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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Totalitarian Architecture of the Third Reich

"QUANTUM SHOT" #536
Link
- Article by Simon
Rose

Imperial dreams...
and the agony of taste

Fascist and communist
governments in the first half of the twentieth century
both created monumental architecture, largely to
intimidate their people and showcase the regime's
strengths.

In
a totalitarian system such as existed in Nazi Germany
from 1933 to 1945, the government attempted to control
every aspect of daily life. It used architecture to some
degree to achieve this, to firmly establish its
authority leaving no doubt as to who was in charge. One
of the chief aims of Nazi architecture was also to
reflect the beliefs of National Socialism, celebrate
the German national identity and glorify the idea of
the master Aryan race, as perceived by Hitler and his
associates.

(images via 1,
2)

Imperial
Rome all over again

There was no official
Nazi architectural style although most of the structures
and monuments designed by Albert Speer and others
imitated Imperial Rome. Hitler was an admirer of the
Roman Empire and imagined himself to be creating a realm
to both rival and then surpass that of the Caesars. The
Nazis, who dismissed much of the customary decoration
and used only the raw, muscular elements, exaggerated
the classical Roman style, which portrayed their ideal
image of a strong, warlike state. This was known as
stripped classicism and was not only used in
Germany, but was relatively popular in other countries
as well in the inter war period.

(images via)

World
Capital Germania

Hitler had Speer, his
favoured architect, design plans for the rebuilding
of Berlin. This was a monumental task in itself, to
create Welthauptstadt ("World Capital") Germania,
the new city, which would be the capital of
German-dominated Europe. The photographs of the plans
for Hitler's city survive to this day in the German
federal archives.

(images via 1,
2)

A
grand boulevard, three miles in length, to be known as
Prachtstrasse, ("Street of Magnificence") would run
from north to south. A huge arch would be located at
the southern end, which would be almost 400 feet high
and able to fit Paris' Arc de Triomphe inside it. At the
northern end would be the Volkshalle ("People's Hall"),
an enormous domed building designed to be the
centrepiece of the new Berlin.

(images via 1,
2)

Based
on the Pantheon in Rome, the Volkshalle would still be
the largest enclosed space on the planet if it
had ever been built. It would have been over 700 feet
high and 800 feet in diameter, sixteen times larger
than the dome of St. Peter's in the Vatican. Inside,
there would have been space for 180,000 people and
there is speculation that such a huge capacity could
have caused the building to have its own weather
system. In colder temperatures, the perspiration and
breathing of so many people might actually precipitate
and fall back to the ground, almost as indoor
rain.

(image via)

The
Big Dumb (Concrete) Object

Berlin is located
on marshy ground and there were some concerns as to
whether the land would actually be able to sustain such
massive structures. Consequently some testing was
undertaken. The Schwerbelastungskörper ("Heavy
load-bearing body") was constructed in 1941 to test the
muddy ground.

(image credit: epha)

The
mushroom shaped cylinder is made from 12,650 tons of
concrete and is sixty feet high. Instruments measured
that the huge block sank seven inches in three years,
more than the 2.5 inches deemed acceptable, making it
unlikely the soil could have supported Hitler's new
capital without substantial preparation work. The
massive Schwerbelastungskörper couldn't be demolished at
the end of the war because of the proximity of nearby
apartments and has been considered a historical monument
since 1995.

Olympic Stadium for the
Superior Race' Triumph in Sports

Most of the
huge projects were halted with the outbreak of war in
1939 or as the war progressed, then turned against
Germany and the country's attention turned to more
pressing matters. Some structures were completed
however, including the Olympic Stadium. Germany was
awarded the 1936 summer Olympics in 1931, and once
Hitler came to power he was determined to use the event
for propaganda purposes. Work on the stadium was begun
in 1934 and when completed in time for the Games had a
capacity of 110,000.

(images via 1,
2,
3)

An
even bigger stadium, the Deutsches Stadion, designed
for some 400,000 people, was planned for Nuremberg, but
the project was abandoned shortly after the foundations
were completed. Had the stadium actually been built it
would still be the largest arena of its kind in the
world.

Berlin's
Olympic Stadium survived the war relatively unscathed
and the area was used as a headquarters by the British
occupation forces in the city until 1994. The stadium
was at one time considered for demolition, but was
eventually completely renovated and played host to the
World Cup Final in 2006.

The Reich
Chancellery, built to intimidate

Another
building that was actually finished was the new Reich
Chancellery, which was built in only nine months after
Hitler asked Speer to design it in early 1938. The
structure's Marble Gallery alone was twice as long as
the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles and measured 480 feet
in length. The complete collection of rooms making up
the approach to Hitler's reception gallery was 725 feet
long, while Hitler's private office was 400 square
metres.

(images via GermanArchitecture)

The
incredibly long, richly decorated corridor was designed
to intimidate foreign dignitaries and politicians when
they came to see Hitler. Speer was told that the cost
was immaterial and 4000 men worked in round the clock
shifts, with the final cost of the building estimated at
ninety million reichsmarks, the equivalent of over one
billion dollars in modern currency.

Beneath
the new Reich Chancellery was the bunker where Hitler
spent the last weeks of the war and where he committed
suicide in April 1945.The Chancellery was severely
damaged in the Battle of Berlin in 1945 and then
demolished by the Soviet occupation forces, who used
some of the red marble from Hitler's palace to complete
the Red Army war memorial in Berlin's Treptower
Park:

(image via)

The
largest office building in the world
(1936)

Also in Berlin, Herman Goring's
Reich Air Ministry was the largest office building
in the world when it was completed in August 1936. It
has been described as being "in the typical style of
National Socialist intimidation architecture", with a
floor area of 112,000 square metres, 2,800 rooms, 7 km
of corridors, over 4,000 windows and 17 stairways. The
huge complex was the headquarters of the Luftwaffe and
Germany's civil aviation bureaucracy. Fifty quarries
were used as sources for stone used in the building's
construction, which took only eighteen months, the vast
army of workers employed in multiple shifts, seven days
a week.

(images via)

The
Air Ministry was one of the few major buildings in
Berlin to survive relatively unscathed during the
Allied bomber offensive and the Soviet assault at the
end of the war. During the Cold War, the building was
used by the East German government and today is home to
the German Finance Ministry. Witness how Nazi
ornamentation co-exists side-by-side with socialist
murals inside this cavernous building:

The
Zeppelinfield Arena - big enough to launch a fleet of
airships

Allied bombing took a huge toll on
German cities and Berlin suffered greatly in the Soviet
assault in the spring of 1945. Some buildings however
survived intact or are still visible as ruins. Some of
the better known structures are in Nuremberg, site of
the huge Nazi rallies throughout the thirties. The
Zeppelinfield Arena was one of Speer's first
projects for the party in 1934 and was based on the
Pergamon Altar, an ancient Greek structure, which has
featured in lists of wonders of the world. Used for the
enormous Nazi rallies and party ceremonies, the arena
was built on a huge scale and could hold 240,000 people.

Speer
also created the arena's famous balcony from which
Hitler gave many of his speeches to the party faithful.
Despite its ancient Greek influence, the structure is
essentially stripped classicism, with no decoration and
only the very basic monumental elements.

And
in conjunction with the arena, Speer also helped
organize the rallies and developed the idea of pointing
1000 searchlights directly into the sky, creating what
was known as the Cathedral of Light, the upright
beams almost mimicking the columns featured so
frequently in Nazi architecture.

(images via)

Nuremburg
was also home to the Congress Hall or
Kongresshalle, which although it was never
completed, is the largest preserved monumental building
from the Nazi period. It was designed by Ludwig and
Franz Ruff and was to be a party congress centre with
50,000 seats. Begun in 1935, the exterior bears some
resemblance to the Roman Colosseum.

(images via 1,
2)

Nazi
Worker's Paradise: Seaside Resort and
Spa

One of the biggest Nazi structures which
still survives is the Prora resort and spa on the
Baltic Island of Rugen, built between 1936 and 1939
(work ceased at the outbreak of war). A series of five
seaside resorts were planned, to provide vacations for
the average German worker, but the Rugen location was
the only one that was actually started (more info):

(images via)

Like
most of the other Nazi era projects, the scale was
massive, involving some 9000 workers and every major
construction company in Germany. The plan was to
construct two complexes with four blocks of ten housing
units in each one. There would be rooms for 20,000
people, each room with its own sea view and the resort
would have extended for over five kilometers along the
beach.

(images via)

There
would also be buildings for administration, workers
accommodation, large festival squares, assembly halls,
huge swimming pools, restaurants, theatres, sports
arenas, a large quay for mooring cruise ships, as well
as a train station and all the infrastructure and
utilities needed for such a massive undertaking. It
never fulfilled its intended purpose and housed
refugees from Hamburg and other cities towards the end
of the war, as well as being utilized for military
personnel and as a hospital.

(images via 1,
3)

Prora
was briefly used by the Soviet army after the war, then
by the East German military until the early nineties.
The remains of the Prora complex are the largest Third
Reich era building still in existence and debate
continues as to whether the site should be
preserved.

Exporting totalitarian
architecture to the rest of the world

And
finally, showcasing Nazi architecture was not limited
to Germany. When the International Exposition Dedicated
to Art and Technology in Modern Life was held in 1937
in Paris, the two most prominent pavilions were those
belonging to Germany and the Soviet Union, which were
located directly across from each other. With a height
of 500 feet, the Nazi pavilion designed by
Albert Speer, was topped with a tower displaying a
gigantic swastika and eagle, symbols of National
Socialism.

(images via 1,
2, 3)

Like
the Zeppelinfield in Nuremburg, at night Speer used
floodlights to illuminate the structure. The pavilion's
purpose was to showcase German pride and the strength
of Nazi Germany as a bulwark against Communism,
symbolized by the Soviet pavilion directly
opposite.

------

Simon Rose is the author of
science fiction and fantasy novels for children,
including The
Alchemist's Portrait, The
Sorcerer's Letterbox, The
Clone Conspiracy, The
Emerald Curse, The
Heretic's Tomb and The
Doomsday Mask. Details of his books, plus online
readings, excerpts, reviews, reader, comments and of
his services for writers may be found at http://www.simon-rose.com/
You may also visit his blog at http://simon-rose.blogspot.com/

------------

CONTINUE
TO THE
"STRANGE TOWERS OF THE THIRD REICH"
->

Also Read:
Communist
Gothic: Architecture by Yakov Chernikhov
Retrofuture:
Glorious Urbanism

Permanent
Link......+StumbleUpon
...+Facebook
Category:
Architecture,History

Your Comments: |
| 29
comments
|

READ LATEST POSTS:

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COMMENTS:

29 Comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the best articles in the last few weeks.

___

Anonymous said...

This is why I visit your site everyday.

___

Anonymous said...

michael palin visited prora in his last bbc series, you just
reminded me of the name. thanks!

___

Anonymous said...

superb article!

___

Rob De Witt said...

Thanks once again for a great post. The learned architectural
comments highlight the decided similarities between Socialist and
National Socialist art, and reinforce the insight that Nazism was
in fact merely a heresy of Marxism.

A useful comparison
would be to the neo-Imperialist architecture of the new 0bama
displays, beginning with the faux-Roman structures at the Denver
convention. Not much changes.

___

Alejandro
said...

I like your web since long time ago and this is a very
interesting article.

___

Anonymous said...

Rob de Witt is another ignoramus who graduated at the
Norris-Palin University of Political Science...

___

Valar
said...

Great architecture! Beautiful and clasic!

___

Michael said...

I enjoyed reading / watching your article, especially as a
German. I really appreciate your neutral description of German
history, maybe better than some contemporary German historians
do. This helps the younger people to get distance to things my
generation never dealt with.
I don't forget history, but I
live in present. Great contribution, thanks!

___

Anonymous said...

Great post!!! I like this site very much, it's very funny and
informative. However, it's sad that such a great post just made
the De Witt guy reinforce his wrong insights...

___

Gimble said...

like the first comment says, One of the best articles last
weeks.

about the Prora Rugen, There are plans to make it
into a youth hostel. A dutch architect -Kempe Thill- has won a
recent (2007) competition about "what to do with the
building"

here is the
site:
http://www.atelierkempethill.com/0030.html

___

Maggie
said...

There remain huge debates as many classical buildings are
still being pulled down as the unwanted "wrong kind of
architecture" for a modern Germany.

The other invented
architecture, Volk, has usually been assimilated, and the only
alterations one usually sees is removal of various swastikas.
Hitler's personal home, tea house, and other homes in the Volk
style in Berchtesgaden on the Obersalzberg were destroyed during
or immediately after the war. Most other buildings in this style
were just reused and accepted.

I'd like to see another
illustrated article on this invented architectural
style.

Much of Prora has recently, (2008), been sold and
condos seem to be in the structures future.

___

Michael
said...

Grotesquely imposing structures, dwarfing the pathetic human
form...didn't Albert Speer also design the Hummer?

___

Rob De Witt said...

I'm happy to have given you all the opportunity to practice
your condescension. I'm certain you have done sufficient research
to refute my point, since you were proud enough of your opinions
to post them anonymously ;-}.

___

ryan said...

I always wondered about Hitlers fascination of the Romans. He
was obsessed with Nordic lore, but Roman architecture.
It was
the naked men sculptures, had to be.

___

Anonymous said...

been visiting your blog for years. nice find.

___

Slow Joe Crow said...

Robert Hughes' "The Shock of the New" has a good discussion of
totalitarian architecture, where he describes the pseudo-classical
architecture as "totalitarian doric" and also observes that the
buildings in the New York state government mall in Albany would
like perfectly natural with hammer and sickle or swastika
decorations.
On a related note, the Beijing Olympic structures
seem like a modern version of this.

___

Avi
Abrams said...

Thank you guys for all the info, this is why we totally enjoy
comments on DRB :)

___

DesScorp
said...

Just goes to show that bad regimes can make good art and
impressive architecture. It was ironic that everytime we saw a
new concrete-and-steel box go up in our town... a school, or an
office building, and we'd deride it as "communist looking". And
yet when you compare postwar architecture of the US and the USSR,
the Soviets were the ones making beautiful, impressive buildings,
while it was we who were making the plain, soulless glass boxes.
East Germany promoted that kind of Phillip Johnson asthetic, but
the Russians knew how to make an impressive building (though
often constructed poorly). I'll take the magnificent Moscow State University main building anyday
over soul-sucking boxes like the Seagram Building.

The
best comment ever made about our numbing modern architecture of
the postwar years was made by Tom Wolfe, when he looked at the
rows of plain, glass and steel boxes of Manhattan and called it
the "Rue De Regret".

___

Avi
Abrams said...

DesCorp - Moscow University Building perhaps needs an article
in itself...

___

Anonymous said...

Lichterdom was - according to Speers son - one of the works he
was most proud of.
Actually it was a solution to a funny
problem: Four groups of the armed forces were to parade: Army,
Navy, Airforce and the 'Desk-force'. The latter were not so fit
for parading - out of practice and out of shape. To hide this is
it was decided to make the parade at night! But the decorations
were made for daylight use and Speer came up with the idea of the
unusual use of searchlights. Between 1 and 200 were needed and
this covered the entire German searchlight reserve. Hitler had to
be asked and was delighted: Our enemies will never believe, that
we use all our reserves - off course we do it.

___

Anonymous said...

The pic of the 1937 is amazing considering it's context and
time. I'd not seen it before. Thank you.

If you've not
done an article on it yet, it would be interesting to compare the
architecture of the same time between the Soviet Union and the US
(Germany could be included). As an example, Moscow State U's
building is remarkably similar to what was happening in lower
Manhattan (and Rockefeller
Center).
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/13358802

Keep
up the great work DRB.

___

Jim said...

Thanks for the very interesting and informative article.

Rob De Witt would have fit in & thrived in Germany as
chief sophist at the time.

___

History
Cellar said...

This was a great detailed article. Thanks for the great
work.

James
http://thehistorycellar.blogspot.com/

___

Anonymous said...

The architecture featured at my Youtube channel may interest
you: www.youtube.com/luddite333

___

Damien
DeBarra said...

Wonderful piece. Thankyou. Have added outgoing links back to
here from a piece on Blather which touches on this:
http://www.blather.net/globaleyes/archives/2009/01/welcome_to_the_game.html

___

Anonymous said...

Nazi arquitechture is the most boring bad taste ever.Not even
impressing. In fact, Hitler didn't like the Olimpic stadium
because wasn't big enough...or it really was dull! Amazing Speer
was so valued then. We'll demonstrates Hitler's sick
mind.

___

Anonymous said...

I came to this site expecting some typical trivia / top 10
lists, but man, I was wrong. With thorough, interesting and
well-researched articles like this, I wouldn't bother reading the
contents of your site as a paper magazine. Peace.

___

Anonymous said...

DesScorp said...
"Just goes to show that bad regimes can
make good art and impressive architecture."

Bad
regimes?

If the Axis won WW2 and Russia won the cold war
we'd be the 'bad' guys and the suppressed horrors committed by the
Allies and capitalists would be propagated and exaggerated in the
same way Hollywood treats the Holocaust.

History is
written by the victors!!

All humans are capable of
despicable brutality and angelic compassion, there is no good or
evil people, good and evil are perceptions conditioned by
society. Fear and stupidity is what turns men into monsters, the
enlightened oppressed become the egoistic oppressors on a
whim.

___

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a Comment

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Only in Russia 6

The Bible, seen from outer
space

Amusing
likeness

When I was a kid we had a foot
length of that phone cable in a cupboard. It provided all the
wire for my childhood experiments.
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more

The mechanical fractals are scary
fascinating.
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more

The last one reminded me of those
MC Escher prints. Imagine combining Escher & fractals- whoa!

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more

Great blog
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more

Talking aboute mechanical
fractals: the Vasconcelos library in Mexico:

picture
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more

these things hurt my brain. ow.

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more

It's awesome and futuristic.
Great stuff.
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more

What you expect the future to
look like. It's great.
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more

Actually the first one in the
Groovy Fractals by Professor Enigma set made me think of the
inside of the Way from one of Greg Bear's "Eternity" books.

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more

Awesome!
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more

Great looking images, a look at
what could be and my be in the future. Cool!
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more

I'm annoyed that the clearly
superior side is labeled 'B' as thought it should come after 'A'
in consideration. The janitor at my place of work also uses this
obnoxious 'over the back' configuration, despite the many notes I
have left him to rectify the situation.
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more

true. configuration A isn't just
unergonomic but more complicated to use as well.
considering
that there are some TP-holding constructions with a lid on top to
help in tearing individual pieces off, configuration A is clearly
not the one to prefer.

i would guess they are watchin a
particulary painful stunt.

the reason i'm thinking this is
because i recognise the faces.
on the left the half face
belongs to "Steve-O", the doggy i dont know, the guy with the
missing tooth is Ehren McGhehey, the one in the lower right is
Dave England and the quarter face behind Dave is Loomis
Fall.

so i guess someone is breaking his own bones,
slamming hard on the ground or doing some other pretty painful
thing. =)
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more

I'm definitly a
B-sider.

the sheet is easier to find...AND you only touch
the sheets you need.
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more

I prefer neither A nor B but
instead to keep the roll off the holder altogether. Is that C or
off the alphabet altogether?
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more

I never left a comment, but I
f*ing love this site !!!!

please continue !

a
french guy.
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more

B may appear more handy but
usually when you try to tear the paper you either:

a) rip
apart the sheet, leaving fragments on the lid.

b) doesn´t
rip well, tube rolls and you end with more paper on your hands
than you need.

A is superior because it prevents unwanted
rolling and it helps you to rip the sheet properly.
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more

This site is Awesome I havitsaved
as a Favorte, and stuble acros it on my searc nd end up spendin
hours Here !
keep up the good work and don't use a wirelss
keyboard as typos happen alot.
the Wykeman
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more

If anybody knew anything about
anything, they would surely see the vast difference in sanitary
properties of each choice. B is superior. Be keeps the paper
away from touching the wall ( which is of questionable
cleanliness). If you need proof that B is superior, make note
that in better hotels, the roll is in the B position, and the
first sheet neatly folded into a point.

The roll at all
times should not touch any surface, so it stays sanitary. This
would also insinuate, that any cat playtime with said roll would
be a definite breach in sanitary condition....
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more

"note that in better hotels, the
roll is in the B position"

This is true, I worked at hotel
and we had to place them in the B position. Most places I've
worked which had public toilets also insist on the B
position.

You don't want to know what happens if you put
it in a A position in a public toilet... Some people have no
coordination when wiping their behind.
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more

Very cool - liked the time lapse
of the Sun.
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more

Don't forget Jeff de Boer's
amazing armor for cats and
mice:
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2006/12/animal-armor-new-art-form.html?showComment=1167414420000

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more

I need a new mask...
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more

For the history minded, the
longbow didn't do much against the French except goad them into a
fight. The armor clad infantry were killed the old fashioned way:
spears and clubs.
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more

true. it wasn't the longbows that
killed them. the terrain played a huge part in that conflict.
First, there was a bottleneck in the terrain, so the French
knights weren't able to gain from their advantage in numbers.
Second, the area became very muddy, thus, the armor not only
slowed the knights down, but the sheer weight prevented those
that went down/slipped from standing up. In contrast, the lightly
armored Englishmen had better mobility and were able to cut down
the (horribly) advancing French knights.
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"T'is but a flesh wound!"

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Henry VIII, eat your heart out.
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chain mail did not make a
difference, they did not carry you off they battlefield on a
stretcher in the middle agess. what a muppet.
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more

@anonymoous:
>chain mail
did not make a difference, they did not carry you off they
battlefield on a stretcher in the middle agess. what a
muppet.

Of course. They just left their friends and
brothers to die in the mud and the cold. Friendship and comraderie
hadn't been invented yet, you know, in those days.
/irony
//just to be sure
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more

Excellent as always,
Avi!

For the next Funky Armours installment, don't forget
Ned Kelly's infamous DIY plate armour...

here's a link, complete with "inside the armour"
video
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more

Just wanted to say wow, what a
great article! I am a medieval buff but never looked at the
history of armor.
Can not wait to share this with my
friends.

Sari
theviewfromsarisworld.blogspot.com

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more

There's nothing medieval at all
about the first one with the face and eye-grills, and there are a
large number of copies/fakes/fantasy in there but you've got lots
of great originals too.
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more

But as weapons got more sophisticated during
this Middle Ages arms race, smiths had to keep up, making their
suits stronger, lighter, and more flexible until they'd reached
the pinnacle of defense as well as offense

Well, not
so much. Suits got heavier as firearms came into
popularity, until they were too heavy to be useful and still stop
a bullet.

(Thus "bullet proof", from being tested
(proofed) by being shot, and successfully stopping the
bullet.)

Lighter armor is great against a thrusting weapon,
assuming it can still stop it - but against a mass weapon or
heavy impacts, heavier armor is more protective, as the mass of
the armor will absorb impact.

(This is observed by modern
re-enactors; one can use titanium armor to reduce weight, but it
doesn't absorb impact force very well.)
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more

Several photos here I've never
seen before. I wasn't aware that Europeans ever created helmets
made to emulate an actual face, but it seems they did.
Interesting.
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more

If anyone is ever in NYC go to
the metropolitan museum of art. they have an amazing collection
of armor including full suits of armor for horses
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more

Early in the Hundred Year's War,
longbows could easily take out a knight - provided he was within
penetration range. At the beginning, this was anywhere from 50 to
200 yards, but towards the end of the war some armour became so
heavy and strong that it was almost impossible to penetrate
(aside from some weak sections such as the thin armour near the
eye holes).

The French knights got scrooged over mostly
because they were riding horses which had nowhere near enough
armour to protect them from an arrow, especially not the
incredibly damaging broadhead arrows which longbowmen carried
especially for killing horses.

The horses would get hit,
fall over. The knights, if they were lucky, would land safely and
get on with the moving - but more often the knight would be hurt
by the fall (he is in heavy, restrictive armour, after all).

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more

The longbow, it gets so much love
that it seems many people have forgotten that the English
actually LOST the 100 years war and that means the French WON the
war. Unbelievable? believe it ;)
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more

What a great reference page,
thanks for posting it!

Meanwhile, Jesper is right - a
longbowman could really mess up an armor'd knight's (er) day,
regardless of terrain and weather.

When folks such as Anon
& raul talk about terrain acting as an advantage for
longbowmen, they're usually thinking of Agincourt. True, the
terrain at Agincourt was an undeniable advantage in that
encounter, but it was by no means the only battle decided by
longbows. Ask Harold of England in 1066... :)
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more

William the Conquerer did not use
longbows and except for an arrow in Harolds Eye did not decide
the outcome (he was wounded by the arrow but killed by Norman
knights). The first major use of massed longbow fire was at the
battle of Flakirk, which so impressed the English King with the
slaughter of the lightly armoured scottish clansmen that they
became a large section of every English Army ever
since.

There were nearly 10,000 English archers at
Agincourt, if they each fired off 25 which is 1 quiver each thats
a quarter of a million arrows.

Around 10,000 French were
killed. I group which is dedicated to the study and reenactment
of this battle told me that more french drowned in the mud after
wounds than were killed by arrows and that the English Infantry
slaughtered the majority of the rest.

Direct fire from
Longbows is nasty but most english armies used showers of arrows
which are much less effective against armor except against
cavalry as it is almost impossible to give a horse the same
protection as a man.
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more

Thank you for insightful
comments, read with interest
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more

Am I the only on e who noticed
that someone has written an article on ARMOUR and can't spell it.

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more

"Armor" is the Americal spelling.
"Armour" is the British spelling.
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more

The French knights got scrooged
over mostly because they were riding horses which had nowhere
near enough armour to protect them from an arrow, especially not
the incredibly damaging broadhead arrows which longbowmen carried
especially for killing horses.
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more

Uri Geller's spoon car

http://www.uri-geller.com/articles/car/geller-effect.htm

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more

What Lenin would think? He'd
approve seeing as he himself had a Rolls Royce. Which proves that
some will always be more equal than others.
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more

India had to be involed, inspred
post as usual,
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more

Those were DUPLO blocks not LEGO
but close
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more

There's a pic of a white gold
plated Mercedes floating around google images...
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more

The writer is a buttnose for
referring to the "ugliness" of that wooden car. It's always
beautiful to see the realization of a person's vision, especially
if you can appreciate it in its own right, instead of comparing
it to something else.
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more

nice buddy...... it's an
excellent collection of latest cars and i have got many of the my
favourite cars wallpapers from ur site but as u know there is
always room for the betterment as no body is cent percent perfect

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more

Hey, I'm the Paula Wirth
mentioned above... Although I took the photo of the lego car, I
am not the owner or artist of the car... but they must be very
cool, indeed.
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more

This is fantastic!

DRB has
been my absolute favorite and most recommended site for quite
some time, but this gem of a list has made my day, no, my
month!

Thanks for yet another amazing
resource.

There are many of us that cherish what you guys
do here.
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more

Great stuff!

The amount of
work that's gone into this must be absolutely
immense.

Thanks for posting this and putting in the hours,
now if you could get another one started on the world's classic
novels, that would be great!
;)
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more

What an awesome labour of love.

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more

Absolutely
marvellous!

I've felt that I'm simply overwhelmed by the
sheer amount of authors these days, and lately taken refuge among
classic litterature. This little wonder might just help me on my
way getting into contemporary stuff once again.
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more

Wow! Absolutely
amazing.

"epic" indeed
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more

Is there a way to actually
download and edit this spreadsheet? I would love to have
something like this for my own use.
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more

Thank you for encouragement, it's
great to get some input.

Enusan - this is a working copy
for now, something that we will be perfecting, so it's not for
wide distribution yet.

Stay tuned for more sci-fi-delicious
updates!
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more

You are my heroe(s).
Really

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more

Great work !
I was too lazy to
search myself for new writers to discover.
It seems you did
the job for me, thanks a lot !
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more

The Robert Reed link goes to the
Brady Bunch actor, not the writer.

This is a great effort.
Thanks Avi.
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more

A fantastic resource, I can only
offer a hearty thank you to all involved in it's creation and say
that is will be used an awful lot in our home

Thanks

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more

This is a great list! Why don't
you offer it as a download so everyone can keep his own notes or
filter it to his liking?
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more

Awesome. Thank you.
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more

Pretty Awesome. Only problem I
can see is I'll never have time for anything but reading. Good
thing I have a pretty non-demanding job.
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more

This is incredible!

Thank
you so much for sharing it!
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more

Thank you guys, really
appreciated.

Also, if anyone wants to help out with writing
fiction reviews on SF DRB site, let me know by
email.

Happy reading!
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more

Avi, you create what the Web
should be about: "the increase and diffusion of knowledge and
wisdom, and their delights, among all people."

Right On,
Man!
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more

I have to point out that I read
my first Vance Aandhal story in F&SF in 1964 or 1965. If I
recall correctly, it was "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard
Bloomed"(from a Whitman poem). He pretty much disappeared not
long after that.
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more

Excellent guide, love the notes,
discovered some new (for me) great authors.
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more

I would love to see pics of the
artists on scaffolding spray painting the Kelburn Castle.

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more

on the one hand, it's not right
that they're doing this to historic structures like that... but on
the other hand...it's freakin awesome!
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more

"painted over by Brazillian
street artists from Sao Paolo, Nina and Nunca Os Gemeos (completed
in June 2007)"

Minor correction here...Nunca and Os Gemeos
are 3 different people, Gemeos just always paint as a pair.
Awesome story though..might have missed this otherwise
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more

Great artist with beautiful art
castles.
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more

from stately castle to garbage in
a few easy steps
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more

And the Brazilian town is "São
Paulo", or, if you may, "Sao Paulo". Paolo is an Italian name,
not Portuguese.

Take care!
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more

Very nice castles turned to
colourful piece of sh..t !
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more

Stone monolith > Tremendous
work of human creativity? I don't think so
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more

A much more "Authentic"
experience would include having the street "Artists" SHOOT at any
disapproving spectators! Looks great now, but the paint will
probably wash off soon, in that rainy Scottish weather!
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more

OMG, that's tragic. Surely there
was an abandoned strip mall or another already worthless bit of
property they could have destroyed instead.
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more

The paintings looks great but
historic buildings shouldnt be used for such.
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more

reminds me of a castle i visited
in portugal.
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more

really stupid. hey - lets go
graffitti up the pyramids, or the taj mahal, or other historical
buildings, monuments.
And I am saying this as an artist.
I
so agree with Zajac - it is a colorful piece of
&&&&**^
Historical places should not be
'raped' by such things. Historical places should be preserved
and treasured.
Graffiti should be left for the bus terminals,
abandoned buildings, or designated fences and other projects,
where it doesn't ruin the landscape and cover up beauty.

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more

The "Mystery experiment" appears
to be an archer attempting to shoot a balloon held in the mouth
of the volunteer. In the photo, he appears to have aimed a
little high, and just missed
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more

The picture of the orange soap
opera seems to originate from
http://weem.deviantart.com/art/Malaise-de-L-Orange-15973382

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more

The fruit infidelity pics are
from
'Malaise de L'Orange', here.
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more

Mystery Photo:
President
Barrack Obama being hazed his first week in office.
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more

Is it just me, or does the
experimental subject resemble the President? Perhaps it was a
special transition toughening exercise?
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more

A caption for that archery photo
could be "Dude, you almost shot Brad Pitt".
Cause for some
reason it looks like him.
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more

It´s really fantastic. Very, very
nice.
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more

Lovely stuff. I must try it
myself.

I think you'll find the "riveted, highly evocative
face" is actually spot welded.

Smerky
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more

Behold the
Beaviance!

Recently posted on Dr. Grordbort's Rayguns Fan
Art
Forum:

http://www.wetanz-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1370

March
march march Zzzap!
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more

Great Series!

But no
serious round of contemporary retro robots would be complete
without the work of Clayton Bailey. He's been making these for 35
years!

http://www.claytonbailey.com/index.htm
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more

this reminds me of the movie
Micmacs à tire-larigot
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more

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