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Check out Vienna... took down their walls and built a beautiful ring road. Good thinking.
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http://www.desicolours.com/top-view-of-forts-in-maharashtra/17/06/2008
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@anonymous
a beautiful ring road????
how strange to call that beautiful
thank God for living in the Netherlands where we don't do that
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one of the most beautiful walled cities I've ever seen is Aigues-Mortes, partially because it never really outgrew it's walls, so it still has the "in-here vs out-there feeling"
there are also plenty of post-medieval dutch fortifications, known as the "waterlinie", such as Woerden, which was also a roman and medieval city with castles and all, only 20KM from Utrecht
and many more forts in that style, such as Bourtange (also one of the most beautiful places I've ever been)
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In Verona, Italy there are three walls, Roman, Middle Ages and Austrian-Hungarian.
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How could you overlook Mont St Michel? It's a walled city, still functional today (though its main business today is tourism, plus some income from the surrounding floodplain pasturage), between Normandy and Brittany. The first fortifications were built by William the Conqueror, and it was added onto bit by bit. It was a penal colony for a while, and a monastery for much longer. Today, it is an actual city -- there are people who live there full-time, though they must feel a bit odd with all the tourists tramping around all the time. Carcasonne is another noteworthy walled city, in the south of France, and people still live in it as well.
While the ancient fortifications of London are not easily visible (apart from the Tower, and some influence on the way roads sprang up), the fortifications of Paris are easier to find. Some sections of medieval wall still stand, and the major routes into the city proper are in the same positions as the ancient portals -- and indeed, are referred to as "portes" even when the ancient archway is no longer present (though in many cases the arch is still there, along with a good bit of wall).
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Calli Arcade - thank you, good point. We did however write about Mont St.Michel - see this DRB
page
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The The Walled City of Lahore reminds me of Labyrinth. Does anyone else see the connection?
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Another German city that still retains a good portion of its fortress wall is Rothenburg on der Tauber, also famous for the legendary Meistertrunk, a flagon of beer that, when drunk in one draught by one of the city fathers, saved the town during the Hundred Years War. The event is portrayed on a clock tower, reenacted every year, and numerous tourist trinkets celebrate it. Oh yeah; the town also hosts the original Kriskindlmarkt, or Christmas store, of Kathe Wolfahrt. The store is open year-round, except on Christmas.
Talk about a busy town!
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Actually the Maginot Line was 100% successful. The Germans never breached it. Unfortunately it did not extend past the Belgian border. That's not an indictment of fortifications. That's an indictment of stupid politics.
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I can't find the amazing Map of Utrecht from "Toonneel der Steden" on the source site you list.
Do you have a different source site?
I'm very interested in maps of that period.
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Also worth mentioning: The old city of Rhodes, see http://www.rhodes.gr/portal_gr/photos/images/air01_hires.jpg
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@Alex: 100% is definitely incorrect, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginot_Line#German_invasion_in_World_War_II
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Gostei muito,achei fantastico pena que aqui no Brasil não tem arquitetura desse tipo.
Um Abraço
Patricio Antonio
patrcio-a@hotmail.com
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Another walled city is in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City
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Honolulu is older than St Augustine. I suspect a number of US cities have been continually occupied since before Europeans showed up.
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Derry city in Ireland is worth a mention :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derry
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I'm days late on this, but it's a shame that you didn't mention Nanjing, China. I don't know if this is true but their Ming dynasty city wall claims to be the longest ever built at over 33km. Whether or not that was true, the many hundreds of years of building & strengthening the wall and its implications during the Rape of Nanking make it rather significant. China also continues to spend a lot of money to keep it in good repair
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About the pictures of Naarden and Heusden (with the star fortifications), I'm pretty sure they were designed by Vauban. So if you wanna see more of them, look him up.
Vauban and some pictures
hereAnd to Alex Epstein, Rommel smashed right though the Maginot line, look it up.
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You forgot Québec, Canada
"Quebec City was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985, and is the only remaining fortified city north of Mexico"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Quebec_City_Wall.jpg
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Thessaloniki, Greece has some of the best surviving walls dating from Roman to Byzantine Empires.
Imagine a inverted C shaped wall going from ocean to ocean in Santa Barbara, California. Ringing the city in the mountains, in multiple layers as the city grew. The view from the fortifications down onto the Thermaic Gulf is pretty incredible.
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Pingyao (china) is also worth mentioning. Beautiful city which looks as old as her mighty city walls. Like nobody ever crossed the walls since they were constructed.
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Can you imagine how the builders felt when they got done building the wall and the king said, "Ya' know, I think we should build ANOTHER wall in front of the one you just built, so start that first thing in the morning." ahahhahhhhhaaaa
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What about Jerusalem? At least the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/148
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_City_of_Jerusalem
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where is Istanbul?
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I've never understood stamp collecting. I'll admit some of them are very cool and I'm sure that it isn't easy to make but it just doesn't appeal to me. Different folks, different strokes.
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MOON NINJAS!@@!!!!@!$@!#!
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@Anonymous
"MOON NINJAS!@@!!!!@!$@!#!"
that looks more like Mars in the background to me....
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I think we're one of the few countries in the world with such a wide range of accents, especially when relative to our size. We're also one of the few countries in the world that hates those to the north or south of us.
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I feel sorry for those old-time stewardesses. They had to spend their working lives in thick cigarette smoke.
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I certainly can't think of her as my mother... lol
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Those some really awful hats. Really, really hideous.
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I miss the old days. I hate the current PC environment-- it's like they give you the privilege of paying for the flight instead of appreciating your business. AND, I hate the PC no-smoking nazis that appear whenever they see something like this-- as if smoking was the worst thing in the today's world.
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The number 9 pictures are not stewardesses. There hostesses from expo 67 in montreal.
The logo gave it away...
Mike
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What about the connection of porn and stewardesses? The "literature" of this subject is really great. Check Flight 69, for example.
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7321905&style=ice
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So ... they issued Aeroflot stews with pistols?
Don't mess with them.
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I keep looking past the ladies to the airline seats of old, which seem so more more comfortable than today's!
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To the person who called me a Nazi; I am not a member of the Nationalist Socialist Party.
And I did not comment because of any "PC" tendencies; I spoke up because a friend of mine, a former stewardess, has suffered multiple lung problems and surgeries since her early retirement.
Cigarette smoke is poison and you cannot change that by telling lies about people's motives.
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Sorry, but there has never been a reliable study proving any link between secondhand smoke and health risks.
I'm not the individual who called the other one a Nazi, but I just thought I'd point that out.
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I agree she is unlike any mother I know of. those come hither eyebrows. Meow.
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@Tennessee: Show me someone with a smoker's afflictions who's never experienced first- or second-hand smoke, and I'll start to care about the lack of studies proving the harm of second-hand smoke.
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Remember... The next time you fly and have to deal with a sour-faced, post-menopausal,hag from hell... These are Them!!!
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What a plesant surprise to see an old photo of a Delta stewardess, in Part 4, that I nearly divorced my wife for. Should have....
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Ah, yes, the good old days. We should definitely bring that back. Luckily women are never, ever actually consumers of commercial flights! So we don't have to worry about the fact that they might want a flight attendant who would be attractive to them, or even might be uncomfortable that the staff's uniforms would be designed to make the women sex objects. Thumbs up for nostalgia!
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I had a wonderful affair with one of the stewardesses in the Delta photo.
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Maybe it's a Fordson Snowdevil
See it in action
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=568_1233111054
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I think the boat struck the bridge bringing it down. The stern is now low in the water beacause of the weight of the bridge on it.
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That ILM short was actually done in 2000.
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heres the story with the ship
http://seawayblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/ship-collapses-bridge.html
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The Jupiter animation was not made by Cassini. It was made by Voyager 1. ;)
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The second spanish flag, with the oval shape) it's a pre-republican flag. Used until 1931.
It's followed by the republican tri-color flag and then by the Franco, the dictator, flag, used until 1977 (2 years after his dead).
Nowadays, it's strange to see republican flags (used in some parades against monarchy or government) with the iconography. Being most in plain tri-color scheme.
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I'm a stamp collector,specializing in "Dead Countries".I find the the
everyday paraphernalia of fallen countries fascinating.
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I was so excited to see this article. Being Hawaiian now living in NYC I thought I might see the Hawaiian Royal Flag and Arms. Hawaii was a very short but bright Kingdom and I wish we were still independent. Perhaps next time. Great article!
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Great post, as always. Just one thing: of the two flags of Italy, the right one is the royal flag, while the left one is the (current) flag for the navy.
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I read the DRB whenever I can, but this article is great, thanks!
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Some more flags:
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Flaga_Rzeczpospolitej_Obojga_Narodow.svg
Belarusian People's Republic (1918–1919)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Flag_of_Belarus_1991.svg
East Germany (1949 – 1990)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Flag_of_East_Germany.svg
Third Reich (1933–1945)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Flag_of_Germany_1933.svg
Bavarian Soviet Republic (April – May 1919)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Socialist_red_flag.svg
not very sofisticated ;-)
Republic of Central Lithuania (1920–1922)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Flag_of_Central_Lithuania.svg
Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Kraków, called also The Republic of Cracow (1815–1846)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Flag_of_Krakow.svg
Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic (1918)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Flag_DKR.svg
Commune of the Working People of Estonia (1918–1919)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/Estonianworkerscommuneflag.gif
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In many pictures appears the Catalan flag (four red bars over yellow), which is one of the oldest in Europe (dating back to 1150) and it is still widely use in the territories catalans ruled (includings parts of spain, france, sicily but even athens) until they lost the war against castilians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senyera
According to a 14th century legend, the flag dates back from the 9th century, when the four red bars were drawn, as an act of gratitude, on Wilfred I the Hairy's (Count of Barcelona) golden shield by king Charles the Bald's fingers drenched with blood from the Count's war wounds prior to Wilfred's death in 897 during the siege of Barcelona by Lobo ibn Mohammed, the moor governor.
A slightly modified catalan flag with a star is used nowadays to claim independence for the Catalans.
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Great article!!!
However, the Byzantine flag with the black double-headed bird on a yellow background is related to the Orthodox Church specifically.
Though they didn't fly flags in the sense that we do today, the banner representing the government in Constantinople was a cross with four betas (pronounced v in Greek), one in each corner.
The four betas stand for Vasilefs Vasileon, Vasilevon Vasilevonton - Greek for the "King of Kings, Rules the People". It was most likely a reference to Christ, though many contemporary emperors called themselves the king of kings, so we cannot be 100% sure.
Here is a picture:
http://www.oramaworld.com/images/flags/4b_300.jpg
-Alex
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Here would be an adition as well, a total different flag for Switzerland, proposed by the French and used in the "Republique Helvetique" for 5yYears, before Switzerland was again Swiss and not French anymore...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetic_Republic
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For Yugoslavia (formerly Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians), you only showed coat of arms. Actual flag were simply 3 horizontal stripes: blue, white and red.
And those stripes stayed for the Yugoslavia till the end in '90. with addition of a red star.
My point is...if this is wrong, and I read something about Italian flag too...what else is wrong?
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Thank you all for great additions and info... the Kingdom of Italy flag was fixed, and we are hoping to include the rest of great tips into a next article about flags.
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Great article though is a shame the inclusion of that so-called flags from Japan ¿Do this people have always to do everything copying the west? They have obviously a very poor meaning compared to the flags above. Flags must have significance given by history, they must not become a design hobby. I pity them.
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Interesting collection. Just thought I'd point out you got the Iranian flag wrong, that is the
Imperial standard and not the state flag that was used up to 1979. The state flag was the
Lion and Sun which has a much older history than the Pahlavi Imperial standard.
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Some more flags of non-existing countries and provintions related to polish history:
Free City of Gdańsk (under Prussian protection) [1807-1814]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Gdansk_flag.svg
Kingdom of Poland (called also Congress Poland, under Russian protection) [1815-1916]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Flag_of_the_Congress_of_Poland.svg
Grand Duchy of Posen (under Prussian protection) [1815-1848]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Flag_of_Wien.svg
The same flag as above was used by Königreich Galizien und Lodomerien mit dem Großherzogtum Krakau und den Herzogtümern Auschwitz und Zator (under Austrian protection, what a name - typisch österreichisch) [1772-1918]
Flag used during January Uprising, with symbols of Poland (eagle), Lithuania (racing knight) and Ukraine (archangel Michael)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Chor%C4%85giew_powsta%C5%84c%C3%B3w_styczniowych.PNG
And yet another flag of United Kingdom of Poland [1320-1386]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Alex_K_Kingdom_of_Poland-flag.svg
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When I was in high school and a rabid fan of the brand-new "Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD" comic book (which shows you how long ago it was), I drew a pastiche in which Fury exposes a world-domination plot by a cadre of disgruntled descendants of Austro-Hungarians. They dreamed of restoring the True Empire. Wish I'd had your article for reference.
The interesting thing about flags is that they, like ethnic or territorial claims, are attached to specific dates or events. Like those claims they establish an abstract "year zero" for the flagmaking power. As long as the flagmaker stays in power he gets to wave the real flag on behalf of the true country. Examples: USA; claims by earlier conquerors or the original(?) inhabitants are merely History. Iran: for the late Shah's die-hard gfans his is the real flag, regardless of what came before or after. Similarly the Catalonians can trace their flag to the 12th century, but what was the flag for the 11+ centuries before?
In the end flags are expressions of the most artificial of human constructs: the country, the nation, the empire, the true faith.
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Actually, every town in Japan has its own flag, not just the cities/wards in the Tokyo era.
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Good work on the flags, can't wait for part 2!
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@Jamie
Actually, every town in Japan has its own flag, not just the cities/wards in the Tokyo era.Actually, many cities around the world have it's flags. I know that every bigger city in Poland has. The same in Germany. And perhaps the same in most of European countries. Some of them contains city coat of arms, some just traditional colors.
Berlin,
Chełm,
Wrocław,
Warszawa,
Kraków,
Gdańsk,
Wrocław
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lots of incorrect historical data...
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http://www.dubrovnik-guide.net/pics/thumbs/libertas%20flag.gif
flag of free state of Dubrovnik, which played important role as one of the biggest mediterian trading harbours in 12th to 18th century, then taken by Napoleon and lost its soverenity.
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The double eagle motif was also used in the flag of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick...the fictional country in the novel & film "The Mouse that Roared"
Johnleemedia
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That's pretty cool. I love flags!
As for the last part showing the Tokyo city flags, they do that in Peru to. They have a flag for every department, province, district and town.
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I great source of extinct flags and coats is the Gerle Amorial
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k38944m.image.f1.pagination
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Very fascinating article. For the flag of Byzantine Empire, i have to add that part of it was what inspired Albanian National Hero , Scanderbeg to use it as the flag that was raised in 1443.
Best
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Oops, Not to toot my own horn but I built a site for exploring flags and their locations. This post is beautiful, I was thinking of adding some of your finds to my site: http://www.flagthousand.com
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I'm a stamp collector,specializing in "Dead Countries".I find the the
everyday paraphernalia of fallen countries fascinating.
Read more
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I was so excited to see this article. Being Hawaiian now living in NYC I thought I might see the Hawaiian Royal Flag and Arms. Hawaii was a very short but bright Kingdom and I wish we were still independent. Perhaps next time. Great article!
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Great post, as always. Just one thing: of the two flags of Italy, the right one is the royal flag, while the left one is the (current) flag for the navy.
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I read the DRB whenever I can, but this article is great, thanks!
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Some more flags:
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Flaga_Rzeczpospolitej_Obojga_Narodow.svg
Belarusian People's Republic (1918–1919)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Flag_of_Belarus_1991.svg
East Germany (1949 – 1990)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Flag_of_East_Germany.svg
Third Reich (1933–1945)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Flag_of_Germany_1933.svg
Bavarian Soviet Republic (April – May 1919)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Socialist_red_flag.svg
not very sofisticated ;-)
Republic of Central Lithuania (1920–1922)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Flag_of_Central_Lithuania.svg
Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Kraków, called also The Republic of Cracow (1815–1846)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Flag_of_Krakow.svg
Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic (1918)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Flag_DKR.svg
Commune of the Working People of Estonia (1918–1919)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/Estonianworkerscommuneflag.gif
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Last picture is from guild wars expansion :)
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^^ ... Which makes sense since Daniel Dociu was the
lead artist on Guild Wars: Factions -- as well as the other games in the series. (Actually all of the images posted here for him are from Guild Wars: Factions concept art, not just the last one.)
(And not to get pedantic or anything, but some of those those aren't moving cities... Maybe the Leviathans can be called that although they're more like war vessels, but the other images are just normal cityscape in the game. You can even see it's anchored to rock in the seaside picture.)
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I was going to mention Guild Wars too, and Daniel is a major reason why it's one of the most beautiful games out there. I have the "Eye of the North" expansion which is just gorgeous. Immense architecture, sprawling winter landscapes, and that on a really old PC with graphics on "medium-low". Crank up the graphics, you can walk your character around the North with your jaw on your lap.
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Okay, so I'm not crazy...I thought those Daniel Dociu pics looked like artwork from Guild Wars: Factions.
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i would suggest yoshitaka amano's art for final fantasy 6. very steampunky.
check it out.
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Fantastic artwork.
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Great interview, thank you Tome
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3 Comments:
That weird coin is 1 Lats from Latvia (http://www.bank.lv/eng/main/all/lvnaud/coin/1lats/puce/).
"An owl fibula is featured in the centre of the coin, with the numeral 1 and the inscription LATS placed on the left and right side of it respectively".
The Latvian Banks Collector coins are even more strange. Fully valid currency.
http://www.bank.lv/eng/main/all/lvnaud/jubmon/nmp/
Another wierd story is about the swedish artist who forged 9 pieces of swedish 10 kr coins and spred them into use. They are made out of 10.7 grams of 18 carat gold.
http://www.dn.se/ekonomi/vissa-mynt-ar-guld-som-glimmar-1.608380
(sorry, it's swedish but you could try google translate - http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=sv&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dn.se%2Fekonomi%2Fvissa-mynt-ar-guld-som-glimmar-1.608380&sl=sv&tl=en&history_state0= )
The camp chimney sweep is my favourite.
http://www.bank.lv/images/img_lb/naudas/images/lats/1_ls_skurstenslaukis_rev.gif
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