THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, THE STATUE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA

 

The statue of Zeus at Olympia stood in the part of western Greece that gave its name to the Olympic Games and was to build to honour the greatest of the Greek gods.

The magnificent temple of Zeus was built around 450 BC and built in the simple Doric style

It was decided a majestic statue should be created and so The Athenian sculptor Pheidias was assigned the "sacred" task which he began in 440 BC.

The statue was created from metal, ivory and sculpted marble his head was wreathed with olive sprays in his right hand he held a gold and ivory victory figure and in his left an inlaid golden sceptre.

He wore golden sandals, and his throne was decorated with ebony and ivory gold and other precious metals and every kind of gemstone and when the throne figure was completed it was almost too big to fit in the temple.

Many worshippers visited the temple over the following 450 years and some work was needed to restore the ageing masterpiece and a hundred years earlier the roman emperor Caligula tried to have the statue transported to his palace in Rome, but he failed.

After the temple of Zeus was ordered closed and the Olympic Games banned in 391 AD by emperor Theodosius I, Olympia was struck repeatedly by earthquakes, landslides and floods.

By the time the temple was badly damaged by fire in the fifth century AD the statue had been transported to the city of Constantinople to the palace owned by a wealthy Greek.

Where it survived until 462 AD when a severe fire destroyed it.

Today nothing remains at the site of the old temple except fallen columns and debris and nothing remains at all of the greatest work of art in Greek sculpture.

ERNEST FRANK’S PEPPERSTOCK PERIODICALS PART 2, THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT, NOT

 

If the world was a body, then Pepperstock is where you would put the enema.

Have I got your attention?

As you may have detected I’m not happy it’s my birthday and there isn’t a damn thing to do in this God-awful place.

There is no entertainment here or any sport or leisure facilities at all if we want to do anything even remotely interesting then it’s a five-mile journey normally by taxi to Nettlebridge.

They have a bowling alley, snooker hall, 18-hole golf course, swimming pool and a cinema as well as an assortment of restaurants.

But even the facilities of Nettlebridge pale into insignificance if you go ten miles further afield to Eastchapel.

In Eastchapel they have a huge leisure centre as well as an ice rink with their own ice hockey team, at least five golf courses, an Olympic size swimming pool and a leisure lagoon.

Then they have a multiplex cinema and theatre complex and more restaurants that you can shake a stick at.

Pepperstock has two cafes and a chip shop where you can eat in, we did once have a kebab house, but the locals thought it to exotic and it closed after a few months.

I wouldn’t want to give you the impression that we don’t have any facilities at all for example Pepperstock has a six-hole golf course it used to have nine holes before the last three collapsed into the abandoned mine workings running beneath it.

The “Penny pool” and the name should give you some idea of its age, closed in 1944 after a Halifax bomber returning from a raid on Germany crashed through its roof.

It is still used for recreational purposes by the youngsters of the town being a particularly good spot for catching newts.

The closest thing to a snooker hall in the town is the saloon bar at the Station Hotel which was fully equipped with a pool table minus two stripped balls the triangle and a cue.   

We don’t even have a football team anymore in the glory days we used to be in the football league.

But were not even in the obscure minor leagues that no one has heard of.

Pepperstock Town went bankrupt long before it was fashionable to do so.

When Accrington Stanley were still a force to be reckoned with and Bradford Park Avenue still graced the fourth division.

The Woolpack Lane stadium is still standing, just about although every year when the winter storms come and go bits of the stadium normally go with them.

The last film to be screened at the Tivoli theatre in Sheepfold Street was Zulu in 1965. When one night just as the British formed up on the redoubt and the first volley of shots rang out Horny Harry Brent was playing hide the hot dog with Doreen the chain-smoking usherette in his office.

He had Doreen bent over his desk so she could still read her magazine and while he was attending to her from behind, he obviously hit the spot because he made her drop her fag which landed in his wastepaper basket.

Luckily the Fire brigade were only a mile down the road attending a fire at the carpet warehouse and although the Firemen were quick on the scene and put out the ensuing blaze quite quickly the “Tiv” never reopened.

Obviously, the video age has much improved and enriched our lives its only a shame the area is so prone to power cuts.

I think the only thing’s preserving the sanity of Pepperstock’s twenty first century residents would be computer game console’s and sexual deviation the latter clearly a throwback to the town’s sheep rearing heritage.

THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA

 

I suppose you could say that The Lighthouse of Alexandria is the only one of the seven wonders that had a truly practical use in addition to it having architectural merit as well as being aesthetically pleasing.

The lighthouse was built on the ancient island of Pharos at the entrance to the great harbour of Alexandria.

Architecturally it was not merely the second tallest building on Earth but possessed great elegance.

Standing at a height of 384 ft it would have been equivalent to a modern forty story building.

A central shaft ran the full height of the structure which was used to lift fuel to the upper level and the whole of the outside was covered with shining white marble and a statue of Poseidon adorned the summit.

Its practicality was most felt by the men of the sea who risked their lives and who benefited as it ensured a safe return to the Great Harbour the great mirror housed in the light house was visible thirty-five miles out to sea there is even a Legend which says the mirror was also used to detect and burn enemy ships before they could reach the shore.

 

The lighthouse was the brainchild of Alexander the Greats commander Ptolemy Soter who assumed power in Egypt after Alexander’s death.

The architect for the project which began around 290 BC was Sostratus, but it was not completed until after the death of Ptolemy Soter when Egypt was ruled by his son Ptolemy Philadelphus.

For centuries the great mirror in the Lighthouse of Alexandria was used to reflect firelight at night and the sun’s rays during the day.

The lighthouse was even depicted on roman coins of the day such was its import.

When Egypt was conquered by the Arabs, they sacked the much-admired Alexandria for its wealth.

Alexandria and the Lighthouse was less important to the Arabs who emphasized this by moving their administrative centre to the lesser city of Cairo.

 

A violent earthquake shook Alexandria In AD 956 but caused very little damage to the Lighthouse but much later in 1303 and again in 1323 two successive stronger earthquakes inflicted greater damage on the structure.

The final indignity was visited upon the lighthouse in 1480 when the Egyptian Mamelouk Sultan, Qaitbay tore down the remains of the lighthouse and built a fort in its place using the stone and marble from its predecessor.

 

Although the Lighthouse of Alexandria has not survived to the present day, it has left its influence on the modern world the name of Pharos lives on as the name for lighthouse all around the Mediterranean.

ERNEST FRANK’S PEPPERSTOCK PERIODICALS PART 1, THE DOOMSDAY LEGACY

 

I will be writing this column from time to time about some of the more interesting aspects of life in Pepperstock and its oddities namely the inhabitants. 

But before I begin my narrative, I must firstly insist on remaining anonymous that must be understood from the outset.

If I am to be earnest frank and honest about my hometown and the people who live there it is imperative, I remain nameless.

However, thinking about it, being referred to as the “nameless one”, perhaps doesn’t paint me in a very favourable light.

Maybe it would be better if I were to use a pseudonym like “deep throat” in “All the president’s men”.

As my intention in the course of my scribblings is to be completely frank and earnest about the town and its inhabitants it seems appropriate for me to adopt the name of Ernest Frank.

So, with that said I can now begin, I was born and bred in the town of Pepperstock and I still live there hence the need for anonymity.

There I’ve said it, I’ve confessed.

It was actually quite liberating to have admitted it.

I suppose it must be a similar feeling to standing up at an AA meeting and saying, “Hi I’m Bob and I am an alcoholic”.

Getting someone to admit to being from Pepperstock is more difficult than it is to name a famous Belgian.

Pepperstock is an old English market Town, and it very much looks its age and then some. Its tired run down and clearly unloved.

It is not by any stretch of the imagination what you would ever refer to as a jewel of our English heritage.

Not even the Black Death came to Pepperstock.

The town is architecturally and culturally devoid of any merit whatsoever.

All the buildings of any architectural interest or significance were long ago replaced either by utilitarian Victorian industrial structures or more recently by prefabricated concrete monstrosities in the sixties. 

Historically the town prospered from the sheep and wool trade and generated a great deal of wealth, sadly those days have gone.

However, there is still evidence in the town of its past in the names such as Sheepfold Street, Woolsack lane and Shepherds Bridge.

Of course, there is no evidence of any actual wealth left.

There is still a regular market in the town where you can buy livestock, produce and just about anything you want as long as you don’t care where it came from.

In truth it’s like a cross between a car boot sale and a petting zoo.

The town has none of the quaintness you might normally associate with a town mentioned in the doomsday book.

Although you would not think the use of Pepperstock and doomsday in the same sentence as at all odd.

It’s a town the world seems to have forgotten and even those who had the sense to leave and make a life elsewhere will never admit to their origins.

You could even be forgiven for expecting to find Pepperstock marked on the map with a picture of a serpent like creature baring the legend “here there be Dragons.”

The railway stopped coming to the town in the 60’s after Doctor Beeching, the railway axe man, did his worst.

The Station hotel still survives and is at the hub of local life a popular spot for the local disenchanted malcontents.

Part of the old track had been bought by steam enthusiasts and opened as a tourist attraction, with the special service starting its ten-mile journey from Eastchapel and ending in Nettlebridge five miles away from Pepperstock.

Although the track is pretty much intact from Nettlebridge to Pepperstock there is no plan to extend the service to the town.

No tourist in their right mind would ever consider a trip to Pepperstock.

The local Canals had fallen into disuse long before the First World War and had been reclaimed by nature long before the Second.

The road network isn’t much better as people don’t even travel through Pepperstock to get to somewhere more interesting.

The town has not attracted newcomers wanting to commute to the nearby city so there is no danger of Pepperstock becoming the next housing hot spot.

Not even asylum seekers want to live there.

So, every cloud does have a silver lining then after all.

UNIQUE

 

Always remember that you're unique.

Unequalled, uncommon ces magnifique

One of a kind quite special and rare

Singular, original, not one of a pair

Special, the exceptional you embody.

You’re really unique just like everybody.

WISE CONFUCIUS

 

                                       

Wise Confucius spoke about his creed

Do not walk behind me for I may not lead

Do not walk ahead of me for I may not follow

Do not walk beside me for the path is narrow

Do not walk near me or step in my zone

So just bugger off and leave me alone

THE AMBER ROOM OF TSARSKOYE SELO

 

It was in 1701 that King Friedrich the 1^st, King of Prussia decided he wanted to have made, as was the fashion amongst the well to do, some kind of curiosity.

Something he would be able to show off to others of the nobility and visiting royalty and other foreign dignitaries.

What King Friedrich chose was an Amber room, which was as the name suggests a room with walls covered with amber panels from floor to ceiling.

Amber is an unusual material and although not in itself a gem It is used very often in jewellery, but it is in fact petrified tree sap and often has insect and plant life trapped within it.

The project to create the Amber Room was given in to the hands of Hamburg born architect and interior designer from Gdansk, Andreas Schluter.

Schluter had been working in Berlin since 1694 but this was by far his grandest commission and he invited a master Amber craftsman from Copenhagen Gottfried Wolfram to work with him.

Over the next six years Wolfram painstakingly prepared the Amber coverings for one wall.

Then King Friedrich the 1^st decided to dismiss Schluter and Wolfram and then he employed a new royal designer.

The new man was called Eosander von Goethe and he very quickly employed two master craftsmen and put them immediately to work.

The two master craftsmen were Gottfried Turau and Ernst Schacht and they were both brought from Gdansk as was Schluter.

As the elaborate Amber panels were completed, they were taken to the Royal Palace at Charlottenburg.

Twelve years after work first commenced Friedrich’s dream had almost come to fruition when in 1713 with the project almost complete King Friedrich the 1^st died.

After his death his heir Friedrich Wilhelm the 1^st immediately ordered the work to stop, and ordered all the completed parts to be packed into wooden crates and moved into Berlin’s Armoury.

Friedrich Wilhelm the 1^st who had always considered the Amber room project with disdain had to wait four years before he could finally be rid of it.

It was in 1717 that he presented, in the form of a diplomatic gift, all the finished parts of the room to the Russian Emperor Peter the 1^st perhaps better known as Peter the Great.

It seemed that this incredible piece of vision and craftsmanship was destined to spend its entire life in wooden boxes as it was to remain so until 1743.

It was Empress Elisabeth the 1st who commissioned the renowned Italian designer Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli to assemble the amber panels in one of the many rooms of the St. Petersburg Winter Palace.

Over the next three years Rastrelli modified the Room to take on the Rococo style and the Amber Room was first opened at the Winter Palace in 1746.

And there it remained until 1755 when in that year that it was moved to the summer residence of the Russian Emperors at Tsarskoye Selo.
The interior of the summer palace had larger rooms so only three sides were decorated with Amber and the fourth wall was completed  by using mirrors and mosaics made up of decorative Caucasian stones along with stone from the Ural’s.

The room’s ceiling was decorously painted while the floor was a fine mosaic of the most prized and expensive wood’s available in the eighteenth century.

At Tsarskoye Selo during the Amber Room’s second construction, five master amber craftsmen were employed from Koenigsberg in Prussia.

Friedrich Roggenbucke, Johann Roggenbucke, Johann Welpendorf, Clemens Friede and Heinrich Wilhelm Friede created the most lavish room Russia had ever seen.

The Amber Room’s installation was finally completed in the seventh decade of the eighteenth century and it remained undisturbed, apart from routine maintenance and minor restorations, until 1942.

It was in 1942 the German invaders came to Russia and looted everything they could find, the Amber room being one of them.

They took the prized Amber Room from Tsarskoye Selo and returned with it to Prussia where it was installed at Koenigsberg castle.

It remained in place at the castle until the summer of 1944 when the Germans fearful of it being damaged by allied bombing raids dismantled the Amber room and it was again packed into wooden crates.

The Germans maintain that the treasured amber was still being stored at Koenigsberg castle in April of 1945 when it was destroyed by a fierce fire.

An extensive search was carried out but despite the best efforts of investigators no trace of the missing treasure has ever been found.

Many rumours abound that it was hidden in what was then Czechoslovakia or even that the Nazi’s have it stashed in Brazil.

Some of the masterpieces in the room’s furnishings created by the eighteenth-century master craftsmen are now part of the collection at the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo.

They are the only parts of the magnificent Amber Room known to have survived the Second World War.

However, in the 1970’s and despite a lack of funding and a deficiency of parts an ambitious restoration project was begun at Tsarskoye Selo, now renamed Pushkin, to recreate the magnificent room and return it to its former glory once again.