Coxcomb The Horse

Coxcomb, photographed by Roger Fenton in 1855

During the Crimean War, Coxcomb was the winner of the Crimean races. The horse was the property of Captain Barnard, Grenadier Guards. In the picture Captain Morgan, Rifle Corps, aide-de-camp to General Bernard, is sitting on the horse.

Lieutenant General Barnard, C.B., facing left, gesturing toward Captain Barnard, with 3 servants

next episode: the painter himself

Princess Maria Day !

Today is the birthday of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova. She was the third daughter of the last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife tsaritsa Alexandra. Her middle name Nikolaevna means daughter of Nicholas. In the julian calender then used in Russia, she was born June 14th.

Maria was open and down to earth. She was friendly and easy to speak to. She hardly got into trouble and was very loving and considerate. She and Anastasia were best friends. Since Olga and Tatiane, who were very tight together, were called "The Big Pair", Maria and Anastasia broke off into "The Little Pair".

Letters from Maria

next episode: a special horse

Wife & Husband

6th plate dageurreotype (2.75 x 3.25 inch)

Notice the curly hair of the wife.

Waterloo Day

The Lion’s Mound; a large artificial hill raised on the battlefield  to commemorate the battle of Waterloo (photo RfA).

Waterloo Day is June 18, the date of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. After this decisive battle there was peace in Europa for nearly 100 years. Until WWI this day was celebrated through the whole of Europe every year.

Since the French occupation of Holland ended in 1813 the centennial celebration in 1913 was larger than usual. Unfortunately a year after WWI started, followed by WWII, and nowadays nobody remembers this day.

Group in historical costume celebrating Waterloo Day in Amersfoort, in the middle Napoleon, 1913 (source).

next episode: Frascati

Jerusalem City Walls

The Walls of Jerusalem surround the area of the old city of Jerusalem. The walls were built between 1537-1541 by the Ottoman (Turkish) Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Some portions were built over ancient walls from 2,000 years ago.

Looking south along the west wall.

The length of the wall is 4,018 km (2,496.6 miles), their average height is 12 meters (40 feet) and the average thickness is 2.5 meters (8 feet). The wall contains 34 watchtowers and 8 gates (Jaffa Gate, New Gate, Damascus Gate, Herod Gate, Lions Gate, Golden (Eastern) Gate, Dung Gate and Zion Gate.).

Muslim graves blocking the entrance of the sealed Golden Gate.

The east wall contains the Golden Gate. This gate was sealed by the Muslims, ànd Muslim graves are blocking it, in order to prevent the entrance of a Jewish Messiah into the city. They believe the resurrection will take place here.

Jewish graves at Mount Olive.

The Jews also believe this, therefore they have a large cemetery in this area too.

The Ottoman sultan had wanted the walls to enclose more area, but the architects failed to include Mount Zion or the City of David. As a result, Suleiman had the architects beheaded.

The grave of one of the capitated architects.

Wednesday I'll be going to Israel myself, making a small tour, and visiting a.o. Tell Aviv and Jerusalem.

source

next episode: not the ABBA song

Amersfoort Day !

Amersfoort gained its city rights at June 12, 1259.

(click here to see an old city map of Amersfoort)

next episode: ?

Princess Tatiana Day !

Today is the birthday of Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova. She was the second of four daughters of the last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife tsaritsa Alexandra. Her middle name Nikolaevna means daughter of Nicholas. N.B. In the Julian calender (which they applied in Russia at that time), she was born May 29th.

Many courtiers considered her the most beautiful of the Tsar's daughters. Because of her length she was considered to be the leader of the four sisters. Therefore she was nicknamed 'The Governess' and entrusted with the task of speaking on their behalf to their parents. After the outbreak of World War I Tatiana became a Red Cross nurse at a military hospital. She fell in love with Dmitri Malama, an officer in the Russian Cavalry. She had first met him when he was wounded in 1914. Malama gave Tatiana a French bulldog, she took the pet to Ekaterinburg, where it died with the rest of the family. Tatiana was only 21 when she was murdered, along with her family, on July 17, 1918, at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg.

Letters of Tatiana from exile

next episode: city birthday

New York (Times Square) in 1914

Street view of New York (Times Square), 1914. Scroll!

next episode: Tatiana

Don't go Sailing with Gene Tierney

Gene Tierney Movie Card. 

I was impressed by her performance in Leave Her To Heaven (1945).

This week’s free advice:

You shouldn't go sailing

with women hiding her look

behind dark glasses

(a haiku by Clara from Chile)

next episode: Times Square

Group of the 71st Regiment

Group of the 71st Regiment (1855)

Roger Fenton was sent to the Crimean War as the first official war photographer at the insistence of Prince Albert. The photographs produced were to be used to offset the aversion of the British people to an unpopular war, and to counteract the antiwar reporting of The Times. The photographs were to be converted into woodblocks and published in the less critical Illustrated London News,  published in book form, and displayed in a gallery. Fenton therefore avoided making pictures of dead, injured or mutilated soldiers.

next episode: Gene