PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The airline was founded in 1923, making Aeroflot one of the oldest active airlines in the world. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo International Airport.

Before 2022, the airline flew to 146 destinations in 52 countries, excluding codeshared services. The number of destinations was significantly reduced after many countries banned Russian aircraft as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

From its inception to the early 1990s, Aeroflot was the flag carrier and a state-owned enterprise of the Soviet Union (USSR). During this time, Aeroflot grew its fleet to over five thousand domestically made aircraft and expanded to operate a domestic and international flight network of over three thousand destinations throughout the Soviet Union and the globe, making the airline the largest in the world at the time. In addition to passenger flights, Aeroflot also committed to freight operations and serving the state through transportation and military assistance. Following the dissolution of the USSR, the carrier was restructured into an open joint-stock company and embarked on a radical transformation process. Aeroflot shrank the fleet dramatically while at the same time purchasing Western aircraft and newer domestic models and focusing on expanding its international market share before moving to boost its domestic market share.

By the end of 2017, Aeroflot controlled roughly 40% of the air market in Russia. Aeroflot owns Rossiya Airlines – an airline based in Saint Petersburg, Pobeda – a low-cost carrier, and 51% of airline Aurora, based in the Russian Far East. Altogether, Aeroflot and its subsidiaries own 359 aircraft as of 31 December 2019, composed mainly of Airbus, Boeing, and domestic models such as the Sukhoi Superjet 100, and today's Russified MC-21. Aeroflot also formerly had a cargo subsidiary named Aeroflot-Cargo, though the branch later merged with the parent airline.

Aeroflot became a member of SkyTeam in April 2006, making it the first carrier in the former Soviet Union to do so. In 2022, SkyTeam and Aeroflot agreed to temporarily suspend the airline's membership, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of March 2020, the Government of Russia owns 51% of Aeroflot through the Federal Agency for State Property Management, with the rest of the shares being free-floating. In 2021, the company's revenue amounted to 379 billion rubles.

History

Early history of Soviet civil aviation

On 17 January 1921, the Sovnarkom of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic published "About Air Transportation". The document signed by its chair Vladimir Lenin set out the basic regulations on air transport over the territory of the RSFSR. The document was significant as it was the first time that a Russian state had declared sovereignty over its airspace. In addition, the document defined rules for the operation of foreign aircraft over the Soviet Union's airspace and territory. After Lenin issued an order, a State Commission was formed on 31 January 1921 for the purpose of civil aviation planning in the Soviet Union. As a result of the commission's plans, Glavvozdukhflot (, Chief Administration of the Civil Air Fleet) was established, and it began mail and passenger flights on the Moscow-Oryol-Kursk-Kharkov route on 1 May 1921 using Sikorsky Ilya Muromets aircraft. This was followed by the formation of Deruluft-Deutsch Russische Luftverkehrs A.G. in Berlin on 11 November 1921, as a joint venture between the Soviet Union and Germany. The company, whose aircraft were registered in both Germany and the Soviet Union, began operations on 1 May 1922 with a Fokker F.III flying between Königsberg and Moscow. The service was initially operated twice a week and restricted to the carriage of mail.

On 3 February 1923 Sovnarkom approved plans for the expansion of the Red Air Fleet, and it is this date which was officially recognised as the beginning of civil aviation in the Soviet Union. After a resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Enterprise for Friends of the Air Fleet (ODVF) was founded on 8 March 1923, followed by the formation of Dobrolet () on 17 March 1923. The artist Alexander Rodchenko became involved in the ODVF at this time. He designed posters encouraging citizens to buy stock in Dobrolet and the famous "Winged Hammer and Sickle" logo still used by Aeroflot. Regular flights by Dobrolet from Moscow to Nizhniy Novgorod commenced on 15 July 1923. During the same period, an additional two airlines were established; Zakavia being based in Tiflis, and Ukrvozdukhput based in Kharkov. During 1923 an agreement was signed establishing a subdivision of Dobrolet to be based in Tashkent, which would operate to points in Soviet Central Asia. Services between Tashkent and Alma Ata began on 27 April 1924, and by the end of 1924 the subdivision had carried 480 passengers and  of mail and freight, on a total of 210 flights. In March 1924, Dobrolet began operating flights from Sevastopol to Yalta and Yevpatoriya in the Crimea. Dobrolet's route network was extended during the 1925–1927 period to include Kazan and regular flights between Moscow and Kharkov were inaugurated. Plans were made for Dobrolet flights to Kharkov to connect with Ukrvozdukhput services to Kyiv, Odessa and Rostov-on-Don. During 1925, Dobrolet operated 2,000 flights over a distance of , carrying 14,000 passengers and  of freight, on a route network extending to some . Dobrolet was transformed from a Russian to an all-Union enterprise on 21 September 1926 as a result of Sovnarkom resolutions, and in 1928 Dobrolet was merged with Ukrvozdukhput; the latter having merged with Zakavia in 1925.

Formative years

Responsibility for all civil aviation activities in the Soviet Union came under the control of the Chief Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet on 25 February 1932, and on 25 March 1932 the name "Aeroflot" was officially adopted for the entire Soviet Civil Air Fleet. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union Congress in 1933 set out development plans for the civil aviation industry for the following five years, which would see air transportation becoming one of the primary means of transportation in the Soviet Union, linking all major cities. The government also implemented plans to expand the Soviet aircraft industry to make it less dependent on foreign built aircraft; in 1930 some fifty percent of aircraft flying services in the Soviet Union were of foreign manufacture. Expansion of air routes which had taken shape in the late 1920s, continued into the 1930s. Local (MVL) services were greatly expanded in Soviet Central Asia and the Soviet Far East, which by the end of the second five-year plan in 1937 was  in length out of a total network of some . The agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany relating to Deruluft expired on 1 January 1937 and wasn't renewed, which saw the joint venture carrier ceasing operations on 1 April 1937. On that date Aeroflot began operations on the Moscow to Stockholm route, and began operating the ex-Deruluft route from Leningrad to Riga utilising Douglas DC-3s and Tupolev ANT-35s (PS-35s). Flights from Moscow to Berlin, via Königsberg, were suspended until 1940, when they were restarted by Aeroflot and Deutsche Luft Hansa as a result of the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and would continue until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941.

Under the third five-year plan, which began in 1938, civil aviation development continued, with improvements to airport installations being made and construction of airports being commenced. In addition to the expansion of services between the Soviet Union's main cities, local routes (MVL) were also expanded, and by 1940, some 337 MVL routes saw operations on a scheduled basis. Serial production of the Lisunov Li-2 (license-built Douglas DC-3) commenced in 1939, and the aircraft became the backbone of Aeroflot's fleet on mainline trunk routes. When the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany on 22 June 1941, the following day the Sovnarkom placed the Civil Air Fleet under the control of Narkomat, leading to the full-scale mobilisation of Aeroflot crews and technicians for the Soviet war effort. Prior to the invasion, the Aeroflot network extended over some , and amongst the longest routes being operated from Moscow were those to Tbilisi (via Baku), Tashkent and Vladivostok. Aeroflot aircraft, including PS-35s and PS-43s, were based at Moscow's Central Airport; and important missions undertaken by Aeroflot aircraft and crews included flying supplies to the besieged cities of Leningrad, Kyiv, Odessa and Sevastopol. During the Battle of Stalingrad, between August 1942 and February 1943, Aeroflot operated 46,000 missions to Stalingrad, ferrying in  of supplies and some 30,000 troops. Following the defeat of the Wehrmacht, some 80 Junkers Ju 52/3ms were captured from the Germans, and were placed into the service of the Civil Air Fleet, and after the war were placed into regular service across the Soviet Union. Whilst civil operations in European Russia west of the front line, which ran from Leningrad to Moscow to Rostov-on-Don, were prevented from operating because of the war, services from Moscow to the Urals, Siberia, Central Asia, and other regions which were not affected by the war, continued. By the end of the war, Aeroflot had flown 1,595,943 special missions, including 83,782 at night, and carried 1,538,982 men and  of cargo.

Aeroflot during the Cold War

At the end of World War II, the Soviet government went about repairing and rebuilding essential airport infrastructure, and it strengthened the Aeroflot units in the European part of the Soviet Union. Aeroflot had by the end of 1945 carried 537,000 passengers, compared with 359,000 in 1940. The government made it a priority in the immediate postwar years to expand services from Moscow to the capital of the Union republics, in addition to important industrial centres on the country. To enable this, the government transferred to Aeroflot a large number of Lisunov Li-2s, and they would become the backbone of the fleet. The Ilyushin Il-12 entered service on Aeroflot's all-Union scheduled routes on 22 August 1947, and supplemented already existing Li-2 services. The original Ilyushin Il-18 entered service around the same time as the Il-12, and was operated on routes from Moscow to Yakutsk, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Alma Ata, Tashkent, Sochi, Mineralnye Vody and Tbilisi. By 1950 the Il-18 was withdrawn from service, being replaced by Il-12s. MVL and general aviation services received a boost in March 1948, when the first Antonov An-2s were delivered and entered service in Central Russia. Development of MVL services over latter years was attributed to the An-2, which was operated by Aeroflot in all areas of the Soviet Union.

Aeroflot's route network had extended to  by 1950, and it carried 1,603,700 passengers,  of freight and  of mail during the same year. Night flights began in the same year, and the fifth five-year plan, covering the period 1951–1955, emphasised Aeroflot expanding night-time operations, which vastly improved aircraft utilisation. By 1952, some 700 destinations around the Soviet Union received regular flights from Aeroflot. On 30 November 1954, the Ilyushin Il-14 entered service, and the aircraft took a leading role in the operation of Aeroflot's all-Union services. The number of passengers carried in 1955 increased to 2,500,000, whilst freight and mail carriage also increased, to 194,960 and 63,760 tons, respectively. By this time, Aeroflot's route network covered a distance of some . The 20th Communist Party Congress, held in 1956, saw plans for Aeroflot services to be dramatically increased. The airline would see its overall activities increased from its then current levels by 3.8 times, and it was set the target of the carriage of 16,000,000 passengers by 1960. In order to meet these goals, Aeroflot introduced higher capacity turbojet and turbine-prop aircraft on key domestic routes, and on services to Aeroflot destinations abroad. A major step for Aeroflot occurred on 15 September 1956 when the Tupolev Tu-104 jet airliner entered service on the Moscow-Omsk-Irkutsk route, marking the world's first sustained jet airline service. The airline began international flights with the type on 12 October 1956 under the command of Boris Bugayev with flights from Moscow to Prague. The aircraft placed Aeroflot in an enviable position, as airlines in the West had operated throughout the 1950s with large piston-engined aircraft. By 1958 the route network covered , and the airline carried 8,231,500 passengers, and 445,600 tons of mail and freight, with fifteen percent of all-Union services being operated by jet aircraft.

Aeroflot introduced the Antonov An-10 and Ilyushin Il-18 in 1959, and together with its existing jet aircraft, the airline was able to extend services on modern aircraft to twenty one cities during 1960. The Tupolev Tu-114, then the world's largest airliner, entered service with the Soviet carrier on 24 April 1961 on the Moscow-Khabarovsk route; covering a distance of  in 8 hours 20 minutes. The expansion of the Aeroflot fleet saw services with modern aircraft being extended to forty one cities in 1961, with fifty percent of all-Union services being operated by these aircraft. This fleet expansion also saw the number of passengers carried in 1961 skyrocketing to 21,800,000. Further expansion came in 1962 when both the Tupolev Tu-124 and Antonov An-24 entered regular service with Aeroflot on various medium and short-haul routes. By 1964, Aeroflot operated direct flights from Moscow to 100 cities, from Leningrad to 44 cities, and from Kyiv to 38 cities. The airline also operated direct flights from Mineralnye Vody to 48 cities across the Soviet Union, denoting the importance of the operation of holiday aircraft services to Aeroflot. Statistics for the same year showed Aeroflot operating an all-Union route network extending over , and carrying 36,800,000 passengers.

By 1966 Aeroflot carried 47,200,000 passengers over a domestic route network of . For the period of the eighth five-year plan, which ran from 1966 to 1970, Aeroflot carried a total of 302,200,000 passengers, 6.47 billion tons of freight and 1.63 billion tons of mail. During the five-year plan period, all-Union services were extended over an additional 350 routes; an additional 1,000 MVL routes were begun, and 40 new routes were opened up with all-cargo flights. The year 1967 saw the introduction into service of the Ilyushin Il-62 and Tupolev Tu-134, and in September 1968 the Yakovlev Yak-40 regional jet began operations on short-haul services. That same year, the Il-62 inaugurated the long-delayed service between Moscow and New York, which finally began in July and was operated by Aeroflot and Pam Am jointly. According to the book The Aeroflot Story: From Russia With Luck: "This business relationship would become an acrimonious affair in which both parties complained it had been wronged by the other. Pan Am accused the Soviets of illegally siphoning away Moscow-to-New York passengers, whilst in turn; Aeroflot accused US consular officials in Russia of having steered passengers to Pan Am flights."

By 1970, the last year of the five-year plan period, Aeroflot was operating flights to over 3,500 destinations in the Soviet Union, and at the height of the 1970 summer holidays season, the airline was carrying approximately 400,000 passengers per day, and some ninety percent of passengers were being carried on propeller-turbine and jet aircraft. In January 1971, the Central Administration of International Air Traffic () (TsUMVS) was established within the framework of IATA, and became the sole enterprise authorised to operate international flights. Abroad, the airline was known as Aeroflot Soviet Airlines. In 1976, Aeroflot carried its 100 millionth passenger. Its flights were mainly concentrated around the Soviet Union, but the airline also had an international network covering five continents: North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. The network included countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, Cuba, Mexico and the People's Republic of China.

Aeroflot service between the Soviet Union and the United States was interrupted from 15 September 1983 until 2 August 1990, following an executive order by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, revoking Aeroflot's license to operate flights into and out of the United States following the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 by the Soviet Air Force. At the start of the 1990s Aeroflot reorganised again giving more autonomy to territorial divisions. REG Davies, former curator of the Smithsonian Institution, claims that by 1992 Aeroflot had over 600,000 people operating over 10,000 aircraft.

Other functions

Aeroflot also performed other functions, including air ambulance; aerial application; heavy lifting for the Soviet Space Agency; offshore oil platform support; exploration and aeromagnetic survey for natural resources; support for construction projects; transport of military troops and supplies (as an adjunct to the Soviet Air Force); atmospheric research; and remote area patrol. It operated hundreds of helicopters and cargo aircraft in addition to civil airliners. It also operated the Soviet equivalent of a presidential aircraft and other VIP transports of government and Communist party officials. Aeroflot was also responsible for such services as ice patrol in the Arctic Ocean and escorting of ships through frozen seas; oil exploration; power line surveillance; and transportation and heavy lifting support on construction projects. For the latter tasks, Aeroflot used, in addition to smaller helicopters, the Mil Mi-10 flying crane capable of lifting . Hauling of heavy cargo, including vehicles, was performed by the world's largest operational helicopter, the Mil Mi-26. Its unusual eight-blade rotor enabled it to lift a maximum payload of some twenty tons. The medium- and long-range passenger- and cargo aircraft of Aeroflot were also part of the strategic air transport reserve, ready to provide immediate airlift support to the armed forces. Short-range aircraft and helicopters were available for appropriate military support missions.

Post-Soviet Aeroflot

In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union underwent massive political upheavals, culminating in the dissolution of the Union. Former republics of the Soviet Union declared their independence during January 1990 – December 1991, resulting in the establishment of several independent countries, along with fifteen republics and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Up until that time, Aeroflot had been the only establishment providing air services throughout the Soviet Union, but with its breakup Aeroflot branches of these countries began their own services, and the airline itself came under control of Russia, the largest of the CIS republics, and was renamed AeroflotRussian International Airlines (ARIA). In 1992 Aeroflot was divided into a number of regional airlines, whereas international routes were operated by ARIA. Smaller regional airlines which emerged from the old Aeroflot were sometimes referred to as Babyflots; Bashkirian Airlines, Krasnoyarsk Airlines, Moscow Airways and Tatarstan Airlines were among the carriers that were formed from former Aeroflot directorates.

In 1994, Aeroflot was registered as a joint-stock company and the government sold off 49% of its stake to Aeroflot employees. During the 1990s, Aeroflot was primarily focused on international flights from Moscow. However, by the end of the decade Aeroflot started an expansion in the domestic market. In 2000 the company name was changed to AeroflotRussian Airlines to reflect the change in the company strategy. The Aeroflot fleet shrank dramatically in the post-Soviet era, dropping from 5,400 planes in 1991 to 115 in 1996.

Since the dissolution, Aeroflot has been actively working towards promoting and redefining itself as a safe and reliable airline. In the early 2000s, the airline hired British consultants for rebranding. From the start, plans were afoot to replace the hammer and sickle logo, a symbol of Soviet communism; despite this the logo was not scrapped, as it was the most recognisable symbol of the company for over 70 years. A new livery and uniforms for flight attendants were designed and a promotional campaign launched in 2003. Its fleet has undergone a major reorganisation during which most of the Soviet aircraft were replaced by Western-built jets; concerns over fuel consumption rather than safety concerns were cited for such a move. Airbus A319s and A320s for short-haul flights in Europe; and Boeing 767s and Airbus A330s for long-haul routes; were gradually incorporated into the fleet. Aeroflot began working with the US travel technology firm Sabre Corporation in 1997, and in 2004 signed an agreement to use Sabre's software as its new Reservation System, further extending the relationship with Sabre in 2010. In the spring of 2004 an expansion on the domestic market was undertaken, aiming to gain 30% share by 2010 ( it held approximately 9%). The first task was to outperform Siberia Airlines (now S7 Airlines), a major rival and the leader in the domestic market. On 29 July 2004 a new corporate slogan was adopted: "Sincerely Yours. Aeroflot".

In April 2006, Aeroflot became the tenth airline to join SkyTeam, and the first air carrier in the former Soviet Union to do so. The company announced its plan to increase cargo operations. It registered the Aeroflot-Cargo trademark in 2006. During that year Aeroflot carried 7,290,000 passengers and 145,300 tons of mail and cargo to 89 destinations in 47 countries. It saw improvements in its earnings and number of passengers carried. The net profit reached $309.4 million (RUB 7.98 billion) in 2006, a 32.3% increase from 2005 earnings of only $234 million (RUB6.03 billion). The revenue for the same 2005–2006 period rose by 13.5% to reach $2.77 billion with an 8.7% gain in passenger numbers. Aeroflot became the sole shareholder of Donavia—a domestic airline then-named Aeroflot-Don—in December 2006, when it boosted its stake in the company from 51% to 100%; soon afterwards, Aeroflot-Nord was created following the buyout of Arkhangelsk Airlines.  Aeroflot was owned by the Russian Government via Rosimushchestvo (51.17%), National Reserve Corporation (27%) and employees and others (19%), and had 14,900 employees.

Expansion and re-organization

In February 2010, the Russian government announced that all regional airlines owned by the state through the holding company Rostechnologii would be consolidated with the national carrier Aeroflot in order to increase the airlines' financial viability. The merger was completed in late November 2011 in a deal worth  million, Aeroflot's sister company Aeroflot-Finance became the major shareholder of Vladivostok Avia, Saravia and Rossiya Airlines, and the sole shareholder of both SAT Airlines and Orenair. It was reported in January 2012 that Saravia was sold to private investors, as the recent-acquired regional airline was not in line with Aeroflot's business strategy. It was reported in June 2013 that in the third quarter of the same year Aeroflot would combine its subsidiaries Vladivostok Air and SAT Airlines into a new subsidiary regional carrier based in the Russian Far East. The subsidiary was effectively created in September 2013 and was originally named Taiga Airline before later being renamed Aurora Airline. The new company, 51%-owned by Aeroflot, was expected to link Moscow with the Russian Far East, whereas SAT Airlines and Vladivostok Avia were expected to cease operations in early 2014.

In June 2013, during the World Airline Awards which took place at the  Le Bourget air show, Aeroflot was awarded the international prize as the best air carrier in Eastern Europe. In , the company introduced an affiliated low-cost carrier (LCC), Dobrolet. The LCC started operations in June 2014; they ceased on  owing to EU sanctions over the airline launching flights to Crimea. In late August 2014, Aeroflot announced the launch of a new LCC in October 2014 to replace Dobrolet; it would use aircraft transferred from Orenair. The new LCC, named Pobeda, started operations from Vnukovo Airport in December 2014; it had plans to fly to Belgorod, Kazan, Perm, Samara, Surgut, Tyumen, Ufa, Volgograd and Yekaterinburg.

In March 2014 as a response to the Revolution of Dignity the company announced rerouting their flights to avoid flying over the territory of Ukraine. The announcement (together with worse than expected financial results) caused an almost 10% drop in the share price of the company. Also, in March 2014, Aeroflot flight designator ″SU″ was adopted by its subsidiary Rossiya. In September 2015, Aeroflot agreed to acquire 75% of Transaero Airlines for the symbolic price of one ruble, but abandoned the plan later after failing to come to terms on a takeover. The carrier did take over a number of Transaero's aircraft by assuming its leases after the defunct airline's collapse. This introduced the Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 to Aeroflot's fleet. In addition, the company suggested that it would cancel some of its jet orders as a result of the newly assumed aircraft.

Following a prior announcement, Aeroflot subsidiaries Rossiya Airlines, Donavia and Orenair combined their operations in late March 2016. Orenair AOC was cancelled by Russian authorities in late . Aeroflot filed both Donavia and Orenair for bankruptcy in January 2017. Orenair and Donavia were formally declared bankrupt in February 2017 and August 2017, respectively.

2022 airspace bans and sanctions
In February 2022, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Aeroflot and other Russian airlines were banned from the airspace of countries including the United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway, Canada and also the European Union. On 25 February 2022, Manchester United cancelled a sponsorship agreement that had identified Aeroflot as its official carrier since July 2013, citing the war. On 1 March 2022, the United States closed their airspace to Russian airlines, effectively suspending Aeroflot's operations in the country. On 3 March 2022, Sabre, the supplier of Aeroflot's Reservation System as well as one of the suppliers of GDS access for Aeroflot internationally, announced that it would terminate Aeroflot's international GDS access; some senior airline industry figures criticised this as not going far enough, since Sabre was not cutting off Aeroflot's main reservation system.

On 5 March 2022, Aeroflot announced that with effect from 8 March it would be suspending all international flights  except Minsk, to avoid any possible seizures of foreign-leased aircraft. To continue to operate, some maintenance had to be done in Iran.

On 11 April 2022 the European Commission declared that Aeroflot will be banned from flying in the European Union because it does not meet international safety standards. This was due to Russia's forced re-registration of foreign-owned aircraft, knowingly allowing their operation without valid certificates of airworthiness, which is in breach of international aviation safety standards. The EU Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said this practice "poses an immediate safety threat".  She also stated that: "this decision is not another sanction against Russia; it has been taken solely on the basis of technical and safety grounds. We do not mix safety with politics". This safety-related ban is distinct from the other ban enacted in February 2022 in response to the invasion.

On 8 April 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce restricted flights on aircraft manufactured in the U.S. for Aeroflot, Aviastar, Azur Air, Belavia, Rossiya and Utair. It seems the U.S. wants to reclaim ownership of the intellectual property. On 16 June 2022 the US broadened its restrictions on the six airlines after violations of the sanctions regime were detected. The effect of the restrictions is to ground the U.S.-manufactured part of its fleet.

As of July 2022, Aeroflot ended its own Sukhoi Superjet 100 operations as these had all gradually been transferred to subsidiary Rossiya Airlines.

As of November 2022, Aeroflot continued to function despite the impact of Western sanctions despite using aircraft manufactured by Boeing and Airbus with these aircraft being subject to sanctions on replacement parts. This success has been due to a reduced flight schedule and cannibalization of aircraft. The lack of international travel also means less mileage on aircraft as they are being used domestically. Russia hopes to keep its aircraft flying despite the sanctions, much like Iran has. However Aeroflot's jets are much newer with their purchase on lease from the West starting in 2001. Long term sanctions on replacement parts from the West may have safety implications longer term.

As of January 2023, Aeroflot was maintaining services to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

In May 2023, The New York Times reported that U.S.-made parts were sent to Aeroflot's warehouses to repair its dilapidated fleet, despite sanctions imposed by the U.S. government.

Corporate affairs

Headquarters

The headquarters of Aeroflot are in Arbat District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. By 2009 Aeroflot began leasing  of space from a class A office building on Arbat Street owned by Midland Development. As of that year Aeroflot had plans to build a dedicated  headquarters in proximity to Sheremetyevo Airport.

Key people
, Aeroflot's CEO position is held by Vitaly Savelyev. Savelyev was appointed on 10 April 2009 and succeeded Valery Okulov. Expiring in April 2014, the Russian government extended Savelyev's appointment for another five years. In late August 2018, Savelyev was re-confirmed in the CEO position for a further five-year period. In December 2018, the Russian government appointed Russia's Minister of Transport Evgeny Ditrich as chairman of the board.

Ownership and subsidiaries

, Aeroflot was 51% state-owned. The Aeroflot Group, Russia's largest airline holding company, included several subsidiaries: Pobeda, Rossiya, Donavia, Orenair, and Aurora. At that time, the Aeroflot Group employed 30,328; 17,678 of these people worked for Aeroflot JSC.

Aeroflot Airline carried 35.8 million passengers during 2018, an 8.9% increase year-on-year (YOY). The Aeroflot Group, comprising Aeroflot Airline, Aurora, Pobeda and Rossiya, carried 55.7 million passengers during the same period, 11% up YOY. , the Group fleet totalled 366 aircraft, of which 253 corresponded to Aeroflot Airline.

Staffing
In 2016 the company decided to link the pay of its flight attendants to their dress size. All the flight attendants were photographed and measured, and some were weighed. Women above a Russian size 48 were barred from international flights. According to the flight attendants' trade union the policy affected about 600 Aeroflot attendants. The company successfully defended itself in court in April 2017 by saying that a survey of Aeroflot passengers showed that "92% want to see stewardesses who fit into the clothes sizes we are talking about here" and that every extra kilogramme meant spending an extra 800 roubles per year on fuel. The company denied all the accusations of discrimination. In September 2017 the appeal court decided that requirements banning employment by women who wore large sizes was unenforceable and ordered compensation for Yevgenia Magurina, a flight attendant who filed a discrimination suit. Two women were awarded token compensation, but the court did not rule explicitly that the policy was discriminatory.

In November 2018, the company's executive director Vitaly Savelyev signed new rules, according to which employees of the Moscow office of the airline were forbidden to bring and use smartphones at work.

Destinations

, Aeroflot served 146 destinations in 52 countries. By mid-2023, following the closure of North American and EU/EFTA airspace to Russia as a result of Moscow's war against Ukraine, together with international sanctions against the Russian operator, Aeroflot was serving only 45 destinations in 18 countries.

Alliances
Between April 2006 and 27 April 2022, Aeroflot was a member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, having signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 24 May 2004. On 27 April 2022, SkyTeam and Aeroflot agreed to temporarily suspend the airline's membership.

Although Aeroflot did not meet the conventional standards of the alliance at the time, SkyTeam saw potential in the airline's large hub networks and decided that it made up for the airline's deficiencies.

Aeroflot's cargo branch, Aeroflot-Cargo, which was later reintegrated into the parent company, operated as part of SkyTeam Cargo.

Codeshare agreements
As of 30 August 2022, Aeroflot has no active codeshare agreements with any international airlines.

As of August 2022, only three codesharing agreements remained, all three subsidiaries of Aeroflot:

 Aurora
 Pobeda
 Rossiya Airlines

Fleet

The Aeroflot passenger fleet consists of narrow-body and wide-body aircraft from six aircraft families: the Airbus A320, the Airbus A330, the Airbus A350 XWB, the Boeing 737, the Boeing 777, and the Sukhoi Superjet 100. , there are 181 passenger aircraft registered in the Aeroflot fleet.

Frequent flyer programme

Aeroflot uses Aeroflot Bonus as their frequent-flyer programme. It has four levels with various perks.

Accidents and incidents

Aeroflot has had a high number of fatal crashes, with a total of 8,231 passengers dying in Aeroflot crashes according to the Aircraft Crashes Record Office, mostly during the Soviet era, about five times more than any other airline. From 1946 to 1989, the carrier was involved in 721 incidents. In 2013, AirlineRatings.com reported that five of the ten aircraft models involved in the highest numbers of fatal accidents were old Soviet models. From 1992 to 2020, the carrier was involved in 14 incidents.

See also

 List of airports in Russia
 Transport in Russia
 Transport in the Soviet Union

References

Bibliography

External links

Airlines established in 1923
Airlines of Russia
Airlines of the Soviet Union
Arbat District
Companies based in Moscow
Companies listed on the Moscow Exchange
Former Aeroflot divisions
Government-owned airlines
Soviet brands
Government-owned companies of Russia
Russian brands
SkyTeam
1923 establishments in the Soviet Union

Aeroflot


For Your Consideration is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Christopher Guest. It was co-written by Guest and Eugene Levy, and both also star in the film. The film's title is a phrase used in trade advertisements to promote films for honors such as the Academy Awards. The plot revolves around a group of three actors who learn that their performances in the fictional film they have not even completed yet, Home for Purim, a drama set in the mid-1940s American South, are supposedly generating a great deal of award-season buzz.

Many of the cast who have appeared in Guest's previous films Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind including Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Fred Willard, Larry Miller, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Ed Begley Jr., Michael Hitchcock, John Michael Higgins, and Jim Piddock. Ricky Gervais, the co-creator of the original British television series The Office, also appears, while Paul Dooley, John Krasinski, Richard Kind, Scott Adsit, and Sandra Oh make brief cameos. Though the dialogue is largely improvised by the actors as in Guest's earlier films, the format is a departure from the mockumentary style.

The film received its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2006. It was produced by Warner Independent Pictures in association with Castle Rock Entertainment and Shangri-La Entertainment.

Plot
The film follows the production of Home for Purim, a low-budget drama film about a Jewish family in the southern United States in the 1940s. The cast consists of character actress Marilyn Hack as the family's dying matriarch; veteran actor turned kosher hot dog mascot Victor Allen Miller as her husband; ingénue Callie Webb as their lesbian daughter, whose return home with her girlfriend serves as the driving plot of Home for Purim; and Brian Chubb, who is dating Webb, as their son.

The film's director constantly incorporates bizarre camera shots and acting notes, while the producer, heiress to a diaper service, knows nothing about producing films. The two screenwriters are at odds with the director, as they struggle to align the film's period Southern setting with incongruous Jewish references and words.

When an unattributed rumor begins to circulate that Hack, Miller, and Webb are likely to receive Oscar nominations for the film, each begins obsessing about the award. Hack pretends not to care while secretly pining for the award, Miller demands a higher salary and pushes his agent for more dignified work, and Webb breaks up with Chubb. Later, the hosts of entertainment news program Hollywood Now visit the set and interview the cast.

The studio intervenes in the production of Home for Purim and, deeming the film to be "too Jewish," re-title it Home for Thanksgiving. Despite this, the Oscar buzz around the film intensifies, and the three prospective nominees begin to make press appearances to promote the film. Miller appears on a hip-hop teen show called Chillaxin''' in youthful attire with capped teeth, a tan, and dyed blonde hair. Hack gets breast implants and extensive plastic surgery to the point where her face is comically ecstatic. Webb goes on a shock jock radio show, only to field questions exclusively about her nude scenes.

The Academy Award nominations are announced, and only Chubb (who sleeps through the morning of the announcement) is nominated. Miller returns to auditioning for commercials. Webb attempts to revive her failed one-woman show, No Penis Intended. Hack makes a drunken rant on Hollywood Now and becomes an acting teacher, having uncomfortably made peace with her mediocre career.

Cast

Catherine O'Hara as Marilyn Hack
Ed Begley Jr. as Sandy Lane
Eugene Levy as Morley Orfkin
Harry Shearer as Victor Allan Miller
Christopher Guest as Jay Berman
John Michael Higgins as Corey Taft
Jim Piddock as Simon Whitset
Jennifer Coolidge as Whitney Taylor Brown
Parker Posey as Callie Webb
Rachael Harris as Debbie Gilchrist
Christopher Moynihan as Brian Chubb
Paul Dooley as Paper Badge Sgt.
John Krasinski as Paper Badge Officer
Don Lake as "Love It" critic Ben Lilly
Michael Hitchcock as "Hate It" critic David van Zyverdan
Sandra Oh as Marketing Person
Richard Kind as Marketing Person
Bob Balaban as Philip Koontz
Michael McKean as Lane Iverson
Ari Graynor as Young PA
Scott Adsit as First AD
Simon Helberg as Junior Agent
Kevin Sussman as Commercial Director
Fred Willard as Chuck
Jane Lynch as Cindy
Jordan Black as Whitney's Assistant
Nina Conti as Weather Woman
Mary McCormack as Pilgrim Woman
Shawn Christian as Pilgrim Man
Deborah Theaker as Liz Fenneman
Ricky Gervais as Martin Gibb
Larry Miller as Syd Finkleman
Craig Bierko as Talk Show Host
Loudon Wainwright as Nominee Ben Connelly
Jessica St. Clair as Hula Balls Spokeswoman
Casey Wilson as Young Actress
Derek Waters as Young Actor

Reception
Critical reception
Based on 162 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 52% of critics gave For Your Consideration'' a positive review, with an average rating of 5.90/10. The critical consensus reads: "As the object of satire gets bigger the jokes become thinner, and Christopher Guest isn't as droll or insightful here than when he was lampooning smaller subjects." Leonard Maltin gave the film three stars, describing it as "uncanny in its dead-on parodies of TV and radio talk shows and other follies of show business".

Awards
Catherine O'Hara won the National Board of Review's Best Supporting Actress award and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the category of Best Female Lead.  O'Hara's performance earned many good reviews, spurring for a short time rumors that, in an ironic twist, she could be nominated for an Academy Award.  In the end, the film did not receive any Academy Award nominations.

See also

List of films featuring fictional films

References

External links

 Review by Seamus Sweeney at www.nthposition.com

2006 films
American comedy films
Films about actors
Lesbian-related films
Castle Rock Entertainment films
Shangri-La Entertainment films
Warner Independent Pictures films
Icon Productions films
Films directed by Christopher Guest
Films with screenplays by Christopher Guest
Films with screenplays by Eugene Levy
Purim
Films about Jews and Judaism
Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles
2006 comedy films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films

For Your Consideration (film)


Anne Eleanor Scott-James, Lady Lancaster (5 April 1913 – 13 May 2009)
was a British journalist and author. She was one of Britain's first female career journalists, editors and columnists, and latterly author of a series of gardening books.

Biography
She was born in Bayswater, London in 1913. Her father was the Liberal journalist and literary critic R. A. Scott-James, later editor of the London Mercury; her mother was also a journalist. She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School and Somerville College, Oxford. She gained a First in Honour Moderations but did not complete her degree. She joined the staff of Vogue in 1934, initially as a secretary, but quickly advanced to become a columnist, and latterly, Beauty Editor. In 1939, she married the editor and publisher Derek Verschoyle, but they soon divorced. On the outbreak of war, she joined the staff of Picture Post and was its Women's Editor from 1941 to 1945. While at Picture Post, she met and married the journalist Macdonald Hastings. They had two children, one of whom is Sir Max Hastings, the journalist and former editor of The Daily Telegraph. Her daughter, Clare Hastings, is the author of The House in Little Chelsea and a gardening book Gardening Notes from a Late Bloomer.

From 1945 to 1951, Scott-James was the editor of the British Harper's Bazaar, during which time she commissioned work from such individuals as Cecil Beaton, John Betjeman and Elizabeth David. Her novel In the Mink was published in 1952. She became Woman's Editor for the Sunday Express (1953–57) and columnist for the Daily Mail (1960–68). In 1964 she succeeded Nancy Spain as a panellist on the BBC radio panel game, My Word!. She herself was succeeded by Lady Antonia Fraser in 1978. Her marriage to Macdonald Hastings ended in the early sixties, and she soon met the writer and illustrator Osbert Lancaster. They were married from 1967 until his death in 1986.

In the late 1960s, she left the world of journalism and embarked on a new stage in her career, gardening writing. Her books, The Pleasure Garden (jointly written with Lancaster), Down to Earth, and Sissinghurst: The Making of a Garden, are regarded as classics of their genre.

Scott-James died aged 96, and was survived by her son and daughter, and stepson and stepdaughter by Sir Osbert Lancaster.

Bibliography
In the Mink (1952) (novel)
Down to Earth (1971)
Sissinghurst: The Making of a Garden (1974)
The Pleasure Garden: An Illustrated History of British Gardening  (with Sir Osbert Lancaster) (1977)
The Cottage Garden (1981)
Glyndebourne: The Gardens (with Christopher Lloyd) (1983)
Perfect Plant, Perfect Garden (1987)
Gardening Letters to my Daughter (1991)

References

1913 births
2009 deaths
British magazine editors
British radio personalities
British Vogue
English garden writers
People educated at St Paul's Girls' School
Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford
Writers from London
People from the City of Westminster
20th-century English non-fiction writers
20th-century English novelists
20th-century English women writers
English women novelists
Daily Mail journalists
English women non-fiction writers
Women magazine editors
Lancaster family
20th-century British journalists

Anne Scott-James


A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the bride.

History
The origin of wedding dress is from the Roman Empire period. When the Christian religion spread to Europe, wedding ceremony was held the church and a bride wore a wedding dress. In the Middle Ages, all most wedding dresses were black with white veil because of religion. It changed white dress and veil in the 1840s. This style of dress spread to Asia when Europen culture came there.

Types of dress
Slender line is a dress which is tight along a person's body. The Mermaid line is similar to slender line. It looks like a mermaid. A line looks like an "A" from the waist to foot. Like these, today there are so many kinds of wedding dress.

Decoration
The veil is the most popular decoration. It is used for covering the face or head of women. There are special long white gloves. People use various length glove suiting their dress. A woman usually carries a small bunch of flowers, called a bouquet.

Dresses

Wedding dress


Thomas A. Hockin,  (born March 5, 1938) is a Canadian academic, businessman and former politician.

Hockin was born and went to public school in London, Ontario. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a degree in business, and later attended Harvard University, where he graduated with a master's degree in public administration and Ph.D. in political science.

Hockin subsequently joined the political science faculty at fledgling York University, where he rose to full professor teaching Canadian politics. In  later  years, prior to 1981, he was also head master at St. Andrew's College in Aurora, Ontario. and had a business affiliation with Sotheby's auction house. In addition, he was a member of the Ontario Police Commission.

Hockin, who has authored over 30 books, chapters and articles, produced two leading textbooks on Canadian politics in the 1970s: two editions of Apex of Power, first published in 1971, describing the position of the Prime Minister and central agencies in Canadian government, and Government in Canada, published in 1976, an historical overview and political analysis of national political institutions in Canada. Hockin was also a specialist in Canadian parliamentary organization and Canadian foreign policy.

Hockin was the unsuccessful Progressive Conservative candidate in the 1981 by-election held in London West, coming in 900 votes behind the Liberal candidate. Thereafter, he taught in the business school at the University of Western Ontario and moved his residence to London.

He won the riding in the 1984 general election that brought the Tories to power under Brian Mulroney. He was a government backbencher for two years before being appointed to Cabinet as Minister of State for Finance. He served in that position until 1989 when he became Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism. In January 1993, Hockin became a full minister as Minister for Science, although he retained his other portfolio.

When Kim Campbell succeeded Mulroney as PC leader and prime minister in June 1993, she promoted Hockin to Minister of International Trade. The promotion was short-lived as both he and the Campbell government were defeated in the fall general election.  Hockin was defeated by Liberal Sue Barnes.
After leaving politics, Hockin was active as a lobbyist for the mutual fund industry as president and Chief Executive Officer of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

On November 30, 2009, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty nominated Hockin to become the Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) representing Canada, Ireland and the Caribbean. Hockin succeeded Michael Horgan who became the Deputy Minister of Finance.

External links
Profile of Tom Hockin in his role as the public face of the mutual fund industry The Globe and Mail, June 22, 2004
 Inventory of the Thomas A. Hockin fonds at York University
 St Andrews College, Hockin Trophy

1938 births
Living people
Businesspeople from London, Ontario
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
Politicians from London, Ontario
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs
University of Western Ontario alumni
Academic staff of the University of Western Ontario
Academic staff of York University
Members of the 24th Canadian Ministry
Members of the 25th Canadian Ministry
Harvard Kennedy School alumni

Tom Hockin


John McLoughlin (April 8, 1956 – October 24, 1990), better known by the stage name John Sex, was an American cabaret singer and performance artist in New York City from the late 1970s until his death in late 1990.

Early life
Sex was born on Long Island as John McLaughlin. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he knew Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. He often used the print studio there to create punk-style posters for downtown bands, and later for himself. He exhibited some of his word-based art at the "Beyond Words" show at the Mudd Club – alongside artists such as Haring, Kenny Scharf, and Futura 2000 and performers Iggy Pop, Fab Five Freddy and Alan Vega – and at the "New York / New Wave" exhibition at P.S. 1, both in 1981. He soon met Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias in the downtown New York scene and gave up painting, finding he could better express himself in performance.

Early in his career, McLaughlin adopted the stage name "John Sex". He claimed the surname "Sex" was an Americanization of his family's original name, Sexton, but in fact it was created for him by Arias and Nomi "during a period of rampant promiscuity".

Career
After early work as a gay stripper, Sex became an alternative performance artist, creating a character based on an exaggerated, cheesy Las Vegas lounge singer and master of ceremonies. First, along with other SVA graduates and students and Club 57 "Sex developed a persona that simultaneously masked and amplified his polymorphous self, elaborating a mythic yet parodic rock-star figure of mercurial presence". His "Acts of Live Art" series there brought performance art into the club context. He was able to further refine the combination of performance art, drag act, gay go-go dancer, cabaret singer, lounge MC, etc. as a performance art dancer who performed at such legendary New York clubs as Club 57, the Pyramid Club, Danceteria, The Palladium, Paradise Garage and Andy Warhol's Underground. His backup singers, "The Bodacious TaTa's" were often mistaken for drag queens but always consisted of female singers and dancers including Micki French, Wendy Wild, April Palmieri, and Myra Schiller. His costumes were designed by Katy K., who occasionally sat in with the TaTa's.

In 1984, John made a cameo appearance in The Cars' music video Hello Again, directed by Warhol.

For the 1986 gay pride march in New York City, he organized and helped build a float called the Go-Go Stars float which had go-go dancers from various night clubs dancing on it. He performed "Hustle with My Muscle" in the 1988 film Mondo New York. His last public performance was at the Club Mars in New York in 1989. He recorded a four-song E.P. for Sire Records, produced by Mark Kamins and Ivan Ivan, as well as 12" singles and music videos for his songs "Rock Your Body" and "Hustle with My Muscle" and "Bump and Grind It", the latter of which were produced by video artist Tom Rubnitz. "Hustle with My Muscle" and "Bump and Grind It" were released as an A and B side single and this was one of only two releases on Varla Records, a label specializing in alternative New York artists.

Sex's trademark was his long, blond hair which stood straight up, and which he claimed was kept erect by a combination of Dippity-do, Aqua Net, egg whites, beer, and semen. He also dressed in flamboyant costumes. He owned a python named Delilah that was often included in his cabaret act. Sometimes, he would leave the python on stage and come down into the audience and wrestle with patrons of the club.

Death
On October 24, 1990, Sex died from AIDS-related complications at the age of 34. Sex's longtime partner, Wilfredo Vela, succumbed to similar complications four years later.

In popular culture
Sex was one of the downtown personalities profiled in Radicals in Miniature, a play by Ain Gordon with Josh Quillen of So Percussion, performed at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in May 2017.

References
Notes

Further reading
 In Touch magazine #77 March 1983 Portfolio of photographs of John Sex and interview with John Sex (Peter Berlin on front cover)
 Musto, Michael  (1986) Downtown, New York: Vintage Books
 Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat ed. (1989) The Andy Warhol Diaries, New York: Warner Books

External links
Guide to the April Palmieri collection of John's Sex videos in the Fales Library at NYU
The Joy of John's Sex - video clips of John Sex performances.

1956 births
1990 deaths
20th-century American singers
20th-century American artists
AIDS-related deaths in New York (state)
American electronic musicians
American male erotic dancers
American performance artists
American synth-pop musicians
American gay artists
American gay musicians
Musicians from the New York metropolitan area
Nightclub performers
People from Long Island
Singers from New York (state)
Sire Records artists
School of Visual Arts alumni
20th-century American dancers
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American LGBT people

John Sex


Infantry guns are designed to give direct support for infantry forces.  They fire a range of shells, usually directly at their target.  Most are lightweight and can be manhandled for limited mobility to accompany infantry.

Towed infantry guns

Self-propelled infantry guns

Self-propelled infantry guns named Assault guns are guns mounted in armored vehicles designed to provide direct fire support for infantry and armored forces.  Typically, the gun is mounted in the hull and the front of the vehicle most heavily armored.

References

Artillery
Lists of weapons

List of infantry guns


Freeware is software that people may get without paying for it. In this case, "free" means "free of charge". In freeware, users might not be allowed to customize or share the software or source code with others.  This leaves the author with more control than with free software.

Software

Freeware


Sani Monastery (also written Sanee), Sa-ni-[tshog], is located next to the village of Sani where the Stod Valley broadens into the central plain of Zanskar in Ladakh, northern India. It is about 6 km to the northwest of the regional centre of Padum, a gentle two-hour walk. Like Dzongkhul Monastery, it belongs to the Drukpa Kargyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, and is the only one of this order in Zanskar which has nuns. It is thought to be the oldest religious site in the whole region of Ladakh and Zanskar.

History
The gompa is built to accommodate an ancient chorten 6 m (20 ft) high and of unusual shape, known as the Kanika Chorten, is presumed to date back to the time of the famous Kushan emperor, Kanishka.  Kanishka's era is now thought to have begun in 127 CE. 'Kanika' is a commonly used form of Emperor Kanishka's name. He is famous in Buddhist literature as a promoter of Buddhism and he is said to have sponsored an important Buddhist conference in nearby Kashmir. This seems to be the only monastery in the region other than Gandhola Monastery in Lahaul which has a history which purportedly goes back to Kushan times.

The 17th century Chronicle of Zaṅs-dkar (Zanskar) says that the (semi?) mythical,
". . . high King Ge-sar Gesar of Gliṅ came to this blessed Zaṅs-dkar, where the religion of heaven and earth arose, and he broke the whole earth with his feet. 'U-rgyan-pa-dma Padmasambhava came, and exorcised the demons; he kept down the bad Sa-bkra [= Sa-dgra, 'enemy of the earth'?]. The female ogre was as if she had fallen on her back. The Sa-ni and Ka-ni-ka monasteries were erected at the head of the region, the Gña-nam-gu-ru monastery of Pi-pi-tiṅ on the heart, and the Gña-nam-gu-ru [monastery] of Byams-gliṅ on the feet."

It is of interest to note that, although they are dated here to the time of Padmasambhava (late 8th to early 9th centuries), the Sani and Kanika monasteries are the first ones mentioned.

Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche, is said to have dwelt for five years in the small 'Gamshot Lhakang' squeezed between the main building and the corridor, to the right of the Kanika chorten. Inside may be seen a figure of Guru Rinpoche and historical scenes in half relief on both sides of the statue. Apparently, one can just see the white opening to a cave in a cliff across the river from the monastery where Padmasambhava is also said to have meditated for several years and it is still used as a meditation cell.

The monastery is also claimed to be connected with the famous Indian Yogi Naropa (956-1041 CE). There is now small room next to the Kanika chorten where it is thought that Naropa meditated in which there is a veiled bronze statue of the yogi.

A group of Kargyu nuns established a small retreat centre at "Starkhugnza" in the 1990s. It is a site above Sani which was founded by Ngawang Tsering (1657-1732), a famous Zanskar meditator. All of the nunneries in Zanskar are under the spiritual authority of the monks and few have much in the way of endowments.

Description
Unusually, the gompa is not built on a hill or mountain but on flat land. It is in the form of a castle and the Kanika chorten is in the backyard of the enclosing stone walls with chortens mounted at intervals. Next to the Kanika chorten are ten standing stones with engravings of deities in a pre-Tibetan style.

One enters the rectangular compound of the gompa through a gate chorten with prayer wheels. As well as the usual depictions of protective deities there is a goat's head filled jewels and prayer cards with "Om mani padme hum" written on them.

The Assembly Hall or Dukhang has 16 columns and houses images of Chamba, Chenren and Padmasambhava as well as others. Behind the altar is the Gongkhang, a small room containing an ancient figure of Cho Rinpoche and a bookshelf holding the sacred volumes of the Kangyur.

The smaller temple dedicated to Naropa is decorated with unique bas-reliefs in stucco painted in bright colours and with niches for the images. There is also "a magnificent plantation of huge old poplars" adjoining the gompa - a rare treat in the mostly treeless Zanskar.

One of the eight most important cremation grounds of Tibetan Buddhists is outside the monastery complex and the cemetery is ringed with ancient rock-carvings which show Indian influences. In the cremation ground is a two-metre-high boulder with a painting of Maitrya on it which shines from the sacrificial oil poured over it by pilgrims. There is also a nearby mast with prayer flags on it.

Festivals
Nungnes has no fixed date but usually takes place in July. Sani Naro-Nasjal is usually in the first week of August, between the 15th and the 20th of the sixth Tibetan month. It takes place during the blooming of the 'Guru Neropa Flower'. Every year the statue of Naropa is unveiled in late July or early August on the eve of the Naro-Nasjal Festival. Lamas from Bardan Monastery perform masked dances as ritual offering.

There is an annual ritual reading of the Tibetan canon, the 'Great Prayer Festival', held at the monastery during winter with the firewood provided by villagers in the region

From time to time the monks boil up goats' heads in a long ceremony in which symbols of fortune and other garnishings are added according to the wealth of the person sponsoring this activity. These goats' heads hang outside the houses of almost every house in Leh and are thought to bring good fortune. Normally, these symbols are changed annually.

See also
 List of buddhist monasteries in Ladakh
 Geography of Ladakh
 Tourism in Ladakh
 World Monuments Fund

Footnotes

References
 Bhasin, Sanjeev Kumar. (2008). Amazing land Ladakh: places, people, and culture. Indus Publishing Company. .
 Francke, A. H. (1914, 1926). Antiquities of Indian Tibet. Two Volumes. Calcutta. 1972 reprint: S. Chand, New Delhi.
 Gutschow, Kim (2004). Being a Buddhist Nun: The Struggle for Enlightenment in the Himalayas. Harvard University Press. ISBN
978-0674012875.
 Loram, Charlie (2004). Trekking in Ladakh, 3rd: India Trekking Guide. First edition 1996. Third edition. Trailblazer Publications. .
 Rizvi, Janet. 1998. Ladakh, Crossroads of High Asia. Oxford University Press. 1st edition 1963. 2nd revised edition 1996. 3rd impression 2001. .
 Osada, Yukiyasu, Gavin Allwright and Atushi Kanamaru. (2000). Mapping the Tibetan World. Reprint 2004. Kotan Publishing. Tokyo, Japan. .
 Schettler, Margaret & Rolf (1981). Kashmir, Ladakh & Zanskar. Lonely Planet Publications. South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. .

External links
 Description of Sani Monastery.

Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples in India
Drukpa Kagyu monasteries and temples
Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh
2nd-century establishments in India
Kargil district
Tourism in Ladakh

Sani Monastery


is an Autobahn that crosses Germany in a wast-east direction. The wastren segment haes a length o 156 km (97 mi), the pairt in the east is 429 km (267 mi) long. Wirks tae continue the A 4 are in progress, but currently no plans exist tae fill the gap completely.

The A 4 stairts north-wast o Aachen, where the Dutch A76 enters Germany. Initially it is 2 lanes each wey wi no speed leemit. Frae Kreuz Aachen tae Düren an frae Kerpen tae Refrath (atween Refrath an Köln-Merheim wastbound the hard shoulder is the 3rd lane an only open at peak times) it haes 3 lanes each wey. Atween Kreuz Köln-West an Kreuz Heumar it forms the soothren pairt o the Cologne Beltwey (Kölner Autobahnring). Atween Eschweiler an Kreuz Aachen wastbound there is a speed leemit o 120 km/h. The whole rest o the section atween Kreuz Aachen an Kreuz Köln-West heas a variable speed leemit. Atween  Kreuz Köln-West an Kreuz Heumar the speed leemit is 120 km/h. Frae Kreuz Köln-Ost tae Refrath there is a maximum leemit o 100 km/h. The wastbound section atween Köln-Merheim an Kreuz Köln-Ost is restrictit tae 80 km/h. The section atween Refrath an the current terminus at Krombach haes no speed leemit. Only atween Untereschbach an Refrath wastbound there is a 100 km/h speed leemit frae 6 - 10 am on weekdays. It is maistly 2 lanes each way, but atween Untereschbach an Wiehl there are several additional climbin lanes in baith directions.

The eastren pairt stairts at the Kirchheim intersection (wi the A 7) an goes through Eisenach, Erfurt, Weimar, Jena, Gera, Chemnitz an Dresden tae Görlitz, where it crosses the border tae Poland an continues as A4 (PL).

The wasternmaist 11 kilometers o the A 4 form the maist easterly stretch o the European route E314: continuin east frae the Aachen interchange (Kreuz Aachen), the A 4 is pairt o the European route E40.

The first sections o the A 4 were built in the years 1934 tae 1937. Because it crossed the border atween East an Wast Germany several times, those pairts were closed an fell intae decay durin the time o German diveesion. Repairs o those pairts are scheduled tae be completit in 2007.

Wiehltalbrücke accident
The "Wiehltalbrücke" is a bridge which carries the A 4 ower the valley o the river Wiehl. The A 4 near Gummersbach, North Rhine-Westphalia wis the steid o the maist expensive traffic accident in German history: On 26 August 2004, a Porsche 911 GT3, whose driver did nae hauld a drivin licence an wis later foond tae be drivin unner the influence, collided wi a tanker lorry, carryin 33,000 litres o petrol. The lorry broke through a guardrail, fell aff the Wiehltalbrücke an exploded, killin the driver. The subsequent fire caused severe structural damage tae the bridge.  The driver o the sports caur involved in the accident wis jailed for 22 month withoot parole in September 2005.

The bridge wis closed for weeks till temporary repairs were completit. Permanent repairs began on Julie 28, 2006, an finished August 22, 2006, uisin a unique method never before uised in Germany. For the duration o the repairs, where among ether things a 20 m × 31 m segment wis replaced, the bridge wis closed. The repairs cost € 7.2 million.

Freemit airtins

4

Bundesautobahn 4


Australian megafauna is a word used to describe a number of animal species in Australia that are quite a bit bigger than their closest living relatives. These species became extinct during the Pleistocene (16,100±100 - 50,000 years before present), but exact dates for their extinction have only been discovered recently.

Some mythological creatures from the Aboriginal dreamtime look a bit like animals from the prehistoric Australian megafauna.

Extinction
Scientists have been unable to agree on the reasons the megafauna became extinct. It is possible when humans came to Australia (around 48,000-60,000 years ago), and began hunting and using fire, they may have caused the extinction of the megafauna. Climate change, which made the country much drier during an Ice Age about 18,000 years ago, may have also have led to the extinction of the megafauna. Some scientists say that climate change alone caused the extinction of the megafauna. This argument does not allow for the fact that the megafaunal species had lived through two million years of climate changes. They had lived through a number of dry times before their sudden extinction.

New evidence
Scientists have got new evidence, based on new and better ways of finding dates, using optically stimulated luminescence and Uranium-thorium dating of megafaunal bones. This suggests that humans were the main cause of the extinction of megafauna in Australia. The dates show that the last of the megafauna became extinct around the same time, about 47,000 years ago. This was the time in which humans first arrived in Australia. The dates suggest the main reason for extinction was human burning of the land. Many plants were not able to survive regular fires, and so the types of plants changed. Scientists have studied oxygen and carbon isotopes from teeth of megafauna. These show sudden, dramatic, non-climate-related changes in plants, and in the diet of surviving marsupial animals, as well as the loss of megafaunal species. Further study of the teeth of megafauna shows the climate was dry at the time of extinction, similar to the dry climate of today, and that the megafauna were able to live in dry climates.

Living Australian megafauna

Extinct Australian megafauna: pre-1788
The following is a list of some of the Australian megafauna. It shows:

 Latin name (scentific name), (common name, when it lived), and a brief description.

Mammals
Mammals are set out by size with largest at the top.

1000-2000 kilograms
 Diprotodon optatum  was the largest type of Diprotodontid. About three metres long, two metres high at the shoulder and weighing up to two tonnes, it looked like a giant wombat. It is the largest marsupial currently known.
Diprotodon minor
 Zygomaturus trilobus was a smaller, about the size of a cow, about two metres long and one metre high. It was a Diprotodontid that may have had a short trunk (like an elephant). It appears to have lived in wetlands, using two fork-like teeth to dig up reeds for food.
 Palorchestes azael (the Marsupial Tapir) was a Diprotodontoid, about the same size as the Zygomaturus, with long claws and a long trunk. It lived in the Pleistocene (Mackness 2009).

100-1000 kilograms
 Euowenia grata
 Nototherium mitchelli
 Euryzygoma dunense
 Phascolonus gigas
 Ramsayia magna
 Procoptodon goliah (the Giant Short-faced Kangaroo) is the largest kangaroo to have ever lived. It grew 2–3 metres (7–10 feet) tall, and weighed up to 230 kilograms. It had a flat, shortened face with jaw and teeth able to chew tough, desert plants. It had forward-looking eyes providing three dimensional vision. Procoptodon was one of seventeen species, in three genera in the Sthenurine subfamily, which are all extinct. Sthenurines lived in open woodlands in central northern Australia. All sthenurines had a hoof-like, fourth toe on the back legs. Their other toes were not fully formed. They also had elastic ligaments between the toe bones; this gave them more spring and speed compared to modern kangaroos. Sthenurine front legs were long, with two long fingers and claws, compared with the small, stiff arms of modern kangaroos. These may have been used for pulling branches nearer for eating and for walking on all four legs for short distances.
 Procoptodon rapha, P. pusio and P. texasensis
 Protemnodon a type of giant wallaby with four species.
 Palorchestes parvus
 Macropus pearsoni and M. ferragus

10-100 kilograms

 Simosthenurus pales
Sthenurus tindalei and S. atlas
 Phascolarctos stirtoni was a koala, the same as a modern koala, but one third larger.
 Phascolomys medius
 Lasiorhinus angustioens
 Congruus congruus a wallaby from Naracoorte.
 Troposodon minor
 Sthenurus oreas
 Simosthenurus occidentalis (another Sthenurine), about as tall as a modern Eastern Grey Kangaroo, but much stronger. It is one of the nine types of leaf-eating kangaroos found as fossils in the Naracoorte Caves National Park.
 Simothenurus brownei
 Propleopus oscillans (the Carnivorous Kangaroo), from the Miocene and Pliocene, was large rat kangaroo, up to , with large cutting and tough grinding teeth. These show it was a carnivore able to eat insects, animals (possibly carrion), fruits, and soft leaves. It grew to about  to   tall.
 Simothenurus maddocki
 Sthenurus andersoni
 Thylacoleo carnifex, (the Marsupial Lion), was the size of a leopard. It had a cat-like skull with large slicing teeth. It had a thumb-claw, that could be pulled back in, and very big front legs. It ate meat, and it lived in trees.
 Vombatus hacketti
 Macropus thor
 Macropus piltonensis
 Zaglossus hacketti was a sheep-sized echidna. It was found in Mammoth Cave in Western Australia, and is the largest monotreme so far discovered.
 Macropus rama
 Simothenurus gilli
 Warrendja wakefieldi a wombat from Naracoorte.
 Zaglossis ramsayi
 Sarcophilus harrisii laniarius was a large type of the Tasmanian Devil.
 Megalibgwilia ramsayi was a large, long-beaked echidna with powerful front legs for digging. It would have eaten worms and grubs, rather than ants.

Birds

 Family Dromornithidae: this group of birds was closely related to waterfowl (ducks), not the modern ratites (emus and cassowaries).
 Dromornis stirtoni, (Stirton's Thunder Bird, Miocene epoch) was a bird that did not fly. It was  tall and weighed about . It is one of the largest birds so far discovered. It lived in subtropical open woodlands and may have been carnivorous. It was heavier than the Moa and taller than the Aepyornis.
 Bullockornis planei (the 'Demon Duck of Doom') was another large member of the Dromornithidae. It was up to  tall and weighed up to , and was probably carnivorous.
 Genyornis newtoni (the Mihirung) was related to Dromornis. It was about the height of an ostrich. It was the last survivor of the Dromornithidae. It had a large lower jaw and was probably omnivorous.
 Leipoa gallinacea (formerly Progura) was a giant malleefowl.

Reptiles

 Varanus priscus (formerly Megalania prisca) was a giant, carnivorous goanna that might have grown to as long as , and weighed up to  (Molnar, 2004).
 Wonambi naracoortensis was a snake about  in length. It would catch animals at a water hole and kill by crushing. It was not a poisonous snake.
 Quinkana sp., was a land crocodile, which grew up to  in length. It had long legs positioned underneath its body, and chased down mammals, birds and other reptiles for food. Its teeth were sharp for cutting, not pointed for gripping like water living crocodiles. It was part of the Mekosuchine subfamily (all now extinct). It was discovered at Bluff Downs in Queensland.
 Liasis sp., (Bluff Downs Giant Python), lived during the Pliocene epoch, grew up to  long, and is the largest Australian snake known. It hunted mammals, birds and reptiles in woodlands near rivers. It is similar to the Olive Python (Liasis olivacea).
Meiolania was a group of huge land cryptodire turtle measuring  in length, with a horned head and spiked tail.

References

 Field, J. H. and J. Dodson. 1999. Late Pleistocene megafauna and archaeology from Cuddie Springs, south-eastern Australia. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 65: 1-27.
 Wroe, S., J. Field, and R. Fullagar. 2002. Lost giants. Nature Australia 27(5): 54-61.
 Mackness, B.S. 2009. Reconstructing Palorchestes (Marsupialia: Palorchestidae) — from Giant Kangaroo to Marsupial 'Tapir'. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 130: 21-36.
Gavin J Prideaux, Richard G. Roberts, Dirk Megirian, Kira E. Westaway, John C. Hellstrom, John M. Olley. 2007. Mammalian responses to Pleistocene climate change in southeastern Australia. Geology, v. 35, n. 1, p. 33-36.

Other websites
 Cuddie Springs
 Interview with Dr John Long, curator at the Museum of Victoria
 Naracoorte caves in South Australia
 Lost Kingdoms

Lists of animals
Animals of Australia

Australian megafauna


The word Franciscan refers to followers of one of the religious orders that follow the Rule of St Francis. Saint Francis of Assisi lived in the 13th century. Franciscans usually lead simple lives without much money. Today, there are three main branches of these orders. They mostly see themselves as part of the Roman Catholic or Anglican Church. There are also small communities in the Old Catholic and Protestant Church.

Franciscan


The Guitaret is an electric lamellophone made by Hohner and invented by Ernst Zacharias, in 1963. Zacharias also invented similar instruments like the Pianet, Cembalet and the Clavinet.

The instrument itself was not popular, and was dropped from the product line in 1965, presumably because it failed to excite the market. It was one of a number of experiments that Zacharias made converting non-standard musical instruments to modern ones. Guitarets that have survived have problems with the reed dampening system, which means that the instrument has come to be played with two hands.

Despite its obsolescence, its distinct tone has made it popular in both retro- and colourist settings, and it has experienced somewhat of a revival. It has been featured in soundtracks recently for this very reason.

The Guitaret's sound is that of a thumb piano. It is plugged into an amplifier, and sounds like an electric thumb piano.

Instrument layout and playing

The Guitaret is a rationalised lamellophone, making use of metal reeds or tines which are arranged in three rows within a white painted metal rectangular case approximately 30 centimetres long. The ends of the tines protrude slightly above the level of the casing. The player takes the guitaret with the left hand on the handle and uses the thumb of the right hand to pluck the tines.  There are hidden tines that resonate with the plucked tines to swell the sounds. Although there are 3 rows of 12 tines each, there are only 15 actual tones, ranging from G3 to E5 owing to repetition.

A handle at the left-hand end of the instrument contains a large lever, called the "damper button", which operate a damper mechanism.  By pressing the spring-loaded button, a damper mechanism lifts a series of felt pads which rest on the tines; by releasing the button, all the tines, including the resonating tines, are simultaneously muted.

The instrument is amplified up by a single electromagnetic pickup which is wrapped around all of the tines. The coil is directly connected to the output to the amplifier, it has no built-in amplification. The sound of the instrument on its own is very soft.

The three rows of tines are laid out in the cycle of fifths which permits easy performance of chord sequences, and they are arranged in such a manner that three- or four-note chords can be played with ease. At the top of the instrument case, these chords are laid out for the convenience of the player. The chords are major, minor, diminished seventh, major seventh, diminished, augmented, minor seventh and sixth.

An alternative method of two handed multi-finger playing is listed in the Facebook Guitaret Page as being invented by Lalli Barriere with the damper button held down with elastic bands, while Ivodne Galatea has created a five finger right-hand style for playing classical music, with the left hand being used for damping. Galatea has also created a tablature for playing the instrument classically and has arranged a repertoire for it from Bach, Beethoven and Debussy, as well as an arrangement for Guitaret consort of Reilly's In C.

Famous performers

It is featured on Leo Abrahams's work (he was given a Guitaret by Brian Eno). Leo plays the Guitaret on the soundtrack for "Searching 1906" "I ended up playing a lot of guitaret (the rare thumb piano-like instrument that Eno gave me)."
Warren Ellis plays Guitaret both on the Grinderman album and on the Soundtrack for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Max Eastley (creator of instruments) plays Guitaret according to the Lord Jazz Discography
Lali Barriere plays Guitaret in Pad (Projecte Achmed Digital) and with Ferran Fages in a Barcelona experimental duet GRUS. Lali also plays guitaret in "My Pony", last track of "Press the Space Bar", by Chicks on Speed and The No Heads. Lali also started the Guitaret Fan Club on Facebook, and contributed to Guitaret Album
Michael Peters organised the Guitaret Album through the Guitaret Fan Club and uses the Guitaret for Live-looping. He played Guitaret in Tonlabor (2004–2006) as part of a collection of strange instruments
Ivodne Galatea has released 3 albums of Guitaret music "The Ambitions of Curiosity", "The Geography of Thought" and "The Archaeology of Knowledge". Ivodne also contributed to the Guitaret Album.
Saïd Zarrabi, the keyboardist in Les quitriches, a French beat band from Stuttgart, Germany and Quitriche-en-Auvergne, France doubles on Guitaret
Aja West plays Guitaret on Aja West & Cheeba's Flash & Snowball
Plamo includes Guitaret in his instrumentation.
Roland Wolff plays the Guitaret in his stage music
Martin Schnur plays his Guitaret sometimes in his stage music with the Original Wammertaler Musikanten.
Icelandic band múm have Guitaret on their latest album and the track Illuminated features it
Abandon the Earth Mission features a Guitaret
It is sampled in the MOTU Electric Keys, so the Guitaret sound is likely heard more than the Guitaret itself. It can be detected by the harsh metallic clicking of the high C. There is also a (defunct) one for 9V Audio which extends the range by octaves, but transposes an octave as well.
Loren Bouchard plays it on the theme song of Bob's Burgers.
Joanna Newsom plays one on the title track of the album Divers (album).

References

HOHNER-GUITARET, wunderwerke.de

Comb lamellophones

Guitaret


General Sir John Alexander Ewart GCB (1 June 1821 – 18 June 1904) was a 19th-century British military leader who commanded the Gordon Highlanders and several other important British regiments. A hero of the Siege of Lucknow he spent the second half of his life without his left arm. A favourite of Queen Victoria he served as her official aide-de-camp.

Life

Early life and career

Ewart was born in Sholapur in India on 1 June 1821 the third son of Lt General John Frederick Ewart CB of the Indian Army (son of Joseph Ewart), and his wife, Lavinia Brisbane, daughter of Sir Charles Brisbane. His younger brother was Charles Brisbane Ewart.

He was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and trained as a military leader in the footsteps of his father and grandfathers. He joined the British Army in July 1838 as an Ensign in the 35th Royal Sussex Regiment. He was promoted to Lieutenant in April 1842 and served in both Cape Town and Mauritius. In 1846 he transferred to the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders. He was promoted to captain in 1848.

Crimean War
In April 1854 he was sent to Gallipoli to lead his troops in the Crimean War, reaching Varna in June. He was quickly promoted to Brevet Major in May 1854. He saw action at the Battle of Alma (20 September 1854) and the Battle of Balaklava (25 September 1854 onwards). During the latter he was one of the officers involved in the infamous action later depicted in the painting, "The Thin Red Line" on 25 October, being in charge of the 6th Company of the regiment. His actions here saw his promotion to full Major in December 1854.

On 6 November he was the first to inform :Lord Raglan of the Russian advance at Inkerman. He was also with Raglan at the dramatic death of General Strangways, killed by a shell (which also killed two horses beneath their riders). In May 1855 he led his command to the Sea of Azov and aided in the capture of the town of Kertch and adjacent fortress at Yenikale. He then returned to join the Siege of Sebastopol, participating in the assaults on both 18 June and 5 September.

After the war he was promoted to Brevet Lieutenant Colonel and was one of only four officers to receive the French Legion of Honour and the Turkish Order of Medjidie, and one of only three to receive the Piedmontese Silver Medal, the latter recognising service without one day of absence during the entire war. He returned to England in July 1856 and was based at both Aldershot and Dover.

Indian Mutiny
In June 1857 he sailed with his troops heading to China to take part in the Second Opium War. However, at the Cape of Good Hope they received alternative orders and were instead dispatched to help to deal with the Indian Mutiny which had begun some months earlier but remained unresolved. The regiment were sent to Cawnpore and from there were dispatched to relieve the many trapped in the Siege of Lucknow including the original rescue party of the 78th Highlanders.

On 2 November 1857 he captured the fortified village of Bunterah and on 5 December took supplies and ammunition to the town of Alumbagh relieving Sir Henry Havelock. On 13 November he captured the fort at Jalalabad. On 14 November he was joined by Sir Colin Campbell and 4000 further troops. Together they captured the forts of Dilkusha and Martiniere.

On 16 November, alongside Lt Colonel Leith-Hay, they successfully captured Secunderabad. During this battle he had his bonnet shot off at distressingly short range and also received two sword wounds, one of which put his right arm in a sling. When they successfully infiltrated the fortress they killed all the defenders, leaving some 2000 dead. The following day they captured the Shah Nujjeef retiring to Martiniere on 22nd. On 27 November, with 3000 men, he escorted the evacuation of a large number of civilians in their crossing of the River Ganges. He then returned to aid General Wyndham at Cawnpore. In the evacuation beginning on 29 November, many persons were successfully got over the bridge on the Ganges, but on the third day, 1 December 1857, Ewart lost his left arm to cannon fire. His right arm at this time was still in a sling. The loss of the arm brought him close to death. Once sufficiently recovered in Cawnpore he sailed to England for full recuperation.

On the death of Lt Colonel Adrian Hope at Fort Rohya Ewart officially became Lt Colonel in his place.

In April 1859 Queen Victoria created him a Companion of the Bath and made him her personal Aide-de-Camp.

He oversaw the Ross-shire Buffs until 1864 at the rank of full Colonel and in 1872 became a Major General.

He was recommended for a Victoria Cross after the Relief of Lucknow but a decision was made to award only one VC to the three potential candidates. Ewart lost by one vote to Captain W. G. D. Stewart the third candidate being Captain W. A. Cooper.

Later life and career
In March 1877 he became commander of the Indian region of Allahabad. In November 1879 he was promoted further to Lt General and returned to Britain. In January 1884 he became a full General and placed in charge of the Wiltshire Regiment. in March 1884 he was placed in charge of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders. In June 1895 he took over the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

At Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 she raised him to Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB).

He died peacefully at home in Dumfriesshire on 18 June 1904 a few days after his 83rd birthday. He is buried in the Old Town Cemetery at Stirling Castle in central Scotland.

Family

In 1858 he married Frances Stone, daughter of John Spencer Stone of Callingwood Hall.

Their family home (which he rarely saw) was Craigclough Hall in Eskdale near Langholm.

They had two sons who came to fame in their own right: Lt General John Spencer Ewart aide-de-camp to King George V and Rear Admiral Arthur Wartensleben Ewart.

Memorials

A memorial to Ewart, designed by Robert Lorimer, was erected in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1905.

Memorabilia

His sword and scabbard from the Battle of Alma is held in the National Army Museum in London.

Publications
A Few Remarks about the British Army
The Story of a Soldier's Life (1881)

References

1821 births
1904 deaths
British Army generals
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
British amputees
British Army personnel of the Crimean War
35th Regiment of Foot officers
93rd Regiment of Foot officers
Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders officers

John Alexander Ewart


Robert Guiscard (Hauteville-la-Guichard, France, 1015 - Kefalonia, Greece, July 15, 1085), was a Norman adventurer.

Biography

Robert de Hauteville, dubbed "Guiscard", was born at Hauteville, near Coutances (Normandy). He was the sixth son of Tancred of Hauteville and eldest by his second wife Fressenda (or Fredesenda), daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy.

Like many other impoverished Norman knights (Rainulf Drengot, William Ironarm, and more), Robert de Hauteville went to Italy, arriving there about 1046. After serving in the forces of the prince lombard of Capua, Pandulf, he organized an army to secure possessions for himself in Calabria. In 1053, when the Pope Leo IX attempted to expel the Normans from the South Italy, Robert Guiscard played an important role in defeating the papal forces at Civitate, near the modern city of San Severo (Province of Foggia).

After the death in 1057 of his older brother Humphrey, count of Apulia, Guiscard became leader of the Normans in Italy. The pope, seeking independence from the Holy Roman Empire, decided to enlist the Normans as allies. In 1059 the French Pope Nicholas II created Robert "by the Grace of God and Saint Peter, duke of Apulia and Calabria and, with their help, hereafter of Sicily" (Robertus Guiscardus, Normannus Dux Apuliae, Calabriae et Siciliae). In return, Robert acknowledged the pope as his feudal overlord. Sicily was in Muslim hands at the time and so Robert and his brother Roger Bosso embarked on a series of campaigns, capturing Messina in 1061 and Palermo in 1072.

Turning his attention to the Balkans in 1081, Guiscard gained a great victory over the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus at Durazzo (Albania). In Greece, his campaigns at Macedonia and Thessalia were being carried on, meanwhile, by his son Bohamund. Robert was recalled from his victorious campaigns in 1084 to go to the aid of Pope Gregory VII, who was besieged in the castle of Sant'Angelo by Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. Robert drove Henry from Rome, and reduced one-third of the city to ashes. Because of the unpopularity of Gregory VII in Rome, he took the pope to Monte Cassino. Robert then went to the support of Bohamund in the Greek campaign but died of fever at Kefalonia a few weeks later (July 1085). He was buried in the Hauteville family mausoleum of the Trinity Abbey (SS. Trinità) at Venosa. The town of Fiscardo on Kefalonia is named after him.

Sources
 Geoffrey Malaterra, The Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria and Sicily and of Duke Robert Guiscard his brother, Books One, Two, Three, Four.
 William of Apulia, The Deeds of Robert Guiscard Books One, Two, Three, Four, Five (Word Documents).
 Ferdinand Chalandon, Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile, Paris, 1907.
 John Julius Norwich, The Normans in the South (1016-1130), Longmans : London, 1967.

Other websites
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy on Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia

Normans
1015 births
1085 deaths

Robert Guiscard


An embargo is when a government refuses to trade with a country or a certain part of a country. This is usually because of a political problem inside the country. It differs from a blockade in not requiring a state of war or obliging other countries to stop trading.

As with other economic sanctions, an embargo stops trade between countries. This means that the countries in question will get poorer.  The hope is that the problem within the country will stop.

Economic policy

Embargo


The HDI-Arena is a football stadium in Hanover, a city in north Germany. It is the home stadium of the football club Hannover 96. The HDI-Arena was built from 1952 to 1954 and called "Niedersachsenstadion" (stadium of lower Saxony) and later "AWD-Arena". Lower Saxony is a German federal state and Hanover is its capital.

Originally the Niedersachsenstadium was large enough to hold about 80.000 people. It was changed for international football championships in 1974 and 1988, especially changing standing room into seats. In 2003, it became changed to be used only for football and the name was sold to the German company of AWD. Today it can hold 49.000 people.

In 2006, the Football World Championships were played there.

Buildings and structures in Lower Saxony
Football stadiums in Germany
Hanover
Sport in Lower Saxony

AWD-Arena


Igor Severyanin (; pen name, real name Igor Vasilyevich Lotaryov: И́горь Васи́льевич Лотарёв; May 16, 1887 – December 20, 1941) was a Russian poet who presided over the circle of the so-called Ego-Futurists.

Igor was born in St. Petersburg in the family of an army engineer. Through his mother, he was remotely related to Nikolai Karamzin and Afanasy Fet. In 1904 he left for Harbin with his father but later returned to St. Petersburg to publish first poems at his own expense. It was not until 1913 that, in the words of D.S. Mirsky, "the moment came when vulgarity claimed a place on Parnassus and issued its declaration of rights in the verse of Igor Severyanin". That year, Severyanin (his pen name means "Northerner" in Russian) brought out a collection entitled The Cup of Thunder (Громокипящий кубок), with a preface written by Fyodor Sologub.

In one of his most celebrated poems, Lotaryov introduced himself to the readers with the following words: "I am Igor Severyanin, a genius!" He soon gained a cult following, especially in the provinces of Imperial Russia. The poet "captured the popular imagination and reached stardom with his slick pomaded hair parted in the middle; his melancholy, darkly circled eyes; his impeccable tails; and an ever-present lily in his hands".

Severyanin's poems treated such extraordinary themes as "ice cream of lilacs" and "pineapples in champagne", intending to overwhelm the bourgeois audience with a riot of colors and glamour associated by them with high society. In his verse, Severyanin admired dirigibles and automobiles, everything that could convey to his followers the notion of modernity. He would often shock the public by professing his admiration for Oscar Wilde or scandalize his emulators with cynical statements and megalomania. During one party, they declared Severyanin "the king of poets", although some respected critics professed their distaste for his work.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Severyanin was one of the first poets to leave Russia. Having settled in Estonia in 1918, he tried to return to Russia afterwards, but could not for various reasons (namely, the civil war, his marriage to a local woman (Felissa Kruut), unreceptive literary climate in Soviet Russia, etc.). After the Soviet occupation of Estonia, 1940 Severyanin continued literary activities, and later died of a heart attack in the German occupied Tallinn in 1941. He was buried in Alexander Nevsky cemetery, Tallinn.

References

External links

  English translations of 4 early poems
  English translations of 3 poems by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky, 1921
 English translation of "Lady's Club," 1912

Russian male poets
1887 births
1941 deaths
Futurist writers
Russian emigrants to Estonia
Russians in Estonia
20th-century Russian poets
20th-century Russian male writers

Igor Severyanin


Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy. It is a way of treating people who feel ill at ease. It is based on the idea that it is best to experience what we feel "here and now" and not keep thinking about the past or worry about the future. The goal is to help clients become aware of his or her thoughts, behaviours, experiences, and feelings and to "own" or take responsibility for them.

It forms part of what is called humanistic psychology and was co-founded by Fritz Perls, Laura Perls and Paul Goodman in the 1940s-1950s.

At the center of Gestalt therapy is the idea of "awareness" (knowing). The person being helped is encouraged to know his or her own feelings and behaviour, and the effect they have upon the world around them.

With Gestalt therapy, the patient is helped to see that they are trying to avoid feeling emotions from the present. Once the patient realizes this, he or she can begin to get better.

Related pages
Gestalt psychology

Psychology
Therapy

Gestalt therapy