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Carrozzeria Ghia

Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Marconi, 4, Turin. The company is currently owned by Ford Motor Company and focused on the European market through Ford's subsidiary in the region.

Through the years, Ghia has produced many bodies for several automobile manufacturers such as Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Ferrari, Fiat, Ford, Jaguar, and Volkswagen.

History
Ghia initially made lightweight aluminium-bodied cars, achieving fame with the Alfa Romeo 6C 1500, winning Mille Miglia (1929). Between the world wars, Ghia designed special bodies for Alfa Romeo, Fiat, and Lancia, one of the most famous was the Fiat 508 Balilla sports coupe (1933). The factory was rebuilt at Via Tomassi Grossi, after being demolished in an air raid during World War II (1943). After Ghia's death (1944), the company was sold to Mario Boano and Giorgio Alberti. The Ghia-Aigle subsidiary was established in Aigle, Switzerland (1948).

Following differences between Boano and the company's Naples-born chief engineer and designer Luigi Segre, Boano left the company in 1953 and ownership passed to Segre in 1954. Under the ownership of Luigi Segre, between 1953 and 1957, Giovanni Savonuzzi became Direttore Tecnico Progettazione e Produzione Carrozzerie e Stile and established Ghia as the most influential proponent of that Italian styling that came to define automobile design trends worldwide. The decade between 1953 and 1963 saw many foreign firms ordering Ghia designs, such as Volkswagen (the Karmann Ghia) and Volvo. Chrysler and its designer Virgil Exner became a close partner for 15 years, resulting in eighteen Chrysler Ghia Specials (1951–53), the K-310, the Chrysler Norseman, the Imperial Crown limousines (whose notable owners included Jackie Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller), and others. There are even a few Ghia-bodied Ferraris. Ghia also participated in the short-lived Dual-Ghia venture. Production by Ghia was always in very low numbers, giving the company's products even greater exclusivity than those of the other Italian coachbuilders.

In June 1953, Pierre Lefaucheux, Renault's chairman, requested Carrozzeria Ghia assistance with the Renault Dauphine.

In 1953, Boano left for Fiat, the factory moved to via Agostino da Montefeltro, and Luigi Segre took over. Ghia then brought in Pietro Frua, appointing Frua as head of Ghia Design (1957–60), designing the Renault Floride. After Segre's death in 1963, Ghia was sold to Ramfis Trujillo in 1965, who in turn sold the company in 1967 to Alejandro de Tomaso, owner of a rival design house. De Tomaso never managed to run Ghia profitably and in 1970 he sold his shares to the Ford Motor Company. During this transition period, Ghia had partial involvement in the De Tomaso Pantera, a high-performance, mid-engined car using a Ford V8.

From then on, the Ghia studios were an integral part of Ford of Europe's styling operation – producing mostly concept cars although some production models were styled by the firm – the most notable being the Ford Fiesta Mk1 in 1976, which was penned by Ghia's Tom Tjaarda. Aside from this, the most publicly visible sign of Ford's ownership of Ghia has been its use of the name to denote the luxury trim level of its European models for many years (below).

Ghia L6.4
After the Dual-Ghia project had ended, the more up-to-date Ghia L6.4 appeared in 1961. Fewer Mopar parts were used, but the car's bespoke nature meant an astronomically high price and when production ended in 1963 only 25 (or 26) cars had been built. The car's 6277 cc Chrysler V8 has 340 hp SAE, and suspension and transmission parts were also hand-picked from Chrysler's production line. Both the front and the rear seats consist of separate buckets.

Ghia 450 SS
At the 1963 Turin Show, Ghia showed the Fiat 2300-based Ghia G230 S. Unlike the Fiat 2300 Coupé, also designed and bodied by Ghia, the two-seater G230S was built on a tubular spaceframe which was designed and built by specialists Gilco. Four examples were built, two coupés and two convertibles. Ghia's owner Luigi Segre had pushed for the creation of this car, but after his sudden and untimely death the G230 S never entered production. However, in 1965 film and television producer Burt Sugarman saw a picture of the G230 S on the cover of Road & Track magazine and convinced Ghia to build another car using a similar design.

The result was the Ghia 450 SS, continuing Ghia's collaboration with Chrysler by using that company's recently introduced 273 CID "LA" V8 engine with 235 hp. So many of the car's parts and systems came from the Plymouth Barracuda that the earliest cars came with a Barracuda manual with some pages crossed out. The 450 SS used the same design language as the smaller G230 S, but its hand beaten steel panels sat on a more traditional and sturdier ladder frame. Unlike the smaller car, the 450 SS was a 2+2 design, offering vestigial rear seat accommodation. It was only built as a two-door roadster, with a standard hardtop included. Over the years, many have credited Giorgetto Giugiaro with this design, but he only left Bertone for Ghia in late 1965 – too late to have much impact on the 450 SS, which was actually designed by Sergio Sartorelli. Giugiaro did revise the grille, front bumper, and rear before the car was presented. Presented at Turin in 1966, 57 examples were built until late 1967 (with late examples registered as model year 1968), although various sources state numbers as low as 52.

The Ghia name
From 1973, the Ghia name became Ford's top trim-level in its mainstream model range. The trend began in Europe and North America (Mustang II, Granada, Capri, Cortina, Escort, and later Fiesta, Sierra, Orion, Scorpio, Mondeo, Focus all had Ghia trim levels), but soon spread worldwide, particularly to the South American (with the Argentinian Ford Falcon and Taunus, the Brazilian Ford Del Rey and versions of Escort, Focus and Mondeo) and Asia Pacific markets (with the Ford Laser, Fairmont, Fairlane and Telstar). One notable exception to this convention was the Scorpio model in the United Kingdom, which was essentially a rebadged Granada Mk3, slotting in above the Ghia in the model lineup. This lasted until the major facelift of 1994, when the Granada name was dropped and replaced by Scorpio for all variants, at which point the Ghia model resumed its position at the top of the range.

In the British market, however, the practice of using the Ghia name in such a capacity was finally phased out in 2010. The Titanium name has instead replaced Ghia as the flagship trim level, and is now used globally across all of Ford's markets to denote the top trim level. The British Ford Fiesta retained the Ghia trim designation for the longest period of any model: 31 years 8 months, uninterrupted, from February 1977 to November 2008. In the rest of Europe, the Ghia trim was discontinued as well. Starting in 2013, the Vignale branding started being used by Ford to designate the top trim levels. The Ghia studios has produced various concept cars under the Ford banner.

Ghia cars

 * 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500
 * 1933 Fiat 508 Balilla sports coupé
 * 1947 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500
 * 1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Supergioiello
 * 1950 Ferrari 195 Inter coupé
 * 1951 Ferrari 212 Inter coupé
 * 1951 Renault Frégate
 * 1952 Chrysler Special Coupé
 * 1953 Abarth 1100 Sport Ghia Coupé
 * 1953 Fiat 8V Supersonic
 * 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia
 * 1953 Alfa Romeo 1900 Supersonic 'Conrero'
 * 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 Coupe
 * 1954 Dodge Firearrow III Sports Coupé
 * 1954 Fiat 8V Coupé
 * 1954 Jaguar XK120 Supersonic
 * 1955 Jaguar XK140 Coupé
 * 1955 Lincoln Futura
 * 1955 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
 * 1956 Aston Martin DB2/4 Supersonic
 * 1956 Chrysler Norseman
 * 1956 Chrysler Plainsman Two-door Station Wagon
 * 1956 Renault Dauphine
 * 1957 Dual Ghia Convertible
 * 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce prototype
 * 1958 Renault Caravelle
 * 1961 Ghia L6.4
 * 1963 Ghia 1500 GT
 * 1963 Ghia G230 S (based on Fiat 2300)
 * 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car
 * 1966 Ghia 450 SS
 * 1978 Ghia Microsport
 * 1981 Intermericcanica Ghia Cabrio Mustang

Notable designers

 * Giacinto Ghia
 * Mario Boano
 * Luigi Segre
 * Giovanni Michelotti
 * Pietro Frua
 * Giovanni Savonuzzi
 * Giorgetto Giugiaro (1965–1967)
 * Sergio Sartorelli
 * Tom Tjaarda 1958–
 * Ercole Spada 1970–
 * Filippo Sapino

title: Carrozzeria Ghia


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Alphitomancy

Alphitomancy (from ἄλφιτον, and μαντεία) is a form of divination involving barley cakes or loaves of barley bread.

When someone in a group was suspected of a crime, the members of the group would be fed barley cakes or slices of barley bread. Supposedly, the guilty party would get indigestion, while all others would feel well.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Alphitomancy


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Otter (software)

Otter is an infrastructure automation tool that runs under Microsoft Windows, designed by the software company Inedo. Otter utilizes Infrastructure as Code to model infrastructure and configuration.

Otter provisions and configures servers automatically, without logging in to a command prompt.

Key areas
Otter focuses on two key areas:
 * Configuration automation - Otter allows users to model the configuration of servers, roles, and environments; monitor for drift, schedule changes, and ensure consistency across servers
 * Orchestration automation - Otter can spin up cloud servers, build containers, deploy packages, patch servers, or any other multi-server/service automation

Otter can continuously monitor for server configuration drift, can automatically remediate drift, and can send notification when drift occurs.

Key features
Otter has a visual, web-based user interface that is designed to "create complex configurations and orchestrations using the intuitive, drag-and-drop editor, and then switch to-and-from code/text mode as needed." Otter aims to enable DevOps practices through its UI, and shows the configuration state of an organization's servers infrastructure (local, virtual, cloud-built). Otter supports Microsoft Windows, and supports Linux-based operating systems through SSH-based agents.

Otter monitors servers for configuration changes, and reports when the configuration has drifted. It supports both agent and agentless Windows servers.

From version 1.5, Otter integrates with Atlassian Jira and Git via extensions.

PowerShell
Otter allows the use of Windows PowerShell scripts.

title: Otter (software)


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Virginia Rappe

Virginia Caroline Rappe (July 7, 1891 – September 9, 1921) was an American model and silent film actress. Working mostly in bit parts, Rappe died after attending a party with actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who was accused of manslaughter and rape in connection with her death, though he was ultimately acquitted of both charges.

Early life and career
Virginia Rappe was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 7, 1891. Her mother, Mabel Rappe, died when Rappe was aged 11. Rappe was then raised by her grandmother.

At age 18, she began working as a commercial and artist's model, moving to San Francisco, California, to pursue this career in 1916. There she met dress designer Robert Moscovitz and they became engaged, but shortly afterward he was killed in a streetcar accident. Rappe moved to Los Angeles, where in early 1917 she was hired by director Fred Balshofer and given a prominent role in his film Paradise Garden, opposite screen star Harold Lockwood. Balshofer hired her again to costar with early drag performer Julian Eltinge and newcomer Rudolph Valentino in Over the Rhine, for which she was awarded the title of "Best Dressed Girl in Pictures". This film was not released until 1920, when Balshofer recut it and released it under the title An Adventuress, and later in 1922, after Rappe's death, as The Isle of Love.

In 1919, Rappe began a relationship with director/producer Henry Lehrman. The couple eventually became engaged and lived together, but in the United States Census of 1920, the young actress is listed as a "boarder" in Lehrman's home in Los Angeles. Rappe appeared in at least four films for Lehrman: His Musical Sneeze, A Twilight Baby, Punch of the Irish and A Game Lady. However, since many of Lehrman's films are lost, the exact number of roles she performed for him cannot be determined.

Following Rappe's death, rumors arose, supposedly to besmirch her character, that she had given birth in Chicago in 1918 and put the baby in foster care. These rumors were proven false by autopsy.

Death
The circumstances of Rappe's death in 1921 became a Hollywood scandal and were heavily sensationalized by the media of the time. During a party held on Labor Day, September 5, 1921, in Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle's suite at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, Rappe allegedly suffered a trauma. She died four days later on September 9 from a ruptured bladder and secondary peritonitis. She is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles alongside her fiance Henry Lehrman.

The exact events of the party remain unclear, with witnesses relating numerous versions of what happened. It was alleged that Rappe had died as a result of a violent sexual assault by Arbuckle. Arbuckle's accuser, Bambina Maude Delmont, had accompanied Rappe to the party; she had first met Rappe only a few days earlier. Delmont, however, had a police record for extortion, prostitution and blackmail. Subsequent witnesses testified that Rappe had for some time suffered from cystitis, a condition which could have been aggravated by consuming alcohol. Witnesses also testified that Rappe had previously suffered from venereal disease, so there were allegations that her death was brought on by her health rather than by an assault, however her autopsy revealed no sign of venereal disease or any current or prior pregnancies.

After three manslaughter trials, Arbuckle was formally acquitted; his acquittal in the third trial was accompanied by an unprecedented statement of apology from the jury stating, in part, that, "Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done him... there was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime." Nevertheless, Arbuckle's reputation and career were ruined because of the scandal.

title: Virginia Rappe


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Bembridge

Bembridge is a village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by some residents that Bembridge is the largest village in England. Bembridge is home to many of the Island's wealthiest residents. The population had reduced to 3,688 at the 2011 Census.

Bembridge sits at the extreme eastern point of the Isle of Wight. Prior to land reclamation the area of Bembridge and Yaverland was almost an island, separated from the remainder of the Isle of Wight by Brading Haven. On the Joan Blaeu map of 1665, Bembridge is shown as Binbridge Iſle, nearly separated from the rest of Wight by River Yar.

Prior to the Victorian era Bembridge was a collection of wooden huts and farmhouses, which only consolidated into a true village with the building of the church in 1827 (later rebuilt in 1846).

Facilities
The historical heart of the village is located close to the church in the north of the village, consisting of a number of shops, pubs and restaurants, along with the Village Hall and site of the former Parish Council hall. Bembridge Library serves the community and there is a local museum in the same location.

Bembridge is a local service centre, hosting Bembridge C of E Primary School (see Education on the Isle of Wight for more information on the use of this term), a post office, several shops located in two main areas, and Methodist, Anglican and Catholic churches. It is also the location of a local fire station, (crewed by a team of retained firemen), and a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat station.

Bembridge Airport is a local airport with a concrete runway, and is located close to the Windmill to the south-west of the village proper heading towards Yaverland.

The Lane End district is located in the east of the village. It is largely composed of modern bungalows and a small shopping area which includes a Co-op store. The lane comes to an end at the beach, where Bembridge Lifeboat station and the Bembridge Coast Hotel are situated. The bungalows are built on the site of a cottage where Cecily Cardew lived, after whom an Oscar Wilde character was named. Further inland from Lane End is Bembridge C of E Primary School, along with the local community centre, which are connected by a large recreational playing field.

The Royal Isle of Wight Golf Club (now defunct) was located at St Helens Duver, across the harbour from Bembridge. The club was formed in 1882 and closed in the 1960s.

The war memorial was designed by local architect, Percy Stone (1856–1934).

Lifeboat station
The RNLI station is particularly significant, as it extends into the sea to the east of the village. Here lies the notorious "Bembridge Ledge", a large, rocky outcrop which poses a major threat to passing boats. Although it is private sailing yachts which are most at risk, a wide variety of boats commonly run aground here, especially in the often stormy weather conditions which affect the Solent during winter months. A former Bembridge lifeboat, the, is part of the National Historic Fleet, and exhibited at Imperial War Museum Duxford.

The current offshore boathouse was completed in Autumn 2010 by BAM Nuttall and Ecochoice and houses a new Tamar class boat, the 'Alfred Albert Williams'. A complete new concrete walkway was built, and the new station is made completely of naturally durable timber. The Inshore lifeboat station was rebuilt in 2014, and the interior of the offshore boathouse is accessible to visitors during set days when the station isn't on alert. The original Victorian boathouse also survives, and is currently used as the station's shop.

Coastguard lookout
Close to the lifeboat station lies a coastguard lookout. Positioned at a high elevation, this offers views of the Solent meeting the English Channel to the east of the Isle of Wight. From this vantage point one is able to view a variety of watercraft year round, although there is more marine traffic in the summer.

Bembridge Windmill
Bembridge Windmill, the only remaining windmill on the Isle of Wight, is located to the west of the village. Dating from around 1700, it is a National Trust property generally open from April to October.

Politics
Bembridge is currently represented on the Isle of Wight Council by one member of the ward of Bembridge, St. Helens and Brading.

Bembridge is governed by a Parish council of 12 members. For parish council elections the village is divided into two wards, the North and South, each electing six members to the body. The parish council has succeeded in obtaining Lottery funding for improvements to the village recently, including a play-park in Steyne Park. It is also one of the few Parish Councils that has a village centre office open 5 days a week.

Twinning
Bembridge is twinned with Plédran, Brittany, France but in name only as the federation has lapsed through non-use.

Public transportation
Public transport to Newport, Ryde and Sandown is provided by Southern Vectis bus route 8.

Bembridge railway station, which was located in the north-west of the village close to the harbour served the village, with services to Brading, until 1953. The station became derelict and was demolished around 1970.

Religion
Bembridge is served by the Holy Trinity Church, built in the 1840s as a replacement for an 1827 church that had become unstable. St Luke's Mission Church opened as a chapel of ease to Holy Trinity Church in 1887, along with Bembridge Methodist Church and St Michael's Roman Catholic Church.

Bembridge Boarding Campus
Bembridge School was taken over by Ryde School with Upper Chine in 1996, which turned the site into Bembridge Boarding Campus. This site also houses Kingswood Centre, which operates Kingswood during term-time and Camp Beaumont during school holidays, although it is closed for a few weeks in the winter.

New House Bembridge School
New House Bembridge School is a Grade II Listed Building. Bembridge School Chapel is a Grade IIGV Listed Building featuring Edward Woore stained glass.

title: Bembridge


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Boyana Church

The Boyana Church (Боянска църква, Boyanska tsărkva) is a medieval Bulgarian Orthodox church situated on the outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, in the Boyana quarter. In 1979, the building was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The east wing of the two-story church was originally constructed in the late 10th or early 11th century, then the central wing was added in the 13th century under the Second Bulgarian Empire, the whole building being finished with a further expansion to the west in the middle of the 19th century. A total of 89 scenes with 240 human images are depicted on the walls of the church.

History and architecture
The Boyana Church was built in three stages: in the late 10th to early 11th, the mid-13th, and the mid-19th centuries. The oldest section (the eastern church) is a small one-apse cross-vaulted church with inbuilt cruciform supports. It was built in the late 10th or the early 11th century.

The second section, which adjoins the eastern church, was commissioned by Sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Desislava in the mid-13th century. This building belongs to the two-floor tomb-church type. It consists of a ground-floor family sepulchre with a semi-cylindrical vault and two arcosolia on the north and south walls, and of an upper-floor family chapel identical in design to the eastern church. The exterior is decorated with ceramic ornaments.

The last section was built with donations from the local community in the mid-19th century. The church was closed to the public in 1954 in order to be conserved and restored. It was only partially reopened in 2006.

As a protection measure, air-conditioning was installed to keep the temperature at 17–18 degrees Celsius (62–64 Fahrenheit), with low-heat lighting. Groups of up to 8 visitors are permitted to stay for 10 minutes. The building, placed under the management of the National Historical Museum (Bulgaria), was fully reopened to the public by Culture Minister Stefan Danailov on October 2, 2008.

Frescoes
Besides the first layer of 11th–12th-century frescoes, of which only fragments are preserved, and the famous second layer of murals from 1259, the church also has a smaller number of later frescoes from the 14th and 16th–17th centuries, as well as from 1882. The frescoes were restored and cleaned in 1912–1915 by an Austrian and a Bulgarian specialist, and again in 1934 and 1944.

The church owes its world fame mainly to its frescoes from 1259. They form a second layer over the paintings from earlier centuries and represent one of the most complete and well-preserved monuments of medieval art in the Balkans.

Eighteen scenes in the narthex depict the life of Saint Nicholas. The painter here drew certain aspects of contemporary lifestyle. In The Miracle at Sea, the ship and the sailors' hats recall the Venetian fleet. The portraits of the patrons of the church — Sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Dessislava, as well as those of Bulgarian tsar Constantine Tikh and Tsaritsa Irina, are thought to be among the most impressive and lifelike frescoes in the church, and are located on the north wall of the church.

First layer
The first layer of frescoes, which originally covered the entire eastern church, dates from the 11th–12th century. Fragments of those frescoes have been preserved in the lower parts of the apse and the north wall, and in the upper part of the west wall and the south vault.

Second layer
According to the donor’s inscription on the north wall of the second section, the second layer of frescoes dates from 1259. Those frescoes were painted over the earlier layer by a team of unknown artists, who also decorated the two floors of the building commissioned by Sebastocrator Kaloyan.

The Boyana Church owes its world fame above all to the frescoes from 1259, which demonstrate the exceptional achievements of medieval Bulgarian culture. The majority of the more than 240 figures depicted here display individuality, remarkable psychological insight and vitality. The frescoes follow the canon of icon-painting established by the Seventh Ecumenical Council held in Nicaea in 787.

The frescoes in the oldest section of the church include a magnificent representation of Christ Pantocrator in the dome. The drum below shows a host of angels, with the Four Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – portrayed in the pendentives. Four images of Christ adorn the face of the arches: Christ Emmanuel; Christ, The Ancient of Days; and the acheiropoietic (“made without hands”) Holy Mandylion and Holy Tile. Next come scenes from the Major Feast Days and the Passions of Christ. Among the full-length portrayals of saints in the first tier, there are ten warrior saints. The Virgin Enthroned, surrounded by archangels, is represented in the altar conch. Below are four church fathers: St. Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and Patriarch Germanus. The frescoes flanking the altar show the deacons Laurentius, Euplius and Stephen, as well as St. Nicholas, the patron of the ground floor of the church – one of the most popular saints and the patron saint of sailors, merchants and bankers.

The life of St. Nicholas is depicted in 18 scenes in the narthex (the second section of the church). The unknown artists included elements of contemporary life in those scenes, and many of the figures are quite realistic – especially their countenances. The lunette above the entrance of the narthex displays the Virgin and Child, St. Anna and St. Joachim, and Christ Blessing. St. Catherine, St. Marina, St. Theodore the Studite and St. Pachomius are portrayed in the lower tiers on the walls. The south arcosolium features the scene of Christ Disputing with the Doctors, and the north one, the Presentation of the Virgin. Two highly revered Bulgarian saints are also represented in the narthex – St. John of Rila (the oldest surviving representation of the saint) and St. Paraskeva (Petka). The hermit St. Ephraim Syrus appears among the monks portrayed here. The expressive realistic portraits of the donors Sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Dessislava, and of the Bulgarian Tsar Constantine Asen Tikh and Tsaritsa Irina – painted with precision, extraordinary skill and feeling – are among the oldest portraits of figures from Bulgarian history.

Authorship
Today the name “Boyana Master” stands for the team of unknown artists who decorated the church and mastered their art in the studios of the Turnovo School of Painting. Boyana is the only and the most impressive wholly preserved monument of the Turnovo School of Painting from the 13th century. According to many leading experts, the world famous frescoes in the Boyana Church played an important role in the development of mediaeval Bulgarian and European painting.

A name, possibly that of a painter, was discovered during restoration works in 2006–2008. National History Museum director Bozhidar Dimitrov stated: "The renovation revealed a rare inscription under a layer of plaster on one of the church walls: 'I, Vasiliy inscribed'. The 13th-century 'Boyana master' was the only painter among the kings and nobles whose names were regularly read out during sermons at the church." Restorator Grigoriy Grigorov stated "The Christian Orthodox religion forbids the painter from manifesting himself, as in the eyes of the priests it is God who guides his hand. But this painter inscribed his name, knowing that the believers could not see it." Other historians and archaeologists are less convinced that the inscription identifies the "master", since it could equally have been left by an assistant.

Late frescoes
Some parts of the church were overpainted, and the majority of those frescoes have survived to the present day. The later frescoes include a scene of the Presentation of the Virgin from the 14th century, a portrait of St. Nicholas from the 16th–17th century, and representations of the two patron saints of the Boyana Church – St. Nicholas and St. Panteleimon – from 1882.

Patron's inscription
The church patron's (ktitor's) inscription in Middle Bulgarian from 1259 reads:

This immaculate temple of the Holy hierarch Nicholas and martyr Panteleimon was erected from the ground and created with the funds, care and great love of Kaloyan, sebastokrator, cousin of the Tsar, grandson of Saint Stephen, King of Serbia, and was decorated under the Bulgarian Empire under the pious and devout Tsar Constantine Asen. Indiction 7 of the year 6767 [1259].

title: Boyana Church


text:
Madara Rider

The Madara Rider or Madara Horseman (Мадарски конник, Madarski konnik) is a large early medieval rock relief carved on the Madara Plateau east of Shumen in northeastern Bulgaria, near the village of Madara. The monument is dated to the very late 7th or more often the very early 8th century, during the reign of the Bulgar Khan Tervel. In 1979, the monument was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Description
The relief sculpture depicts a majestic horseman, approximately 23 m above ground level, carved into an almost vertical 100 m cliff. The sculpture is almost life-size. The horseman, facing right, is thrusting a spear into a lion lying at his horse's feet, and on the left a dog is running after the horseman. The carving of the horseman's halo and garments, as well as the bird in front of the horseman's face, are barely recognizable due to centuries of erosion and the generally poor condition of the monument. The relief is similar to the carbon images found in Saltovo, Soulek, Pliska and Veliki Preslav.

Origin tradition
The meaning and symbolism of the sculpture is uncertain, as well as its actual masonry tradition and cultural source.

The relief probably incorporates elements of both autochthonous Thracian and the newly arrived Bulgars' particular cults. The monumental size and iconography, and many of the specific details (stirrup, halo, skull-cup, bird, etc.) are generally part of Bulgar tradition, while the rightward direction and the lion are more typical of Thracian tradition.

Some early researchers have considered it an example of the Thracian horseman – a recurring motif of a deity in the form of a horseman in the Paleo-Balkanic mythology. The motif typically features a caped horseman astride a steed, with a spear poised in his right hand. He is often depicted as slaying a beast with a spear, although this feature is sometime absent. Initially considered (and later abandoned) by Konstantin Josef Jireček and Karel Škorpil, this assumption was gradually rejected because of differences in the iconographic details, and the relation with the animals (there's no dog ).

Many scholars connect the origin of the relief with the ethnogenesis of the Bulgars, a semi-nomadic equestrian warrior culture from the Eurasian Steppe. Others have seen in the relief a resemblance to the Sasanian rock relief tradition. The hero-horseman is a common character of Turkic and Iranian-Alanic mythology. It is sometimes considered that the horseman represents or is related to the Bulgar deity Tangra, while Vladimir Toporov related it to the Iranian deity Mithra.

Still others have noted a simpler explanation: that the relief was intended to represent Khan Tervel (701–718 AD), or, once considered likely but now usually rejected, Khan Krum (802–814 AD).

Archaeology
In 1924–1935, beneath the relief (some 250 m north) were found the remnants of a complex believed to have served as a pagan shrine (three-aisled church) and a rectangular building, probably the ruler's private dwelling, where the ruler did sacral rituals related to Tangra. At the site was also found a damaged inscription by Khan Omurtag which mentions the deity Tangra.

The complex is commonly dated to the second quarter of the ninth century, as the 1970s excavations dated the pottery between the 8th and the 10th centuries. Some argue that the earliest buildings were founded after the conversion to Christianity. Thus the pagan temple (i.e. church) and the building would have been built on an early Byzantine basilica. To the west of the building was found evidence of a Christian burial, with a golden decorated belt, dated c. 900 AD.

Later in the 20th century, two miles (c. 3.2 km) northeast from the relief was found another group of buildings consisting of a 5th–6th century basilica with inner rectangular structure, which some have interpreted as the pagan temple (though without clear evidence).

Inscriptions
Three partially preserved texts in Medieval Greek, carved in the rock, can be found around the image of the rider. They bear important information regarding the history of Bulgaria in the period. The oldest inscription is the work of Tervel (701–718 AD), thus it is considered that the relief was created during his rule or immediately after the Bulgars settled the region in 680–681 AD. The other inscriptions refer to the Khans Krum (802–814 AD) and Omurtag (814–831 AD), who are most likely the ones who ordered the carvings.

Inscription I:

''Justinian the emperor made a treaty [...] the Bulgars [...] and came to Tervel. My uncles at Thessaloniki did not trust the emperor with the cut-off nose and went back to the Kisiniie [...] one of his [...] The ruler Tervel made a treaty and gave to the emperor five thousand [...] with my help the emperor scored a fine victory.''

Inscription II:

''[...] gold. He gave eighteen [...] gold the ruler [...] soldiers [...] a ruler [...] the Greeks (Byzantines) [...] what I gave to you, I will give you every year, and the emperor sent to the ruler [...] and asked the ruler Krumesis [...] the ruler [...] divided the gold [...] began [...] he gave from [...] the ruler Krumesis gave [...] that sea [...] you did [...] the ruler [...] war they tore the treaties [...] war [...] then [...] name [...]''

Inscription III:

[...] he was raised [...] tore and Omurtag the ruler set by god sent [...] help to me [...]

Inscription IV:

Khan sybigi Omurtag, ruler from god [...] was [...] and made sacrifice to god Tangra [...] itchurgu boila [...] gold [...]

Legacy
The Madara Rider is depicted on the obverse of smaller Bulgarian coins (1 to 50 stotinki) issued in 1999 and 2000. Bulgarian National Bank. Notes and Coins in Circulation: 1999: 1 stotinka, 2 stotinki , 5 stotinki , 10 stotinki , 20 stotinki , 50 stotinki ; 2000: 1 stotinka , 2 stotinki & 5 stotinki. – Retrieved on 26 March 2009.

A June 29, 2008, official survey on the design of Bulgaria's future euro coins was won by the Madara Horseman with 25.44 percent of the votes.

Madara Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after the historic site of Madara.

title: Madara Rider


text:
Stalin Line

The Stalin Line was a line of fortifications along the western border of the Soviet Union (USSR). Work began on the system in the 1920s to protect the USSR against attacks from the west. The line was made up of concrete bunkers and gun emplacements, somewhat similar to, but less elaborate than the Maginot Line. It was not a continuous line of defense along the entire border, but rather a network of fortified districts, meant to channel potential invaders along certain corridors.

In the aftermath of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, with the westward expansion of the USSR in 1939 and 1940 into Poland, the Baltic, and Bessarabia, the decision was made to abandon the line in favour of constructing the Molotov Line further west, along the new border of the USSR. A number of Soviet generals felt that it would be better to keep both lines and to have a defence in depth, but this conflicted with the pre-World War II Soviet military doctrine.

Thus, the guns were removed, but were mostly in storage as the new line began construction. The 1941 Axis invasion caught the Soviets with the new line unfinished and the Stalin Line largely abandoned and in disrepair. Neither was of much use in stopping the onslaught, though parts of the Stalin Line were manned in time and contributed to the defense of the USSR.

Following World War II, the line was not maintained, in part due to its wide dispersal across the USSR. Unlike Western Europe, where similar fortifications were demolished for development and safety reasons, much of the line survived beyond the breakup of the USSR in 1991 due to being ignored. Today, the remains of the Stalin Line fortifications are located in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine (plus possibly the eastern parts of Moldova).

title: Stalin Line


text:
Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence

The Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St. Lawrence) is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the main market district of the city, and it is the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III. It is one of several churches that claim to be the oldest in Florence, having been consecrated in 393 AD, at which time it stood outside the city walls. For three hundred years it was the city's cathedral, before the official seat of the bishop was transferred to Santa Reparata.

San Lorenzo was the parish church of the Medici family. In 1419, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici offered to finance a new church to replace an eleventh-century Romanesque rebuilding. Filippo Brunelleschi, the leading Renaissance architect of the first half of the fifteenth century, was commissioned to design it, but the building, with alterations, was not completed until after his death. The church is part of a larger monastic complex that contains other important architectural and artistic works: the Old Sacristy ("Sagresta Vecchia") by Brunelleschi and having interior decoration and sculpture by Donatello; the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo; the Medici Chapels, two structures that include the New Sacristy ("Sagrestia Nuova") based on Michelangelo's designs; and the larger Cappella dei Principi ("Chapel of the Princes") being a collaboration between the family and architects.

History
The Basilica of San Lorenzo is considered a milestone in the development of Renaissance architecture. The basilica has a complicated building history. The project was begun around 1419, under the direction of Filippo Brunelleschi. Lack of funds slowed the construction and forced changes to the original design. By the early 1440s, only its sacristy (now called the Old Sacristy) had been worked on because that was being paid for by the Medici. In 1442, the Medici stepped in to take over financial responsibility of the church as well. After Brunelleschi's death in 1446, the job was handed either to Antonio Manetti or Michelozzo; scholars are uncertain which. Although the building was largely completed by 1459 in time for a visit to Florence by Pius II, the chapels along the right-hand aisles were still under construction during the 1480s and 1490s.

By the time the building was completed, aspects of its layout and detailing no longer corresponded to the original plan. The principal difference is that Brunelleschi had envisioned the chapels along the side aisles to be deeper than those built and he intended them to resemble the chapels in the transept, the only part of the building that is known to have been completed as Brunelleschi designed it.

The building in Renaissance architecture
The Basilica of San Lorenzo demonstrates many innovative features of the developing style of Renaissance architecture,
 * a simple mathematical proportional relationship using the square aisle bay as a module and the nave bays in a 2x1 ratio
 * the use of an integrated system of column, arches, and entablatures, based on Roman Classical models
 * the use of Classical proportions for the height of the columns
 * a clear relationship between column and pilaster, the latter meant to be read as a type of embedded pier
 * the use of spherical segments in the vaults of the side aisles
 * the articulation of the structure in pietra serena (Italian: “serene stone”)

According to one scholar, features such as the interior's Corinthian arcades and ceiling's flat panels mark "a departure from the Gothic and a return to the Romanesque Proto-Renaissance."

At times, the design of San Lorenzo has met with criticism, particularly when compared with Santo Spirito, also in Florence and which is considered to have been constructed more or less in conformity with Brunelleschi's ideas, even though he died before most of it was built. By the sixteenth century, Giorgio Vasari commented that along the nave, the columns should have been elevated on plinths. The steps along the aisles, supporting the pilasters, also have been considered to deviate from Classical ideals.

Outer and inner façades
The Medici Pope Leo X gave Michelangelo the commission to design an outer façade of the basilica in white Carrara marble in 1518. Michelangelo made a large wooden model that shows how he adjusted the classical proportions of the facade, drawn to scale, after the ideal proportions of the human body, to the greater height of the nave. Although the outer facade of the basilica remained unbuilt, Michelangelo's large wooden model of it remains.

Michelangelo did design and build the internal facade of the basilica that is seen from the nave looking back toward the entrances. It comprises three doors between two pilasters with garlands of oak and laurel and a balcony on two Corinthian columns.

In recent years, the association of "Friends of the Elettrice Palatina" and the Comune of Florence re-visited the question of completing the outer facade of the basilica according to Michelangelo's designs. To assist with the public debate, a computerized reconstruction was projected onto the plain brick facade in February 2007. As yet, no decision has been made regarding a project use Michelangelo's design to build the outer facade following his wooden model.

The campanile dates from 1740.

Old Sacristy
Opening off the south transept of the basilica is the square, domed space, the Sagrestia Vecchia, or Old Sacristy, that was designed by Brunelleschi (1377–1446) and that is the oldest part of the present church and the only part completed in Brunelleschi's lifetime. It contains the tombs of several members of the Medici family. It was composed of a sphere on top of a cube; the cube acting as the human world and the sphere as the heavens.

New Sacristy
Opposite the Old Sacristy in the north transept of the basilica is the Sagrestia Nuova (New Sacristy), begun in 1520 by Michelangelo, who also designed the Medici tombs within it. That the architect of a building also designed the interior furnishings is a historical novelty in European architecture that is driven by his being a sculptor by training. The new sacristy was composed of three registers, the topmost topped by a coffered pendentive dome. The articulation of the interior walls may be described as early examples of Renaissance Mannerism (see Michelangelo's Ricetto in the Laurentian Library). The combination of pietra serena pilasters on the lower register is carried through to the second register; however, in Mannerist fashion, architectural elements 'seem impossible', creating suspense and tension that is evident in this example.

Michelangelo completed most of the statuary for the new sacristy as well, however, the statues of the two patron saints planned to accompany the Madonna and Child that were planned for placement on the main wall and the sculptural elements of the two sarcophagi were left undone when he was redirected to another project by the pope, the political situation in Florence changed, and changes later occurred in papal succession. Although the new sacristy was vaulted over by 1524, these circumstances, the temporary exile of the Medici (1527), the death of Giulio, eventually Pope Clement VII, and the permanent departure of Michelangelo for Rome in 1534, meant that Michelangelo never finished the project and he refused to direct completion.

The statues that Michelangelo had carved by the time of his departure had not been put in place and were left in disarray within the chapel. In 1545, they were installed by Niccolò Tribolo. By order of Cosimo I, the remaining work was completed by 1555 by Giorgio Vasari and Bartolomeo Ammannati.

In a statement in a biography of Michelangelo that was published in 1553 by his disciple, Ascanio Condivi, and reportedly is based largely on Michelangelo's own recollections, Condivi gives the following description of the sculptures that were planned for the sarcophagi:

"The statues are four in number, placed in a sacristy... the sarcophagi are placed before the side walls, and on the lids of each there recline two big figures, larger than life, to wit, a man and a woman; they signify Day and Night and, in conjunction, Time which devours all things... And in order to signify Time he planned to make a mouse, having left a bit of marble upon the work (which [plan] he subsequently did not carry out because he was prevented by circumstances), because this little animal ceaselessly gnaws and consumes just as time devours everything."

Concealed corridor discovered
In 1976, a concealed corridor with drawings by Michelangelo on its walls was discovered under the New Sacristy.

In 1527 the citizens of Florence rebelled against the Medicis; Michelangelo supported them. After the Medicis recaptured the city in 1530, Pope Clement VII, a Medici, sentenced Michelangelo to death. It is thought that Michelangelo hid for two months in a small chamber under the Medici chapels in the Basilica of San Lorenzo with light from just a tiny window, making many charcoal and chalk drawings which remained hidden until the room was rediscovered in 1975, and opened to small numbers of visitors in 2023. Michelangelo was eventually pardoned by the Medicis and the death sentence lifted, so that he could complete work on the Sistine Chapel and the Medici family tomb. He left Florence for Rome in 1534.

Cappelle Medicee
The most celebrated and grandest part of San Lorenzo is the Cappelle Medicee (Medici Chapels) in the apse. The Medici were still paying for it when, in 1743, the last living member of the family, Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, died. In 1742, she had commissioned Vincenzo Meucci to paint the Glory of Florentine Saints, a fresco, inside the cupola. Approximately fifty lesser members of the Medici family are buried in the crypt. The final design (1603–1604) was by Bernardo Buontalenti, based on models of Alessandro Pieroni and Matteo Nigetti. Above is the Cappella dei Principi (Chapel of the Princes), a great but awkwardly domed octagonal hall where the grand dukes are buried. The style shows Mannerist eccentricities in its unusual shape, broken cornices, and asymmetrically sized windows. In the interior, the ambitious decoration with coloured marble overwhelms the attempts at novel design. Its centre was supposed to feature the Holy Sepulchre, moved from Jerusalem, although attempts to buy and, failing that, to steal it failed.Ref.?

Cappella Corbelli
The Corbelli chapel, in the southern transept, contains a monument by the sculptor Giovanni Dupré to the wife of Count Moltke-Hvitfeldt, formerly Danish ambassador to the Court of Naples.

Works of art

 * Bronzino – The Martyrdom of St Lawrence, fresco, north aisle
 * Desiderio da Settignano – Pala del Sacramento, tabernacle, south aisle
 * Donatello – two pulpits, (his last works); bronze and marble, nave
 * Donatello – frieze, reliefs, tondi, and bronze doors, (Sagrestia Vecchia)
 * Rosso Fiorentino – Marriage of the Virgin, oil on canvas, in one of the south aisle chapels
 * Fra Filippo Lippi – Annunciation, altarpiece, north transept chapel
 * Michelangelo – Madonna and Child, main wall of new sacristy and statues among the two tombs on the side walls of the new sacristy (Sagrestis Nuova)
 * Antonio del Pollaiuolo – Crucifix, wood, south transept chapel
 * Verrocchio – Tomb of Giovanni and Piero de Medici, bronze, marble, (Sagrestia Vecchia)

Funerary monuments

 * Bernardo Cennini (goldsmith and printer) (south transept)
 * Donatello (north transept)
 * Francesco Landini (south aisle)
 * Niccolò Martelli (north transept)
 * Cosimo de' Medici (in front of the high altar)
 * Cosimo I de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi)
 * Cosimo II de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi)
 * Cosimo III de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi)
 * Ferdinando I de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi)
 * Ferdinando II de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi)
 * Ferdinando III de' Medici (crypt)
 * Francesco I de' Medici (Cappella dei Principi)
 * Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (Sagrestia Vecchia)
 * Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici (Sagrestia Vecchia)
 * Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici (Sagrestia Nuova)
 * Giuliano di Piero de' Medici (Sagrestia Nuova)
 * Lorenzo I de' Medici (Sagrestia Nuova)
 * Lorenzo II de' Medici (Sagrestia Nuova)
 * Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (Sagrestia Vecchia)
 * Nicolas Steno

title: Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence


text:
MFN

MFN may refer to:

 * MFN, acronym for Most favoured nation status in international relations
 * MfN, acronym for Museum für Naturkunde, a natural history museum in Berlin, Germany
 * MFN, the IATA code for Milford Sound Airport, New Zealand
 * Metromedia Fiber Network, Inc., now known as AboveNet
 * Multi-frequency network
 * Music for Nations, a British record label
 * "MFN", a song by Cibo Matto from their 2014 album Hotel Valentine

MFN

title: MFN


text:
Pirin National Park

Pirin National Park (Национален парк "Пирин"), originally named Vihren National Park, encompasses the larger part of the Pirin Mountains in southwestern Bulgaria, spanning an area of 403.56 km2.

It is one of the three national parks in the country, the others being Rila National Park and Central Balkan National Park. The park was established in 1962 and its territory was expanded several times since then. Pirin National Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. The elevation varies from 950 m to 2914 m at Vihren, Bulgaria's second highest summit and the Balkans' third.

The park is situated in Blagoevgrad Province, the nation's southwesternmost region, on the territory of seven municipalities: Bansko, Gotse Delchev, Kresna, Razlog, Sandanski, Simitli, and Strumyani. There are no populated places within its territory. Two nature reserves are located within the boundaries of Pirin National Park: Bayuvi Dupki–Dzhindzhiritsa and Yulen. Bayuvi Dupki–Dzhindzhiritsa is among the oldest in Bulgaria, established in 1934 and is included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves under the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme. The whole territory is part of the network of nature protection areas of the European Union, Natura 2000.

Pirin is renowned for its 118 glacial lakes, the largest and the deepest of them being Popovo Lake. Many of them are situated in cirques. There are also a few small glaciers, such Snezhnika, located in the deep Golemiya Kazan cirque at the steep northern foot of Vihren, and Banski Suhodol. They are the southernmost glaciers in Europe.

Pirin National Park falls within the Rodope montane mixed forests terrestrial ecoregion of the Palearctic temperate broadleaf and mixed forest. Forests cover 57.3 percent of the parks area and almost 95 percent of them are coniferous forests. The average age of the forests is 85 years. Bulgaria's oldest tree, Baikushev's pine, is located in the park. With an approximate age of about 1,300 years, it is a contemporary of the foundation of the Bulgarian state in 681 CE. The fauna of the Pirin National Park is diverse and includes 45 species of mammals, 159 species of birds, 11 species of reptiles, 8 species of amphibia, and 6 species of fish.

History and park administration
Pirin National Park was established on 18 November 1962 in order to preserve the natural ecosystems and landscapes along with their plant and animal communities and habitats. Originally named Vihren National Park, the protected area initially covered 67.36 km2. Its territory was expanded several times until it reached its current area of 403.56 km2 in 1999. In 1983, Pirin National Park was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites as an area of outstanding natural importance. By the Constitution of Bulgaria, the park is exclusively state-owned.

According to the classification of the International Union for Conservation of Nature the park falls within management category II (national park) with main objective protecting functioning ecosystems while allowing human visitation and its supporting infrastructure. The entire territory of the park is included in the European Union network of nature protection areas Natura 2000. Pirin National Park is listed as an important bird and biodiversity area by BirdLife International.

Pirin National Park is managed by a directorate subordinated to the Ministry of Environment and Water of Bulgaria based in the town of Bansko at the northern foothills of the mountain. As of 2004, the park administration had 92 employees. There are two visitor and information centres located in Bansko and Sandanski. The park is divided in six sectors: Bayuvi Dupki with office in Razlog, Vihren with office in Bansko, Bezbog with office in Dobrinishte, Trite Reki and Kamenitsa, both with office in Sandanski, and Sinanitsa with office in Kresna.

Overview
Pirin National Park encompasses much of the homonymous mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, which forms part of the Rila–Rhodope Massif. To the north it is divided from the Rila mountain range by the Predel Saddle and mountain pass at 1140 m elevation, to the east reaches the valley of the river Mesta, including the Razlog Valley, to the south the Paril Saddle (1170 m) forms the border with the Slavyanka mountain range, and to the west reaches the valley of the river Struma. The park is situated entirely in Blagoevgrad Province in the municipalities of Bansko (36.6% of the park's territory), Gotse Delchev (4.9%), Kresna (14.9%), Razlog (10.2%), Sandanski (30.7%), Simitli (2.3%) and Strumyani (0.4%).

Relief and geology
The tectonics of the Pirin is primarily the result of Precambrian, Hercynian, alpine and tectonic movements and events. The modern relief of Pirin was shaped in the Pleistocene (2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago) when the mountain was subjected to alpine glaciation related to the global cooling. This glaciation passed in parallel with that of the Alps. The limits of the glaciers reached 2200–2300 m. All glacial forms in the mountain range are within the borders of Pirin National Park.

The Pirin mountain range is divided into three sections: northern, middle and southern, with the northern one being the highest and containing all glacial formations and lakes. The park covers the northern section, itself divided into two zones. The northern zone consists of the steep marble Vihren ridge with the three highest summits in the mountain: Vihren (2914 m), Kutelo (2908 m) and Banski Suhodol (2884 m), as well as the ridge Koncheto (2810 m). The southern zone consists of granite ridges and includes Pirin's fourth highest summit Polezhan, at 2851 m. There are more around 60 summits above 2600 m. The relief of Pirin National Park is alpine and highly fragmented and is characterized with steep slopes, high ridges and deep river valleys. The highest point is Vihren at an elevation of 2914 m, the second highest summit in Bulgaria and the third one in the Balkan Peninsula, while the lowest elevation in the park is at 950 m near Bansko. Nearly 60% of the park's area is situated above 2000 m. The distribution of the territory of the park by elevation is as follows: up to 1000 m – 1.64 km2 (0.4%), 1000–1600 m – 51.09 km2 (12.7%); 1600–2000 m – 121.08 km2 (30.0%); 2000–2500 m – 198.31 km2 (49.1%); above 2500 m – 31.45 km2 (7.8%). The inclination of the park's territory is steep — more than 90% the total area is classified as steep (21–30°) or very steep (above 31°).

Geologically Pirin is a massive anticline formed by metamorphic rocks — gneiss, biotite and crystalline schists, amphibolite, quartzite and marble. Paleozoic granitoid rocks are found in restricted areas in the outskirts of Pirin National Park. Granitoid rocks from the Upper Cretaceous form two distinct plutons: Northern Pirin and Bezbog. The Central Pirin pluton covers the southern reaches of the park and is dated to the Upper Oligocene. The granitoid rocks cover 55% of the park's territory.

Climate
Pirin falls within the continental Mediterranean climate zone and due to its elevation the higher sectors have Alpine climate. The climate is influenced by Mediterranean cyclones mainly in late autumn and in winter, bringing frequent and high rainfall, and by the Azores anticyclone in summer, making the summer months hot and dry. The relief has a crucial influence on the climate. Pirin has three elevation climate zones — low between 600 and 1000 m (16% of the total area), middle between 1000 and 1800 m (40%) and high above 1800 m (44%). The temperature decreases with the elevation, which is more visible in summer. The mean annual temperature is around 9–10 °C in the lower, 5–7 °C in the middle and 2–3 °C in the higher elevation. The coldest month is January with average temperature varying between −5 and −2 °C. The hottest month is July with temperature averaging 20 °C at 1600 m and 15 °C at 2000 m. Temperature inversions, i.e. increase in temperature with height, are observed in 75% of the winter days.

The annual precipitation is 600–700 mm in the lower elevation zones and 1000–1200 mm in the higher ones. The rainfall occurs mostly in winter and spring, while summer is driest season. The air humidity is 60–75% in August and 80–85 % in December. In winter the precipitation is mainly snow, varying from 70–90% at the lower elevations to 100% at higher. The average number of days with snow cover varies from 20–30 to 120–160. The highest thickness of the snow cover reaches 40–60 cm at 1000–1800 m in February and 160–180 cm above 1800 m in March (190 cm on Vihren). In some winters the snow thickness can reach 250–350 cm. Avalanches occur frequently in winter.

Hydrology
The territory of Pirin National Park is almost equally divided between the basins of the rivers Struma (206.06 km2 or 51.1%) and Mesta (197.50 km2 or 48.9%). The watershed follows the main ridge of the mountain in direction north-west to south-east. Pirin is the source of 10 tributaries to the Struma, the largest one being Sandanska Bistritsa, and another 10 to the Mesta. The rivers are short, steep and with high water volume. They form numerous waterfalls which are generally not as high as those in Rila or the Balkan Mountains. The highest one is Popinolashki waterfall, measuring some 12 m. The average annual discharge of the park's rivers is 355,6 million m3, of them 188,5 million m3 flow to the Struma and 167,1 million m3 to the Mesta. The discharge from the park per square kilometre is 2.3 times larger than Pirin's average and 5.6 times larger than Bulgaria's average.

The landscape is dotted with 118 permanent glacial lakes, conventionally divided into 17 groups, such as Popovo Lakes, Kremenski Lakes, Banderishki Lakes, Vasilashki Lakes, Valyavishki Lakes, Chairski Lakes, Vlahini Lakes or Tipitski Lakes. The largest of them is Popovo Lake with 123,600 m2, which makes it Bulgaria's fourth largest glacial lake. With a depth of 29.5 m, it is also Pirin's deepest lake and Bulgaria's second. Situated at an elevation of 2710 m the Upper Polezhan Lake is the highest one in the mountain and in the country.

Another remnant from the last Ice Age are two small glaciers. Snezhnika is located in the deep Golemiya Kazan cirque at the steep northern foot of Vihren and is the southernmost glacier in Europe. Banski Suhodol Glacier is larger and situated a bit to the north below Koncheto Ridge.

Ecosystems and forests
Pirin National Park falls within the Rodope montane mixed forests terrestrial ecoregion of the Palearctic temperate broadleaf and mixed forest. The plant communities in the park can be classified into several main groups: communities found around bodies of water; bush communities of the subalpine zone; grasslands, including meadows, subalpine and alpine pastures; forest communities; rock communities; and communities of secondary character, which are a result of human activity.

Forests cover 231.10 km2 or 57.3% of the park's total area. Of them 95% are coniferous forests and 5% are deciduous forests. The mean age of the forest is 85 year. Around 34.3% of the wooded territory is covered with trees above 140 years. The oldest tree in Bulgaria, the 1300–year Baikushev's pine of the species Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii), is found in the park and is a contemporary of the foundation of the Bulgarian state in 681 AD.

There are 16 tree species; of them three are Balkan endemic taxa with limited areal — the Bulgarian fir (Abies borisii-regis), Macedonian pine (Pinus peuce) and Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii). The largest area is occupied by dwarf mountain pine (Pinus mugo) – 59.62 km2, Macedonian pine (Pinus peuce) – 54.15 km2, Norway spruce (Picea abies) – 23.79 km2, European beech (Fagus sylvatica) – 10.98 km2 and Bosnian pine – 8.93 km2. The Macedonian and the Bosnian pines in Pirin National Park constitute respectively 42% and 52% of their total area in Bulgaria.

Flora
The flora of the park is diverse and is characterized with high endemism due to the combination of southern geographic latitude and high elevational variation. The varied relief creates various ecological environments for plants, further diversified by the dominant rock types which form siliceous and calcareous terrain on the territory of the park. Lakes and streams also diversify the conditions creating wetland habitats for hygrophyte species.

Non-vascular plants constitute the least researched part of Pirin's flora. The least studied of them are the algae with 165 species, including two endemics. The largest concentration of algae species is found in Popovo and Kremenski lake groups. The Bryophytes, including mosses, are represented by 329 known species. The number of lichen species is 367, or 52% of Bulgaria's total diversity. Of them 209 species are found in the coniferous forests and 156 — on calcareous terrain.

The vascular plants in Pirin National Park include 1315 species of 94 families and 484 genera, or approximately 1/3 of Bulgaria's flora. The flora has largely preserved its indigenous character. The number of vascular plant species is expected to grow in case of future detailed research, especially at lower elevations. The species are divided almost equally to representatives of the sub-Mediterranean and Circumboreal floristic regions. The number of species included in the Red Book of Bulgaria is 114. There are 18 species endemic to the park and another 17 are restricted only to Bulgaria, which makes a total of 35 Bulgarian endemic species. The park is also home to 86 Balkan endemic species.

The endemic species restricted to the park are: Pirin poppy (Papaver degenii), Pirin meadow-grass (Poa pirinica), Urumov oksitropis (Oxytropis urumovii), Kozhuharov oksitropis (Oxytropis kozhuharovii), Banderishka lady's mantle (Alchemilla bandericensis), Pirin lady's mantle (Alchemilla pirinica), Kelererova asineuma (Asyneuma kellerianum), Pirin sandwort (Arenaria pirinica), Pirin sedge (Carex pirinensis), Pirin fleabane (Erigeron vichrensis), David mullein (Verbascum davidoffii), lesser Pirin fescue (Festuca pirinica), Pirin hogweed (Heracleum angustisectum), Yavorkova rattle (Rhinanthus javorkae), Pirin thyme (Thymus perinicus), Daphne domini, Daphne velenovskyi.

Fauna
The vertebrate fauna of Pirin National Park consists of 229 species. The number of mammal species is 45. The distribution of the mammalian species by order is as follows: Insectivora – 5, Chiroptera – 16, Lagomorpha – 3, Rodentia – 7, Carnivora – 9 and Artiodactyla – 4. The European snow vole is a relict species. Among the species of highest conservation value are brown bear, gray wolf, wildcat, European pine marten, wild boar, red deer, roe deer and Balkan chamois. The small mammals, especially rodents and bats, are not fully studied in the whole territory of the park.

The total number of bird species is 159. Of them 91, or 57%, are passerine. Three species are relict — boreal owl, white-backed woodpecker and Eurasian three-toed woodpecker. The park's rarest residents are lesser spotted eagle with a single nesting pair, booted eagle, golden eagle with 2 to 5 pairs, short-toed snake eagle with two pairs, saker falcon, peregrine falcon with three pairs, western capercaillie, hazel grouse, rock partridge, corn crake, Eurasian woodcock and stock dove.

There are 11 reptile and 8 amphibian species. There are Central European species (fire salamander, yellow-bellied toad, smooth snake), Palearctic (common toad, European green toad, common frog), Euro-Siberian (European tree frog, common European viper, grass snake, viviparous lizard), Irano-Turanian (marsh frog), Southern European (agile frog), Euro-Mediterranean (European green lizard), Mediterranean (common wall lizard) and Balkan (Erhard's wall lizard). The ichthyofauna includes 6 fish species: common minnow, European eel (considered extinct), western vairone, brown trout, rainbow trout and brook trout. The limited number of species is determined by the high elevation of the park. The glacial lakes, streams and upper river courses are inhabited by few fish species. The western vairone is known only from the Kremenski lakes and might in fact represent a new undescribed species.

The number of identified invertebrate species in Pirin National Park is 2091, which is 40% of the estimated 4500 species to inhabit the park. They are poorly researched and there is not enough data to assess the qualitative and quantitative parameters even of the main populations of endemic and relict species. There are 218 endemic, 176 relict and rare 294 species.

The Araneae are represented by 321 species, or 35% of Bulgaria's total. The spiders prefer the north-eastern slopes and are most diverse in the coniferous forests. There are 36 species of Myriapoda, or 20% of Bulgaria's total. They are distributed mainly in the forests and are less frequent in the sub-Alpine and the Alpine zones. The Mollusca are 89 species and represent 27% of the nation's total (excluding the marine molluscs). Only 2% of Bulgaria's Ephemeroptera are found in the park — two species. The number of Orthopterida species is 63, or around 30% of the nation's total. The highest diversity is found in the valleys of the rivers Banderitsa and Damyanitsa. The Plecoptera are represented by 40 species, forming 40% of Bulgaria's diversity. There are 323 Heteroptera species, or 32% of the ones known in Bulgaria. They are most diverse in the northern parts of the park, in the Bayuvi Dupki–Dzhindzhiritsa Reserve. The Coleoptera are 639 species and this number it is estimated to raise to 1800–1900. The Neuropterida are 25 species, or 20% of Bulgaria's total diversity. There are 36 Hymenoptera species, found mainly at lower elevations. The Trichoptera are 59 species, or 24% of Bulgaria's total. The Lepidoptera are 449, including 116 butterflies and 333 moths. Some of the most spectacular butterflies are the mountain Apollo (Parnassius apollo), clouded Apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne), false Eros blue (Polyommatus eroides), mountain Alcon blue (Phengaris rebeli), large blue (Phengaris arion), scarce tortoiseshell (Nymphalis xanthomelas), Titania's fritillary (Boloria titania), eastern large heath (Coenonympha rhodopensis), Cynthia's fritillary (Euphydryas cynthia), etc.

Recreation
Pirin National Park is a popular tourist destination. The park's main information center is in Bansko and houses an interactive exhibit on the park's forests, allowing visitors to acquaint themselves with facts about the park's vegetation and wildlife. There is also a 30-seat projection room with multimedia equipment. As of 2002 on the territory of the park there were 1837 beds, including 885 in mountain refuges, 214 in hotels, 124 in bungalows and 615 in premises belonging to different departments of the state administration. Some of the refuges include Bezbog, the largest and most modern one; Banderitsa, constructed in 1915 by order of Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, and Vihren.

There are 20 marked hiking trails in the park. Trail No. 1 is part of the E4 European long distance path and crosses the park following the itinerary Predel Refuge–Yavorov Refuge–Vihren Refuge–Tevno Lake–Pirin Refuge–Popov Grasslands. The most challenging hiking trail follows the top of the Koncheto ridge at an elevations of approximately 2,810 m, between the peaks Banski Suhodol (2,884 m) and Kutelo (2,908 m). The north-western side of Koncheto is almost vertical and 300–400 m deep, while the south-western side is less steep (approximately 30 degrees) but reaches 800 m in depth.

Development and Environmental Risks
There are many factors which threaten the ecosystems in the park. Rock quarries, wildland arson, industrial and illegal logging, poaching, excessive trail use, vehicle access, and most notably the ski resorts have put the park under significant threat.

There has been a steady development of skiing infrastructure since the early nineties along the northeast of the range, most notably in the town of Bansko, which has become an international winter resort. In 2003, a large forested portion of the Todorka peak and the nearby ridges were cleared to begin the construction of the resort which today has 13 ski lifts and 75 km of slopes. The expansion of the resort took place even though the park legislature strictly forbids such activity in the park's limits. Since the building started, Bansko has experienced severe flooding of the Glazne river, due to the intervention.

In December 2017, the Bulgarian government, without warning changed the legislature of the park so that commercial logging and construction of roads and buildings within 50% the park is made legal. This sparked a wave of protests against the continuous tampering with the world heritage site, which have continued throughout February and March 2018. The protests were supported by Ska Keller who is vice-president of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament. In November 2017, the World Wide Fund for Nature and other local NGOs filed a lawsuit against the Bulgarian Ministry of the Environment and Water as they deemed that plans for development of the area violated environmental regulations.

title: Pirin National Park


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Johannes Blaskowitz

Johannes Albrecht Blaskowitz (10 July 1883 – 5 February 1948) was a German Generaloberst during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. After joining the Imperial German Army in 1901, Blaskowitz served throughout World War I, where he earned an Iron Cross for bravery.

During WWII, Blaskowitz led the 8th Army during the Invasion of Poland and was the Commander in Chief of Occupied Poland from 1939 to 1940. He wrote several memoranda to the German high command speaking out against SS atrocities, and he handed out death sentences to SS members for crimes against Polish civilians. Based upon these actions against the SS, Adolf Hitler personally limited Blaskowitz's future advancement. He commanded Army Group G during the Allied invasion of Southern France and Operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. Blaskowitz later commanded the remnants of Army Group H as it withdrew to Northern Netherlands before surrendering to Allied forces.

After the war, he was charged with war crimes in the High Command Trial at Nuremberg. He died by suicide during the trial on 5 February 1948.

Early years
Johannes Blaskowitz was born on 10 July 1883 in the village of Paterswalde, (East Prussia), Germany (now Bolshaya Polyana in the Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). He was the son of a Protestant pastor, Hermann Blaskowitz, and his wife Marie Blaskowitz, née Kuhn. In 1894, Blaskowitz joined cadet school at Köslin (now Koszalin, Poland) and afterwards at Berlin Lichterfelde. In 1901, he started his military career as a supreme officer candidate cadet in an East Prussian regiment in Osterode (Polish: Ostróda).

During World War I, Blaskowitz served on the Eastern and Western Fronts and was employed in the General Staff. He rose to command an infantry company by 1918, and was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery.

Interwar period
Blaskowitz's war service secured him a place in the small postwar Reichswehr during the Weimar Republic, through whose ranks he rose to the rank of General. His attitude towards the Nazis' seizure of power in 1933 was reportedly indifferent because he believed that the armed forces should be "politically neutral".

In early 1939 he commanded the German forces that occupied Czechoslovakia, and was promoted to General of Infantry and given command of the 8th Army just prior to the outbreak of World War II.

Invasion of Poland
During the invasion of Poland, the 8th Army under Blaskowitz's command was responsible for the northern part of the front under Army Group South, led by Gerd von Rundstedt. The 8th Army saw heavy combat during the Battle of the Bzura and later besieged the Polish capital of Warsaw. On 28 September 1939, Blaskowitz accepted the surrender of General Tadeusz Kutrzeba and the Polish forces in Warsaw. After the campaign, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, promoted to Generaloberst and appointed as Commander-in-Chief East in Poland on 20 October 1939.

As a traditional soldier, Blaskowitz kept firm control on the men under his command in their dealings with civilians and was opposed to Army participation in war crimes by the SS and Einsatzgruppen. He handed out death sentences to members of the SS for crimes against the civilian population, which were rescinded by Adolf Hitler. Between November 1939 and February 1940 he wrote several memoranda to higher military officials, in which he detailed SS atrocities in Poland, their negative effects on Wehrmacht soldiers, the insolent attitude of the SS toward the army and warned that the SS "might later turn against their own people in the same way." However, his protests failed to produce results, and merely earned him the enmity of Hitler, Hans Frank, Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Himmler, while Chief of Staff Alfred Jodl dismissed them as naive and "uncalled for".

Commander-in-Chief Walther von Brauchitsch forwarded Blaskowitz's first memorandum to Hitler on 18 November, who launched a tirade against Blaskowitz, denouncing his concerns about due process as "childish" and poured scorn on his "Salvation Army attitude." In February 1940, Blaskowitz prepared a list of 33 complaints against the SS. Among his complaints were strip searches and rape of Jewish women, a whipping orgy in Nasielsk affecting 1,600 Jews, and a clear case of race mixing committed by a junior SS officer. Blaskowitz concluded that "It is a mistake to massacre some 10,000 Jews and Poles, as is being done at present; for—so far as the mass of the population is concerned—this will not eradicate the idea of a Polish state, nor will the Jews be exterminated." Blaskowitz was relieved of his command on 29 May 1940. Having thus encountered Hitler's wrath, Blaskowitz was the only Generaloberst at that time who was not promoted to Generalfeldmarschall in summer 1940 after the fall of France.

Occupation of France
Following the Fall of France in May 1940, Blaskowitz was initially slated to command the 9th Army for occupation duties, but the appointment was blocked by Hitler and instead he was appointed to a relatively minor position as Military Governor of Northern France, a position he held until October 1940, when he was transferred to the command of the 1st Army, on the southwest coast between Brittany and the Pyrenees.

On 10 November 1942, the 1st and 7th Army under Blaskowitz's command launched Case Anton, the military occupation of Vichy France. The 1st Army advanced from the Atlantic coast, parallel to the Spanish border, while the 7th Army advanced from central France towards Vichy and Toulon. The 50,000-strong Vichy French Army took defensive positions around Toulon, but when confronted by German demands to disband, it did so since it lacked the military capability to resist. By the evening of 11 November, German tanks had reached the Mediterranean coast. Anton marked the end of the Vichy regime as a nominally independent state. However, Blaskowitz's forces failed to secure the Vichy French fleet at Toulon, which was scuttled by the French.

In May 1944, following the appointment of Gerd von Rundstedt as Commander-in-Chief in the West, Blaskowitz was appointed the head of Army Group G. This comparatively small command, consisting of the 1st Army and the 19th Army, was given the task of defending southern France from the imminent Allied invasion. When in Normandy, he managed to convince Field Marshal Erwin Rommel that the "rumours" Rommel had heard about atrocities on the Eastern Front were actually true.

According to historian Christopher Clark, in France, Blaskowitz tried to "build a constructive relationship with the local population", even though the conditions for him to do so were worse than in Poland. He encouraged the troops deployed to support French agriculture to act "selflessly". On the one hand, he tried to ensure that German counterinsurgency would be conducted in accordance with international norms as far as possible. He publicly distanced himself from units that committed the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre. On the other hand, when the prefects in Toulouse complained about crimes against civilians in "counter-terrorism" procedures conducted by the SS, Blaskowitz defended the right of the German army to defend itself, even though he admitted sometimes innocent people were harmed: "..He recommended that the French authorities be told that "it is imperative that innocent people sometimes fall victim to the bullet [...]. Against such a struggle [namely on the part of the partisans of the Resistance], the Wehrmacht must and will defend itself under all the means of power at its disposal." After the July Bomb Plot, he sent a note that proclaimed loyalty to Hitler. Clark speculates that he might have feared that he was suspected. There was no evidence that suggests Blaskowitz ever protested the deportation of Jews from France. Although army appraisal forms, compiled by Rundstedt, described him as a National Socialist, Christopher Clark opines that Blaskowitz likely never had any ideological attachment to Nazism. According to Clark, professionalism enabled Blaskowitz to follow his own principles even against the political Zeitgeist, but the same professionalism made him unsuitable for political resistance. After a visit in October 1943, German resistance member Ulrich von Hassell lamented that it was not fruitful to discuss with Blaskowitz who saw everything from a military point-of-view. From this "very bounded standpoint", whatever one thought about the regime's moral character became overshadowed by duty to his superiors and his troops, as well as the people whose fate "now hung in balance."

Campaign in the West 1944–45

The invasion of southern France commenced on 15 August 1944, with Operation Dragoon, when Allied forces landed on the Riviera between Toulon and Cannes. Blaskowitz's forces had been weakened by the relocation of its divisions to other fronts and the replacement of its soldiers with third-rate Ostlegionen outfitted with obsolete equipment. Although badly outnumbered and lacking air defence, Blaskowitz brought up troops, stabilized the front, and led a fighting withdrawal to the north to avoid encirclement. U.S. Army units pursued Blaskowitz's forces up through the Vosges mountains before pausing to regroup and refuel in early September. There, Blaskowitz's troops were reinforced by the 5th Panzer Army under Hasso von Manteuffel. Blaskowitz was in overall command of German forces defending Nancy, although the city was encircled and fell on 15 September 1944, most of the German forces escaped encirclement.

By September 1944, Army Group G was pushed back to the Alsace region, near the German border. Blaskowitz wanted to entrench his forces, but Hitler ordered him to immediately counterattack George S. Patton's U.S. Third Army. Both Manteuffel and Blaskowitz realized the futility of such an action, but obeyed orders. Their attack near Arracourt caught U.S. forces in disarray and pushed them back to near Lunéville on 18–20 September, at which point resistance stiffened and the attack was suspended. As a result, Hitler summarily relieved Blaskowitz, replacing him with Hermann Balck. The halt of the Third Army in September allowed Blaskowitz's forces to strengthen the fortress of Metz. Patton's forces first reached the fortress at Metz on 5 September 1944, forcing a German surrender on 21 November 1944. The battle of Metz took over 10 weeks, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. An attempt by Third Army to seize Fort Driant just south of Metz was also defeated. Blaskowitz reviewed Patton's decision to launch a headlong attack straight into the fortifications of Metz by saying: "A direct attack on Metz was unnecessary. The Metz fortress area could have been masked. In contrast a swerve northward in the direction of Luxemburg and Bitburg would have met with greater success and caused our 1st Army's right flank collapse followed by the breakdown of our 7th Army."

Balck was unable to stop the Third Army's advance, and in late December he was relieved of command of Army Group G, Blaskowitz was recalled to his previous command and ordered to attack in Alsace-Lorraine in support of the ongoing Ardennes offensive. The goal of the offensive was to destroy the Seventh United States Army and French First Army, as well as seize Strasbourg. On 1 January 1945, in Operation Nordwind ("North Wind"), Army Group G attacked the Seventh Army, forcing them to withdraw. However, the Germans were halted near Haguenau in late January and failed to achieve its main objectives.

Blaskowitz was subsequently transferred to the Netherlands on 30 January, where he succeeded Kurt Student as commander of Army Group H. For the following three months he conducted a fighting withdrawal against the British 2nd Army, and was awarded the Swords to his Knight's Cross. This command was redesignated in early April 1945 and Blaskowitz became commander-in-chief of the northern (still occupied) part of the Netherlands. During the Dutch famine of 1944–45, Blaskowitz allowed air corridors for Allied airdrops of food and medicine to the Dutch civilian population.

On 5 May Blaskowitz was summoned to the Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen by Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes, (commander of I Canadian Corps), to discuss the surrender of the German forces in the Netherlands. Prince Bernhard, acting as commander-in-chief of the Dutch Interior Forces, attended the meeting. Blaskowitz agreed with all proposals by Foulkes. However, nowhere in the building – some sources say nowhere in the whole town – could a typewriter be found. Thus, the surrender document could not be typed. The next day, both parties returned and, in the presence of both Foulkes and Prince Bernhard, Blaskowitz signed the surrender document, which in the meantime had been typed.

Indictment and trial
Blaskowitz was tried for war crimes at the High Command Trial (Case No. 12), one of the subsequent Nuremberg trials. In one notorious case he was accused of ordering the execution of two deserters after the German surrender. He died by suicide on 5 February 1948. After breaking away from his guards, he jumped off a balcony into the inner courtyard of the court building.

Both the indictment and the suicide have since been considered an enigma by scholars because Blaskowitz likely would have been acquitted on all counts and had been told by his defence to expect to be acquitted. According to Hans Laternser, the defence counsel for the lead defendant, Wilhelm von Leeb, the prosecution told him, "Blaskowitz did not need to do that as he would certainly have been acquitted". That led to Laternser questioning the indictment. According to Clark, Blaskowitz could have counted on an acquittal. Historian Jen Scholten states in Norbert Frei's book on the elites of Nazi Germany, that the Nuremberg judges expressly saw Blaskowitz as a positive example of how Wehrmacht officers could have behaved.

Decorations

 * Iron Cross (1914)
 * 2nd Class (27 September 1914)
 * 1st Class (2 March 1915)
 * Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939)
 * 2nd Class (11 September 1939)
 * 1st Class (21 September 1939)
 * German Cross in Silver on 30 October 1943 as Generaloberst and commander-in-chief of the 1. Armee
 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
 * Knight's Cross on 30 September 1939 and General der Infanterie and commander-in-chief of the 8. Armee
 * 640th Oak Leaves on 29 October 1944 as Generaloberst and commander-in-chief of the Heeresgruppe G
 * 146th Swords on 25 April 1945 as Generaloberst and commander-in-chief of the Netherlands

title: Johannes Blaskowitz