text:
Mattering Press
Thinking Inside the Box: The Construction of Knowledge in a Miniature Seventeenth-Century Cabinet
Stephanie Bowry
Fig. 8.1 The Augsburg Art Cabinet, Museum Gustavianum, Uppsala, Sweden (photograph by kind permission of and copyright University of Uppsala Art Collections)
Box: the Augsburg Art Cabinet. Other names: Uppsala Art Cabinet, Gustavus Adolphus's Kunstschrank (art cupboard), Schreibtisch (writing desk). Type: miniature curiosity cabinet or Kunstschrank. Origin: Augsburg, Germany, 1625–1631. Family: one of six Kunstschränke which were designed by the Augsburg merchant and collector Philipp Hainhofer (1578–1647) between 1610 and 1635. Size and shape: the cabinet measures ca. 240 cm (height) by 120 cm (width) and has the appearance of a three-tiered box comprising pedestal, corpus, and crown. Behaviour: the cabinet's sumptuous materials and diverse contents were designed to engage both the mind and senses. The main body of the cabinet may be rotated 360° on its axis, and all four sides may be opened and explored. It also contains a number of hidden drawers and compartments. Voice: seldom heard, but contains a virginal which may be programmed to play three melodies at particular times of day when connected to a clock in the crown. Habitat: Museum Gustavianum, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Migration: Augsburg, Germany, to Svartsjö Castle, Uppland, Sweden (1633), to Uppsala Castle, Sweden (early 1650s), to Library Hall, Gustavianum, Uppsala University (now Museum Gustavianum) (1694), to University Hall, Uppsala University (1887), restored to former Library Hall, Museum Gustavianum (1997) (Cederlund and Norrby 2003: 4–5) in storage (2019). Status: largely intact, some damaged and missing parts and objects, and some later additions to its collection.
Keywords: performing, entertaining, containing, juxtaposing, compressing, miniaturising, concealing, revealing, ordering, categorising, representing, monumentalising
This photograph of the front of a seventeenth-century cabinet (Figure 8.1) reveals a complex, hybrid structure. Constructed from a rich variety of materials, including wood, metal, ivory, glass, marble, shell, and coral, its intricately carved and painted surfaces showcase a diverse range of media presented through a variety of techniques. Yet despite its visually spectacular appearance and wealth of ornament, it is essentially an elaborate wooden box, tripartite in structure and comprising from bottom to top, pedestal, corpus, and crown. In this photograph, two sets of doors open outwards to reveal a virginal in the upper section of the cabinet, and a series of miniature paintings and sculptures in the lower section. Yet arguably this box does not function solely as a protective container for objects and artworks: rather, the cabinet and its contents enjoy a symbiotic relationship, together constituting a single object and work of art in its own right. Furthermore, the Augsburg Art Cabinet, as it is now known, was not merely a piece of decorative furniture, static and silent, but a miniature 'curiosity cabinet' whose purpose was to reflect the representation of the world performed in the great universal collections of the early modern age.
This paper explores how the Augsburg Art Cabinet was deployed as a means of constructing knowledge of the world for its seventeenth-century audience through its visual, spatial and representational practices. In particular, I examine the use of physical framing devices, including architecture, iconography, and miniature objects, and how these were both experienced and understood to relate to concepts of knowledge-building during the seventeenth century. The paper offers some reflections upon the contemporary display methods used for the cabinet and how this early modern object is undergoing a slow metamorphosis which has stimulated the creation of new objects. I argue that the practices this miniature cabinet employed are still relevant today and should give museum professionals cause to reconsider our own position with regard to knowledge production and its interpretation. I shall begin by outlining a brief definition of the term 'curiosity cabinet', before considering the importance of boxes as both physical structures and as rhetorical framing devices during the early modern era. I then introduce the Augsburg Art Cabinet as a specialised form of cabinet.
Defining the Curiosity Cabinet
Cabinets of curiosity may be broadly defined as privately-owned collections of 'extraordinary' objects – typically those perceived as rare, beautiful, ingenious, or strange – which flourished in Europe from the late fifteenth to the early eighteenth centuries. Nevertheless, the history and etymology of the term 'cabinet of curiosity' are problematic (Olmi 2004 [1985]: 129). While in use throughout the early modern period (MacGregor 2007: 11), the term may refer to a physical cabinet, to the space in which the collection was housed and displayed, to the collection itself, or to related spaces such as libraries and gardens. Moreover, there pre- and co-existed many alternative terms, each of which possessed its own shades of meaning, evoking the distinguishable but subtle differences in the many types of collection which existed at this time, such as the scrittoi, a small, wood-panelled study which might contain both real and painted objects (MacGregor 2007: 12–13), and the Kunstkammer, or 'art chamber', which denoted a collection dedicated to the products of art and artifice. Likewise, the term 'curiosity' describes a shifting, nebulous concept during the early modern period, which had many different meanings and could be applied in a variety of contexts, of which intellectual endeavour was but one. Barbara Benedict defines it as 'the ambitious penetration of the unknown and the astute penetration of the untrue' (2001: 29). This version of curiosity was the driving force behind a thirst for knowledge which had yet to acquire the naïve and credulous overtones it increasingly accrued during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries (Preston 2006: 91).
Then, as now, the 'cabinet', like the word 'museum', described many different types of collecting activity (Findlen 2004 [1989]: 160), whose practitioners were drawn not only from royalty and the nobility, but also from professional and mercantile backgrounds (Meadow 2002: 184), and included women as well as men. By the early seventeenth century these collections were prolific, and while some were more specialised, they often remained diverse in their scope (MacGregor 2007: 30). Some, such as the collection founded in London by father-and-son gardeners the John Tradescants, comprised art, antiquities, natural historical specimens, weaponry, coins, tools and instruments, and ethnographic items (Tradescant 1656: fols. 13v–14r). The purpose of assembling such a collection, as the English philosopher and courtier Francis Bacon (1521–1626) contended, was to furnish, 'in small compass a model of universal nature made private' (Bacon 1688: 55). Moreover, by collecting both natural and artificial objects, collectors hoped to investigate 'the various modes of Natures admirable workes, and the curious Imitators thereof' (Tradescant 1565: 6v). The cabinet was thus perceived to function as the mirror and microcosm of the natural world.
A Specialised Form of Cabinet
The Kunstschrank – literally, 'art cupboard' – was a particular feature of seventeenth-century collecting practice (Baarsen 2000: 4), and was designed to function as a miniature version of the Kunstkammer, although this designation did not preclude the inclusion of items from the natural world. These cabinets typically consisted of a collection of mostly artificial objects housed within a single, ornate and complex piece of furniture, and might perform a dual role as both a stand-alone collection and as the centrepiece to a larger repository (Hooper-Greenhill 1992: 120). If the cabinet aimed to reflect the world in a room, the Kunstschrank aimed to do so in a box, illustrating how, as Susan Stewart (1993: 43) contends, 'A reduction in dimensions does not produce a corresponding reduction in significance […]'. The Kunstschrank was also symptomatic of the early modern fascination with boxes and containers, and their symbolic properties.
Containing the World in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Boxes and containers were integral to the construction and organisation of knowledge in early modern collecting practice. Writing in 1565, the Flemish physician, librarian, and custodian of collections Samuel Quiccheberg (1529–1567) described an ideal collection of objects. This collection would constitute nothing less than a 'theatre of the world', and would contain five categories of objects – objects relating to the collector and his or her realm, artificial objects, natural objects, tools and instruments, and objects relating to the representation and documentation of history (Bowry 2015: 97–117). Interestingly, both furniture and boxes in the form of 'little cabinets, chests, boxes, cases, small wicker-baskets, […] little towers, pyramids themselves imitating chests' were listed as subcategories of collectible objects in their own right, not only for their aesthetic merit, historical interest, or exotic provenance, but for their role in 'recovering or revealing individual things in themselves' (Quiccheberg 1565, trans. Leonardis 2013: 22). Boxes in curiosity cabinets therefore served a symbolic purpose in which an object or image was identified by and through its receptacle, while the acts of concealment, containment, and revelation were perceived to uncover or heighten an object's significance and relationship to other objects within the collection.
The Construction of the Augsburg Art Cabinet
The Augsburg Art Cabinet represents an especially large and lavish example of a Kunstschrank. It was constructed between 1625 and 1631 in Augsburg, Southern Germany, renowned from the mid-sixteenth century as one of the chief exporters of richly-decorated furniture (Baarsen 2000: 3). The cabinet itself was probably the work of Ulrich Baumgartner (1580–1652), but approximately thirty specialist artisans worked on its decoration. When new, it housed a collection estimated at a thousand objects, many of which survive today (Cederlund and Norrby 2003: 3 and 13; Josefsson 2014: 56). These include such diverse items as a miniature human skull carved from bone, a pair of beard-curling tongs, a monkey's claw, a strap of human skin, a pair of mechanical dolls, a chess set, and a relic of the true cross. Woven into the fabric of the cabinet are many more objects, including semi-precious stones such as lapis lazuli, and miniature paintings.
The Augsburg cabinet was one of six designed by the merchant, diplomat, and collector Philipp Hainhofer, of which three now survive. Hainhofer had cabinets made to order for wealthy clients, but others, such as this one, were constructed without a specific buyer in mind, and filled with items from his own collection (Boström 2004 [1985]: 540). The cabinet was bought by the Augsburg Council and presented to King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden as a diplomatic gift in 1632, on his entry to the city during the height of the Thirty Years' War. Hainhofer personally demonstrated the cabinet to the king and described how
After lunch his Maj[esty] looked at the third part of the writing desk and the summit with a coco d'India [Seychelles nut] (which I had to lift down) for one hour […] and [I] was assured [that it] is a magister omnium artium [teacher of all the arts]. (Hainhofer cited in Koeppe 2008: 238)
It is evidence of the sheer intricacy of construction which seems to have defined the Kunstschrank that it required physical demonstration in order to be understood. As Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (2000: 129) has observed, '[i]t had literally to be performed to be known'. This necessity is further underscored by the Augsburg cabinet's inclusion of an image, in inlaid wood, of a smaller cabinet on a stand being demonstrated to a client in a workshop setting (Figure 8.2). As the cabinet also includes images of Augsburg, this could be interpreted as a piece of civic propaganda on the part of Hainhofer, advertising Augsburg as a centre of artisanal genius and luxury trade. However, it is also significant that this image not only effectively miniaturises and contains the image of a cabinet, or a technique associated with cabinets (intarsia), but also documents the cultural practice associated with cabinets: their manufacture, consumption, and clientele. The miniature, Stewart (1993: 66) argues, 'tends toward tableau rather than toward narrative, toward silence and spatial boundaries rather than toward expository closure'. The cabinet's attempt to encapsulate the world thus included the attempt to capture and contain the essence of itself within its self-imposed physical and conceptual boundaries.
Fig. 8.2 In this image, a gilded and ebony-veneered cabinet is demonstrated by the master carpenter (left) to his client (right), UUK31. The reverse of this panel bears a second image of figures in a landscape outside the city of Augsburg (photograph by kind permission of and copyright University of Uppsala Art Collections)
Unfortunately for Gustavus Adolphus, he did not enjoy his cabinet for long – he was killed in the battle of Lützen just six months later, and the cabinet was disassembled and transported to the royal residence of Gustavus's widow, Queen Christina, at Svartsjö in Sweden.
The Architecture of the Cabinet
I shall now examine each of the three elements of the cabinet in turn, in order to construct a fuller picture of their nature and relationship to each other.
The pedestal, upon which the upper body of the cabinet may be rotated 360 degrees, contains objects designed to help view the cabinet, including a collapsible table which may be removed and unfolded so that particular objects can be studied in detail and in comfort, and a drawer which converts into a step-ladder so that the top of the cabinet may be easily reached.
The corpus, or main body of the cabinet, is veneered in ebony – a costly, imported wood – but its heart is composed of oak and fir. It is here that the majority of objects were housed, within an intricate and layered arrangement of drawers, compartments, and removable panels. The Augsburg Art Cabinet demonstrably drew upon the structural elements of pre- and co-existing examples of material culture such as the writing desk, casket, polyptych, and shrine. Indeed, David Phillips suggests that the original meaning of the word Kunstschrank is 'art shrine' (Phillips 1997: 16). The cabinet's appearance is also comparable to a stepped tabernacle with architectural features such as swags and Corinthian columns, and reflects the argument that Baroque furniture pieces tended to be conceived as 'small monuments and were subject to the same architectural and aesthetic conventions as buildings' (Bussagli and Reiche 2009: 32). As a monumental structure (Argan 1989: 43), the cabinet sought to immortalise a particular mode of viewing and representing the world and time. Yet its theatricality of presentation was comparable to the Baroque Bel Composto or seamless integration of diverse media and themes, seen in seventeenth-century church interiors, which 'inspired devotion and conveyed a sense of mystery through illusion, surprise and sensual richness' (Bailey 2012: 158).
Finally, the cabinet is crowned by a mountain of naturalia – natural items from the earth and sea – including shells, coral, minerals, and crystals. On top of this sits half of a gilded Seychelles nut, or coco de mer, fashioned as a ewer balanced on the shoulders of Neptune, and in which sits a figure of Venus. The coco de mer was a highly-prized rarity in Renaissance Europe, and this element of the cabinet is designed partly as a piece of spectacle, but it also possesses strong symbolic connotations. The components of the mountain, while natural, have been assembled by human skill and ingenuity, therefore revealing the universal scope of the collection as a cabinet of art and the natural world, and the intersection, or joining, of these two categories. Moreover, the addition of Venus suggests a central theme of love, which arguably governs the symbolic and allegorical content of the cabinet (Boström 2004 [1985]: 548).
The cabinet is richly decorated with miniature paintings, sculptures, plaques, and reliefs in which a large variety of artistic techniques are represented, from pietra dura to oil painting on alabaster. Even functional elements such as keyholes are festooned with Baroque imagery, and metamorphose into cherubim or the yawning mouths of grotesques. Images are often framed within individual cartouches, but when considered together they often tell a particular story or invite the beholder to reflect upon a certain theme. The inner doors at the front of the cabinet, for example, depict scenes from the Book of Genesis, portraying the creation of the creatures of the sea on the central panel on the left, and those of the land on the right (Figure 8.3). Smaller images representing allegories of the four elements and the four seasons appear on the silver plaques in the central section of the corpus, while the reverse of the cabinet contains images of the Last Judgement. The cabinet's iconography thus informs the beholder that the cabinet is designed to represent all of the world and all of time.
Fig. 8.3 The front side of the cabinet, displaying scenes from Genesis and an image of Christ crowned with thorns beneath the central door (oil on wood panel) (photograph by kind permission of and copyright University of Uppsala Art Collections)
Beneath the double doors of the front side of the cabinet lie several more doors, compartments, and panels. An image of Christ crowned with thorns is located behind the first door, and beneath this lies another removable panel which offers a view of Augsburg. If this final panel is removed, one reaches the heart of the cabinet, which contains seventeen secret drawers each individually decorated with images of courtly love, forming a conceptual link with the 'Ship of Venus' at the top of the cabinet. Thus seamlessly combined within the same side of the cabinet are images relating to change and metamorphosis, the earthly and the sacred, and spiritual and temporal love, in which a multitude of interrelated meanings are possible.
Rather than view this object as the product of 'an obsessive horror vacui' (Rieder 1970), then, it is best to understand it as conveying a 'lost language of ornament' (Domeisen 2008), which functions as a framing device. As Domeisen argues,
In picture frames and in the border of the illuminated manuscript, ornament negotiates between the real world outside and the fictional world of the text or painting. Ornament is containment. It is the home of metamorphosis uniting and transforming conflicting worldly elements. It is an image of combination and a spectacle of transformation. Ornament is a method to subsume almost anything into the architectural idiom: human bodies, plants, militaria, geometric patterns, fantastical beasts – it is the realm of monsters and hybrids. Ornament is transgressive. (Domeisen 2008: 119)
Cabinets such as this one arguably employed certain fluid categories of things, such as naturalia and artificialia – natural objects and the products of craftsmanship – in which objects might inhabit more than one category simultaneously. The Seychelles nut, for example, is a natural object manipulated by human artistry. Collectors delighted in objects which blurred the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, and Philipp Hainhofer actively sought out objects in which, as he put it, 'Art and Nature play with one another' (Boström 2004 [1985]: 551). The purpose of the cabinet was not to segregate things, although each object had its proper place, but rather to demonstrate the relationships between objects and ideas.
Miniature Objects
Boxes and box forms are not only integral to the anatomy of the Augsburg cabinet; the cabinet also houses a large number of miniature boxes, containers or micro-encapsulations of a particular aspect of the cosmos.
If the notion of the box is extended to include miniature objects such as the tiny book (4 cm in height and 2.6 cm in width) produced in Munich in 1599 (Figure 8.4), it may be observed that this artefact was proof of human virtuosity and ingenuity, but it also reflects the fact that the Kunstschrank served to compress knowledge into as small a container as possible (Rieder 1970: 33). The book contains two texts: the first, in Spanish, is a reflection on conscientia, or conscience, and the second, in Latin, comprises a litany, or prayer for the safeguarding of the Spanish realm. If the physical object was a repository of knowledge, the miniature object not only captured a form of situated knowledge but also drew attention to its representation within the allegorical sphere of knowledge that the cabinet enshrined. Knowledge of other worlds, both earthly and spiritual, might be held in the palm of the hand, and so through the conduit of the miniature, 'a narrow gate, opens up an entire world' (Bachelard 1994 [1958]: 155). Princely cabinets such as these thus physically demonstrated a temporal ruler's mastery or dominion over a geographical territory. Indeed, Quiccheberg recommended that his princely client install images and genealogical charts showing 'in exact order' the progression of significant persons 'in his universe' and his relationship to them all (Quiccheberg 1565, trans. Leonardis 2013: 3).
Fig. 8.4 Miniature book, UUK 212. This tiny object measures 4 cm by 2.6 cm and boasts silver mounts and gold text (photograph by kind permission of and copyright University of Uppsala Art Collections)
Furthermore, other box-like forms within the cabinet, such as the virginal, the miniature paintings, and the clock, are designed to contain supposedly uncontainable, intangible elements such as Music, Genius, and Time, and in this sense provide a microcosmic rendition of the Kunstschrank itself and a sense of worlds within worlds. The miniature book, Stewart writes, 'speaks of infinite time, of the time of labor […] and of the time of the world, collapsed within a minimum of physical space' (Stewart 1993: 39).
The cabinet in its miniature form can therefore be understood as a matter of complex and interwoven layers which gradually transport the beholder to smaller, larger, or different types of encapsulations of the world in its various aspects. It is in this sense more rightly a collection of lenses for looking at the world through material objects and their containers, in which the container, for perhaps the first time, enjoys a certain pre-eminence over the object.
Contemporary Display Methods
Today, the Augsburg Art Cabinet is housed in the University of Uppsala's Museum Gustavianum, constructed with money donated by Gustavus Adolphus and situated opposite the cathedral in which the king lies buried. Until 29 September 2019, when the Museum closed for renovation, the cabinet formed the centrepiece of a gallery dedicated to the history of Uppsala University, and was displayed partially open but sealed within a cylindrical glass display case as an art object ‒ and a curiosity ‒ in its own right. In order that the objects it contains could be examined closely, many of them were removed from the cabinet and displayed thematically in a series of six wall and freestanding glass cabinets nearby. This method of display allowed the visitor to visually appreciate the cabinet and its contents from every angle. As a result, however, and despite its physical proximity to its seventeenth-century setting, the cabinet is in some sense alienated from its original context, which impacts upon its ability to function as a producer of knowledge. Thus, there has been what the artist and critic Paul Carter (2004: 24–5) calls a de-framing and a subsequent re-framing of the original seventeenth-century mode of display and interaction, in which touch was allied with vision. A digital interactive model mitigates this difficulty somewhat by enabling the viewer to rotate and disassemble the cabinet and explore some of its individual objects (Uppsala University 2008). Yet through this very different means of navigating the collection, and in the absence of a human demonstrator, 'Gone is the cloak of knowledge that once warmed the objects' (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1999: 132).
The Augsburg Art Cabinet provided a visual, tactile and powerfully theatrical performance of the key forms of knowledge production in the seventeenth century, in which the frame or means of containment surpassed the contained object(s) in importance. For historians of the museum such as Arthur MacGregor (2007: 17), the cabinet numbers 'among the most perfectly resolved expressions of the Kunstkammer ideal […] in which every dimension of the standard curiosity collection was represented in miniature'. This cabinet not only comprises a complex 'family' of objects, but it also embodies a complex means of representing and understanding the world through specialised practices of collecting and display. Ultimately, it endures as a representation of the entanglement and manipulation of things, both material and conceptual, including systems of knowledge.
The cabinet's remit is to explore knowledge itself, but it is also to entertain, to be useful, to be a thing of beauty and an object of religious contemplation. The cabinet thus delights in what may seem to our taxonomic age incongruous juxtapositions. The intricacy of the Augsburg Cabinet, and its delight in not only encapsulating but also in subverting the world through objects neither wholly natural nor artificial, by blurring the boundaries between things, by hiding them from the gaze as well as overtly displaying them, also points to this. More importantly, it seeks to explore the limits of representation, and despite its sensuality and the manner of its operation – in which hidden things are slowly unveiled to the beholder – actually directs its audience to the possibility of worlds beyond the senses, and hence to worlds unknown. The existence of worlds invisible to human senses was of great interest to seventeenth-century philosophers, including Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673) who reflected that
For many things our Senses dull may escape,
For Sense is grosse, not every thing can Shape.
So in this World another World may bee,
That we do neither touch, tast, smell, heare, see.
(Cavendish 1653: 43)
Moreover, the monumental quality of the cabinet offers, as Carlo Giulio Argan contends, 'a visible and plausible view of the world beyond the horizon of experience'. For, he argues,
[…] to perceive something is not just to register it mentally, but to be solicited by it; the mind must create new systems of reference adapted to the perception of objects which are no longer "natural", but artificial products of man. (Argan 1989: 55)
The cabinet represents the fusion of different materials, techniques, cultures, geographies, ideologies, and themes. Its organic naturalia crown destabilises the rectilinear forms below, and makes the cabinet itself appear to be in the process of a mysterious transformation, hovering between the natural and the artificial, the temporal and the spiritual, the ancient and the modern worlds. The Augsburg Cabinet is thus also a persuasive rhetorical object which speaks of worlds beyond worlds as well as worlds within worlds.
There is also an element of poignancy in that this, the richest and most elaborate Kunstschrank to survive from the seventeenth century, now exists as a kind of time capsule for a particular way of looking at the world through material things. This should remind us all, in the best tradition of the vanitas, that it is not only material objects which disintegrate, it is also systems of knowledge, a phenomenon from which we ourselves, and our own knowledge paradigms and associated practices – museums, galleries, libraries, universities – are not immune. Doubtless in 380 years' time, our own systems and modes of knowledge construction will come under scrutiny and be consigned to a box.
Yet, paradoxically, this cabinet is far from a static relic of a past era: in fact, it has been continually translated and understood in new ways during its near-four-hundred-year history. Its collections served as teaching tools for university students as late as the nineteenth century (Josefsson 2014: 40), and in the early twenty-first century, the digital version of the cabinet located on the University of Uppsala's website allows visitors to view and manipulate a facsimile of this cabinet by turning it, removing panels, examining its components, or sorting objects into categories. Its music has also been digitally recorded, forming new objects of sound, including the sound of the virginal's mechanism being wound. To continue the natural metaphor, the cabinet has given birth to new versions of itself, which exhibit both reflections of and digressions from their parent. Far from being emptied of its secrets, this box possesses an undiminished power to beguile and to transgress boundaries. As its creator Philipp Hainhofer once observed, it remains 'a teacher of all the arts' (cited in Koeppe 2008: 238). It would be fascinating to explore these complex examples of cultural practice further, perhaps with a view to understanding their spiritual as well as temporal import, and how they were intended to concretise as well as to transcend time through the articulation of a space of 'intimate immensity' (Bachelard 1994 [1958]: 183).
With grateful thanks to Natasha Zedell-Wänn, Rebecca Flodin, and Anna Hamberg, University of Uppsala Art Collections, for their assistance in sourcing images for this paper.
Argan, G. C., 'The Monument', in The Baroque Age (Geneva: Skira, 1989), pp. 41–51.
——, 'The Monumental', in The Baroque Age (Geneva: Skira, 1989), pp. 53–63.
Baarsen, R., 'An Augsburg Cabinet', Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 48.1 (2000): 135–37.
——, 17th-Century Cabinets (Amsterdam: Waanders and Rijksmuseum, 2000).
Bachelard, G., trans. by Maria Jolas, The Poetics of Space (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1994 [1958]).
Bacon, F., 'A Device for the Gray's Inn Revels', in Brian Vickers, ed., Francis Bacon: The Major Works (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002 [1688]), pp. 54–5.
Bailey, G. A., Baroque and Rococo (London and New York: Phaidon, 2012).
Benedict, B., Curiosity: A Cultural History of Early Modern Inquiry (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2001).
Boström, H., 'Philipp Hainhofer and Gustavus Adolphus's Kunstschrank', in Donald Preziosi and Claire Farago, eds, Grasping the World: The Idea of the Museum (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004 [1985]), pp. 537–59.
Bowry, S. J., Re-thinking the Curiosity Cabinet: A Study of Visual Representation in Early and Post Modernity, PhD Thesis, University of Leicester, 2015, <https://lra.le.ac.uk/handle/2381/32594> [accessed 5 November 2015].
Bussagli, M., and M. Reiche, trans. by P. McKeown, Baroque and Rococo (New York: Sterling, 2009).
Carter, P., Material Thinking: The Theory and Practice of Creative Research (Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004).
Cavendish, M., 'Of many Worlds in this World', in Poems, and Fancies (London: T.R. for J. Martin and J. Allestrye, 1653), pp. 44–5, Early English Books Online.
Cederlund, J., and M. Norrby, trans. by D. MacQueen, The Augsburg Art Cabinet (Uppsala: Uppsala University, 2003).
Domeisen, O., 'Beyond White Walls', Architectural Design, 78.6 (2008), 118–21, <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy3.lib.le.ac.uk/doi/10.1002/ad.786/pdf> [accessed 21 November 2014].
Findlen, P., 'The Museum: Its Classical Etymology and Renaissance Genealogy', in Donald Preziosi and Claire Farago, eds, Grasping the World: The Idea of the Museum (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004 [1989]), pp. 159–91.
Hooper-Greenhill, E., Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge (London: Routledge, 1992).
Josefsson, U., trans. by Annie Burman et al., The Augsburg Art Cabinet (Uppsala: Museum Gustavianum, Uppsala University, 2014).
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, B., 'Performing Knowledge', in Pertti J. Anttonen, Anna-Leena Siikala, Stein R. Mathisen and Leif Magnusson, eds, Folklore, Heritage Politics, and Ethnic Diversity: Festschrift for Barbro Klein (Botkyrka: Mångkulturellt Centrum, 2000 [1999]), 125–39, <http://www.nyu.edu/classes/bkg/web/perf-know.PDF> [accessed 25 November 2014].
Koeppe, W., 'Collector's Cabinet of Gustavus Adolphus', in Wolfram Koeppe, ed., Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008), pp. 238–41.
Law, J., 'Modes of Knowing: Resources from the Baroque', in J. Law and E. Ruppert, eds, Modes of Knowing: Resources from the Baroque (Manchester: Mattering Press, 2016), pp. 17–56.
MacGregor, A., Curiosity and Enlightenment: Collectors and Collections from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007).
Meadow, M., 'Hans Jacob Fugger and the Origins of the Wunderkammer', in Pamela H. Smith and Paula Findlen, eds, Merchants and Marvels: Commerce, Science, and Art in Early Modern Europe (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), pp. 182–200.
Olmi, G., 'Science-Honour-Metaphor: Italian Cabinets of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries', in Donald Preziosi and Claire Farago, eds, Grasping the World: The Idea of the Museum (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004 [1985]), pp. 129–43.
Phillips, D., 'The Cult of Saints and the Cult of Art', in Exhibiting Authenticity (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1997), pp. 5–27.
Pomian, K., 'The Collection: Between the Visible and the Invisible', in Susan Pearce, ed., Interpreting Objects and Collections (London and New York: Routledge, 1994 [1990]), pp. 160–74.
Preston, C., 'The Jocund Cabinet and the Melancholy Museum in Seventeenth-Century English Literature', in Robert Evans and Alexander Marr, eds, Curiosity and Wonder from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), pp. 87–106.
Quiccheberg, S., trans. by A. Leonardis, Inscriptiones Vel Titvli Theatri Amplissimi (Munich: Monachii, 1565), Munich, Bavarian State Library, VD16 Q 63 (unpublished translation, 2013).
Rieder, W. P., 'An Eighteenth-Century Augsburg Cabinet', The Burlington Magazine, 112. 802 (1970): 32–7 <http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy3.lib.le.ac.uk/stable/876200> [accessed 21 November 2014].
Stafford, B. M., and F. Terpak, Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2001).
Stewart, S., 'The Miniature', in Susan Stewart, On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1993), pp. 37–69.
Sundin, G., A Cabinet of Play: A Study of Games and Pastimes in Philipp Hainhofer's Art Cabinet in Uppsala. Bachelor's Thesis, Stockholm University, 2008, <http://www.gregersundin.se/download/a_cabinet_of_play.pdf> [accessed 24 November 2014].
The Virtual Art Cabinet, Uppsala University, 2008, <http://konstskapet.gustavianum.uu.se/webb/> [accessed 25 November 2014].
Uppsala University, 'Unique 17th-century Art Cabinet now on the Net' (press release, 19 January 2009) <http://www.uu.se/en/news/news-document/?id=462&area=2,3,6,16&typ=pm&lang=en> [accessed 5 November 2015].
Tradescant, J. [the Younger], Musæum Tradescantianum: Or, A Collection of Rarities Preserved at South-Lambeth neer London (London: John Grismond, 1656), Google ebook.
Weston, D. M., '"Worlds in Miniature": Some Reflections on Scale and the Microcosmic Meaning of Cabinets of Curiosities', Architectural Research Quarterly, 13.1 (2009), 37–48, <http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S135913550999008X>.
39 • The Research Box
Boxes: A Field Guide
Edited by Susanne Bauer, Martina Schlünder, Maria Rentetzi
Download PDF, ePub, Kindle (mobi)
DOI: http://doi.org/10.28938/9781912729012
Search in book
Boxing Practices
Preface and Acknowledgements
1 • The Generative Possibilities of the Wrong Box
2 • The Epistemology of the Familiar: A Hymn to Pandora
3 • Navigation Tools for Studying Boxes: A User's Manual
I • Trap
4 • Inscribing the Soul: Cerebral Ventricles as Symbolic and Material Boxes
5 • Better Shelter
6 • Slide Box: How to Stock Some Thousand Cancer Cases
7 • System Box (Tray) with Wasp
II • Juke
8 • Thinking Inside the Box: The Construction of Knowledge in a Miniature Seventeenth-Century Cabinet
9 • Musical Instrument Boxes. Hidden Information: Cases for Musical Instruments and Their Functions
10 • Boxing Crickets: A Taxonomy of Containers for Singing and Fighting Ensifera
III • Time
11 • Contesting the Box: Museums and Repatriation
12 • Archaeology and Cigarettes: 'Ekphora' and 'Periphora' of the Archaeological Identity through Cigarette Packs
13 • More than a Toy Box: Dandanah and the Sea of Stories
IV • Cargo
14 • The Ur-Box: Multispecies Take-off from Noah's Ark to Animal Air Cargo
15 • Parcels Render Neglected People Visible
16 • Boxes, Infrastructure and the Materiality of Moral Relations: Aid and Respect after Cyclone Pam
V • Black
17 • 'As Modern As Tomorrow': The Medicine Cabinet
18 • The Green Minna: Transporting Police Detainees in Imperial Berlin
19 • Scaling Up from the Bench: Fermentation Tank
20 • Deep Time History: The Lure of the Black Box
VI • Text
21 • Panel and Frames: Toward a New Relationship between Text and Image in Academic Writing
22 • Analogue Privacy: The Paper Shredder as a Technology for Knowledge Destruction
VII • Ice
23 • Biobank Boxes: Technologies of Population
24 • The Magic of Dropbox, its Virtuality and Materiality
VIII • Anxiety
25 • Domestic Reservoirs: Managing Drinking Water in Taiwanese Households
26 • Keep Calm and Carry One: The Civilian Gas Mask Case and its Containment of British Emotions
27 • Cardboard Box: The Politics of Materiality
IX • Count
28 • Petri dish (boîte de Petri, Petrischale)
29 • Prussian Census Box: Moving and Freezing Data
30 • Black-Boxing Knowledge: Glass Dosimeters and Governmental Control
X • Mirror
31 • The Mirror Trap
32 • Shifting Medical Bottles: In Between Medical and Indigenous Worlds
33 • Guarding the Memory: Photographic Glass Plates Negatives' Boxes
34 • Lousy Research: The History of Typhus Vaccine Production, 1915–1945
XI • Tool
35 • The Mechanic's Toolbox and Tool Chest: A Nexus of the Personal and the Social
36 • Surgeons' Chests from the Mary Rose
37 • Ruminations on an Electrotherapeutic Box
38 • Reliquary: A Box for a Relic
If you want to keep up to date please join our mailing list, send us an email, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. To donate, click here.Mattering Press is a charitable organisation registered in Manchester, UK, Registered Charity Number 1152056.
Mattering Press is run by a group of people who care about Open Access academic publishing. Your donations, however little, help us to keep Mattering Press going.
Donation Type: One-time Donation Monthly Subscription Does Not Require a PayPal Account
$ € £ ¥
or enter a donation amount:


text:
Alibaba Cloud, China Telecom, Google Cloud, HUAWEI CLOUD & McAfee – Catch them all in one place at Cloud Expo Asia, Hong Kong
Written by James Orme	Mon 20 May 2019
There is just one day to go until doors open at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) for the fourth edition of North Asia's largest technology business event stack May 22-23
Cloud Expo Asia and its co-located events, have received over 12,000 registrations comprising industry professionals from Estonia, Pakistan, Thailand, Germany, Korea, France and Greater China.
At the annual free-to-attend event, attendees can source the latest products and solutions from over 280 tier 1 solutions leaders specialising in Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Data Analytics, IoT, Digital Transformation, Data Centres, Infrastructures and more.
McAfee (booth E09), the device-to-cloud cyber Security company, will showcase McAfee MVISION Cloud – the leading cloud access security broker (CASB) that protects data where it lives today, with a solution built natively in the cloud, for the cloud. "Cloud Expo Asia is the perfect platform to demonstrate why the world's leading companies choose our Cloud-Native Data Security to fast track their digital infrastructure using a complete set of capabilities to protect and secure their expanding cloud services," said Mr. Jonathan Andresen, Senior Director of McAfee's Asia-Pacific Cloud Security Business Unit.
Alibaba Cloud (booth J02), the data intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, will showcase its latest products and solutions, ranging from AI and big data, network, and private cloud service, to cloud security products. It will also share its latest efforts in empowering all participants in its ecosystem by boosting the integrated development of technology, products and services on Alibaba Cloud's open platform.
Mr. Leo Liu, General Manager of Alibaba Cloud Hong Kong, Macau and Korea will give a keynote speech on the theme "All in Cloud – The Future of Digital Transformation", outlining Alibaba Cloud's recent initiatives to empower the digital transformation of local businesses across all sectors, and the company's commitment to fostering the cloud ecosystem and developing its smart city vision in the region.
HUAWEI CLOUD (booth E02), the cloud service brand of the HUAWEI marquee, will showcase its impressive suite of cloud solutions. Visitors can explore the various solutions at different areas of the booth, including the Huawei Atlas AI computing platform which was recently launched in April this year; and its Cloud Security Service that safeguards applications and data on the cloud. During the two-day event, HUAWEI CLOUD will be sharing its achievements of technologies, products, and solutions in the cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) fields, and will also discuss industry trends and the development opportunities of 'Intelligent Hong Kong' with local enterprises, experts, and industry leaders.
For attendees keen to learn about the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's first-ever Smart Lampposts project, Mr. Andrew Kwok, CEO of HGC Global Communications (booth F23) and his team will provide insights into this innovation. As the leading fixed-line operator and ICT service provider with an international presence, they will also provide an introduction to the company's latest services and smart applications.
For attendees looking for data centre solutions, leading distributor, Pacific Sense Enterprise (Kidde HK distributor) will showcase a Fire Suppression System and present a demo of its fire simulation & control extinguishing sequence at the 'Live Data Centre'. This fully-functioning data centre feature connects over 15 components from different suppliers in one location to showcase the practical implementation of data centre products.
With a wide range of exhibitors providing technology for each aspect of an organisation's business functions, attendees sourcing for the latest technology for their business' endeavours will be spoiled for choice.
"We are delighted to present this wide array of thought leadership and expertise. Attendees will have the opportunity to access some of the industry's best minds in one place across two content-packed days, and we look forward to welcoming everyone to the event this week," said CloserStill Media's Event Director, Ms. Candice Wong.
Register for your free pass to visit the event: www.cloudexpoasiahk.com/PR2
Written by James Orme Mon 20 May 2019
Cloud Expo Asia HK 2019
Send us a correction Send us a news tip
Latest Event News
How Big Data & AI World is responding to the event industry's biggest ch...
On-demand Webinar: How can security keep pace, yet secure DevOps workflows?
On-demand Webinar: More Clouds, More Problems
On-demand Webinar: Finance and Banking – Why now is the time to invest ...
On-demand Webinar: Can predictive capabilities get front-line health services...
Cloud Expo Europe London 2021
Book Now >>
Cloud & Cyber Security Expo London 2021
Big Data & AI World London 2021
Data Centre World London 2021

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Business | Community Content | Featured | Front Page.
Posted November 23, 2015 : Business, Community Content, Featured, Front Page.
If Ontario's Minister of Community and Social Services is serious about providing equal pay for people with intellectual disabilities, she might want to turn her attention to Petrolia and Central Lambton.
This week Helena Jaczek was under fire after an investigation by The Toronto Star on sheltered workshops. In many communities, people with intellectual disabilities do piece work in segregated workshops in "employment training" earning just a few cents an hour. The ministry has very little information about just how many people are in the shelter workshops, because many community living organizations didn't fill out a survey from the ministry.
So Jaczek decided this week that community living groups should stop admitting people to the sheltered workshops. And she vows to find was to provide meaningful employment instead at fair rates of pay.
The minister told the Toronto Star she was committed to moving away from the low-paying jobs to something more inclusive, but she wasn't sure how.
She might look to Petrolia and Central Lambton, where four years ago, Lambton County Developmental Services decided it was time to change the way they did business.
Clare Hyatt runs Petrolia Enterprises – the business end of LCDS. She says for many years LCDS ran sheltered workshops providing jobs to people for as little as a quarter an hour. Workers would do everything from compile utensil and condiment packages for fast food restaurants to sorting gloves for businesses and making wooden stakes for the construction industry. By 2012, the employees were making $1 an hour and some were not happy – some because they were under paid, others because they didn't like the work.
And many of the clients who wanted to work knew they were underpaid and would request LCDS help them find employment elsewhere. "People wanted more work and they should make more money.
Hyatt says LCDS started reevaluating. It was becoming harder to gain the temporary employment contracts because businesses were closing or using off-shore labour for the labour-intensive work.
"We were losing our workforce and we knew we needed to pay people a better wage," she says adding LCDS got to the point where they knew it was "morally wrong" to continue with the sheltered workshops.
So LCDS began planning and talking to families about moving to a better model. People who wanted to work, worked making minimum wage just like everyone else.
And Hyatt says people who didn't want to be in a woodworking shop were directed to areas they were interested in, including classes for things such as computers or cooking.
It wasn't easy. Parents were immediately concerned. Clients – even those who wanted a change – had a difficult period of adjustment.
Staff was reassigned to new positions to accommodate the changes and it all had to be done within the budget LCDS already had.
And LCDS was – and still is – constantly looking for projects to bring in to Petrolia Enterprise to keep people working making a good wage.
It wasn't easy, Hyatt says has been worth it.
And while work is about more than money, Hyatt says the change Petrolia Enterprise's employees was noticeable.
She says the first payday after the change, everyone was smiling. And Hyatt says payday at Petrolia Enterprises is still joyful four years later.
"The pride they had in the job they were doing grew…it gave them a greater sense of value for what they were doing.
Hyatt says there will always be difficulties finding work and creating new employment for people with intellectual difficulties, but after four years, she says the transition has been a success. "It has been a success in the people working and the value and the pride they get from their work make it a huge success.


The 2019 NBA title was probably determined Monday night.
DeMarcus Cousins reportedly agreed to join the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors. Cousins was an All-Star and averaged 25.2 points and 12.9 rebounds in an injury-shortened season for the New Orleans Pelicans. His deal is for one year at $5.3 million.
He joins a team that includes Kevin Durant (first team All-NBA in 2018), Steph Curry (third team, NBA Finals MVP), Klay Thompson and Draymond Green (All-Stars).
That means the Warriors will likely start five All-Stars once Cousins gets back on the court.
What's next, Warriors? Will you sign Bryce Harper just because you can? Cristiano Ronaldo? Tom Brady? Alex Ovechkin? Sheesh.
Everybody is giving up on next season.
BREAKING: Golden State Warriors believed to be front-runner to acquire Orioles infielder Manny Machado.
Boogie Cousins is signing with the Warriors.


text:
Tag Archives: fails
Do You Know Why Your Webpage Fails To Rank In Search Engine?
As an essential a part of any organization's digital success, the demand for SEO professionals is high and continues to develop. Half Three will check out some new developments taking place around the world. The DMU will be capable of wonderful companies that break its code of conduct 10 % of their annual international turnover, with an additional 5 % of day by day international turnover added per day that the violation continues. Following reports that the UK authorities had dropped plans to heavily regulate Apple and different large tech companies using a new Digital Markets Unit (DMU), the Division of Tradition, Media and Sport (DCMS) has assured that it'll empower the DMU with statutory powers to penalize companies that do not meet its guidelines (via Reuters). The change would give the unit stronger enforcement powers. App builders would be capable to distribute their apps "on fairer and extra transparent phrases." There are also plans to provide small and medium-sized companies better pricing from services supplied by massive tech companies, in addition to insights into the algorithms that drive site visitors and revenues.
LONDON, Might 5 (Reuters) – Britain will give statutory powers to a new expertise regulator so it could possibly enforce pro-competition rules and prevent tech giants including Google (GOOGL.O) and Facebook (FB.O) from utilizing their dominance to push out smaller companies and drawback consumers. We wish to degree the enjoying field and we're arming this new tech regulator with a variety of powers to generate decrease costs, higher selection and more control for shoppers while backing content material creators, innovators and publishers, including in our vital news business. "Hey, my article is better than that dudes! Another motive why I am glad Mojeek got here alongside is as a result of I think most people is healthier served when the browser and the search engine isn't developed by the same entity. That would be an enormous change to the complete advert industry, however I feel it would work primarily based loosely on the principles Troy Hunt defined when he dropped all ad community code from his web site and as a substitute went to a sponsorship mannequin. Nevertheless, it doesn't explicitly model appearance/presentation bias, which is the distinction between (Xie et al., 2018) and this paper.
However, as concerns over the veracity of net information develop Thorne et al. I lately posted just a little bit of details about Privacy Browser Computer on Mastodon. Although it isn't essentially one thing you'll put into this blog submit, it would most likely be fascinating for Mojeek to know that almost all of my present effort is being put into growing Privateness Browser Computer. "The authorities will introduce legislation to put the Digital Markets Unit on a statutory footing sooner or later," the Department of Tradition, Media and Sport (DCMS) said in a press release on Thursday. A authorities spokesperson yesterday confirmed that the DMU shall be given powers to handle the "predatory practices" of some huge tech firms with the intention of boosting competitors and giving users more control. The federal government announced plans to arrange the DMU in 2020, stating that it will grant powers to the physique to create a code of conduct that large tech firms need to abide by in the UK or face fines of 10 p.c of annual turnover. Faced with expansive and obscure moderation obligations, little time for analysis, and major authorized consequences in the event that they guess unsuitable, corporations inevitably overcensor.
Stricter regulation of and moderation by platforms also results in self-censorship, as users attempt to to avoid negative repercussions for their creative and political expression. The DMU would have the facility to step in to solve pricing disputes between information outlets and platforms. DuckDuckGo doesn't have its own search index, and instead uses a mess of sources for the search outcomes it shows. I thought-about that the criteria for an excellent search engine would come with the next. Whenever you don't know where to start out it may be a good suggestion to show to a professional advertising firm, even if that is on a short lived foundation. And whether those individuals are potential employers, co-employees or informal acquaintances, it's usually a good suggestion to place your greatest foot ahead on the internet. What's extra, folks will recognize the effort you set into creating the visuals your content has, which is extra likely to get you extra inbound hyperlinks. I've connected right here something we put collectively off the back of me utilizing it on my Android system for three weeks now, however we don't wish to chuck up an article except you've seen what it says and are happy with the idea. Mojeek just lately wrote a weblog publish about Privacy Browser Android.


Oh my goodness, we think alike so much, Malou ! I just made Chicken Afritada! Your photos are gorgeous and make me want to come over right now. Thanks for the post...so nice to read!
I love Chicken [A]Fritada though I must admit I cook it rarely. I love everything about it except for the chicken, LOL. The sabaw, the veggies, oh YUMMY!
This made me really hungry! I'll cook it the way you do one of these days and I'll send you a photo! Thanks for sharing!
Great recipe Malou. Thanks for posting. Have a great day.
Aww that was a sweet post. And the afritada looks so yummy.
I am so happy to be discovering these authentic dishes from the Philippines here; next time I am in Lebanon I will make this with my filippino friends.
Awwww, so sweet! I know I am already old and yes, I/we do those things...and we find it fun. The only afritada I know is fish afritada so I should try this recipe 'cause it looks absolutely delicious.
Bn: Wow really haha.. I'm sure your hubs loved it.
K: Hello great to meet you!
J: we need to find some humor in our relationship right? Im sure you and your hubs do the same thing.
J: Great to see you back. It's been awhile! Your Filipino friends will be surprised to have this haha!
A: you don't look "old" as well hihihi, Also I never had afritadang fish before... hmmm would love to try it.
Your chicken dish looks delicious... I'm pretty sure good food can help persevere our youth too!
I haven't been blog hopping in a while... it is so lovely to see you back online.
Z: that's the spirit.. hey happy birthday again..enjoy!
C: Great to see you again. I know it's been awhile.
R: Anytime Reb. I am here if I could help.
Hmmm another delicious recipe! Thanks for posting - I bookmarked and hope to try this fall/winter!
Nami: you are so sweet... and glad you tried my arroz ala cubana recipe.
Terra: I know what you mean, but you're right, let's enjoy life!
haha I don't think this means you're getting OLD. It just means you're beginning to appreciate the little things in life. I'm down with that! This chicken dish sounds so delicious. Your husband has awesome taste.
I must be getting old too, because I do the same thing, go grocery shopping Friday nights, and funny enough I get a slight thrill out of it. This looks like terrific one pot meal!
You know you're getting old when every chicken comfort recipe posted is a "must do." As this is.
Hi Malou! I just found this recipe the other night when I was trying to decide what to make for lunch the next day. It was a big hit! I'm now officially a fan! I've never made chicken afritada before and your recipe was simple, easy to follow and tasted really great.
Just a comment though, when I tried to look it up again, this recipe was filed under chicken caldereta. Thought you might want to check this. Cheers!


text:
US say Kosovo has right to own armed forces
Photo: copyright profimedia.cz
Mihajlo Kopanja
Balkans , Commentaries ,
US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs of the, Wess Mitchell stated on 14 March in Serbia that Kosovo has the right to establish own armed forces, an endeavour Kosovo previously undertook, but subsequently postponed due to the fact that EU and US pointed out such a step cannot be taken without amending the Constitution, which, in turn, cannot be done without the support of two thirds of the national minorities. So far supported the Kosovar Serbs have opposed such initiatives.
Serbia believes Kosovo's armed forces can only be created in violation of international law/agreements, namely of the UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which stipulates the possibility of return of the Serbian Army to Kosovo. Mitchell's statements represent a reiteration of US' vision of Kosovo's future, including its support for a Kosovar army, although warning Pristina that the only way to achieve this is through a change in the constitution. Both EU and US are assuming an increasingly assertive role in the Balkans, but it is not clear whether local leaders would in fact implement the Western-sponsored agenda, which might prove very unpopular and push those societies closer to Russia, China or Turkey.
About author: Mihajlo Kopanja
Belgrade suggests a compromise to end disputes with Kosovo
Foreign fighters are main threat for Kosovo
Serbia halted EU-sponsored talks with Kosovo
Albanian PM Edi Rama hints on union designs with Kosovo
In big trouble: Between the EU or Russia


← Thursday after the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost.—Realising God's Presence.
Friday after the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost.—Awaiting our Lord.
Posted on November 14, 2014 | Comments Off on Friday after the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost.—Awaiting our Lord.
APPLICATION. See then that life should be an awaiting. And you yourselves like to men who wait for their Lord when he shall return from the wedding. (Luke xii, 36.) Is it hard for you to wait patiently for your Lord and, in the meantime, to deprive yourself of all inordinate satisfactions and pleasures?
CONSIDER SECONDLY that the saints were saints because they lived separated in great measure from the rest of men. They reckoned that they had little or nothing to do with this world. Like pilgrims they were always waiting and sighing after their heavenly country. It is not becoming therefore that we should basely degenerate from their example. Is it not rather shameful, that we attach ourselves so much to the things of this world which is not really ours?
APPLICATION. Reflect that you spring from those who were quite detached from the world, of those who were entirely spiritual and holy, and that you likewise should be such. Of what use is it for the river to boast of the purity of its source if it is itself defiled with mud?
CONSIDER THIRDLY how mistaken it is of you to seek here before the time what is reserved for hereafter. All the pleasures and diversions, that you seek for now, are in fact thefts of those delights that are utterly indescribable, which you are meant to enjoy hereafter to the full. Be content then to wait, and do not be impatient. Now is the time in which you must live by faith only, console yourself by faith, animate yourself by faith, and not lose faith in prosperous or adverse times. Your life will not always go on in the same even tenour. Sometimes you will be in desolation, sometimes in joy; sometimes you will have honour, sometimes contempt; sometimes you will be strong, sometimes weak.
Of fervent amendment of our whole Life.
IV. But all men have not alike to overcome and mortify.
Yet he that is diligent and zealous, although he have more passions to fight against, will be able to make a greater progress than another who has fewer passions, but is, withal, less fervent in the pursuit of virtues.
Two things particularly conduce to a great amendment: these are, forcibly to withdraw one's self from that to which nature is viciously inclined, and earnestly to labour for that good which one wants the most.
Study likewise to try more carefully, and to overcome those faults which most frequently displease thee in others.–Thomas à Kempis–Imitation of Christ Bk I, Ch XXV pt. IV.
This entry was posted in 11. November Devotions. Bookmark the permalink.


State and local governments are fuming over a new bill introduced by House Republicans that would require public pension plans to report their liabilities using a new accounting standard.
H.R.6484, introduced earlier this month by Republican Reps. Devin Nunes, Paul Ryan and Darrell Issa, would require public pension funds to report two types of data to the Treasury Department, which would then post it online.
The first set of numbers would detail a pension's liabilities using accounting methods set by the pension itself. The second set would show the pension's liabilities using a set of uniform standards prescribed by the legislation, which the Republicans say would provide a more realistic look at the state of the pension.
Governments that refuse to report would be denied their ability to issue tax-exempt bonds. Municipal bonds pay lower interest rates than other bonds, but those rates are offset by the fact that their returns are tax-exempt. Cutting off that tax-exempt status would make it difficult for a state or local government to raise money, which would give a strong incentive to comply.
The legislation also includes a policy statement indicating Congress won't bail out any public pension programs that tank.
A coalition of groups representing state and local governments -- including the National Association of Counties, the United States Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities and the International City/County Management Association, among others -- released a statement saying that the legislation conflicts with existing accounting standards and undermines investor confidence in the municipal bond market.
"This legislation represents a fundamental lack of understanding regarding the strong accounting rules and strict legal constraints already in place that require open and transparent governmental financial reporting and processes," the groups wrote.
The bill's opponents say it sets a precedent for federal intervention into financial areas historically handled at the state and local government.
That's an ironic twist, given that the bill's sponsors are conservatives who generally tout states' rights. The legislation is also backed by a slew of conservative organizations including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Tax Reform.
The bill is unlikely to pass, given the fact that the current congressional term expires in a matter of weeks. But it could be a dress rehearsal for similar legislation to be introduced in the soon-to-be Republican-controlled House.
It might also be a signal to Governmental Accounting Standards Board, which sets the generally-accepted accounting practices used by state and local governments. GASB is in the process of deciding whether it will require public pensions to adopt accounting practices similar to those proposed in the legislation.
The proposed standards are similar to those used by corporate pension funds, which provides a more conservative and short-term estimate of pension growth.
That's because if a corporation goes under, either the government or the shareholders of another company are left holding the bag of an unfunded pension. The rules mean that corporations try to keep their pensions close to fully funded and minimize the difference between their assets and liabilities. Their valuations are tied to current interest rates. So, if current interest rates are high, then future liabilities are smaller, and vice versa.
Traditionally, public pension plans -- under existing GASB rules -- use an assumption of long-term growth to make their valuations. Frequently, 8 percent growth is used as a target rate.
Groups such as the National Association of State Retirement Administrators say the status quo makes sense since there isn't a compelling reason to have public pension plans be fully funded at a given time, as they would never need to be paid out all at once.
Using the corporate standard could also have negative effects when governments try to budget for their pension plans. For example, a drop in interest rates from 5 percent to 3 percent would cause the value of future pension liabilities to increase by 40 percent -- on the books -- when in reality such a change shouldn't drastically alter the long-term outlook of the plans, NASRA officials say.
"A long-term rate of return makes a lot more sense for a perpetual entity such as a government," said Jeannine Markoe-Raymond, director of federal relations at NASRA. "It's a long accumulation and a long-term payout stream. Historically speaking, state and local government pensions have earned well over 9 percent, and they're using 8 percent as their assumption, and they're being told that's too high."
Markoe-Raymond said the legislation is not about promoting transparency; rather, it's an attempt to make an end-run around GASB's existing standards. She also emphasized that state and local governments aren't seeking bailouts of their retirement systems, and public pensions are secure.
Pensions are funded by contributions from employers and employees. They're also funded by investment earnings. When the financial markets plunged in the second half of 2008, those pensions lost a quarter of their asset value, according to the Government Accountability Office.
As those pensions suffer, some have predicted they face near exhaustion. At that point, a government would likely have to raise taxes or cut spending to fund the pension.
Josh Rauh, a finance professor at Northwestern University whose work is cited by the Republican sponsors of the bill, predicts that state pensions could start running out of money as early as 2017.
Data from the Pew Center on the States reveal that state pensions face a $1 trillion shortfall. At the end of fiscal 2008, states had set aside $2.35 billion to pay retirees, but they had promised to pay $3.35 billion.
But Nunes and other Republicans believe that the $1 trillion figure is optimistic, and that the true extent of the program could be even greater, due to accounting standards used by pension plans. They say the plans often overstate the fair market value of their assets -- hence their desire for more transparent reporting requirements.
"Quite frankly, if they have nothing to hide, there's no reason why the states and local governments who control public employee pensions should not embrace this effort to ensure that the taxpayers have a more transparent accounting of the true nature of pension liabilities," Rep. Darrell Issa said in a statement.
Markoe-Raymond criticized the methodology of Rahr's research, saying he used pessimistic assumptions about potential returns to drive his conclusions. "We think they're using pretty bad scare tactics," she said.


I am greatly honored and humbled by the invitation to participate at this year's Africa week on "Addressing the Climate Change -Mitigation Nexus and its implications for Peace and Security in Africa," as a scholar and practitioner in residence at the George Washington University' Institute for African Studies.
I wish to thank and congratulate the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa under the able leadership of my brother, Mr. David Mehdi Hanam, the Director and Acting Special Adviser, as well as the AU Permanent Mission and all the lead organizers for successfully organizing these important events showcasing Africa, and for facilitating our participation.
Excellencies; The gathering here in this august body is a clear testimony that issues of climate change have taken a center stage for Africa's development on peace and security. I applaud our leaders for their continued commitment to providing the necessary political leadership in addressing and ensuring Africa's effective participation in various global fora on climate change and a call for action.
Equally, I acknowledge the role of the African Union Commission (AUC) in upholding the African common position on climate change, which led to the successful negotiations and signing of the 2015 Paris Agreement. I recall the time when Tanzania former President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete chaired the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (each time we would laugh at the abbreviation CAHOSCC), which underlined the need for Africa to speak with one voice and build a consensus on issues of common concern. I trust this is demonstrated here today in addressing the nexus of climate change to migration and its implications for peace and security in Africa.
Excellencies, distinguished participants; Let me state at the outset that I am not an expert on issues of climate change with all its multi-layer processes and manifestations. My interest, which attracted me to this event, is a nexus of climate change to migration and peace and security in Africa. This, in my view, has been a missing link in the many debates on climate change and its implications. Nevertheless, I wish to recognize and appreciate the role played by Senegal during its presidency of the UN Security Council when, at its 7818th meeting on 22 November 2016, the Council highlighted for the first time the importance of climate change, peace, security, and migration.
As has been widely observed, climatic changes not only impact directly on people's lives, but also affect the security of their livelihoods in all its forms, including food security, water security, increased poverty, escalation of tensions and conflict situations at the local, national and international levels. Studies have shown that there is a convergence between environmental protection and conflict mitigation. It is a truism that we are currently facing the worst migration crisis fueled not only by conflict and wars, but also by prolonged drought, flooding and famine attributed to climate changes and other social factors.
Allow me to draw your attention and bring you closer to home to the long enduring source of migration and conflicts in many parts of Africa, including pastoralists communities and farmers strained by the adverse effects of climate change among other factors. These problems, as described by one scholar, are as 'old as humanity' but have increased over time in magnitude and intensity. Semi-arid and arid areas are particularly exposed to the impacts climate change have on freshwater and grazing.
With your indulgence, I wish to recall my time as the first Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), which was established in 2006 following the signing of the Regional Pact on Peace, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region. Among the priority projects under the program of peace and security was the conflict mitigation and environment management in pastoralist communities in the Karamoja Region in Uganda, and across the border of Uganda-Kenya-Turkana (Northeast Uganda and Northwest Kenya); and Southern Sudan- the Toposa.
As you are all well-aware, this region's inhabitants are predominantly nomadic pastoralists. It is a region classified as arid or semi-arid that experiences prolonged droughts and poor soil conditions with attendant consequences- the livestock, which is central to the inhabitant's livelihood, die and crops that were once able to survive in such conditions no longer grow. As desperation and the struggle for scarce resources intensify, inter-clan and cross border conflicts also intensify with national and regional dimensions and implications.
A major alternative strategy, primarily for men under circumstances of severe resource scarcity, is migration and cattle rustling across boarders using arms. These weapons become a security threat to the lives and property of the region's inhabitants and have resulted in countless deaths in the past few years. Women and children are traditionally left vulnerable to conflict and suffer the consequences. The same can be said for many displaced people and refugees fleeing their homes not only in times of war and conflict, but in search of green pastures. In the true sense of the word, as climate change manifests itself, weather extremes and disasters result. This is true for many regions and communities in Africa as no country is immune to these problems, whether man made or created by mother nature.
Of importance and relevant to this meeting was our efforts in the Great Lakes region to promote innovative approaches to responding to climate variability and change, including the integration of the climate change risk management and environment protection in all our programs for restoring regional peace and stability and conflict mitigation, in addition to disarmament measures. At first, there was not much enthusiasm for these programs as we explored climate change impact and environment management with regards to pastoralist communities and conflict mitigation, or Gender, Environment and Climate change (and nexus to gender based violence).
The truth of the matter is that climate change severely impacts inter-State and regional conflicts, which emerge due to water scarcity or poor management of structures, causing internal displacement of population, migration towards other countries or continents and unfortunate humanitarian consequences.
For these reasons, it is our responsibility to step up our efforts to secure sustainable management of natural resources; design accountable sustainable strategies for the development of our continent and ensure the participation of women and youth when addressing the challenges of climate change and migration. Evidence shows that women and youth are the first victims of climate change in context of violent conflict, political instability and economic strife.
Women are also agents of positive change with important perspectives and indigenous knowledge, which can inform and influence solutions to address climate change. In many communities in Africa that are already acutely affected by climate change, such as the Lake Chad Basin region, women have to adapt their lives to survive and care for their dependents.
As a daughter of Africa, I am proud to report that in light of advancing women's rights and leadership for the sustainable development of Africa, the African Union Commission, in partnership with the United Nations and the Federal Republic of Germany, launched the African Women Leaders Network of which I was privileged to be among the pioneers. This Women's Network aims to bolster the leadership of women in governance, peace and security, all in the interest of transforming Africa, which includes initiatives to address the role of women with regards to the nexus between climate change, migration, peace and security. Furthermore, the Network has set the goal of generating sustainable and concrete actions for women in Africa, in line with the African Union and United Nations' commitments to prevention and delivering tangible solutions on the ground.
In this connection, solidarity missions have been undertaken a few months ago in Nigeria and the DRC under the leadership of the UN Deputy Secretary General, Her Excellency Ms. Amina Mohammed, with the goal of supporting women affected by the dire consequences of climate change and armed conflict. The majority of displacements were women, children and youth in various camps (Dalori Camp, Maiduguri, Nigeria, and Mugunga IDP camp in the DRC). Displaced women shared the hardship of their daily lives; the lack of access to basic human goods such as food and water, and the need for enhanced support from national governments and the international community.
We all know the 'why', 'what' and 'how' through various efforts and international binding commitments. Therefore, we need to create harmony between humans and nature for sustainable development and lasting peace and security.


text:
Actor | Politician | TV Host
Born Ronald Wilson Reagan on Feb. 6, 1911 in Tampico, IL
Died June 5, 2004 of pneumonia, complicated by Alzheimer's in Bel-Air, Calif.
When he first guided his shiny Nash convertible through the Warner Bros. gates in 1937, Ronald Reagan was a New Deal Democrat, a liberal unionist fighting for those "at the bottom of the ladder," a budding anti-fascist who deplored blacklists.
By the time he steered away from the entertainment business 23 years later, he had been transformed into a studio ally, a riveting political speaker and a staunch anti-Communist who, under the FBI code name "T-10," secretly named names.
Reagan's studio years did far more than establish the actor's public persona as "the Gipper." Even though many of his film roles were forgettable, his show business tenure memorably reshaped his worldview, cementing the core principles of small government and free enterprise that carried him to the California governor's office and the White House.
In Reagan's debut, he appeared as a radio announcer in 1937's "Love Is on the Air." In his first three years, he made about 20 films. He developed a dependable reputation, and eventually the parts improved, although he never reached superstardom. " 'Mr. Norm' is my alias" is how Reagan described himself.
Reagan grew deeply involved in the Screen Actors Guild, becoming its president in 1947 and then staying on for five more consecutive one-year terms.
According to a 1947 FBI report, Reagan told the government that he wanted Congress to declare the Communist Party illegal and designate which organizations were Communist fronts. By the time the House committee resumed investigating Hollywood in 1951, Reagan staunchly supported its effort, even concluding that blacklisting was important.
Ironically, he met his future wife, "East Side, West Side" costar Nancy Davis, over her concerns about the very blacklists that Reagan himself helped perpetuate. Davis had been confused with another Nancy Davis, who had been linked to several Communist front groups. Reagan met with Davis to assuage her worries. They were married in 1952.
His career was foundering, though, the lowlight coming with 1951's chimp comedy, "Bedtime for Bonzo."
To promote the television show "General Electric Theater," Reagan visited more than 100 G.E. plants, sometimes making more than a dozen speeches a day. But instead of talking about Hollywood, he soon was making speeches about current events. Within just a few years, he was no longer speaking to appliance makers but addressing the state he now governed.
His journey from actor to showbiz union leader to TV host to politician was complete.
— John Horn and Rachel Abramowitz in the Los Angeles Times June 6, 2004
Reagan Dies at 93
Hollywood a Crucible for His Conservatism
More from the archives about Ronald Reagan
The Politicians
Jules C. Stein
Helen Gahagan
Ex-wife
Lloyd Bacon
Three thoughts about Ronald Reagan
I met Mr. Reagan at his Fox Tower office in a scheduled fan meeting right before Nancy announced he had Alzheimer's. He was very warm and friendly. He was so interested in "what motivated" me to to "come to Hollywood to meet" him. Signed his autobiography for me, gave me gifts and sent me photos of us one of his associates took during my visit. It was better than Disneyland. He said he wanted me to remember what the "people did" during his presidency, not what he did. He was very humble and sincere.
" — Phillip Waring, April 2, 2010 at 5:21 a.m.
I performed with the King Family at the governor's mansion when Ronald Reagan was leaving office. The number I was involved in had me falling into his swimming pool and splashing him, when I looked up he was laughing and seemed in good humor.
" — Jon Rey, April 22, 2010 at 7:43 a.m.
Ronald Reagan was the best president since Franklin Delano Rosevelt and I believe he deserves the up most respect
" — Maria, February 27, 2011 at 1:38 p.m.
Share a thought about Ronald Reagan
Did you ever meet Ronald Reagan? Share your memory.
Which other stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame have connections to Ronald Reagan?
Are other places in the world important to Ronald Reagan?
Does Ronald Reagan deserve this star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?


The compulsion to repeat negative behaviors is a common one. Sure, routine feels familiar, which is reason enough to do it. But when it's bad for you, yet hard to give up, a simple desire can become a dependency or, even worse, an addiction.
Fortunately, you can turn harmful habits into healthful choices.
Start by knowing why you're prone to bad eating habits. "Most habits that have an addictive quality provide some kind of positive reinforcement, at least at the onset," says Amy Lanou, Ph.D., nutritionist and assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville.
Eating a candy bar satisfies your sweet tooth. Meanwhile, the chocolate and sugar elevate your mood because they stimulate the brain's release of dopamine and other feel-good chemicals.
You then need to eat more of the addictive food to satisfy your craving. Even stomachaches, anxiety, or added pounds don't get you to quit.
Recognize: Name and admit your habit, so you can change it.
Reassess: Set new goals for yourself, focusing on what you want, not the opposite.
Refuse: "A clean break is more effective than a gradual one," assures Dr. Lanou, saying three to four weeks ought to do it.
Replace: "Swap the bad habit for something pleasurable, such as a handful of raspberries or a walk," she continues.
Reinforce: Hang notes to remind yourself of your goal, and seek support.
Record: Monitor your progress, so you can improve it.
Reward: Praise yourself for mini-successes and when you reach your goal.
Along the way, restore yourself with "exercise and a plant-based, nutrient-rich diet with essential fatty acids," says Dr. Lanou.
Consider taking a good multivitamin/mineral for additional support. Your body will thank you for it.


text:
Tel (+54-11) 5273-6665 o 4322-6665
info@cynsa.com.ar
Foz iguazu
Chile. Santiago
Population: 18,1 millions.
Capital city: Santiago.
People: 95% European descent and Mestizo, 5% Indian.
Language: Spanish and a handful of native languages, including Aymara, Mapuche and Rapa Nui.
Religion: 89% roman catholic, 10% protestant, less than 1% jewish.
Passport: entry is generally straightforward as long as passport is valid for at least six months beyond arrival date.
Customs Regulations: no restrictions on import and export of local and foreign currency. Duty-free allowances include purchases of up to US$500. Travelers leaving the duty-free Regions I and XII are subject to internal customs inspections; there are heavy fines for fruit, dairy, spices, nuts, meat and organic products. X-ray machines are used at major international border crossings, such as Los Libertadores (the crossing from Mendoza, Argentina) and Pajaritos (the crossing from Bariloche, Argentina).
Visas: generally not required for stays of up to 90 days. Australian citizens must pay a 'reciprocity fee' when arriving by air.
Tourist Cards: on arrival, visitors will be handed a 90-day tourist card in the form of a receipt with bar code that will be asked upon leaving the country. It's possible to renew a tourist card for 90 more days. Many visitors prefer a quick dash across the Argentine border and back.
Electricity: the electricity current operates on 220V, 50Hz; plugs are C / L type.
Time: for most of the year Chile is 4 hours behind GMT, but from mid-December to late March, because of daylight-saving time (summer time), the difference is 3 hours. The exact date of the changeover varies from year to year. Note that Southern Patagonia uses the summer time for the entire year and Easter Island is 2 hours behind Santiago.
Internet Access: most regions have excellent internet connections; it is typical for hotels, hostels and coffee shops to have Wi-Fi. Much of Patagonia lags behind in this area, though free public Wi-Fi is available in some communities on the plaza.
Mobile Phones: foreign travelers with unlocked cell phones can only use a Chilean SIM card after registering their own device in Chile. Local SIM cards are cheap and widely available, for use with unlocked GSM 850/1900 phones. There's 3G or 4G access in urban centers. Cell-phone numbers have nine digits, starting with 9. If calling cell-to-landline, use the landline's area code. Cell phones have a 'caller pays' format. Calls between cell and landlines are expensive and quickly eat up prepaid card amounts. Purchase a new SIM card from a Chilean operator such as Entel or Movistar. Then purchase phone credit from the same carrier in kiosks, pharmacies or supermarket check-outs. In Patagonia, Entel has much better coverage than other companies. There's reception in most inhabited areas, with the poorest reception in the middle of the Atacama Desert and parts of Patagonia.
Money: ATMs are widely available, except along the Carretera Austral. Credit cards are accepted at higher-end hotels, some restaurants and shops. Traveler's checks are not widely accepted.
ATMs: Chile's many ATMs, known as Redbanc, are the easiest and most convenient way to access funds. Transaction fees can be high. Most machines have instructions in Spanish and English. Choose the option "tarjeta extranjera" (foreign card) before starting the transaction. Throughout Patagonia, many small villages only have one bank. Those crossing overland from El Chaltén, Argentina to Villa O'Higgins should bring plenty of Chilean pesos, as the nearest reliable banks are in Coyhaique.
Cash: some banks and "casas de cambio" (exchange houses) will exchange cash, usually US$ dollars only. More costly purchases -such as tours and hotel bills- can sometimes be paid in US$ cash.
Credit Cards: plastic (especially Visa and MasterCard) is welcome in most established businesses; however, many businesses will charge up to 6% extra to cover the charge they have to pay for the transaction. Credit cards can also be useful to show 'sufficient funds' before entering another South American country.
Currency: the Chilean unit of currency is the peso (CH$). Bank notes come in denominations of 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000 and 20,000 pesos. Coin values are 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 pesos, although one-peso coins are fast disappearing, and even fives and 10s are uncommon. It's important to carry small bills; it also can be difficult to change large bills in rural areas.
Tipping: it's customary to tip 10% of the bill in restaurants (the bill may include it under 'servicio'). Taxis Drivers do not require tips.
Taxes & Refunds: a 19% value-added tax known as the impuesto de valor agregado (IVA) is levied on all goods and services. When using US dollars or a foreign credit card to pay for lodgings or tour packages no IVA, or tax, is charged.
Opening Hours: Hours given are generally for high season; in many provincial cities and towns, restaurants and services are closed on Sunday and tourist offices close in low season.
Banks 9am–2pm weekdays, sometimes 10am–1pm Saturday
Government offices & businesses 9am–6pm weekdays
Museums often close Monday
Restaurants Noon–11pm, many close 4–7pm
Shops 10am–8pm, some close 1–3pm
The longest and thinnest country in the world runs from the Andes to the Pacific. As well as sharing borders with Argentina, Peru and Bolivia. Chile also has territories in Polynesia and Antarctica, making it a tri-continental nation. From the high Andean plateau to the untouched southern territories at the end of the world, Chile invites to live adventures in the middle of the world's driest desert, in the unique rainy temperate forest of South America, in front of millennial glaciers or under the watchful eye of the Andes in the middle of the buzz of modern cities like its capital, Santiago. These cultural and climatic contrasts have left an imprint on the identity of the country and its people. Warm, energetic, approachable and kind, Chileans share the love for their land, which invites you to build relationships beyond boundaries, to live unique experiences and to discover Chile.
CITY TOUR SANTIAGO
Departure from hotel in Santiago. The trip starts with direction to Santiago center where it is possible to know the main places of the city. During the trip, there will be a panoramic view of Bellavista Neighborhood, Mercado Central, Estación Mapocho and Museo de Bellas Artes. Guided visit to Cerro Santa Lucía. Return to the bus and arrive to the main square from where it is possible to see the Santiago Cathedral, Municipality, Post Office, National history Museum. The trip continues with a panoramic view of former National Congress. Arrival to Govern Palace, guided visit. The excursion continues with view to Club Hípico, University Neighborhood and visit to Concha y Toro neighborhood. During the return, view of Modern Santiago and arrival to the Faba, handicraft shop, specialized in lapis lazuli jewelry, stone found only in Chile and Afghanistan. Return to hotel in Santiago.
COLCHAGUA VALLEY WINE ROUTE (WITH LUNCH)
Departure from the hotel towards Colchagua Valley until reaching the peaceful town of Santa Cruz. This valley is known for being one of the most fertile in the production of fine wine strains, mainly red, whose quality is world famous. Some of the vineyards that we visit in the valley are Viu Manent, Santa Cruz, Bisquert, MontGras and Montes. The tour begins by visiting one of these vineyards, to appreciate the wine production process, storage warehouses and finally do a tasting. After a short break we will visit another vineyard, where we will enjoy the same activities as in the previous one. Then we will taste a quiet and delicious lunch in Santa Cruz. Finally we will visit the Colchagua Museum that has the largest private collection in the country.
CONCHA Y TORO WINERY
Departure from Santiago towards the South, arriving to Pirque where Concha y Toro Winery, the biggest wine society in Chile, is located. Tour around the Patronal House with a beautiful park and its lagoon. Access to the vineyards, from which these renowned wines are made. Visit to the wine cellars, including Casillero del Diablo, observing the whole storage process. Finally access to the Wine Shop. The tour continues by the side of Maipo River, through the residential area of Las Vertientes, a lovely sight of countryside houses, camping, restaurants, and cottages. Return to the hotel in Santiago.
ISLA NEGRA & PABLO NERUDA MUSEUM
We depart from Santiago towards the beach community of Isla Negra. This place of dark sands, eucalyptus and pine trees, once captivated poet Pablo Neruda; winner of the Literature Nobel prize in the year 1971. Here he built a beautiful house that today is open to the public as a museum. Pablo Neruda decorated each corner of the house with sculptures, paintings, and books all related to the sea. We enjoy some time at our leisure to see the house and garden. After touring the museum house and garden, we return to Santiago.
MAIPO VALLEY WINE ROUTE (WITH LUNCH)
Departure towards the Maipo Valley. This is an ideal tour to learn the essence about the history and magic of wine,through green landscapes and imposing mountains of the valley. Here we will visit two of its main vineyards, all prestigious and recognized such as Viña Cousiño Macul, Viña Undurraga or Viña Concha y Toro. Thus, we will enjoy tasting the best wines from Maipo Valley and different grape varieties, aromas and flavors. Moreover, in both visits we will learn about the wine making process, walk around the vineyards, production plants, wine cellars and see the final product already bottled. In the middle of the visits we will taste typical Chilean lunch from Maipo region. Finally, during the afternoon we will return to Santiago.
Departure from Santiago to get into the Andes Mountain Range. We will take the road to Valle Nevado, where the most important ski centers of this area are located. During our trip we will find endemic vegetation and small flows of water and also enjoy the breathtaking view of the Andes Mountain Range. Arriving at the destination we will visit Valle Nevado, the largest and most modern ski resort in the southern hemisphere. Later, our tour continues to Farellones, the oldest mountain town of Chile located in the basin of the Mapocho, from where we will begin our return to Santiago.
VIÑA DEL MAR & VALPARAISO
Departure from hotel in Santiago towards the Pacific Coast passing through the valleys of Casablanca and Curacaví. The first visit will begin in Viña del Mar (120 km away from Santiago), also known as the "Garden City" due to its great amount of parks and well-kept gardens. Stop to visit the beautiful park Quinta Vergara, the Carrasco Palace and meet face to face with a Moai brought from Easter Island. Then continue along the most important ocean front of the central coast, to later reach the famous clock of flowers of the city. Later arrival to Valparaiso, declared World Heritage Site by the UNESCO, filled with colorful houses among the hills, parks and diverse National Monuments. One of its attractions is the Sotomayor Square, an important civic square located very close to the principal port of Chile. Lastly, at this point, navigation through this port bay, where the view of Valparaiso is most appreciated. During the afternoon, return to hotel in Santiago. Lunch is optional.
Dynamic and cosmopolitan Santiago is a vital and versatile city. Home to many events showcasing the very best of Chilean culture, it also hosts superb international festivals of sound, flavor and color. The Chilean capital breathes new life into all its visitors. The city's diversity shines through in its many contrasting neighborhoods; original art galleries, design shops and handicraft markets, as well as a great selection of restaurants, bars and cafes. The nightlife in Bellavista neighborhood is a must. To learn more about the country visitors can find many fine museums or wander around the famous Central Market –a gourmet's delight. Fans of the great outdoors can head for the hills that surround the city and marvel at panoramic views of Santiago with the magnificent Andes as a backdrop. The first-rate shopping opportunities can be found in the stylish Alonso de Córdoba neighborhood and in the city's many modern malls.
Cynsa
CYNSA Tour Operator Argentina. Leg. 1362 / Res. 552.77
Viamonte 610 - 1° Piso (C1053ABN)
© 2018 - Cynsa Tour Operator Argentina | Información y Servicios - Todos los derechos reservados