Bob van Luijt

Bob van Luijt (born November 15, 1985) is a technology entrepreneur, technologist, and new media artist from the Netherlands. He is the co-founder of SeMI Technologies, consultancy firm Kubrickology and the chairman of the Creative Software Foundation.
Technology Entrepreneurship.
In March 2016 Van Luijt started the open source vector search engine Weaviate which is developed by SeMI Technologies. He has published and lectured about (open-source) software business models and the positioning of broadly applicable infrastructure software (e.g., databases and search engines). In his writings and lectures, he argues for a focus on a niche persona rather than a niche industry.
New Media & Arts.
Van Luijt received a bachelor's degree from Artez Institute of the Arts. After completing his studies he created notable works that include The Core. He collaborated on harpist Anne Vanschothorst's album "Ek is eik"., with Billy Martin and Florian Weber and with Yonga Sun and Cuong Vu.
Control(human, data, sound) (CHDS) was his first tech-based artwork and was selected as an awards Finalist for CREATE 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, in the category art+technology.
Writings.
Van Luijt's "explorations on the developments in technology, art, and business" can be found on his blog "Bob’s WTF blog". They form the source of frequent lectures at conferences and universities throughout Europe, the US, and Russia.


Amsterdamsestraatweg Water Tower

The Amsterdamsestraatweg Water Tower is located in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The water tower was built at Amsterdamsestraatweg 380 in 1916, in the style of the Amsterdam School. It became derelict in 1986 and was repeatedly squatted before its redevelopment into apartments began in 2020.
History.
The water tower was built in 1916 at Amsterdamsestraatweg 380 in Utrecht, in the style of the Amsterdam School. The architect was W.K. de Wijs. It was the fourth tower built by Utrechtsche Waterleiding Maatschappij and it stood on what was then the border of Utrecht and Zuilen. The watertower stands 42 metres high and when in use it had a reservoir of 1000m³ of drinking water.
Since 1986 it has been derelict. It was squatted for a time in the 1980s, then it was sold in 1989 and converted into office space. It became a rijksmonument in 2001.
Protests.
The Dutch squatting ban criminalised the occupation of derelict buildings in the Netherlands on 1 October 2010. In 2013, the water tower was squatted for three months. It was squatted again in 2014 by the same people in protest at it being left derelict. The building was then purchased by Chris Visscher who intended to make a restaurant in the tower and live above it.
The tower was occupied in October 2017, as a protest both against it being left empty and more generally against the criminalisation of squatting, which had occurred seven years earlier. Squatters took possession of the building at 14:00 and the police began to evict at 17:00. Seven people were arrested, six inside the watertower and one outside, for insulting the police. In the eventual courtcase, the group of six stood trial. One person was sentenced to a prison sentence of 7 days, because he had previously been convicted of the same offence (of squatting). The other five squatters received a fine of 500 euros. The judge did not agree with the defence's argument that people should not be convicted for making a protest, saying "Squatters are free to go to demonstrations and promulgate their ideals, but those ideals do not permit them to indulge in criminal activity."
In 2018, the building was again occupied, precisely eight years after criminalisation. It was evicted one day later and four squatters were arrested. They released a statement which said "In the last eight years, house prices have rocketed and the need for housing has also increased [...] Government and owners are not held responsible and not enough is done with long term empty properties".
Squatters attempted to occupy the building again in August 2019, but were unable to do so.
Redevelopment.
The owner Chris Visscher had stated in 2014 that the tower would be converted into a restaurant and four flats by mid 2015. He intended to convert the former reservoir into an apartment for himself with 360° views over Utrecht. In February 2020, the work finally began.
The architects, Zecc Architecten, have also redeveloped water towers in Sint Jansklooster (into a look-out tower), Den Bosch (into a restaurant and office), Lutten (into a bed and breakfast) en Soest (into housing).


Theo Verbey

Theo Verbey (5 July 1959 – 13 October 2019) was a Dutch composer.
Biography.
Theo Verbey was a Dutch contemporary classical composer whose music is performed by orchestras and ensembles throughout the world. His style could be considered to be associated with Postmodern music. Verbey was also a skilled arranger who first achieved recognition for his orchestral instrumentation of Alban Berg's Piano Sonata, Op. 1, a piece he orchestrated in 1984 while still a student. He studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague where he graduated in 1986. His principal composition teachers were Peter Schat and Jan van Vlijmen. Upon completing his studies Verbey rapidly became one of the most performed of living Dutch composers. In 1987 he was awarded the Amsterdam Arts Fund's incentive award for young composers, and since received commissions from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the London Sinfonietta, the Residentie Orchestra, the Dutch Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and many others. Theo Verbey taught at both the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, as well as having been on the composition jury for the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels in 1992 and 1997. His work shows a high regard for structure, beauty, and a great historical awareness, as well as a special regard for instrumental color and subtle harmonies.
Verbey showed a passionate interest in current events and was a member of a reading club devoted to the study of contemporary thought. His earliest musical memories were of singing nursery rhymes with one of his numerous aunts. He later began playing the recorder, and singing in the boys’ choir of his grammar school. He started composing music at the age of seven, writing small pieces for his school orchestra. While in high school, he also wrote some pop songs as well as music for a jazz/rock band of which he was a member.
Projects.
Later commissions included "Traurig wie der Tod", a work for orchestra and chorus premiered by the Netherlands Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Netherlands Radio Choir, conducted by James Gaffigan, as well as "Lumen ad Finem Cuniculi", written for philharmonie zuidnederland and conducted by Dmitri Liss. The Brodsky Quartet commissioned Verbey to provide a segment for their celebrated song cycle, "Trees, Walls, Cities." Verbey composed "4 Preludes to Infinity" for The Stolz Quartet, a work which is included on their CD, Dutch Masters and Their Inspiration. More recently, the duo Andrea Vasi & Sebastiaan Kemner performed "Ballade", a work for trombone and piano written especially for them.
In 2007, Theo Verbey completed his second commission for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra: LIED, for Trombone and Orchestra, with Jörgen van Rijen as soloist. His "Fractal Symphony" was chosen by choreographer Regina van Berkel as music to accompany her ballet "Memory of a Shape" performed by Ballet Mainz in 2009. Van Berkel also based a second ballet based on Verbey's music, which was performed by the ballet company of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in February/March 2011 under the title "Frozen Echo". "Memory of a Shape" received its Dutch premiere in 2017, when it was performed by Introdans. In November 2010, Theo Verbey's piece Bandersnatch for cello and pianola was premiered by Larissa Groeneveld as part of the Amsterdam Cello Biënnale. It was Mr. Verbey's second commission for the Biënnale.
In 2009/2010, Theo Verbey was Composer-in-Residence of the Brabant Philharmonic Orchestra, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. In celebration of that orchestra’s 60th jubilee, Verbey was commissioned to compose "Orchestral Variations" which showcases each section of the orchestra both individually and within the ensemble.
Verbey also collaborated with Klangforum Wien on their "Free Radicals" program, providing a score for Man Ray's 1923 film, "Retour à la Raison." This was not Theo Verbey's first contact with the medium of film: in 1994, film maker Alejandro Agresti used Verbey's piece "TEGENBEWEGING" as the basis of his short film which formed a segment of "Hexagon", a film project made for the Holland Festival.
In addition to composing his own works, Theo Verbey earned high regard for his orchestrations. One of his earliest successes, Alban Berg's Piano Sonata, Op. 1, has been performed many times by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, among others. Other orchestrations included an arrangement of Leoš Janáček's piano sonata "1. X. 1905". In 2006 Theo Verbey was asked by Amsterdam Sinfonietta to arrange the three remaining movements of Alban Berg's "Lyric Suite" for string orchestra. At the invitation of ECHO (European Concert Hall Organization) this version of the Lyric Suite was included in Amsterdam Sinfonietta's successful 2011 tour of six major European cities. Mr. Verbey was granted permission by the heirs of Igor Stravinsky to complete the orchestration of the unfinished 1919 version of "Les noces" for voices, pianola, 2 cimbaloms, harmonium and percussion. This version has been so successful that Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands chose it for her annual Queen's Day Concert in her palace in The Hague. Verbey also orchestrated three Mussorgsky song cycles (Sunless, the Nursery, and Songs and Dances of Death), which are regularly performed. He also arranged Scriabin's Preludes op. 33, as well as Three Choral Preludes by J.S. Bach for oboe, violin, viola and cello.
Educational activities.
Theo worked at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague since 1984 as a teacher of Music Theory, where he was known as an intelligent and dedicated teacher with a strong commitment to the education of young musicians. In 1995, he joined the faculty of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, as well.
As a teacher, Verbey was known for his extensive knowledge of the history and development of the art of instrumentation, as well as his precise arrangements and orchestrations. He was devoted to teaching, and took his obligation extremely seriously. He would work out his own solution to every orchestration assignment, so his students could look over his shoulder, as it were. Theo Verbey was held in high esteem by his colleagues, and there was no dispute about his authority as a theorist and orchestrator. He was also known for his kind and considerate approach to students outside the classroom. He demonstrated a similar regard for his colleagues, always being well informed and utterly professional. As a composer, he belonged to a dying species, the "composer-theorist." In the Netherlands, he represented one of the few remaining links between the two disciplines, which have been bound together throughout the history of music.


Faktor Eiendom

Faktor Eiendom is a Norwegian construction company that is engaged in building residential and recreational houses, factory production of low-cost housing (e.g. student flats) and managing hotel and resorts.
Faktor Eiendom experienced serious liquidity problems in 2010 which resulted in DnB NOR converting NOK 250 million of debt into equity and taking 30.7% ownership of the company.
After taking office in Q4 2010, CEO Per Gunnar Rymer has turned the strategy of the company towards real-estate development and factory production of houses and flats.
Faktor Eiendom was taken under bankruptcy proceedings by a court order of 27 September 2011.


Calvaria Roman Catholic Church, Satu Mare

The Calvaria Church (; ) is a Roman Catholic religious building in Satu Mare, Romania, and one of the oldest churches in the city. Located on Mihai Eminescu Street, it was originally built in 1844, and stands in place of the old fortress "Castrum-Zothmar". Its original walls broke after the foundation caved over the sandy ground. The church was rebuilt from the ground up by the Weszelovszky brothers, in 1908–1909. The church has a height of .


Jan Gonda

Jan Gonda, (14 April 1905 – 28 July 1991) was a Dutch Indologist and the first Utrecht professor of Sanskrit. He was born in Gouda in the Netherlands and died in Utrecht. He studied with Willem Caland at Rijksuniversiteit, Utrecht (since 1990 Universiteit Utrecht) and from 1932 held positions at Utrecht and Leiden. He held the positions of Chair of Sanskrit succeeding Caland from 1929, as well as of Indology from 1932. He published scholarly articles on Indian Sanskrit and Indonesian Javanese texts for sixty years. In 1952, he published his monumental work on "Sanskrit in Indonesia". His contributions to philology and Vedic literature has been oft-cited.
Gonda is recognized as one of the twentieth century's leading scholars of Asian language, literature and religion, particularly on texts and topics related to Hinduism and Buddhism. He wrote with ease and elegance in Dutch, English and German, and had a breath-taking range of interests from the ancient literature of Indonesia and India to comparative religion and philology. Like many Orientalists of the 20th century, Gonda never visited Asia although some of his publications appeared under the auspices of the "Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen", e.g. his comparative study on the Kavi-edition of the "Bhīşmaparwa", printed in Bandung (Java), 1937.
However, his lack of field experience was more than compensated for by his encyclopedic knowledge of Indic literature and his profound empathy for the religious culture of Asia. Among his many students was J. A. B. van Buitenen who moved to the University of Chicago in 1961, and Henk Bodewitz succeeded Gonda to the chair of Sanskrit at Utrecht in 1976.
Gonda left a bequest to Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which he was member since 1957, and in 1992 the Gonda Foundation was set up in his name. The foundation offers publication subsidies and grants to projects relating to Indology, the size of the grants and scope of activities being determined by the return on invested capital. The Gonda Lectures and Gonda Indological Series are also named in his honour.
Publications.
Gonda produced a substantial number of books and articles during his long career. The most useful starting point is Jan Gonda, "Selected Studies", 6 vols. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975-1991). These volumes contain most of his key articles.


Battle of Blumenau

The Battle of Blumenau or Battle of Lamač was the last battle fought in the Austro-Prussian War, on 22 July 1866 (on the day of the conclusion of peace), with the Austrians defending against the Prussian army.
Overview.
Prussian scout patrols were in Malacky on 19 July 1866, and in two days the Prussian army occupied Stomfa (Stupava). At that time it was evident that a cease fire would soon be negotiated, and so the Prussian General Eduard von Fransecky received the command to occupy Pressburg (Bratislava). The road from Stomfa to Pressburg ran through a valley in the Little Carpathians. High mountains rise alongside the road at this point, making it an easily defensible point.
The commander of the Austrian troops in Pressburg Archduke Albrecht had located one brigade there under the command of Colonel Mondela on 18 July. Colonel Mondela placed the right wing of the brigade between Hrubý Pleš and Leskara and the railway embankment, which protected the greater part of Mondela's brigade. The left wing was on the eastern and northeastern hillsides of Devínska Kobyla. The Austrian artillery was located near Lamač and Dúbravka, from which point it was able to control the road from Stomfa to Pressburg.
The brigade was reinforced on 19–21 July by the arrival of the 9th Austrian mountain regiment. On Sunday, the morning of 22 July, the Prussian army began the attack on Lamacs. The second part, under the command of Major-General Bose, moved ahead through over Kamzík hill to surround the Austrian defence and occupy Bratislava.
About half past six, the first shot was fired from the Austrian cannon. Prussian forces were warded off and around 8 o'clock they got General Eduard von Fransecky's message: a cease fire was in effect and would take effect at 12 o'clock, only five hours later. The Prussian General had mounted a large number of artillery pieces, so an artillery duel had already begun. The result was large fires in Lamač and Dúbravka. The Prussian forces were warded off, despite their superior numbers. The battle's success depended on a flanking manoeuvre of Major-General Bose. The brigade moved slowly over the difficult terrain and the ceasefire was already in effect when they arrived at Kamzík. By the setting of a line of demarcation, which overshot by Záhorská Bystrica, the Austro-Prussian war terminated the fights for domination over Germany and central Europe.


Ad van Luyn

Adrianus Herman (Ad) van Luyn, SDB, (born 10 August 1935) is a Dutch prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the Bishop of Rotterdam from 1994 to 2011 and President of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community from 2006 to 2011.
Early life and ordination.
Van Luyn was born in Groningen and attended the seminary of the Salesians in Ugchelen. He made his religious vows in 1954. He studied theology at the Salesian Pontifical University in Turin. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1964 by Giuseppe Beltrami, apostolic nuncio to the Netherlands.
He was provincial superior of the Salesians in the Netherlands from 1975 to 1971. He taught for a time at the Salesians' school attached to the Don Rua monastery in 's-Heerenberg.
Bishop.
Pope John Paul II named him Bishop of Rotterdam on 27 November 1993 and he was installed in 12 February 1994.
From 2008 to 2011 he was President of the Dutch Episcopal Conference. His motto is "Collabora Evangelio".
From 2000 to 2006 he was Vice-President and from 2006 to 2011 he was President of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community. In that role in October 2009 he welcomed the Irish vote ratifying the Treaty of Lisbon. He said that the treaty would improve communication between the institutions of the European Community (EC) and that the specific assurances given to Ireland would help protect "the right to life, the protection of family and the right of parents to educate their children" throughout the EC.
Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation on 14 January 2011.


Peter Hurkos

Peter Hurkos (born Pieter van der Hurk on 21 May 1911 in Dordrecht, the Netherlands; died 1 June 1988 in Los Angeles, California) was a Dutchman who allegedly manifested extrasensory perception (ESP) after recovering from a head injury and coma caused by a fall from a ladder when aged 30. He came to the United States in 1956 for psychic experiments, later becoming a professional psychic who sought clues in the Manson Family murders and the Boston Strangler case. With the help of businessman Henry Belk and parapsychologist Andrija Puharich, Hurkos became a popular entertainer known for performing psychic feats before live and television audiences.
Testing and analysis.
Hurkos stated in a 1960 episode of the television series "", after giving a lecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to a scientific panel, that he would participate in any scientific experiment under any circumstances. However, author and stage magician James Randi contends that Hurkos refused to allow his skill to be tested by scientists except for one session with the parapsychologist Charles Tart of the University of California, Davis. Dr. Tart's tests were negative. Randi commented "If Tart can't find such powers, they certainly aren't there!".
The parapsychologist Andrija Puharich was impressed by the stories about Hurkos and invited him to the USA in 1956 to investigate his alleged psychic abilities. Hurkos was studied at Puharich's Glen Cove, Maine, medical research laboratory under what Dr. Puharich considered to be controlled conditions. The results convinced Puharich that Hurkos had genuine psychic abilities. However the experiments were not repeated by other scientists and Puharich was described as a "credulous investigator". Raymond Buckland has written "with the exception of Dr. Andrija Puharich, not a single recognized psychic investigator has been impressed with Hurkos's performances."
During his early career as a psychic entertainer, Hurkos purported that he employed his psychic powers to discern details of audience members' private lives that he could not otherwise have known. However, the psychologist Ronald Schwartz wrote in the magazine "Skeptical Inquirer" that Hurkos used cold reading methods and published a transcription of such a reading in their autumn 1978 issue.
James Randi analyzed this and other transcripts of Hurkos performances and professed to have identified a number of standard cold reading techniques. For example, Hurkos might begin with something seemingly personal but actually quite common: a surgery. Hurkos would not specify that the subject underwent surgery—it could be any recent surgery of personal relevance to the subject. If this method failed, Randi maintains, Hurkos would qualify the statement with the phrase "long time ago." At this point, any operation to any family member or friend in the subjects's own life would have seemed psychic because an operation is thought of as a private matter. Randi adds that the tone in Hurkos's voice was also significant: Hurkos presented himself as confident and knowing and characterized the subject as obstinate.
Other common techniques included guessing numbers of people in families (easy enough if one picks a typical number and allows himself to add frequent visitors or exclude family members who have relocated away from home as needed to match the target, as Hurkos did), including nonsense words in his presentation that could be interpreted by the subject to have any one of many meanings, and guessing on the importance of common names, which could be permutated as needed. (He most commonly used the name "Ann," which would give him a success with anybody who had a relative or friend or teacher or boss or co-worker named Ann, Anna, Anastasia, etc., at any time in his or her life.)
Refuted claims.
Hurkos and his supporters maintained that he was a great psychic detective. In 1964, Attorney General Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts said Hurkos had come "uncannily close" to describing the person suspected in the Boston Strangler case. By 1969, he cited the successful solution of 27 murder cases in 17 countries. However, in some cases the detectives assigned to these cases countered that Hurkos contributed no information unobtainable from newspapers and, in some cases, that he had no part in the investigations whatsoever. In response to Hurkos's claim that he located the stolen "Stone of Scone," Home Secretary Chuter Ede declared:
The gentleman in question whose activities have been publicized (though not by the police) was among a number of persons authorized to come to Westminster Abbey to examine the scene of the crime. He was not invited by the police, his expenses have not been refunded by the Government, and he did not obtain any result whatsoever.
Hurkos made notable claims contrary to popular belief such as the claim that Adolf Hitler was alive and living in Argentina.
In 1964, Hurkos was put on trial on the charge of impersonating a federal agent, found guilty, and fined $1,000. Hurkos posed as the police officer in order to gather information that he could later claim to be psychic revelations.
In the case of murderer John Norman Collins, he sometimes claimed the killer was blond and at other times brown-haired so that he could claim victory either way. He claimed to have identified Charles Manson to police; Manson was also identified by his devotee Susan Atkins to a cellmate while she was in jail for a different crime. In fact, Hurkos had been to the Tate residence to do a "reading," but his guesses, including descriptions of how the "killings erupted during a black magic ritual known as 'goona goona,'" were inaccurate.
The magician Milbourne Christopher in his book "Mediums, Mystics and the Occult" documented the errors Hurkos had made.
Authors Arthur Lyons and Marcello Truzzi PhD, also a founder of the International Remote Viewing Association, wrote the Hurkos cases were "pure bunk" in their 1991 book "The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime."
Popularization.
Despite refutations, Hurkos remained famous. There have been several television specials about him, including:
A story about Hurkos' alleged psychic powers entitled "The Man with the X-Ray Mind" appears in Frank Edwards' 1959 book "Stranger Than Science" (Citadel)


Joost Tinbergen

Joost M. Tinbergen (born 1950 in Groningen) is a Dutch ecologist.
Tinbergen is the son of the ornithologist Luuk Tinbergen, and nephew of Nobel Prize–winning brothers Jan and Niko Tinbergen. His older brother is the film-maker Tijs Tinbergen.
Tinbergen gained his PhD from the University of Groningen in 1980. His thesis was 'Foraging decisions in Starlings'. He has been professor since 1994.


Beatrix de Rijke

Beatrix de Rijke (1421 – 1468), was a Dutch foundling in Dordrecht in 1421.
Biography.
According to Mathias Balen in his 1677 "Description of the city of Dordrecht", she was a survivor of the St. Elizabeth's flood (1421). Her wicker cradle was found floating on the water, and besides the baby, it contained a cat. The small cradle with baby and cat are included as one of the details of the 1490 panorama of the flood by the Master of the St Elizabeth Panels, on view at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The subject was romantic enough to be expanded over time. The baby was given the name Beatrix de Rijke, who married Jacob Roerom. She was also called Beatrix de Gelukkige (Beatrix the lucky one). The flood itself, first recording the loss of 18 villages, by 1677 had grown to encompass 72 villages. Today the story of the "cat in the cradle" is told at Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam, while the 1490 painting is said to have been donated as an altarpiece by the town of Wieldrecht, near Dordrecht.


Dorogomilovo District

Dorogomilovo District () is a district of Western Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. The area of the district is . Population: Postal codes: 113000 to 119000.
The district, adjacent to Presnensky, Arbat, and Khamovniki Districts of Central Administrative Okrug, contains a prestigious strip of land along Kutuzovsky Prospekt, Victory Park, and Kiyevsky Rail Terminal.
History.
Original Dorogomilovo "sloboda" was located on the opposite (eastern) bank of the Moskva River, between Khamovniki and Novodevichy Monastery. Peasants of this sloboda, personally free, were paying their taxes with Yam (mail coach) service on the old road to Smolensk, the main link between Moscow and Poland. Smolensk was annexed by Moscow in the course of the Russo-Polish War, and as a result the road was straightened and a new river crossing emerged on site of present-day Borodinsky Bridge. Dorogomilovo sloboda relocated to the western bank, to present-day Dorogomilovo. For the next two hundred years, the new and the old settlements shared the same name. The only other settlement on the western bank was a fishing village owned by the Patriarch.
In 1731–1742, when Moscow city boundary expanded to Kamer-Kollezhsky Val limits, Dorogomilovo sloboda was incorporated into Moscow. Gradually, the once-free coach-drivers were stripped of their liberties and reduced to taxpayer peasant status. Former sloboda population decreased from 117 households in 1699 to 24 in 1801. Instead, Dorogomilovo acquired one of Moscow's largest cemeteries (Orthodox, 1771, Jewish, 1788).
In 1812, old Smolensk road witnessed the retreat of Russian troops and Napoleon's conquest of Moscow. The village of Fili, where Kutuzov made his decision to abandon Moscow, is situated just outside the modern Dorogomilovo District boundary. The French marched to Moscow in three columns, crossing the river in Fili, Dorogomilovo, and Luzhniki. Meanwhile, wounded at Battle of Borodino were dying and buried at Dorogomilovo cemeteries.
Industrial development of the 19th century was slow, due to the regular floods. The main employers in the area was a brewery set on a hill in 1875, still operating as Badayev Brewery (19th century postcard), a dye factory (1883), and a cement plant (1894). Newspapers, describing 1879 flood, wrote that "brewery workers managed to roll out a beer barrel and floated away from the site"... Development was boosted by construction of Bryansky (now Kiyevsky) railroad terminal, originally built in wood (1900 postcard). In 1912, the city built new Borodinsky Bridge, which still stands. New Kiyevsky Terminal, designed by Ivan Rerberg and Vladimir Shukhov in 1912–1914, was completed during the Russian Civil War, in 1920.
Dorogomilovo Cathedral.
Dorogomilovo used to have Moscow's second largest cathedral (after Christ the Saviour, photo), rated for 10,000 worshippers. It was set on the site of present-day corner block at 1 Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya; there are no reliable explanations why it was built in such a remote and scarcely populated place. Construction of Byzantine Revival Bogoyavlensky Church proceeded from 1898 to 1910. Originally modelled after Christ the Saviour, the design was later changed from five-domed to a single dome, and externally was the most austere of Moscow cathedrals.
Starting in 1918, Bolshevik authorities began harassing the clergy, and in 1922 stripped the church of all silver and gold, causing the Dorogomilovo Riot (April 5–7, 1922). After the demolition of Christ the Saviour (1931), Dorogomilovo Cathedral was the main operating church of Russian Orthodox Church, until its destruction in 1938.
Modern history.
In the 1920s, Dorogomilovo housed some of Moscow's post-war firsts, notably, the first new school (School No. 56 at 22 Kutuzovsky, 1927), the first new hotel ("Kiyevskaya", 1934), and a student campus that gave it name to Studencheskaya Street and a metro station.
In 1935, Dorogomilovo became the site of a major stalinist architecture project. A 2.7-kilometer long stretch of Dorogomilovskaya Street and Mozhaysk highway was zoned for first-rate housing construction; half of the project was actually completed before June 1941. One of these apartment blocks, 26 Kutuzovsky, is known as Leonid Brezhnev's Mikhail Suslov's and Yuri Andropov's home. Construction was completed during post-war years.
In 1938–1950s, Dorogomilovo cemeteries were gradually destroyed and redeveloped; however, for a short time in 1938–1940 and in 1946, relatives were allowed to re-bury the remains at out-of-town cemeteries. Remains of Isaac Levitan were relocated from Jewish cemetery to Novodevichy Cemetery. A railroad track to the brewery was severed from the main line, as a result one can see an IS20 steam locomotive stranded behind factory gates.
Post-war construction was concentrated on the embankments and the beginning of Kutuzovsky Prospect, notably, the Ukraina Hotel Skyscraper (1947–1952). Grand stalinist buildings completed the perimeters of large city blocks; inside, wooden shacks (photo) survived until the 1970s and were replaced with Brezhnev-era standard housing (of better-than-average variety).
Education.
The Embassy of India School Moscow is in the district.
Public transportation access.
Moscow Metro:


Jacob Cats

Jacob Cats (10 November 1577 – 12 September 1660) was a Dutch poet, humorist, jurist and politician. He is most famous for his emblem books.
Early years.
Jacob Cats was born on 10 November 1577 in Brouwershaven as son of Adriaen Cornelisz. Cats and Leenken Jacob Jansdr. Breyde. Having lost his mother at an early age, he and his three brothers were adopted by his aunt Anna Breyde, sister of his mother and his uncle Doen Leenaerts. Cats was sent to school in Breda. He then studied law in Rotterdam and Paris, and, returning to Holland, he settled in The Hague, where he began to practice as a lawyer. His pleading in defense of a person accused of witchcraft brought him many clients and some reputation. He had a serious love affair about this time, which was broken off on the very eve of marriage by his catching a tertian fever (a form of malaria) which defied all attempts at cure for some two years. For medical advice and change of air Cats went to England, where he consulted the highest authorities in vain. He returned to Zeeland to die, but was cured mysteriously with the powder of a travelling doctor (later sources claim he was a quack). He married on 26 April 1605 a lady of some wealth, Elisabeth van Valckenburg from Antwerp, and thenceforward lived at Grijpskerke in Zeeland, where he devoted himself to farming and poetry.
Diplomatic career.
In 1621, on the expiration of the twelve-year truce with Spain, the breaking of the dykes drove him from his farm. He was made pensionary (stipendiary magistrate) of Middelburg; and two years afterwards of Dordrecht. In 1627 Cats came to England on a mission to Charles I, who made him a knight. In 1636 he was made Grand Pensionary of Holland, and in 1648 keeper of the great seal; in 1651 he resigned his offices, but in 1657 he was sent a second time to England on what proved to be an unsuccessful mission to Oliver Cromwell.
Poetry.
Cats retired to the seclusion of his palatial villa "Sorghvliet" ("Fly From Worry"), which was surrounded by a vast and sumptuous formal garden; the garden (now a park) became internationally famous and featured in 17th-century collections of engravings of famous European gardens. (Located near the Hague, and now known as "Catshuis", the house has survived and is now the official residence of the Dutch Prime Minister). Here he lived from this time till his death, occupied in the composition of his autobiography ("Eighty-two Years of My Life", first printed at Leiden in 1734) and of his poems. He became famous in his own lifetime from his moralistic Emblem books, most notably "Sinne en Minnebeelden", for which Adrian van der Venne cut the plates. He died on 12 September 1660, and was buried by torchlight, and with great ceremony, in the Kloosterkerk at the Hague. He is still spoken of as "Father Cats" by his countrymen.
Cats was contemporary with Hooft and Vondel and other distinguished Dutch writers in the golden age of Dutch literature, but his Orangist and Calvinistic opinions separated him from the liberal school of Amsterdam poets. He was, however, intimate with Constantijn Huygens, whose political opinions were more nearly in agreement with his own. Although hardly known outside of Holland, among his own people for nearly two centuries he enjoyed an enormous popularity – the complete collection of his poems is said to have sold around 50,000 copies, and was reputedly the only book, other than the Bible, to be found in many Dutch homes. His diffuseness and the antiquated character of his matter and diction, have, however, come to be regarded as difficulties in the way of study, and he is more renowned than read. A statue to him was erected at Brouwershaven in 1829.
Works.
See Jacob Cats, "Alle de wercken, so ouden als nieuwe" (complete works, old and new), published by Jan Jacobsz. Schipper, Amsterdam 1655, or: Jacob Cats, "Complete works" (1790–1800, 19 vols.), later editions by van Vloten (Zwolle, 1858–1866; and at Schiedam, 1869–1870): Pigott, Moral Emblems, with Aphorisms, etc., from Jacob Cats (1860); and P. C. Witsen Geijsbeek, "Het Leven en de Verdiensten van Jacob Cats" (1829). Southey has a very complimentary reference to Cats in his Epistle to Allan Cunningham.
Hi work "Houwelick" features the garden of his neighbour Hortensia del Prado.
Legacy.
Cats' moralistic poems were told and retold like nursery rhymes over several generations. Even today many of his coined phrases are still colloquialisms in everyday Dutch.
Many of Cats' moral poems were set to music. A selection of these, "Klagende Maeghden en andere liederen", was recorded in 2008 by the Utrecht ensemble Camerata Trajectina.


Pim Nieuwenhuis

 Pim Nieuwenhuis (born 23 December 1976 in Enkhuizen) is a sailor from the Netherlands. Nieuwenhuis as crew on the Dutch Tornado with Mitch Booth as helmsman took 5th place in the Tornado during the 2008 Olympics, in Qingdao.
Sailing career.
Nieuwenhuis started in the optimist dinghy where he picked up the first racing skills. Soon he moved on to Olympic classes and started in the Tornado class in 1994. He was recruited by coach Roy Heiner as a talent for his big boat campaigns. After 5 years of big boat sailing Pim moved back again to sail Olympic classes, this time in the 49er, missing out on the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Nieuwenhuis started a new Olympic campaign with Mitch Booth in the tornado in 2006.


Vikentiy Khvoyka

Vikentiy Viacheslavovych Khvoyka (; ; ; born Čeněk Chvojka; 1850–1914) was a Czech-born Ukrainian–Russian archaeologist, who discovered the Neolithic Trypillia culture of Ukraine. He also researched the Scythian, Zarubintsy, Chernyakhov and early Slavic archaeological cultures.
Biography.
Khvoyka was born on 21 February 1850 in the village of Semín in the Kingdom of Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire). After graduating from the Academy of Commerce in Chrudim, he lived in Prague for a time before emigrating to the Russian Empire. From 1876 he lived in Kyiv and worked as a teacher. He turned his attention to archaeology in the 1890s and excavated around Kyiv and the Dnieper region. He was one of the founders of Kyiv's Museum of Antiquities and Art, now the National Historical Museum, and the first curator of its archaeological collection.
Khvoyka discovered the Trypillia culture in Ukraine. The exact year of his discovery is uncertain: 1893, 1896 and 1887 have been reported. He presented his findings at the 11th Congress of Archaeologists in 1897. The same culture was discovered in Romania around the same time, where it was called the Cucuteni culture.
Khvoyka died in Kyiv on 20 October 1914. He is buried in the Baikove Cemetery.
Legacy.
In 1962, Novokirillovskaya Street in Kyiv, where Khvoyka lived from 1898 to his death in 1914, was renamed in his honour, and a memorial plaque was installed there.
In 2000, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a commemorative two hrivna coin to mark the 150th anniversary of Khvoyka's birth.


Keizersgracht 453

Keizersgracht 453 is a canal house with a neck gable on the northeastern side of the Keizersgracht between Leidsegracht and Leidsestraat. It is a national monument of "very high value" "(zeer hoge waarde) "and "national distinction" "(nationale kenmerkendheid)" according to the Dutch Cultural Heritage agency.
Construction.
It was built in 1669.
Former house number.
In the house numbering system prior to 1875, the house had the number 364 in district JJ ("JJ 364").
In the house numbering system previous to that (before 1853) the house had number ("kleine nummer") 162 in district 55.


Albert Eckhout

Albert Eckhout (c.1610–1665) was a Dutch portrait and still life painter. Eckhout, the son of Albert Eckhourt and Marryen Roeleffs, was born in Groningen, but his training as an artist and early career are unknown. A majority of the works attributed to him are unsigned. He was among the first European artists to paint scenes from the New World. He was in the entourage of the Dutch governor-general of Brazil, Johan Maurits, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, who took him and fellow painter Frans Post to Dutch Brazil to have them record the country's landscape, inhabitants, flora and fauna. Eckhout is also famous for his still-life paintings of Brazilian fruits and vegetables. His paintings were intended for decoration in a domestic context.
Work.
Eckhout focused on the people, plants and animals of the region when arriving in Dutch Brazil. He painted eight life-size ethnographic representations of Brazil's inhabitants, twelve still lifes, and a large piece of dancing indigenous people. These ethnographic works, done between 1641 and 1643 for Maurits, were subsequently gifted to Maurits's cousin, King Frederick III of Denmark, and they remain in Copenhagen to this day. His work is said to be the first realistic images of the Tupi and Tapuya tribes of the native population of Brazil. Alexander von Humboldt saw the paintings in 1827, as did Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II in 1876, both of whom praised the works enthusiastically.
Tapuyas.
When painting the Tapuya, his goal was to be as accurate as possible by including various plants in the background, as well as indigenous animals and reptiles in the foreground. One of his ethnographic works is a calmly composed Tupuyan woman, who holds a human hand and has a human leg in her basket, which reflects the European stereotype that indigenous Americans practiced cannibalism. Eckhout's image of the Tapuya woman echoes another of his paintings, "The" "Tapuya Dance," representing a dance performed by eight Tapuya Indians with their characteristic mushroom hair style, spear-throwers (atlatls) and war-clubs, depicting a spectacular a war dance ceremony. These pictures were accordance with the stereotypical mental image Europeans had of indigenous Brazilians.
Africans.
Eckhout's paintings of the African man and women speak a multi-layered language of trade, gift giving, and political alliance to their contemporary audiences, Maurits and his court. These paintings are related to the area of Africa where the Dutch had conquered the greatest number of commercial contacts during the seventeenth century, Guinea and Angola. During this time, Dutch West India Company troops had established forts in these two areas of the West African Coast because the Dutch needed a reliable source of black Africans for enslaved labor on their Brazilian sugar plantations.
His painting of the black woman has the figure standing against the coast with palms, and a papaya tree. Amerindians are depicted fishing along the shoreline, and ships are on the horizon. In the image, the woman wears a hat with peacock feathers and a small white clay pipe that is tucked into the sash at her waist. The nude boy on her side is most likely her son, though the child's skin tone is several shades lighter than the woman's skin color. The white pearl double ropes and red coral beads that curve around her neck expose her breasts. This image's emphasis on sexuality, fecundity, and prosperity is reinforced by her cornucopia-like basket, which overflows with tropical fruit. When looking at Eckhout's image of the black man, the man's strength and virility are highlighted by his muscular appearance and the phallic form of the palm tree at his left. The man holds a ceremonial sword that is decorated with a large pink shell. At the bottom of his feet are shells laid out with an elephant's tusk on the ground, curving out of the picture plane to the right. This man's only piece of clothing, similar to the image of the African woman, is a piece of a blue and white striped cloth wrapped around his waist.
Mulattos/Mulacken.
By the sixteenth century, the term "mulatto," also referred as "mulacken," was used in Portugal, Spain, and their colonial possessions to classify various people, often slaves and those of mixed racial background, on the basis of the color of their skin.
In Eckhout's image of the mulatto man, his weapons are visible as he stands in a three-quarter pose facing the viewer. Eckhout placed the man in a coastal setting against a cloudy grey sky with three European ships that are visible on the horizon. The man stands on the sandy ground, framed by a tall sugar cane field to the right and a large papaya tree to the left. His skin is a light brown color which is much lighter than Eckhout's paintings of indigenous Americans and Africans. The uncontrollable halo of frizzy, dark-brown hair grows out of his head with his light brown eyes staring out to the viewer in a confident manner.
Mameluca.
The term mameluco is one that is used very little in Brazil, but like mulatto, mameluco can be traced back to Portuguese sources in the sixteenth century, following their establishment of a colonial outpost in Brazil. The first representation of a mameluco is in de Bry's version of Hans Staden's description of Brazil.
In Eckhout's painting of the mameluca woman, he presents a half-Brazilian and half-European woman holding a basket. Eckhout's depiction shows a woman in a flowing white dress balancing a basket of flowers in one hand. Her other hand is lifting her dress to reveal a small portion of her leg. This painting has many aspects that were characteristics of Eckhout's other paintings from his time in Brazil. The two guinea pigs at the woman's feet show his interest in the natural life of Brazil. In addition, the flowers she is carrying and the plant life around her were Eckhout's way of representing the fertility of Brazil, drawing attention to the successful production of crops there.
In the painting, the woman stands with a direct glance and a playful expression as she engages the viewer's eyes. The lips are slightly turned up at the ends assuming that she will soon break into a more fuller inviting smile. She is fully bejeweled, with necklace and matching earrings. The jewels are complemented by her small green hat, that is decorated with pearls and a sprig of orange tree blossoms. Her simple but yet, slightly rumpled, white dress is a wonderful companion to this finery, although its plainness is relieved on the shoulders by epaulettes of embroidery. This image of the mameluca refers to the fertility of the colony and even to the highly intoxicating cashew fruit wine that is made every year by the ethnic group of the mameluca mother, Tupinamba.
Exhibition.
In 2002, through a major restoration campaign, all of the well known paintings by Eckhout, have been allowed to travel back to Brazil. This is the first time they were exhibited in the country where they were made since the early 1640s. The title of the exhibition was "Albert Eckhourt volta ao Brasil 1644-2002" ("Albert Eckhout Returns to Brazil"). The show was presented at the Instituto Ricardo Brennand in Recife, a building that had been newly erected in the city where Maurits lived during the height of his career. Eight of the still life's in this exhibition were meant to be seen from a low viewpoint and were intended to be hung above the men and women. Though at this time no exhibition curator has ever thought of hanging the paintings as a decorative ensemble.


Hendrik Figee

Hendrik Figee (Haarlem, May 28, 1838 – Haarlem, December 3, 1907) was a Dutch businessman and entrepreneur credited with expanding the Haarlem factory Figee Crane Company into an international manufacturer of cranes.
Biography.
He was the son of Hendrik Figee the elder who attended grade school and later became a surveyor. After passing his surveyor's exam, he went to work for his father in his steam engine factory on the Spaarne river. In 1866, he became a full partner along with his brother Thomas and the company name changed to Gebroeders Figee (Figee brothers). He also helped start the crane manufacturing company Figee & De Kruyff in Amsterdam and the ironworks called the Haarlems IJzergieterij. In 1883, his brother Thomas bought the shipbuilding company Conrad on the other side of the Spaarne river. Werf Conrad had been named after the renowned Dutch engineer Frederik Willem Conrad (1800-1870). Figee wanted to make dredgers ("baggermolens"). The dredgers needed cranes on board, and these were supplied by Figee, which became a specialist in building cranes. He was a member of the board of the Maatschappij voor Nijverheid en Handel, Haarlem from 1898 to 1902 and was also a member of the board of the Colonial Museum, formerly located in villa Welgelegen.


Hans Kolfschoten

Henri Anthony Melchior Tieleman "Hans" Kolfschoten (17 August 1903 – 2 August 1984) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
Kolfschoten was minister of Justice, a member of the Senate, and mayor of Eindhoven and The Hague. In 1945, Kolfschoten refused permanent residency to the Polish Jew Chaim Engel and his Dutch wife Selma Engel-Wijnberg, who survived Sobibor extermination camp.
External links.


Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht

The Archdiocese of Utrecht () is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. The Archbishop of Utrecht is the Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical province of Utrecht. There are six suffragan dioceses in the province: Breda, Groningen-Leeuwarden, Haarlem-Amsterdam, Roermond, Rotterdam, and 's-Hertogenbosch. The cathedral church of the archdiocese is Saint Catherine Cathedral which replaced the prior cathedral, Saint Martin Cathedral, after it was taken by Protestants in the Reformation.
History.
In the Middle Ages, the bishops of Utrecht were also prince-bishops of the Holy Roman Empire. The diocese, founded in 695, was suppressed after 1580 owing to the rise of Protestantism.
The Dutch Mission in various forms took care of the spiritual needs of Catholics in the former diocese of Utrecht until the modern archdiocese was established in 1853.


Frans Kaashoek

Marinus Frans (Frans) Kaashoek (born 1965, Leiden) is a Dutch computer scientist, entrepreneur, and Charles Piper Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Biography.
Kaashoek received his MA in 1988 and his Ph.D degree in Computer Science in 1992 from the Vrije Universiteit under supervision of Andy Tanenbaum for the thesis "Group communication in distributed computer systems."
In 1993 Kaashoek was appointed Charles Piper Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is member of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
Kaashoek was awarded among others the NSF national young investigator award in 1994 and the ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in 2010. In 2004 he was elected ACM Fellow, and in 2006 Member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Work.
Kaashoek's research interest are in the fields of "computer systems: operating systems, networking, programming languages, compilers, and computer architecture for distributed, mobile, and parallel systems."
In 1998 Kaashoek co-founded SightPath, a software company that developed software products for digital distribution. It was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2000. In the early 2000s Kaashoek assisted in the founding of Mazu Networks Inc. and served as board member until it was acquired by Riverbed Technology in 2009.


Koninklijke Schouwburg

The Koninklijke Schouwburg (literally translated: Royal Theater or Royal Playhouse) is a theater in the city center of The Hague. The theater was built in 1766 and has been in use as theater since 1804. From 2017 it is one of the theaters in use by the national theater company "Het Nationale Theater", but also other companies perform in the Schouwburg.
The main room of the Schouwburg is relatively small for current standards, and can seat 680 people in total with the main room and three balconies. The stage has a 1929 antique revolving stage that is still functional but no longer in use. It is considered as one of the most prestigious theaters in the country.
Little city palace.
In 1766 Charles Christian, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg, brother in law of stadtholder William V, ordered the construction of a little city palace at the Korte Voorhout for his 23 year old wife Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau and himself. He gave the assignment to Pieter de Swart, who studied for two years in Paris, paid for by stadtholder William IV. De Swart was also responsible for several other prominent buildings in The Hague, such as the former Royal Library, the Lange Voorhout Palace and the Lutheran church. De Swart drafted a design in neo-Louis XIV style for a 77 meter wide and three stories high building around a semicircular cour d'honneur. At the front of the building, from left to right, a billiard room, bed room, cabinet and antichambre would be located. At the garden side of the building, a music hall, ballroom and party room would be located, with five goblins on the walls. He also made designs for two canapés, 18 gilded fauteuils and five bronze wall chandeliers. The curtains were to be made out of damask.
In 1769, Charles Christian moved to Weilburg, where Carolina died in 1787. This removed urgency from his side to finish the city palace. In 1774 part of the palace was finished, but architect De Swart died the previous year. The building could not be finished, and the designs were auctioned off. Because of the Batavian Revolution and the following French occupation, the building had to be stopped.
After Charles Christian died, his heirs sold all his possessions in The Hague, except for this unfinished palace. It remained empty and unfinished for a long time, and it was decided to tear it down, just before a group of citizens from The Hague rented it for 99 years to turn it into a theater. To test the structural integrity of the building, a regiment of soldiers with full packing was ordered to walk on the balconies; the building was determined to be sufficiently stable and it could be turned into a theater.
Schouwburg.
Theater was not a novel sport in The Hague, but was always performed 'on location': where-ever it suited. Some permanent smaller theaters have been located around the city, but were considered too shabby to deserve the name 'theater'. The city palace was renovated by architect Johan van Duyfhuis and on 30 April 1804 the "Nieuwe Haagse Stadsschouwburg" (New City Theater of The Hague) opened its doors. Initially the theater was rented to theater companies by the evening, but in 1813 the traveling company of Ward Bingley became the permanent occupant. In 1815 this company was permitted to change its name to "Koninklijke Zuid-Hollandsche Tooneelisten" (Royal South-Holland Actors), a company that would exist until around 1875.
In 1830 the Schouwburg was sold to the municipality of The Hague, which sold it to King William II in 1841 and bought it back in 1853 from his heirs. Under the King's ownership, the French opera and Dutch theater bloomed in The Hague. Opera was performed most frequently, almost exclusively in French. In 1863 the interior of the theater was modernized by architect W.C. van der Waeyen Pieterszen. This was also when the letters 'SPQH' were added to the front of the building, referring to the phrase "Senatus Populusque Hagensis" (Government and People of The Hague).
Closure, renovation and revival.
In 1901 the city council of The Hague decided to close the theater because of unsafe fire conditions. This triggered an intense debate in the city on whether or not to keep the Koninklijke Schouwburg, the so-called "Schouwburg-quaestie" (the matter of the Theater) that was eventually decided in favor of the proponents of renovating the Koninklijke Schouwburg. The theater was closed for a decade and rigorously renovated by City Architect J.J. Gort, completely overhauling the interior of the building around the theater room.
The theater room itself was provided with a new, lively decorated, ceiling that was painted by Henricus Jansen and further decorated with a colossal chandelier in the secession style. After World War I, permanent companies were assigned to play in the Koninklijke Schouwburg. The first company was contracted in 1921: the "Haghespelers in 't Voorhout "of Eduard Verkade. Because Verkade mostly brought progressive theater and didn't succeed in warming up the audience to the same, his company was replaced in 1924 by the "Vereenigd Rotterdamsch-Hofstad Tooneel" of Cor van der Lugt Melsert.
In 1929 the backside of the building was extensively renovated, a stage tower was installed to make it possible to hoist up decors and the dressing rooms were modernized. In 1938 the "Vereenigd Rotterdamsch-Hofstad Tooneel" fell apart, and the then recently founded "Residentie Tooneel" (Residence stage company) was appointed as their successor. Literary matinees became more common, where a guest speaker would discuss a literary topic, illustrated by actors who would recite scenes from plays, prose and poetry. A youth company was founded to perform plays for schools.
During 1940-1945 (World War II), the name of the theater was changed by the German occupying force to "Stadsschouwburg" (City Theater). After a while the theater was appointed as the home theater for the "Deutsches Theater in den Niederlanden" (German: German Theater in the Netherlands), which forced the "Residentie Tooneel" to move to the Princesse Schouwburg. These changes were reverted after the war.
When the board of the Residentie Toneel quit in 1947 after an internal conflict, the "Haagse Comedie "(Comedy Company of The Hague) was selected as the new company to call the Koninklijke Schouwburg their home. They developed their own style, and in 1988 it was reformed into the" Nationale Toneel "(National Stage Company).
Renovation.
In 1992, a glass building was attached to the left side of the building with the ticketing desks, designed by the Belgian architect Charles Vandenhove. In 1997-1999 the Koninklijke Schouwburg was again extensively renovated - in part to guarantee fire safety. The municipality of The Hague, the owner, paid 31 million guilders to make the necessary changes designed by Vandenhove. The stairways were considered dangerous, and replaced by two main stairways fully made out of glass on both sides of the main hall. An elevator was installed for visitors, technical facilities were modernized, ventilation was improved and new chairs with more leg space were installed.
On 18 September 1999 the Koninklijke Schouwburg was reopened by the alderman Louise Engering, followed by the premiere of "Oude Mensen" by the Nationale Toneel (directed by Ger Thijs). In 2006/2007 new halls/rooms were added at the back of the building for practice, offices and workshops.
In 2017, the Nationale Toneel merges with Theater aan het Spui, another major stage company in The Hague, to Het Nationale Theater - which plays in multiple theaters across the city, including the Koninklijke Schouwburg. The three salons at the first floor at the front of the building are in use as salon and can be rented separately.


Blaudzun

Blaudzun is the stage name of the Dutch singer-songwriter Johannes Sigmond (Arnhem, Netherlands, 26 October 1974) who played for years in various bands and projects before pursuing a solo career in 2006.
Named Blaudzun, named after a relatively unknown Danish cyclist from the 70s, in 2007 he worked on a special collection of songs, originally intended to be a soundtrack for a midnight car drive. The first six songs came together as the self-released EP "Loveliesbleeding". He headed south to Barcelona to complete his self-titled debut that was released April 2008 on V2 Records Benelux.
Blaudzun toured the Benelux countries in 2008 including Metropolis Festival and supported Norwegian singer Ane Brun and Mark Eitzel's American Music Club.
In September 2009 he finished recording Seadrift Soundmachine (V2 Benelux) during sessions with The City of Prague Orchestra, known for its film scores (Das Leben Der Anderen, and David Lynch' Lost Highway). Blaudzun again wrote most of the songs in his beloved Barcelona and recorded in different studios in the Netherlands and Prague. His second LP Seadrift Soundmachine was released on 12 February 2010. Blaudzun made big impressions that year at the big summer festivals in Holland, including into The Great Wide Open and Lowlands. He ended the year with a sold out club tour.
Blaudzun broke through in the Benelux and beyond with his third album Heavy Flowers (2012) which was released in The Netherlands, Belgium, Scandinavia and the US (Krian Music Group). This was followed by sold out club tours in both the Netherlands and Belgium, festivals in both Europe and the USA including Eurosonic/Noorderslag 2012, Dranouter, The Great Escape, Sziget, SXSW and Lowlands and winning awards such as the Dutch Public Broadcasting Award for Best Album of the Year 2012, an Edison for Best Male Artist at the Dutch Edison Awards and an award for Best Alternative Act at 3FM (Dutch national radio). The single "Flame on My Head" became an instant classic on Studio Brussel and hit both their Hotlist and the Afrekening Charts.
The album Promises of No Man's Land was released by V2 Benelux (Benelux & World) and Glitterhouse Records (Germany, Swiss, Austria) on 7 March 2014. The album entered the Dutch Album top 100 at No. 1 and entered the charts at No. 6 in Belgium.
Promises of No Man's Land was also the title of the first single from the album and was the closing anthem of the daily Olympic program 'NOS Studio Sportwinter' in Sochi. The video was made by Kimmo Films and directed by Mirka Duijn & Nina Spiering. In April 2014 Blaudzun once again received an award for Best Alternative Act at 3FM. During the summer of 2014 he toured Europe with his band playing on festivals like Lowlands, Pukkelpop in Belgium, Hurricane & Southside in Germany and Bråvalla in Sweden.
In the spring of 2015 his new single Powder Blue, the official title song for Dutch movie Ventoux, was released. Previously Blaudzun also composed the official anthem Bon Voyage! for this year's edition of the Tour the France that will start in his hometown Utrecht this summer.


Chekhov Monument in Taganrog

The "Chekov Monument", designed by G.A. Zakharov, sculpted by Iulian Rukavishnikov. Located in the Chekhov Square in Taganrog. It was unveiled on January 29, 1960, to coincide with the writer Anton Chekhov's centennial birth anniversary.
History of the Monument.
The idea to erect a monument to Chekhov first came from the authorities in 1910. In 1944 the Council of People's Commissars decreed to erect a monument to Chekhov to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the writer's death.
By October 1954, 18 projects of the statue were submitted, and all of them were exposed to the public in the Local Lore Museum of Taganrog. Three years later the Second Nationwide Contest was held in Moscow, where 30 projects of the statue were submitted. After the second round the best works were sent to Taganrog where the statue by Iulian Rukavishnikov earned universal approval.
The monument comprises a granite pedestal and a bronze statue showing Chekhov impeccably dressed, sitting on the stone, looking into the distance and holding a book in his right hand, his forefinger between pages as though the writer is reflecting on something deep. The height of the monument is 3 m (9.84 f.).
The Chekhov Square was planted in the Red Square (in front of Alexandrovskiye Trade Rows) in Taganrog in 1934 to mark the writers 75th anniversary in 1935.
The "Chekhov Monument" acts as a tribute paid by the people of Taganrog to their most renowned fellow townsman.
On January 29, 2010 Russian President Dmitri Medvedev laid flowers to the monument within the framework of commemorative events of the 150th birth anniversary of Anton Chekhov in Taganrog.


Kees Kok

Kees Kok (born 1 December 1949) is a Dutch politician, he has been a member of the Senate for the Party for Freedom from 2 October 2012 to 11 June 2019 and the Provincial-Council of Flevoland since 24 March 2011.
Kok studied civil law at Utrecht University between 1970 and 1976, the next year he continued his studies at the same university and studied notary law. He was a candidate-notary in Andel between 1977 and 1982. The next six years he worked for the Dutch Ministry of Finance, followed by six years as a policy advisor at Pension fund ABP. Since 1996 he has been working for the pension executive part of ABP as an advisor.


Cilvaringz

Tarik Azzougarh (; born January 29, 1979), better known as his stage name Cilvaringz, is a Dutch-Moroccan record producer, rapper, and artist manager from Tilburg, North Brabant. He is associated with the Wu-Tang Clan and is best known for conceptualizing and producing the world's most expensive work of music, Wu-Tang Clan's "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin".
Cilvaringz was discovered by Ol' Dirty Bastard and Method Man at a Wu-Tang Clan concert in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on May 26, 1997. After impressing ODB with a live freestyle on stage he was introduced to RZA who signed him to Wu-Tang Records in 1999, becoming the first non-American affiliate of the Wu-Tang Clan.
Between 2002 and 2010 Cilvaringz toured the world as the official opening act of RZA, Method Man & Redman, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah. On April 9, 2007 he released his first solo album "I" through five different record labels around the world, receiving critical acclaim for its return to the original Wu-Tang sound.
In April 2008 Cilvaringz conceptualized and began producing Wu-Tang Clan's secret album "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" under the patronage of RZA. The unique release of the secret album as only one available copy in the world became one of the biggest and widely covered music stories of 2014. "Forbes" magazine broke the story exclusively on March 26, 2014. On May 3, 2015 the album sold for a reported 2 million USD to pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martin Shkreli, making it the most expensive musical work ever sold.
Early life.
Cilvaringz was born in Dordrecht, Holland and grew up in the city of Tilburg.
 As an avid basketball player he was introduced to Hip Hop in 1992 and recorded his first demo the same year. After hearing Wu-Tang Clan's debut album "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" he made it his aim to ""either become an NBA basketball player or get a recording contract with the ever expanding Wu-Tang Clan movement"."
Discovery by Wu-Tang Clan.
On May 26, 1997, the Wu-Tang Clan performed at the Melkweg in Amsterdam as part of the Wu-Tang Forever promo tour. As the concert came to an end Wu-Tang Clan members Ol' Dirty Bastard and Method Man announced a freestyle session for local talent. Cilvaringz rushed to the stage but could not reach it due to the excitement of many fans. Ol' Dirty Bastard spotted Cilvaringz struggling from the side and pulled him up on stage, giving him his microphone. Capturing the attention of the entire group and crowd with his freestyle, he was pulled to the side by Method Man and Ol' Dirty Bastard and then introduced to RZA who was watching the freestyle from the side of the stage. When a fight broke out between the Wu-Tang Clan and a group of fans whose girlfriends were getting undressed by Ol' Dirty Bastard on stage, security rushed in and cleared the podium, throwing Cilvaringz back into the crowd. Not knowing how to get backstage Cilvaringz lost contact with RZA. According to Cilvaringz, RZA had just told him that he was interested in signing him to Wu-Tang Clan's extended group the Wu-Tang Killa Beez.
Wu-Tang Records Signing.
Between 1997 and 1999 Cilvaringz traveled back and forth to New York in the hope of finding RZA. In February 1998, Cilvaringz met RZA's sister Sophia and his mother Linda at the Wu-Nails salon in Staten Island, New York, leaving behind a demo and letter for RZA. In February 1999 Cilvaringz met with RZA's sister again, this time randomly in front of the Razor Sharp Records offices in downtown Manhattan. After hearing his new demo Sophia called RZA and asked him to come by the office. Upon hearing his demo and seeing the enthusiasm of his employees, as well as Ghostface Killah's positive feedback over the phone from prison, RZA signed Cilvaringz to Wu-Tang Records. Coincidentally, Cilvaringz began recording his debut album "I" on May 26, 1999 at the Wu-Villa in Paris, France, exactly two years after being discovered on stage.
RPEG Ltd.
In 2002, Cilvaringz launched his entertainment company RPEG Ltd which organized world tours and booked live performances for various artists including Wu-Tang Clan members, Sean Paul, KRS-One, 50 Cent, Mr Probz, Gorillaz and others. Cilvaringz booked RZA's world tour in 2003 using it as his graduation project.
In 2006, RPEG Ltd expanded its services into management and guided the careers of Arab rappers Salah Edin, Eslam Jawaad, Ledr P from Sweden, Moroccan producer DJ Van and American producer Focus..., the son of Chic bassist Bernard Edwards who at the time was the only producer signed to Dr. Dre's imprint Aftermath Entertainment. In managing their careers, RPEG Ltd collaborated with De La Soul, Damon Albarn, Gorillaz, IAM, Sefyu, Mala Rodriguez and others.
In 2007, RPEG Ltd served as the executive producer for Salah Edin's debut album Nederlands Grootste Nachtmerrie which became the most controversial album in the history of Dutch Hip Hop music, also winning the Best Dutch Album Award. Later that year, Jive/Epic France and RPEG Ltd collaborated on the production of French artist La Fouine's second album Aller-Retour. Focus produced the majority of the album which reached Gold status in France. RPEG Ltd closed the year with a Cilvaringz and Ghostface Killah collaboration on a theme song for the Irish cartoon "Skunk Fu".
In 2008, RPEG Ltd and lawyer Margriet Koedooder sued Dutch politician Geert Wilders for wrongfully portraying the image of the artist Salah Edin in the controversial anti-Islam movie "Fitna". The court ruled in favor of Salah Edin and awarded 10.000 euros in copyright infringement and defamation damages. It was the first time Wilders lost a lawsuit.
In 2010, RPEG Ltd teamed up with Universal Music Spain for the production of Mala Rodriguez's fourth studio album Dirty Bailarina. Focus was enlisted to produce the majority of the album. Dirty Bailarina won two Latin Grammy Awards for Best Urban Music Album and Best Urban Song.
In 2011, RPEG ltd ceased all management and touring services to focus on the production of Wu-Tang Clan's secret single copy album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.
In 2016, RPEG Ltd took on management for Moroccan artist Manal, negotiating her contract with Sony Music Middle East.
AiM Biennale.
From 2007 till 2009, Cilvaringz served as Vice President of the Arts in Marrakech (AiM) International Biennale, headed by Vanessa Branson, sister of Sir Richard Branson. It is during this period that the idea for Wu-Tang Clan's single copy album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin conceptualized.
Once Upon A Time In Shaolin.
In 2014, Cilvaringz and RZA announced the release of "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin", a Wu-Tang Clan album that was recorded in secret over a period of six years and of which only one single copy exists. Cilvaringz, who developed the idea of the Renaissance approach to music as a commissioned commodity further developed the concept with RZA into a presentable concept to the public, receiving additional advice from prominent art world figures along the way. On March 26, 2014 "Forbes" magazine exclusively announced the unique release of the album. The article reached a million views and spread throughout prominent media outlets across the world.
On May 3, 2015 the album sold to controversial pharmaceutical entrepreneur Martin Shkreli for a reported two million dollars, making it the most expensive musical work ever sold in the history of music. Martin Shkreli's identity as the buyer was kept secret until Bloomberg News revealed his identity in November 2016. When Martin Shkreli was arrested for securities fraud allegations a few weeks later the FBI was prompted to tweet about the album's fate. It became the FBI's most liked and most retweeted tweet.
In 2017 Flatiron Books (July 11, US) and Jacaranda Books (October 1, UK and Commonwealth) released a book also titled "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin", the untold story behind the album, written by author Cyrus Bozorgmehr who served as a senior advisor to Cilvaringz and RZA from 2014 until 2016.
Film.
Cilvaringz played a small role in the movie "Shouf Shouf Habibi". He also appeared in the theme song of the movie.
Personal life.
Cilvaringz moved to Marrakech, Morocco in 2007 and lives in the city's outskirts with his wife and two daughters. He is a practicing Muslim but does not follow any particular ideology within Islam.
Tours.
From 2002 until 2010 Cilvaringz performed a total of 163 live shows in 55 countries. Cilvaringz and RZA were the first Hip Hop artists to perform live in Bulgaria and Latvia. The Bulgarian concert sold out in a week and took place at the Winter Palace Of Sports in Sofia on March 20, 2003. 11.000 people were in attendance with 3 million viewers watching a live broadcast of the concert on television. It remains one of the biggest ever Hip Hop concerts in Bulgaria to date. The success of the sold out Latvian show during the same tour started a chain of Hip Hop concerts in the following years. Cilvaringz stopped touring after a final tour with Method Man & Redman in November 2010 to focus on the single copy Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.


Aykut Demir

Aykut Demir (born 22 October 1988) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays for Boluspor.
Club career.
Demir made his debut in professional football in the 2005–06 season as part of the NAC Breda squad. He was loaned to Excelsior and later played for Turkish side Gençlerbirliği before joining Trabzonspor.
Demir has received recent controversy for his ties to religious groups with extremist views.
International career.
Aykut made his debut for Turkey in a November 2013 friendly match against Belarus.


Bart Becht

Lambertus Johannes Hermanus "Bart" Becht (born 29 July 1956) is a Dutch businessman. An executive with more than 35 years of business experience working with consumer brands, Becht is the former Chief Executive Officer of Reckitt Benckiser, which he led from 1995 to 2011 and former Partner at JAB Holding Company, which he joined in 2012. Becht announced his retirement from JAB in 2019.
Through his role at JAB, Becht serves on the board of directors of several public companies, including Keurig Dr Pepper and Coty.
Early life.
Becht received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and received an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.
Career.
Reckitt Benckiser.
He joined the Benckiser side of the business in 1988, following a career at Procter & Gamble, and was named CEO of Benckiser's Household Products Division in 1995. While Becht was CEO, Benckiser went public via an IPO in 1997 and merged with Reckitt & Coleman in 1999.
While Becht led Reckitt Benckiser, he helped orchestrate the company's acquisitions of Boots Health Care International, Adams Therapeutics and SSL International.
During his tenure at Reckitt, Becht oversaw a fivefold increase in the company's market value and over the 10 years to 2010, the company was the fourth best performing stock in the FTSE 100.
He retired as CEO of Reckitt Benckiser on 31 August 2011, and was succeeded by Rakesh Kapoor.
JAB.
Following his retirement from Reckitt, Becht joined as a Partner the Luxembourg-based JAB Holdings Co., which invests in companies with premium brands in the consumer goods category. As of June 2018, JAB had over $80 billion in assets under management.
During Becht's time at JAB, the firm has acquired stakes in several food and beverage brands, such as Peet's Coffee, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Keurig Green Mountain, Dr. Pepper, Panera Bread, Pret A Manger and Krispy Kreme, among others.
Other Boards and Councils.
Other private company directorships have included: Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Caribou Coffee/Einstein, Pret A Manger, Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread.
Personal life.
Becht, who is married and has three children, in 2006 founded the Becht Family Charitable Trust, which supports humanitarian organizations such as Save the Children as well as educational and environmental causes. He was ranked second on the Sunday Times ‘Giving List’ in 2011 and served on the Board of Directors of nonprofit Save the Children UK from 2013 to 2014.


Pierre Malotaux

Pierre Charles-André Malotaux (28 April 1923 – 14 February 2016) was a Dutch organizational theorist, business consultant, and Professor of Business Administration at the Delft University of Technology. His is known with Jan in 't Veld for developing a specific systems approach to organizational problems, called the Delft Systems Approach.
Biography.
Youth, education and early career.
Malotaux was born in Delft in 1923, the son of Robert Nicolas Marc August Malotaux (1898-1984) and Alice Cesarine Michiels (1897-1975). He was named after his grandfather, Pierre Malotaux, who came from Valenciennes, France. He attended the Hogere Burgerschool, where he graduated in 1940. In that year he started to study aerospace engineering at Delft University of Technology, where interrupted by the second World War he obtained his kandidaats exam in 1948 and his Engineering degree in 1951.
After graduating, he started his career at the Koninklijke Hoogovens in IJmuiden in 1951 at the psychotechnical department. From 1953 to 1959 he was consultant at a consultancy agency for business economics. In 1959 he settled as independent business consultant, and participated in the working group on business administration at the Koninklijk Instituut van Ingenieurs.
Further career.
In 1968 at the Delft University of Technology he was appointed Professor of Business Administration at the Department of General Science. The first Professor of Business Administration in Delft had been appointed in 1909 and Malotaux was the six professor in a row. He predecessor Jacob Louis Mey had served from 1964 to 1965. However, instead of appointed one successor, in 1968 three professors were appointed: Malotaux, Jan in 't Veld, and Henk Lombaers. Malotaux was to focus on general aspects of business theory, In 't Veld on industrial organization and Lombaerts on Operations research.
In cooperation with Jan in 't Veld and several other engineers and social scientists, Malotaux developed a specific systems approach to organizational problems, which is called the Delft Systems Approach. In the 1980s Malotaux was initiator of the national network on Reliability, Maintenance management and Maintenance technology company. Their publications on this subject gave a start on life cycle thinking about technical systems in the Netherlands. In 1994 he was succeeded by Jan Willem Koolhaas, who left in 1998.
In 2004 Malotaux received a Royal decoration and was invested as a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau. In the same year with Jan in 't Veld he was appointed honorable member to the KIVI NIRIA Business Administration department.
The PhD students of Malotaux (and year of graduation) have been Jan Willem Koolhaas (1980), Eduard Rudolf Muhring (1987), Willem Gerrit Monhemius (1990) and Riek Boswijk (1992).
Malotaux died 14 February 2016 in Bilthoven.


Gerrit Boon

Gerrit Boon (May 15, 1768 in Delft – December 2, 1821 in Gouda) was the son of a Lutheran minister Johan Michiel Boon. His father studied in Helmstedt and moved in 1752 from Amersfoort to Delft and in 1774 to Rotterdam. Gerrit Boon became a sugar refinerer in the city, working for his brother-in-law. He went to the United States in 1790 where he met with John Lincklaen.
In 1792, he bought near the West Canada Creek. Then he moved to a cabin near Cincinnati and Steuben Creek. Boon believed that harvesting maple syrup could be a year-round activity, so slavery on the sugar plantations could be avoided. In 1794, he gave up the sugar refinery.
Boon worked to develop company lands in New York, first settling in the town of Trenton, New York, where he founded the village now known as Barneveld. Also the Village of Boonville and the Town of Boonville in Oneida County, New York are named after him. He had a budget of $30,000 (approximately $4 million in today's dollars) to hire carpenters, masons and other workmen to create a village for the affluent. Boon's efforts were unsuccessful due in part to incomplete knowledge of the region and bad luck. He built a dam and a mill that were washed away by flood waters in 1797.
In 1798, Boon returned to Holland. His assistant Adam Gerard Mappa took over as the agent of the Holland Land Company and lived in his house until 1809, today called Mappa Hall in Barneveld, New York. In 1804 he married Debora Aeneae, the daughter of an Amsterdam professor in mathematics. In 1813 the couple divorced in Amsterdam, living at Singel (Amsterdam). Boon left Holland and moved to Heeswijk, North Brabant, but died with small debts at the local shops, and wine dealers in Gouda.


Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik was a flotilla leader built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy by Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow in 1930 and 1931. She was one of the largest destroyers of her time. Resembling contemporary British designs, "Dubrovnik" was a fast ship with a main armament of four Czechoslovak-built Škoda guns in single mounts. She was intended to be the first of three flotilla leaders built for Yugoslavia, but was the only one completed. During her service with the Royal Yugoslav Navy, "Dubrovnik" undertook several peacetime cruises through the Mediterranean, the Turkish Straits and the Black Sea. In October 1934, she conveyed King Alexander to France for a state visit, and carried his body back to Yugoslavia following his assassination in Marseille.
During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, "Dubrovnik" was captured by the Italians. After a refit, which included the replacement of some of her weapons and the shortening of her mainmast and funnels, she was commissioned into the Royal Italian Navy as Premuda. In Italian service she was mainly used as an escort and troop transport. In June 1942, she was part of the Italian force that attacked the Allied Operation Harpoon convoy attempting to relieve the island of Malta. In July 1943, she broke down and was brought to Genoa for repair and a refit. "Premuda" was the most important and effective Italian war prize ship of World War II.
At the time of the Italian surrender to the Allies in September 1943, "Premuda" was still docked in Genoa, and was seized by Germany. Plans to convert her into a radar picket for night fighters were abandoned. In August 1944, following the replacement of her armament, she was commissioned into the German Navy as a "Torpedoboot Ausland" (foreign torpedo boat) with the designation TA32. The ship saw action shelling Allied positions on the Italian coast and laying naval mines. In March 1945, she took part in the Battle of the Ligurian Sea against two Royal Navy destroyers, during which she was lightly damaged. She was scuttled the following month as the Germans retreated from Genoa.
Development.
Following the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the subsequent creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS), Austria-Hungary transferred the vessels of the former Austro-Hungarian Navy to the new nation. The Kingdom of Italy was unhappy with this, and convinced the Allies to share the Austro-Hungarian ships among the victorious powers. As a result, the only modern sea-going vessels left to the KSCS were 12 torpedo boats, and they had to build their naval forces almost from scratch.
During the 1920s, many navies were pursuing the flotilla leader concept, building large destroyers similar to the World War I Royal Navy V and W-class destroyers. In the interwar French Navy, these ships were known as "contre-torpilleurs", and were intended to operate with smaller destroyers, or as half-flotillas of three ships. The idea was that such a half-flotilla could defeat an Italian light cruiser of the "Condottieri" class. The Navy of the KSCS decided to build three such flotilla leaders, ships that would have the ability to reach high speeds and with a long endurance. The long endurance requirement reflected Yugoslav plans to deploy the ships into the central Mediterranean, where they would be able to operate alongside French and British warships.
At the time the decision was made, French shipyards were heavily committed to producing vessels for the French Navy. So, despite its intention to develop a French concept, the KSCS engaged Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow, Scotland, to build the ships. Unlike the French, who preferred to install guns of their own manufacture, Yarrow was happy to order the guns from the Czechoslovak firm Škoda. The initial Yarrow design was based on an enlarged version of the British "Shakespeare" class, with five Skoda 14 cm/56 naval guns. Excessive top weight resulted in the deletion of one of the guns, to be replaced with a seaplane mounting. The final version replaced the seaplane mounting with improved anti-aircraft armament.
The intention to build three flotilla leaders was demonstrated by the fact that Yarrow ordered a total of 12 Škoda guns, four per ship. In July or August 1929, the KSCS (which became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 3 October) signed a contract with Yarrow for a destroyer named "Dubrovnik". This was the only ship built; the Great Depression prevented the construction of the rest of the planned half-flotilla.
Description and construction.
"Dubrovnik" was similar in many respects to the British destroyers being manufactured at the same time, having a square box-like bridge, a long forecastle, and a sharp raked stem similar to the later British Tribal class. Her rounded stern was adapted for minelaying. She had an overall length of , with a beam, a mean draught of , and a maximum draught of . Her standard displacement was , and at full load.
"Dubrovnik" had two Parsons geared steam turbines, each driving a single propeller shaft. Steam for the turbines was provided by three Yarrow water-tube boilers, located in separate boiler rooms, and the turbines were rated at . As designed, the ship had a maximum speed of . In 1934, under ideal conditions, she achieved a maximum speed of . A separate Curtis turbine, rated at , was installed for cruising, with which she could achieve a range of at . She carried of fuel oil.
The ship's main armament consisted of four Škoda L/56 superfiring guns in single mounts, two forward of the superstructure and two aft. She was also equipped with two triple Brotherhoods torpedo tubes on her centreline. For air defence, "Dubrovnik" had twin-mounted Škoda L/35 guns located on the centreline between the two sets of torpedo tubes, and six Škoda L/67 anti-aircraft guns, arranged in two twin mounts and two single mounts. The twin mounts were located between the two funnels, with the single mounts on the main deck abreast the aft control station. For anti-submarine work she was equipped with two depth charge throwers and two depth charge rails, and carried ten depth charges. She also carried two Škoda machine guns and 40 mines. Her crew comprised 20 officers and 220 ratings. She was laid down on 10 June 1930 and launched on 11 October 1931 by Princess Olga, the consort of the Prince Regent of Yugoslavia, Prince Paul. She was named after the former city-state and Yugoslav port of Dubrovnik.
Service history.
"Dubrovnik".
"Dubrovnik" was completed at the Yarrow shipyards in Glasgow in 1932, by which time her main guns and light anti-aircraft guns had been installed. After sailing to the Bay of Kotor in the southern Adriatic, she was fitted with her heavy anti-aircraft guns. She was commissioned with the Royal Yugoslav Navy in May 1932. Her captain was Armin Pavić.
In late September 1933, the ship left the Bay of Kotor and sailed through the Turkish Straits to Constanța on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, where she embarked King Alexander and Queen Maria of Yugoslavia. She then visited Balcic in Romania and Varna in Bulgaria, before returning via Istanbul and the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, arriving back at the Bay of Kotor on 8 October. On 6 October 1934, King Alexander left the Bay of Kotor on board "Dubrovnik" for a state visit to France, arriving in Marseille on 9 October. He was killed the same day by a Bulgarian assassin, and "Dubrovnik" conveyed his body back to Yugoslavia, escorted by French, Italian and British ships. Soon after, Vladimir Šaškijević replaced Pavić as captain. In August 1935, "Dubrovnik" visited Corfu and Bizerte in the French protectorate of Tunisia. In August 1937, "Dubrovnik" visited Istanbul and the Greek ports of Mudros in the northern Aegean Sea and Piraeus near Athens.
Despite trying to remain neutral in the early stages of the World War II, Yugoslavia was drawn into the conflict in April 1941, when it was invaded by the German-led Axis powers. At the time, "Dubrovnik" was still under Šaškijević's command and was assigned as the flagship of the 1st Torpedo Division, along with the three smaller "Beograd"-class destroyers, , and .
"Premuda".
The Italians captured "Dubrovnik" in the Bay of Kotor on 17 April 1941; she had been damaged by Yugoslav civilians prior to her seizure. "Dubrovnik" was sailed to Taranto in southern Italy on 21 May, where she underwent repairs and a refit. She was renamed "Premuda", after the Dalmatian island near which an Italian motor torpedo boat had sunk the Austro-Hungarian dreadnought in June 1918. Her aft deckhouse and emergency bridge were removed and replaced with an anti-aircraft platform, and her mainmast and funnels were shortened. Her four single mount Škoda L/56 guns were replaced by four single mount 135 mm L/45 guns and her twin Škoda L/55 anti-aircraft guns were replaced by a L/15 howitzer firing star shells for illumination, while the six Škoda L/67 anti-aircraft guns were replaced by four Breda Model 35 L/65 machine guns in single mounts, space for the latter being made available by removing her searchlights. A new director was also fitted to her bridge. Later in her Italian service, the howitzer was replaced by a twin Breda L/54 anti-aircraft gun mount. Under the Italian flag, her crew consisted of 13 officers and 191 enlisted ranks.
"Premuda" was commissioned in the Italian Navy () in February 1942. Later that month she rescued British prisoners of war who survived the sinking of the , an Italian ship ferrying them from Tripoli to Sicily. In early June, the Italian submarine Alagi fired on "Premuda", mistaking her for a British destroyer owing to her similarities with a British H-class destroyer. The attack missed "Premuda" and struck the "Navigatori"-class destroyer , sinking her. During 12–16 June 1942, "Premuda" took part in operations against the Allied Operation Harpoon convoy attempting to reach the beleaguered island of Malta from Gibraltar. As part of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, "Premuda" supported the Italian 7th Cruiser Squadron, comprising the light cruisers and . The Allied naval force lost two destroyers and four merchant ships to a combination of naval gunfire, torpedoes, air attacks, and naval mines. The "Navigatori"-class destroyer was hit by a British destroyer, and "Premuda" was tasked to tow her to safety in the harbour of Pantelleria, an island in the Strait of Sicily, under escort from the destroyer .
On 6–7 January 1943, "Premuda" and 13 other Italian destroyers transported troops to the Axis-held port of Tunis in North Africa. They completed two more such missions between 9 February and 22 March. On 17 July, "Premuda" developed serious engine problems in the Ligurian Sea near La Spezia. She was subsequently brought to Genoa for a major boiler and engine overhaul. It was decided to rebuild her along the lines of the "Navigatori"-class, including a wider beam to improve her stability. As shells for her Škoda-built main guns were in short supply, the decision was made to replace them with Italian-made /L45 guns in single mounts. The rebuild was also to have included augmented 37 mm and 20 mm armament, probably using space made available by removing her aft torpedo tubes. The rebuild had not been completed when Italy surrendered to the Allies, and "Premuda" was seized by Germany at Genoa on 8 or 9 September 1943. "Premuda" was the most important and effective Italian war prize ship of World War II.
"TA32".
"Premuda"s new guns had not been completed when she was captured by the Germans. Their initial plans called for the ship to serve as a radar picket for night fighters, with three L/45 anti-aircraft guns in single mounts, Freya early-warning radar, Würzburg gun-laying radar and a FuMO 21 surface fire-control system. These plans were soon abandoned because the Germans lacked destroyers and torpedo boats in the Mediterranean, and the decision was made to commission her as a "Torpedoboot Ausland" (foreign torpedo boat) with a DeTe radar instead of the Freya and Würzburg radar sets. Her armament was replaced with four L/45 naval guns, eight anti-aircraft guns and between thirty-two and thirty-six anti-aircraft guns in quadruple and twin mounts. The number of torpedo tubes was reduced from six to three. The number of anti-aircraft guns was later increased to ten, in four twin and two single mounts. In German service, she had a total crew of 220 officers and men.
The ship was commissioned in the German Navy () on 18 August 1944, as "TA32", under the command of "Kapitänleutnant" Emil Kopka. She served in the Ligurian Sea with the 10th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, and was immediately committed to shelling Allied positions on the Italian coast, then scouting and minelaying tasks in the western Gulf of Genoa. On 2 October 1944, "TA32", along with and , sailed towards Sanremo to lay mines, where they encountered the destroyer . After exchanging fire, the three ships returned to Genoa without being hit. By mid-March 1945, "TA32", "TA24" and "TA29" were the only ships of the 10th Torpedo Boat Flotilla that remained operational. On the night of 17/18 March 1945, "TA32" placed 76 naval mines off Cap Corse, the northern tip of Corsica, in an offensive minelaying operation, along with "TA24" and "TA29". After being detected by a shore-based radar, the ships were engaged by the destroyers and , in what would become known as the Battle of the Ligurian Sea. Outgunned, "TA24" and "TA29" were sunk, while "TA32" managed to escape with light damage to her rudder, after firing a few rounds and making an abortive torpedo attack. "TA32" was scuttled at Genoa on 24 April 1945 as the Germans retreated. Her wreck was raised and broken up in 1950.