Home Meraseine Ottoman Review

Home Meraseine Ottoman Feature

• It’s easy to put your feet up and take a break with this handsome outdoor ottoman
• Features styling traditional to indoor furniture with turned legs and thick cushion; cushion shell is 100% polyester; fill is 65% foam/35% polyester
• Finished in a durable, outdoor-grade polyurethane
• Made from Forest Stewardship Council Certified Shorea Wood
• 18.5Hx25Wx18D”
• Protective Qualities: Weather Resistant
• Finish: Satin
• Number of Pieces: 1
• Number of Seats: 0
• Includes: Ottoman
• Frame Material: Hardwood
• Textile Material: 100 % Polyester
• Fill Material: 35 % Polyester Fiber, 65 %
• Care and Cleaning: Wipe Clean With a Damp Cloth
• Warranty Description: 1 Year Limited Manufacturer Warranty
• Dimensions: Length: 25.2 “; Height: 18.5 “

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Mixture of architectural styles, with an emphasis on the Neo-Romanian order, in a grand 1920s country mansion from the Romanian province of Wallachia (©Valentin Mandache)

Romania has vast swathes of farming land, which were developed on a large scale starting with mid c19th once the Danube and the straits Bosphorus and Dardanelles waterways were freed from Ottoman control, allowing massive grain exports from the region to the industrial centres of Victorian Europe (see my article describing a Victorian barn from southern Romania built as part of that economic transformation). The local aristocrats and land owners administered their farms from impressive country mansions, called “conac” in Romanian, a word of Turkish origin (see a more extensive article about a typical such mansion: the Casota conac). The conacs were built in a variety of styles or mixture of styles, according to the money available and the fashion of the period from French fin de siècle to Neo-Romanian and Art Deco. The interesting example from the image above is from the village of Cornatelu in Wallachia and boasts mainly a Neo-Romanian architecture, typical of mid 1920s period with some French echoes, especially in the roof shape and ornaments. During the communist regime these mansions were confiscated from their owners and transformed in collective farm headquarters. Many of them were badly damaged, especially in the last 20 years of regime change in Romania, characterised by imperfect property legislation concerning the returning of property to the rightful owners. Some conacs are now on the market, but due to the huge property bubble of the last few years in Romania and immature market mentality of local property owners, have inflated, unrealistic prices, in many instances several times more expensive than c18th French châteaux or similar period properties from Italy.

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

I have a new website address for my bolg at www.historo.wordpress.com (domain name derived from ‘Historic Houses of Romania’), with an entirely new and dynamic look. I very much hope you will like the new format. All my old articles and images are also contained within the new site, so you should not have any problems in accessing them there. For one month between 1 Nov. ‘09 and 1 Dec. ‘09, I will post simultaneously, in order to avoid confusions and allow for a smooth transition, my forthcoming architectural history articles and images on both old (‘viapontica’) and new (‘historo’) sites. After that date www.historo.wordpress.com will become my sole active blog site dedicated to the Historic Houses of Romania.

Best regards,

Valentin

***********************************************

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

Mixture of architectural styles, with an emphasis on the Neo-Romanian order, in a grand 1920s country mansion from the Romanian province of Wallachia (©Valentin Mandache)

Romania has vast swathes of farming land, which were developed on a large scale starting with mid c19th once the Danube and the straits Bosphorus and Dardanelles waterways were freed from Ottoman control, allowing massive grain exports from the region to the industrial centres of Victorian Europe (see my article describing a Victorian barn from southern Romania built as part of that economic transformation). The local aristocrats and land owners administered their farms from impressive country mansions, called “conac” in Romanian, a word of Turkish origin (see a more extensive article about a typical such mansion: the Casota conac). The conacs were built in a variety of styles, according to the money available and the fashion of the period from French fin de siècle to Neo-Romanian and Art Deco. The interesting example in the image above is from the village of Cornatelu in Wallachia and boasts mainly a Neo-Romanian architecture, typical of mid 1920s with some French echoes, especially in the roof shape and ornaments. During the communist regime these mansions were confiscated and transformed in collective farm headquarters. Many were badly damaged, especially in the last 20 years of regime change in Romania, characterised by imperfect property legislation concerning the returning of property to the rightful owners. Some conacs are now on the market, but due to the huge property bubble of the last few years in Romania and immature market mentality of local property owners, have inflated, unrealistic prices, in many instances several times more expensive than c18th French châteaux or similar period mansions from Italy.

***********************************************

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

Herşey Bill Gates’in rüyasında bir çınar ağacı görmesiyle başlamıştı…

Ol maada sistem-ül amel mucidi Amerikanyalı Bill Gates ol Sultan-ı Devletlülerinin huzuruna çağrulub kendisine hediyeler ihsan edildi ve dahi müslümanlığı seçüb Bilal adını aldı. Şirketini Haliç kıyısında Sadabada yakın bir yere taşıyup tüm işsiz müslüman mühendislerini çalışturub en son sistem-ül amelini üretti.

Windows XP Ottoman Edition

* Sefere çıkma sihirbazı, kuşatma çözümleri istemi gibi programcıkları bulunur. burada kullanması en zevkli komut balkanları biçemledir.

* Program kurulumlarında karşınıza çıkan iletişim pencerelerinde “iki next, 1 previous” sistemi ilke edinilmiştir.

* İki sektör ileri, bir sektör geri çalışan scandisk ve disk defragmanter yüzünden bu tür bakım işleri saatler sürer.

* Yaklaşık yılda bir kez “Tanzimat Pack” yayınlanır üretici firma tarafından, işletim sisteminin açıkları yamanır.

* Diğer tüm işletim sistemlerinden (linux, beos gibi..) kendisi için yararlı olabilecek programları devşirme yoluyla kendi bünyesine katmasıyla daha da güçleneceği açık olan işletim sistemi.

* Firewall olarak Tiryaki Hasan Paşa 2.0 Kanije Edition kullanılır.

* Beraberinde gelen Yeniçeri Virüssken programında akinci opsiyonu ile viruslerin tespit edildikten sonra hilal opsiyonu ile yokedilebilecegi ya da vergiye bagla opsiyonu ile karantina altina alinabilecegi isletim sistemi.

* Bilgisayar yönetici hesabı ile guest hesapları katlettirebilirsiniz.

* Başlat yerine “yallah” yazan işletim sistemidir bu. Tıkladığınızda pisssssmi diye bir ses çıkarır.

*** Olası mesajlar şöyle olabilirdi.

* Windows yeni bir güncelleme ile temas halinde.Lakin güncelleme şeytan işi olabilir.Ehli keder windows’unuz şu yolları izleyecektir.
- Güncelleme nedir ne değildir bilinmemekte devletlüm, bilinir kılmak için microsoft corp’a tez elçi salına.
- Elçi dönmez ise savaş ilan edile,sistem kendi kendini çökerte.
- Windows fetva-reader’dan mevzuat alına.

* Program yanıt vermiyor: Devletlüm, Viyana elçisi yine işin bokunu çıkarmış… Fitneleyip duruyor ne var ne yoksa Devlet-i Ali Osmaniyye’de… Ne emredersiz?
Çeviri: “Bu microsoft ineği, makinede ne var ne yok; ötüp duruyor ameriga’daki micro ve soft’un server’ına ne yapalım?”

Tiz giderile:
Çeviri: “Bre cahil! control+alt+del müessesesini bilmiyor musun, a a.. goduum? kelleni mi uçurayım, yoksa sen bu windows’dan başka bir işletim sistemi bulacak mısın memleketi yönetmek için?”

Devletlüm, bu ipneler işin bokunu çıkarmışlar… Korsan gemilerimiz ne zaman Akdeniz’e açılsa haberleri oluyor…
Çeviri: “Korsan windows kullanıyoruz; ama ne zaman ki inter-birleşmiş milletlere bağlanıyoruz; alet anında ötüyor… Öyle task manager’la falan çözülmüyor olay… Demek hakikaten var bir ipnelik bunlarda…”

Padişah: “o halde, tiz İbrahim Müteferrika buluna ve açık kaynak koda geçile….”

* İbadullah muhit (çoklu ortam) ile idare-i izzet’e (güç yönetimi) teftiş rahlesinden (denetim masası) vasıl olabileceğiniz nizam. Size şunları da söyleyebilir:
- Bu düzenek beyhude amel icra etti; örtülecek. Mutasarruf düzeneklerde emniyete alınmamış vesikanız var ise emniyete almadığınız tafsilatınız sırra kadem basacak.
- Müsvedde-i halef’in (arkaplan) manzarasını mübadele etmek içün şekil musannifine (dosya) seyir edin.

* Levazım tenekesi tahliye-i bertaraf edülsün mü? şeklinde geri dönüşüm kutusu boşaltma uyarısı olurdu.

* defterdar: registry
misal: “devletlum, defterdar’a göre, zahiri tapu kayıtları, ol sizinkilerle mukayese edilende bir takım menfi neticeler hasıl oldu. imdi bu ülke 15 saniye içünde boşaltulub tekrar zapt eylenecek. eğer zapt eylenemezse, yeniçeri ağasına danışıla.”

* iç oğlanı: spyware
misal: “zahiri bab-ı ali’de olan biteni, iç oğlanları, halayıklarla bir olup, frenklere jurnallemektedirler.
tiz giderile? evet hayır”

* uyarı: bizans imparatoru online oldu
seçenekler: güvercin gönder, elçi gönder, ordu gönder

uyarı: bir elçi alındı
seçenekler: haberi al, kafasını kesip geri gönder, cevap yaz geri gönder

*** Bazı önemli dosyaların isimleri de şu şekilde olurdu

fatih32.dll (shell32.dll)
hezarfen.exe (explorer.exe)
yıldırım.exe (rundll32.exe)
mevlana32.dll (kernel32.dll)
deliibrahim.dll (msvcrt.dll)
çelebimehmet.exe (defrag.exe)
kanuni.com (format.com)
evliyacelebi.exe (iexplore.exe

Destanlasanosmanli.tr.gg

Historic houses of Romania collage (©Valentin Mandache)

I composed the image above from 60 selected photographs taken during my fieldwork this year, mostly in Bucharest, but also Iasi (NE Romania) and Sinaia (the Transylvanian Alps). In my opinion the collage is extremely suggestive of the exuberant historic architecture found within the territory of Romania: a peculiar crossroad of Western, especially French, and Central European influences blended together on a Balkan background with old Ottoman echoes. I hope the pot-pourri of houses, decorations and ornaments, often painted in garish colours, would give you a more wholesome image of the vast field represented by Romania’s historic architecture. I also use a version of this collage for my Twitter page background, have a look here: http://twitter.com/historo

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

I have a new website address for my bolg at www.historo.wordpress.com (domain name derived from ‘Historic Houses of Romania’), with an entirely new and dynamic look. I very much hope you will like the new format. All my old articles and images are also contained within the new site, so you should not have any problems in accessing them there. For one month between 1 Nov. ‘09 and 1 Dec. ‘09, I will post simultaneously, in order to avoid confusions and allow for a smooth transition, my forthcoming architectural history articles and images on both old (‘viapontica’) and new (‘historo’) sites. After that date www.historo.wordpress.com will become my sole active blog site dedicated to the Historic Houses of Romania.

Best regards,

Valentin

***********************************************

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

Historic houses of Romania collage (©Valentin Mandache)

I composed the image above from 60 selected photographs taken during my fieldwork this year, mostly in Bucharest, but also Iasi (NE Romania) and Sinaia (the Transylvanian Alps). In my opinion the collage is extremely suggestive of the exuberant historic architecture found within the territory of Romania: a peculiar crossroad of Western, especially French, and Central European influences blended together on a Balkan background with old Ottoman echoes. I hope the pot-pourri of houses, decorations and ornaments, often painted in garish colours, would give you a more wholesome image of the vast field represented by Romania’s historic architecture. I also use a version of this collage for my Twitter page background, have a look here: http://twitter.com/historo

***********************************************

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

RUSH:  By the way, ladies and gentlemen, have you heard the news?  Have you heard the news, ladies and gentlemen?  A lawyer for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has announced that he will plead not guilty.  “The five men facing trial in the 9/11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of US foreign policy,” the lawyer for one of the defendants said yesterday.  “Scott Fenstermaker…” That’s a great name for a guy taking on these guys. “Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but ‘would explain what happened and why they did it.’”  It’s exactly as I told you: The United States will be on trial.  Eric Holder knows it.  Barack Obama knows it.  It’s being done on purpose.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed knows it and he’s happy about it.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was in the recording studio over the weekend. The lawyer’s got him in there.  We have it exclusively on the EIB Network.  KSM doing Sinatra.

AMERICA’S TIMELINE

(playing of KSM singing “New York, New York” parody)

RUSH:  And there you have it, exclusively on the EIB Network: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s New York, New York. That’s another brilliant piece by “white comedian” Paul Shanklin.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: George in Chicago, welcome to the EIB Network.  Hello.

CALLER:  Rush, thanks for taking my call.  I appreciate it.  While there have been a number of issues I’d love to come and talk to you about there’s one particular thought I wanted to get into today, most recently over a period of time you’ve discussed this a number of times, and that is: Why do some Americans hate America?  What could possibly be an explanation?  I’ve got a certain take on it.  While I don’t necessarily agree with the explanations, these might be considered possible explanations.  Now, there’s a good and a bad aspect to these explanations.  First of all –

RUSH: Wait a second.  You don’t agree with what you’re going to just now say?

CALLER:  I don’t agree with the explanations.  They is reasoning I’m going to give you for those that I think are America haters, but I believe this is some of their reasoning.  Basically there are some who are simply embarrassed and self-conscious about America’s success and influence.  America, as we are about to now celebrate, our recollection, has a foundation of being a very modest country in general, not being a particularly braggadocios one for the most part.  And I think the haters take this foundation to an absurd, misguided, and extreme extent in an effort to apologize for our success.  So here a good basic underlying reasoning is convoluted and taken to really stupid and irrational extensions just to help them justify the haters; justify their own, I guess, self-consciousness.  What do you think of that, as at least a possible explanation for some?  Because, other than that, I can’t think of any rational explanation.

RUSH:  So it’s psychological?

CALLER:  Yeah.  Yeah.  There are people who feel self-conscious. There’s a history in America of essentially being a modest country, and yet there are those who are self-conscious about it they feel they have to go to extremes — like a Michael Moore — to find negativism and to apologize for our successes.  And I think it’s just a good basic foundation taken to an excessive extent.

RUSH: What…? Who’s…?  Are you saying the haters have a good basic foundation, or you talking about the country?

CALLER:  The country does and I think the haters, they pick up on. There’s a basic, underlying foundation in America that everybody knows — even the haters know about — and they feel self-conscious; and it’s part of, essentially, liberals: There’s a great self-consciousness that feels they have to go to an opposite extreme, move the pendulum over to offset it.

RUSH:  Yeah, okay. Self-consciousness, guilt.

FIRST AMERICAN WAR WAS AGAINST ISLAM – OTTOMAN EMPIRE 1815

Barbary Pirates Were Islamic Fascists

CALLER:  Yeah.

RUSH:  Constantly thinking about themselves.

CALLER:  Yeah.

RUSH:  Personalizing everything. When they hear a politician say, “The world hates us,” they think they’re personally hated and they want to show, “No, no! Don’t hate me. I’m a good person. I agree with you: This country sucks.”

CALLER:  Right. Right. Agreed.  Because what else could be an explanation for those who, you know, exhibit this kind of activity?

RUSH:  Well –

CALLER:  I think that way underlying there’s something inherent.  I’ve never heard anybody explain this this way.

RUSH:  It depends on how you want to define “rational.”  I would contend to you that there are plenty of otherwise rational people who hate the country because of ideology.

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.  Mmm-hmm.

RUSH: They’re just socialists, communists or whatever –

CALLER:  Oh, yeah!  Oh, yeah!

RUSH:  — and they do not like the concept of individual liberty and freedom.  And these are people who have given us modern-day academia. They have given us political correctness.  Political correctness is simply liberal censorship so that they don’t have to hear what they don’t want to hear, and so that you can’t say what you really want to say.  That’s all political correctness is, and it’s got us by the throat.  Today, people who do not conform to politically correct approaches in saying things — a person like myself — look at what is said about these people.  Extremist, racist, bigot, sexist, homophobe. So the greatest casualty with liberalism, the greatest casualty in political correctness is truth — and that, then, as we’re witnessing, leads to an erosion of freedom.

BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: There’s also trouble on the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial front.  Have you heard about this?  Germany does not believe in the death penalty.  Germany will probably not, therefore, cooperate.  They hold a lot of the evidence of these guys who masterminded 9/11. Remember Al-Qaeda had a safe house in Germany, and since Obama has gone out there and Holder has gone out there and said, “We’re going to seek the death penalty,” the Germans are saying, “That’s a big problem for us.  We may not feel comfortable here in sharing the evidence that we have with you.”  It’s also from Der Spiegel:  “The Death Penalty Problem — 9/11 Trial Puts German-US Relations Under Strain.”  I’ll tell you who’s not under any strain right now, ladies and gentlemen, that would be himself, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.  He went into the recording studio over the weekend. His lawyer says he’s gonna plead not guilty because he wants to put the US on trial, exactly as I said, and now the Germans may not cooperate over death penalty issues.   (playing of KSM “New York, New York” parody song) RUSH:  I know, I know. I know we’re going to hear about it.  Don’t worry about, folks.  There’s an answer, as there always is for everything done on this program.

Since the Ottoman royal harems were filled with women from both the Mediterranean and the Baltic – Italian families even casting their daughters on the Adriatic to be picked up by the sultan’s sailors — my Turkish husband jokes he finally brought me back to Istanbul where I belong.

I don’t know, in the span of history and forgotten connections of family, anything’s possible. My Lithuanian family name, echoing a town and river on today’s Belarus border, also sounds a lot like the imperial Turkish bloodline of Osman.

As a fourth generation immigrant, I’m so far removed from who and where I come from I’m visited by ghost urges from genes and culture long ago severed. Today I post at expat+HAREM, the global niche about how the mysteries of our extended lineage often crop up as synchronicity, wanderlust, and quirks of taste.

For instance, why does this Northern California girl raised on turkey burgers crave the beet soup borscht? When I feel kinship with my Ukrainian, Estonian, Jewish, Italian and Greek friends, what do their wide brows or brown eyes, their stoicism or talkative personality, remind me of? Do they mirror the mix that is me?

What ethnic or regional mystery reverberates in you?

Veranda of a late 1920s house in Aviatorilor area of Bucharest inspired from traditional Bulgarian architecture. (©Valentin Mandache)

The traditional Bulgarian architectural style (a term by which I mean a traditional Bulgarian architectural framework on which are also grafted Greek, Turkish, and other Balkan motifs), was popular in the whole region of the northern Balkans during the times when these lands were part of the Ottoman empire until the 2nd half of c19th. Wallachia, the southern province of Romania, where Bucharest is located, was influenced by this type of architecture, especially in its market towns, where traders from all over the Ottoman Balkans met to exchange goods. Many of them got established in the Wallachian towns and built mansions in this style familiar throughout the region. With the onset of modernisation on European lines in late c19th Romania, this style was identified as belonging to the Ottoman past and consciously replaced by West European looking ‘Little Paris’ style buildings (what I call the Romanian provincial imitations of French architectural styles of that period) and by the emergent patriotic Neo-Romanian style (which itself borrows heavily from old Balkan architecture). Just a handful of traditional Bulgarian and Ottoman style buildings survive in modern Bucharest. The one presented in the photograph above is a rare inter-war rendering of that  style and gives a glimpse of how Bucharest used to look more than one and a half centuries ago, during the times of the Ottoman dominion.

***********************************************

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

Veranda of a late 1920s house in Aviatorilor area of Bucharest inspired from traditional Bulgarian architecture. (©Valentin Mandache)

The traditional Bulgarian architectural style (a term by which I mean a traditional Bulgarian architectural framework on which are also grafted Greek, Turkish, and other Balkan motifs), was popular in the whole region of the northern Balkans during the times when these lands were part of the Ottoman empire until the 2nd half of c19th. Wallachia, the southern province of Romania, where Bucharest is located, was influenced by this type of architecture, especially in its market towns, where traders from all over the Ottoman Balkans met to exchange goods. Many of them got established in the Wallachian towns and built mansions in this style familiar throughout the region. With the onset of modernisation on European lines in late c19th Romania, this style was identified as belonging to the Ottoman past and consciously replaced by West European looking ‘Little Paris’ style buildings (what I call the Romanian provincial imitations of French architectural styles of that period) and by the emergent patriotic Neo-Romanian style (which itself borrows heavily from old Balkan architecture). Just a handful of traditional Bulgarian and Ottoman style buildings survive in modern Bucharest. The one presented in the photograph above is a rare inter-war rendering of that style and gives a glimpse of how Bucharest used to look more than one and a half centuries ago, during the times of the Ottoman dominion.

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

I have a new website address for my bolg at www.historo.wordpress.com (domain name derived from ‘Historic Houses of Romania’), with an entirely new and dynamic look. I very much hope you will like the new format. All my old articles and images are also contained within the new site, so you should not have any problems in accessing them there. For one month between 1 Nov. ‘09 and 1 Dec. ‘09, I will post simultaneously, in order to avoid confusions and allow for a smooth transition, my forthcoming architectural history articles and images on both old (‘viapontica’) and new (‘historo’) sites. After that date www.historo.wordpress.com will become my sole active blog site dedicated to the Historic Houses of Romania.

Best regards,

Valentin

***********************************************

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

By 667 BC, a Greek ruler by name of Byzas, from Megara, established his kingdom here, on the advice of an oracle of Delphi, and named it Byzantium. But it was besieged by the Romans in AD 196, and became part of the Roman Empire. The ravaged city was rebuilt by the Roman Emperor, Septimus Severus, and temporarily given the name of ‘Augusta Antonina’. But in 306 AD, Emperor Constantine the Great made Byzantium the capital of the entire Roman Empire, and from then on, the city was called Constantinople. The Byzantium Empire was more or less influenced by Greek culture, and was also a hub of Greek Orthodox Christianity, which resulted in the construction of several magnificent Christian architectural wonders, the prominent among them being the Hagia Sophia, which remained the world’s largest cathedral till 1850.

The Roman Empire passed through much turmoil due to attack from various sources, especially the Barbarians, not to mention their internal problems, and finally, in 532 AD, during the reign of Justinian I, the city was totally destroyed due to anti government riots. Though much favored for its ideal location, that made trade and transport between continents an easy affair, this very factor also proved to be the doom of Constantinople. For several hundred years hence, it had to face a lot of assault from the Arabs, Nomadic, Persians, as well as the Fourth crusaders, who periodically occupied it.

At last, in 1453, Constantinople was attacked and conquered by the courageous Ottoman Turks led by Sultan Mehmet II, who renamed it Istanbul. It continued to function not just as an important cultural, political and commercial hub, but also as their main centre for military operations too, till World War I, after which it was occupied by the Allies.

Sultan Mehmet II was supposed to have given the city a cosmopolitan social outlook. After deporting the remaining Byzantine population, a great many changes were made to the existing architecture in general. The old world Christian city was gradually transformed into a Muslim conurbation as the Emperor started rebuilding all churches so as to convert them to mosques. The great mosque and the Fatih College were built on the old burial grounds of the erstwhile Byzantine Emperors at the Church of the Holy Apostles. The Hagia Sophia too was converted to a mosque. But to his credit, the Sultan held a cosmopolitan outlook and for the greater part, allowed people of all faiths to settle in the vast city, and made effective use of their varied skills. Tolerance was a great virtue that was practiced by Sultan Mehmet II, and it was reflected all over the empire.Istanbul acquired a status of great importance in the eyes of all Muslims, after the conquest of Egypt, and its glory increased from leaps and bounds in the hands of its various rulers, many of whom were great patrons of art and architecture.

Although the capital of Turkey was changed from Istanbul to Ankara by Kemal Ataturk, in 1923, Istanbul still retained its attractions and continued to expand majestically. But gradually, due to the mass exodus of the various nationalities, especially after the war between Greece and Turkey, it became a prominent Muslim nation.

The many historic monuments of yesteryears, that are to be found there, like the various museums, castles, palaces, mosques, churches, etc contribute greatly to the increase in the tourism industry today. In fact, many of its historic architectures have been added to the UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites. Though no more a capital city, Istanbul, which is considered to be Turkey’s cultural and financial center, still retains its old world attraction and continues to generate its own individual history through out the ages.

sumber: http://www.hagia-sophia.net/history.htm

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia

The living room runs along the opposite side of the house from the carport. This is the view from the carport door, past the kitchen peninsula, and into the living room. The windows behind the couch are visible from the exterior here and here.

The living room is embarrassingly IKEA-fied, but I love every bit of it. It was also a great solution to furnish a room with stuff we liked in time for our first round of visitors, who arrived two days after we moved in. The sofa is an IKEA Karlstad loveseat in Linneryd natural with a chaise add-on unit. The ottoman is an IKEA Karlstad footstool with a cover that I can’t find online. The end tables are the IKEA Stockholm side table in white/golden brown. They’re topped with Lykta table lamps in white. I love the Lykta lamps because they’re made of 100% glass–base, shade, everything is glass!

This is the fireplace, made with the same brick as the chimney visible from the exterior. I would love to replace the fireplace surround. It seems super ’80s compared to the rest of the house. I’m kind of into the concrete hearth, though. The rattan chair is the IKEA Vibbyn, which we got on clearance right before they stopped making it.

From the floor-to-ceiling window next to the fireplace, you can see straight through the master bedroom at the back of the house, out a similar floor-to-ceiling window, and into the blue spruce in the back yard. I hate the fact that the wood paneling on the wall at the left is painted brown. I really wish it were still natural, like it is in the guest cabin (that part of the tour is coming soon).

Next to the sofa is the “front” door, which is opposite the door from the kitchen to the living room, with the coat closet next to it.

The coat closet and the door from the kitchen to the living room are examples of the sliding interior doors in the house. Of the 12 interior doors in the house, ten of them are sliding. (The two standard doors don’t have adjacent walls with sufficient space to slide away.) I think it’s a great solution for a small house with narrow hallways.

This is what the kitchen door looks like closed. It reveals the wall that is hidden behind the door when it’s open.

Next up is the very exciting utility room.

Peacock motif Neo-Romanian style window, late 1920s house in Eroilor area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

The early medieval peacock decorative motif, inspired from biblical stories, was used with predilection in both Byzantine and western Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture. The Eastern Christian lands of the Balkans that come under the rule of the Ottoman empire continued to use this type of decoration until modern times. That was more evident in the architecture of church and monastery assemblies from the area of the former principalities of Wallachia and Moldova, the core of modern Romania, which benefited from a higher degree of freedom and religious expression derived from their status as Ottoman protectorates at the frontier of the Sultan’s Caliphate with the enemy empires of Austria and Russia. The modern Neo-Romanian architectural style has borrowed the peacock motif in its decoration register, and the results are exquisitely beautiful houses built especially in the time interval between the end of the Great War and early 1930s. The window in the photograph above is just one such example, where the pair of peacocks on the pediment are presented feeding from a grape among grape leaves and vines, signifying the biblical Garden of Eden, and its modern correspondent in the abundance of that plant and wine industry in modern Romania. That message of plenty and luxuriant vegetation is also wonderfully emphasized in this photograph by the tree branches from the rich garden surrounding this Neo-Romanian style house.

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

I have a new website address for my bolg at www.historo.wordpress.com (domain name derived from ‘Historic Houses of Romania’), with an entirely new and dynamic look. I very much hope you will like the new format. All my old articles and images are also contained within the new site, so you should not have any problems in accessing them there. For one month between 1 Nov. ‘09 and 1 Dec. ‘09, I will post simultaneously, in order to avoid confusions and allow for a smooth transition, my forthcoming architectural history articles and images on both old (‘viapontica’) and new (‘historo’) sites. After that date www.historo.wordpress.com will become my sole active blog site dedicated to the Historic Houses of Romania.

Best regards,

Valentin

***********************************************

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

Peacock motif Neo-Romanian style window, late 1920s house in Eroilor area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

The early medieval peacock decorative motif, inspired from biblical stories, was used with predilection in both early medieval Byzantine and western Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture. The Eastern Christian lands of the Balkans that come under the rule of the Ottoman empire continued to use this type of decoration until modern times. That was more evident in the architecture of church and monastery assemblies from the area of the former principalities of Wallachia and Moldova, the core of modern Romania, which benefited from a higher degree of freedom and religious expression derived from their status as Ottoman protectorates at the frontier of the Sultan’s Caliphate with the enemy empires of Austria and Russia. The modern Neo-Romanian architectural style has borrowed the peacock motif in its decoration register, embodied in exquisitely beautiful houses built especially in the time interval between the end of the Great War and early 1930s. The window in the photograph above is just one such example, where the pair of peacocks on the pediment are presented feeding from a grape among grape leaves and vines, signifying the biblical Garden of Eden, and its modern correspondent in the abundance of that plant and wine industry in modern Romania. That message of plenty and luxuriant vegetation is also wonderfully emphasized in this photograph by the tree branches from the rich garden surrounding this Neo-Romanian style house.

***********************************************

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

The modern nation building process in the Romanian lands started in the first half the c19th, a time of intense search for roots in the romantic ancient and medieval past. The Danubian Principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia), the core of future Romania, were for more than five centuries part of the Ottoman realm  and the recovery of a nearly forgotten European national identity made that national soul searching even more poignant. Many among the upper classes, the aristocrats and merchants (the principalities did not have any industry at that time), began to proudly display through symbols or in crude western style architecture their supposed connections with the old grand families of Europe. Most of these were pure fiction, like the much touted supposed connection of the Romanian aristocracy with the medieval Venetian and Genovese nobility that in c13th and c14th set up trading towns in the area along the Danube and the Black Sea shore. Others were keen to emphasize equally dubious connections with the French or German aristocracy. That interesting period left traces in some of the city’s architectural decorations, especially in the coat of arms proudly displayed on roof panoply moldings placed above the doorways of the aristocratic and merchant houses. The image above shows such an interesting coat of arms from a house which most probably belonged to a merchant in the Regina Maria area, at that time located on the outskirts of old Bucharest. The finish is very crude and models a Renaissance style panoply, but nevertheless is very picturesque and conveys the atmosphere of a bygone era of incipient nation formation in this region of the Balkans.

Dear Historic Houses of Romania readers,

I have a new website address for my bolg at www.historo.wordpress.com (domain name derived from ‘Historic Houses of Romania’), with an entirely new and dynamic look. I very much hope you will like the new format. All my old articles and images are also contained within the new site, so you should not have any problems in accessing them there. For one month between 1 Nov. ‘09 and 1 Dec. ‘09, I will post simultaneously, in order to avoid confusions and allow for a smooth transition, my forthcoming architectural history articles and images on both old (‘viapontica’) and new (‘historo’) sites. After that date www.historo.wordpress.com will become my sole active blog site dedicated to the Historic Houses of Romania.

Best regards,

Valentin

***********************************************

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

Aristocratic coat of arms that belonged to Costache-Boldur family (info provided by Mr. Gabriel Badea Paun) placed within a Renaissance inspired panoply on the roof above the doorway of the family house, dated sometime in the first half of c19th, Regina Maria area, Bucharest (©Valentin Mandache)

The modern nation building process in the Romanian lands started in the first half the c19th, a time of intense search for roots in the romantic ancient and medieval past. The Danubian Principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia), the core of future Romania, were for more than five centuries part of the Ottoman realm  and the recovery of a nearly forgotten European identity made that national soul searching even more poignant. Many among the upper classes, the aristocrats and merchants (the principalities did not have any industry at that time), began to proudly display through symbols or in crude western style architecture, in a city which in that period boasted mostly provincial Balkan Ottoman architectural styles, their supposed connections with the old grand families of Europe. Most of these were pure fiction, like the much touted supposed connection of the Romanian aristocracy with the medieval Venetian and Genovese nobility that in c13th and c14th set up trading towns in the area along the Danube and the Black Sea shore. Others were keen to emphasize equally dubious connections with the French or German aristocracy. That interesting period left traces in some of the city’s architectural decorations, especially in the coat of arms proudly displayed on roof panoply moldings placed above the doorways of the aristocratic and merchant houses. The image above shows such an interesting coat of arms from a now ruined house in the Regina Maria area, at that time located on the outskirts of old Bucharest. The finish is very crude and models a Renaissance style panoply, but nevertheless is very picturesque and conveys the atmosphere of a bygone era of incipient national consciousness among the grand families of this region of the Balkans.

***********************************************

I endeavor through this daily image series to inspire appreciation of the historic houses of Romania, a virtually undiscovered, but fascinating chapter of European architectural heritage.

***********************************************

If you plan acquiring a historic property in Romania or start a renovation project, I would be delighted to advice you in locating the property, specialist research, planning permissions, restoration project management, etc. To discuss your particular plan please see my contact details in the Contact page of this weblog.

Libnanews – Myrna Naoum – Ghazieff

Peut-on tenir le pays des cèdres à l’écart, le soustraire à son environnement?

Même si nous le voulions, nous ne pouvons arracher le Liban à son appartenance régionale sans risquer d’en altérer les racines voire les endommager irrémédiablement.

Avant la défaite de l’ « homme malade » qu’était l’empire Ottoman et la création « du Grand Liban », nos villes faisaient partie des provinces de l’empire en question, au même titre que les villes syriennes et palestiniennes entre autres. Il n’est pas étonnant donc de retrouver, hors des frontières libanaises aujourd’hui, en Syrie, en Palestine, en Jordanie ou en Irak des personnes portant le même nom. A l’époque un commerçant beyrouthin père de six ou sept enfants et pour le développement de son entreprise envoyait ses fils s’établir à Haïfa, à Damas… Cet exemple, à priori anodin, prouve à lui seul l’existence d’un lien qu’on ne peut défaire, le lien de sang.

Advint ensuite l’époque glorieuse de la colonisation -que l’Europe associe trop au progrès civilisateur pour que l’on trouve quelque chose de répréhensible dans le fait d’aller coloniser  des provinces ottomanes- où les anglais et les français se partagèrent le gâteau, certains ont même été jusqu’à prétendre que la création du grand Liban dans ses frontières actuelles, la proclamation de son indépendance, avaient un but bien précis, celui de paver la route pour ce qui allait devenir quelques années plus tard Israël*. Malgré la partition de ce qui fut « la grande Syrie » subsistent aujourd’hui encore, des similitudes sociologiques, des intérêts politiques et vitaux communs aux anciennes provinces ottomanes. Le communautarisme et le confessionnalisme figurent en bonne place au « hit parade », au grand jour au Liban, tapis dans l’ombre en Syrie et en Irak par la force des régimes au pouvoir. (Suite à la chute du régime en Irak, nous assistons à l’émergence du confessionnalisme et à la guerre fratricide qui en découle. Les communautés palestiniennes sont elles, restées à l’abri, unies dans leur lutte, ne connaissant qu’un éclatement d’ordre politique pour l’instant).

Quelles sont les menaces réelles qui pèsent sur le Liban?

La première menace qui attend le Liban au tournant est bien une menace qui vient de l’intérieur. Dès la naissance, ce Liban indépendant a déjà développé un cancer congénital qui finira par l’anéantir ou à défaut le maintenir dans un statu quo qui le fragilise et l’empêche de s’élever au rang d’une nation. Le communautarisme ou plus spécifiquement le confessionnalisme joue un rôle néfaste quant à la fragile cohésion nationale et il est certes très étonnant que le pays n’ait pas sombré dans le chaos même s’il frise cela de très près à tout moment.

L’incapacité d’une réelle entente nationale, les déchirements que le Liban a connus et connaît encore depuis son accession à l’indépendance (les évènements de 1958 et de 1975 à nos jours avec leurs rebondissements à titre d’exemple), le regard de ses communautés vers un extérieur salvateur chaque fois que le pays traverse une crise interne sont autant de preuves du non fonctionnement du Liban en tant qu’Etat – Nation et qui l’exposent encore plus, indubitablement, à une autre menace qui vient de l’extérieur cette fois, la menace israélienne.

La menace israélienne

Les visées israéliennes sur le Liban sont bien antérieures à l’existence de l’OLP ou du Hezbollah. A une époque où aucun diplomate israélien n’était attaqué, où aucun « terrorisme » ne menaçait la Galilée, l’invasion du Liban était depuis longtemps programmée dans le calendrier des annexions sionistes (1). David Ben Gourion dit très clairement : « Il ne s’agit pas de maintenir le statu quo. Nous avons à créer un Etat dynamique, orienté vers l’expansion » (2). Moins de six ans après la fondation de l’Etat d’Israël en 1948 et comme pour confirmer les griefs arabes dénonçant un « expansionnisme congénital » du jeune état, apparut parmi les dirigeants israéliens une volonté farouche d’envahir le Liban pour y faire régner un « ordre nouveau » (cette démarche ressemble étrangement à la volonté de créer « un nouveau Moyen-Orient » planifié depuis longtemps par les Etats-Unis d’Amérique et proposé en 2006) et s’approprier les territoires situés au Sud du Litani. En 1937 déjà, Ben Gourion traçait les frontières d’Israël à coup de références bibliques. Selon lui la terre d’Israël devait regrouper cinq régions. Le Sud du Liban jusqu’au fleuve Litani, qu’il appelle « la partie Nord de l’Israël Occidental », le Sud de la Syrie, la Transjordanie (la Jordanie actuelle), la Palestine, qu’il appelle « le territoire du Mandat Britannique » et le Sinaï; la frontière Nord devait passer à la latitude de Homs en Syrie parce qu’il l’identifiait à la ville de Hama (toujours en Syrie), qui marque, dans les nombres (XXXIV, 1-2-8) la frontière Nord de Canaan (3).

Fait surprenant, survenu après la mort de Ben Gourion, c’est l’étrange « coïncidence » entre les révélations de Moshé Sharett (1) sur l’implication de Ben Gourion en 1954-1955 dans le « projet de l’invasion du Liban » et l’invasion effective de celui-ci en juin 1982, l’opération « Paix en Galilée », suivie la même année par le tristement célèbre massacre de Sabra et Chatila commis par les Forces Libanaises à l’instigation des forces israéliennes sur place et sous leur supervision. Sans oublier l’invasion du Sud Liban le 14 Mars 1978, nom de code « opération Litani », 1993, les bombardements intensifs durant sept jours de l’armée israélienne au Liban sud. 1996, l’opération « Raisins de la colère » contre le Liban, bilan : 98 civils réfugiés dans le camp de l’ONU de Cana sont tués et enfin l’agression du Liban de juillet 2006. Cette menace ne cesse de planer. Israël use de tous les stratagèmes afin de la mettre à exécution. Un réseau d’espionnage est maintenu au sein des terres libanaises et revendiqué avec fierté par les autorités israéliennes, des tirs d’obus disparates ne faisant jamais de victimes et que personne ne revendique, depuis le sud Liban visant des villages du Nord d’Israël, des accusations contre la résistance libanaise et une vaste campagne de propagande dans le but de lui ôter toute crédibilité et accélérer son effritement, et le plus spectaculaire est le tout récent acte de piraterie israélien dans les eaux internationales. Au regard de ces indicateurs, une nouvelle agression du Liban semble tout à fait probable et imminente. Une attaque éclair qui, malgré son impact, (elle ne manquera pas encore une fois d’être désastreuse pour le pays des cèdres) arrangerait « tout le monde ». La reprise des négociations pour la paix entre israéliens et palestiniens est au point mort. Les Etats-Unis et Israël semblent tergiverser quant à une éventuelle attaque contre  l’Iran. Un « exutoire libanais » viendrait à point pour les sortir de l’impasse.

Les menaces syrienne et iranienne ?

Au lendemain de l’attentat contre l’ancien premier ministre libanais, Rafik Hariri, la Syrie fut immédiatement pointée du doigt à l’intérieur du pays comme au niveau international, avant même que des preuves matérielles ne viennent étayer ces accusations, l’affaire étant toujours en cours d’étude. Diabolisée et mise au ban des nations, la Syrie fut contrainte de retirer ses troupes du Liban.  Les autorités syriennes sont actuellement fort occupées à se « refaire une image » sur le plan international et rien ne laisse entrevoir une volonté d’implication dans le bourbier libanais pour l’instant, si ce n’est la crainte de certaines parties libanaises exaspérées par le comportement des troupes syriennes pendant les vingt neuf dernières années de leur présence « intra muros » avant leur retrait.

Il n’existe pas de  précédent  annonciateur d’une quelconque volonté d’agression du Liban par l’Iran. La menace de ce dernier est perçue cependant  par les pays arabes, hormis la Syrie qui s’en est fait un allié ponctuel, comme prenant une envergure régionale. Les pays arabes dont le « rayonnement » est tragiquement en veilleuse, craignent en effet de voir leur rival perse devenir le seul défenseur de leurs causes.  Les autorités iraniennes ont actuellement « d’autres chats à fouetter » et sont aux prises avec la communauté internationale concernant le dossier nucléaire qui suscite une grande polémique mondiale.

Au regard de ce qui précède, il incombe au Liban la responsabilité de procéder dans l’urgence à la formation d’un gouvernement d’union nationale, de pacifier les esprits et les débats, la menace qui rôde est à prendre au sérieux.