Jan de Bont

Jan de Bont (; born 22 October 1943) is a Dutch cinematographer, director and film producer. He is widely known for directing the films "Speed" and "Twister". As a director of photography, de Bont also worked on numerous blockbusters and genre films, including "Cujo", "Flesh and Blood", "Die Hard", "The Hunt for Red October", and "Basic Instinct".
Early life and career.
De Bont was born to a Catholic family in Eindhoven, Netherlands, one of 17 children. His earliest works were made while studying at the Amsterdam Film Academy with Dutch avant-garde director Adriaan Ditvoorst. He first came known in the Netherlands as the cinematographer for the infamous 1971 film "Blue Movie", followed by the 1973 film "Turkish Delight" (1973), directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Rutger Hauer and Monique van de Ven. Since the early 1980s, he has worked frequently in Hollywood, often collaborating with directors including Verhoeven and John McTiernan.
While serving as cinematographer for the 1981 film "Roar", de Bont experienced one of many on-set injuries during filming, where a lion lifted his scalp, requiring 220 stitches. After "Roar", de Bont shot the 1983 horror film "Cujo", the adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name.
In 1988, he was director of photography on the critically lauded action film "Die Hard". The following year, de Bont shot the Ridley Scott-directed action thriller "Black Rain".
Directing.
De Bont made his directorial debut with the action thriller "Speed" in 1994, which was a surprise hit. He followed this up with the even more successful "Twister" in 1996. His output since has had mixed commercial and critical success. In 1997, he returned to direct the sequel" ", which was a commercial and critical failure. In 1999, he directed a remake of "The Haunting". It was a commercial success, but was heavily panned by critics and received five Razzie Award nominations. His most recent film as director was the 2003 action adventure film "", based on the video game series of the same name, and starring Angelina Jolie as the eponymous Lara Croft.
Unrealized "Godzilla" project.
De Bont began pre-production on an American "Godzilla" film for a summer 1996 release, but quit the film at the end of 1994 when Sony Pictures Entertainment (Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures's parent company) refused to approve his budget request. He was eventually replaced by Roland Emmerich who rewrote the script in addition to directing the film. While critically panned, Emmerich's "Godzilla" was moderately successful at the box-office.
Personal life.
He was married to Dutch actress Monique van de Ven from 1973 to 1988. Monique starred in the 1973 film "Turkish Delight", for which de Bont did the cinematography. De Bont has two children from his second marriage with Trish Reeves.


Evangelical Lutheran Church (Enkhuizen)

The Evangelical Lutheran Church on the Breedstraat 40, Enkhuizen, is a former church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The congregation was founded in 1623 by the family of a Danish Lutheran merchant, Frederik Dirxen van Tatinghof, who had come to Enkhuizen for the trade in oxen, and was severely suppressed until 1641, when the congregation was allowed to gather in a building acquired by one of Tatinghof's sons. When the congregation shrank in the 1800s, it acquired the building at the Breedstraat and dedicated it in 1843. In 2017 it moved to another building in the city. The church on Breedstraat 40, the parsonage on no. 42, and the sacristy on no. 44 are Rijksmonuments.
History.
The Lutheran community in Enkhuizen originated with Danish traders; in 1596 Frederik Dirxen van Tatinghof moved to Enkhuizen from either Friedrichstadt (a city in Schleswig-Holstein that had been founded by Dutch Remonstrants and Mennonites) or Tönning. Tatinghof was invited by the city of Enkhuizen to come and set up the oxen trade there, with the expectation that the city would take over that market from Hoorn. He became master of the market and started a business cattle; he also ran an inn, the "De Rode Leeuw aan de Palmtak". Fattening cattle was an important part of the Westfrisian economy, and in 1605 the biggest market for cattle was moved from Hoorn to Enkhuizen; Tatinghof became the most powerful man in the oxen trade.
One of Tatinghof's sons, Frederik (1599–1661), studied theology in Germany and was registered as a preacher in Enkhuizen in 1635. The other son, Pieter, co-founded a Lutheran congregation (on 23 January 1623) in a little garden house on the Lazeruspad, and in March of that year they rented a house on the Burgwal (the "Spaanse leger"). Eight people were present at this first meeting, though it turned out later that one of them was actually a Catholic; by February there were 25, but during Easter the city government shut the church down, and for the next decade services were held secretly, it seems at the Lazeruspad. The denomination was under pressure from the city government (the Dutch Reformed Church being a "de facto" state religion) and Lutherans were deemed suspicious because they had supported the Remonstrants, who had been violently suppressed in the first decade of the 17th century. Lutherans were not allowed to meet openly and were frequently persecuted; church services were disrupted and on one occasion the preacher was arrested and jailed. Pieter Tatinghof was arrested also, in 1632. In 1632 Frederik Tatinghof, who now became more involved in church matters, acquired a house with adjacent an old industrial building, the "Ververij", on the Noorder Boerenvaart; this building, which had been a paint factory until it was closed because of the pollution it caused, would later become the congregation's first real church. Frederik had been an assistant preacher in Amsterdam in 1624 and from 1627 to 1630 was a minister in Middelburg, and then returned to Enkhuizen to assist his elderly mother.
The Tatinghof congregation, led after 1629 by a German minister called Georgius Hahn, already ministered to many foreigners: traders from Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein visited Enkhuizen three times a year (in the spring for oxen, in the summer for grain, and in the fall for herring), and they were very unhappy with the lack of religious freedom in Enkhuizen, a freedom they enjoyed everywhere else in the Dutch Republic. To be allowed to worship they filed a series of written requests (the first in 1623) with the city, but to no avail. In April 1632 the conflict came to a head: the city, guided by the local Calvinist clergy, boarded up the building on the Lazeruspad, and after the congregation moved to the Noorder Boerenvaart, this was boarded up as well, and the benches torn out. Unfortunately for the city government, they had picked the day before the oxen market to close the church, and the next day a large group of angry merchants presented their fifth and final written request. The church on the Lazeruspad was opened temporarily, though it was shut again after they left, and afterward services were sometimes held in Tatinghof's inn. But by the end of the year Frederik Tatinghof was told in no uncertain terms he should leave town. He finally gave up his ministry in 1635 and moved to Amsterdam. Afterward, the Danish traders were allowed to bring their own preacher when they visited Enkhuizen, but he would have to leave with them. When that preacher, a man from the Danish town of Tønder, stayed behind, the city expelled him. In the end, it was not until 1641 that the congregation was allowed to have its own church, in the building acquired the decade before by Frederik.
The church on the Noorder Boerenvaart.
The Lutheran congregation bought the Ververij in 1641, for 4,000 Carolus guilders. Much of the funds were raised from Lutheran communities on the Baltic Sea. The church was likely enlarged in 1667, since there is documentation for building materials worth over 400 Carolus guilders, and by 1718 had between three- and four hundred members. Renovations took place in 1725, and a new parsonage was built. It was renovated again in 1734–35, when a new front gable was placed and a pulpit by Pieter de Nicolo was installed. The purchase of an organ was approved in 1780, and after many delays it was installed in 1782, from the shop of Gideon Thomas Bätz. The organ had ten registers, and cost 1,800 guilders.
Move to the Breedstraat, 1843.
When the local economy weakened in the beginning of the 19th century, so did the Lutheran congregation, which shrank from 354 members in 1798 to 70 in 1869. The church had become too big and too costly, and in 1843 the congregation sold the old church and bought a townhouse on the Breedstraat, converting it to an aisleless church with a barrel-vaulted roof. The church was dedicated on 17 December 1843; the building on no. 42 was the parsonage, and that on no. 44 the sacristy. Church and parsonage were given a new front gable; the sacristy kept its 1753 clock gable. The pulpit and the organ were moved to the new building, though decorative parts of the organ had to be removed; work on the organ was done by Luitjen Jacob van Dam (1783–1846), second generation of the firm. A renovation in 1910 removed the by now rare pipes installed by Bätz. In 1943, for the church's 100th anniversary, an altar, designed by in the style of the pulpit, was added. After World War II a new baptismal font was installed, in addition to leaded windows made by Lutheran preacher and glassmaker P.H.G.C. Kok. All three buildings are categorized as Rijksmonuments—the church is listed as 14998, the parsonage 14999, the sacristy 15000.
Move to Patershof, 2017.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands merged with other Protestant Dutch denominations in 2004 to form the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. The Breedstraat congregation moved to a new church, Patershof 4 in Enkhuizen, on 5 June 2017.


Rudolf Jansen

Rudolf Jansen (born January 19, 1940 in Arnhem) is a Dutch pianist, who studied piano, organ and harpsichord simultaneously at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam. His teachers were Nelly Wagenaar, his father Simon C. Jansen, Felix de Nobel and Gustav Leonhardt. His studies were crowned by two Prix d'Excellence, one for piano and one for organ.
In 1965 he was awarded the Toonkunst Jubileumprijs, in 1966 the "Zilveren Vriendenkrans" by the Friends of the Concertgebouw. He won the Edison Award twice: in 1973 with Han de Vries (oboe), and 1987 with Dorothy Dorrow.
As well as being a solo performer, Rudolf Jansen has gradually come to specialize in Lied accompaniment and chamber music. He travels the world over with concert tours in which he accompanies highly reputed artists such as Elly Ameling, Robert Holl, Hanneke Kaasschieter, Han de Vries, Peter Schreier, Andreas Schmidt, Olaf Bär, Tom Krause, Brigitte Fassbänder, Barbara Bonney, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Edith Wiens, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Abbie de Quant.
He teaches at the Sweelinck Conservatoire and regularly gives masterclasses for song/piano duos in the Netherlands and abroad.


Vincent de Moor

Vincent de Moor (; born 1973, Delft, Netherlands) is a Dutch trance artist. He is most notable for his work with the record producer Ferry Corsten under the working title, "Veracocha," and for his 2001 single, "Fly Away".
Musical career.
Early career.
De Moor first recorded in 1993 as Fix To Fax. Tracks released under this alias included "Enjoy Yourself", "Do U Feel It", "Pick It Up" and "Take Control". Other early releases include "Het Vliegende Kunstgebit" as Gmoork, "Chinese Juice" and "Exotic Mind" as Outline, and "Voice In The Dark", "Frame Of Pleasure" and "Brazilia Carnavelas" as Sidewalk.
His breakthrough track, using his own name, was "Flowtation". The track was first released in 1996, and reached peaked in the UK Singles Chart at #54 in August 1997. Several versions of this track were available, including a 2002 remix with vocals. In 1998, De Moor collaborated with Ernst Bijlsma to release "Don't Hurt Me" (as Cache) and, using his own name, released the track "Orion City" and a debut album of the same name. He also found time to release tracks including "Darwin's Voyage", "Magnetic" and "Domino Runner" using his VdM moniker.
Later career.
"Carte Blanche" by Veracocha, a collaboration between de Moor and Ferry Corsten, reached #22 in the UK chart. Ferry Corsten reportedly chose the name Veracocha after watching a TV program about the Incas. A further apparent favourite of Corsten's from this period is De Moor's remix of 2HD's "Sunflakes". The track featured on De Moor's second album "Moor" (2000), along with the singles "Shamu", "Between 2 Fires" and "Eternity (Forever)". 2000 also saw the first release of "Fly Away", which went on to become De Moor's most successful single when it reached #30 in the UK in 2001. Some issues of this track were released under the pseudonym Emerald.
In 2003, de Moor released the tracks "Crystal Clouds" and "Nexus Asia" as Questia. The following year, he released "Desdemonia" as Raster and "Grooveslide" and "Energy Reflect" as Flashbang. He is also known for his remixes, most notably of Tenth Planet's "Ghosts", De Bos's "On The Run", Armin van Buuren's "Communication" and Ayumi Hamasaki's "Fly High".
In 2007, de Moor reworked two of his well-known tracks, "Flowtation" and "No Hesitation". His 2001 hit single, "Fly Away" was also re-released with new remixes by Sean Tyas and Cosmic Gate. He also reworked, "Sunflower" (a single originally from his "Moor" album) in 2008.
Personal life.
De Moor is a private person and little is known about his personal life and career. As of today, no interview with him exists.
In July 2014, record label Cloud 9 Dance advised TranceFixxed: "I checked with Vincent and he’s not interested in doing any interviews. He’s no longer active in the music industry, but he enjoys the fact that people are still into his music though!"


Vsevolod II of Kiev

Vsevolod II Olgovich (Cyrillic: Всеволод II Ольгович) (died August 1, 1146) was the Prince (Knyaz) of Chernigov (1127–1139) and Grand Prince (Velikiy Knyaz) of Kiev] (Kyiv, 1139–1146), son of Oleg Svyatoslavich, Prince of Chernigov.
Vsevolod married Maria Mstislavna of Kiev, the daughter of Grand Duke Mstislav of Kiev. They had two sons and two daughters:
Though he had two sons, Vsevolod's chosen successor was his brother, Igor, and he obtained pledges from his subjects to accept Igor as his heir. According to one account, Vsevolod even had the Kievans kiss the Holy Cross and swear loyalty to Igor, which they resented. Shortly before his death, Vsevolod became a monk under the name Gavriil.


Frank Wassenberg

Frank P. Wassenberg (born 2 May 1966) is a Dutch politician. He is a member of the House of Representatives for the Party for the Animals since 23 March 2017. He previously served in the House from 17 November 2015 to 18 October 2016 when he temporary replaced Esther Ouwehand. He serves in the States of Limburg since the 2015 elections, and previously served between 2007 and 2011.
Career.
Wassenberg was born on 2 May 1966 in Heer, Maastricht. After completing his high school education in Maastricht in 1985 he went to study biology at Utrecht University and graduated in 1992. Since 1993 he has worked as a policy officer for various foundations for animal rights, since 2006 for the .
Wassenberg was elected to the States of Limburg for the Party for the Animals in the 2007 elections. He served one four-year term. In the 2011 elections the party did not manage to obtain any seats. In the 2015 elections Wassenberg was once more elected to the States, as the sole representative of the party.
In November 2015 Esther Ouwehand temporarily resigned her seat in the House of Representatives due to health reasons. Wassenberg became her replacement with an expected term of four months. He has been reappointed multiple times since the passing of the first four months.
In September 2016 Wassenberg missed a vote on an initiative for reform of the organ donor system, this cause the initiative to reach a majority, while Wassenberg had planned to vote against.
Esther Ouwehand returned to the House of Representatives on 18 October 2016, ending Wassenberg's temporary replacement.
After the 2017 general election Wassenberg returned to the House, taking office on 23 March 2017.


History of Moscow

The city of Moscow gradually grew around the Moscow Kremlin, beginning in the 14th century. It was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow (or Muscovy), from 1340 to 1547 and in 1713 renamed as the Tsardom of Russia by Peter I "the Great" (when the capital was moved to Saint Petersburg). Moscow was the capital of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1918, which then became the Soviet Union (1922 to 1991), and since 1991 has served as capital of the Russian Federation.
Situated on either bank of the eponymous Moskva River, the city during the 16th to 17th centuries grew up in five concentric divisions, formerly separated from one another by walls: the Kremlin ("fortress"), Kitaigorod ("walled town", but interpreted as "Chinatown" by folk etymology), Bielygorod ("white town"), Zemlianoigorod ("earthworks town"), and Miestchanskygorod ("bourgeois town") outside the city walls.
After the fire of 1812, the city ramparts were replaced with the Boulevard Ring and Garden Ring roads, replacing the walls around Bielygorod and Zemlianoigorod, respectively. The city's population grew from 250,000 to over a million in the 19th century, and from one to ten million in the 20th century, putting it among the top twenty of the world's most populous cities today.
Prehistory.
The oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic (Schukinskaya site on the Moscow River). Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered (the burial ground of the Fatyanovskaya culture, the site of the Iron Age settlement of the Dyakovo culture), on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc.
The etymology of the name "Moskva" is Uralic, perhaps Volga-Finnic (Mordvinic or Merya).
In the 9th century, the Oka River was part of the Volga trade route, and the upper Volga watershed became an area of contact between the indigenous Uralic peoples such as the Merya and the expanding Turkic (Volga Bulgars), Germanic (Varangians) and Slavic peoples.
The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi.
The Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By CE 1100, a minor settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River.
Early history (1147–1283).
The first reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a meeting place of Yuri Dolgorukiy and Sviatoslav Olgovich. At the time it was a minor town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality.
In 1156, Kniaz Yury Dolgoruky fortified the town with a timber fence and a moat. In the course of the Mongol invasion of Rus, the Golden Horde burned the city to the ground and killed its inhabitants.
The timber fort "na Moskvě" "on the Moscow river" was inherited by Daniel, the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, in the 1260s, at the time considered the least valuable of his father's possessions.
Daniel was still a child at the time, and the fort was governed by (deputies), appointed by Daniel's paternal uncle, Yaroslav of Tver.
Daniel came of age in the 1270s and became involved in the power struggles of the principality with lasting success, siding with his brother Dmitry in his bid for the rule of Novgorod. From 1283 he acted as the ruler of an independent principality alongside Dmitry, who became Grand Duke of Vladimir.
Daniel has been credited with founding the first Moscow monasteries, dedicated to the Lord's Epiphany and to Saint Daniel.
Grand Duchy (1283–1547).
Daniel ruled Moscow as Grand Duke until 1303 and established it as a prosperous city which would eventually eclipse its parent principality of Vladimir by the 1320s.
In 1282 Daniel founded the first monastery of Moscow on the right bank of the Moskva River, the wooden church of St. Daniel-Stylite. It is now known as the Danilov Monastery. Daniel died in 1303, at the age of 42. Before his death he became a monk and, according to his will, was buried in the cemetery of the St. Daniel Monastery.
Moscow was stable and prosperous for many years and attracted a large numbers of refugees from across Russia. The Rurikids maintained large landholdings by practicing primogeniture, whereby all land was passed to the eldest sons, rather than dividing it up among all sons. By 1304, Yury of Moscow contested with Mikhail of Tver for the throne of the principality of Vladimir. Ivan I eventually defeated Tver to become the sole collector of taxes for the Mongol rulers, making Moscow the capital of Vladimir-Suzdal. By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan.
While Khan of the Golden Horde initially attempted to limit Moscow's influence, when the growth of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania began to threaten all of Russia, the Khan strengthened Moscow to counterbalance Lithuania, allowing it to become one of the most powerful cities in Russia. In 1380, prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to an important victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo. Afterwards, Moscow took the leading role in liberating Russia from Mongol domination. In 1480, Ivan III had finally broken the Russians free from Tatar control and overthrew the Mongols. Moscow later became the capital of an empire that would eventually encompass all of Russia and Siberia, and parts of many other lands.
In 1462 Ivan III, known as Ivan the Great (1440–1505) became Grand Prince of Moscow (then part of the medieval Muscovy state). He began fighting the Tatars, enlarged the territory of Muscovy, and enriched his capital city. By 1500 it had a population of 100,000 and was one of the largest cities in the world. He conquered the far larger principality of Novgorod to the north, which had been allied to the hostile Lithuanians. By this conquest Ivan III enlarged his territory seven-fold, expanding from 430,000 to 2,800,000 square kilometers. He took control of the ancient "Novgorod Chronicle" and made it a propaganda vehicle for his regime.
The original Moscow Kremlin was built during the 14th century. It was reconstructed by Ivan, who in the 1480s invited architects from Italy, such as Petrus Antonius Solarius, who designed the new Kremlin wall and its towers, and Marco Ruffo who designed the new palace for the prince. The Kremlin walls as they now appear are those designed by Solarius, completed in 1495. The Kremlin's Great Bell Tower was built in 1505–08 and augmented to its present height in 1600.
A trading settlement, or "posad", grew up to the east of the Kremlin, in the area known as "Zaradye" (Зарядье). In the time of Ivan III, the Red Square, originally named the Hollow Field (Полое поле) appeared.
In 1508–1516, the Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin (Novy) arranged for the construction of a moat in front of the eastern wall, which would connect the Moskva and Neglinnaya and be filled in with water from Neglinnaya. This moat, known as the Alevizov moat and having a length of 541 meters, width of 36 meters, and a depth of 9.5–13 m was lined with limestone and, in 1533, fenced on both sides with low, 4-meter thick cogged brick walls.
Tsardom (1547–1721).
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the three circular defenses were built: Kitay-gorod (Китай-город), the White City (Белый город) and the Earthen City (Земляной город). However, in 1547, two fires destroyed much of the town, and in 1571 the Crimean Tatars captured Moscow, burning everything except the Kremlin. The annals record that only 30,000 of 200,000 inhabitants survived.
The Crimean Tatars attacked again in 1591, but this time were held back by new defense walls, built between 1584 and 1591 by a craftsman named Fyodor Kon. In 1592, an outer earth rampart with 50 towers was erected around the city, including an area on the right bank of the Moscow River. As an outermost line of defense, a chain of strongly fortified monasteries was established beyond the ramparts to the south and east, principally the Novodevichy Convent and Donskoy, Danilov, Simonov, Novospasskiy, and Andronikov monasteries, most of which now house museums. From its ramparts, the city became poetically known as "Bielokamennaya", the "White-Walled". The limits of the city as marked by the ramparts built in 1592 are now marked by the Garden Ring.
Three square gates existed on the eastern side of the Kremlin wall, which in the 17th century, were known as: Konstantino-Eleninsky, Spassky, Nikolsky (owing their names to the icons of Constantine and Helen, the Savior and St. Nicholas which hung over them). The last two were directly opposite the Red Square, while the Konstantino-Elenensky gate was located behind Saint Basil's Cathedral.
The Russian famine of 1601–1603 killed perhaps 100,000 in Moscow. From 1610 through 1612, troops of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied Moscow, as its ruler Sigismund III tried to take the Russian throne. In 1612, the people of Nizhny Novgorod and other Russian cities conducted by prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin rose against the Lithuanians occupants, besieged the Kremlin, and expelled them. In 1613, the Zemsky sobor elected Michael Romanov tsar, establishing the Romanov dynasty.
During the first half of the 17th century, the population of Moscow doubled from roughly 100,000 to 200,000. It expanded beyond its ramparts in the later 17th century. By 1682, there were 692 households established north of the ramparts, by Ukrainians and Belarusians abducted from their hometowns in the course of Russo-Polish War (1654–1667). These new outskirts of the city came to be known as the "Meshchanskaya sloboda", after Ruthenian "meshchane" "town people". The term "meshchane" (мещане) acquired pejorative connotations in 18th-century Russia and today means "petty bourgeois" or "narrow-minded philistine".
The entire city of the late 17th century, including the slobodas which grew up outside of the city ramparts, are contained within what is today Moscow's Central Administrative Okrug.
Numerous disasters befell the city. The plague killed upwards of 80% of the people in 1654–55. Fires burned out much of the wooden city in 1626 and 1648.
Empire (1721–1917).
Moscow ceased to be Russia's capital (except for a brief period from 1728 to 1732 under the influence of the Supreme Privy Council) when Peter the Great moved his government to the newly built Saint Petersburg on the Baltic coast in 1712.
After losing the status as capital of the empire, the population of Moscow at first decreased, from 200,000 in the 17th century to 130,000 in 1750. But after 1750, the population grew more than tenfold over the remaining duration of the Russian Empire, reaching 1.8 million by 1915.
By 1700, the building of cobbled roads had begun. In November 1730, the permanent street light was introduced, and by 1867 many streets had a gaslight. In 1883, near the Prechistinskiye Gates, arc lamps were installed. In 1741 Moscow was surrounded by a barricade 25 miles long, the Kamer-Kollezhskiy barrier, with 16 gates at which customs tolls were collected. Its line is traced today by a number of streets called "val" (“ramparts”).
Between 1781 and 1804 the Mytischinskiy water-pipe (the first in Russia) was built. In 1813 a Commission for the Construction of the City of Moscow was established. It launched a great program of rebuilding, including a partial replanning of the city-center. Among many buildings constructed or reconstructed at this time were the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Kremlin Armoury, the Moscow University, the Moscow Manege (Riding School), and the Bolshoi Theatre. In 1903 the Moskvoretskaya water-supply was completed.
In the early 19th century, the Arch of Konstantino-Elenensky gate was paved with bricks, but the Spassky Gate was the main front gate of the Kremlin and used for royal entrances. From this gate, wooden and (following the 17th-century improvements) stone bridges stretched across the moat. Books were sold on this bridge and stone platforms were built nearby for guns - "raskats". The Tsar Cannon was located on the platform of the Lobnoye mesto.
The road connecting Moscow with St. Petersburg, now the M10 highway, was completed in 1746, its Moscow end following the old Tver road which had existed since the 16th century. It became known as "Peterburskoye Schosse" after it was paved in the 1780s. Petrovsky Palace was built in 1776–1780 by Matvey Kazakov as a railway station specifically reserved for royal journeys from Saint Petersburg to Moscow, while coaches for lesser classes arrived and departed from Vsekhsvyatskoye station.
When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, the Moscovites were evacuated. It is suspected today that the Moscow fire which ensued initially started as a result of Russian sabotage. In the fire's wake, an estimated three-quarters of the city lay in ruin.
Moscow State University was established in 1755. Its main building was reconstructed after the 1812 fire by Domenico Giliardi. The "Moskovskiye Vedomosti" newspaper appeared from 1756, originally in weekly intervals, and from 1859 as a daily newspaper.
The Arbat Street had been in existence since at least the 15th century, but it was developed into a prestigious area during the 18th century. It was destroyed in the fire of 1812 and was rebuilt completely in the early 19th century.
In the 1830s, general Alexander Bashilov planned the first regular grid of city streets north from Petrovsky Palace. Khodynka field south of the highway was used for military training.
Smolensky Rail station (forerunner of present-day Belorussky Rail Terminal) was inaugurated in 1870.
Sokolniki Park, in the 18th century the home of the tsar's falconers well outside of Moscow, became contiguous with the expanding city in the later 19th century and was developed into a public municipal park in 1878. The suburban Savyolovsky Rail Terminal was built in 1902.
In January 1905, the institution of the City Governor, or Mayor, was officially introduced in Moscow, and Alexander Adrianov became Moscow's first official mayor.
When Catherine II came to power in 1762, the city's filth and smell of sewage was depicted by observers as a symptom of disorderly life styles of lower-class Russians recently arrived from the farms. Elites called for improving sanitation, which became part of Catherine's plans for increasing control over social life. National political and military successes from 1812 through 1855 calmed the critics and validated efforts to produce a more enlightened and stable society. There was less talk about the smell and the poor conditions of public health. However, in the wake of Russia's failures in the Crimean War in 1855–56, confidence in the ability of the state to maintain order in the slums eroded, and demands for improved public health put filth back on the agenda.
Soviet era (1917–1991).
Following the success of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Vladimir Lenin, fearing possible foreign invasion, moved the capital from Saint Petersburg back to Moscow on March 12, 1918.
In the beginning of the 20th century, several strikes and armed risings in Moscow paved the way to the October Revolution. In 1918 the Bolsheviks moved the seat of government from Saint Petersburg back to Moscow.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet State Committee of Defense and the General Staff of the Red Army were located in Moscow. In 1941, 16 divisions of the national volunteers (more than 160,000 people), 25 battalions (18,000 people) and 4 engineering regiments were formed among the Muscovites. On 6 December 1941, German Army Group Centre was stopped at the outskirts of the city and then driven off in the course of the Battle of Moscow. Many factories were evacuated, together with much of the government, and from October 20 the city was declared to be in a state of siege. Its remaining inhabitants built and manned antitank defenses, while the city was bombarded from the air. On May 1, 1944 a medal "For the defense of Moscow" and in 1947 another medal "In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow" were instituted.
During the postwar years, there was a serious housing crisis, solved by the invention of high-rise apartments. There are about 13,000 of these standardized and prefabricated apartment block, housing the majority of Moscow's population. Apartments were built and partly furnished in the factory before being raised and stacked into tall columns. The popular Soviet-era comic film "Irony of Fate" parodies this construction method.
The city of Zelenograd was built in 1958 at 37 km from the city center to the north-west, along the Leningradskoye Shosse, and incorporated as one of Moscow's administrative okrugs. Moscow State University moved to its campus on Sparrow Hills in 1953.
On May 8, 1965 due to the actual 20th anniversary of the victory in World War II Moscow was awarded a title of the Hero City. In 1980 it hosted the Summer Olympic Games.
The MKAD ring road was opened in 1961. It had four lanes running 109 km along the city borders.
The MKAD marked the administrative boundaries of the city of Moscow until the 1980s, when outlying suburbs beyond the ring road began to be incorporated.
In 1991 Moscow was the scene of a coup attempt by conservators opposed to the liberal reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev.
Metro.
The Moscow Metro opened in 1935 and immediately became the centerpiece of the transportation system. More than that it was a Stalinist device to awe and control the populace, and give them an appreciation of Soviet realist art. It became the prototype for future Soviet large-scale technologies. Lazar Kaganovich was in charge; he designed the subway so that citizens would absorb the values and ethos of Stalinist civilization as they rode. The artwork of the 13 original stations became nationally and internationally famous. For example, the Sverdlov Square subway station featured porcelain bas-reliefs depicting the daily life of the Soviet peoples, and the bas-reliefs at the Dynamo Stadium sports complex glorified sports and the physical prowess of the powerful new "Homo Sovieticus." (Soviet man). The metro was touted as the symbol of the new social order—a sort of Communist cathedral of engineering modernity. Soviet workers did the labor and the art work, but the main engineering designs, routes, and construction plans were handled by specialists recruited from the London Underground. The Britons called for tunneling instead of the "cut-and-cover" technique, the use of escalators instead of lifts, and designed the routes and the rolling stock. The paranoia of Stalin and the NKVD was evident when the secret police arrested numerous British engineers for espionage—that is for gaining an in-depth knowledge of the city's physical layout. Engineers for the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company were given a show trial and deported in 1933, ending the role of British business in the USSR.
Until nowadays Moscow metro is one of the most important heritage of architecture of the USSR period. The most inspiring metro stations of the Stalin's era are Revolution Square, Kievskaya, Beloruskaya, Mayakovskaya, Novoslobodskaya, Dostoevskaya, Prospekt mira, Komsomolskaya and Taganskaya.
Recent history (1991 to present).
When the USSR was dissolved in the same year, Moscow became the capital of the Russian Federation. Since then a market economy has emerged in Moscow, producing an explosion of Western-style retailing, services, architecture, and lifestyles.
Even with Russia's population shrinking by 6 million after the fall of the USSR, Moscow has continued to grow during the 1990s to 2000s, its population rising from below nine to above ten million. Mason and Nigmatullina argue that Soviet-era urban-growth controls (before 1991) produced controlled and sustainable metropolitan development, typified by the greenbelt built in 1935. Since then however, there has been a dramatic growth of low-density suburban sprawl, created by a heavy demand for single-family dwellings as opposed to crowded apartments. In 1995–1997 the MKAD ring road was widened from the initial four to ten lanes. In December 2002 Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo became the first Moscow Metro station that opened beyond the limits of MKAD. The Third Ring Road, intermediate between the early 19th-century Garden Ring and the Soviet era outer ring road, was completed in 2004. The greenbelt is becoming more and more fragmented, and satellite cities are appearing at the fringe. Summer dachas are being converted into year-round residences, and with the proliferation of automobiles there is heavy traffic congestion.
Historical demographics.
The city's population is rapidly increasing. The ubiquitous presence of legal and illegal permanent and temporary migrants plus merging suburbs raise the total population to about 13.5 mln people.


Eline Flipse

Eline Flipse (born in 1954 in Wageningen, the Netherlands) is a film director of documentaries.
Flipse studied at the Film Academy in Amsterdam, where she got her degree in 1978. In 1982, she made her first documentary, "Het Verschijnsel B", about bibliophily.
She directed her first documentary for Scarabee Films in 1995; "Broken Silence" was about five young Chinese composers. The film won many international awards, including the Grand Prix of the Visions du Réel documentary film festival in Nyon, Switzerland, the Grand Prize Ethos Bacao (Romania), and the Best Discovery Documentary, Festival Du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal. It also was nominated for best feature-length documentary at the Dutch Film Festival.
Since "Broken Silence", the collaboration between Eline Flipse and Scarabee Films has led to several very successful documentaries. "Biografi", for example, won the Prix d'Europa in 2001 (Berlin).
At the moment, Eline Flipse is finishing "Eat Your Enemy", a documentary about aggression and spirituality. It is a film full of paradoxes and has already been selected for the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2005. Eline already has plans for her next film: "Galina" will be a portrait of the Russian opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya, wife of the world-famous cellist Rostropovich.


Jacob Kraus

 Jacob Kraus (14 October 1861, Groningen – 24 August 1951, The Hague) was a Dutch hydraulic engineer, professor at the University of Santiago, Chile, and at Delft University of Technology and government minister of water management between 1905 and 1908.


Louis Rutten

Louis Martin Robert Rutten (4 June 1884 in Maastricht – 11 February 1946 in Utrecht) was a Dutch geologist. In the first part of the twentieth century he mapped large parts of the islands of the Dutch East Indies, Cuba, the Betic Cordilleras and the Dutch Antilles. He was the father of the biologist and geologist Martin Rutten.
Louis Rutten studied geology at Utrecht University. His supervisor was C.E.A. Wichmann. Rutten wrote his thesis in 1909 on a paleontological subject. Shortly after, he married Johanna Catharina Pekelharing, who accompanied and assisted him on his journeys overseas.
After finishing his studies, Rutten was employed by the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, a predecessor of Royal Dutch Shell, for which he was sent to Borneo to search for oil. During his time in Borneo he was able to lead a scientific expedition to Ceram from 1917-1919. His work for the BPM then brought him successively to Argentina, Cuba, Mexico and Peru.
In 1921, Rutten succeeded his old teacher Wichmann as professor in geology, paleontology and crystallography at Utrecht University. Because of his work in exploration he gave his Professorial Chair a practical dimension by taking students on excursions and expeditions overseas. In 1930, Rutten led an expedition to the Dutch Antilles, in 1933 and 1938 expeditions to Cuba. He was the author or co-author of many publications about the geology of the Dutch East Indies as well as of the West Indies.
In 1919 he became correspondent of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and full member in 1923.
A species of South American gecko, "Phyllodactylus rutteni", is named in his honor.


Gerard van Wieringhen Borski

Gerard van Wieringhen Borski (29 January 1800 in Vleuten — 2 February 1869 in Delft) was a Dutch educator, academic, and linguist. His nonfiction books covered the domains of linguistics, math, history, and sociology.


Gijs Jorna

Gijs Jorna (born ) is a Dutch male volleyball player. He is part of the Netherlands men's national volleyball team. He was voted best libero at the 2012 Men's European Volleyball League. On club level he played for Topvolley Precura Antwerpen in Belgium. He participated at the 2017 Men's European Volleyball Championship.


Henk Westbroek

Hendrik Otto "Henk" Westbroek (born 27 February 1952) is a Dutch radiohost, singer, songwriter and owner of a café named 'Stairway to Heaven' in the city of Utrecht. He was also a political activist for Leefbaar Utrecht and Leefbaar Nederland in 1998.
Music career.
Westbroek was born in Utrecht, and studied sociology at Utrecht University, completing his course in 1973. In 1978, Westbroek, together with "the other Henk" (Henk Temming), formed the band Het Goede Doel. He scored several top ten hits with Temming and Het Goede Doel became one of the most successful Dutch language bands of the 1980s. In 1991, Het Goede Doel stopped performing. They had a brief reunion in 2001 and reunited again in 2008, producing a new record, "Gekkenwerk".
Since 1991, Henk Westbroek has been performing solo with his band "Henk Westbroek & Consorten." As a solo artist he has met with success and his single "Zelfs je naam is mooi" spent 42 weeks in the Dutch chart Mega Top 100.
Radio career.
In 1981 he started as a radio host. His first show, "Denk aan Henk" ("Think about Henk") on Dutch radio station 3FM, ran from 1991 to 2003. He resumed the program, renamed "Denk als Henk & Friends" ("Think like Henk & Friends") at Yorin FM, from August 2004 to March 2006. Since 2006 he has a daily webradio show on KXRadio, an internet radio station founded by Rob Stenders.
Politics.
In the 1990s, he became active in Utrecht politics and was elected as a city council member for , a local populist party.


Bernhard Siegfried Albinus

Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (originally Weiss; 24 February 16979 September 1770) was a German-born Dutch anatomist.
Biography.
Bernhard Siegfried Albinus was born at Frankfurt on the Oder where his father, Bernhard Albinus (1653–1721), was professor of the practice of medicine. In 1702 the latter was transferred to the chair of medicine at Leiden University, and it was there that Bernhard Siegfried began his studies in 1709, at the age of 12, having for his teachers such men as Boerhaave and Nikolaus Bidloo. Having finished his studies at Leiden, he went to Paris in 1718, where, under the instruction of Sébastien Vaillant (1669–1722), Jacob Winslow (1669–1760) and Frederik Ruysch, he devoted himself especially to anatomy and botany. After a year's absence he was, on the recommendation of Boerhaave, recalled in 1719 to Leiden to be a lecturer on anatomy and surgery. Two years later, after (1668 - 1719) the former rector of the medical school died on 29 June 1719, Albinus received his position in 1721, and succeeded his father in the professorship of these subjects, and became a teacher of anatomy, his classroom being resorted to not only by students but by many practising physicians. In 1745 Albinus was appointed professor of the practice of medicine, being succeeded in the anatomical chair by his brother Frederick Bernhard (1715–1778), who, as well as another brother, Christian Bernhard (1700–1752), attained distinction. Bernhard Siegfried, who was twice rector of his university, died at Leiden.
Together with Hermann Boerhaave, he edited the works of the physicians Andreas Vesalius and William Harvey. Albinus is known for his "Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis humani", an exquisitely illustrated volume, which was first published in Leiden in 1747, largely at his own expense. The artist and engraver with whom Albinus did nearly all of his work was Jan Wandelaar (1690–1759). In an attempt to increase the scientific accuracy of anatomical illustration, Albinus and Wandelaar devised a new technique of placing nets with square webbing at specified intervals between the artist and the anatomical specimen and copying the images using the grid patterns. "Tabulae" was criticized by such scholars as Petrus Camper, especially for the whimsical backgrounds added to many of the pieces by Wandelaar, but Albinus staunchly defended Wandelaar.
External links.


Fountain of Samson, Kyiv

The Fountain of Samson or Felitsiyal (, translit.: "Fontan Samson, Felitsiial") is a Ukrainian Baroque fountain in the Podil raion of Kyiv. It was constructed in the 18th Century, later demolished by the Bolsheviks either in 1934 or 1935, and rebuilt in 1981.
History.
It was constructed during 1748–1749 after the Podil magistrate's decision to repair the water distribution system. The project was assigned to Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi, a descendant of a well-known Podil family and a graduate of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy. The fountain was a pavilion-like circular rotunda with a cupola resting on four piers, with each pier embellished by two columns of Corinthian order. The dome of the fountain was topped by a gilded copper statue of St. Andrew. Before the 1800s a statue of an angel who held a chance from which water issued and ran into a basin was erected inside the fountain. In 1809, the angel was replaced by an almost life-size wooden sculpture of Samson, who was tearing the lion's jaws from which the water flowed, hence the name, Fountain of Samson. The sculpture was likely modeled upon Mikhail Kozlovsky's famous statue, a centerpiece of the Peterhof Palace Grand Cascade, with St. Samson symbolising the Russian victory over Sweden at Poltava: the lion is an element of Sweden's coat of arms and the battle was won on St. Samson Day. The fountain received its water supply from the "Starokievskaya Gora" through wooden pipes.
Before the start of World War I the two statues of St. Andrew and Samson were removed from the fountain and put into storage, which later proved beneficial as the Bolsheviks destroyed the structure altogether. In 1927 the rotunda's dome was repaired by the Kyiv City Council government. During 1935, the Architectural Planning Administration proposed to include the structure in a planned park on the Red Square (now the Kontraktova Square). According to a factually uncertain story, Communist Party official Pavel Postyshev, instructed the Chairman of the City Council, Ryzhkov, to remove the so-called "kiosk". Overnight the 18th century structure was dismantled. Its foundations however were preserved.
During the second half of the 1970s a decision was made to reintroduce the lost historical atmosphere to the old merchant and artisans quarter of Ukrainian capital, as part of an effort to develop the Podil as a tourist center of Kyiv. In these plans the rebuilding of the Fountain of Samson was included. In the autumn of 1977, the government of the Ukrainian S.S.R. directed the City Council of Kyiv to rebuild the structure, which was finished in 1981. It was built according to designs by Ukrainian architect V. P. Shevchenko. Today the fountain has sundial clocks on the columns it contains concrete copies of the original statues of St. Andrew and Samson, the originals are on display in the National Art Museum of Ukraine.


Beijnes

Beijnes (1838 – 1963) is a defunct Haarlem manufacturer of carriages, buses, trains, and trams. It was closely associated with the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HIJSM)
History.
J.J. Beijnes the elder opened a horse carriage shop (wagenmaker) behind the St. Bavochurch on the Riviervischmarkt in Haarlem in 1838. The painter and writer Jacobus van Looy described such a horse buggy servicing shop in detail in his autobiographical description of his early apprenticeships to a local typesetter and a local carriage shop owner in "Jaap", 1923. The increasing amount of ironwork needed for wagons of all types resulted in J.J. Beijnes merging his business with his brother A.J., a local smith, whose workshop was located at Grote Houtstraat 126 across from the Cornelissteeg in Haarlem.
Train.
The first train line constructed in the Netherlands was a line following the straight route of the Haarlemmertrekvaart canal, connecting Amsterdam with Haarlem, which opened on 20 September 1839. To service the trains on the rails, the HIJSM had British engineers come over along with the locomotives they built. Beijnes was eager to obtain a contract, and it wasn't until 1855 that the services of the "Fabriek van Rijtuigen en Spoorwagens J.J. Beijnes" won a commission for four charabancs. They were helped along by the local patrons J. Borski and J. Gerken, who both happened to be in the board of directors of the young HIJSM.
After their initial order, the Beijnes company grew so fast, that in 1858 the first stone was laid in the new location at the stationsplein across from the Haarlem railway station. In 1870 King William III added the predicate "Royal" to the company's name and it became "Koninklijke Fabriek van Rijtuigen en Spoorwagens J.J. Beijnes". In 1891, the HSM, aided by the social activist Daniel de Clercq, began the Haarlem society called De Ambachtsschool to unify various city efforts to start a vocational school in Haarlem, in order to satisfy their need for skilled workers in the booming train carriage business. In 1896 the "twin hall" was built to service more train compartments simultaneously, and in 1914 the "Staalhal" was built on the Verspronckweg.
Electric Train.
In 1922 the first experiments were made with electric trains. Beijnes won a commission for a model called the Mat.'24. They were called "blokkendozen" for their similarity to a child's building blocks and became a success for years. Their speed was 100 kilometers per hour and over 98 of them were built, with the last one going out of service in 1959. After this initial success, Beijnes was again allowed to innovate with the diesel-electric train in 1933, called the DE-3, which could reach a speed of 125 kilometers per hour and was designed for international service. From 1935, 91 of the streamlined models Mat.'35, Mat.'36, Mat.'40, and Mat.'46 were built. In 1939 the Dutch railways celebrated their 100-year anniversary with two postage stamps, one representing the first locomotive ("Arend"), and the other the Beijnes-built Mat.’36.
World War II.
The company's history during World War II is a tale of ever-increasing economic distress. The war put an end to international travel (aside from what the German occupying forces desired) and the DE line including the new DE 5, which was designed in 1942-1944 together with Werkspoor in Utrecht and Allan in Rotterdam, could not be exploited. Together with other hardships of war, including the hunger winter, the company declined.
After the war, the company moved the entire factory in 1950 to Beverwijk, where the company had its own train station for workers. It recovered somewhat from the damages of war and with the introduction of the new model ELD 4 in 1956 (called the "hondekop" because the nose looked like the head of a dog), the company was able to see some successful years, though the decline had already set in. In 1959 the company was taken over by Verenigde Machine Fabrieken (VMF) and in 1963 the factory closed after the last model DE 140 was delivered.


Dutch Tilders

Dutch Tilders (29 August 194123 April 2011), born Mattheus Frederikus Wilhelmus Tilders, anglicised as Matthew Tilders, was a Netherlands-born Australian blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. He performed and released material as a solo artist and also issued a blues-rock album with Kevin Borich, "The Blues Had a Baby and They Called It Rock'n'Roll" (November 1980). He has toured with John Mayall (1974), Brownie McGhee (1976, 1980s), and Taj Mahal (1986, 1990s). Tilders was diagnosed with oesophageal and liver cancer in May 2010 and died on 23 April 2011, aged 69. In May 2012 "Australian Guitar" magazine listed him in the top 40 on their Definitive Australian Guitarists of All Time.
Biography.
Dutch Tilders was born on 29 August 1941 as Mattheus Frederikus Wilhelmus Tilders (anglicised as Matthew Frederick William Tilders) in Nijmegen, Netherlands. His father was Frederikus Theodorus Tilders (born 25 July 1913) and his mother was Cathiarina Maria (née Luermans, born 7 November 1909), his younger siblings are Wilhelmus B F (born 2 October 1942); Johanna C (born 30 May 1944); Frederikus T J (born 17 December 1945); Johannes B M (born 30 December 1947); and Bartholomeus (born 27 October 1951). From the age of ten, Tilders was a member of the local church choir, after his voice broke he sang baritone and falsetto, and joined his secondary school's choir.
The Tilders family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1955, aboard the SS "Fairsea". Frederikus worked as a furniture upholsterer. The family spent about a year at the Brooklyn Migrant Hostel, where Tilders worked in a local timber yard, before they moved to Frankston. As a child Tilders had sung choral music, but later he moved towards blues music, his first paying gig was on harmonica at Collingwood Town Hall at the age of 15, at a concert also featuring Johnny O'Keefe.
In 1959 Tilders bought his first guitar, to be able to accompany himself when playing in cafes around Melbourne. His early influences were Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi John Hurt and Blind Blake. In 1961 he recorded a 10" album at a friend's home studio. The following year he formed a duo with Shane Duckham on harmonica and they worked in the Sydney folk and blues circuit. During the mid-to-late 1960s Tilders performed less frequently.
In September 1970 Tilders appeared on TV talent show, "New Faces", and was signed by one of the judges, Ron Tudor, to his Bootleg Records label. Tilders released his self-titled debut album in 1972 with Brian Cadd producing and backing provided by members of Chain. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described the album, which "proved the man's mastery of the blues form. One side featured Tilders playing down-home Mississippi delta acoustic blues, the flip Chicago electric blues".
Tilders performed at Sunbury Pop Festivals in both January 1973 and the following year. Later in 1974 he toured the United Kingdom supporting John Mayall; he also issued a split album with fellow blues-folk artist, Margret RoadKnight, "Australian Jazz of the 70s Vol. 5 The Blues Singers". "The Canberra Times"s Michael Foster described Tilders' contributions "[he] takes side one with a selection of eight blues, all but one his own work. Like Miss Roadknight he sings the basic, 12-bar blues and like her he gets well into the feeling and expression which gave birth to the form and feeling of the blues".
In the next year he used a backing band of Phil Colson on guitar (The Foreday Riders); Keith Dubber on trumpet and flugel horn; Rick Lock on drums (The Foreday Riders); John Power on bass guitar (Company Caine) and Don Reid on saxophone. They recorded his following album, "Break". Tony Catterall for "The Canberra Times" noted his style "ranges from the intimate blues-in-a-smoke-filled-café-late-at-night feeling of 'Diddie Wa Diddie' and 'Just a Dream' ... to the sheer "happy picking" of his own '21st Birthday Rag'". "I'm a Mean Mistreater" was issued as a single from the album.
In 1976 Tilders supported tours by US blues duo, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and then by B.B. King. At their first gig King heard Tilders from backstage but had not seen him, King assumed that he was black and expressed surprise when the two were introduced. For Tilders' next album, "Working Man", he used a backing band of Jim Conway on harmonica (The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band); Ray Arnott on drums, John Dubois on bass guitar, and Kerryn Tolhurst on mandolin and dobro (all from The Dingoes); and Jeff King on dobro (The Foreday Riders).
Julie Meldrum of "The Canberra Times" felt he "confirms his position as the top blues performer in Australia. He continues to show his remarkable talent, which has already earned him recognition from Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee ... [he] has added a rustic flavour which makes his style more accessible than before". In February 1977 the album provided a single, "Goodnight, Irene", which is a cover version of the Lead Belly 1933 blues standard.
In March 1978 he appeared on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV series, "Rocturnal", following Richard Clapton. "The Canberra Times"s Bradley Wynne was impressed by Clapton and felt the "second best feature of the show was the mellow electric blues guitar" of Tilders "with that whisky Leadbelly voice". In January the following year Tilders recorded a direct to disc album, "Direct", which appeared in May – it was the second Australian album issued using that process. He used a backing group of Conway with Bob Bertles on alto and soprano saxophones and Peter Howell on bass guitar with Lee Simmonds producing.
Luis Feliu's favourable review in "The Canberra Times" finds "Direct" has "a few instrumental [tracks], a couple of romping boogie rockers and some soothing blues stories. His style is studied, synthesised from that of the old masters". He compared it positively with work by Ry Cooder, Leon Redbone and Leo Kottke, where Tilders has "a strong faith in his music that gives blues lovers in Oz faith in him".
During the late 1970s, Tilders also fronted bands such as the Elks, the Cyril 'B' Bunter Band, and Mickey Finn. Tilders had formed a friendship with McGhee, who considered Tilders a genuine bluesman. McGhee was also collaborator and close friend of Big Bill Broonzy and the affinity between Tilders and McGhee led to several combined tours of Australian during the 1980s, generally accompanied by Conway. In 1980 his backing band was the R&B Six, which included Mick Elliott on guitar; Charley Elul on drums; Peter Frazer on saxophone; Dave Murray on bass guitar and vocals; and Suzanne Petersen on flute and vocals. Tilders and Petersen co-wrote "Tell Me How to Stop the Rain".
In August 1980 Tilders worked with Kevin Borich on lead vocals and lead guitar, and his backing group The Express, to record another direct to disc album, "The Blues Had a Baby and They Called It Rock'n'Roll", as a blues-rock crossover. The Express line up were Michael Deep on bass guitar and John Watson on drums; they were joined in the studio by Bertles on saxophone.
"The Australian Women's Weekly"s Susan Moore described the album, which was issued in November, as "a vibrant blend of gruff, bluesy vocals and shivering, evocative guitar". Borich told Moore that the recording process meant "[i]f you blow the last note, you have to go back and start all over again ... We didn't want a clinical sound, we wanted a completely live feeling". The ensemble issued a single, "Bad Books", in April 1981. In June that year Tilders opened for Scottish comedian, Billy Connolly.
In September 1986, and again during the 1990s, Tilders toured with Taj Mahal. In 1986, Tilders formed Dutch Tilders & The Blues Club with Martin Cooper on lead guitar; Winston Galea on drums and Barry Hills on bass guitar. In 1990, Cooper left the Blues Club and was replaced by Geoff Achison on lead guitar. In April 1990 they issued an album, "The Blues Is My Life", which Foster noted displayed Tilders' "rough-edged voice and guitar, traditional blues from the darker side of life, but with a sometimes dour humour. Also that year Tilders helped establish the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society (MBAS) and later became its patron. Dutch Tilders and The Blues Club followed with a live album, "Live at the Station", in 1993, which was recorded at a gig at the Station Tavern and Brewery in Prahran in January.
In 1994 his backing band were The Holey Soles with Ian Clarke on drums; Anthony Harkin on harmonica; and Hills on bass guitar. The line up changed to Clarke; Peter Howell on bass guitar; and Luke Keoh on harmonica. By 1996 he had formed the Dutch Tilders Band with former band mates, Galea and Hills, joined by Greg Dodd on guitar. In 1998 he issued his next album, "I'm a Bluesman", which was produced by Hills and included guest musicians: Steven Cepron on harmonica; Winston Galea on drums; Warren Hall on piano; David Lowry on guitar; Mick O’Connor on Hammond organ; and Suzanne Tilders on backing vocals.
Tilders later worked with The Legends Band. During the 2000s he issued three more albums, "One More Time – Live at St Andrews" (2001), "Highlights of Bob Barnard's Jazz Party" (2003) and "Mine & Some I Adopted" (2005). Tilders described his concept for the latter album, "[t]he idea was to show-case what I love to do best, playing solo, without the restrictions of an ensemble". He categorised his style of music "[s]ome of it is not strictly blues but it has the basis of that genre. I like to think that the listener gets a good feeling and doesn't take me too seriously. I'm a little irreverent at times but tongue in cheek".
In November 2009 Tilders performed at The Bridgetown Blues Festival, in Western Australia, front-lining "The Legends" tour of with seminal Australian Blues performers: Matt Taylor (harmonica, guitar & vocals); Barry "Little Goose" Harvey (drums); Martin Cooper (lead guitar); Bob Patient (keyboards)
In October 2010, Tilders reunited with Martin Cooper & Winston Galea from the Blues Club to perform at the 21st annual Wangaratta Festival of Jazz. The following month he joined Barbara Blue, the "Queen of Memphis Blues", on her Australian tour. Tilders curated a compilation album, "Going on a Journey. Anthology of 50 Great Years Playing the Blues", in 2010. On 23 April 2011 Matthew "Dutch" Tilders died, aged 69.
On 30 October 2019, Dutch Tilders was the first blues musician inducted into the Blues Music Victoria Inc Hall of Fame.
Personal life.
Dutch Tilders married four times, and has two sons. His son Sonny Tilders is an animatronics artist, known for his work as a creative director for the Creature Technology Company. Sonny was born to Tilders' wife Loma, a school teacher, however the couple separated when Sonny was a child and Dutch had little contact with Sonny during his upbringing. Tilders' other son Sam has a different mother. Tilders' solo album, "Working Man" (December 1976), was dedicated to Sonny and Sam Tilders.
In May 2010 Tilders' manager, Lynne Wright, announced that he had been diagnosed with oesophageal and liver cancer (although incorrectly reported in the media to be lung cancer). Tilders wrote and recorded "Going on a Journey" after learning of his diagnosis, it became the title track of his final album. In July that year a benefit concert was held with a line up of Tilders, Chain, Kevin Borich Express, Chris Finnen, Steve Russell, Geoff Achison, Lloyd Spiegel, Stevie Page, and Jeannie Lushes Band. He retired from performing in January the following year due to the illness and ongoing treatment.
On 23 April 2011 Matthew "Dutch" Tilders died, aged 69. Tilders was dubbed the "Godfather of Blues" in Australia, he is survived by two sons and four siblings. Suzanne Petersen issued "Fine as Wine" in July 2011 as a tribute to Tilders. In May 2012 "Australian Guitar" magazine listed Tilders in the top 40 on their Definitive Australian Guitarists of All Time.


History of Stockholm

The history of Stockholm, capital of Sweden, for many centuries coincided with the development of what is today known as Gamla stan, the Stockholm Old Town. Stockholm's "raison d'être" always was to be the Swedish capital and by far the largest city in the country.
Origins.
The name 'Stockholm' easily splits into two distinct parts – Stock-holm, "Log-islet", but as no serious explanation to the name has been produced, various myths and legends have attempted to fill in the gap. According to a 17th-century myth the population at the viking settlement Birka decided to found a new settlement, and to determine its location had a log bound with gold drifting in Lake Mälaren. It landed on present day Riddarholmen where today the Tower of Birger Jarl stands, a building, as a consequence, still often erroneously mentioned as the oldest building in Stockholm. The most established explanation for the name are logs driven into the strait passing north of today's old town which dendrochronological examinations in the late 1970s dated to around 1000. While no solid proofs exists, it is often assumed the Three Crown Castle, which preceded the present Stockholm Palace, originated from these wooden structures, and that the medieval city quickly expanded around it in the mid 13th century. In a wider historical context, Stockholm can be thought of as the capital of the Lake Mälaren Region, and as such can trace its origin back to at least two much older cities: Birka (c. 790–975) and Sigtuna, which still exists but dominated the region c. 1000–1240 — a capital which has simply been relocated at a number of occasions.
Middle Ages.
The name Stockholm first appears in historical records in letters written by Birger Jarl and King Valdemar dated 1252. However, the two letters give no information about the appearance of the city and events during the following decades remain diffuse. While the absence of a perpendicular city plan in medieval Stockholm seems to indicate a spontaneous growth, it is known German merchants invited by Birger jarl played an important role in the foundation of the city. Under any circumstance, during the end of the 13th century, Stockholm quickly grew to become not only the largest city in Sweden, but also the "de facto" Swedish political centre and royal residence. Thus, from its foundation, Stockholm has been the largest and most important Swedish city, inseparable from and dependent on the Swedish government. However, as late as the 16th century, reigns of Kings Eric XIV and John III, whose Swedish government often travelled with them elsewhere (see below), the city was still not what could be called a national capital in modern terms.
During the Kalmar Union (1397–1523), controlling Stockholm was crucial to anyone aspiring to control the kingdom, and the city was consequently repeatedly besieged by various Swedish-Danish factions. In 1471, Sten Sture the Elder defeated Christian I of Denmark at the Battle of Brunkeberg only to lose the city to Hans of Denmark in 1497. Sten Sture managed to seize power again in 1501 which resulted in a Danish blockade lasting 1502–1509 and eventually a short peace. Hans' son Christian II of Denmark finally conquered it in 1520 and had many leading nobles and burghers of Stockholm beheaded in the so-called Stockholm Bloodbath. When King Gustav Vasa finally besieged and conquered the city three years later, an event which ended the Kalmar Union and the Swedish Middle Ages, he noted every second building in the city was abandoned.
By the end of the 15th century, the population in Stockholm can be estimated to 5,000–7,000 people, which made it a relatively small town compared to several other contemporary European cities. On the other hand, it was far larger than any other city in Sweden. Many of its inhabitants were Germans and Finns, with the former forming a political and economic elite in the city.
During the Middle Ages, export was administered mostly by German merchants living by the squares Kornhamnstorg ("Grain Harbour Square") and Järntorget ("Iron Square") on the southern corner of the city. Regional peasantry supplied the city with food and raw materials, while the craftsmen in the city produced handicrafts, most of whom lived by the central square Stortorget or by the oldest two streets in Stockholm, the names of which still reflects their trade: Köpmangatan ("Merchant Street") and Skomakargatan ("Shoemaker Street") in the central part of the city. Other groups lived by the eastern or western thoroughfares, Västerlånggatan and Österlånggatan.
Early Vasa era.
After Gustav Vasa's siege of Stockholm, he restored the privileges of the city which was beneficiary to the burghers of the city. The king maintained his control over the city by controlling the elections of aldermen and magistrates. By the mid-century, the numbers of officials increased in order to make the management of the city more professional and to ensure the state-controlled trade. Stockholm thus lost much of the independence it had had during the Middle Ages and became politically and financially bound to the state. During the reign of his sons (1561–1611), the city council remained escorted by a royal representative and both magistrates and aldermen were appointed by the king.
Gustav Vasa invited the clergyman Olaus Petri (1493–1552) to become the city secretary of Stockholm. With the two side-by-side, the new ideas of the Protestant Reformation could be quickly implemented, and sermons in the church were held in Swedish starting in 1525 and Latin was abolished in 1530. A consequence of this development was a need for separate churches for the numerous German and Finnish-speaking citizens and during the 1530 the still-existent German and Finnish parishes were created. The king was, however, not favourably disposed to older chapels and churches in the city, and he ordered churches and monasteries on the ridges surrounding the city to be demolished, together with the numerous charitable institutions.
Because Stockholm had a city wall, it was exempted from the tax paid by other Swedish cities. During the reign of Gustav Vasa the city's fortifications were reinforced and in the Stockholm Archipelago, Vaxholm was created to guard the inlet from the Baltic. While the medieval structure of Stockholm remained mostly unaltered during the 16th century, the city's social and economic importance grew to the extent that no king could permit the city to determine its own faith – the most important export item being bar iron and the most important destination Lübeck. During the reign of Vasa's sons, trade led many Swedes to settle in the city, but the trade and the capital needed to control it was largely in the hands of the king and German merchants from Lübeck and Danzig. Throughout the era, Sweden could hardly claim the level of government and bureaucracy requisite to a capital in the modern sense, but Stockholm was the kingdom's strongest bastion and the king's main residence. As Eric XIV's pretensions were on par with those of Renaissance princes on the continent, he afforded himself the largest court his finances could possibly support, and the royal castle was thus the biggest employer in the city.
Around 1560–80, most of the citizens, some 8.000 people, still lived on Stadsholmen. This central island was at this time densely settled and the city was now expanding on the ridges surrounding the city. Stockholm had no private palaces at this time and the only larger buildings were the castle, the church, and the former Greyfriars monastery on Riddarholmen. The surrounding ridges, unable to boast a single timber framed building, were mostly used for activities that either required a lot of space, produced odours, or could cause fire. Even though some burghers had secondary residences outside the city, the population living on the ridges, perhaps a quarter of the city's population, were mostly poor, including the royal personnel occupying the ridges north of the city.
Great Power era.
Following the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Sweden was determined never to repeat the embarrassment experienced following the death of Gustavus II Adolphus (1594–1632) when Stockholm, still medieval in character, caused hesitation on whether to invite foreign statesmen for fear the lamentable appearance might undermine the nation's authority. Therefore, Stockholm saw many ambitious city plans during the era, of which those for the ridges surrounding today's old town still stands. In accordance to the mercantilism of the era, trade and industry was concentrated to cities where it was easier to control, and Stockholm was of central importance. In a letter in 1636, Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna (1583–1654) wrote that evolving the Swedish capital was a prerequisite for the nation's power and strength and that this would bring all the other cities on their feet. Increased state intervention on city level was not unique to Sweden at this time, but it was probably more prominent in the case of Stockholm than anywhere else in Europe. To this end, the government of the city was reformed and the former volunteered magistrates gradually replaced by professionals with a theoretical education.
Population and city plans.
The process of reshaping Stockholm was initiated by a major fire in 1625 which destroyed the south-western part of today's old town. As a result, two new boulevard-like streets were created — Stora Nygatan and Lilla Nygatan — and along the eastern waterfront the medieval wall was replaced by a row of prestigious palaces — Skeppsbron.
For the ridges surrounding the city – Norrmalm, Östermalm, Kungsholmen, and Södermalm – new city plans were worked out to create wide and straight artery streets. The project was implemented so thoroughly, in several parts of the city no traces exist of the previous medieval structures. Many of the streets from this era are still extant, and some of those proposed have been realised with some minor modifications.
The population grew from less than 10,000 in the early 17th century to more than 50,000 in the mid-1670s.
The city's income rose from 18,595 daler in 1635–36 to 81,480 daler in 1644. In 1642, approximately 60 per cent of that sum was spent on construction works.
Trade.
Other Swedish cities were deprived of their export privileges by the so-called "Bothnian Trade Coercion" ("Bottniska handelstvånget"). Most Swedish cities were granted a trade monopoly over a limited surrounding area, but for Stockholm most of the lands surrounding the Gulf of Bothnia formed part of the city's trade territory. However, the state-granted monopoly was not the only thing that favoured Stockholm at that time. It was one of the best natural harbours of the era and throughout the 17th century, countless foreign visitors marvelled at the sight of large ships "with 60 or 70 cannons" moored along the eastern quay next to the royal castle.
In contrast with other Swedish cities, all of which were self-supporting, Stockholm was completely dependent of the transit passing through the city—it had, for example, about the same number of domestic animals as Uppsala, which only had ten per cent the population of the capital. All goods brought into Stockholm had to pass through one of six customs stations, and approximately three-fourths of them were exported from the city. Half of the remaining items, mostly fishery products, were delivered from the Baltic, and corn came from the Lake Mälaren region. However, during the latter half of the century, the rapidly growing capital could not be supported by the Lake Mälaren region alone and therefore became dependent on corn imported from the provinces.
Sweden had played a passive role in international trade during the 16th century; German merchants and ships managed the export of Swedish primary products such as osmond iron, raw copper, and butter. This export was largely regarded as a means of securing the import of items not available in Sweden, such as salt, wine, and luxury goods demanded at the court. With the introduction of a mercantile doctrine around 1620, trade became a keystone to governmental income and the Swedish economy subsequently focused on export, not of raw materials, but of refined products. Over the entire period (c. 1590–1685), Stockholm's share of the national economy remained stable at around two-thirds, but during the first half of the 17th century, export grew fourfold and import fivefold. Most goods were delivered to the Netherlands in the mid-17th century and to the UK in the early 18th century.
In the 17th-century, the textile industry was developed with the establishments of the textile manufactures "Paulinska manufakturerna" (active 1673–1776) and the "Barnängens manufaktur" (active 1691–1826), which became two of the greatest sources of employments in the Swedish capital during the entire 18th-century.
Age of Liberty (1718–1772).
Following the Greater Wrath and the Treaty of Nystad in 1722, Sweden's role as a major European power was over, and the decades that followed brought even more disasters. Black death and the sufferings caused by the Great Northern Wars made Stockholm the capital of a shrinking nation, despair which would deepen even further when Sweden lost Finland in 1809. Notwithstanding Sweden's partial recover of spirit with the union with Norway in 1814, during the period 1750–1850, Stockholm was a stagnating city, with a dwindling population and widespread unemployment, marked by ill-health, poverty, alcoholism, and rampant mortality. The Mälaren region lost in influence to the benefit of south-western Sweden, and as population and welfare dwindled in the capital, there was a leveling of social classes. Wars and alcohol abuse resulted in a surplus of women during the period, with widows outnumbering widowers six to one in 1850. Stockholm was marked by an absence of children, caused by the number of unmarried people and high infant mortality. Average length of life was limited to 44, but those who survived infancy were likely to get about as old as people do today, except those born to a life of hard labour.
A stratification into three social groups can be made for this era :
Women were associated with their husband's status. However, as craftsmen saw their status sink with the introduction of industrialism, the proletarian class grew during the period. There also was an economic segregation in the city, with the present old town and the lower parts of Norrmalm being the wealthiest (more than 150% above average); the suburbs (today part of central Stockholm) were poor (50% below average).
During the 18th century, the Mercantile model introduced the previous century was further developed, with domestic production promoted by loans and bounties and import limited to raw materials not available in Sweden by tolls. The era saw the rise of the so-called "Skeppsbro Nobility" ("Skeppsbroadeln"), the wealthy wholesalers at Skeppsbron who made a fortune by delivering bar iron to the international market and by controlling the chartered companies. The most successful of them was the Swedish East India Company (1731–1813) which had its headquarters in Gothenburg, but was of significant importance to Stockholm because of the shipbuilding yards, the trade houses, and the exotic products imported by the company. Furthermore, before these ships left Stockholm some 100–150 men per ship were recruited, most of them in the city, and as a single trip to China would take 1–2 years the company had a huge impact on Stockholm during this era.
During the 18th century, several devastating fires destroyed entire neighbourhoods which resulted in building codes being introduced. They improved fire safety by prohibiting wooden buildings and further embellished the city by implementing the 17th-century city plans. In the old town, the new royal palace was gradually completed and the exterior of the Storkyrkan church was adopted to it. The skilled artists and craftsmen working for the royal court formed an elite which considerably raised the artistic standards in the capital.
Gustavian era (1772–1809).
During the enlightened absolute monarchy of Gustav III Stockholm managed to maintain its role as the political centre of Sweden and developed culturally.
The king had a great interest for the city's development. He created the Gustav Adolf square and had the Royal Opera inaugurated there in 1782 — in accordance to the original intentions of Tessin the Younger for a monumental square north of the palace. The façade of Arvfurstens palats on the opposite side is identical to the now replaced façade of the opera.
The neoclassical bridge Norrbro, designed by Erik Palmstedt (1741–1807) and was completed in ten years. It was a very ambitious project that caused the centre of the city to gradually move out of the medieval city.
The colourful and often burlesque descriptions of Stockholm by troubadour and composer Carl Michael Bellman are still popular.
The period ended as King Gustav IV Adolf was deposed in 1809 in a coup d'état. The loss of Finland that same year meant Stockholm ceased to be the geographical centre of the Swedish kingdom.
Early industrial era (1809–1850).
For Stockholm, the early 19th century meant the only larger-scale projects to be realised were those initiated by the military which favoured a more stiff classicism, the local Swedish version of the Empire style (in Sweden named "Karl Johansstil" after King Charles XIV John). The architects dominating the era, Fredrik Blom and Carl Christoffer Gjörwell, both were commissioned by the military. Due to the general stagnation, few other constructions were realised — in average ten smaller residential buildings per year — additions which the ambitious city plans of the 17th century could easily handle.
During the later half of the 18th century real income dwindled to reach an all-time low in 1810 when it corresponded to roughly half that of the 1730s; public officials being those worst affected. Norrköping became the greatest manufacturing city of Sweden and Gothenburg developed into the key trading port because of its location on the North Sea.
Most people still lived within the present Old Town, with a growth along the eastern shore. Population also grew on the surrounding ridges, more so in the wealthy district Norrmalm and less so in the poor district Södermalm. However, many of the ridges surrounding the city were slums mostly rural in character without water and sewage and frequently ravaged by cholera.
Late industrial era (1850–1910).
In the second half of the century, Stockholm regained its leading economic role. New industries emerged, and Stockholm transformed into an important trade and service centre, as well as a key gateway point within Sweden.
While steam engines were introduced in Stockholm in 1806 with the Eldkvarn mill, it took until the mid-19th century for industrialization to take off. Two factories, Ludvigsberg and Bolinder, constructed in the 1840s were followed by many others, and the economic development that succeeded resulted in some 800 new buildings being constructed 1850–70 — many of which were located in the Klara district and subsequently demolished in the Redevelopment of Norrmalm 1950–70.
During the 1850s and 1860s, gas works, sewage, and running water was introduced. Many streets were paved, including Skeppsbron and Strandvägen, and the railway brought Stockholm closer to continental Europe — an event which additionally lead to the creation of the first suburb Liljeholmen where railway workshops were located. As the railway was extended further north, Stockholm Central Station was inaugurated in 1871. The first horse-pulled trams were introduced in 1877. Long before the railway, steam engines became common on boats which resulted in many summertime residences being built around Stockholm. But the booming urban development was also notable in central Stockholm where several prominent Neo-Renaissance buildings were built, including the Academy of Music and Södra Teatern.
In 1866, a commission led by Albert Lindhagen produced a city plan for the ridges ("malmarna") designed to offer citizens light, fresh air and access to Swedish nature by mean of parks and plantations. To this goal, he proposed a system of esplanades culminating in Sveavägen, a 2 km long and 70 m wide boulevard inspired by Champs Elysées. 1877–80 new city plans were finally passed for central Stockholm, which made the city well-prepared for the major expansion that followed. During the 1880s more than 2.000 buildings were added on the ridges and the population grew from 168.000 to 245.000. At the end of the century, less than 40 per cent of the residents were born in Stockholm.
While this demand for housing was mostly dealt with by private entrepreneurs who built on pure speculation, street width and building heights were strictly regulated by the new city plans which ensured the city that evolved was given a uniform design. A trend initiated by the Bünsow House at Strandvägen, the 1880s saw many monumental brick buildings evolve, including Gamla Riksarkivet and the Norstedt Building on Riddarholmen. Before the end of the decade, most new buildings were equipped with electricity and telephones were increasingly common. During the 1890s, the Neo-Renaissance plaster architecture was replaced by structures in brick and natural stone, largely inspired by French Renaissance architecture. Around what still was factories outside the customs of Stockholm, shacks whose sanitary conditions defied all description evolved. Before the end of the century, however, these were transformed into municipal societies, which facilitated regulation of health and construction, and by the turn of the century, the expansion had continued far beyond the city limits, with villa suburbs initiated by individuals adding a mix of purely speculative structures and more qualitative ambitions. The new century saw the introduction of Art Nouveau with the Central Post Office Building by Boberg (1898–1904) and Neo-Baroque with the Riksdag (1894–1906). Throughout the 1910s, trams were electrified and cars were rolling on the streets of Stockholm.
During this period, Stockholm further developed as a cultural and educational centre. In the 19th century, a number of scientific institutes opened in Stockholm, for example the Karolinska Institutet. The General Art and Industrial Exposition, an international exhibition of World's Fair status, was held on the island of Djurgården in 1897.
20th century.
In the late 20th century, Stockholm became a modern, technologically advanced and ethnically diverse city. Throughout the century, many industries shifted away from work-intensive activities into more high-technology and service-industry knowledge-based areas.
The city continued to expand and new districts were created, some with high proportions of immigrants. Meanwhile, the inner city (Norrmalm) went through a criticised as well as an admired wave of modernisation in the post-war period, the Redevelopment of Norrmalm, securing the city's geographical center as the political and business center for the future.
In 1923 the Stockholm municipal government moved to a new building, the Stockholm City Hall. The Stockholm International Exhibition was held in 1930. In 1967 the city of Stockholm was integrated into Stockholm County.


Passchier de Fijne

Passchier de Fijne (also Paschier and also Fyne) (Leiden, January 31, 1588 – Haarlem buried there October 27, 1667) was a Netherlands pastor and writer. He was one of the first pastors of the Remonstrant Brotherhood. Because of his forbidden preaching on the ice of the river Gouwe at Gouda he was also called "the kingfisher".
Biography.
De Fijne was a son of the cloth worker Paschier de Fijne and Maaike Couwerts who fled from the Southern Netherlands. Initially, he followed in his father's footsteps and became a cloth worker. He did not study at a theological faculty, but was trained in this profession by two pastors, among whom Cornelis Damman from Ouddorp.
After having been examined by the "Classis" Brielle, he obtained permission to exercise the office of minister. However, he would first return to his native city of Leiden. There he developed sympathy for the supporters of the theologian Arminius in the early days of the Twelve Years' Truce (1609–1621) and took sides with the Remonstrants.
In 1611 he was appointed as a minister in Jaarsveld because of his Remonstrant disposition. During the synod of Dordrecht he refused to give up his views. He was expelled from the region, but went into hiding. He continued to preach on behalf of the Remonstrant Brotherhood, founded in 1619. Because preaching was forbidden to him by the government, he traveled in disguise across the country and preached in various shelters. In the winter, he preached on the ice of the Gouwe river near Gouda, for which he owes his nickname "the kingfisher". In "Goudsche Onkatolijke kerkzaken "this is described by Ignatius Walvis as follows:
In the vicinity of Gouda he was hunted by the bailiff and heretic hunter Anthony Cloots and in the vicinity of Leiden he was hunted by the bailiff Willem de Bont. In a raid by Cloots during an illegal church service of De Fijne, Cloots was so attacked by the churchgoers that he had little chance of success.
De Fijne made contact with the Collegiants in Rijnsburg, a movement led by Elder Gijsbert van der Kodde. Attempts on his part to bring them to the Remonstrant Brotherhood were shipwrecked. After the death of Maurice of Orange in 1625, the climate for the Remonstrants gradually calmed down. After his period as a traveling preacher, he was confirmed in 1633 as a Remonstrant preacher in Haarlem.
De Fijne wrote many books and pamphlets in which he defended the views of the Remonstrants. In his pamphlets he regularly used the "dialogue" as a means to highlight his views. In his polemic with the minister of The Hague Casper Streso he performed a "peat farmer" in conversation with a "minister". For the Remonstrant foreman Eduard Poppius he wrote a preface to his posthumous 1625 "Cort ende grondich bericht", directed against the Gomarists.
De Fijne married Machtelt Jans Bouchout on February 19, 1612 in Leiden. He died in October 1667 at the age of 79 in Haarlem. He was buried in the Grote Kerk, Haarlem.


Bernard Arps

Bernard Arps, Professor of Indonesian and Javanese Language and Culture at Leiden University, Netherlands, was born in 1961 in Leiden.
Biography.
Arps teaches in the Department of Languages and Cultures of Indonesia at Leiden University. He also chaired this department in the years 1995, 1999–2000, and 2003–2006. Earlier, he was a lecturer in Indonesian and Javanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London from 1988 to 1993. He also served as Fellow-in-Residence at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences in 2001–02, a Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Asian Studies and the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University during the first half of 2005, and the Netherlands Visiting Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan in 2006–07.
Arps wrote his thesis in 1992, entitled "Tembang in Two Traditions. Performance and Interpretation of Javanese Literature".
Arps, in association with Annabel Teh Gallop, produced a bilingual photographic catalogue of Indonesian manuscripts, "Golden letters: writing traditions of Indonesia" ("Surat Emas: Budaya Tulis di Indonesia" in Indonesian).
Since 1979 Arps spent four years on fieldwork in Indonesia, in the regions of Surakarta and Yogyakarta in central Java, Banyuwangi on the eastern tip of the island, and Cilacap on the south coast. He has also edited works on performance and texts, and articles on Javanese and Indonesian dramatic, literary, religious, scholarly, and media discourse.


Antoinette van Hoytema

Antoinette van Hoytema (1875-1967) was a Dutch painter.
Biography.
Hoytema was born on 6 December 1875 in Delft. She studied with Henk Bremmer. She was a member of the "Federatie van Verenigingen van Beroeps Beeldende Kunstenaars (Amsterdam)", ', and Kunstenaarsvereniging ". Hoytema's work was included in the 1939 exhibition and sale "Onze Kunst van Heden" (Our Art of Today) at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Hoytema died on 30 September 1967 in The Hague.


Second courtyard of Prague Castle

The second courtyard is one of four at Prague Castle, in Prague, Czech Republic. It features Kohl's Fountain.


Jan Abel Wassenbergh

Jan Abel Wassenbergh (18 January 1689, Groningen – ca. 20 July 1750, Groningen), was an 18th-century painter from the Northern Netherlands.
Biography.
According to Jan van Gool and the RKD he first studied law and then took drawing lessons from Jan van Dieren (of whom Van Gool had never heard of). Meeting with success, Wassenbergh travelled to Rotterdam in 1712 where he became a pupil of Adriaen van der Werff. He married Johanna van Oijen after returning to Groningen in 1715, and became quite successful as a portraitist, history painter and room decorator (making ceiling, over-the-mantel pieces and doorway decorations for the nobility of the town). Many of his room decorations still survive in their original installations.
Their daughter Elisabet Geertruda, and son Jan Jr followed their father, while daughter Gertruida Abelia was good at fruit and flowers.


Marriage pendant portraits by Frans Hals

The following are pendant portraits by Frans Hals painted on the occasion of a marriage or marriage anniversary. This list is a subset of the list of paintings by Frans Hals, showing the marriage portraits side by side.


Imarex ASA

Imarex ASA also known as the Imarex Group is a Norwegian company that operates a number of services related to shipping management including the futures exchange International Maritime Exchange (Imarex), the Norwegian Futures and Options Clearing House (NOS) and the commodity exchange Fish Pool. The group was created in 2006 when Imarex and NOS merged, under the name Imarex NOS. In 2007 the group changed its name to Imarex ASA. The two primary owners are Frontline (15%) and DnB NOR (14%). The group also provides brokerage services within carbon emission trade and energy trade.


Pieter Celie

Pieter Celie (born 1942 in Eindhoven) is a Dutch artist
Biography.
Pieter Celie (born Theodor Geert van de Built) was born in Eindhoven in 1942, son of the photographer Bernardt van de Built. Celie trained his artistic skills in the Eindhoven’s Academy for Industrial Design (1967–1969) and later in the Antwerp’s National Institute for the Arts. Since the beginning he mixed several media in a personal style, working both as a sculptor, draftsman, painter, designer and photographer. His work is highly influenced by Pop art and exhales the artist’s sense of humour, constituting a playful corpus of life-size wooden figures, colourful paintings with inserted strings, and evocative collages of photographs and drawings.
He founded the artistic group Unknown Genius (Miskende geniën)in his youth. His persona is polemical since already in 1969 he went on a trial for the scandal that his piece "Twenty penis" created; in 1976 the artist remained by mistake 22 days in jail and the sequel appeared in 1999 when he executed the piece "Groeten uit Sint-Gillis" (1999) evocating his stay in jail.
The artist has been actively exhibiting his work between Belgium and the Netherlands, in prestigious art centers like the Fine Arts Palace in Brussels, the Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, the Boymans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam and the Krabbedans and the Museum Kempenland in Eindhoven. His creations integrate the collections of important instances like the Dutch State, the Belgian State and the Museum of West-Flanders. He does currently live in Antwerp, Belgium.