilities – the Organic Gardens, Regina RICA Chapel, San Jose Rotonda (has a 13-ft. high statue of St. Joseph looking at his family), 13 Candle Stands, Koi Pond, Flower Gardens, Kakahuyan and Sunflower Trail.

Regina RICA Chapel

Interior of chapel

Upon reaching SULOD, visitors are briefed on what they should do and observe once you enter the adoration area. They will also provide information and history about the Regina RICA, future and current projects and more. After the briefing, visitors will be prompted to go upstairs where a sister of the congregation will invite them to join a short yet spiritually enlightening prayer and meditation in front of the exposed Blessed Sacrament, after which they will be guided to the exit so they can accommodate the next batch.

Orientation inside SULOD

At the Pilgrim’s Labyrinth, visitors are encouraged to slowly follow the path all the way to the center (where they can offer their prayers and meditate) and also the path to go out. On its left side is a gazebo called Tilipunan (from the Ilonggo word meaning “gathering place”).

Pilgrim’s Labyrinth

Tilipunan

There are candle houses with candles (PhP20 each) in various colors, which represent different intentions – red for courage, blue for peace, green for hope, orange for good health, violet for financial prosperity, brown for safe trip/good job, aqua for thanksgiving, yellow for joy/friend, white for success, rose for love/family and all of the above for abundance.

Candle House

The Pahuwayan sa RICA Columbary and Ossuary is another interesting work of art of Jojo Barcena Jr.

Pahuwayan sa RICA Columbary and Ossuary

Columbary entrance

Regina RICA also has a dozens of gazebos, bahay kubo, tents, some animals, livestock, at least 3 waterfalls, a creek, a set of 10,000 trees and a vegetarian-themed restaurant (Pasilungan) at a place called Handong (an Ilonggo word meaning “shade”).

Pasilungan

Regina Regina Rosarii Institute for Contemplation in Asia: Marikina-Infanta Highway, Sitio Aguho, Brgy. Sampaloc, Tanay Rizal. Open daily (except Tuesdays), 8 AM to 5 PM. Admission: free. Parking fee: PhP50. Tel: (+02) 985-3878 and (+02) 401-2036. Mobile number: (0919) 269-4286. E-mail: reginarica@yahoo.com. Website: www.reginarica.org.

Schedule of Masses

Mondays-Saturdays – 11 AM (except Tuesdays)

Sundays – 11 AM and 3:30 PM

Every 4th Saturday of the month: 6 AM

To attend to the pilgrims’ need for silence and respect the sanctity and cleanliness of the area, each one is required to be on their best behavior when they are inside the sacred place. There is also a dress code – no short shorts sleeveless blouses, spaghetti straps and too revealing upper garments. If you are wearing inappropriate clothing, you can borrow long skirts and shawls in stores inside the place. Visitors are required to take off their shoes once they enter SULOD. You can take pictures anywhere inside the whole facility except inside SULOD.

Tanay Tourism Office: G/F, New Tanay Municipal Hall, M. H. del Pilar St., Tanay, Rizal 1980. Tel: (02) 7361059 and (02) 6551773 loc 212-213. Mobile number: (0998) 988-1590. E-mail: tanaytourism11@gmail.com. Website: www.tanay.gov.ph.

Colosseum (Rome, Italy)

Posted on 24 May, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The Colosseum

The oval, entirely free-standing Colosseum or Coliseum, an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome, is situated just east of the Roman Forum. Following the reign of Nero, it was began by emperor Vespasian in AD 72 and completed in AD 80 by his son and successor Titus. Further modifications were made during the reign of Vespasian’s younger son Domitian (81–96).

The outer wall

It has suffered extensive damage over the centuries, with large segments having collapsed following earthquakes. In 217, the wooden upper levels of the amphitheater’s interior was destroyed by a major fire (caused by lightning, according to Dio Cassius) and was not fully repaired until about 240. Further repairs were done in 250 or 252 and again in 320. Gladiatorial fights are. Various parts of the Colosseum were restored under Theodosius II and Valentinian III (reigned 425–455), possibly to repair damage caused by a major earthquake in 443. More work followed in 484 and 508.

The outer wall (left) and the nearly intact inner wall

The great 1349 earthquake severely damaged the Colosseum. The outer south side, lying on a less stable alluvial terrain, collapsed and much of the tumbled stone was reused to build palaces, churches, hospitals and other buildings elsewhere in Rome. The interior of the amphitheater was extensively stripped of stone, which was reused elsewhere. The marble façade was burned to make quicklime. The bronze clamps, used to hold the stonework together, were pried or hacked out of the walls, leaving numerous pockmarks which still scar the building today.

The Colosseum interior

In 1807 and 1827, the façade was reinforced with triangular brick wedges and, in 1831, 1846 and in the 1930s, the interior was repaired. In 1810–1814 and 1874, the arena substructure was partly excavated and, in the 1930s, was fully exposed under Benito Mussolini. Between 1993 and 2000, due to the effects of pollution and general deterioration over time, a major restoration program was carried out at a cost of 40 billion Italian lire ($19.3 million/ €20.6 million at 2000 prices).

The raked areas that once held seating

Here are some interesting facts and trivia regarding the Colosseum:

Built of concrete and sand, it is the largest amphitheatre ever built.
One of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions, it receives millions of visitors annually.
Elliptical in plan, it is 189 m. (615 ft./640 Roman ft.) long, 156 m. (510 ft./528 Roman ft.) wide and has a base area of 24,000 sq. m. (6 acres). Its outer wall is 48 m. (157 ft./165 Roman ft.) high. Its perimeter originally measured 545 m. (1,788 ft./1,835 Roman ft.). The central arena is an oval 87 m. (287 ft.) long and 55 m. (180 ft.) wide, surrounded by a wall 5 m. (15 ft.) high, above which rose tiers of seating. The arena itself was 83 m. by 48 m. (272 ft. by 157 ft./280 by 163 Roman ft.).
Its outer wall was estimated to have required over 100,000 cu. m. (3,531,467 cubic ft.) of travertine stone which were set without mortar and held together by 300 tons of iron clamps.
According to the Codex-Calendar of 354, the Colosseum could accommodate 87,000 spectators, although modern estimates put the figure at between 50,000 and 80,000, having an average audience of some 65,000.
The Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests (last mentioned around 435) and public spectacles such as mock sea battles (for only a short time as the hypogeum was soon filled in with mechanisms to support the other activities), animal hunts (continued until at least 523, when Anicius Maximus celebrated his consulship with some venationes), executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.
In the Early Medieval era, the building ceased to be used for entertainment but numerous vaulted spaces in the arcades under the seating were later reused for housing and workshops. It was also reused as a fortress (around 1200 by the Frangipani family), quarters for a Christian religious order (from mid-14th century until as late as the early 19th century), a quarry (stones from the Colosseum were taken for the building of other sacred sites), and a Christian shrine (in 1749, by Pope Benedict XIV).
The Colosseum is also depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.
The Colosseum has become a symbol of the international campaign against capital punishment. The color of the Colosseum’s night time illumination changes from white to gold whenever a person condemned to the death penalty anywhere in the world gets their sentence commuted or is released,or if a jurisdiction abolishes the death penalty (most recently on November 2012, following the abolition of capital punishment in the American state of Connecticut in April 2012).
Large concerts, using the Colosseum as a backdrop, have been held just outside. They included concerts o Ray Charles (May 5, 2002), Paul McCartney (May 11, 2003), Elton John (September 3, 2005), and Billy Joel (July 31, 2006).

Cross dedicated to the Christian martyrs, placed in 2000 by Pope John Paul II

The iconic Colosseum has been featured in numerous films:

Roman Holiday

The Colosseum famously serves as the backdrop for several scenes in the 1953 film Roman Holiday.
In the 1954 film Demetrius and the Gladiators, the Emperor Caligula (Jay Robinson) anachronistically sentences the Christian Demetrius (Victor Mature) to fight in the Colosseum.

Demetrius and the Gladiators

The conclusion of the 1957 film 20 Million Miles to Earth takes place at the Colosseum.
In the 1972 film Way of the Dragon, Bruce Lee fought Chuck Norris in the Colosseum.
In Ridley Scott‘s 2000 film Gladiator, the Colosseum was re-created via computer-generated imagery (CGI) to “restore” it to the glory of its heyday in the 2nd century. The depiction of the building itself is generally accurate and it gives a good impression of what the underground hypogeum would have been like.
In the 2003 movie The Core, the Colosseum is destroyed by huge bolts of lightning.
The Colosseum was featured as one of the locations of Vitaly‘s travelling circus in the animated film Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012).
A scene from the 2008 film Jumper was filmed in the Colosseum.
In the 2003 film The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Lizzie McGuire (Hillary Duff) performed as Isabella Parigi for the Italian Music Awards.

Colosseum seating

The remainder of the present-day exterior of the Colosseum is, in fact, the original interior wall. The surviving part of its monumental façade comprises three stories of superimposed arcades framed by half-columns of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders and surmounted by a podium on which stands a tall attic decorated with Corinthian pilasters, both of which are pierced by windows interspersed at regular intervals. At the second- and third-floor arcades, arches framed statues, probably honoring divinities and other figures from Classical mythology. The north side of the perimeter wall, though still standing, has distinctive triangular brick wedges at each end that are modern additions, having been constructed in the early 19th century to shore up the wall.

Maenianum Primum

Positioned around the top of the attic are 240 mast corbels that originally supported a retractable awning,known as the velarium (a canvas-covered, net-like structure made of ropes, with a hole in the center), that kept the sun and rain off spectators over two-thirds of the arena and sloped down towards the center to catch the wind and provide a breeze for the audience. Working on the velarium are sailors specially enlisted from the Roman naval headquarters at Misenum and housed in the nearby Castra Misenatium.

Maenianum Secundum

The amphitheater was ringed by 80 numbered outer entrances, many of which have disappeared with the collapse of the perimeter wall (only entrances XXIII to LIV still survive) at ground level, 76 of which were used by ordinary spectators. All four axial entrances, richly decorated with painted stucco reliefs (of which fragments survive) consisted of a northern main entrance reserved for the Roman Emperor and his aides and three other axial entrances most likely used by the elite. Special boxes at the north and south ends, for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins, provide the best views of the arena. They were provided with separate tunnels to permit them to enter and exit the Colosseum without needing to pass through the crowds. A broad platform or podium, for the senatorial class (they were allowed to bring their own chairs), flanked them at the same level

Maenianum Secundum in Legneis

Fragment of an ancient Roman equestrian statue

The maenianum primum, the tier above the senators, was occupied by the non-senatorial noble class or knights (equites) while the next level up, divided into two sections, is the maenianum secundum, originally reserved for ordinary Roman citizens (plebeians). The lower part (the immum) was reserved for wealthy citizens while the upper part (the summum) was for poor citizens. The maenianum secundum in legneis, a level added at the very top of the building during the reign of Domitian (either standing room only or having very steep wooden benches), was a gallery for the common poor, slaves and women. Gravediggers, actors and former gladiators were banned altogether from the Colosseum.

The author

Inscriptions identified the areas reserved for specific groups (boys with their tutors, soldiers on leave, foreign dignitaries, scribes, heralds, priests, etc.) with the names of some 5th century senators still seen carved into the stonework (presumably reserving areas for their use). Stone (and later marble) was provided for the seats of citizens and nobles (presumably they brought their own cushions with them).

L-R: Kyle, Cheska, Jandy and Grace

Curved passages and low walls (praecinctiones or baltei) divided each tier into sections (maeniana) and were further subdivided into cunei, or wedges, by the steps and aisles from the vomitoria. Each row (gradus) of seats was numbered, permitting each individual seat to be exactly designated by its gradus, cuneus, and number.

Hypogeum

The arena (part of it re-floored), comprising a wooden floor covered by sand (harena or arena is the Latin word for sand), covers the hypogeum (literally meaning “underground”), an elaborate two-level subterranean network, built by Emperor Domitian, of tunnels and cages beneath the arena where gladiators and animals were held before contests began. It was connected by underground tunnels to a number of points outside the Colosseum. Caged animals and scenery pieces concealed underneath were provided instant access to the arena by 80 vertical shafts while larger hinged platforms, called hegmata, provided access for elephants and the like.

A museum, dedicated to Eros, is located in the upper floor of the outer wall of the building.

Base of the statue of Praefectus Urbi (Prefect of Rome)

Colosseum: Piazza del Colosseo, 1, 00184 Rome, Italy. Open daily, except January 1 and December 25. Tel: (+39) 06 39967700 (Mondays-Saturdays, 9 AM -1:30 PM and 2:30 -5 PM). Tickets (€2) can also be bought (often avoiding a long queue) at the ticket offices in Via di San Gregorio (Palatine), Largo Salara Vecchia (former Largo Romolo e Remo – Roman Forum) and Via Sacra (Roman Forum, Arco di Tito). The Colosseum, together with the Forum/Palatine Hill ticket, is valid for both.

How to Get There
The Colosseum is located a few hundred yards from Piazza Venezia, and close to the Forum.

On “B” line Metro station Colosseo
“A” line Metro station Manzoni, then two stops of Tram No. 3 going southwards
Bus lines 60, 75, 85, 87, 271, 571, 175, 186, 810, 850, C3, and the electric minibus 117
Tramway Line No. 3.

Abolition of Tobacco Monopoly Monument (Laoag City, Ilocos Norte)

Posted on 22 March, 2016 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Abolition of Tobacco Monopoly Monument

This obelisk of clay and brick was erected on November 28,1882 by alcalde mayor (provincial governor) Don Jose Moreno Lacalle as a gesture of thanksgiving to King Alfonso XIII of Spain for abolishing the hated tobacco monopoly, during the incumbency of Gov. Fernando Primo de Rivera, in accordance with a royal decree issued on June 5, 1881.

NHI Plaque

The tobacco monopoly, established by Gov. Jose Basco y Vargas by virtue of the royal decree of February 9, 1780, aimed to bring in large profits for the government and make the Philippines the leading tobacco producer of the world.

However, it oppressed the Ilocano farmers and landowners as no one could raise or sell a single leaf of tobacco without first having permission from the government. The suppression of the monopoly was completed in 1884 and tobacco remains to be a major cash crop in the province.

Abolition of Tobacco Monopoly Monument: A. Bonifacio St., Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.

How to Get There: The monument is located at the foot of Marcos Bridge, over the Laoag River.

This travel blog, a diary of the author’s local and international travels, aims to provide the reader with news and information on people, places and events that would interest the avid traveler and tourist. But, it also aims to be much more, providing insights on the wonders of this beautiful country, as well as the world, beyond the strict confines of the city. Have a BLAST seeing old churches, exotic temples, educational museums as well as palm-fringed islands; white sand beaches; thundering waterfalls; placid lakes; fiery sunsets; turquoise seas; cathedral-like caves; swirling rivers; majestic mountains; stupendous, amphitheater-like rice terraces; awesome volcanoes and the like. Get to know the movers and shakers in the tourism industry; find out where to titillate the palate; rejuvenate your body; feed your adrenalin, unwind and relax; satisfy your craving for history and culture; and find out what's being celebrated and where.

BENJAMIN “BENJIE” LAYUG, an architect by profession (he finished his B. S. Architecture degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1982), is an avid reader, traveler and free-lance travel writer in his spare time, contributing articles to Travel Update, Philippine Daily Inquirer, COLORS, TODAY, 7107 Islands Magazine, Business Day, Bluprint and the Business Mirror.

He is also the author of the following travel books:

A Philippine Odyssey (New Day Publishers, 2005)
Pathfinder’s Travel Guide: Boracay (Great Books Trading, 2006)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Churches (New Day Publishers, 2007)
A Tourist to Notable Philippine Historical Landmarks, Monuments and Shrines (New Day Publishers, 2010)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Museums (New Day Publishers, 2012)

Some of his books now appear in the local library shelves of the National Library of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas, U.P. Diliman, Centro Escolar University, San Sebastian College, Miriam College, Silliman University, to name a few, as well as internationally at the National Library of Australia and the University of California Berkeley Library.

Now a senior citizen, he is probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, active travel blogger in the country today. He also has a lifestyle blog called F.Y.I.:Firing Your Imagination (www.firingyourimagination.blogspot.com). Benjie has traveled to two-thirds (53) of the country’s 81 provinces and over 20 countries in 4 continents.