1.
Seat of local government
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In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre, a guildhall, a Rathaus, or a municipal building, is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city or town council, its associated departments and it also usually functions as the base of the mayor of a city, town, borough, or county / shire. By convention, until the mid 19th-century, a large open chamber formed an integral part of the building housing the council. The hall may be used for meetings and other significant events. This large chamber, the hall, has become synonymous with the whole building. The terms council chambers, municipal building or variants may be used locally in preference to town hall if no such large hall is present within the building, the local government may endeavor to use the town hall building to promote and enhance the quality of life of the community. In many cases, town halls serve not only as buildings for government functions and these may include art shows, stage performances, exhibits and festivals. Modern town halls or civic centres are designed with a great variety and flexibility of purpose in mind. As symbols of government, city and town halls have distinctive architecture. City hall buildings may also serve as icons that symbolize their cities. The term town hall may be a one, often applied without regard to whether the building serves or served a town or a city. This is generally the case in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, english-speakers in some regions use the term city hall to designate the council offices of a municipality of city status. This is the case in North America, where a distinction is made between city halls and town halls, and is also the case with Brisbane City Hall in Australia. The great hall of the town-house or municipal building, now commonly applied to the whole building city hall. Conversely, cities that have subdivisions with their own councils may have borough halls, in Scotland, local government in larger cities operates from the City Chambers, otherwise the Town House. Elsewhere in English-speaking countries, other names are occasionally used, in London, the official headquarters of administration of the City of London retains its Anglo-Saxon name, the Guildhall, signifying a place where taxes were paid. In a small number of English cities the preferred term is Council House, this was also the case in Bristol until 2012, when the building was renamed City Hall. In Birmingham, there is a distinction between the Council House, the seat of government, and the Town Hall, a concert
2.
Edwardian architecture
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Edwardian architecture is an architectural style popular during the reign of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. Architecture from up to the year 1914 may also be included in this style, Edwardian architecture is generally less ornate than high or late Victorian architecture, apart from a subset - used for major buildings - known as Edwardian Baroque architecture. The Victorian Society also campaigns to preserve Edwardian Architecture, patterns, Decorative patterns were less complex, both wallpaper and curtain designs were more plain. Clutter, There was less clutter than in the Victorian era, ornaments were perhaps grouped rather than everywhere. And Victorian Art Nouveau Georgian Arts and Crafts Edwardian era Edwardian Baroque architecture Federation architecture Gray, A. S. Edwardian Architecture, the Edwardian House, the Middle-Class Home in Britain 1880-1914
3.
Castle of Good Hope
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The Castle of Good Hope is a bastion fort built in the 17th century in Cape Town, South Africa. Originally located on the coastline of Table Bay, following land reclamation the fort is now located inland, in 1936 the Castle was declared a historical monument and following restorations in the 1980s it is considered the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort. Built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, the Castle is the oldest existing building in South Africa. It replaced an older fort called the Fort de Goede Hoop which was constructed from clay and timber, two redoubts, Redoubt Kyckuit and Redoubt Duijnhoop were built at the mouth of the Salt River in 1654. During 1664, tensions between Britain and the Netherlands rose amid rumours of war and that same year, Commander Zacharias Wagenaer, successor to Jan van Riebeeck, was instructed by Commissioner Isbrand Goske to build a pentagonal fortress out of stone. The first stone was laid on 2 January 1666, work was interrupted frequently because the Dutch East India Company was reluctant to spend money on the project. On 26 April 1679, the five bastions were named after the titles of William III of Orange-Nassau, Leerdam to the west, with Buuren, Katzenellenbogen, Nassau. In 1682 the gated entry replaced the old entrance, which had faced the sea and it was used to announce the time, as well as warning citizens in case of danger, since it could be heard 10 kilometres away. It was also rung to summon residents and soldiers when important announcements needed to be made, the fortress housed a church, bakery, various workshops, living quarters, shops, and cells, among other facilities. The yellow paint on the walls was chosen because it lessened the effect of heat. The original was built in 1695, but rebuilt in its current form between 1786 and 1790, from the balcony, announcements were made to soldiers, slaves and burghers of the Cape. The balcony leads to the William Fehr collection of paintings and antique furniture, during the Second Boer War, part of the castle was used as a prison, and the former cells remain to this day. Fritz Joubert Duquesne, later known as the man who killed Kitchener, the walls of the castle were extremely thick, but night after night, Duquesne dug away the cement around the stones with an iron spoon. He nearly escaped one night, but a large stone slipped and pinned him in his tunnel, the next morning, a guard found him unconscious but alive. In 1936, the Castle was declared a monument, the first site in South Africa to be so protected. Extensive restorations were completed during the 1980s making the Castle the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort. The Castle acted as headquarters for the South African Army in the Western Cape. The Castle is also the home of the Cape Town Highlanders Regiment, fortifications of the Cape Peninsula History of Cape Colony Pre-1806 Noon Gun List of castles and fortifications in South Africa Lalou Meltzer
4.
Bath, Somerset
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Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, known for its Roman-built baths. In 2011, the population was 88,859, Bath is in the valley of the River Avon,97 miles west of London and 11 miles south-east of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987, the city became a spa with the Latin name Aquæ Sulis c. AD60 when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious centre, the building was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century, claims were made for the properties of water from the springs. Many of the streets and squares were laid out by John Wood, the Elder, and in the 18th century the city became fashionable, Jane Austen lived in Bath in the early 19th century. Further building was undertaken in the 19th century and following the Bath Blitz in World War II, the city has software, publishing and service-oriented industries. Theatres, museums, and other cultural and sporting venues have helped make it a centre for tourism with more than one million staying visitors and 3.8 million day visitors to the city each year. There are several museums including the Museum of Bath Architecture, Victoria Art Gallery, Museum of East Asian Art, the city has two universities, the University of Bath and Bath Spa University, with Bath College providing further education. Sporting clubs include Bath Rugby and Bath City F. C. while TeamBath is the name for all of the University of Bath sports teams. Bath became part of the county of Avon in 1974, and, the hills in the locality such as Bathampton Down saw human activity from the Mesolithic period. Several Bronze Age round barrows were opened by John Skinner in the 18th century, solsbury Hill overlooking the current city was an Iron Age hill fort, and the adjacent Bathampton Camp may also have been one. A long barrow site believed to be from the Beaker people was flattened to make way for RAF Charmy Down, messages to her scratched onto metal, known as curse tablets, have been recovered from the sacred spring by archaeologists. The tablets were written in Latin, and cursed people whom the writers felt had wronged them, for example, if a citizen had his clothes stolen at the baths, he might write a curse, naming the suspects, on a tablet to be read by the goddess. A temple was constructed in AD 60–70, and a complex was built up over the next 300 years. Engineers drove oak piles into the mud to provide a stable foundation, in the 2nd century, the spring was enclosed within a wooden barrel-vaulted structure that housed the caldarium, tepidarium, and frigidarium. The town was given defensive walls, probably in the 3rd century. After the failure of Roman authority in the first decade of the 5th century, in March 2012 a hoard of 30,000 silver Roman coins, one of the largest discovered in Britain, was unearthed in an archaeological dig
5.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
6.
John Taylor & Co
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John Taylor & Co, commonly known as Taylors Bell Foundry, Taylors of Loughborough, or simply Taylors, is the worlds largest working bell foundry. It is in Loughborough, in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, the business originated in the 14th century and became Taylors after the Taylor family took over in 1784. In 2009 Taylors went bankrupt but was out of administration by a consortium called UK Bellfoundries Ltd which successfully re-financed and re-established the business. Since then the company has re-established its presence both in the UK and in the North American Carillon and other export markets, the company manufactures bells for use in clock towers, change ringing peals, chimes, and carillons. In 2005 John Taylors had merged with Eayre & Smith Ltd, the Foundry has a museum of bells and bellfounding which is the only one of its kind in the UK. The restoration of the buildings began with the re-opening in 2012 of the foundrys own Campanile which contains the most-pealed bells in the World. It is one of the few Victorian purpose-built manufacturing sites still being used for its original purpose, the present company is part of a line of bellfounders dating back to Johannes de Stafford in the 14th century who was also a mayor of Leicester. The Taylor family became involved in 1784 and a foundry was established on the current site in 1839, the Taylors also had foundries in Oxford and St Neots between 1786 and 1854. Taylors were the first bellfounder to adopt true-harmonic tuning in the late 19th century, the foundry is based in buildings on Freehold Street which are Grade II* listed. In 1963, Paul Taylor, last of the Taylor family in the business, challenging the panel with his occupation as a bell maker. On 18 September 2009 the company went into administration, mazars, who had previously been acting as advisors to the company during attempts to secure extra funding were appointed Administrators. On 2 October 2009 it was reported that the administrators were optimistic about its future, before September 2009 the foundry was employing 26 people, and since then the new company employs 21 including 4 apprentices. The National Twelve Bell Contest is competed for annually by the teams in England for The Taylor Trophy. In 1881 Taylors cast at Loughborough, Great Paul, which is the largest British cast bell in Britain, for St Pauls Cathedral London, weighing 17,002 kilograms or more than 17 metric tons. Rock band AC/DC used a 2000-pound cast bronze bell for the song, Hells Bells, liverpool Cathedral bourdon bell Great George, at 14,900 kg or more than 14 long tons 13 cwt, it is the second largest bell in Britain. A60 bell carillon Yale Memorial Carillon,54 bell carillon Kibbey Carillon,53 bell carillon, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, designed by Michael Sandle and erected in 1992
7.
Nelson Mandela
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Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the countrys first black head of state and the first elected in a representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism, ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as President of the African National Congress party from 1991 to 1997. A Xhosa, Mandela was born in Mvezo to the Thembu royal family and he studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of the Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943, after the National Partys white-only government established apartheid—a system of racial segregation that privileged whites—he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. Mandela was appointed President of the ANCs Transvaal branch, rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he joined the banned South African Communist Party. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961, in 1962, he was arrested for conspiring to overthrow the state and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial. Mandela served 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island, amid growing domestic and international pressure, and with fears of a racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk negotiated an end to apartheid and organised the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory, internationally, he acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a presidential term and in 1999 was succeeded by his deputy. Mandela became a statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation. Mandela was a figure for much of his life. Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours—including the Nobel Peace Prize—and became the subject of a cult of personality. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba. Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning troublemaker, in later years he became known by his clan name, Madiba. His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was king of the Thembu people in the Transkeian Territories of South Africas modern Eastern Cape province, one of Ngubengcukas sons, named Mandela, was Nelsons grandfather and the source of his surname. In 1926, Gadla was also sacked for corruption, but Nelson was told that his father had lost his job for standing up to the magistrates unreasonable demands
8.
History of Cape Town
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The area known today as Cape Town has no written history before it was first mentioned by Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias in 1488. All knowledge of the inhabitants of the region was derived from fossil evidence. The first Europeans to discover the Cape were the Portuguese, with Bartholomeu Dias arriving in 1488 after journeying south along the west coast of Africa. The next recorded European sighting of the Cape was by Vasco da Gama in 1497 while he was searching for a route that would lead directly from Europe to Asia, Table Mountain was given its name in 1503 by António de Saldanha, a Portuguese admiral and explorer. He called it Taboa da caba, the name given to the mountain by the Khoi inhabitants was Hoeri kwaggo. Van Riebeecks party of three vessels landed at the cape on 6 April 1652, the group quickly erected shelters and laid out vegetable gardens and orchards, and are preserved in the Company Gardens. Water from the Fresh River, which descended from Table Mountain, was channelled into canals to provide irrigation, the settlers bartered with the native Khoisan for their sheep and cattle. Forests in Hout Bay and the southern and eastern flanks of Table Mountain provided timber for ships, at this point, the VOC had a monopoly on trade and prohibited any private trade. The first wave of Asian immigration to South Africa started in 1654 and these first immigrants were banished to the Cape by the Dutch Batavian High Court. These Asians helped to form the foundation of the Cape Coloured and Cape Malay populations, the first large territorial expansion occurred in 1657, when farms were granted by the VOC to a few servants in an attempt to increase food production. These farms were situated along the Liesbeeck River and the VOC still retained control of them. The first slaves were brought to the Cape from Java and Madagascar in the year to work on the farms. Work on the Castle of Good Hope, the first permanent European fortification in the area, the new castle replaced the previous wooden fort that Van Riebeeck and his men built. Finally completed in 1679, the castle is the oldest building in South Africa, simon van der Stel, after whom the town of Stellenbosch is named, arrived in 1679 to replace Van Riebeeck as governor. Van der Stel founded the Cape wine industry by bringing grape vines with him on his ship and he also promoted territorial expansion in the Colony. The first non-Dutch immigrants to the Cape, the Huguenots, arrived in 1688, the Huguenots had fled from anti-Protestant persecution in Catholic France to the Netherlands, where the VOC offered them free passage to the Cape as well as farmland. The Huguenots brought important experience in production to the Cape, greatly bolstering the industry. By 1754, the population of the settlement on the Cape had reached 5,510 Europeans and 6,729 slaves, but by 1780, France and Great Britain went to war against each other
9.
Houses of Parliament, Cape Town
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The Houses of Parliament of South Africa are situated in Cape Town. The building consists of three sections, with the original building completed in 1884, with later editions added in the 1920s. The original parliament building was built in a Neoclassical design incorporating features of Cape Dutch architecture, the later additions have been designed in such a way to blend in with the original building. Queen Victoria granted permission for the establishment of a parliament in the Cape Colony in 1853, the first sittings were held in the Governors residence, the Tuynhuys, after which sittings were held in the Goede Hoop Masonic Lodge. The then upper house was housed in the old supreme court building, mPs noted that the masonic lodge building was unimposing, and did not command any respect. Although opposed by then Prime Minister Molteno due to financial considerations, the committee selected an elaborate design by architect Charles Freeman, and construction began on 12 May 1875, with the then Governor of the Cape Colony, Henry Barkly, laying the cornerstone. Almost immediately it was discovered that Freemans plans were faulty, for his incompetence, Freeman was fired, and Henry Greaves was appointed architect in 1876. Freemans plans were altered to exclude seemingly unnecessarily expensive features such as a dome, statues, parapets. Building re-commenced, but was delayed – this time by the British overthrow of the Cape government in 1878, the ensuing Confederation Wars, Greaves tenaciously completed the job however, and the large, stately, but relatively unpretentious building was finally opened in 1884. Cape Prime Minister Thomas Scanlen, and British Governor Henry Robinson led the ceremony in the building. In the 1920s, Parliament commissioned Sir Herbert Baker to build an extension to the building, including a new chamber for the House of Assembly, the old Assembly chamber became the Parliamentary Dining Room, run by the catering department of South African Railways & Harbours. Further constitutional changes moved the centre of power away from the old building, union Buildings Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
10.
Rhodes Memorial
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Rhodes Memorial on Devils Peak in Cape Town, South Africa, is a memorial to English-born, South African politician Cecil John Rhodes. The memorial was designed by the architect, Sir Herbert Baker. The memorial is situated at Rhodess favourite spot on the slopes of Devils Peak. Rhodess own wooden bench is situated below the memorial. The magnificent view facing north-east can be imagined as the start of the Cape to Cairo road, Rhodes owned vast areas of the lower slopes of Table Mountain, most of which he gave to the nation on his death. Part of his estate was used for the University of Cape Town upper campus, part is now the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, while much else of it was spared from development. The architect, Sir Herbert Baker, allegedly modelled the memorial after the Greek temple at Segesta although it is closer to the temple of Pergamon in design. It consists of a staircase with 49 steps leading from a semi-circular terrace up to a rectangular U-shaped monument formed of pillars. The memorial is built of Cape granite quarried on Table Mountain, at the bottom of the steps is a bronze statue of a horseman, Physical Energy by George Frederic Watts. Eight bronze lions by John Macallan Swan flank the steps leading up to the memorial, the inscription on the monument is To the spirit and life work of Cecil John Rhodes who loved and served South Africa. Living he was the land, and dead, His soul shall be her soul, the monument was completed and dedicated in 1912. Today the memorial is part of the Table Mountain National Park and it is also a starting point for walking and hiking on Devils Peak. Around the memorial are groves of oaks and stone pines from Europe, just up the slope from Rhodes Memorial there is a small forest of a famous native tree called the Silvertree. Table Mountain is possibly the place on earth where this majestic tree grows wild. Alien fallow deer used to live in the area, although they are now being eliminated to make way for the re-introduction of indigenous antelope species, below the memorial is a game enclosure where eland, zebra and wildebeest are kept. Rhodes Memorial is not generally used for events but does host occasional performances, an annual Easter sunrise service, for safety reasons, the area is closed from sunset to sunrise. Not far below the memorial are the University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, above the memorial is the Kings Blockhouse, and not far away is the Groote Schuur Zoo site, originally established as Rhodess private zoo. The zoo was closed in the late 1970s, and only the lions den now remains, Rhodess Groote Schuur estate nearby is now a South African presidential residence
11.
Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope
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The Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, is the oldest continuously existing scientific institution in South Africa. Founded by the British Cape Colony in 1820, it now forms the headquarters building of the South African Astronomical Observatory, the institution was located on a small hill 5 kilometres south-east from the centre of Cape Town. Over the following century a suburb of the city grew up in the area and it has also been the subject of an ICOMOS/IAU Case Study. The Royal Observatory was founded in 1820 by an Order in Council of King George IV of the United Kingdom and it remained a separate entity until 1972 when it was amalgamated with the Republic Observatory Johannesburg to form the present-day South African Astronomical Observatory. Its site is now the headquarters of the South African Astronomical Observatory, in accordance with its mandate, the principal activity of the Observatory was Astrometry and it was over its existence responsible for publishing many catalogues of star positions. An agreement to facilitate this was ratified on 23 September 1970, nevertheless, several telescopes remained in operation until the 1990s. These are rarely made use of today except for public outreach events, alan Cousins was the last serious observer to work from the Royal Observatory site. The Royal Observatory was responsible for a number of significant events in the history of astronomy, the second HM Astronomer, Thomas Henderson, aided by his assistant, Lieutenant William Meadows, made the first observations that led to a believable stellar parallax, namely of Alpha Centauri. However, he lost priority as the discoverer of stellar parallax to Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel who published his own observations of 61 Cygni before Henderson got around to his. This led him to undertake in collaboration with J. C. Kapteyn of Groningen the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung, in 1886 he proposed to Admiral A. E. B. Mouchez of Paris Observatory the holding of a congress to promote a photographic catalogue of the whole sky. In 1887 this congress took place in Paris and resulted in the Carte du Ciel project, the Cape Observatory was assigned the zone between declinations −40° and −52°. The Carte du Ciel is regarded as the precursor of the International Astronomical Union and this paper also contains the first suggestion that stars obey a mass-luminosity relationship. A later 20th-century HM Astronomer, H, spencer Jones, was active in an international project for determining the solar parallax through observations of the minor planet Eros. During the 19th century the Observatory was regarded as the advisor to the colonial government on scientific matters. It served as the repository for standard weights and measures of the Colony and was responsible for timekeeping, a magnetic observatory was constructed in 1841 but burned down during the following decade. The Observatory also possesses a series of meteorological records. The history of the Royal Observatory has been the subject of several works, the Royal Observatorys directors were known as His or Her Majestys Astronomers at the Cape
Media related to Cape Town City Hall at Wikimedia Commons
