When the holidays come around, my mind immediately wanders back to the days our family gathered around my grandparent’s dining room table with a huge plate of steaming lutefisk set upon it.  My grandmother was from German descent, but my grandfather came directly from Sweden as a young boy.  So, my grandmother learned to cook the Scandinavian fish delicacy for the family.  We always ate it on potatoes with white gravy.  That is just the way it came.  I was told that it was because we are Swedes and that it was the only proper way to eat it.

My grandfather, Walter, took pride in finding lutefisk fresh in the Ballard, Washington, markets.  Ballard is a city just north of the city of Seattle, across the Lake Union canal, and sports more than its fair-share of Pacific Northwest Scandinavians.  My grandmother, Evelyn, took pride in complimenting the seasonal foods with all things Scandinavian – yulekake, krumkake, rosettes, lefsa, and kringla.

Now, lutefisk lovers all over the world have suffered ridicule at the hands of non-lutefisk eaters.  I do not know why there is such animosity towards us.  So, to better garner mutual understanding and perhaps greater dialogue on such culinary subjects, I offer below the recipe for cooking lutefisk from “Our Favorite Grange Recipes,” which was compiled and edited by the Home Economics Committee of the California State Grange with Gladys True as Chairperson and printed in 1965 by the Record of Yolo County:

• Saw dried imported Lutefisk (a North Atlantic cod fish) into 3 parts.

• Clean thoroughly and place in a wooden bowl or pail.

• Add water to cover and set in a cool place for 5 to 6 days.  Change water each day.

• Remove fish and thoroughly clean wooden bowl.

• Make a solution of water, lime, and ashes and allow to stand overnight.

• Drain off clear liquid and pour over soaked fish.  Set in a cool place for 7 days.

• When fish is soft, remove from solution, scrub bowl well and soak fish for several days in cold clear water.

• Cook in boiling salted water at simmering temperature for about 20 minutes.

• Drain well and serve.

NOTE:  The Norwegians serve the fish with melted butter; the Swedes serve it with white or mustard sauce.  Allow 1/3 pound per person.

And that is just for the first piece of lutefisk!  Two things are made very, very clear when reading this recipe.  First, preparing and cooking lutefisk takes a lot of forethought and planning.  There is a good three weeks before one could eat this delicacy.  Also, I would like to humbly point out, this obviously takes a higher than average level of intelligence.  Secondly, at the end of the process, the cook has a very clean bowl.

I have recently lived in another lutefisk eating haven of North America. It is the Red River Valley of the North.  The beautiful thing about living there is that virtually every truck stop and restaurant serves lutefisk for the holidays.  Why, one could eat out at a different restaurant every night of the week from Thanksgiving until Christmas and have lutefisk every night!  It is obvious that this truly is the place of “Walhalla” – “the valley of the gods.”  These people are blessed.  Truly blessed by the divine.

Walhalla, Pembina Gorge, North Dakota ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

I consider myself to be a fortunate man to have such a rich heritage and life experience.  I am thankful that I live in the United States of America.  This is a rich and bountiful land filled with people from all over the world.  These holidays allow us to give thanks and celebrate the religious background that helped us attain such blessings.

However, if you are like me, as we enter into the holiday seasons, it is much too easy in the hustle and bustle to forget that gratitude and appreciation should be the greatest marks of the season.  Somehow this gets lots in the midst of frantic Christmas shopping, Thanksgiving meal planning and cooking, company Christmas parties, family gatherings, and decorating.  The greatest challenge to all of us is to not let the overindulgence of our materialistic society numb us to all that we are blessed with in this world.  I want to gently caution you as I remind myself:  Do not forfeit your future as collateral for fulfillment today with material goods that fade so quickly away into a closet, storage unit or Goodwill bin.

Americans seem to think that God will wink at our gluttony and overindulgent materialism in the face of the rest of the world’s needs.  I think we are wrong.  I believe we will be judged as a nation by how we treat the hungry, poor, naked and immigrant in the rest of the world.  Our expanded waistlines as well as overstuffed closets and storage units testify against us like the blood of Abel crying out from the ground.  How can we have and enjoy so much when so many have so little?

I want to challenge all my friends to consider the food you eat and the things you purchase in light of eternity and your eternal reward.  My family, for example, gave Christmas money this year to Gospel for Asia to help purchase a goat for a needy family.  This goat will provide milk and cheese for a long time.  We did this to remind ourselves how blessed we truly are in this world.  There are plenty of local and global ministries that help the poor and downtrodden.  I would recommend visiting the website adventconspiracy.org to get more ideas.  I challenge you to remember these ministry efforts in your giving during this season.  Remember what Jesus said, “In as much as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me”.  Now, there is something that will last much longer than three-week old soaked lutefisk.

©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

Post-Christmas blues hit us around January when the credit card bills start arriving from the post office.  A few of us experienced them early from the NSF notices from our bank.  Add these to the extra pounds our bathroom scale reveals to us and it painfully reminds us that we over did it again this year.

The problem with Christmas expenses is that they come with very good intentions and feelings.  We want to display our love through the things we buy.  Somehow, new socks and underwear doesn’t say “I love you” to our children as much as an iPod or cellular phone.  Can you get away with buying Tupperware or vacuum bags for your Sweetie instead of the Macy’s outfit or Zales jewelry she’s been ogling the last couple of months?  I don’t think so!

Why is it that love – especially radical and passionate love – is always displayed in the gifts we give to the objects of our love?  The greater the love, the greater the sacrifice for the gift.  This explains the bragging rights that come along with wedding rings.  Guys, it better say, “I love you.”  A LOT!!  Extravagant gift giving is almost a universal communication of love and affection.

The apostle Paul tells us that God displayed his love toward us in this:  He gave his son, Jesus, for us.  Wow!  THAT is an extravagant gift.  The apostle is so overjoyed by such a thought that he shouts on the page, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

As you move into this New Year, how have you displayed your love for God this past year?  Does it look like vacuum bags or fine jewelry?  Would it be described as being closer to new underwear and socks or an iPod?  If the Creator of the universe went out of this world to display his love for you, how can you return the affection this New Year?  Would you consider something extravagant or radical?

Sun Flower, Walhalla, North Dakota ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

Larry Powell in his book, Blow the Silver Trumpets, tells the story of a missionary who preached in a remote, poverty ridden area in West Africa.  He appealed for support of Christian work throughout the area and encouraged those present to give what they could toward the construction of a building, which would serve as a medical clinic and a place of worship.

Approximately two hours after the worship service, a young woman came to the missionary and presented him with $40 to be used for the building project.  The missionary was stunned.  Where on earth, he thought, did this poverty stricken woman come up with such a large sum of money in a region afflicted by such painfully forbidding economic circumstances?

Confounded, he posed this question as politely as he knew how.  He was informed that she had gone to a wealthy planter and sold herself into his service for the rest of her life. Let us be clear about what I have just told you! She had sold herself into the service of a landowner.  And why? This was her way of giving herself into the service of Jesus Christ.  Not partially, but totally.

That sounds like a radical price to pay doesn’t it? Pretty extravagant, huh?  Instead of asking yourself what you can get away with to show your love for your heavenly Father, why not ask, “How much can I sacrifice?”  Perhaps it is in your personal worship, your commitment to prayer, or your service to others in his name.  Maybe it will take the form of giving him control of the parts of your life that you have thus far withheld from his authority and control.  It could be giving up and giving over an addiction or troubling habit.

I’m not talking about just writing a larger check.  That is too easy for many of us.  I’m talking about giving your life away as a radical expression of your love and devotion to the One who saved you and called you.  I’m thinking of giving something that will return the same kind of love that bankrupted heaven and caused it to send its very best.  Radical love will not offer gifts and sacrifices that cost nothing and come with no forethought.  So, give your heavenly Father something costly this year – a real gem.  Yourself.

©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

Sunrise, Walhalla, North Dakota ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

shuttered windows
darkened rooms
save one dim light

closed doors
drawn shades
secured in one corner

swollen eyes
deadened spirit
stolid in solitude

clamped mouth
defeated soul
surrounded only
with one’s own arms

streaming tears
drained emotions
shaken with sobs

curled body
damaged heart
seeks one dim light
hope

©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

Aurul Albastru (Blue Gold ) – un roman din ciclul Dosarele NUMA (The NUMA Files)
de Clive Cussler & Paul Kemprecos
octombrie 2009

Redactor: nespecificat

Prezentarea propusă de mine:

Un avion particular deturnat şi prăbuşit în junglă, un grup de balene moarte din cauze necunoscute, un trib misterios de indieni condus de o şi mai misterioasă zeiţă albă, o uzină subacvatică ingenios tăinuită de ochii lumii spulberată de o explozie inexplicabilă, un avion invizibil din primii ani ai Războiului Rece – toate învăluie Echipa pentru Misiuni Speciale a NUMA, condusă de Kurt Austin, într-un păienjeniş de enigme, pentru a o conduce apoi către o aceeaşi conspiraţie diabolică, al cărei scop este acapararea celei mai preţioase substanţe de pe pământ: Aurul Albastru.

Prin acest al doilea roman din ciclul Dosarele NUMA, Clive Cussler şi Paul Kemprecos îşi consolidează faima de maeştri ai suspansului înlănţuind în ritm alert aventuri palpitante şi răsturnări spectaculoase de situaţie.

After days of rain, this day started out with beautiful weather!  I had torn an article out of a magazine about this waterfall in Walhalla, SC.  The walk to the observation deck to see the top of the waterfall was EASY.  The trek to the bottom of the waterfall was steep, muddy and slick (I had a muddy leg to prove it).  But oh, it was so well worth it!!!   If you’re ever near the town of Walhalla, you should definitely check out Issaqueena Falls along with the Stumphouse Tunnel.  Right near this area is also Yellow Branch Falls. 

Walhalla (Valhalla Rising)
de Clive Cussler / Biblioteca RAO / Legat
februarie 2006

Redactor: Vlad T. Popescu

Prezentarea de pe coperta IV:

Dirk Pitt, eroul ai cărui ochi tulburători ştiu drumul câtre inima oricărei femei, se pune cu ingeniozitate şi curaj împotriva planurilor diabolice susţinute de puterea unei averi strânse din afaceri murdare, cercetând, in acelaşi timp, enigma care leagă un inventator de geniu de Jules Verne şi de istoria pierdută a exploratorilor vikingi. El este simbolul speranţei că banii nu pot cumpăra totul, că binele se poate ridica deasupra răului, triumfând pe neaşteptate – aşa cum, tot pe neaşteptate, iubirea tinereţilor lui Pitt, aparent distrusă de stihii potrivnice, îşi dovedeşte împlinirea.

De sub aceleaşi rânduri dinamice răzbate in mod subtil ideea, deloc de neglijat, că explozia actuală a tehnologiei nu este sută la sută rezultatul unor cercetări de ultimă ora, făcute pas cu pas în laboratoare, ci al unor adevăruri descoperite cu foarte multă vreme în urmă.

Rheault Farm

This weekend in North Dakota was specially ordered to be beautiful.  Temperatures are supposed to be in the 70s and 80s and there are fall festivals, pumpkin festivals, corn mazes and pumpkin patches to entertain and delight!  On Saturday, Walhalla will host a Giant Pumpkin Festival with free activities all day.  Fargo’s Rheault Farm has a special fall festival, also with free admission – pony rides, pumpkin painting, carnival games, bale maze and more!

Looking for more to do?  Devils Lake is hosting the Roughrider Rodeo Finals tomorrow through Sunday.  If you like German celebrations, head to New Leipzig for Oktoberfest.  And there’s an Applefest in Ellendale!  So many great things to do and places to be.  How will you decide?

Graves from the late 1800’s on the sloping grounds of Walhalla cemetery.
Remnants – Walhalla cemetery

Pictured below – The unusual grave of Elizabeth A. Holmes (aged 20 years) and Mary A. Holmes (aged 10 months) who passed away in the 1870’s in Walhalla, Victoria, Australia.
A reflection of tougher times.
Resting Place – Walhalla

Pictured below – Looking down the sloping grounds of the Walhalla cemetery towards the main road below.
On the slopes of Walhalla

I went camping this weekend! My friend has a land rover so we went off on a grand adventure. I got to learn how to drive a manual (an Australian one no less). We found a bar on the top of a mountain after getting lost and having some friendly Aussies give us directions to our camp site and to the bar (although they had accents so thick we could barely understand them), met a bunch of drunk aussies at a camp site who were hilarious (and got invited to a 21st birthday party next weekend. It’s a huge deal here), we got utterly lost on a trail in the mountains, found a flipped over trailer on the bottom of a steep hill we were about to go down and decided to turn around, helped tow the truck of two guys who gave us directions off the side of the road, camped out at this weird place to discover one that the shoe of one of the kids disappeared, searched every where for it to no avail (I was blamed), and finally made our way home. It was a super fun weekend. Since I don’t have class on Mondays I think there will be more like it soon!

John and I took a trip out to Walhalla after checking out a hillclimb event at Moe’s Haunted Hills racetrack. We did this on the weekend before he headed off to Germany for a few months to hopefully not blow all his cash in becoming an alcoholic in Bamberg (the brewery to population ratio is astonishing!). John had lent me his Nikon F2 because he was busy getting used to the Panasonic LX3 he had bought to take on his travels. The camera was loaded with some Kodak Ektachrome E100VS slide film, or the film that’s jam packed with Kodak’s proprietary color amplifying technology for vivid saturation, or the film that could potentially bring to life the most boring of scenes.

Walhalla is recognised as a Historic Area by Parks Victoria.

Walhalla, a rich gold producer for 50 years, lives on as a remote and picturesque mountain township. It is hard to imagine a more difficult site for a town than the steep, narrow valley of Stringers Creek as it winds down through the dense forests of the Baws Baws. Yet in its heyday, between 1880 and 1895, more than 4000 people lived there. Source

The population now stands around 20 for the township, whose function is to service the trickle of visitors who come to try and imagine what conditions must have been like for the early miners. There are numerous heritage buildings open to visit (including a fire station built across Stringers Creek), a cemetery built high on the side of the valley to climb to, mine tunnels to tour, a narrow gauge railway to ride and gold to pan for.

Itineraries for Melbourne to Sydney:
Melbourne
Pakenham to Sale
Sale to Orbost
Orbost to Genoa
Genoa to Bega
Bega to Batemans Bay
Batemans Bay to Nowra
Nowra to HeathCote
Sydney

Melbourne to Sydney is one of the roadtrips you can do all year round with your Campervan rental Australia. Consider a 153 km Pakenham to Sale as your first itinerary for this trip.

This is a very safe roadtrip driving on a wide, well signposted, excellent road. Inevitably, traffic can be dramatic during holiday periods. But this roadtrip gives you ample of chances to pull off the highway and adequate roadside service centres.

Pakenham is a town having a mix of good shopping centres, fast foods and service stations along the highway. From Pakenham the trip will take you to Walhalla – Morwell – Traralgon – Sale. Along this trip there are some really good points to take advantage.

Explore the historic Long Tunnel Extended Gold Mine in Walhalla and venture on an exciting tour of original and authentic workings of a world famous historic gold mine.This is the richest single mine in Victoria with tours available at 12noon, 2pm, and 3pm on weekends, public holidays and school holidays. the tour takes about 45-50 minutes to complete.

Another point to visit is the historic Windsor House built in 1878 which is now a luxury B&B restored to offer a unique experience. This Bed and breakfast is ideal for either a family or romantic getaway.

Walhalla also features its Scenic Railway, a spectacular Walhalla Goldfields Railway operates between the Thomson Station and Walhalla, along several kilometers of restored track that winds through the picturesque Stringers creek Gorge. Railway operates only every weekend, on public holidays and during school holidays. This railway offers an incredible experience that cannot be delivered by railways in Europe or New Zealand.

Growing up in a small Southern town I longed for a sense of heritage. Instead, we were all as homogenized as you can get. The Heinz 57 of people. Oh sure, we had roots – Irish, Scottish, German, Cherokee, but those roots were buried so long ago that nobody had any real connections with our ancestors or any sense of our heritage.

As a child, I remember some whispers about a great grandfather who was a moonshiner and an outlaw, but we didn’t talk about him – at least not in polite society and if anything Southern society is “polite.” I recall hearing “But what would the neighbors think” throughout my childhood.

Only a few years ago did I seriously start looking into my ancestry. Perhaps it’s an age-related thing. As we get older we want to know where we fit into this grand scheme of things. Here’s what I uncovered.

I am a great grandson of the 19^th century mountain outlaw and bootlegger, “Major” Lewis R. Redmond who operate in the “dark corners” area where South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina border.

Redmond, or “Major,” or great granddaddy became a Robin Hood sort of folk hero to those who opposed the federal government’s recent tax on the manufacture of whiskey – or in their case, moonshine made from the leftover corn they farmed. In fact, he gained such national fame as a romantic hero that there reportedly was a “dime novel” written about him by the time he was 26 years old and a book-length biography at age 28. I have yet to uncover either publication.

However, his escapades were front-page material for the New York Times and other newspapers of his day. He was even said to be more famous than Jesse James.

While leading resistance to the whiskey tax, he shot a U.S. Deputy Marshall who tried to arrest him. The officer died shortly thereafter. Redmond spent three years in prisons in New York and South Carolina before being granted a pardon by President Chester A. Author in 1884.

But best of all, shortly before his death, great granddaddy, now a model citizen, was hired by a Walhalla, SC, government distillery, to oversee its production. Apparently their output had been of poor quality up until then. The distillery produced a special blend that was bottled with his name and picture on it.

Whatever his failings, he was recognized, even by the government in the end, as a man who knew his liquor. Somehow I think I found the Irish connection to my heritage.

Today i go on an trip to Donaustauf a small Town near Regensburg.

The Walhalla is considered the most important of all works commissioned by King Ludwig l of Bavaria (1825-48). Architect Leo von Klenze constructed the Walhalla between October 18th 1830 – when the foundation stone was laid – and October 18th 1842 (official opening ceremony) Proximity to the former Free Imperial City of Regensburg with its magnificent gothic cathedral is deliberate.

suddenly i got long weekends from 4 – 7 july, which also means i have to work 10 days in a row in the next 2 weeks. and suddenly i came out with this plan, travelling to Munich and Regensburg. i talked with my friends and arranged everything in only a short period of time – confirming how i go there, where will i sleep, what to do there, etc.

so on Saturday, i bought a Schoeneswochenende Ticket and be ready to have 6 hours journey to Munich via Regensburg. it was perfect until “the scheisse Platform 13″. when i was in Nuernberg, the train stopped at Platform 13 and i was supposed to take another train in the same Platform. the time to change the train was only 5 mins. i got off from the train, saw the sign in the Platform, and found no information about the next train i supposed to take. so, i went to the Central Bahnhof and search for my next train. when i found it, the train left me behind. the train was in Platform 13. so the fact is that there are two trains stopped in Platform 13 and they were back-to-back. one goes to Munchen and one is from Munchen. it was the first time for me knowing there are 2 trains in the same Platform. how am i supposed to know that when i’ve been locked up in Frankfurt for months? LOL. so the journey was delayed another hour and made me to do 8-hours journey.

however, i had a good time in Munchen although i couldn’t meet Chris in the first day. there were me, Nadia, Tika, Evelyn, Yessy, Ellaine, and Endy exploring Munchen. me and Nadia stopped in Hofbrauhaus for lunch and drank the famous Munchen beer there. Tika, Evelyn, and Endy as the tour guide took us to Olympia Park, BMW Museum, and Allianz Arena. na ja, here it come again the “Tragedy of Allianz Arena”. me and Nadia were supposed to go back to Regensburg at 8.48 pm. when we arrived in the station of Allianz Arena, i knew that we couldnt make it. so i only saw the stadion from far away and we back to the central station to catch the train. we predicted that we would arrive in the central station on time if we run. so, we did run to catch our train and we did arrive the central station on time at 8.45 pm – 3 minutes before the train supposed to leave. however when we arrived, the train was not there. it left us behind. we were so shock. while trying to catch up our breath (bcoz we run), we figured out that the train left at 8.43 pm not 8.48 pm. we didn’t see the ticket properly. it was stated in the ticket Munchen – Regensburg 8.43 pm. LOL. so the journey back home is delayed another hour and we had to take taxi from central station Regensburg to Nadia’s home which costed 12 euros. in a day, i missed 2 trains. what an achievement. don’t you think so?

the 2nd day was great. we met Evelyn, Yessy, and Ellaine again and have sushi together. then me and Nadia took a ride by boat to Walhalla. the weather was really sunny and windy – great. we need to climb 500 stairs to go inside the Walhalla – a hard work for a great scenery. at the end of the day, we ate fine Pork Ribs for dinner.

the 3rd day was also pretty good although the weather was like shit. sunny in a minute and suddenly rained in another minute. but the best thing was that i finally met my best friend, Chris, si begenk. LOL. it has been a long time not see him so i was happy. we enjoyed lunch in Hofbrauhaus again – 2nd time for me and went around Centrum. we checked out Gucci store – they were still having 50% sale and still lot of items you can choose. GG&L bags also having sale. but too bad i couldn’t spend any money on those things i love ‘coz i need to save money for my eurotrip huhuhu >.<

now, you can see several pictures of my trip. i hope my writing did not make you all so damn bored. LOL.

as usual, comments are very welcomed. the next post will be about my farewell dinner with the Malaysian boys – please wait in anticipation LOL.

cheers from Frankfurt

Balmung , l’épée de Sigmund

L’épée de sigmund

Rerir conquit la gloire sur les champs de bataille et la renommée dans les Conseils

Pourtant son coeur saignait car il n’avait pas de fils

Il implora Odin après avoir sacrifié un coq noir sur une pierre plate où le maître des Dieux grava des runes

- Odin, je suis Rerir le guerrier , je te supplie debout, les bras croisés, devant le cadavre du coq : fais en sorte que les sourires et les cris de colère d’un enfant donnent une vie à ma maison
Odin, maître des Choses secrètes, dépêcha à la femme de Rerir un messager porteur d’une pomme
- Femme, mords dans cette pomme et tu auras un fils
Ainsi Rerir eut-il un garçon qu’il appela Volsung
Des années durant, le monde du Nord retentit des exploits de Volsung, qui dépassait en bravoure les plus valeureux des bersekers
Volsung eut un fils, qu’il appela Sigmund
Comme Volsung et ses gens fêtaient la naissance du garçon, un homme noir et maigre entra dans le hall et demanda la corne de bière de l’hospitalité

Volsung lui tendit une corne cerclée d’argent, pleine d’hydromel
- Bois dans la corne de mon père Rerir, étranger ! Jamais il n’y en eut de si glorieuse
L’homme noir vida la corne avant que Volsung eût achevé sa phrase
- J’ai trempé ce jour même mes lèvres au breuvage d’une autre corne, Volsung

Très loin d’ici, au pied de l’Arc-en-Ciel

Je garde encore sur les lèvres un goût de fer et de farine grillée, de racine calcinée et de dent de vieux sanglier, de poil d’écureuil et de sang desseché

Volsung comprit que ce voyageur solitaire avait bu à la corne des Dieux

Il l’invita à prendre place dans le fauteuil aux montants sculptés

L’étranger refusa
- J’ai fêté la naissance d’un enfant dans la demeure des Dieux

Des feux de joie illuminaient les immenses salles et les fumets des viandes montaient jusqu’aux plafonds faits de boucliers d’or

L’enfant s’appelle Tyr et il sera un dieu.
Volsung et ses convives burent à la gloire du jeune Tyr
L’étranger s’approcha du berceau où dormait Sigmund et prononça ces paroles mystérieuses :
- Volsung, la vie de ton fils Sigmund sera le reflet du tumultueux destin du dieu Tyr
Il dessina un signe au-dessus de l’enfant, s’enveloppa de son manteau et disparut dans la nuit sans saluer l’assemblée
Le temps venu, Volsung mourut, alors que Sigmund dépassait sa vingtième année
Sigmund avait la haute taille, la large poitrine, l’humeur altière des hommes de sa race

Les sagas célébraient déjà ses faits d’armes, les jeunes filles cherchaient à attirer son regard, les guerriers chevronnés, blanchis sous le casque conique et la brogne de cuir, le citaient en exemple
Dans le tourbillon des épées, Sigmund était le meilleur
Les amis de son père évoquaient parfois le voyageur maigre et noir qui s’était penché sur son berceau et avait placé le nouveau-né sous le signe du dieu Tyr, maître de la vaillance…
Un soir d’hiver, Sigmund et une vingtaine de compagnons veillaient dans la grande salle du château d’Inglingar, buvant et devisant, assis en cercle autour d’une souche de sapin qui constituait le centre de ce fort, bâti sur l’emplacement d’une forêt
Un homme entra sans se faire annoncer

Maigre, noir de teint, il laissait son manteau flotter sur ses épaules
Il déboucla son épée et, sans effort apparent, l’enfonça jusqu’à la garde dans la souche du sapin
- Elle appartiendra à celui qui aura la force de l’arracher à ce tronc
Il dédaigna d’en dire plus et se retira, furtif comme une ombre, laissant les guerriers ébahis
Hengist, maître d’Inglingar, tenta le premier l’épreuve
L’épée ne bougea pas d’un quart de pouce
Hrolf l’Ours, à la force prodigieuse, serra la garde avec tant de vigueur que les jointures de ses doigts blanchirent
Il n’ébranla pas la lame
Leif, Olaf, Thorkel le Roux, dix autres encore échouèrent

On parlait d’enchantement et de sorcellerie.
Vint le tour de Sigmund
Quand il posa la main sur la poignée de bronze, ornée de signes, une onde de chaleur parcourut son corps, et il sut que le souffle de Tyr était en lui
Il dégagea l’épée de la souche, aussi facilement qu’il l’eût ôtée du fourreau
Hengist lui mit une main sur l’épaule
- J’aimerais connaître le nom de ce visiteur du soir, Sigmund , le Destin est en marche
Dès lors, la vie du héros apparut comme le reflet du destin du dieu Tyr
L’épée rendit Sigmund invincible
Il combattit les Danois et les Germains
Il repoussa les Lapons jusqu’aux terres glacées où naissent les aurores boréales
Il enchaîna Sigval, le bersek révolté, sur un iceberg
Il défit les Angles, les Irlandais et porta la guerre dans les pays du sud ensoleillé où des pommes d’or mûrissent sur les arbres toujours verts
Sa vie ressemblait à un torrent tumultueux roulant des rochers et des troncs, grossi sans cesse de nouvelles eaux
Quand Sigmund pensa à regarder en arrière, ses cheveux grisonnaient

Il revint alors dans sa demeure du Störe Borge et sa femme lui donna un fils, qu’il prénomma Sigurd
Une nuit, il rencontra en rêve le dieu Tyr
Une lumière dorée tombait de la voûte d’une caverne

Des oiseaux de feu passaient comme des éclairs
Tyr, assis sur un amoncellement de fourrures, conversait avec Sindri, le nain magicien de la montagne du Spartalheim
- Je demande l’aide de tes nains forgerons, Sindri

Il faudrait qu’ils me fabriquent une chaîne assez forte pour entraver Fenrir, le loup géant, qui devient un danger pour les habitants du Valhöll
- Il n’est pas de chaîne qui résiste à la fureur du grand loup, Tyr… tu sais qu’il a brisé tous les fers dont on l’avait chargé…
Le nain réfléchit un long moment, la tête entre les mains
- Nous tresserons un lien que Fenrir ne pourra pas rompre

Oui, un lien qui sera fait de six choses… en une nuit nous pouvons terminer l’ouvrage, Tyr , fais-moi confiance
Les nains se mirent au travail

Ils tressèrent ensemble le pas d’un chat, la racine d’un rocher, la barbe d’une femme, l’âme d’un poisson, la fiente d’un oiseau et le soupir d’un ours

Ainsi obtinrent-ils un cordon de cent pieds de long qu’ils désignaient sous le nom de Gleipnir et dont Tyr éprouva la résistance
La caverne s’effaça et, dans le brouillard de mer, apparut l’île Armwartner qui dépendait du royaume d’Odin
Le loup Fenrir et les Dieux étaient face à face
Tyr tenait le lien Gleipnir.
- Fenrir, dit-il, nous t’avons lié avec des cordes suiffées et tu as brisé ces amarres

Nous t’avons entravé avec des chaînes et tu as rompu ces fers

Je te défie de venir à bout de ce lien que je rapporte des terres du Nord

A moins que tu ne refuses l’épreuve, par crainte d’Odin…
Fenrir, le museau sur les griffes des pattes avant, redoutait quelque piège

La prudence luttait contre l’orgueil
Brusquement il se dressa, les poils hérissées, ses prunelles jaunes lançant des éclairs
- Je ne crains ni Odin, ni Thor, ni les autres Dieux

Je consens à être lié, mais à une condition… Que l’un de vous place une main dans ma gueule, tout le temps que durera l’épreuve

Si les Dieux cherchent à me passer le licol, je trancherai de mes crocs cette main jusqu’au poignet
Les Dieux se regardèrent, embarrassés
Tyr tendit sa main droite
- Voici ma main en gage de bonne foi
Thor, Njord et Aegir enserrèrent le loup dans la tresse magique de Sindri

Fenrir se débattit de toute sa force sauvage, bondissant, se roulant, hurlant… Le lien ne céda pas
Les Dieux riaient, heureux de voir leur mortel ennemi réduit à l’impuissance
Les crocs se refermèrent sur la main de Tyr

Le sang jaillit dans la gueule du loup

Tyr avait laissé sa main droite dans l’aventure
Il se tourna vers Thor :
- Attache-le à un rocher, lanceur de foudre… Fenrir ne pourra plus nuire jusqu’au combat du Ragnarok… J’ai sacrifié ma main pour que la menace du Mal fût écartée
Sigmund se réveilla, en proie à un vague malaise
Sigurd jasait dans son berceau
Ce même jour, comme le héros visitait ses troupeaux, il fut assailli par sept brigands à la lisière de la fôret
Des flocons paresseux tombaient sur les herbes jaunies
Sigmund se battit avec ardeur et tua les brigands
La neige à présent recouvrait les prairies, adhérait aux hautes branches des sapins
- Quelle est donc la signification de ce rêve ? s’interrogeait Sigmund. Tyr voulait-il m’avertir d’une fin prochaine ?
Un homme noir et maigre, flottant dans un manteau sombre, sortit du bois

Il brandissait une lance au fer étincelant
Sigmund courut sur l’adversaire, pensant que c’était là le chef de la troupe

Il porta un coup de son épée

La lame se brisa en deux sur le bois de la lance

Une étrange faiblesse minait le corps du héros
Il reconnut alors le voyageur qui, une nuit d’hiver, avait enfoncé l’épée magique dans la souche d’Inglingar

L’oeil unique brillait d’un calme éclat
- Odin, murmura t-il en tombant dans la neige
- Sigmund, le temps est venu de passer la frontière de la vie

Je fus là à ta naissance et je te consacrai au dieu Tyr… Je suis là aujourd’hui pour t’aider à passer dans le monde des morts

Les monstres et les géants se lèvent et grondent

Le grand combat de la fin des temps approche

Le dieu Tyr aura besoin de tous ses braves…
Sigmund sourit
- Je suis prêt… Je m’assoirai à la table des Dieux pour boire le vin âpre et fort de la gloire

Je n’ai d’autre ambition que d’être le reflet de Tyr à la cuirasse d’argent
Odin étendit son manteau sur le héros
- N’as-tu pas un souhait que je pourrais exaucer sur cette terre, Sigmund ?
Le fils de Volsung s’appuya sur un coude
- L’épée ! qu’on soude les deux parties… Qu’on rapporte l’épée à mon fils Sigurd, afin que se perpétue la saga des Volsung
Odin sourit
- Je le ferai

A la nuit, un homme maigre et noir se penchera sur le berceau de ton fils
Ainsi mourut Sigmund

Les flocons tombaient dru
Et, dans le ciel, la charge des Walkyries éclata comme un roulement de tonnerre

Les messagères de la Mort ouvraient au héros les portes d’or et d’ivoire du Valhöll…

Balmung

Balmung fut donnée par Wayland le forgeron à Odin , ce dernier l’enfonçant dans l’arbre Branstock , un chêne dans le Palais de Volsung

Odin déclara alors que celui qui pourrait l’arracher , ne connaîtrait que la victoire sur les champs de bataille

Neuf des princes de Volsung essayèrent mais seul le plus jeune y parvint

Son nom était Sigmund
Cette épée fut offerte par Wotan à la lignée des Volsungs

L’épée fut brisée contre le bois de Gungnir , la Lance d’Odin

Elle fut plus tard reforgée par Regin , pour vaincre le dragon Fafnir

Siegfried dans son voyage au pays des Burgondes fut attaqué par le nain Alberich

Alberich était le gardien du trésor des Nibelungen , et comme Siegfried lui laissait la vie sauve, il lui proposa une partie de ces richesses , dont la célèbre épée

Légendes atlantes et asiates

Ça vous dis quelque chose cette épée enfoncée dans la souche ?

Excalibur , l’épée du roi Arthur …….

Il est à remarquer que tous les objets soi disant magiques , ont toutes un nom , en fait pour indiquer leur particularité par rapport à un objet similaire , qui lui n’a pas ces propriétés

magiques ….

Aussi , vous aviez remarqué bien sur , que la bière était un breuvage sacré , comme chez les autres populations atlantes …

D’autre part , on voit bien que toutes les légendes et mythes qui nous sont parvenus à ce jour , en fait ne sont pas des légendes , mais des récits historiques remaniés , bien souvent par des populations qui ne pouvaient comprendre la technicité utilisée , retraçant la vie des atlantes et des asiates de l’époque -8000 à -4000 before present , avec les moyens technologiques qu’ils possédaient

Thor et Skrymir

On raconte qu’un jour Thor décida de défier les géants dans leur propre pays

Il lui fallait pour cela traverser le Jotünheim et se rendre à Utgard, la cité du roi Loki

Thor prit la route en compagnie du rusé Loki et d’un humain de Midgard, Thialfi

Thor et ses compagnons marchèrent longtemps et, un soir dans une forêt, ils s’arrêtèrent pour la nuit dans deux cavernes isolées, l’une très grande, l’autre plus petite
La nuit fut difficile, les cavernes étant secouées à intervalle régulier par un inexplicable tremblement
Le matin Thor sortit de l’abri et remarqua un être gigantesque endormi sur le sol de la forêt Les ronflements de ce Géant était responsable de la mauvaise nuit qu’ils venaient de passer !
Thor n’était pas un être patient : il boucla la ceinture qui doublait sa taille et ses forces, empoigna son marteau Mjollnir et s’apprêta à faire payer au géant le prix de sa colère

Mais à ce moment, le Géant s’éveilla
- Quel est ton nom, Géant ?, demanda Thor
- Je suis Skrymir

Je ne te demande pas ton nom car moi je t’ai reconnu, Thor d’Asgard… Mais que font tes amis dans mon gant ?
La grande caverne où ils avaient passé la nuit était en fait le gant du géant !
- Je vais à Utgard rendre visite au roi, dit Thor
- Très bien, déclara Skrymir, nous pourrons faire route ensemble, je me rends moi aussi dans cette direction

Je vais porter vos bagages afin que nous avancions plus vite
Joignant le geste à la parole, Skrymir fit un ballot de toutes les affaires et le jeta sur son épaule

Suivre le géant toute une journée constitua une épreuve pour les trois voyageurs et ils furent heureux de voir arriver la tombée de la nuit
Le géant déclara qu’il n’avait pas faim et qu’il voulait dormir, laissant Thor et ses compagnons s’occuper de leur repas

Thor ramassa alors le ballot du géant, s’efforçant de le dénouer

Mais malgré sa force et ses efforts, il n’y parvint pas

Pris d’une rage folle, il prit son marteau, monta sur la tête du dormeur et lui asséna un coup terrible ! Le géant se retourna, murmurant dans son sommeil qu’une feuille avait dû tomber d’un arbre
Ces propos décuplèrent la colère de Thor

Il brandit Mjollnir haut vers le ciel et frappa très fort sur le haut du crâne du géant

Mais une fois encore Skrymir ne se réveilla pas et murmura qu’un gland venait de lui tomber sur la tête

Alors Thor, au comble de la fureur, balança plusieurs fois son arme terrible et frappa de toutes ses forces la tempe du géant

Cette fois, Skrymir s’éveilla et dit :
- Remettons-nous en route, ami Thor

Ici, pas moyen de dormir, des oiseaux font leur nid dans cet arbre et je n’arrête pas de recevoir des ramilles

De plus, je suis sûr que tu as hâte d’arriver à Utgard et d’admirer la cour du roi

Tu y verras de sacrés gaillards ; figure-toi qu’ils m’ont surnommé “Petit Bonhomme” !
Après une nouvelle journée de marche, les trois voyageurs arrivèrent enfin à Utgard

Skrymir les avaient quittés peu avant

Ils entrèrent dans le palais du roi et Thor s’avança hardiment entre les rangées de géants, jusqu’au trône du roi qu’il salua
- Bonjour, petit moucheron

Est-ce possible que tu sois le puissant Thor d’Asgard ? Tu dois être beaucoup plus fort que tu ne le parais !
Thor ne répondit rien et le roi ajouta :
- Sache que personne n’est admis à ma cour s’il ne surpasse les autres par l’un de ces talents

En quels domaines excellez-vous, toi et tes compagnons ?
Loki s’avança alors :
- Je suis capable de manger plus et vite que n’importe qui !
Utgard-Loki répondit :
- Alors tu mangeras, petit !
Et Loki se retrouva bientôt face à une auge en bois pleine de viande

Face à lui se trouvait un géant nommé Logi

Le duel commença
Loki avait faim et il était un solide mangeur

Pourtant il dut s’incliner

Car si lui et Logi étaient arrivés exactement au milieu de l’auge, Loki n’avait mangé que les os et la viande, alors que Logi avait également dévoré le bois !
- J’espère que vos exploits vont rattraper l’échec de votre ami

Que sais-tu faire, petit ?, dit Utgard-Loki, se tournant vers Thialfi
- Je ne suis pas un Ase, je ne suis qu’un simple humain du Midgard

Pourtant je cours vite ! répondit Thialfi
- N’en dis pas plus, j’ai là un adversaire à ta mesure

Il s’appelle Hugi. dit le roi
Il fut décidé que la course aurait lieu dans la salle, les concurrents devant aller jusqu’à un but donné avant de revenir à leur point de départ

Hugi triompha aisément, Thialfi n’ayant même pas encore atteint le but lorsque le géant passa la ligne d’arrivée !
- J’ose espérer que tu feras mieux que tes compagnons, Thor d’Asgard

Dans quel domaine te sens tu prêt à accomplir un haut fait ? demanda Utgard-Loki
Thor répondit :
Je bois mieux que quiconque
- Alors, tu boiras ! Voici une coupe

La vider d’un seul coup peut être considéré comme un exploit

La plupart d’entre nous la boivent en deux gorgées, les petits buveurs la vident en trois
Thor regarda la coupe, elle était assez grande mais il doutait fort d’avoir besoin de plus d’une gorgée pour la terminer

Il but alors une grande gorgée

Mais lorsqu’à bout de souffle il reposa la coupe, il constata comme tous que le niveau avait à peine baissé
- C’était une belle gorgée mais cela restait une gorgée ordinaire ! Sans doute comptes-tu achever la coupe à la deuxième gorgée… dit Utgard-Loki
A ces mots Thor empoigna la coupe et but beaucoup plus longtemps ! Mais lorsque suffoquant à nouveau, il reposa la coupe, il constata que le niveau n’avait pas beaucoup plus bougé !
- Oh, oh ! Tu te réserves pour la troisième gorgée ? demanda le roi
Cette fois, Thor souleva haut la coupe mais curieusement sans pouvoir l’amener au dessus de la tête comme il l’aurait souhaité

Puis il but longtemps, très longtemps

Mais lorsque pour la troisième fois il reposa la coupe, il constata que si le niveau avait bien baissé, la coupe était encore loin d’être vide

Malgré cela, Thor déclara qu’il ne voulait plus boire
- On dirait que tu n’es pas le champion que nous imaginions ! Peut-être veux tu nous défier dans un autre divertissement ? dit le roi des géants
- Chez les Ases, on n’aurait pas pris mes gorgées pour de petites gorgées, reconnut Thor, quel autre défi me proposes-tu ?
- Les gamins de la ville s’amusent parfois à soulever mon chat du plancher, dit Utgard-Loki, peut-être ce genre d’exploit est-il à ta mesure…
Thor ne répondit rien et se dirigea vers le chat dans le but de le lancer à travers la salle

C’était un chat gris de belle taille mais Thor ne pensait pas avoir beaucoup de mal à le soulever

Il mit les deux mains sous le ventre du chat et tira

Mais malgré tous ses efforts, il parvint juste à faire décoller une patte du sol !
- C’est normal, dit Utgard-Loki, tu es un être chétif et mon chat est en vérité assez gros
- Thor entra alors dans une colère indescriptible :
- Que l’un d’entre vous ose me défier en combat singulier et vous verrez si je suis chétif !
- Calme-toi, petit

Aucun d’entre nous ne voudrait un tel avorton pour adversaire

Je peux juste te proposer une lutte avec ma vieille nourrice Elli

Elle est âgée mais cela l’amusera sans doute de lutter avec Thor d’Asgard !
Thor accepta, se promettant d’éjecter la vieille avant de défier le roi

Une vieille femme s’avança alors et s’aggrippa à Thor

Ils luttèrent un moment d’avant en arrière

Mais, sur une poussée plus brusque, l’Ase fut contraint de poser un genou à terre
Aussitôt Utgard-Loki ordonna l’arrêt du combat, craignant de voir son hôte blessé
- Il est maintenant clair que vous ne nous égalez en rien, déclara le roi, cependant il est tard et je vais vous accordez l’hospitalité jusqu’à l’aube

Mais il faudra alors partir tous les trois
Thor et ses compagnons furent alors royalement fêtés par Utgardloki et sa cour tout le reste de la nuit

Au matin, le roi en personne les raccompagna aux portes de la ville et demanda :
- Alors, Thor, que penses-tu de ta visite chez nous ? As-tu rencontré quelqu’un de plus puissant que les Ases ?
- Je ne peux pas prétendre avoir acquis beaucoup d’honneur pendant ce voyage, admit Thor, et je ressens une grande tristesse à l’idée que tu vas dorénavant me considérer comme un parfait avorton
- Maintenant que nous sommes à l’extérieur de ma ville, Thor, je dois te dire une chose

Moi vivant, tu ne mettras jamais plus les pieds dans Utgard ! J’ai eu la peur de ma vie et j’ai cru que tu allais tous nous anéantir

- Tu te moques de moi ! s’écria Thor
- Pas du tout

En fait depuis le début, toi et tes amis avaient été victimes de mes illusions

J’étais le géant Skrymir que vous avez croisé dans la forêt

Et si tu n’as pas réussi à dénouer mon ballot, c’est parce qu’il était noué magiquement

Au sujet des coups que tu as cru me donner, sache que j’ai placé une montagne entre moi et ton marteau

Et chacun de tes coups, dont le moindre m’aurait ôté la vie, a créé une profonde vallée

Concernant les épreuves que vous avez subies, je te dirais ceci

Il n’est pas étonnant que Loki ait été battu par mon Logi quand il s’est agi de manger

Logi n’est autre que le Feu qui dévore tout sur son passage

Et Hugi qui a battu ton serviteur à la course est en fait la Pensée, que rien ne peut dépasser

Ensuite lorsque tu as bu dans ma corne, j’ai fait tremper son autre extrêmité dans l’océan

Tu as bu tellement que les mers se sont retirées des rivages, ce qui s’appellera désormais le reflux des marées

Quant à mon chat, derrière l’illusion se trouvait Jormungand, le serpent du Midgard qui encercle la terre

Tu l’as soulevé si haut qu’il a presque touché les cieux, nous avons tous tremblé à cette vue

Enfin, ma vieille nourrice Elli n’était autre que la Vieillesse à laquelle nul ne peut résister
A ces mots, Thor brandit son marteau pour fracasser le roi

Mais Utgard-Loki et sa ville disparurent dans un éclat de lumière, révélant une plaine herbeuse et déserte.
Thor fit volte-face et lui et ses compagnons rentrèrent à Asgard sans mot dire et sans se retourner
Ainsi s’acheva l’expédition de Thor au Jotünheim, le pays des Géants

Les dieux

On voit bien dans cette légende que personne ne portait de culte aux dieux

On les appelles dieux parce qu’ils viennent d’ailleurs …

Et si on les craint , c’est uniquement parce que leurs moyens technologiques leurs donnent la puissance de destruction …

Odin , Odhinn , Wotan …

Chaque jour, Odin envoie ses deux corbeaux , Hugin et Mugin, survoler le monde afin qu’ils lui racontent ce qui se passe chez les hommes…
A la fin de chaque journée, les deux corbeaux se lancent dans une course folle pour savoir lequel rejoindra son maître avant l’autre

Odin

Le père des dieux est également connu sous le nom de Wotan
Il est le fils de Bör et de Bestla et frère de Wili et de We
Son grand-père est Buri , né lorsque la vache Audhumbla lécha la glace d’une montagne
Dieu de la poésie, il eut recours à une ruse pour voler l’Hydromel de l’Inspiration au Géant Suttung qui le gardait

Le Havamal raconte qu’il resta suspendu à l’Arbre du Monde neuf jours et neuf nuits pour obtenir le secret des runes

Il était aussi appelé le pendu ou le seigneur des gibets car il avait le pouvoir de ressusciter les pendus

Dieu de la guerre , il était associé à la stratégie et à la ruse plutôt qu’à la force et au courage Les guerriers morts allaient dans son Walhalla d’Asgard

Odin était borgne , ayant sacrifié un oeil pour boire à la Fontaine du Savoir.

Sleipnir, cheval gris d’Odin avait huit pattes et c’était un destrier sans pareil, pour lequel aucun obstacle n’était trop élevé

C’est Loki , métamorphosé en jument , qui se fit saillir par l’étalon Svadilfari pour engendrer Sleipnir
Odin possédait surtout Gungnir , la lance qui ne manquait jamais sa cible
Il est accompagné de Geri et Freki , ses deux loups et de Hugin , l’esprit , et Munin , la mémoire , ses deux corbeaux qui lui racontaient tout ce qu’ils avaient vu et entendu
De son palais , Idafeld , situé au centre d’Asgard , il surveille le monde sur son trône , Hlidskialf

Thor

Le plus fort des dieux , Thor , était aussi le plus adulé

Immense , avec sa barbe rouge , ses yeux flamboyants et ses colères épouvantables , il incarnait la bravoure du guerrier

Célèbre pour ses exploits de tueur de géants , il était vénéré en tant que principal défenseur d’Asgard et de Midgard et protecteur de l’ordre face au chaos
Fils d’Odin et de Jord , la Terre, il vivait avec son épouse Sif dans un palais de 540 pièces , le plus grand jamais construit

Il voyageait dans un char tiré par deux chèvres magiciennes , Grince-dents et Crisse-dents, : si l’on manquait de nourriture, on pouvait les tuer et les manger, à condition de laisser les os intacts, et les chèvres se régénéraient

Thor possédaient également son marteau Mjollnir, ainsi qu’une ceinture qui augmentait sa force de moitié quand il la portait
Thor apparaît surtout comme l’ennemi des géants , surtout lors de ses incursions à Jotunheim Il tua le puissant Geirrod en renvoyant avec une telle force une boule de fer fondu que lui avait lancée son adversaire , qu’elle traversa Geirrod , le pilier derrière lequel il se cachait et le mur extérieur

Pourtant , ses relations avec les géants n’étaient pas toujours hostiles

Il conçut même deux fils avec une géante , Jarnaxa au couteau de fer, dont il fut prédit qu’ils survivraient au Ragnarök et hériteraient de Mjollnir lors de la nouvelle ère
Dans le monde réel , Thor était associé aux éléments , surtout aux orages : on disait que le tonnerre venait du bruit de son char traversant le ciel

Les voyageurs invoquaient sa protection avant de partir en voyage et à chaque éclair , tous se rappelaient son pouvoir.

Njord

Dieu des eaux côtières et de la pêche , c’est le père de Freyr et de Freyja , qui l’accompagnèrent en Asgard comme otages, après la guerre entre Ases et Vanes

En Asgard , Njord épousa Skadi, fille de Thiassi.
Le couple d’accord au départ pour partager leur temps entre la maison de Njord , en bord de mer, et celle de son épouse, au sommet des montagnes , finit par vivre séparément

Il protège les navigateurs et dispense autour de lui la fortune

Freyr

Fils de Njord , époux de Gerda , son palais s’appelle Alfheim
Dieu de la fertilité , associé au soleil et à la pluie , à la prospérité et à la fertilité, il était le frère jumeau de Freyja

Il possédait le sanglier d’or Gullenbursti, qui tirait son char, et un bateau merveilleux , Skidbladnir, qui pouvait voyager sur terre , sur mer et dans les airs, et se replier jusqu’à prendre la taille d’un mouchoir

Il avait aussi une épée magique, mais la donna à son serviteur Skirnir pour l’avoir aidé à obtenir la main de la Géante de la terre Gerd qui devint sa femme

De ce fait il sera désarmé lors du Ragnarök.
On vénérait Freyr tout particulièrement lors du solstice d’hiver afin d’obtenir de bonnes récoltes l’année suivante  

Freyja

Déesse de l’amour et de la naissance , de la mort et de la fertilité , soit de tout le cycle de la vie humaine

De la famille des Vanes , elle se rendit en Asgard en compagnie de son père Njord et de son frère jumeau Freyr après l’accord conclu avec les Ases

Associé au luxe et à l’amour des beaux objets , elle ne faisait pas preuve de scrupules quant à la manière de les acquérir

Elle consentit à coucher avec quatre nains afin d’obtenir l’inestimable collier Brisingamen

Elle était aussi très courageuse : elle fut la seule à oser servir de l’hydromel au géant ivre Hrungnir lorsqu’il menaça de détruire Asgard.
Sa colère était terrifiante.
Incarnation du désir sexuel , elle était célèbre pour sa nature lascive et passionnée

Loki l’accusa d’avoir couché avec tous les Ases , y compris son propre frère , et la géante Hyndla lui reprocha de courir après les mâles comme une chèvre en chaleur

Elle excita tour à tour toute sorte d’entités : le géant Thrym déroba le marteau de Thor pour l’échanger contre Freyja, et le nain Alviss eut l’idée fatale de mettre au défi la sagesse d’Odin, dans l’espoir d’obtenir Freyja en récompense s’il gagnait

Une autre légende raconte que le géant bâtisseur des fondations d’Asgard avait demandé en guise de paiement le soleil, la lune et Freyja : une trinité qui symboliserait la lumière, la vie et la fécondité.
Elle a aussi son côté sombre

Il lui arrivait de hanter les champs de bataille, tuant autant qu’Odin et accueillant dans son domaine de Folkvanger les guerriers qu’elle avait choisis

Comme Odin, elle pratiquait la magie, cette puissante sorcellerie connue sous le nom de Sejdhr

“La plus renommée des déesses”, comme l’appelait l’Edda en prose, s’intéressait autant au pouvoir qu’à la beauté

De nature passionnée, Freyja faisait preuve d’une détermination sans failles pour obtenir ce qu’elle voulait

Baldr

Le plus beau des dieux était associé à la joie et à la lumière

Il doit son importance aux événements qui entourèrent sa mort , provoquée par la jalousie de Loki : il fut tué par une branche de gui que lui avait involontairement lancée son frère jumeau aveugle

Les tentatives pour le faire sortir de Hel furent également empêchées par Loki

Le Havamal , poème de l’Edda , raconte que son frère et lui ressusciteront tous deux et vivront l’avènement du nouveau monde qui aura remplacé l’actuel , détruit par le Ragnarök

Heimdall

Fils spirituel d’Odin , dieu de l’aurore , habitant le palais de Himingbjoerg  , il est le compagnon et le gardien de l’arc-en-ciel Bifrost

Bifrost est l’arc-en-ciel qui relie Asgard et le Midgard dans la mythologie scandinave

C’est un inlassable veilleur car il garde toujours l’oeil ouvert sur les activités des géants
Giallahorn , sa corne, ne le quitte jamais car c’est avec elle qu’il préviendra les dieux de la bataille finale, le Ragnarök où Loki et lui s’entretueront
Il donna naissance à 3 enfants : Thrall l’esclave , Karl l’homme libre , et Jarl le comte , les ancêtres des trois classes sociales

Tyr

Fils d’Odin , c’est le dieu de la guerre

Il a hérité d’une partie du pouvoir de son père , de sa force et de son courage
Dans les batailles , son influence décide de la victoire

Intrépide et inflexible , il se refuse à tout compromis
Il sacrifia l’une de ses mains pour emprisonner le loup Fenrir.

L’un de ses autres privilèges est de choisir les plus braves guerriers mortels afin de lutter le moment venu contre les forces du mal , ce qui lui permit de choisir Sigmund
Au Ragnarök , Tyr et Garm , le chien de Hel , s’entretueront.

Frigg

Epouse d’Odin , mère de Baldr et de Moth , c’est la déesse du ciel et des nuages, des femmes au foyer et de l’amour marital, elle vit dans le palais de Fensal.

Sif

Epouse de Thor , célèbre pour ses cheveux d’or dont elle dut se parer à la suite d’une liaison avec Loki durant laquelle ce dernier coupa tout ses cheveux blonds

Thor , enragé au plus haut point le menaça de lui faire réparer cet outrage

Loki dut alors lui ofrir la chevelure d’or qui orna sa tête

Loki

Fils du géant , Farbauti le forgeron , maître du feu, c’est un Ase  

On l’appelle aussi Loki le malfaisant

Il n’est que toléré au Valhöll
Brillant , médisant , observateur , calomniateur , doté d’une mémoire prodigieuse et très intelligent , il est haï et redouté
Loki était lié à Thor et Odin

Ils eurent ensemble de nombreuses aventures , où la ruse de Loki leur sauva la vie
Il était d’une grande beauté

Il sauva les Ases le jour où un géant demanda la lune, le soleil et Freyja en paiement de la muraille qu’il avait construite autour d’Asgard

Loki l’empêcha d’accomplir sa tâche dans le temps imparti, le privant ainsi de sa récompense
Il prit la forme d’une jument pour séduire et retarder le cheval qui portait les matériaux du géant

Cela illustre les capacités de métamorphose et de changement de sexe de Loki

Sous sa forme de jument il engendra : Sleipnir le cheval à huit jambes d’Odin
Loki par son union avec la géante Angurboda engendra Hel , la maîtresse des enfers , Fenrir , le loup vorace , et Jormungand , le Serpent du Midgard
Il a provoqué la mort de Baldr et les événements qui déclancheront le Ragnarök

En punition il sera empalé sur des rochers acérés , tandis que du venin lui coulera sur le visage Il ne sera délivré que pour se joindre aux forces du mal lors de la bataille finale

Idun

Déesse de la jeunesse épouse de Bragi le dieu de la Poésie
Idun est la gardienne des pommes de l’éternité

Sauvée de l’orage Thiazi par Loki pour se servir d’elle , elle en est libérée par les dieux du Walhalla.

Hel

Fille de Loki et de Angurboda , soeur de Fenrir et du Serpent du Midgard.
Déesse de la mort ,  elle habite sous terre dans le royaume des ombres

Celui qui avait pénétré une fois son royaume ne pouvait plus le quitter
Garm est le chien de l’enfer du Hel qui reçoit et surveille les mort

Mimir

Gardien de la fontaine de sagesse , c’est un géant , ami  et conseiller d’Odin

Fenrir

Fils de Loki et de Angurboda
Le loup Fenrir est l’un des pires ennemis des dieux
Ils voulurent l’attacher plusieurs fois , mais sans succès jusqu’à ce que Tyr le défie avec son lien magique , mais il y perdit sa main
Libéré pour le Ragnarök , il tua Odin et périt à son tour sous les coups de Vidar

Jormungand

Jormungand est le Serpent du Midgard
Né de Loki et d’Angurboda , il est voué au mal

IL crache des flammes et souffle une haleine pestilentielle et mortelle

Thor tenta à maines reprises de le tuer , et de le pêcher avec une tête de taureau pour appât

Les géants

Les humains vivaient aux côtés des deux races de dieux , mais aussi de géants , d’elfes et de nains

Les mythes scandinaves décrivent les géants comme les ennemis et les destructeurs des

dieux , mais les relations entre eux n’étaient pas toujours hostiles

Il y eut effectivement de nombreuses liaisons entre dieux et géantes

Thor lui-même était né de l’union entre Odin et Jord , tandis que Freyr et Freyja étaient issus du mariage entre le dieu Vane Njord et la géante Skadi

Les géants pouvaient même montrer une certaine humanité : le jeune prince Agnar, héritier légitime de la couronne usurpée par son frère , trouva en Jotunheim l’accueil et le refuge qui lui avaient été refusés par les humains

Les légendes présentent souvent les géants comme lents et faibles d’esprit

Loki parvenait souvent à les tromper

Créatures du froid et de la nuit , les géants ne supportaient pas le soleil , qui les transformait en pierre , tout comme les nains

Appelés trolls ou jotuns , les géants habitent le pays du givre et ont fait alliance avec des monstres dont les plus connus sont Fenrir le grand loup , et le Serpent du Midgard
Du sang du géant Brimir sont nés les nains
Ägir, aussi appelé Ögir ou Gymir , est un géant sage qui veille sur les marins

Sa femme Ran est son opposé puisqu’elle est toujours de mauvais présage pour les navigateurs

Les nains

Les nains , peuple souterrain , étaient des artisans et forgerons renommés , ayant fabriqué  Mjollnir , le marteau de Thor

Les trolls

Les trolls vivaient dans des souterrains

Rudes et sauvages, les trolls vivaient à Jotunheim avec les géants qui les utilisaient souvent comme serviteurs

Les elfes

Il existait une grande ambiguïté, car les elfes clairs presque aussi beaux que les dieux ne ressemblaient en rien aux elfes noirs, déformés et hideux

Ces deux traditions survécurent respectivement sous la forme des fées et des lutins 

La technologie des dieux

On reconnaît bien dans la technologie dont disposent les dieux , les accessoires déjà largement décris dans le chapitre des asiates : moyens de transports aériens et rapides , moyens de communication , armements sophistiqués comme missiles à tête chercheuse et autres marteaux magiques , etc …

Jormungand , le serpent du Midgard

La Scandinavie

La Scandinavie est située dans le Nord de l’Europe et comprend, au sens le plus strict, la Suède et la Norvège, et au sens large comprend aussi le Danemark , la Finlande et l’Islande, tous riverains de la mer baltique

Lors des glaciations successives , la Scandinavie a été plusieurs fois dépeuplée et dépourvue de faune et flore terrestres

Elle est la terre d’origine d’une partie des peuples germaniques et des Vikings

Ses habitants sont ethniquement homogènes (hormis les Samis et les Finnois) et parlent des langues apparentées.

La mythologie scandinave

La mythologie scandinave décrit le début et la fin du monde

Le monde a surgi d’un gouffre sans fond : Ginnungagap, le vide sidéral

Le domaine du feu , Muspell , se situe au sud de Ginnungagap , gardé par Surt , le géant du feu , armé de son épée de flammes

Au nord , il y avait le pays gelé de Niflheim, le royaume des morts

Là , douze fleuves bouillonnants coulaient d’un chaudron volcanique nommé Hvergelmir et se déversaient dans Ginnungagap

Mais avec le temps , ils finirent par geler et combler Ginnungagap , jusqu’à ce que la glace entre au contact de la chaleur de Muspell

De cette vapeur se créa l’argile

L’argile prit la forme d’Ymir, le premier géant des glaces

Pour nourrir Ymir, une immense vache apparut : Audhumla, celle qui nourrit

Audhumla lécha le givre salé, et apparu une silhouette humaine

Ce fut Buri , le créateur , qui sera le grand-père d’Odin, le plus grand des dieux scandinaves
Ymir fit apparaître de sa sueur un couple, les premiers géants , ennemis des dieux

Représentant le bien et le mal, les dieux et les géants étaient voués à un conflit perpétuel

Pourtant ils fraterniserons de temps en temps, Odin étant le fils d’une liaison entre Bör, fils de Buri, et d’une Géante.
Malgré son origine , Odin devint le fléau des Géants

Il s’allia avec ses deux frères pour détruire Ymir dont le sang jaillit avec une telle force qu’il noya tous ses enfants , sauf un couple

Les deux survivants s’enfuirent au Jotunheim , le pays des Géants , où ils engendrèrent un nouveau peuple , voué à la destruction d’Odin et des siens
Après cela , Odin et ses frères firent notre monde avec le corps d’Ymir

Son sang se mua en mers et en fleuves, sa chair en terre, ses os en montagnes, son crâne en voûte céleste

Quatre nains , Nord, Sud, Est et Ouest eurent la mission de soutenir les coins du firmament , pendant que les dieux éparpillaient des étincelles de Muspell pour créer les étoiles

La lune et le soleil furent placés sur des chars qui se poursuivaient sans relâche dans le ciel, eux même poursuivis par deux loups énormes , Skoll la répulsion et Hati la haine

A la fin des temps, les deux monstres finiront par dévorer les lumières célestes
Ensuite Odin et ses frères façonnèrent les êtres qui allaient habiter ce monde

D’abord les nains, qui naquirent des vers rongeant la carcasse d’Ymir

Les dieux leur firent don de l’intelligence et les placèrent dans des grottes pour chercher de l’or

Après les nains, les dieux donnèrent la vie aux humains, en animant des morceaux de bois rejetés par la mer

Ils furent installés dans la région de Midgard , située au centre de l’univers et protégée par une barrière circulaire faite des sourcils d’Ymir

Ce n’est qu’après Midgard que les dieux créèrent leur propre domaine , Asgard , composé de grandes salles et de palais
On ne pouvait atteindre Asgard que par un pont surveillé par Heimdall , le gardien divin
L’univers scandinave est formé par des mondes différents, neuf selon la tradition, répartis entre les humains, les Géants, et les races divines

Le monde du dessous était le royaume de Hel, déesse des enfers, à moitié femme et à moitié cadavre en putréfaction

Ces neuf mondes cohabitaient difficilement

Leurs habitants complotaient en permanence et se battaient les uns contre les autres, selon les alliances du moment
Ygdrasil
 

Un grand frêne nommé Ygdrasil constituait l’axe autour duquel tournaient tous les mondes

Il se trouvait au milieu d’Asgard et les dieux s’assemblaient autour

Selon la légende, il avait 3 grandes racines

L’une atteignait Niflheim et Hvergelmir, le chaudron bouillant , origine de la vie

Une autre racine plongeait dans Midgard dans la source du savoir gardée par le géant Mimir

La troisième racine touchait Asgard

Ygdrasil risquait la mort en permanence car 4 daims mangeaient ses feuilles, tandis que le serpent Nidhogg rongeait sans fin sa racine inférieure

Constamment régénéré, Ygdrasil était le symbole même de la vie, et on le retrouve symboliquement dans notre arbre de noël

Asgard

Asgard , le palais des dieux est le monde des Ases

Odin y surveille le monde
Il est relié par l’arc-en-ciel Bifrost au royaume des géants, gardé par Heimdall ,

Dans Asgard , les dieux les plus importants disposent d’une demeure dont chaque entrée possède une serrure décorée et sécurisée  

Midgard

Le Midgard est le monde intermédiaire, le monde des humains , entre le monde des dieux et le royaume des morts, et entouré par la mer du Midgard
Le Midgard est lié par l’arc-en-ciel Bifrost au monde des dieux, Asgard

Walhalla
Le Walhalla est la salle de banquet d’Asgard où Odin recevait les rois et les guerriers morts

Les Vikings morts au combat y étaient amenés par les Walkyries, les vierges guerrières dont le nom signifie : celles qui choisissent les morts

La salle était énorme et avait 540 portes , chacune assez large pour laisser passer 800 guerriers de front

Ses murs étaient composés par des lances brillantes , et son toit fait  boucliers précieux qui répandaient une lumière dorée

Là , les élus festoyaient , grâce à des tonneaux sans fin d’hydromel et à la viande de Saehrimnir , le sanglier magique qui se reconstituait chaque nuit.
Ces guerriers avaient encore un rôle important à jouer dans le destin de l’univers, car ils formaient l’Einherjar , l’armée de héros humains appelés à se battre aux côtés des dieux lors de la confrontation finale du Ragnarök

En attendant le Ragnarök , ils devaient s’entraîner toute la journée

Chaque soir , leurs blessures guérissaient instantanément , ce qui leur permettait de festoyer tard dans la nuit au son des luths et des flûtes , pendant que les poètes racontaient les exploits des temps passés.

Ragnarök

Après un terrible hiver qui dura trois ans, un ultime combat opposa Odin, le père des dieux, et les autres dieux à Loki et les géants de la glace

Les géants de la glace et Loki furent aidés par le féroce loup Fenrir et le monstre marin Jormungand

Après qu’Odin eut été tué par Fenrir ( le loup ) et que Thor eut été vaincu par Jormungand, le monde ressurgit

Avant la bataille, deux humains s’étaient cachés dans l’arbre sacré d’Yggdrasil

Ils repeuplèrent la terre avec l’aide des dieux qui ont survécus , dont les fils d’Odin

Cosmogonie scandinave

Les origines et la création de l’univers correspondent parfaitement à ceux que nous connaissons des asiates , des édenistes et des atlantes que nous avons étudié dans les chapitres précédents

D’ailleurs tout le monde le reconnaît : les invasions proviennent d’Asie et d’Inde , sauf qu’on ne sait pas comment ils sont arrivés , car ils n’ont pas à cette époque laissé de traces de mouvement massif de population terrestres : donc ils sont normalement arrivés par voie aérienne …

Czyli kolejna książka Grahama Mastertona, która tym razem podoba się bez bicia.

Zamożny adwokat Craig Bellman decyduje się kupić podupadłą wiejską rezydencję zbudowaną przed laty przez ekscentrycznego milionera, znanego z umiłowania do hazardu oraz wyjątkowej mściwości. Pomimo iż dom zdecydowanie nie podoba się jego żonie Effie, a wkrótce ginie w nim w tajemniczych okolicznościach inspektor budowlany, nic nie jest w stanie odwieść Bellmana od przyjętego postanowienia.

Effie dostrzega, że mąż zmienia się psychicznie i fizycznie, upodabniając do pierwszego właściciela domu. Wkrótce potem ktoś uśmierca niewierną kochankę i nielojalnego wspólnika Craiga oraz bandytów, którzy napadli i okaleczyli go na nowojorskiej ulicy. Odciski palców wykluczają Bellmana z grona podejrzanych, choć inne dowody wskazują, że to właśnie on jest sprawcą…

Tyle o akcji, więc przejdźmy do sedna. Zdarzenie goni zdarzenie i nic nie jest nudne (jak to miało niestety miejsce w poprzednich czytanych przeze mnie powieściach Grahama). Na całe szczęście gdzieś w niebyt odeszli jego ulubieni indianie ustępując miejsca Norwegom i legendom Skandynawii (mniam) oraz hazardowym szatanom (równie smakowite). Chociaż szczerze przyznam, że morderstwa nie są tak ciekawe, jak zapowiada wstępniak wydawcy.

Doskonały język (znów brawa dla tłumacza) i ciekawa narracja nie pozwalają się nudzić. Dialogi na całe szczęście mają coś wspólnego z rzeczywistością, chociaż teoria bytów psychologicznych nie przekonuje. Cóż – książek doskonałych na razie brak.

Dobre na wakacyjny wypad; trochę gorzej z czytaniem podczas jesiennych wieczorów. Pieniądze jednak na książkę wydane nie zostaną zmarnowane.

Walhalla
Graham Masterton
wydawnictwo Amber
2008

Frederich Wilhelm Eugen Doel - sculptor, Vielsdorf, Thuringia 1750 - Gotha, Thuringia, 1816, Germany, - Minerva handing Pegasus over to Bellerphon, Marble Reief - Gotha

Louis Valadier, Bronze after W. Doell, Marble,of Johann Joachim Winckelmann

Sculpture Works of Friedrich Wilhelm Eugen Döll 

            In Wörlitz are gardens, and buildings that are a UNESCO World Heritage-listed site. The “Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Empire,” were built in the second half of the 18th Century under the reign of Prince Leopold III. Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau (1740-1817). The park is part of the network Gartenträume Saxony-Anhalt. In the basement of the Pantheon is a cave “unterquerender” that holds a Kanope, which is a symbol of Elbflusses, reliefs of Anubis, of Osiris and the Harpokrates and a statue of Isis. They were developed by Friedrich Wilhelm Eugen Doell (1750-1816) created and belong to the earliest after ancient Egyptian art templates created in Germany.

Sculpture works of Eugen Doell:

Faith, Love and Hopeat the Hauptkirche in Luneburg.

22 stucco high-reliefs at the princely riding-school at Hauptreliefs in Stuck an der fürstlichen Reitbahn in Dessau

lifesize statue of Catherine II of Russia as Minerva

Catherine II, with a maiden before her offering at an altar

Winckelmann’s monument in the Rotonda in Rome

busts of Sappho and Raphael Mengs

The New Muses, Bas-relief, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden on a horse, crowned by victories, bas-relief , Gustav Adolfs torg (Swedish for “Gustav Adolf’s Square”) is a public square in central Stockholm, Sweden named after King Gustavus Adolphus.

The square is home to the Royal Opera, the Swedish State Department, Arvfurstens palats (housing the Ministry for Foreign Affairs) and the Ministry of Defence. South of the square are the Parliament on Helgeandsholmen and the Royal Palace in Stockholm Old Town.

In the middle of the square there is a statue of Gustav II Adolf, which was erected in 1796.

lifesize figures of Minerva, a Muse and Hygieia;

grave-monument to the Gräfin von Einsiedel at Dresden and duke Karl von Meiningen;

monument to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing at the Wolfenbüttel library

Kepler’s statue at Regensburg.

Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768)

He was born in Stendal, the son of a poor shoemaker. He studied Greek art and literature. In Nothenitz near Dresden he was the librarian to Count Henry von Bünow, whom he collected materials for the history of the Holy Roman Empire. The familiarity of the Dresden gallery collection initiated his pursuit of his examination into art, and his association with artists, especially the artist A.F. Oeser, who later influenced Goethe. Winckelmann’s study of ancient literature carried him to Rome, where he became librarian to Cardinal Passionei in 1754, where he joined the Roman Catholic Church. Before leaving Rome he published his “Thoughts on the Imatation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture”. He was supported by a pension of 200 thaler in 1755, by the king of Poland, elector of Saxony, Augustus III, for his continued study in Rome. He later became a librarian in the service of the Cardinal Archinto. After the death Archintos he began in 1759 as a librarian with the cardinal Alessandro Albani, the biggest antique collector in Rome in whose services he remained up to his death. Anton Raphael Mengs was a close friend of Winckelmann who assited him with the study of Roman antiquities. Mengs also started one of the most important plaster cast collections of Greek antique sculpture in Europe in Dresden, Germany. This was integral to the initiation of the highest level of achievement in the sculpture of the Dresden, German schoolstarting at the end of the 18^th. Century. This later 18^th. Century Dresden, German school was born under Christian

 Daniel Rauch, and Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel, and was of great influence with the Berlin school with Johann Gottfried Schadow, as well as the architecture of Friedrich von Batzendorf : Karlsruhe plan, Germany, 1715, completed by Friedrich Weinbrenner with the Marktplaz, 1797; Friedrich Weinbrenner, (1776 Karlsruhe, – 1826 ebenda), was a German Architect, State planner, builder of Classicism, “Weinbrenner-style”, and teacher of the students that designed Baden Baden. Carl Gotthard Langhans, 1732, Landshut, Silesia – 1808 Wroclaw (Breslau) , Lower Silesia, Architect with some of the earliest Classicism in Germany, Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, 1789-94 ; Belvedere, (Charlottenburg, Spree River, Berlin, Germany), Teahouse, and Observation Tower. Hans Christian Genelli (1763–1823). German architect and archaeologist, Neo-Classical, Greek Revival pioneers in Germany. German family of artists, of Danish descent. Johann Franz Joseph Genelli (1724-92) was a draughtsman and embroiderer in the service of Empress Maria-Theresa in Vienna until 1774, when he went to Prussia. Janus Genelli (1761-1813), a landscape painter, Hans Christian Genelli and Friedrich Genelli (1765-93), engraveurs, were sons of Johann Franz Joseph; (Giovanni) Bonaventura Genelli was Janus’s son. (b Berlin, 26 Sept 1798; d Weimar, 13 Nov 1868). Draughtsman and painter, nephew of Hans Christian Genelli. He was educated by his uncle, under the influence of Asmus Carstens, He also studied with the painter Friedrich Bury, in 1814-19 he attended the Berlin Kunstakademie, studying with Johann Erdmann Hummel. David Gilly (1748, Schwedt – 1808, Berlin) was a German architect and architecture-tutor in Prussia. Friedrich David Gilly (1772 Altdamm, Pomerania (Szczecin, Poland) – 1800, was a German architect, the son of the architect David Gilly.  he was known as a prodigy and the teacher of the young Karl Friederich Schinkle. In 1788 he enrolled at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Berlin. His teachers there included Carl Gotthard Langhans, and the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow. Greek Revival mausoleum (1800–02; mostly destr. after 1942) at Dyhernfurth near Breslau (now Brzeg Dolny near Wroklaw, Poland), in the form of a prostyle Greek temple; Karl Friedrich Schinkel, (1781 Neuruppin in the Margraviate of Brandenburg – 1841, Berlin) Prussian Architect and painter. Schinkel was the most prominent German architect and the best example of Neoclassicism; Leo von Klenze (Franz Karl Leopold von Klenze, 1784, – 1864, was a German Neoclassicist Architect, painter and writer. Court architect of Bavarian King Ludwig I, Leo von Klenze was one of the most prominent representatives of Greek Revival style. Von Klenze studied architecture in Berlin and Paris. Between 1808 and 1813 he was a court architect of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia. Later he moved to Bavaria and in 1816 began to work as court architect of Ludwig I. The King’s passion for Hellenism shaped the architectural style of von Klenze. He built many neoclassical buildings in Munich, including the Ruhmeshalle and Monopteros temple. On Königsplatz he designed probably the best known modern Hellenistic architectural ensemble. Near Regensburg he built the Walhalla temple, named after Valhalla, the home of gods in Norse mythology. Russian Emperor Nicholas I commissioned von Klenze to design a building for the New Hermitage, a public museum that housed Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities. Von Klenze also designed and arranged museum galleries in Munich, including the Glyptothek and Alte Pinakothek. Von Klenze was not only an architect, but also an accomplished painter and draughtsman. In many of his paintings ancient buildings were depicted. Those served as models for his own architectural projects. Klenze studied ancient architecture during his travels to Italy and Greece. He also participated in excavations of ancient buildings in Athens and submitted projects for the restoration of the Acropolis. Louise Seidler produced a drawing of the friezes of Leo von Klenze’s Apollotempel at the Nymphenburg Palace for Goethe; etc… In April, In spring, 1768 Winckelmann began a long planned trip to Germany, however, when he was in Regensburg, he returned through Vienna to Italy. In Trieste he fell victim to a murder with robbery. Today Winckelmann is designated as the father of Classical archeology. The Roman collections and also the discoveries in Pompeii and Herculaneum offered him a fullness of material which he described, sorted and created an artistic specification for catagorizing type. In 1762 Winckelmann published his “Observations on the Architecture of the Ancients”, including an account of the temples at Paestum, and his writings on Herculaneum, and Pompeii in 1762, as well as his “History of the art of Antiquity” in 1764. On this occasion, for the first time he developed a sequence of style epochs of the Greek and Roman art.

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 Leopold Doel, sculptor, Gotha,Thuringia, Germany

Leopold Doel, sculptor, Gotha,Thuringia, Germany

Wörlitz park Pantheon

Frederich Wilhelm Eugen Doel - sculptor, Vielsdorf, Thuringia 1750 - Gotha, Thuringia, 1816, Germany, - Minerva handing Pegasus over to Bellerphon, Marble Reief - Gotha

 Friedrich Wilhelm Eugen Döll, (1750, Veilsdorf  bei Hildurghausen – 1816, Gotha) was a German sculptor. In the sphere of Eugen Doel was Louise Seidler born on 15 May 1786 was the daughter of an academic in the university in Jena. She spent her youth with her grandmother (under whom she learned music and drawing) then on her grandmother’s death was adopted by the wife of a doctor Stieler at Gotha. Her love of art was developed under the sculptor Friedrich Wilhelm Eugen Döll, who had returned to Gotha after an eleven year stay in Rome. Back in Jena she lived in her father’s house, next door to Goethe’s home in Jena’s Schloss, getting to know him in her childhood. In Jena she also became friends with Silvie von Ziegesar and Pauline Gotter, later wife of the Jena professor Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling. Louise Seidler gained full admission to intellectual circles in the city, which then included Friedrich Schiller, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling , Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, the brothers Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt, the brothers Friedrich and August Wilhelm Schlegel, Friedrich Tieck, Clemens Brentano, Voß, Paulus, Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer, Zacharias Werner and others. Goethe met her in the house of the publisher Carl Friedrich Ernst Frommann, and had a lifelong close friendship. The Gothaer Hofbildhauer Eugen Friedrich Wilhelm Doell (1771 – 1816) founded 1786 at the palace Friedenstein of Ernst II, in Gotha, Thuringen, Germany an Academy of Fine Art, and an Abgusssammlung, (plaster cast collection of primarily antique Greek Hellenistic sculpture). Doell created the marble bust of Johan Joachim Winckelmann in Rome in 1779-1780. After he studied in Paris with Houdon in Paris, Doell was paid a stipend by the King Ernst II of Saxony – Gotha, and Altenburg, Thuringen to make copies of Greek sculpture in Italy for eleven years. This was to achieve a level of sculpture greater than the Germanic school was able to offer at the time. The program was no doubt influenced by Houdon. The largest collection of Houdon’s sculpture was in Gotha, Germany, collected by Ernst II of Saxony – Gotha, and Altenburg. The collection in Gotha rivals the collection in the Louvre. Houdon’s work collected, and commissioned in his life time is in Gotha, Berlin, Weimar, Eisenach, Altenburg, Rudolstadt, and Schwerin, Germany.  

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{ Various sculptors in the centuries after the Mannerist / High Renaissance, and the Baroque of Italy. The text included mostly from related web sources on the sculptors. }

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Guillaume I COUSTOU – Lyon, 1677 – Paris, 1746, Cheval retenu par un palefrenier dit Cheval de Marly 1739 – 1745

- Guillaume I COUSTOU - Lyon, 1677 – Paris, 1746
Cheval retenu par un palefrenier dit Cheval de Marly
1739 – 1745, Musée du Louvre

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- Guillaume I COUSTOU - Lyon, 1677 – Paris, 1746
Cheval retenu par un palefrenier dit Cheval de Marly
1739 – 1745, Musée du Louvre

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- Guillaume I COUSTOU – Lyon, 1677 – Paris, 1746, Cheval retenu par un palefrenier dit Cheval de Marly 1739 – 1745

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Guillaume I COUSTOU - Lyon, 1677 – Paris, 1746
Cheval retenu par un palefrenier dit Cheval de Marly
1739 – 1745, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France,
Horses restrained by grooms, known as The Marly Horses 1745
The sculptures were installed at the Château de Marly in 1745. They were moved to Paris in 1794 on the initiative of the painter David, and placed on high pedestals at the bottom of the Champs-Elysées.
Carrara marble
MR 1802: H. 3.40 m; W. 2.84 m; D. 1.27 m
MR 1803: H. 3.40 m; W. 2.84 m; D. 1.27 m
Entered the Louvre on 6 and 13 November 1984.,

{ Horses restrained by grooms, known as The Marly Horses

These two large marble sculptures representing horses restrained by grooms were commissioned in 1739 for the horse pond in the gardens of the Château de Marly. In 1743, the king chose the models exhibited in the Louvre courtyard; the marble sculptures were installed at Marly in 1745. In 1749, they were moved to Paris on the initiative of the painter David, and placed on high pedestals at the bottom of the Champs-Elysées. Description A work of diverse inspiration, commissioned to replace another The statues of Fame and Mercury, commissioned by Louis XIV from Antoine Coysevox for the horse pond at Marly, were taken to the Tuileries in 1719. Louis XV discovered the Château de Marly in 1739 and, to fill the gap left by the removal of the sculptures, commissioned two groups from Guillaume I Coustou (Coysevox’s nephew). Coustou’s achievement rivaled that of his deceased uncle with its technical prowess: two colossal works, sculpted from a monolithic block of Carrara marble in the record time of two years (1743-45). Many details, such as the bridle (now broken), the tousled mane, the light and floating tail, and the bearskin on the horse’s back, required delicate carving. The artist was probably inspired by the antique statues of the Dioscuri with their rearing horses in front of the Quirinal Palace in Rome, and prestigious examples of such horses from French sculpture of the 18th century, such as the Horses of the Sun by the Marsy brothers (a model of which is in the Louvre). He was no doubt sensitive to the recent masterpiece by Robert Le Lorrain (c. 1737), a high-relief for the stable at the Hôtel de Rohan. Above all, he drew his inspiration from nature, studying the movements of men and horses from live models. Emulation and innovation The novelty of this work lies in the absence of any mythological or allegorical reference. It represents primitive nature, a struggle between two wild forces: an untamed horse and a naked man, athletic muscles straining. Coysevox’s military trophies have been replaced here by reeds and rocks on an uneven ground. The powerful, thick-necked horse shows every sign of panic and anger: rearing up, tossing its head and whinnying, with dilated eyes and nostrils, and a tousled mane. The almost invincible force of nature seems about to break free again. Wherever the spectator stands, the impression of movement, strength, and violent struggle is perceptible. A moment in time has been captured, heralding something of the Romantic works of Géricault. Indeed, Victor Hugo admired “those neighing marbles [...] prancing in a cloud of gold“. Coustou claimed to have sculpted (American) Indian slaves, which explains the quiver and feathered headdress that have fallen to the ground in the struggle. The reference is approximate (one groom appears to be from the West, the other African), but the sculpture prefigures Rousseau’s idea of the “noble savage” – an idea already propagated by the accounts of travelers and missionaries. Protective transfers From the outset, Coustou’s horses were considered to be masterpieces of French sculpture and were spared the fate of the Château de Marly (destroyed during the Revolution). In 1795, on the orders of the painter David, they were taken to the Place de la Révolution (now the Place de la Concorde) at the bottom of the Champs-Elysées, to join the sculptures of Coysevox. The Marly Horses were moved to the Louvre in 1984 to be conserved, and were replaced by copies on the Place de la Concorde and at Marly } Text from the Louvre

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Pierre PUGET, Milo of Crotona, Produced from 1671-82
Musée du Louvre

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Pierre PUGET - Marseille, 1620 – Marseille, 1694
Milon de Crotone
Musée du Louvre,

Milo of Crotona
Produced from 1671-82
Set in the grounds of Versailles in 1683
Carrara marble
H. 2.7 m; W. 1.4 m; D. 0.8 m

{ A meditation on the human condition

Colbert having granted Pierre Puget the right to carve three blocks of Carrara marble that had been left unused in the port of Toulon, the sculptor – born in Marseilles and trained in baroque Italy – began his Milo of Crotona in 1671, completing it only in 1682.
The theme, foreign to sculpture until then, is not only a meditation on the victory of time over strength, but also on man’s pride. Milo is vanquished above all by his vanity and his denial of the weakness attendant to his age. His pain is as much moral as physical. Human glory is ephemeral, as signified by the symbol of the cup won at the Games and now lying on the ground, a worthless object.
It is rather puzzling that Puget selected such a subject for a work destined to the king. He was to manifest the same audacity again with his bas-relief of Alexander and Diogenes, also in the Louvre.

A fascinating composition

Although each side of the sculpture was treated with equal virtuosity, Puget did nevertheless favor the frontal angle. The work is meant to be seen either facing the spectator or in a three-quarter view. Milo’s writhing, aching body is an immense zigzag: a succession of three diagonals decreasing in size, culminating with his head thrown back in a cry of agony.
The body is arched against the tree trunk that forms the axis around which the composition pivots. In the center, two large openings were cut into the marble in order to detach the athlete’s silhouette from the background. This hollowing-out of the base is a rare occurrence in sculpture and represents a technical feat.

Puget and Antiquity

Puget certainly had in mind the Hellenistic group of Laokoon, a sculpture in the pope’s collections, which to the artists of the time epitomized the image of heroic pain. In this piece, the Great Priest of Troy, a very old man, dies a stoic death, strangled by the snake sent by the gods. Puget, however, decided to create a modern piece. He did not idealize the representation of the hero and substituted the violent expression of suffering for the serenity of the Ancients. The body here is arched with pain and the face reduced to a grimace, while the tensed toes seem to claw the ground. When the sculpture was unveiled at Versailles in 1683, Queen Maria Theresa is said to have exclaimed: “Poor man! ” The beautiful cuts of Puget’s chisel make us forget that we are looking at marble. The lion’s claws appear to plunge into real flesh. The muscles seem to stretch and the veins to bulge under our eyes. The modulations of the surface render the impression of shuddering flesh.
The sculptor opposed the extremely smooth finish of the body and the rougher aspect of the other elements. The lion’s fur is carved with a burin; the trunk and ground are streaked with a point. Puget thus distinguished the story’s three actors – man, beast, and nature – through variations in the treatment of the surface. } from the Louvre text

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Étienne-Maurice FALCONET (1716-1791)
Milo of Croton
1754

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Étienne-Maurice FALCONET – Paris, 1716 – Paris, 1791 Milon de Crotone
Musée du Louvre, M.R. 1847
Sculptures

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Étienne-Maurice FALCONET – Paris, 1716 – Paris, 1791
Louvre Museum, Paris, France, (1716-1791) Milo of Croton, 1754, Reception piece for the Academy, 1754, Marble, H. 66.8 cm; W. 64.9 cm; D. 51.2 cm,

Milo of Croton

When the Greek athlete Milo grew old, he decided to test his legendary strength by trying to split open a cleft tree trunk; his hand remained trapped in the trunk, and he was devoured by wild animals. In this sculpture, he screams his helplessness, his eyes fixed on the lion, his muscles taut with strain. Falconet chose to treat this subject in order to pit himself against the sculptor Pierre Puget, an inescapable reference. Description Ten years between the plaster model and the marble sculpture The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture approved Falconet’s plaster model on 29 August 1744, while reproaching him for the work’s resemblance to that of Pierre Puget (in the Louvre). He was asked to create a different work for his reception piece: a Genius of Sculpture, the model for which was approved in 1745. However, the Academy then decided otherwise, instructing Falconet to make the marble of Milo. After a ten-year wait, Falconet was accepted into the Academy on 31 August 1754. Falconet and Puget: two versions of Milo Falconet’s choice and energetic treatment of his subject obviously stemmed from a desire to pit himself against his distinguished elder, for whom he had always professed great admiration. The Academy’s suspicion of plagiary was clearly unjust, however. Puget’s Milo is standing, pushing away the head of the lion that is biting him; if his other hand were not trapped, he would surely triumph. In Falconet’s version, Milo is defeated, knocked to the ground, his right leg flailing in the air, his left straining in vain. The cleft in the tree is essential to Puget’s composition, but secondary here. Puget concentrated on the suffering man, relegating the lion to the background; Falconet focused on the confrontation between man and wild animal, positioning their heads at almost the same level, setting savagery against pain. The lion’s anatomy and expression are rendered with naturalistic vigor, whereas Puget’s lion is almost heraldic. Baroque naturalism The theatricality and virtuosity of this work are of baroque inspiration: the sweeping diagonals, the twisting of the bodies, the lifelike flesh, the opposition of light and shade, the paroxysmal expression (Milo’s face was inspired by Bernini’s Damned Soul, in Santa Maria di Monserrato, Rome). Falconet demonstrated his technical and compositional skill, his anatomical knowledge, and his mastery of foreshortening (with the figure of the lion). However, when he presented his marble sculpture at the Salon of 1755, its style clashed with the contemporary taste for antiquity: despite its generally favorable reception, it was soon criticized for lack of nobility. The naturalism of the sculpture offended: Falconet had idealized neither the body (he portrayed the folds of the abdomen and the hairs on the chest) nor the face (a self-portrait with snub nose). His vigorous portrayal of Milo also clashed with the classical ideal that required a dying hero to express stoic restraint. } Text from the Louvre

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Johann Nepomuk Schaller, ( 1777 Wein – 1842 Wein ) 

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Johann Nepomuk Schaller (* 30. März 1777 in Wien; † 16. Februar 1842 in Wien) war ein österreichischer Bildhauer, (was an Austrian sculptor)

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Johann Nepomuk SCHALLER
1777 Wien – 1842 Wien

Venus nach dem Bade ( 1816 )

Genre: Mythologische Darstellung, Statuette
Typ: Skulptur , Technik: Carraramarmor
Signatur: in der Kanne: JS, Maße: H: 53 cm Rahmenmaße: 51 x x cm

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Johann Nepomuk Schaller, ( 1777 Wein – 1842 Wein ) 

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Johann Nepomuk Schaller, ( 1777 Wein – 1842 Wein ) 

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Johann Nepomuk Schaller, ( 1777 Wein – 1842 Wein ) 

Venus zeigt Mars ihre von Diomedes verwundete Hand ( 1810 ) , Genre: Mythologische Darstellung, Typ: Relief, Technik: Tiroler Marmor Signatur: unbezeichnet , Maße: 72 x 105 cm –

In 1812-In 1823 if Schaller stayed as a scholarship holder in Rome. There he had contact with him Nazarenern and to the significant sculptors Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen. King Ludwig I. if Schaller wanted to appeal to Munich what kicked this, however. However, nevertheless, he made busts for that Valhalla in.

In 1823

In 1907 Schallergasse was named in Wien-Meidling according to the sculptor.

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In the memorial Walhalla in Donaustauf (Upper Palatinate) if become since 1842 signifying ones German as well as with the history Of Germany and of her To Germanic people linked personalities by marble büsten and commemorative tables honored.

The architect Leo von Klenze built the construction thought as a “fame stamp” from 1830 to 1842 by order King Ludwigs I. of Bavaria high over the Danube with Regensburg. The Walhalla originated in the classicistic style and received the figure of a marmornen Greek temple according to the model Parthenon in Athens. It is named after Whale sound, the Wohnstatt of the liked warriors in that Germanic mythology.

By the opening 160 persons were honored with 96 busts and in the cases of missing authentic pictures with 64 commemorative tables. Today it is reminded with 127 busts and 65 commemorative tables of 192 persons and groups. Only eleven of the honored are women, although these were expressly included by Ludwig I.: „ No state not, also the female gender not, is excluded. Equality exists in the Valhalla; if the death lifts, nevertheless, every earthly difference. “ As the bust last for the time being became in 22nd February In 2003 from Sophie Scholl taken up in the Walhalla, on behalf for the members of the opposition in the third empire for which an additional commemorative table was appropriated.

The Walhalla is a property Free state Bavaria. Every German and every German interest group can suggest a honorary personality from the Germanic family of languages at the earliest 20 years after their death and then carries if necessary the costs for the manufacture and installation of the bust. On the new admissions decides to her Bavarian council of ministers

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The establishment of the Walhalla is to be seen before the background of the German political situation of the 19-th century. Under the impression of the defeats against the French and the political disunity of Germany one began increasingly to search the national identity in the Germanic past. The establishment of national monuments, as for example Hermannsdenkmals im Teutoburger Wald , Of Hermann’s monument in Teutoburger wood, the indeed mostly classicistic style were, however, Germanic subjects took up, is a result of this identity search.

Already when crown prince came Ludwig I. In 1807 on the idea, for all big Germans („ to establish an honorary temple of teutscher tongue ”), and the first busts already became during the years In 1807 to In 1812 provides. With his government beginning In 1825 if 60 busts were already completed. From the works contract up to completion of the Valhalla there passed 26 years. The laying of the foundation stone for the fame stamp occurred on the 18th October, 1830.

In 18th October In 1842, to the 29-th anniversary of her Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, open Ludwig I. the construction with the following words:

„ If Walhalla might f seyn of the Erstarkung and the increase of teutschen sense! If liked to feel all Teutschen which of trunk they also have seyen, always, that they common native country. And everybody contributes, so much he is capable, to glorification! “

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Jacques Prou (Paris, 1655-1706)
Amphitrite
Executed 1705-6
Installed in the park of the Château de Marly, initially in the middle of the Bassin des Carpes, then in the Fontaine d’Amphitrite, which was modified several times.
Marble
H. 0.97 m; W. 1.73 m; D. 0.65 m

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Jacques Prou (Paris, 1655-1706)
Amphitrite, Executed 1705-6, Musée du Louvre

Amphitrite was the wife of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon (the Roman Neptune). She is portrayed as a Nereid, a sea-nymph, as in classical representations of marine triumphs such as Raphael’s Triumph of Galatea (Galleria Farnese, Rome). Semi-reclined on drapery, she is leaning against a dolphin that she is restraining with a cord. Prou gave her a generous, supple, curvaceous body. The drapery accompanies her curves, emphasizing the small of the back, climbs delicately over her shoulder to accentuate her breasts, and wraps itself around her left leg. Long strands of hair have come loose from her coiffure, one descending her right shoulder to her breast, another wedding the curve of the left shoulder. Her left foot is resting on an aquatic plant. The extreme delicacy of the highly idealized facial features, apparently a characteristic of the artist’s work, can also be seen in his admission piece for the Académie, Sculpture Presenting the King’s Medallion to the King (1662, Musée du Louvre). There is a slight smile on her impishly graceful face. The sculpture’s elegance owes much to the care the artist lavished on its details: the nymph’s laurel-crowned hair, the braid border of the drapery, the plaiting of the dolphin’s cord, and the aquatic vegetation

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Weyr Rudolf Ritter von (Tankred),

Peterskirche, Outside view, relief, The tallness shows ” emperor Karl the relief of Rudolf Weyr from the year 1906 the Peter’s church ” founds., Außenansicht, Relief

Das Relief von Rudolf Weyr aus dem Jahr 1906 zeigt “Kaiser Karl der Große gründet die Peterskirche”.

Weyr, Rudolf, * 22.3.1847 Vienna, † 30.10.1914 ibid., sculptor; uncle of Siegfried Weyr. Studied in the Viennese academy, was active in the studio of sculptor J. Cesar and cooperated in the skulpturalen arrangement of the art-historical and the physical-historical museum as well as the Hermes’s villa in Vienna; among the rest, created monuments for H. Canon (1905) and J. Brahms (1908) in Vienna. Beside V. Tilgner one of the most significant Austrian representatives of the new baroque in the sculpture. 

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The pillars form at the same time monument base for the bronze lions of Rudolf Weyr.
The election slogan emperor Franz Joseph ” with combined forces ” (Viribus unitis) stands in golden letter on one of the pillars. His fixing certifies to the Nußdorfer weir and so many other Viennese buildings that they were established in the reign emperor Franz Joseph I., in 1848 – in 1916.

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Rudolf Weyr, - Wien, Hofburg “Macht zur See”,

was made in 1895 by Rudolf von Weyr (1847-1914). Also this figure adorns one of the rudolfinischen house crown felt crown.

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Ressel Park (4th district of Vienna) is close to St.Charles’ and the Technical University, both in the vicinity of the Musikverein.

Somewhat hidden in the bushes, near the entrance to the Historical Museum of Vienna, stands the monument of Johannes Brahms, designed by Rudolf Weyr and unveiled on May 7th, 1908. The City of Vienna paid for the project, thus honouring the great composer with this marble monument. It shows Brahms seated, at his feet a female figure with a lyre.

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You can see here the Volksgarten, on this public park you can find the monument of Franz Grillparzer (a poet), the sculpture was done by Rudolph Weyr, Karl Kundmann and Karl Hasenauer in 1889. In this park there’s also The Temple of Theseus an imitation of the Theseion temple in Athens, built between 1820 and 1823 by Peter Nobile. Inside the temple there used to be the “Group of Theseus” by Antonio Canova (now in the Museum of Fine Arts).

http://www.virtourist.com/europe/vienna/18.htm

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 Franz Grillparzer (1/15/1791 – 1/21/1872), with assistance from – Rudolf Weyr – releif sculpture for this monument.
An architectural Niesche, from Karl Hasenauer is sketched, the seated figure of the poet envelops. For the wings Rudolf Weyr Reliefs has created. In the choice of the motives one notices that the court has promoted the monument: (v. li. n. re.) ” the ancestress “, ” the dream a life “, ” king of Otto’s cirque luck and end “, “Sappho”, “Medea” and ” of the sea and the dear waves ” – scenes from grill par cerium dramas.
No protracted quarrel around the location or shortage of money hindered the work – nevertheless, it lasted 12 years, until it was ready. Already four years after the death of the poet the work of the private Denkmalkomitées was almost concluded. There was only no useful draft. Two competitions brought no result.

The support of the imperial house to Lebezeiten would have used grill par cerium more. His wish to become a manager of the university library never went to fulfilment. He remained as a manager in the court chamber archive. There Joseph Schreyvogel encouraged him, castle theater script editor, stage plays to write. Grill par cerium pieces did him one of the biggest poets of his time, however, the difficulties with the censorship as well as the failure of his comedy ” woe he lies ” did in a bitter person who withdrew more and more.

The monument was revealed on the 23rd May, 1889. 8,000 guilders were left in the Denkmalkassa. One handed over them to the castle head team who undertaken to arise for the preservation of the monument.

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Das Ban Jelačić Denkmal in Zagreb

Anton Dominik Ritter von Fernkorn – (* 17. März 1813 in Erfurt; † 16. November 1878 in Wien)

 (* 17. March 1813 in Erfurt; † 16 November 1878 in Vienna) was a German sculptor and picture caster. It is considered as one of the most important masters of early historicism.

After he learned partial auto+didactical training in Munich with Ludwig Schwanthaler. Starting from approximately 1850 it was in Vienna, where it an old cannon foundry (today electrotechnical institute building DO Viennain since 1873 in such a way designated casting house road) as working place (bildgiesserei) used.

Its most well-known works are patriotic fixed images in Austria, above all the rider statues of ore duke Karl (1853-1859) and prince Eugen (1860-1865) at the hero place. From it also the lion of Aspern is, a lying lion as monument to the victory over Napoleon in the battle with Aspern. This sculpture is likewise at the hero place – however on that in Aspern (today some of vienna Danube city).

The monument of ore duke Karl, after a painting of Johann Peter Krafft, is in as much a technical wonderwork as the horse stands only on the hind legs. This feat could not be repeated with the prince Eugen any longer: here the tail of the horse affects the base.

After several impact accumulations of Fernkorn prince Eugen was finished by his pupils. After the legend remote grain illness came along that it could not repeat the technical achievement of the ore duke Karl monument. Its pupil Franz Pönninger continued the picture foundry workshop.

In Zagreb the famous rider monument stands to honours of the Croatian Ban Josip Jelačić, which was likewise created by remote grain. It was finished 1864 and inaugurated on 17 December 1866 Weblinks [Bearbeiten]

Von „http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Dominik_Fernkorn“
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The “Saviour of the Occident”, who played an important part in the wars against the Turks, was the first to receive a memorial in the area of the Hofburg, without being part of the House of Habsburg. Horse and rider were concluded in 1865 by Anton Dominik Fernkorn, when the artist’s mind already was affected by sickness.



 

 

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Johann Heinrich Dannecker (1758 – 1841)
»Ariadne auf dem Panther«

1803, Gebrannter Ton

Das Tonmodell ist die erste Studie zur lebensgroßen, 1814 vollendeten Fassung in Marmor. Sie war für den Frankfurter Bankier Simon Moritz von Bethmann bestimmt, der dafür ein eigenes Gebäude errichtete.

Ariadne, von Theseus verlassen, wird von Bacchus auf der Insel Naxos getröstet und ihm, mit Weinlaub bekränzt, auf einem Panther entgegengetragen. Der sensationelle Erfolg von Danneckers Skulptur beruhte auf der Verbindung von erotischer Freizügigkeit und monumentaler Form. Das restaurierte Original ist heute im Liebieg-Haus in Frankfurt zu sehen, ein moderner Abguss steht in der Rotunde der Neuen Staatsgalerie.

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Johan Heinrich von Dannecker

 

Attributed To Johan Heinrich von Dannecker
Title		ARIANE ASSISE SUR UNE LIONNE
Medium		Marble marbre de carrare et povonazetta
Size		57.1 x 45.7 in. / 145 x 116 cm.
Sale Of	Ariadne (ărēăd’nē) [key], in Greek mythology, Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë. She loved Theseus, and gave him the skein of thread that enabled him to make his way out of the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. When Theseus left Crete, Ariadne went with him, but before they reached Greece, he abandoned her at Naxos. There the god Dionysus consoled and later married her. She bore him several children, including Oenopion, whom Dionysus first taught the art of winemaking. It was said that Zeus granted Ariadne immortality and that Dionysus set her bridal crown, the Corona Borealis, among the stars. Subsequent treatments include nearly 50 operas by Monteverdi, Handel, Massenet, Richard Strauss, Milhaud, Martinu, and others.	Picard Scp.: Sunday, September 19, 1993 [Lot 251] MAISON DE LA CHIMIE

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Johann Heinrich von Dannecker

Dannecker – Ariadne – 1889 drawing

(born October 15, 1758 in Waldenbuch near Stuttgart; died December 8, 1841 in Stuttgart) was a German sculptor.

 

He was the third of five children of Georg Dannecker (1718-1786), a coachman of Karl Eugen. In 1764, the family moved to Ludwigsburg. From 1772 to 1780, he was educated as a sculptor, together with Philipp Jacob Scheffauer (1756-1808). Initially, he studied under Adam Bauer, and, starting in 1775, at the military academy at Stuttgart. After finishing the academy in 1780, he traveled to Paris, Rome, Bologna and Mantua, and returned to Stuttgart in 1790, where he worked as a professor at the Hohe Karlsschule until 1794. In 1804, he did the initial draft of “Ariadne on the Panther“, which he finished from 1810 to 1824, generally regarded as his masterpiece and one of the most important sculptures of the 19th century.

After the death of his schooltime friend Friedrich Schiller, Dannecker created a bust of him. In 1823 and 1824, he created a bust of John the Baptist.

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Johan Heinrich von Dannecker

 

Johan Heinrich von Dannecker
Title		Minerva als Hermenbüste
Year		1785 – 1786
Medium		Marble
Size		11.8 x 0 in. / 30 x 0 cm.

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JOHANN HEINRICH VON DANNECKER (1758-1841), German sculptor, was born at Stuttgart, where his father was employed in the stables of the duke of Wurttemberg, on the 15th of October 1758. The boy was entered in the military school at the age of thirteen, but after two years he was allowed to take his own taste for art. We find him at once associating with the young sculptors Scheffauer and Le Jeune, the painters Guibal and Harper, and also with Schiller, and the musician Zumsteeg. His busts of some of these are good; that of Schiller is well known. In his eighteenth year he carried off the prize at the Concours with his model of Milo of Crotona. On this the duke made him sculptor to the palace (1780), and for some time he was employed on child-angels and caryatides for the decoration of the reception rooms. In 1783 he left for Paris with Scheffauer, and placed himself under Pajou. His Mars, a sitting figure sent home to Stuttgart, marks this period; and we next find him, still travelling with his friend, at Rome in 1785, where he settled down to work hard for five years. Goethe and Herder were then in Rome and became his friends, as well as Canova, who was the hero of the day, and who had undoubtedly a great authoritative influence on his style. His marble statues of Ceres and Bacchus were done at this time. These are now in the Residenz-schloss, at Stuttgart. On his return to Stuttgart, which he never afterwards quitted except for short trips to Paris, Vienna and Zurich, the double influence of his admiration for Canova and his study of the antique is apparent in his works. The first was a girl lamenting her dead bird, which pretty light motive was much admired. Afterwards, Sappho, in marble for the Lustschloss, and two offering-bearers for the Jagdschloss; Hector, now in the museum, not in marble; the complaint of Ceres, from Schiller’s poem; a statue of Christ, worthy of mention for its nobility, which has been skilfully engraved by Amsler; Psyche; kneeling water-nymph; Love, a favourite he had to repeat. These stock subjects with sculptors had freshness of treatment; and the Ariadne, done a little later, especially had a charm of novelty which has made it a European favourite in a reduced size. It was repeated for the banker Von Bethmann in Frankfort, and it now appears the ornament of the Bethmann Museum. Many of the illustrious men of the time were modelled by him. The original marble of Schiller is now at Weimar; after the poet’s death it was again modelled in colossal size. Lavater, Metternich, Countess Stephanie of Baden, General Benkendorf and others are much prized. Dannecker was director of the Gallery of Stuttgart, and received many academic and other distinctions. His death in 1841 was preceded by a period of mental failure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sappho Statue

Johann Heinrich von Dannecker (1758-1841), about 1800

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1809 schuf Dannecker Keramikarbeiten, u.a. die herrliche Terracotta
“Delphin mit dem Leichnam eines jungen Mannes” (siehe Abbildung unten).

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Duminica 7 iunie ‘09 sa lansat in club Suburbia mult asteptatul album de debut al lui Keri – The Beat Bandit, mezinul Hadesului.

Invitati :
Raku (Zale), Butch, Nimeni Altu’, Veritasaga, Dj Undoo, Rashid (C.I.A.), Dagga, Rimaru, KST, Cumicu, Axes, Funktastics, Walhalla, Boogie, Dedey, cu warmup-ul asigurat de Dj Limun.

2002 – M-am apucat de beatmaking , evident eșecuri peste eșecuri… mult prea multe eșecuri.
2003 – Puțin progres, nu mare lucru însă am perseverat în pofida resurselor limitate.
2004 – Întalnirea cu eTas și descoperirea samplingului au îmbunătățit considerabil trackurile perioadei.
2005 – Am făcut schimbarea de la beatmaking la producție. Activitate destul de subterană, oarecum locală. Am simțit nevoia să-mi restrang expunerea pană în punctul în care am ajuns la nivelul dorit.
2006 – An activ. Întalnirea cu Fab (Blacas, Jde) a adus la formarea Mamaya Records împreună cu Dedey, eTas, Fab. Mult material nelansat însă practica a dus la progres general. Tot în 2006 am caștigat primul concurs (cred) de producție organizat de Hades Records urmat de al 2-lea rezultând la colaborarea cu diverși artiști de la diverse labeluri.
2007 – Anul în care s-a format o legatură strânsă cu Butch (Hades). Mi s-a propus să devin membru oficial al labelului, oportunitate de neratat. În urma feedbackului general, necesitatea apariției unui material oficial de producție a devenit evidentă – astfel luând naștere conceptul de “The Beat Bandit”.
2008 – Activitate intensă din punct de vedere al colaborărilor. De asemenea s-a format un tracklist inițial al “banditului” ce a suferit multiple amânări datorate modificărilor de componență însa materialul a început a lua formă.
2009 – Muncă intensă la material alături de Dj Undoo (mix master și sprijin), Butch, Koma & Kombat. Țin să le mulțumesc pe această cale. A urmat un clip de promovare la piesa “Keri FM” alături de Funktastics și Boogie.
Materialul este în curs de finalizare acesta urmând să fie lansat în luna Mai, având urmatorii invitați: Supastition, Cesar Comanche, Dj Waxwork, Raku, Nimeni Altu.., Butch, Dagga, Veritasaga,Rimaru, Cumicu , Rashid, Axes, Dj Undoo, Dj Faibo X, Funktastics, KST, Destruct, Walhalla, Dedey, Boogie și Kioru. Avem instaurate de asemenea surprize pe viitor.