Archeologists discover a hitherto unknown bunker in Sri Lanka's Dutch Fort
A very old, hitherto unseen bunker has been found inside the famous Galle Dutch Fort. The discovery has been made by the Galle Heritage Foundation and the Archeological Unit of Galle. The archeologists say that the bunker situated under the pedestal of the clock tower had remained closed for centuries, and they believe it was used as a prison cell or an armory.
The head of the exploration team said that bunker has two cells and the walls are made of coral, lime and clay. The team has observed a crack on one side of the bunker.
There are 14 other bunkers in Galle Dutch Fort and they were renovated during the British period. However the newly discovered bunker has remained intact. The exploration team expects to excavate the ground of the bunker that is filled with soil to the height of about one to two feet.
The Galle Dutch Fort has been inscribed as a cultural heritage UNESCO World Heritage Site under criteria IV.
Galle Fort is the finest and most intact fortified city built by the former European colonial powers in Asia. The narrow streets of Galle Fort are lined with Dutch merchant villas, pillared verandas, carved doors and windows. British and Dutch period offices are still in use.
Some historians claim that Galle with its 17th century Dutch fort may be the Old Testament Tarshish, the fabled sea emporium of ancient times from where King Solomon obtained his gems, spices and peacocks.
In 1344, the famed Moorish world traveller from Tangier, Ibn Batuta, stayed briefly in Galle and has found Arab sailing ships in its harbour. Today, Galle Fort is a UNESCO world heritage site and the "quiet town dreaming by the sea" with the ghosts of history wandering the ramparts surrounding the Fort's maze of narrow streets, has again become a destination for discerning globe trotters.
Historical records say that Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive en masse in Galle. The Fort, however, for good reason, will always be more closely associated with the Dutch than the Portuguese. After a bloody siege in 1640, the Dutch seized Galle Fort and began constructing the magnificent 36 hectare hexagonal stone fort that survives intact to this day.
Ancient Sailing Ships - News
the fabled sea emporium of ancient times from where King Solomon obtained his gems, spices and peacocks. In 1344, the famed Moorish world traveller from Tangier, Ibn Batuta, stayed briefly in Galle and has found Arab sailing ships in its harbour.
Gordon Miller is an accomplished artist with an interest in painting sailing ships from ancient times to the present. His illustrations of vessels involved in important incidents in the history of European exploration are complemented by an explanatory
And they are getting these experiences and more on a number of cruise ships and sailing vessels. Canada-based Maple Leaf Adventures offers natural and cultural history cruises aboard a classic 92-foot sailing ship, taking an intimate group of eight on
Riviera's maiden voyage, now a 12 night sailing is the Ancient Grandeur itinerary that visits Alexandria and Port Said, Haifa and Ashdod (Jerusalem), Alanya, Rhodes, Patmos and Kusadasi (Ephesus) before ending with an overnight stay onboard ship in
Though there's a list of soloists that were noteworthy, my personal picks to watch for throughout the show would be Jaron Barney (“Flying Home” ), Jeff Skiba (“On the Deck of a Spanish Sailing Ship”), Preston Yates (“King of the World”) and Robin
Artist Danielle Eubank Offers a Reflection in Waterscape ...
By Jackie HOUCHIN
“Water, water, everywhere …” is your first amazed impression upon entering the Tujunga home and studio of artist Danielle Eubank. Large canvases of liquid beauty grace the walls in blues and aquamarines with swirls of beige, black, ochre, burnt orange and brick.
To the uneducated eye, the paintings seem abstract, even fanciful. But after listening to the artist’s stories of world travel (painting three of the earth’s five oceans), you begin to see in her waterscapes the reflections of those exotic harbor buildings and wharfs, and the sails, masts and hulls of tall ships and fishing boats. Hardly ever do you see the object; only its reflection. It’s as if you are gazing at the water over the side of a boat or dock.
“People ask me why I go to different places to paint water. Doesn’t it all look the same, they ask. I answer by asking the same question about painting mountain ranges. Are they all the same? People need to really look. Water is different everywhere.”
Eubank then walks around her studio pointing out waterscapes from Venice, Italy, from Mozambique, from London, and from Marina Del Rey; all of them different but very recognizable.
She points to a painting showing glassy swells of browns and oranges with smudged dots of yellow-white.
“This water reflects a sun struggling to shine through the polluted sky in Indonesia,” she explained.
A frozen fountain-pool in Switzerland is painted in crisp shards of blues and whites. Gray and black ripples on another canvas reflect winter trees in a foggy London rain puddle.
Currently Eubank is showing 50 paintings in the Thompson Gallery, Marylebone, London. Some are representational (lifelike objects); others more abstract, all depicting and interpreting moments and memories from her adventure aboard the Phoenicia, a replica of a Phoenician ship, circa 600 B.C. that boasts being “made entirely of wood and accurate down to the nails and single massive sail.”
The ship, on a voyage to prove that the ancient Phoenician mariners were the first to accomplish the trek, sailed clockwise around the circumference of Africa – a 20,000-mile voyage that took two years to complete. Eubank was aboard as “exhibition artist” for two of the journey’s 12 legs – from Syria to Mozambique and through the Straits of Gibraltar at the end. Midway, she flew ahead to South Africa to paint the ship while it was in the harbor.
Ancient Sailing Ships - Bookshelf
A Short History of the Sailing Ship
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Therefore most ancient sailing was done before the wind. The skipper sat in port until the wind blew the right way. Ships were built with high sterns ...Ocean life in the old sailing ship days, from forecastle to quarter-deck
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Some, like Mr. Havens, are deeply versed on ancient sailing boats; ... been his hobby he soon acquired a reputation as the studio's expert on sailing ships. ...Information Source Directory
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