San Roque, Cádiz
San Roque is a small town and municipality in the south of Spain. It is part of the province of Cádiz. San Roque is situated a short way inland of the north side of the Bay of Gibraltar, just to the north of the Gibraltar peninsula; the municipality has a total surface of 145 km² with a population of 25,500 people, as of 2005. Its name is Spanish for Saint Roch, a Christian saint, revered in a shrine dating back to 1508 that predates the foundation of the town; the area around San Roque has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The oldest known settlement within the municipality is the ruined town of Carteia, founded by the Phoenicians, it became a Phoenician tradepost and evolved into a Carthaginian town by 228 BCE. Its major trade was in garum or salazón, a fish-based sauce. Carteia was captured by Rome in 206 BCE. A few years in 171 BCE, Iberian-born children of Roman soldiers appeared before the Roman Senate to request a town to live in, were given Carteia, named Colonia Libertinorum Carteia.
After the fall of Rome, the Vandals established themselves in the area until 428 before they embarked on the conquest of North Africa, via an invasion fleet across the Strait of Gibraltar. The Visigoths replaced them around the 6th century; the Byzantine Empire made incursions into Andalusia between 554 and 626, occupying Carteia for a number of years, before being ejected by the Visigoths. In 711, Carteia and the surrounding area became the beachhead for the Umayyad conquest of the Iberian Peninsula led by Tariq ibn Ziyad. Alfonso XI of Castile took control of the territory by defeating a Muslim Merinid army in the 14th century. Over the next few centuries, the population was Hispanicised and Christianised. In 1649 a quarter of the Gibraltar population perished from epidemic disease. A number of residents retreated to the area of San Roque, survived the outbreak, believed to be typhoid; the modern settlement of San Roque was established by the former Spanish inhabitants of Gibraltar, after the majority fled following the takeover by Anglo-Dutch forces and their Spanish allies during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704.
The establishment became a new town in 1706, addressed by King Philip V of Spain as "My city of Gibraltar resident in its Campo" and "My well beloved", because it remained loyal to his cause during the War of Succession. Gibraltar's City Council and records were moved there. San Roque official motto is "Very Noble and Very Loyal city of San Roque, where Gibraltar lives on". In 1873, during the Spanish First Republic, the town declared its independence as the Canton of San Roque for a few months; the New Saint Roch's Chapel was erected in 1801. Its style is neoclassical; the shrine houses a statue of Saint Roch. In the fourth week of April every year, a procession is held on the saint's honour, with people carrying his image on a float; the statue is taken from the temple to the Pinar del Rey pinewoods nearby and back. During the Spanish War of Independence, Saint Roch's Chapel was ransacked by the Napoleonic troops and the historic statue of the saint was destroyed; the image was replaced in 1833 by a new one donated by an army captain from San Roque called Juan Rojas, stationed in Seville.
At the time this city was suffering from cholera epidemics, so Captain Rojas vowed to make the effigy himself if he and his family recovered from the disease. This happened indeed and the new image of Saint Roch was donated to the church by Rojas; the parish church, Santa María La Coronada Church, is consecrated to Saint Mary the Crowned and it was declared a listed building in 1974. The main building dates from the 18th century and features Spanish-Tuscan architecture and Baroque artwork. Work began in 1735 on the construction of a church over the foundations of the 1508 Chapel of Saint Roch; the Governor's Palace, which houses the municipal art gallery "Luis Ortega Bru", is located in the same square. The oldest bar in the town is the Bar Torres, adjacent to the central square. Mathew Arnold's brother is buried in San Roque; the main economic activities are manufacturing. CEPSA Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery, built in 1967, is situated in Guadarranque Industrial Estate, it is the largest in the Iberian Peninsula, with a crude oil daily processing capacity of 240,000 barrels per day.
Local San Roque Club is an important source of tourism. Sotogrande is an exclusive golf resort located in the municipality; the beaches of Campamento and Puente Mayorga, although no longer so popular as in the sixties due to the nearby industrial activity, are close to San Roque town, facing the Bay of Gibraltar. The Feria Real de San Roque, is the city's main yearly Street fair, held on the second Tuesday of August; the fair begins with the coronation ceremony of the juvenile and child queens and their respective courts, although the stands and attractions located in the Fairground El Ejido do not open until Wednesday, the day of the inaugural cavalcade. The Royal Fair closes on a Sunday night with a fireworks show and at 7am on the Monday with the Running of the Bulls known locally as Toro del Aguardiente which has occurred yearly since 1649, named as terrified participants are given a shot of the strong alcoholic spirit ‘Aguardiente’ for courage, before running with the bulls to the San Roque bullring, marking the end of the fair.
Gabine Muguruza, Tennis Player, French Open Champion, 2016 Jose Cadalso, poet Alberto Casañal Shakery, poet. Carlos Pacheco, comic-book artist. Juan Luis Galiardo, actor
Napier of Magdala Battery
Napier of Magdala Battery is a former coastal artillery battery on the south-western cliffs of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, overlooking the Bay of Gibraltar. It overlooks Rosia Bay from the north, as does Parson's Lodge Battery from the south, it contains one of two surviving Armstrong 100-ton guns. In 1883 the British Government installed a single 100-ton gun: a 450 mm rifled muzzle-loading gun made by Armstrong Whitworth, at the battery by Rosia Bay that they named Napier of Magdala Battery after Field Marshal Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala, who had served as Governor of Gibraltar from 1876 to 1883. Earlier, in 1879, they had mounted another such gun in Gibraltar at Victoria Battery; these two batteries, together with two in Malta, were a response to the Italians having, in 1873, built the battleship Duilio, to receive four Armstrong Guns of the same design. The British authorised the construction of Victoria and Napier of Magdala batteries in December 1878; because the British viewed the two batteries as part of the one large fortress, the Rock of Gibraltar, the batteries lacked all-round protection and any of the close-in defences such as the dry moats with caponiers or counterscarp galleries that the British installed at Cambridge Battery and Fort Rinella, both of which were free-standing pentagonal forts.
The gun, now at Napier of Magdala Battery armed Victoria Battery, but the British moved it to Napier when the original gun there split during firing practice. The gun at Napier Battery received the nickname, "The Rockbuster". During World War II, the British Army stationed a battery of four 3.7" and two Bofors quick-firing anti-aircraft guns at the site. In 1945 they fired upon an Iberia Airlines Junkers Ju 88 that had wandered into Gibraltar's airspace while on a flight from Málaga to Tetouan; the "Rockbuster" was last fired in 2002 to mark the 2002 Calpe Conference between Gibraltar and Malta. In 2010 Gibraltar and Malta jointly issued a four-stamp set of stamps featuring the two countries' 100-ton guns. Two stamps show the gun at Napier of Magdala Battery, two the gun at Fort Rinella. One of each pair is a view from 1882, the other is a view from 2010; the stamps from Gibraltar bear a denomination of 75 pence, while those from Malta bear a denomination of 0.75 euros. Fa, Darren; the Fortifications of Gibraltar 1068-1945.
Gibraltar Museum. P. 64. ISBN 9781846030161. Paco Galliano. History of Galliano's Bank: The Smallest Bank in the World. Gibraltar: Gibraltar Books. Gibraltar.gov's site on the Napier of Magdala Battery
Consecration
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service religious. The word consecration means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, the term is used in various ways by different groups; the origin of the word comes from the Latin word consecrat, which means dedicated and sacred. A synonym for to consecrate is to sanctify. Images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas are ceremonially consecrated in a broad range of Buddhist rituals that vary depending on the Buddhist traditions. Buddhābhiseka is a Sanskrit term referring to these consecration rituals. "Consecration" is used in the Catholic Church as the setting apart for the service of God of both persons and objects. The ordination of a new bishop is called a consecration. While the term "episcopal ordination" is now more common, "consecration" was the preferred term from the Middle Ages through the period including the Second Vatican Council; the Vatican II document Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy n. 76 states, Both the ceremonies and texts of the ordination rites are to be revised.
The address given by the bishop at the beginning of each ordination or consecration may be in the mother tongue. When a bishop is consecrated, the laying of hands may be done by all the bishops present; the English text of Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, 1997, under the heading "Episcopal ordination—fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders", uses "episcopal consecration" as a synonymous term, using "episcopal ordination" and "episcopal consecration" interchangeably. The Code of Canon Law Latin-English Edition, under "Title VI—Orders" uses the term sacrae ordinationis minister "minister of sacred ordination" and the term consecratione episcopali "episcopal consecration"; the life of those who enter religious institutes, secular institutes or societies of apostolic Life are described as Consecrated life. The rite of consecration of virgins can be traced back at least to the fourth century. By the time of the Second Vatican Council, the bestowal of the consecration was limited to cloistered nuns only.
The Council directed. Two similar versions were prepared, one for women living in monastic orders, another for consecrated virgins living in the world. An English translation of the rite for those living in the world is available on the web site of the United States Association of Consecrated Virgins. Chrism, an anointing oil, is olive oil consecrated by a bishop. Objects such as patens and chalices, used for the Sacrament of the Eucharist, are consecrated by a bishop, using chrism; the day before a new priest is ordained, there is a vigil and a service or Mass at which the ordaining Bishop consecrates the paten and chalice of the ordinands. A more solemn rite exists for what used to be called the "consecration of an altar", either of the altar alone or as the central part of the rite for a church; the rite is now called the dedication. Since it would be contradictory to dedicate to the service of God a mortgage-burdened building, the rite of dedication of a church is carried out only if the building is debt-free.
Otherwise, it is only blessed. A special act of consecration is that of the bread and wine used in the Eucharist, which according to Catholic belief involves their change into the Body and Blood of Christ, a change referred to as transubstantiation. To consecrate the bread and wine, the priest speaks the Words of Institution. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Catholic Churches, the term "consecration" can refer to either the Sacred Mystery of Cheirotonea of a bishop, or the sanctification and solemn dedication of a church building, it can be used to describe the change of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at the Divine Liturgy. The Chrism used at Chrismation and the Antimension placed on the Holy Table are said to be consecrated. Church buildings and altars are consecrated to the purpose of religious worship, baptismal fonts and vessels are consecrated for the purpose of containing the Eucharistic elements, the bread and wine/the body and blood of Christ. A person may be consecrated for a specific role within a religious hierarchy, or a person may consecrate his or her life in an act of devotion.
In particular, the ordination of a bishop is called a consecration. In churches that follow the doctrine of apostolic succession, the bishops who consecrate a new bishop are known as the consecrators and form an unbroken line of succession back to the Apostles; those who take the vows of religious life are said to be living a consecrated life. The Methodist Book of Worship for Church and Home contains a liturgies for "The Order for the Consecration of Bishops", "An Office for the Consecration of Deaconesses", "An Office for the Consecration of Directors of Christian Education and Directors of Music", as well as "An Office for the Opening or Consecrating of a Church Building" among others. Among some religious groups there is a service of "deconsecration", to return a consecrated place to secular purpose. In the Church of England, an order closing a church may remove the legal effects of consecration. In most South Indian Hindu temples around the world, Kumbhabhishekam, or the temple's consecration ceremony, is done once every 12 years.
It is done to purify the temple after a renovation or done to renew the purity of th
Crypt
A crypt is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Crypts were found below the main apse of a church, such as at the Abbey of Saint-Germain en Auxerre, but were located beneath chancel and transepts as well. Churches were raised high to accommodate a crypt at the ground level, such as St Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany. "Crypt" developed as an alternative form of the Latin "vault" as it was carried over into Late Latin, came to refer to the ritual rooms found underneath church buildings. It served as a vault for storing important and/or sacred items. "Crypta", however, is the female form of crypto "hidden". The earliest known origin of both is in the Ancient Greek κρύπτω, the first person singular indicative of the verb "to conceal, to hide". First known in the early Christian period, in particular North Africa at Chlef and Djemila in Algeria, Byzantium at Saint John Studio in Constantinople. Where Christian churches have been built over mithraea, the mithraeum has been adapted to serve as a crypt.
The famous crypt at Old St. Peter's Basilica, developed about the year 600, as a means of affording pilgrims a view of Saint Peter's tomb, which lay, according to the Roman fashion, directly below the high altar; the tomb was made accessible through an underground passageway beneath the sanctuary, where pilgrims could enter at one stair, pass by the tomb and exit, without interrupting the clerical community's service at the altar directly above. Crypts were introduced into Frankish church building in the mid-8th century, as a feature of its Romanization, their popularity spread more in western Europe under Charlemagne. Examples from this period are most common in the early medieval West, for example in Burgundy at Dijon and Tournus. After the 10th century the early medieval requirements of a crypt faded, as church officials permitted relics to be held in the main level of the church. By the Gothic period crypts were built, however burial vaults continued to be constructed beneath churches and referred to as crypts.
In more modern terms, a crypt is most a stone chambered burial vault used to store the deceased. Crypts are found in cemeteries and under public religious buildings, such as churches or cathedrals, but are occasionally found beneath mausolea or chapels on personal estates. Wealthy or prestigious families will have a'family crypt' or'vault' in which all members of the family are interred. Many royal families, for example, have vast crypts containing the bodies of dozens of former royalty. In some localities an above ground crypt is more called a mausoleum, which refers to any elaborate building intended as a burial place, for one or any number of people. There was a trend in the 19th century of building crypts on medium to large size family estates subtly placed on the edge of the grounds or more incorporated into the cellar. After a change of owner these are blocked up and the house deeds will not allow this area to be re-developed. Catacomb Mausoleum Tumulus Ossuary Tomb Cemetery Media related to Crypt at Wikimedia Commons Chisholm, Hugh, ed..
"Crypt". Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press
Władysław Sikorski
Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski was a Polish military and political leader. Prior to the First World War, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause of the independence of Poland from the Russian Empire, he fought with distinction in the Polish Legions during the First World War, in the newly created Polish Army during the Polish–Soviet War of 1919 to 1921. In that war he played a prominent role in the decisive Battle of Warsaw. In the early years of the Second Polish Republic, Sikorski held government posts, including serving as Prime Minister and as Minister of Military Affairs. Following Józef Piłsudski's May Coup of 1926 and the installation of the Sanation government, he fell out of favor with the new régime. During the Second World War, Sikorski became Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, a vigorous advocate of the Polish cause in the diplomatic sphere, he supported the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Poland and the Soviet Union, severed after the Soviet pact with Germany and the 1939 invasion of Poland—however, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin broke off Soviet-Polish diplomatic relations in April 1943 following Sikorski's request that the International Red Cross investigate the Katyń Forest massacre.
In July 1943, a plane carrying Sikorski plunged into the sea after takeoff from Gibraltar, killing all on board except the pilot. The exact circumstances of Sikorski's death have been disputed and have given rise to a number of different theories surrounding the crash and his death. Sikorski had been the most prestigious leader of the Polish exiles, his death was a severe setback for the Polish cause. Sikorski was born in Galicia, at the time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was the third child in his family. His grandfather, Tomasz Kopaszyna Sikorski, had fought and been wounded at the Battle of Olszynka Grochowska in the November Uprising, during which he received the Virtuti Militari medal. Sikorski attended the gimnazjum in Rzeszów from 1893 to 1897 transferred for a year to a Rzeszów teachers' college. In 1899 he attended the Lwów Franciszek Józef Gymnasium, in 1902 he passed his final high school exam there. Starting that year, young Sikorski studied engineering at the Lwów Polytechnic, specializing in road and bridge construction, graduated in 1908 with a diploma in hydraulic engineering.
In 1906 Sikorski volunteered for a year's service in the Austro-Hungarian army and attended the Austrian Military School, obtaining an officer's diploma and becoming an army reserve second lieutenant. In 1909 he married Helena Zubczewska. In 1912 they had Zofia. After graduation he lived in Leżajsk and worked for the Galician administration's hydraulic engineering department, working on the regulation of the San river, was involved in private enterprises related to construction, real estate and petroleum trade. During his studies at the Polytechnic, Sikorski became involved in the People's School Association, an organization dedicated to spreading literacy among the rural populace. Around 1904–1905 he was involved with the endecja Association of the Polish Youth "Zet", drifted towards paramilitary socialist organizations related to the Polish Socialist Party, intent on securing Polish independence, he made contact with the socialist movement around 1905–1906 through the Union for the Resurrection of the Polish Nation.
In 1908, in Lwów, Sikorski—together with Józef Piłsudski, Marian Kukiel, Walery Sławek, Kazimierz Sosnkowski, Witold Jodko-Narkiewicz and Henryk Minkiewicz—organized the secret Union for Active Struggle, with the aim of bringing about an uprising against the Russian Empire, one of Poland's three partitioners. In 1910 in Lwów, Sikorski helped to organize a Riflemen's Association, became the president of its Lwów chapter, became responsible for the military arm within the Commission of Confederated Independence Parties. Having a military education, he lectured other activists on military tactics. Upon the outbreak of the First World War in July 1914, Sikorski was mobilized, but through KSSN influence he was allowed to participate in the organizing of the Polish military units, rather than being delegated to other duties by the Austro-Hungarian military command. In the first few weeks of the war he became the chief of the Military Department in the Supreme National Committee and remained in this post until 1916.
He was a commissioner in charge of the recruitment to the Polish Legions in Kraków, choosing this role over the opportunity to serve in the Legions as a frontline commander. On 30 September 1914 he was promoted to podpułkownik, soon after that he became the commander of a Legions officer school; the Legions — the army created by Józef Piłsudski to liberate Poland from Russian and Austro-Hungarian and German rule — fought in alliance with Austria-Hungary against Russia. From August 1915 there was growing tension between Sikorski, who advocated cooperation with Austria-Hungary, Piłsudski, who felt that Austria-Hungary and Germany had betrayed the trust of the Polish people. In 1916 Piłsudski campaigned to have the
Main Street, Gibraltar
Main Street is the main arterial street in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Main Street's route was established in the 14th century, confirmed when the Puerta de África were built in 1575, during the Spanish period. Nearly every building in Main Street was damaged during the Great Siege of Gibraltar when from 1779 to 1783 the town was attacked by a combined French and Spanish fleet; because Main Street was near the harbour it was bombarded by the ships in the harbour. Col. John Drinkwater wrote "that some few, near South-port, continued to be inhabited by soldiers families, but in general the floors and roofs were destroyed and the bare shell only was left standing."The street's route has only had minor adjustment when the front of the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned was re-modeled and downsized in 1801 in order to straighten the street on the orders of the British Governor, Charles O'Hara. A branch of Marks & Spencer was established in Gibraltar on the street in 1968. Main Street is Gibraltar's main shopping district.
It runs north–south through the old town, pedestrianised and lined with buildings displaying a blend of Genoese, Andalusian and British Regency styles, most of which have shops on the ground floor. Upper floors provide residential accommodation or offices. Tourists and visitors will find a wide variety of shops, many of which will be familiar from British high streets. Irish Town is a street name and one of Main Street's sub-districts and was named in the early 19th century when Gibraltar was split into differing quarters. Gibraltar's town centre is protected by the Gibraltar Heritage Trust and is part of a continual restoration programme. Grand Casemates Square at the northern end of Main Street, once the centre of public executions, is the hub of Gibraltar's nightlife, is filled with numerous restaurants and bars. Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Gibraltar Governor's Residence, The Convent Gibraltar Law Courts Gibraltar Parliament Ince's Hall Theatre John Mackintosh Hall King's Chapel Royal Gibraltar Post Office at No. 104
Gibraltar
