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Berlin (/bərˈlɪn/, German: [bɛɐ̯ˈliːn] ( listen)) is the capital of Germany, and one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.5 million people,[4] Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.[5] Located in northeastern Germany on the banks of Rivers Spree and Havel, it is the centre of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has about six million residents from over 180 nations.[6][7][8][9] Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.[10]
First documented in the 13th century, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417-1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the Third Reich (1933–1945).[11] Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world.[12] After World War II, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989).[13] Following German reunification in 1990, the city was once more designated as the capital of all Germany, hosting 158 foreign embassies.[14]
Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media, and science.[15][16][17][18] Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations, and convention venues.[19][20] Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination.[21] Significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction, and electronics.
Modern Berlin is home to renowned universities, orchestras, museums, entertainment venues, and is host to many sporting events.[22] Its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions.[23] The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts, and a high quality of living.[24] Over the last decade Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene.[
History
Etymology
The origin of the name Berlin is uncertain. It may have its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of today's Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl- ("swamp").[26] Folk etymology connects the name to the German word for bear, Bär. A bear also appears in the coat of arms of the city.[
12th to 16th centuries
The earliest evidence of settlements in the area of today's Berlin are a wooden rod dated from approximately 1192[28] and leftovers of wooden houseparts dated to 1174 found in a 2012 digging in Berlin Mitte.[29] The first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920.[30] The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document, and Berlin, across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel, is referenced in a document from 1244.[28] The former (1237) is considered to be the founding date of the city.[31] The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties. In 1307 they formed an alliance with a common external policy, their internal administrations still being separated.[32][33]
In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440.[34] During the 15th century his successors would establish Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, and subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled until 1918 in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and eventually as German emperors. In 1443, Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new royal palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln. The protests of the town citizens against the building culminated in 1448, in the "Berlin Indignation" ("Berliner Unwille").[35][36] This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. After the royal palace was finished in 1451, it gradually came into use. From 1470, with the new elector Albrecht III Achilles, Berlin-Cölln became the new royal residence.[33] Officially, the Berlin-Cölln palace became permanent residence of the Brandenburg electors of the Hohenzollerns from 1486, when John Cicero came to power.[37] Berlin-Cölln, however, had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city. In 1539, the electors and the city officially became Lutheran.[
17th to 19th centuries
The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 devastated Berlin. One third of its houses were damaged or destroyed, and the city lost half of its population.[39] Frederick William, known as the "Great Elector", who had succeeded his father George William as ruler in 1640, initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance.[40] With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the French Huguenots.[41] By 1700, approximately 30 percent of Berlin's residents were French, because of the Huguenot immigration.[42] Many other immigrants came from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg.[43]
Since 1618, the Margraviate of Brandenburg had been in personal union with the Duchy of Prussia. In 1701, however, the dual state formed the Kingdom of Prussia, as Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg now crowned himself as king Frederick I in Prussia. Berlin became the capital of the new Kingdom. This was a successful attempt to centralise the capital in the very outspread state, and it was the first time the city began to grow. In 1709 Berlin merged with the four cities of Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Friedrichstadt and Dorotheenstadt under the name Berlin, "Haupt- und Residenzstadt Berlin".[32]
In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1740–1786), came to power.[44] Under the rule of Frederick II, Berlin became a center of the Enlightenment.[45] Following France's victory in the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Berlin in 1806, but granted self-government to the city.[46] In 1815, the city became part of the new Province of Brandenburg.[47]
The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic centre of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, neighboring suburbs including Wedding, Moabit and several others were incorporated into Berlin.[48] In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire.[49] In 1881, it became a city district separate from Brandenburg.[50]
20th to 21st centuries
In the early 20th century, Berlin had become a fertile ground for the German Expressionist movement.[51] In fields such as architecture, painting and cinema new forms of artistic styles were invented. At the end of World War I in 1918, a republic was proclaimed by Philipp Scheidemann at the Reichstag building. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act incorporated dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into an expanded city. The act increased the area of Berlin from 66 to 883 km2 (25 to 341 sq mi). The population almost doubled and Berlin had a population of around four million. During the Weimar era, Berlin underwent political unrest due to economic uncertainties, but also became a renowned center of the Roaring Twenties. The metropolis experienced its heyday as a major world capital and was known for its leadership roles in science, technology, the humanities, city planning, film, higher education, government, and industries. Albert Einstein rose to public prominence during his years in Berlin, being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. NSDAP rule effectively destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which had numbered 160,000, representing one-third of all Jews in the country. Berlin's Jewish population fell to about 80,000 as a result of emigration between 1933 and 1939. After Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's persecuted groups were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp or, starting in early 1943, were shipped to death camps, such as Auschwitz.[52] During World War II, large parts of Berlin were destroyed in the 1943–45 air raids and during the Battle of Berlin. Around 125,000 civilians were killed.[53] After the end of the war in Europe in 1945, Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the Western Allies (the United States, the United Kingdom and France) formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin.[54]
All four Allies shared administrative responsibilities for Berlin. However, in 1948, when the Western Allies extended the currency reform in the Western zones of Germany to the three western sectors of Berlin, the Soviet Union imposed a blockade on the access routes to and from West Berlin, which lay entirely inside Soviet-controlled territory. The Berlin airlift, conducted by the three western Allies, overcame this blockade by supplying food and other supplies to the city from June 1948 to May 1949.[55] In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany and eventually included all of the American, British, and French zones, excluding those three countries' zones in Berlin, while the Marxist-Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany. West Berlin officially remained an occupied city, but it politically was aligned with the Federal Republic of Germany despite West Berlin's geographic isolation. Airline service to West Berlin was granted only to American, British, and French airlines.
The founding of the two German states increased Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory, and East Germany proclaimed the Eastern part as its capital, a move that was not recognized by the western powers. East Berlin included most of the historic center of the city. The West German government established itself in Bonn.[56] In 1961, East Germany began the building of the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin, and events escalated to a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie. West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany. John F. Kennedy gave his "Ich bin ein Berliner" – speech in 1963 underlining the US support for the Western part of the city. Berlin was completely divided. Although it was possible for Westerners to pass from one to the other side through strictly controlled checkpoints, for most Easterners travel to West Berlin or West Germany was prohibited. In 1971, a Four-Power agreement guaranteed access to and from West Berlin by car or train through East Germany.[57]
In 1989, with the end of the Cold War and pressure from the East German population, the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November and was subsequently mostly demolished. Today, the East Side Gallery preserves a large portion of the Wall. On 3 October 1990, the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin again became the official German capital. In 1991, the German Parliament, the Bundestag, voted to move the seat of the (West) German capital from Bonn to Berlin, which was completed in 1999. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform merged several districts. The number of boroughs was reduced from 23 to 12. In 2006, the FIFA World Cup Final was held in Berlin.
Geography
Topography
Berlin is situated in northeastern Germany, in an area of low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography, part of the vast Northern European Plain which stretches all the way from northern France to western Russia. The Berliner Urstromtal (an ice age glacial valley), between the low Barnim Plateau to the north and the Teltow Plateau to the south, was formed by meltwater flowing from ice sheets at the end of the last Weichselian glaciation. The Spree follows this valley now. In Spandau, Berlin's westernmost borough, the Spree empties into the river Havel, which flows from north to south through western Berlin. The course of the Havel is more like a chain of lakes, the largest being the Tegeler See and Großer Wannsee. A series of lakes also feeds into the upper Spree, which flows through the Großer Müggelsee in eastern Berlin.[58]
Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto the low plateaus on both sides of the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim Plateau, while most of the boroughs of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, and Neukölln lie on the Teltow Plateau.
The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin Glacial Valley and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to the west of Berlin. The highest elevations in Berlin are the Teufelsberg and the Müggelberge in the city's outskirts, and in the center the Kreuzberg. While the latter measures 66 m (217 ft) above sea level, the former both have an elevation of about 115 m (377 ft). The Teufelsberg is in fact an artificial hill composed of a pile of rubble from the ruins of World War II.
Climate
Berlin has an Maritime temperate climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system.[59] There are significant influences of mild continental climate due to its inland position, with frosts being common in winter and there being larger temperature differences between seasons than typical for many oceanic climates.
Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 22–25 °C (72–77 °F) and lows of 12–14 °C (54–57 °F). Winters are cool with average high temperatures of 3 °C (37 °F) and lows of −2 to 0 °C (28 to 32 °F). Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild. Berlin's built-up area creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings. Temperatures can be 4 °C (7 °F) higher in the city than in the surrounding areas.[60]
Annual precipitation is 570 millimeters (22 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Snowfall mainly occurs from December through March.
Cityscape
Berlin's history has left the city with a highly eclectic array of architecture and buildings. The city's appearance today is predominantly shaped by the key role it played in Germany's history in the 20th century. Each of the national governments based in Berlin — the Kingdom of Prussia, the 1871 German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, East Germany, and now the reunified Germany — initiated ambitious (re-)construction programs, with each adding its own distinctive style to the city's architecture.
Berlin was devastated by bombing raids, fires and street battles during World War II, and many of the buildings that had remained after the war were demolished in the post-war period in both West and East Berlin. Much of this demolition was initiated by municipal architecture programs to build new residential or business quarters and main roads. Many ornaments of pre-war buildings were destroyed following modernist dogmas. While in both systems and in reunified Berlin, various important heritage monuments were also (partly) reconstructed, including the Forum Fridericianum with e.g., the State Opera (1955), Charlottenburg Palace (1957), the main monuments of the Gendarmenmarkt (1980s), Kommandantur (2003) and the project to reconstruct the baroque facades of the City Palace. A number of new buildings is inspired by historical predecessors or the general classical style of Berlin, such as Hotel Adlon.
Clusters of high-rise buildings emerge at e.g., Potsdamer Platz, City West and Alexanderplatz. Berlin has three of the top 40 tallest buildings in Germany.
Architecture
The Brandenburg Gate is an iconic landmark of Berlin and Germany. The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament, was remodeled by British architect Norman Foster in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which allows free public access to the parliamentary proceedings and magnificent views of the city.
The East Side Gallery is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on the last existing portions of the Berlin Wall. It is the largest remaining evidence of the city's historical division.
The Gendarmenmarkt, a neoclassical square in Berlin the name of which derives from the headquarters of the famous Gens d'armes regiment located here in the 18th century, is bordered by two similarly designed cathedrals, the Französischer Dom with its observation platform and the Deutscher Dom. The Konzerthaus (Concert Hall), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, stands between the two cathedrals.
The Museum Island in the River Spree houses five museums built from 1830 to 1930 and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Restoration and the construction of a main entrance to all museums, as well as the reconstruction of the Stadtschloss is continuing.[65][66] Also located on the island and adjacent to the Lustgarten and palace is Berlin Cathedral, emperor William II's ambitious attempt to create a Protestant counterpart to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. A large crypt houses the remains of some of the earlier Prussian royal family. St. Hedwig's Cathedral is Berlin's Roman Catholic cathedral.
Unter den Linden is a tree-lined east–west avenue from the Brandenburg Gate to the site of the former Berliner Stadtschloss, and was once Berlin's premier promenade. Many Classical buildings line the street and part of Humboldt University is located there. Friedrichstraße was Berlin's legendary street during the Golden Twenties. It combines 20th-century traditions with the modern architecture of today's Berlin.
Potsdamer Platz is an entire quarter built from scratch after 1995 after the Wall came down.[67] To the west of Potsdamer Platz is the Kulturforum, which houses the Gemäldegalerie, and is flanked by the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Berliner Philharmonie. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a Holocaust memorial, is situated to the north.[68]
The area around Hackescher Markt is home to the fashionable culture, with countless clothing outlets, clubs, bars, and galleries. This includes the Hackesche Höfe, a conglomeration of buildings around several courtyards, reconstructed around 1996. The nearby New Synagogue is the center of Jewish culture.
The Straße des 17. Juni, connecting the Brandenburg Gate and Ernst-Reuter-Platz, serves as the central East-West-Axis. Its name commemorates the uprisings in East Berlin of 17 June 1953. Approximately half-way from the Brandenburg Gate is the Großer Stern, a circular traffic island on which the Siegessäule (Victory Column) is situated. This monument, built to commemorate Prussia's victories, was relocated 1938–39 from its previous position in front of the Reichstag.
The Kurfürstendamm is home to some of Berlin's luxurious stores with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at its eastern end on Breitscheidplatz. The church was destroyed in the Second World War and left in ruins. Nearby on Tauentzienstraße is KaDeWe, claimed to be continental Europe's largest department store. The Rathaus Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner!" speech, is situated in Tempelhof-Schöneberg.
West of the center, Schloss Bellevue is the residence of the German President. Schloss Charlottenburg, which was burnt out in the Second World War is the largest historical palace in Berlin.
The Funkturm Berlin is a 150 m (490 ft) tall lattice radio tower at the fair area, built between 1924 and 1926. It is the only observation tower which stands on insulators and has a restaurant 55 m (180 ft) and an observation deck 126 m (413 ft) above ground, which is reachable by a windowed elevator.
Demographics
On 31 December 2014, the city-state of Berlin had a population of 3,562,166 registered inhabitants[4] in an area of 891.85 km2 (344.35 sq mi).[69] The city's population density was 3,994 inhabitants per km2. Berlin is the second most populous city proper in the EU. The urban area of Berlin comprised about 4 million people making it the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.[5] The metropolitan area of the Berlin-Brandenburg region was home to about 4.5 million in an area of 5,370 km2 (2,070 sq mi). In 2004, the Larger Urban Zone was home to about 5 million people in an area of 17,385 km2 (6,712 sq mi).[9] The entire Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has a population of 6 million.[70]
National and international migration into the city has a long history. In 1685, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France, the city responded with the Edict of Potsdam, which guaranteed religious freedom and tax-free status to French Huguenot refugees for ten years. The Greater Berlin Act in 1920 incorporated many suburbs and surrounding cities of Berlin. It formed most of the territory that comprises modern Berlin and increased the population from 1.9 million to 4 million.
Active immigration and asylum politics in West Berlin triggered waves of immigration in the 1960s and 1970s. Currently, Berlin is home to about 200,000 Turks,[71] making it the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey. In the 1990s the Aussiedlergesetze enabled immigration to Germany of some residents from the former Soviet Union. Today ethnic Germans from countries of the former Soviet Union make up the largest portion of the Russian-speaking community.[72] The last decade experienced an influx from various Western countries and some African regions.[73] Young Germans, EU-Europeans and Israelis have settled in the city.[
International communities
In December 2013, 538,729 residents (15.3% of the population) were of foreign nationality, originating from over 180 different countries.[76] Another estimated 460,000 citizens in 2013 are descendants of international migrants and have either become naturalized German citizens or obtained citizenship by virtue of birth in Germany.[77] In 2008, about 25%–30% of the population was of foreign origin.[78] 45 percent of the residents under the age of 18 have foreign roots.[79] Berlin is estimated to have from 100,000 to 250,000 non-registered inhabitants.[80]
There are more than 25 non-indigenous communities with a population of at least 10,000 people, including Turkish, Polish, Russian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Serbian, Italian, Bosnian, Vietnamese, American, Romanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Austrian, Ghanaian, Ukrainian, French, British, Spanish, Israeli, Thai, Iranian, Egyptian and Syrian communities.
The most-commonly-spoken foreign languages in Berlin are Turkish, English, Russian, Arabic, Polish, Kurdish, Vietnamese, Serbian, Croatian and French. Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish, Serbian and Croatian are heard more often in the western part, due to the large Middle Eastern and former-Yugoslavian communities. English, Vietnamese, Russian, and Polish have more native speakers in eastern Berlin.
Religion
More than 60% of Berlin residents have no registered religious affiliation.[82] The largest denominations in 2010 were the Protestant regional church body of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO) (a church of united administration comprising mostly Lutheran, and few Reformed and United Protestant congregations; EKBO is a member of the umbrellas Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Union Evangelischer Kirchen (UEK)) with 18.7% of the population,[83] and the Roman Catholic Church with 9.1% of registered members.[83] About 2.7% of the population identify with other Christian denominations (mostly Eastern Orthodox)[84] and 8.1% are Muslims.[85] 0.9% of Berliners belong to other religions.[86] Approximately 80% of the 12,000 (0.3%) registered Jews now residing in Berlin[84] have come from the former Soviet Union.
Berlin is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Berlin and EKBO's elected chairperson is titled bishop of EKBO. Furthermore, Berlin is the seat of many Orthodox cathedrals, such as the Cathedral of St. Boris the Baptist, one of the two seats of the Bulgarian Orthodox Diocese of Western and Central Europe, and the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral of the Diocese of Berlin (Patriarchate of Moscow).
The faithful of the different religions and denominations maintain many places of worship in Berlin. The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church has eight parishes of different sizes in Berlin.[87] There are 36 Baptist congregations (within Union of Evangelical Free Church Congregations in Germany), 29 New Apostolic Churches, 15 United Methodist churches, eight Free Evangelical Congregations, six congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an Old Catholic church, and an Anglican church in Berlin.
Berlin has 76 mosques (including three Ahmadiyya mosques), 11 synagogues, and two Buddhist temples, in addition to a number of humanist and atheist groups.
Government
City state
Since the reunification on 3 October 1990, Berlin has been one of the three city states in Germany among the present 16 states of Germany. The city and state parliament is the House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus), which currently has 141 seats. Berlin's executive body is the Senate of Berlin (Senat von Berlin). The Senate of Berlin consists of the Governing Mayor (Regierender Bürgermeister) and up to eight senators holding ministerial positions, one of them holding the official title "Mayor" (Bürgermeister) as deputy to the Governing Mayor.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Left (Die Linke) took control of the city government after the 2001 state election and won another term in the 2006 state election.[88] Since the 2011 state election, there has been a coalition of the Social Democratic Party with the Christian Democratic Union, and for the first time ever, the Pirate Party won seats in a state parliament in Germany.
The Governing Mayor is simultaneously Lord Mayor of the city (Oberbürgermeister der Stadt) and Prime Minister of the Federal State (Ministerpräsident des Bundeslandes). The office of Berlin's Governing Mayor is in the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall). Since 2014 this office has been held by Michael Müller of the SPD.[89] On 26 August 2014, Wowereit announced his resignation as of 11 December 2014.[90]
The total annual state budget of Berlin in 2007 exceeded €20.5 ($28.7) billion including a budget surplus of €80 ($112) million.[91] The total budget included an estimated amount of €5.5 ($7.7) bn, which is directly financed by either the German government or the German Bundesländer.[
Boroughs
Berlin is subdivided into twelve boroughs (Bezirke). Each borough contains a number of localities (Ortsteile), which often have historic roots in older municipalities that predate the formation of Greater Berlin on 1 October 1920 and became urbanized and incorporated into the city. Many residents strongly identify with their localities or boroughs. At present Berlin consists of 96 localities, which are commonly made up of several city neighborhoods—called Kiez in the Berlin dialect—representing small residential areas.
Each borough is governed by a borough council (Bezirksamt) consisting of five councilors (Bezirksstadträte) including the borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The borough council is elected by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). The boroughs of Berlin are not independent municipalities. The power of borough administration is limited and subordinate to the Senate of Berlin. The borough mayors form the council of mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister), led by the city's governing mayor, which advises the senate. The localities have no local government bodies.
Sister cities
Berlin maintains official partnerships with 17 cities.[93] Town twinning between Berlin and other cities began with sister city Los Angeles in 1967. East Berlin's partnerships were canceled at the time of German reunification and later partially reestablished. West Berlin's partnerships had previously been restricted to the borough level. During the Cold War era, the partnerships had reflected the different power blocs, with West Berlin partnering with capitals in the West, and East Berlin mostly partnering with cities from the Warsaw Pact and its allies.
There are several joint projects with many other cities, such as Beirut, Belgrade, São Paulo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Oslo, Shanghai, Seoul, Sofia, Sydney, New York City and Vienna. Berlin participates in international city associations such as the Union of the Capitals of the European Union, Eurocities, Network of European Cities of Culture, Metropolis, Summit Conference of the World's Major Cities, and Conference of the World's Capital Cities. Berlin's official sister cities are:
Capital city
Berlin is the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. The President of Germany, whose functions are mainly ceremonial under the German constitution, has his official residence in Schloss Bellevue.[97] Berlin is the seat of the German executive, housed in the Chancellery, the Bundeskanzleramt. Facing the Chancellery is the Bundestag, the German Parliament, housed in the renovated Reichstag building since the government moved back to Berlin in 1998. The Bundesrat ("federal council", performing the function of an upper house) is the representation of the Federal States (Bundesländer) of Germany and has its seat at the former Prussian House of Lords.
Though most of the ministries are seated in Berlin, some of them, as well as some minor departments, are seated in Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. Discussions to move the remaining branches continue.[98] The ministries and departments of Defence, Justice and Consumer Protection, Finance, Interior, Foreign, Economic Affairs and Energy, Labour and Social Affairs , Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Food and Agriculture, Economic Cooperation and Development, Health, Transport and Digital Infrastructure and Education and Research are based in the capital.
Berlin hosts 158 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many think tanks, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups, and professional associations. Due to the influence and international partnerships of the Federal Republic of Germany as a state, the capital city has become a venue for German and European affairs. Frequent official visits, and diplomatic consultations among governmental representatives and national leaders are common in contemporary Berlin.
Economy
In 2013, the nominal GDP of the citystate Berlin experienced a growth rate of 1.2% (0.6% in Germany) and totaled €109.2 (~$142) billion.[99] Berlin's economy is dominated by the service sector, with around 80% of all companies doing business in services. The unemployment rate reached a 20-year low in June 2014 and stood at 11.0% .[100]
Important economic sectors in Berlin include life sciences, transportation, information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology, environmental services, construction, e-commerce, retail, hotel business, and medical engineering.[101]
Research and development have economic significance for the city. The metropolitan region ranks among the top-3 innovative locations in the EU.[102] The Science and Business Park in Adlershof is the largest technology park in Germany measured by revenue.[103] Within the Eurozone, Berlin has become a center for business relocation and international investments.[
Companies
Many German and international companies have business or service centers in the city. For some years Berlin has been recognized as a center of business founders in Europe.[105] Among the 10 largest employers in Berlin are the City-State of Berlin, Deutsche Bahn, the hospital provider Charité and Vivantes, the local public transport provider BVG, and Deutsche Telekom.
Daimler manufactures cars, and BMW builds motorcycles in Berlin. Bayer Health Care and Berlin Chemie are major pharmaceutical companies headquartered in the city. The second largest German airline Air Berlin is based there as well.[106]
Siemens, a Global 500 and DAX-listed company is partly headquartered in Berlin. The national railway operator Deutsche Bahn and the MDAX-listed firms Axel Springer SE and Zalando have their headquarters in the central districts.[107] Berlin has a cluster of rail technology companies and is the German headquarter or site to Bombardier Transportation,[108] Siemens Mobility,[109] Stadler Rail and Thales Transportation.[
Tourism and conventions
Berlin had 788 hotels with 134,399 beds in 2014.[111] The city recorded 28.7 million overnight hotel stays and 11.9 million hotel guests in 2014.[111] Tourism figures have more than doubled within the last ten years and Berlin has become the third most-visited city destination in Europe.
Berlin is among the top three congress cities in the world and home to Europe's biggest convention center, the Internationales Congress Centrum (ICC) at the Messe Berlin.[19] Several large-scale trade fairs like the consumer electronics trade fair IFA, the ILA Berlin Air Show, the Berlin Fashion Week (including the Bread and Butter tradeshow), the Green Week, the transport fair InnoTrans, the tourism fair ITB and the adult entertainment and erotic fair Venus are held annually in the city, attracting a significant number of business visitors.
Creative industries
Industries that do business in the creative arts and entertainment are an important and sizable sector of the economy of Berlin. The creative arts sector comprises music, film, advertising, architecture, art, design, fashion, performing arts, publishing, R&D, software,[112] TV, radio, and video games. Around 22,600 creative enterprises, predominantly SMEs, generated over 18,6 billion euro in revenue. Berlin's creative industries have contributed an estimated 20 percent of Berlin's gross domestic product in 2005.[
Media
Berlin is home to many international and regional television and radio stations.[114] The public broadcaster RBB has its headquarters in Berlin as well as the commercial broadcasters MTV Europe, VIVA, and N24. German international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle has its TV production unit in Berlin, and most national German broadcasters have a studio in the city including ZDF and RTL.
Berlin has Germany's largest number of daily newspapers, with numerous local broadsheets (Berliner Morgenpost, Berliner Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel), and three major tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation, such as Die Welt, Neues Deutschland, and Die Tageszeitung. The Exberliner, a monthly magazine, is Berlin's English-language periodical focusing on arts and entertainment. Berlin is also the headquarters of the two major German-language publishing houses Walter de Gruyter and Springer, each of which publish books, periodicals, and multimedia products.
Berlin is an important centre in the European and German film industry.[115] It is home to more than 1000 film and television production companies, 270 movie theaters, and around 300 national and international co-productions are filmed in the region every year.[102] The historic Babelsberg Studios and the production company UFA are located outside Berlin in Potsdam. The city is also home of the European Film Academy and the German Film Academy, and hosts the annual Berlin Film Festival. With around 500,000 admissions it is the largest publicly attended film festival in the world.
Infrastructure
Transport
Berlin's transport infrastructure is highly complex, providing a diverse range of urban mobility.[118] A total of 979 bridges cross 197 km (122 mi) of inner-city waterways. 5,422 km (3,369 mi) of roads run through Berlin, of which 77 km (48 mi) are motorways ("Autobahn").[119] In 2013, 1.344 million motor vehicles were registered in the city.[119] With 377 cars per 1000 residents in 2013 (570/1000 in Germany), Berlin as a Western global city has one of the lowest numbers of cars per capita.
Long-distance rail lines connect Berlin with all of the major cities of Germany and with many cities in neighboring European countries. Regional rail lines provide access to the surrounding regions of Brandenburg and to the Baltic Sea. The Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest grade-separated railway station in Europe.[120] Deutsche Bahn runs trains to domestic destinations like Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and others. It also runs an airport express rail service, as well as trains to several international destinations, e.g., Vienna, Prague, Zürich, Warsaw and Amsterdam.
Public transport
Airports
Flights departing from Berlin serve 163 destinations around the globe
Berlin has two commercial airports. Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL), which lies within the city limits, and Schönefeld Airport (SXF), which is situated just outside Berlin's south-eastern border in the state of Brandenburg. Both airports together handled 26.3 million passengers in 2013. In 2014, 67 airlines served 163 destinations in 50 countries from Berlin.[122] Tegel Airport is an important transfer hub for Air Berlin as well as a focus city for Lufthansa and Germanwings, whereas Schönefeld serves as an important destination for airlines like easyJet.
Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) will replace Tegel as single commercial airport of Berlin.[123] The new airport will integrate old Schönefeld (SXF) facilities and is scheduled to open not before 2017. Because of the rapid passenger growth at Berlin airports the capacities at the BER are already considered too small for the projected demand.
Cycling
Berlin is well known for its highly developed bicycle lane system.[124] It is estimated that Berlin has 710 bicycles per 1000 residents. Around 500,000 daily bike riders accounted for 13% of total traffic in 2009.[125] Cyclists have access to 620 km (385 mi) of bicycle paths including approximately 150 km (93 mi) of mandatory bicycle paths, 190 km (118 mi) (120 miles) of off-road bicycle routes, 60 km (37 mi) of bicycle lanes on roads, 70 km (43 mi) of shared bus lanes which are also open to cyclists, 100 km (62 mi) of combined pedestrian/bike paths and 50 km (31 mi) of marked bicycle lanes on roadside pavements (or sidewalks).[
Note: This article is from 'The Grid."
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The war in Ukraine brought the West together. For the rest of the world, it’s complicated.
As the G20 gathers in Indonesia this week, there is no global consensus on the conflict.
Nikhil Kumar, Deputy Global Editor
Mariana Labbate, Global Editorial Assistant
November 14, 2022
To some, it came as a surprise. When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil’s presidential election last month, attention soon turned to his stance on the war in Ukraine.
“He did want war,” Lula, as the Brazilian president-elect is known, was quoted as saying about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “If he didn’t want war, he would have negotiated a little more. That’s it.”
And what about the Russian President?
“I criticized [Vladimir] Putin when I was in Mexico City [in March], saying that it was a mistake to invade. But I don’t think anyone is trying to help create peace. People are stimulating hate against Putin. That won’t solve things!” Lula said.
Yet Lula’s remarks shouldn’t have come as a surprise; his quote was actually from May, and an interview with Time magazine. Nor is he an outlier; beyond the West, leaders in several large and strategically important countries have studiously avoided taking a hard line against Putin. The incoming Brazilian president’s views are one more reminder of a pair of uncomfortable truths for the U.S. and its NATO allies: Putin still has allies of his own; and many world leaders are still not standing — at least not wholeheartedly — with Ukraine.
The reasons differ, and in some cases their positions have evolved as the war has dragged on. China and India have attracted the most attention, given their size and sway on the world stage. But they have company in nearly every corner of the world. Indonesia, South Africa and even Turkey, a NATO member — to name three other strategically important nations — all have been careful not to antagonize Putin.
As leaders gather in Indonesia for this week’s G20 summit meetings, with the war very much on the agenda, “there isn’t a global consensus,” as Radityo Dharmaputra, a lecturer in international studies at Indonesia’s Airlangga University, put it to Grid.
“It can appear that way, sitting in the West,” he said. “But there are actually quite diverse views [on the war].”
This lack of consensus extends to global public opinion. A recent monthlong survey looked at how people in 25 countries viewed the conflict — and found that while those living in the West remained mostly strident in their opposition to Russia, showing little appetite for compromising with Putin, people in other parts of the world were more ambivalent. In some cases, they were sympathetic to Moscow.
In the U.S., the U.K., Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and Australia, more than half of those polled in August and September were willing to maintain sanctions on Russia, even if that resulted in a small rise in living costs, as the war drives up food and energy prices.
But the picture elsewhere was very different: In Brazil, only 35 percent said that sanctions on Russia were worth it, if it meant even a small cost of living increase. There were similar results in India and Thailand. In Mexico, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, support for sanctions was lower still; and in Indonesia, only 19 percent of people said it was a price worth paying, according to the polling firm YouGov.
As Dharmaputra told Grid: “There is no one view on this war.”
A Question Of (Self) Interests
One big factor shaping these views is Russia’s still considerable economic clout. Although dented by Western sanctions, Russia’s influence is far from extinguished; thanks to its vast natural resources, Moscow maintains a commanding position in the world’s energy and food markets. And while Europe is rushing to cut its energy ties with Russia, others have made a judgment based on self-interests. Put differently, they feel they cannot afford to do so.
Take Brazil, which under outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro has been reluctant to line up against Russia. It’s a position that’s explained, at least in part, by the country’s trade patterns.
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At the outset of the war, there were concerns in the country about the future of its fertilizer supplies. Brazil imports around 85 percent of the fertilizer it uses, with roughly one-quarter of those imports coming from Russia, the world’s biggest fertilizer exporter. These supplies are critical; agricultural exports are a major earner for the Brazilian economy. Domestically, Brazil is also struggling to contain a food crisis: One study from December 2020 showed that around half of Brazil’s 214 million people did not always have enough to eat.
Which is why sanctions on Moscow initially led to alarm in Brazil about how its farmers would secure the fertilizer they need to grow food — food for export and for the feeding of their own people. Although the sanctions did not directly target fertilizer purchases, restrictions on the Russian financial system, as well as other hurdles in trading with Moscow, triggered concerns about a shortfall.
Since then, things have played out in unexpected ways. Despite the sanctions, Russian exports to Brazil have continued, as Brazilian buyers find new ways to trade with Moscow. Earlier this year, for example, the New York Times reported that, unable to transact with sanctioned Russian banks, many Brazilian importers had switched to using international banking groups as middlemen to pay Russian suppliers.
Indeed, far from facing a shortage, there’s been a surge in Russian fertilizer shipments to Brazil. The country now has more than it can store, and some shipments have been reexported as a result.
In terms of overall volume, Russia’s trade with Brazil has ballooned by more than 100 percent since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according to one recent New York Times analysis.
And the figures are higher elsewhere: NATO ally Turkey’s trade with Russia has spiked by almost 200 percent since the war began; India’s has tripled.
Before the outbreak of war, Russia accounted for only 1 to 2 percent of India’s oil supplies. Today, it accounts for around 22 percent of New Delhi’s imports. Russia has been selling discounted oil supplies to India since the war began; and India has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In all these countries, that kind of quid pro quo exists, beyond the trade relationship: The goods keep moving, and in exchange, criticism of Putin and the war is muted. In India’s case, much was made of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that “today’s era is not an era of war,” when he met with Putin in September; the comments were framed as a mild rebuke of Putin. Yet this month, Modi dispatched his foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to Moscow, with a delegation comprising senior officials involved in India’s oil and gas, and other economically significant sectors.
As Jaishankar put it during the visit, summing up the feeling in many non-Western capitals: “We have seen that India-Russia relationship has worked to our advantage, so if it works to my advantage, I would like to keep that going.”
A Matter Of Geopolitics
But it is not all — or always — about trade. In India’s case, there are deep historical ties between New Delhi and Moscow going back to the Soviet period. These manifest themselves most prominently today in India’s defense sector: The country relies on Russia for some 60 percent of its military hardware.
And geopolitics has everything to do with the posture of Russia’s most prominent ally in the war.
China has from the beginning held to the Kremlin line that the war was provoked by NATO, and its recently rebooted alliance with Russia is based largely on antipathy toward the U.S. It was less than three weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine that Putin traveled to Beijing for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at which the two declared a “no limits” friendship. The two leaders have long shared a view that the era of a U.S.-led world order is outdated and unfair; during the war, China’s support has taken the form of a deepened trade relationship and a toeing of Putin’s talking points. Perhaps most important, China has never issued any explicit criticism of Putin or his war.
As Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Washington, D.C.-based Stimson Center told Grid in September, “China’s policy on Russia is dependent on U.S.-China relations. As long as there’s no sign of improvement of relations with Washington, China will side with Russia, regardless of whether Russia wins or loses in Ukraine.” And as a matter of China’s core interests, Sun told Grid, the relationship with Moscow is a winner no matter how the war unfolds. “For China, if Russia wins, that’s great because China gains a stronger ally. If Russia loses, that is also great because China gains a vassal state, which is the second-largest nuclear power in the world.”
The Price Of Everything
For many beyond the U.S. and Europe, questions and concerns about the war ultimately boil down to questions and concerns about one of its main fallouts: inflation — in particular when it comes to prices of food and fuel. Middle- and lower-income countries were already struggling in the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic; in economic terms, they suffered far more than the West. The Ukraine War has added to that pressure by driving up prices of everyday goods.
Indonesia offers a clear example of how these pressures have been linked to policy positions. Indonesian President Joko Widodo traveled to both Ukraine and Russia over the summer, carrying a message of peace, despite the fact he leads a nation on the other side of the world. Widodo was on a mission with a clear, domestically-focused goal: to ease the inflationary pressures on ordinary Indonesians. That meant no strong criticism of Putin.
“If you look at the outcomes of the visit, they were framed around issues related to food security and securing access to grain supplies — issues that were key domestic priorities for Indonesia,” Andreyka Natalegawa, an expert on Indonesia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., told Grid.
It’s a similar story in Brazil, Turkey and many nations in Africa — as those polls about Russian sanctions and costs of living made clear. Faced with a distant war and a clear and present problem at home, many world leaders have chosen to support Russia — or at least to keep their criticism to a minimum.
The Weight Of History
Beyond the money, and the geopolitics, there is an issue that is less tangible. Call it the power of long memories.
Analysts told Grid that public opinion in many countries was also being driven by long-standing skepticism about the West’s intentions.
“When you look at broader public opinion (in Indonesia), particularly online, there is a lot of sympathy for Russian narratives. And this is partially rooted in the fact that a lot of pro-Russia messaging has cast NATO and the U.S. as the instigator of the conflict, and this sort of messaging resonates among certain parts of the Indonesian population,” Natalegawa told Grid. “You can trace this back to some of the anti-Western sentiment and skepticism that came about as a result of the war in Iraq.”
Adds Dharmaputra, from Airlangga University: “There was historically a lot of anti-Western sentiment (in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia), which has led people to question the Western narrative. There is a lot of skepticism, and when you discuss Ukraine, people often bring up things like the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan.”
This is a narrative Putin himself has spun on many occasions; namely, who are you, the United States, to say that sending troops to other countries is a violation?
The weight of history doesn’t simply apply to public perceptions; government positions in many cases have also been shaped by longstanding diplomatic tradition.
Take South Africa, which joined the nonaligned movement shortly after its first democratic elections in the 1990s. The movement dates to the 1960s, and from the start, it held to the principle that it would not take sides in any major-power global disputes. Those principles continue to animate foreign policy and attitudes in South Africa today. As the country’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, said during a visit to Washington, D.C., in September, in response to Western pressure to spurn Moscow: “We should not be told by anyone who we can associate with.”
There are also the historical ties between the country’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the former Soviet Union, which backed the ANC’s armed struggle to overturn apartheid. (In contrast to the stance adopted by the Reagan administration in the 1980s, which labeled the ANC a terrorist group.) As one leading South African foreign policy analyst wrote earlier this year, people remember these things — and these factors make many in the ruling establishment inclined toward Russia’s point of view.
“Many ANC leaders were educated or received military training (in the former Soviet Union),” Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, chief executive of the South Africa Institute of International Affairs, wrote over the summer.
Historic views of the West — and the U.S. — have also shaped perceptions in Brazil. To go back to where we began, Lula’s remarks in May were an example: then still a candidate for the presidency, he was speaking, first and foremost, to his leftist political base.
“What happened there reflected the classic stance of [Lula’s] Workers’ Party, of the Latin American left — he opposed American imperialism,” Guilherme Casarões, a political scientist and international relations professor at Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo, told Grid.
“They have a very binary view of this, that basically sides with whoever is against the U.S. or, in this case, even NATO. They tend to be suspicious of American intentions always. It was his way of saying ‘Putin is wrong, but they are also fighting against U.S. imperialism.’”
As President, Casarões said, Lula is likely to be more diplomatic and strike a balance between the West and Ukraine, on the one hand, and Russia on the other.
“It’s important to remember both Zelenskyy and Putin congratulated Lula on his victory. They understand that Brazil’s stance might not be directly important, but it is symbolically relevant, especially in South America,” he added.
It’s a balance that will be familiar to leaders in many parts of the world, people who — whatever they really think of Putin and his war — have other calculations to make and other constituencies to worry about. Like so much else about this war, it’s complicated.
Thanks to Alicia Benjamin for copy-editing this article.
Berlin (/bərˈlɪn/, German: [bɛɐ̯ˈliːn] ( listen)) is the capital of Germany, and one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.5 million people,[4] Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.[5] Located in northeastern Germany on the banks of Rivers Spree and Havel, it is the centre of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has about six million residents from over 180 nations.[6][7][8][9] Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.[10]
First documented in the 13th century, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417-1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the Third Reich (1933–1945).[11] Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world.[12] After World War II, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989).[13] Following German reunification in 1990, the city was once more designated as the capital of all Germany, hosting 158 foreign embassies.[14]
Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media, and science.[15][16][17][18] Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations, and convention venues.[19][20] Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination.[21] Significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction, and electronics.
Modern Berlin is home to renowned universities, orchestras, museums, entertainment venues, and is host to many sporting events.[22] Its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions.[23] The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts, and a high quality of living.[24] Over the last decade Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene.[
History
Etymology
The origin of the name Berlin is uncertain. It may have its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of today's Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl- ("swamp").[26] Folk etymology connects the name to the German word for bear, Bär. A bear also appears in the coat of arms of the city.[
12th to 16th centuries
The earliest evidence of settlements in the area of today's Berlin are a wooden rod dated from approximately 1192[28] and leftovers of wooden houseparts dated to 1174 found in a 2012 digging in Berlin Mitte.[29] The first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920.[30] The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document, and Berlin, across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel, is referenced in a document from 1244.[28] The former (1237) is considered to be the founding date of the city.[31] The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties. In 1307 they formed an alliance with a common external policy, their internal administrations still being separated.[32][33]
In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440.[34] During the 15th century his successors would establish Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, and subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled until 1918 in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and eventually as German emperors. In 1443, Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new royal palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln. The protests of the town citizens against the building culminated in 1448, in the "Berlin Indignation" ("Berliner Unwille").[35][36] This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. After the royal palace was finished in 1451, it gradually came into use. From 1470, with the new elector Albrecht III Achilles, Berlin-Cölln became the new royal residence.[33] Officially, the Berlin-Cölln palace became permanent residence of the Brandenburg electors of the Hohenzollerns from 1486, when John Cicero came to power.[37] Berlin-Cölln, however, had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city. In 1539, the electors and the city officially became Lutheran.[
17th to 19th centuries
The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 devastated Berlin. One third of its houses were damaged or destroyed, and the city lost half of its population.[39] Frederick William, known as the "Great Elector", who had succeeded his father George William as ruler in 1640, initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance.[40] With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the French Huguenots.[41] By 1700, approximately 30 percent of Berlin's residents were French, because of the Huguenot immigration.[42] Many other immigrants came from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg.[43]
Since 1618, the Margraviate of Brandenburg had been in personal union with the Duchy of Prussia. In 1701, however, the dual state formed the Kingdom of Prussia, as Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg now crowned himself as king Frederick I in Prussia. Berlin became the capital of the new Kingdom. This was a successful attempt to centralise the capital in the very outspread state, and it was the first time the city began to grow. In 1709 Berlin merged with the four cities of Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Friedrichstadt and Dorotheenstadt under the name Berlin, "Haupt- und Residenzstadt Berlin".[32]
In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1740–1786), came to power.[44] Under the rule of Frederick II, Berlin became a center of the Enlightenment.[45] Following France's victory in the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Berlin in 1806, but granted self-government to the city.[46] In 1815, the city became part of the new Province of Brandenburg.[47]
The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic centre of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, neighboring suburbs including Wedding, Moabit and several others were incorporated into Berlin.[48] In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire.[49] In 1881, it became a city district separate from Brandenburg.[50]
20th to 21st centuries
In the early 20th century, Berlin had become a fertile ground for the German Expressionist movement.[51] In fields such as architecture, painting and cinema new forms of artistic styles were invented. At the end of World War I in 1918, a republic was proclaimed by Philipp Scheidemann at the Reichstag building. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act incorporated dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into an expanded city. The act increased the area of Berlin from 66 to 883 km2 (25 to 341 sq mi). The population almost doubled and Berlin had a population of around four million. During the Weimar era, Berlin underwent political unrest due to economic uncertainties, but also became a renowned center of the Roaring Twenties. The metropolis experienced its heyday as a major world capital and was known for its leadership roles in science, technology, the humanities, city planning, film, higher education, government, and industries. Albert Einstein rose to public prominence during his years in Berlin, being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. NSDAP rule effectively destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which had numbered 160,000, representing one-third of all Jews in the country. Berlin's Jewish population fell to about 80,000 as a result of emigration between 1933 and 1939. After Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's persecuted groups were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp or, starting in early 1943, were shipped to death camps, such as Auschwitz.[52] During World War II, large parts of Berlin were destroyed in the 1943–45 air raids and during the Battle of Berlin. Around 125,000 civilians were killed.[53] After the end of the war in Europe in 1945, Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the Western Allies (the United States, the United Kingdom and France) formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin.[54]
All four Allies shared administrative responsibilities for Berlin. However, in 1948, when the Western Allies extended the currency reform in the Western zones of Germany to the three western sectors of Berlin, the Soviet Union imposed a blockade on the access routes to and from West Berlin, which lay entirely inside Soviet-controlled territory. The Berlin airlift, conducted by the three western Allies, overcame this blockade by supplying food and other supplies to the city from June 1948 to May 1949.[55] In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany and eventually included all of the American, British, and French zones, excluding those three countries' zones in Berlin, while the Marxist-Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany. West Berlin officially remained an occupied city, but it politically was aligned with the Federal Republic of Germany despite West Berlin's geographic isolation. Airline service to West Berlin was granted only to American, British, and French airlines.
The founding of the two German states increased Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory, and East Germany proclaimed the Eastern part as its capital, a move that was not recognized by the western powers. East Berlin included most of the historic center of the city. The West German government established itself in Bonn.[56] In 1961, East Germany began the building of the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin, and events escalated to a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie. West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany. John F. Kennedy gave his "Ich bin ein Berliner" – speech in 1963 underlining the US support for the Western part of the city. Berlin was completely divided. Although it was possible for Westerners to pass from one to the other side through strictly controlled checkpoints, for most Easterners travel to West Berlin or West Germany was prohibited. In 1971, a Four-Power agreement guaranteed access to and from West Berlin by car or train through East Germany.[57]
In 1989, with the end of the Cold War and pressure from the East German population, the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November and was subsequently mostly demolished. Today, the East Side Gallery preserves a large portion of the Wall. On 3 October 1990, the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin again became the official German capital. In 1991, the German Parliament, the Bundestag, voted to move the seat of the (West) German capital from Bonn to Berlin, which was completed in 1999. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform merged several districts. The number of boroughs was reduced from 23 to 12. In 2006, the FIFA World Cup Final was held in Berlin.
Geography
Topography
Berlin is situated in northeastern Germany, in an area of low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography, part of the vast Northern European Plain which stretches all the way from northern France to western Russia. The Berliner Urstromtal (an ice age glacial valley), between the low Barnim Plateau to the north and the Teltow Plateau to the south, was formed by meltwater flowing from ice sheets at the end of the last Weichselian glaciation. The Spree follows this valley now. In Spandau, Berlin's westernmost borough, the Spree empties into the river Havel, which flows from north to south through western Berlin. The course of the Havel is more like a chain of lakes, the largest being the Tegeler See and Großer Wannsee. A series of lakes also feeds into the upper Spree, which flows through the Großer Müggelsee in eastern Berlin.[58]
Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto the low plateaus on both sides of the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim Plateau, while most of the boroughs of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, and Neukölln lie on the Teltow Plateau.
The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin Glacial Valley and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to the west of Berlin. The highest elevations in Berlin are the Teufelsberg and the Müggelberge in the city's outskirts, and in the center the Kreuzberg. While the latter measures 66 m (217 ft) above sea level, the former both have an elevation of about 115 m (377 ft). The Teufelsberg is in fact an artificial hill composed of a pile of rubble from the ruins of World War II.
Climate
Berlin has an Maritime temperate climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system.[59] There are significant influences of mild continental climate due to its inland position, with frosts being common in winter and there being larger temperature differences between seasons than typical for many oceanic climates.
Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 22–25 °C (72–77 °F) and lows of 12–14 °C (54–57 °F). Winters are cool with average high temperatures of 3 °C (37 °F) and lows of −2 to 0 °C (28 to 32 °F). Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild. Berlin's built-up area creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings. Temperatures can be 4 °C (7 °F) higher in the city than in the surrounding areas.[60]
Annual precipitation is 570 millimeters (22 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Snowfall mainly occurs from December through March.
Cityscape
Berlin's history has left the city with a highly eclectic array of architecture and buildings. The city's appearance today is predominantly shaped by the key role it played in Germany's history in the 20th century. Each of the national governments based in Berlin — the Kingdom of Prussia, the 1871 German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, East Germany, and now the reunified Germany — initiated ambitious (re-)construction programs, with each adding its own distinctive style to the city's architecture.
Berlin was devastated by bombing raids, fires and street battles during World War II, and many of the buildings that had remained after the war were demolished in the post-war period in both West and East Berlin. Much of this demolition was initiated by municipal architecture programs to build new residential or business quarters and main roads. Many ornaments of pre-war buildings were destroyed following modernist dogmas. While in both systems and in reunified Berlin, various important heritage monuments were also (partly) reconstructed, including the Forum Fridericianum with e.g., the State Opera (1955), Charlottenburg Palace (1957), the main monuments of the Gendarmenmarkt (1980s), Kommandantur (2003) and the project to reconstruct the baroque facades of the City Palace. A number of new buildings is inspired by historical predecessors or the general classical style of Berlin, such as Hotel Adlon.
Clusters of high-rise buildings emerge at e.g., Potsdamer Platz, City West and Alexanderplatz. Berlin has three of the top 40 tallest buildings in Germany.
Architecture
The Brandenburg Gate is an iconic landmark of Berlin and Germany. The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament, was remodeled by British architect Norman Foster in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which allows free public access to the parliamentary proceedings and magnificent views of the city.
The East Side Gallery is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on the last existing portions of the Berlin Wall. It is the largest remaining evidence of the city's historical division.
The Gendarmenmarkt, a neoclassical square in Berlin the name of which derives from the headquarters of the famous Gens d'armes regiment located here in the 18th century, is bordered by two similarly designed cathedrals, the Französischer Dom with its observation platform and the Deutscher Dom. The Konzerthaus (Concert Hall), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, stands between the two cathedrals.
The Museum Island in the River Spree houses five museums built from 1830 to 1930 and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Restoration and the construction of a main entrance to all museums, as well as the reconstruction of the Stadtschloss is continuing.[65][66] Also located on the island and adjacent to the Lustgarten and palace is Berlin Cathedral, emperor William II's ambitious attempt to create a Protestant counterpart to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. A large crypt houses the remains of some of the earlier Prussian royal family. St. Hedwig's Cathedral is Berlin's Roman Catholic cathedral.
Unter den Linden is a tree-lined east–west avenue from the Brandenburg Gate to the site of the former Berliner Stadtschloss, and was once Berlin's premier promenade. Many Classical buildings line the street and part of Humboldt University is located there. Friedrichstraße was Berlin's legendary street during the Golden Twenties. It combines 20th-century traditions with the modern architecture of today's Berlin.
Potsdamer Platz is an entire quarter built from scratch after 1995 after the Wall came down.[67] To the west of Potsdamer Platz is the Kulturforum, which houses the Gemäldegalerie, and is flanked by the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Berliner Philharmonie. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a Holocaust memorial, is situated to the north.[68]
The area around Hackescher Markt is home to the fashionable culture, with countless clothing outlets, clubs, bars, and galleries. This includes the Hackesche Höfe, a conglomeration of buildings around several courtyards, reconstructed around 1996. The nearby New Synagogue is the center of Jewish culture.
The Straße des 17. Juni, connecting the Brandenburg Gate and Ernst-Reuter-Platz, serves as the central East-West-Axis. Its name commemorates the uprisings in East Berlin of 17 June 1953. Approximately half-way from the Brandenburg Gate is the Großer Stern, a circular traffic island on which the Siegessäule (Victory Column) is situated. This monument, built to commemorate Prussia's victories, was relocated 1938–39 from its previous position in front of the Reichstag.
The Kurfürstendamm is home to some of Berlin's luxurious stores with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at its eastern end on Breitscheidplatz. The church was destroyed in the Second World War and left in ruins. Nearby on Tauentzienstraße is KaDeWe, claimed to be continental Europe's largest department store. The Rathaus Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner!" speech, is situated in Tempelhof-Schöneberg.
West of the center, Schloss Bellevue is the residence of the German President. Schloss Charlottenburg, which was burnt out in the Second World War is the largest historical palace in Berlin.
The Funkturm Berlin is a 150 m (490 ft) tall lattice radio tower at the fair area, built between 1924 and 1926. It is the only observation tower which stands on insulators and has a restaurant 55 m (180 ft) and an observation deck 126 m (413 ft) above ground, which is reachable by a windowed elevator.
Demographics
On 31 December 2014, the city-state of Berlin had a population of 3,562,166 registered inhabitants[4] in an area of 891.85 km2 (344.35 sq mi).[69] The city's population density was 3,994 inhabitants per km2. Berlin is the second most populous city proper in the EU. The urban area of Berlin comprised about 4 million people making it the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.[5] The metropolitan area of the Berlin-Brandenburg region was home to about 4.5 million in an area of 5,370 km2 (2,070 sq mi). In 2004, the Larger Urban Zone was home to about 5 million people in an area of 17,385 km2 (6,712 sq mi).[9] The entire Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has a population of 6 million.[70]
National and international migration into the city has a long history. In 1685, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France, the city responded with the Edict of Potsdam, which guaranteed religious freedom and tax-free status to French Huguenot refugees for ten years. The Greater Berlin Act in 1920 incorporated many suburbs and surrounding cities of Berlin. It formed most of the territory that comprises modern Berlin and increased the population from 1.9 million to 4 million.
Active immigration and asylum politics in West Berlin triggered waves of immigration in the 1960s and 1970s. Currently, Berlin is home to about 200,000 Turks,[71] making it the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey. In the 1990s the Aussiedlergesetze enabled immigration to Germany of some residents from the former Soviet Union. Today ethnic Germans from countries of the former Soviet Union make up the largest portion of the Russian-speaking community.[72] The last decade experienced an influx from various Western countries and some African regions.[73] Young Germans, EU-Europeans and Israelis have settled in the city.[
International communities
In December 2013, 538,729 residents (15.3% of the population) were of foreign nationality, originating from over 180 different countries.[76] Another estimated 460,000 citizens in 2013 are descendants of international migrants and have either become naturalized German citizens or obtained citizenship by virtue of birth in Germany.[77] In 2008, about 25%–30% of the population was of foreign origin.[78] 45 percent of the residents under the age of 18 have foreign roots.[79] Berlin is estimated to have from 100,000 to 250,000 non-registered inhabitants.[80]
There are more than 25 non-indigenous communities with a population of at least 10,000 people, including Turkish, Polish, Russian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Serbian, Italian, Bosnian, Vietnamese, American, Romanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Austrian, Ghanaian, Ukrainian, French, British, Spanish, Israeli, Thai, Iranian, Egyptian and Syrian communities.
The most-commonly-spoken foreign languages in Berlin are Turkish, English, Russian, Arabic, Polish, Kurdish, Vietnamese, Serbian, Croatian and French. Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish, Serbian and Croatian are heard more often in the western part, due to the large Middle Eastern and former-Yugoslavian communities. English, Vietnamese, Russian, and Polish have more native speakers in eastern Berlin.
Religion
More than 60% of Berlin residents have no registered religious affiliation.[82] The largest denominations in 2010 were the Protestant regional church body of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO) (a church of united administration comprising mostly Lutheran, and few Reformed and United Protestant congregations; EKBO is a member of the umbrellas Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Union Evangelischer Kirchen (UEK)) with 18.7% of the population,[83] and the Roman Catholic Church with 9.1% of registered members.[83] About 2.7% of the population identify with other Christian denominations (mostly Eastern Orthodox)[84] and 8.1% are Muslims.[85] 0.9% of Berliners belong to other religions.[86] Approximately 80% of the 12,000 (0.3%) registered Jews now residing in Berlin[84] have come from the former Soviet Union.
Berlin is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Berlin and EKBO's elected chairperson is titled bishop of EKBO. Furthermore, Berlin is the seat of many Orthodox cathedrals, such as the Cathedral of St. Boris the Baptist, one of the two seats of the Bulgarian Orthodox Diocese of Western and Central Europe, and the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral of the Diocese of Berlin (Patriarchate of Moscow).
The faithful of the different religions and denominations maintain many places of worship in Berlin. The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church has eight parishes of different sizes in Berlin.[87] There are 36 Baptist congregations (within Union of Evangelical Free Church Congregations in Germany), 29 New Apostolic Churches, 15 United Methodist churches, eight Free Evangelical Congregations, six congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an Old Catholic church, and an Anglican church in Berlin.
Berlin has 76 mosques (including three Ahmadiyya mosques), 11 synagogues, and two Buddhist temples, in addition to a number of humanist and atheist groups.
Government
City state
Since the reunification on 3 October 1990, Berlin has been one of the three city states in Germany among the present 16 states of Germany. The city and state parliament is the House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus), which currently has 141 seats. Berlin's executive body is the Senate of Berlin (Senat von Berlin). The Senate of Berlin consists of the Governing Mayor (Regierender Bürgermeister) and up to eight senators holding ministerial positions, one of them holding the official title "Mayor" (Bürgermeister) as deputy to the Governing Mayor.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Left (Die Linke) took control of the city government after the 2001 state election and won another term in the 2006 state election.[88] Since the 2011 state election, there has been a coalition of the Social Democratic Party with the Christian Democratic Union, and for the first time ever, the Pirate Party won seats in a state parliament in Germany.
The Governing Mayor is simultaneously Lord Mayor of the city (Oberbürgermeister der Stadt) and Prime Minister of the Federal State (Ministerpräsident des Bundeslandes). The office of Berlin's Governing Mayor is in the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall). Since 2014 this office has been held by Michael Müller of the SPD.[89] On 26 August 2014, Wowereit announced his resignation as of 11 December 2014.[90]
The total annual state budget of Berlin in 2007 exceeded €20.5 ($28.7) billion including a budget surplus of €80 ($112) million.[91] The total budget included an estimated amount of €5.5 ($7.7) bn, which is directly financed by either the German government or the German Bundesländer.[
Boroughs
Berlin is subdivided into twelve boroughs (Bezirke). Each borough contains a number of localities (Ortsteile), which often have historic roots in older municipalities that predate the formation of Greater Berlin on 1 October 1920 and became urbanized and incorporated into the city. Many residents strongly identify with their localities or boroughs. At present Berlin consists of 96 localities, which are commonly made up of several city neighborhoods—called Kiez in the Berlin dialect—representing small residential areas.
Each borough is governed by a borough council (Bezirksamt) consisting of five councilors (Bezirksstadträte) including the borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The borough council is elected by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). The boroughs of Berlin are not independent municipalities. The power of borough administration is limited and subordinate to the Senate of Berlin. The borough mayors form the council of mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister), led by the city's governing mayor, which advises the senate. The localities have no local government bodies.
Sister cities
Berlin maintains official partnerships with 17 cities.[93] Town twinning between Berlin and other cities began with sister city Los Angeles in 1967. East Berlin's partnerships were canceled at the time of German reunification and later partially reestablished. West Berlin's partnerships had previously been restricted to the borough level. During the Cold War era, the partnerships had reflected the different power blocs, with West Berlin partnering with capitals in the West, and East Berlin mostly partnering with cities from the Warsaw Pact and its allies.
There are several joint projects with many other cities, such as Beirut, Belgrade, São Paulo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Oslo, Shanghai, Seoul, Sofia, Sydney, New York City and Vienna. Berlin participates in international city associations such as the Union of the Capitals of the European Union, Eurocities, Network of European Cities of Culture, Metropolis, Summit Conference of the World's Major Cities, and Conference of the World's Capital Cities. Berlin's official sister cities are:
Capital city
Berlin is the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. The President of Germany, whose functions are mainly ceremonial under the German constitution, has his official residence in Schloss Bellevue.[97] Berlin is the seat of the German executive, housed in the Chancellery, the Bundeskanzleramt. Facing the Chancellery is the Bundestag, the German Parliament, housed in the renovated Reichstag building since the government moved back to Berlin in 1998. The Bundesrat ("federal council", performing the function of an upper house) is the representation of the Federal States (Bundesländer) of Germany and has its seat at the former Prussian House of Lords.
Though most of the ministries are seated in Berlin, some of them, as well as some minor departments, are seated in Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. Discussions to move the remaining branches continue.[98] The ministries and departments of Defence, Justice and Consumer Protection, Finance, Interior, Foreign, Economic Affairs and Energy, Labour and Social Affairs , Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Food and Agriculture, Economic Cooperation and Development, Health, Transport and Digital Infrastructure and Education and Research are based in the capital.
Berlin hosts 158 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many think tanks, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups, and professional associations. Due to the influence and international partnerships of the Federal Republic of Germany as a state, the capital city has become a venue for German and European affairs. Frequent official visits, and diplomatic consultations among governmental representatives and national leaders are common in contemporary Berlin.
Economy
In 2013, the nominal GDP of the citystate Berlin experienced a growth rate of 1.2% (0.6% in Germany) and totaled €109.2 (~$142) billion.[99] Berlin's economy is dominated by the service sector, with around 80% of all companies doing business in services. The unemployment rate reached a 20-year low in June 2014 and stood at 11.0% .[100]
Important economic sectors in Berlin include life sciences, transportation, information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology, environmental services, construction, e-commerce, retail, hotel business, and medical engineering.[101]
Research and development have economic significance for the city. The metropolitan region ranks among the top-3 innovative locations in the EU.[102] The Science and Business Park in Adlershof is the largest technology park in Germany measured by revenue.[103] Within the Eurozone, Berlin has become a center for business relocation and international investments.[
Companies
Many German and international companies have business or service centers in the city. For some years Berlin has been recognized as a center of business founders in Europe.[105] Among the 10 largest employers in Berlin are the City-State of Berlin, Deutsche Bahn, the hospital provider Charité and Vivantes, the local public transport provider BVG, and Deutsche Telekom.
Daimler manufactures cars, and BMW builds motorcycles in Berlin. Bayer Health Care and Berlin Chemie are major pharmaceutical companies headquartered in the city. The second largest German airline Air Berlin is based there as well.[106]
Siemens, a Global 500 and DAX-listed company is partly headquartered in Berlin. The national railway operator Deutsche Bahn and the MDAX-listed firms Axel Springer SE and Zalando have their headquarters in the central districts.[107] Berlin has a cluster of rail technology companies and is the German headquarter or site to Bombardier Transportation,[108] Siemens Mobility,[109] Stadler Rail and Thales Transportation.[
Tourism and conventions
Berlin had 788 hotels with 134,399 beds in 2014.[111] The city recorded 28.7 million overnight hotel stays and 11.9 million hotel guests in 2014.[111] Tourism figures have more than doubled within the last ten years and Berlin has become the third most-visited city destination in Europe.
Berlin is among the top three congress cities in the world and home to Europe's biggest convention center, the Internationales Congress Centrum (ICC) at the Messe Berlin.[19] Several large-scale trade fairs like the consumer electronics trade fair IFA, the ILA Berlin Air Show, the Berlin Fashion Week (including the Bread and Butter tradeshow), the Green Week, the transport fair InnoTrans, the tourism fair ITB and the adult entertainment and erotic fair Venus are held annually in the city, attracting a significant number of business visitors.
Creative industries
Industries that do business in the creative arts and entertainment are an important and sizable sector of the economy of Berlin. The creative arts sector comprises music, film, advertising, architecture, art, design, fashion, performing arts, publishing, R&D, software,[112] TV, radio, and video games. Around 22,600 creative enterprises, predominantly SMEs, generated over 18,6 billion euro in revenue. Berlin's creative industries have contributed an estimated 20 percent of Berlin's gross domestic product in 2005.[
Media
Berlin is home to many international and regional television and radio stations.[114] The public broadcaster RBB has its headquarters in Berlin as well as the commercial broadcasters MTV Europe, VIVA, and N24. German international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle has its TV production unit in Berlin, and most national German broadcasters have a studio in the city including ZDF and RTL.
Berlin has Germany's largest number of daily newspapers, with numerous local broadsheets (Berliner Morgenpost, Berliner Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel), and three major tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation, such as Die Welt, Neues Deutschland, and Die Tageszeitung. The Exberliner, a monthly magazine, is Berlin's English-language periodical focusing on arts and entertainment. Berlin is also the headquarters of the two major German-language publishing houses Walter de Gruyter and Springer, each of which publish books, periodicals, and multimedia products.
Berlin is an important centre in the European and German film industry.[115] It is home to more than 1000 film and television production companies, 270 movie theaters, and around 300 national and international co-productions are filmed in the region every year.[102] The historic Babelsberg Studios and the production company UFA are located outside Berlin in Potsdam. The city is also home of the European Film Academy and the German Film Academy, and hosts the annual Berlin Film Festival. With around 500,000 admissions it is the largest publicly attended film festival in the world.
Infrastructure
Transport
Berlin's transport infrastructure is highly complex, providing a diverse range of urban mobility.[118] A total of 979 bridges cross 197 km (122 mi) of inner-city waterways. 5,422 km (3,369 mi) of roads run through Berlin, of which 77 km (48 mi) are motorways ("Autobahn").[119] In 2013, 1.344 million motor vehicles were registered in the city.[119] With 377 cars per 1000 residents in 2013 (570/1000 in Germany), Berlin as a Western global city has one of the lowest numbers of cars per capita.
Long-distance rail lines connect Berlin with all of the major cities of Germany and with many cities in neighboring European countries. Regional rail lines provide access to the surrounding regions of Brandenburg and to the Baltic Sea. The Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest grade-separated railway station in Europe.[120] Deutsche Bahn runs trains to domestic destinations like Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and others. It also runs an airport express rail service, as well as trains to several international destinations, e.g., Vienna, Prague, Zürich, Warsaw and Amsterdam.
Public transport
Airports
Flights departing from Berlin serve 163 destinations around the globe
Berlin has two commercial airports. Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL), which lies within the city limits, and Schönefeld Airport (SXF), which is situated just outside Berlin's south-eastern border in the state of Brandenburg. Both airports together handled 26.3 million passengers in 2013. In 2014, 67 airlines served 163 destinations in 50 countries from Berlin.[122] Tegel Airport is an important transfer hub for Air Berlin as well as a focus city for Lufthansa and Germanwings, whereas Schönefeld serves as an important destination for airlines like easyJet.
Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) will replace Tegel as single commercial airport of Berlin.[123] The new airport will integrate old Schönefeld (SXF) facilities and is scheduled to open not before 2017. Because of the rapid passenger growth at Berlin airports the capacities at the BER are already considered too small for the projected demand.
Cycling
Berlin is well known for its highly developed bicycle lane system.[124] It is estimated that Berlin has 710 bicycles per 1000 residents. Around 500,000 daily bike riders accounted for 13% of total traffic in 2009.[125] Cyclists have access to 620 km (385 mi) of bicycle paths including approximately 150 km (93 mi) of mandatory bicycle paths, 190 km (118 mi) (120 miles) of off-road bicycle routes, 60 km (37 mi) of bicycle lanes on roads, 70 km (43 mi) of shared bus lanes which are also open to cyclists, 100 km (62 mi) of combined pedestrian/bike paths and 50 km (31 mi) of marked bicycle lanes on roadside pavements (or sidewalks).[
The wearing of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic has received varying recommendations from different public health agencies and governments. The topic has been a subject of debate,[1] with various public health agencies and governments disagreeing on a protocol for wearing face masks. As of early May, 88% of the world's population lives in countries that recommend or mandate the usage of masks in public and 75+ countries have mandated the use of masks.[2] Debates have emerged regarding whether masks should be worn even when social distancing at six feet (2 meters),[3][4][5] whether they should be worn during exercise,[6] worn in the home to reduce viral load,[7][8] and whether there are mitigating factors.[9][7] Additionally, public health agencies of different countries and territories have often changed their recommendations regarding face masks over time.[10] Face masks have been a subject of shortages, and also been made compulsory in some countries.
Types of face masks, from least to most protective, include cloth face masks, medical (non-surgical) masks,[11][12] surgical masks, and filtering facepiece respirators such as N95 masks and FFP masks. Face shields and medical goggles are other types of protective equipment often used together with face masks.
Contents
1Types of masks
1.1Face shields
1.2Cloth masks
1.2.1Sterilizing and re-use
1.3Surgical masks
1.4Disposable filtering respirators
1.4.1Sterilizing and re-use
1.5Elastomeric respirators
1.6Powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs)
1.7Novel face masks (research and development)
2Recommendations
2.1World Health Organization recommendations
2.2US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2.3China and Asia
3Rationale for wearing masks
4Shortages of face masks
4.1Early epidemic in China
4.2National stocks and shortages
4.3N95 and FFP masks
5The mask industry
5.1Manufacturing
5.2Distribution
6Culture
6.1Attitudes
6.2Fashion
7Mask use and policies by country and territory
8References
Types of masks[edit]
Small particles zigzag due to Brownian motion, and are easily captured. Large particles get strained out, or have too much inertia to turn, and hit a fiber. Mid-size particles follow flowlines and are more likely to get through the filter; the hardest size to filter is 0.3 microns diameter.[13]
Certified medical masks are disposable (except some faceshields). They are made of non-woven material. They are mostly multi-layer. Filter material may be made of microfibers with an electrostatic charge; that is, the fibers are electrets. An electret filter increases the chances that smaller particles will veer and hit a fiber, rather than going straight through (electrostatic capture).[13][14][15][better source needed][medical citation needed] Typically, efficiency of the filtering materials decreases when washed or used multiple times.[16]
Many medical masks are respirators; they are designed to protect the wearer. Surgical masks, on the other hand, are meant to protect others against infection transmission from the wearer (so called "source control").[17] Some respirators and masks have valves,[18] which let exhaled air out unfiltered. This makes them bad for source control.[19] It may, however, reduce inwards leakage, thus improving wearer protection.[18]
Face shields[edit]
Person wearing a face shield over a green surgical mask. A simple 3D-printed face shield: curved visor, drawstring lanyard, sheet of transparent plastic curved from side to side.
Person wearing a face shield and a surgical mask.
Main article: Face shield
It is not yet known whether face shields are effective at preventing disease transmission. They protect against splash and splatter. Cough simulation experiments show that they protect[18] the wearer[20] against large drops immediately after the cough, but do not keep out smaller aerosols. The longer it was after the simulated cough, the more particles found their way around. Because there is no evidence they prevent the wearer from getting ill, face shields are used with nose-mouth masks, and to protect nose-mouth masks, but use of face shields alone is not recommended.[18]
Cloth masks[edit]
Homemade cloth face mask
Sneezing. There is limited evidence that cloth masks can significantly reduce aerosol droplet dispersal.[18]
Main article: Cloth face mask
A cloth face mask is a mask made of a common textile, usually cotton, worn over the mouth and nose. Although they are less effective than medical-grade masks, many health authorities recommend that the general public use them because medical-grade masks are in short supply.[21][22]
They were routinely used by healthcare workers starting from the late 19th century until the mid 20th century. In the 1960s they fell out of use in the developed world in favor of modern surgical masks, but their use has persisted in developing countries.[23][24][25]
There were calls for research into the effectiveness of improvised masks even before the emergence of COVID-19, motivated also by past epidemics and modelling of likely mask shortages. However, little research has been done. There are no studies of the use of cloth masks by the general public, one study on the use of cloth masks in hospitals (by healthcare workers, not patients), and many controlled-setting/lab studies of cloth masks' effects on aerosols as of May 2020.[18]
Cloth masks are low-cost and reusable. They vary widely in effectiveness depending on material, fit/seal, and number of layers, among other factors. Unlike disposable masks, there are no legal standards for cloth masks. Fit is important (as with disposable masks). Measures to improve fit, such as an outer layer made from sheer nylon stockings or sheer tights around the head, reduce leakage.[18]
Improvised cloth masks seem to be worse than standard commercial disposable masks, but better than nothing. There is, however, little good evidence on them. A single study gives evidence that an improvised mask was better than nothing, but not as good as soft electret-filter surgical mask, for protecting health care workers simulating treating a simulated infected patient, regardless of whether "patient" or carers wore the mask.[18] Another study had volunteers wear masks they made themselves, to a pattern like that of a standard surgical mask, but with ties rather than earloops,[26] from cotton T-shirts, and found that the number of microscopic particles that leaked inside the homemade masks was twice the number that leaked into the commercial masks, and that the homemade mask let three times as many microorganisms expelled by the wearer escape (median averages). There is limited evidence that cloth masks can significantly reduce droplet dispersal.[18]
Cloth masks are commonly made with one layer, two layers, or two layers with a pocket for a removable-filter interlayer [18] (disposable surgical mask also have three layers, with the filter layer midmost[citation needed]). The CDC recommends more than one layer.[27] There is no research on the usefulness of a filter interlayer, as of May 2020. There were until recently no non-disposable materials designed for making masks (see end of paragraph). Common household fabrics which could be utilized (turned to a new use) as mask materials have been tested.[28][29][30][31] Cloth materials vary widely in filtration efficiency. Some cotton and polyester household fabrics have been found to compare with disposable surgical masks for dry particle filtering. Cotton T-shirt material, pillowcase material, and 70% cotton/30% polyester sweatshirt material are among the common materials that performed well in lab tests, with T-shirts preferred to pillowcases because it was thought that it would probably fit better. Teatowels and vacuum-cleaner bags were effective at filtering, but had a very high air resistance, so were not recommended. Scarves filtered poorly. Surgical sterilisation wrap, a polypropylene non-woven fabric made for wrapping sterilized things to keep them sterile, is designed to filter germs from the air. Using surgical sterilisation wrap to make masks, or as a filter interlayer in cloth masks, has been suggested. There are, however, no tests on using surgical sterilisation wrap for masks, as of May 2020.[18] Other suggested materials for filter interlayers include air filter materials used in ventilation, heating, and air conditioning, some of which are similar to rigid electret masks in the size ranges of particles they filter. Electrostatic cotton and non-woven, meltblown fabric are the conventional materials used in disposible masks, but are not readily available during the COVID-19 epidemic. A new type of filter, a washable electrostatic cotton filter, has been reported since the start of the pandemic; it is said to withstand repeated washing and folding.[18] It is made of electrospun nanofibers; flanking insulating blocks lay these into quasi-aligned nonwoven sheets, which are layered criss-cross to make a meshlike multilayer mask.[32][33] There is a need for research comparing how well these materials work.[18][34]
Sterilizing and re-use[edit]
There is no research on sterilizing and reusing cloth masks, as of May 2020.[18] The CDC recommends doffing the mask by handling only the ear loops or ties, placing it directly in a washing machine, and immediately washing your hands in soap and water for at least 20 seconds. They also recommend handwashing before donning the mask and again immediately after any time you touch it.[35]
There is no information on reusing a interlayer filter, and disposing of it after a single use may be desirable.[18]
Surgical masks[edit]
Main article: Surgical mask
A surgical mask
A surgical mask is a loose-fitting, disposable device that creates a physical barrier between the mouth and nose of the wearer and potential contaminants in the immediate environment. If worn properly, a surgical mask is meant to help block large-particle droplets, splashes, sprays, or splatter that may contain viruses and bacteria, keeping it from reaching the wearer's mouth and nose. Surgical masks may also help reduce exposure of the wearer's saliva and respiratory secretions to others.[36] A surgical mask, by design, does not filter or block very small particles in the air that may be transmitted by coughs, sneezes, or certain medical procedures. Surgical masks also do not provide complete protection from germs and other contaminants because of the loose fit between the surface of the face mask and the face.[36] However, in practice, with respect to some infections like influenza surgical masks appear as effective as respirators (such as N95 or FFP masks).[37] Surgical masks may be labeled as surgical, isolation, dental, or medical procedure masks.[36] Surgical masks are made of a nonwoven fabric created using a melt blowing process.[38][39]
Surgical masks made to different standards in different parts of the world have different ranges of particles which they filter. Similar-looking single-use masks are one-layer and only filter larger particles (e.g. Chinese standard YY/T0969 masks).[40][medical citation needed]
Disposable filtering respirators[edit]
An N95 mask
Main article: Mechanical filter respirator
An N95 mask is a particulate-filtering facepiece respirator that meets the N95 air filtration rating of the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, meaning that it filters at least 95 percent of airborne particles, while not resistant to oil like the P95. It is the most common particulate-filtering facepiece respirator.[41] It is an example of a mechanical filter respirator, which provides protection against particulates, but not gases or vapors.[42] Like the middle layer of[citation needed] surgical masks, the N95 mask is made of four layers[18] of melt-blown nonwoven polypropylene fabric.[43][44][unreliable medical source?] The corresponding face mask used in the European Union is the FFP2 respirator.[45][46]
Hard electret-filter masks like N95 and FFP masks must fit the face to provide full protection. Untrained users often get a reasonable fit, but fewer than one in four gets a perfect fit. Fit testing is thus standard. A line of vaseline on the edge of the mask[47] has been shown to reduce edge leakage[18] in lab tests using manikins that simulate breathing.[47]
Sterilizing and re-use[edit]
Hard electret-filter masks are designed to be disposable, for 8 hours of continuous or intermittent use. One laboratory found that there was a decrease in fit quality after five consecutive donnings.[18]
Hard electret-filter masks are often reused,[citation needed] especially during pandemics when there are shortages. Infectious particles could survive on the masks for up to 24 hours after the end of use, according to studies using models of SARS-CoV-2;[18] In the COVID-19 epidemic, the US CDC recommended that if masks run short, each health care worker should be issued with five masks, one to be used per day, such that each mask spends at least five days stored in a paper bag between each use. If there are not enough masks to do this, they recommend sterilizing the masks between uses.[48] Some hospitals have been stockpiling used masks as a precaution.[49] The US CDC issued guidelines on stretching N95 supplies, recommending extended use over re-use. They highlighted the risk of infection from touching the contaminated outer surface of the mask, which even professionals frequently unintentionally do, and recommended washing hands every time before touching the mask. To reduce mask surface contamination, they recommended face shields, and asking patients to wear masks too ("source masking").[50]
Apart from time, other methods of disinfection have been tested. Physical damage to the masks has been observed when microwaving them, microwaving them in a steam bag, letting them sit in moist heat, and hitting them with excessively high doses of ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI). Chlorine-based methods, such as chlorine bleach, may cause residual smell, offgassing of chlorine when the mask becomes moist, and in one study, physical breakdown of the nosepads, causing increased leakage.[18] Fit and comfort do not seem to be harmed by UVGI, moist heat incubation, and microwave-generated steam.[18]
Some methods may not visibly damage the mask, but they ruin the mask's ability to filter. This has been seen in attempts to sterilize by soaking in soap and water, heating dry to 160°C, and treating with 70% isopropyl alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide gas plasma[18] (made under a vacuum with radio waves[51]). The static electrical charge on the microfibers (which attracts or repels particles passing through the mask, making them more likely to move sideways and hit and stick to a fiber[citation needed]) is destroyed by some cleaning methods. UVGI (ultraviolet light), boiling water vapour, and dry oven heating do not seem to reduce the filter efficiency, and these methods successfully decontaminate masks.[18]
UVGI (an ultraviolet method), ethylene oxide, dry oven heating and (highly toxic[citation needed]) vaporized hydrogen peroxide are currently the most-favoured methods in use in hospitals, but none have been properly tested.[18] Where enough masks are available, cycling them and reusing a mask only after letting it sit unused for 5 days is preferred.[48]
Elastomeric respirators[edit]
Main article: Mechanical filter respirator
Elastomeric full-face masks
Elastomeric respirators are reusable devices with exchangeable cartridge filters that offer comparable protection to N95 masks.[52] They were used as a substitute for N95 masks among shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.[19]
The filters which must be replaced when soiled, contaminated, or clogged. These components may be hard to find amidst shortages; the filters may thus be sterilized, in a way that does not harm the filter, and re-used. In medical use, they must be cleaned and disinfected, as some germs can survive on them for weeks.[19]
Full-face versions of elastomeric respirators seal better and protect the eyes. If they have exhalation valves, then they are counterrecommended in settings where the unfiltered exhaled air might infect others (for instance, surgery). Fitting and inspection is essential to effectiveness.[19]
Powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs)[edit]
A PAPR in a level-3 biosafety lab. Note waist pack and hose to blow air into headpiece.
Main article: Powered air-purifying respirator
PAPRs are expensive masks with a battery-powered blower that blows air through a filter to the wearer. Because they create positive pressure, they need not be tightly-fitted.[53] PAPRs typically do not filter exhaust from the wearer.[54] They are not generally designed for healthcare use, as of 2017.[17]
Novel face masks (research and development)[edit]
On 15 April 2020 scientists claimed to have developed a biodegradable material for face masks which is effective at removing particles smaller than 100 nanometres including viruses and has a high breathability.[55][56] Two Israeli companies reportedly have developed antiviral face masks – one of which is infused with antiviral copper oxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles, the other is made out of cotton embedded with accelerated copper oxide particles and a nanofiber textile.[57][58][59] Other Israeli researchers have developed a 3D-printed nanoscale fiber sticker coated with antiseptics which can be attached to a traditional mask for extra protection.[59] Other reseachers report that laser-induced graphene may be used to add self-cleaning and photothermal properties to face masks.[59] In March 2020 Jiaxing Huang became the first scientist to receive a $200,000 grant by the United States' National Science Foundation to develop a chemical which can be safely built into common face masks to make them protect against SARS-CoV-2 and self-sanitize passing droplets.[59][60]
Recommendations[edit]
Health organizations have recommended that people cover their mouth and nose with a bent elbow or a tissue when coughing or sneezing, and dispose of any tissue immediately.[61][62] Surgical masks are recommended for those who may be infected,[63][64][65] as wearing a mask can limit the volume and travel distance of expiratory droplets dispersed when talking, sneezing, and coughing.[66]
Masks have also been recommended for use by those who are taking care of someone who may have the disease.[65] The WHO has recommended the wearing of masks by healthy people only if they are at high risk, such as those who are caring for a person with COVID-19, though they also acknowledge that wearing masks may help people avoid touching their face.[65] Several countries have started to encourage the use of face masks by members of the public.[67]
As of May 2020, 88% of the world's population lived in countries where their government and leading disease experts recommended the use of masks in public places to limit the spread of COVID-19.[2]
World Health Organization recommendations[edit]
World Health Organization advice to the public in the context of COVID-19 endorsed the use of masks only under the following conditions:[68]
If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected 2019-nCoV infection.
Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing.
Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand sanitizer or soap and water.
If you wear a mask, then you must know how to use it and dispose of it properly.
— World Health Organization
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention[edit]
Guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on using and making cloth masks during the COVID-19 pandemic[69]
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended in April 2020 that the general public wear cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, especially in areas of significant community-based transmission, due to the significance of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic disease transmission.[69][70]
In March 2020, the CDC recommended that if neither respirators nor surgical masks are available, as a last resort, it may be necessary for healthcare workers to use masks that have never been evaluated or approved by NIOSH or homemade masks, though caution should be exercised when considering this option.[71]
In March and April 2020, the CDC faced backlash over their earlier statements advising that most healthy people did not need to wear a mask. The earlier recommendations had been made to try to conserve supplies for medical professionals,[dubious – discuss][medical citation needed] but damaged the agency's credibility.[72][73][74]
In January 2020, there was no evidence on whether masks were useful for people who were not sick in a community setting.[75][dubious – discuss]
China and Asia[edit]
China has specifically recommended the use of disposable non-surgical medical masks by healthy members of the public,[11][76] particularly when coming into close contact (1 metre (3 ft) or less) with other people.[77] Hong Kong recommends wearing a surgical mask when taking public transport or in crowded places.[78][79] Thailand's health officials are encouraging people to make cloth face masks at home and wash them daily.[80] The Taiwanese, South Korean, and Japanese governments have also recommended the use of face masks in public.
When asked about the mistakes that other countries were making in the pandemic in March, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention director-general George Fu Gao said:
"The big mistake in the U.S. and Europe, in my opinion, is that people aren't wearing masks. This virus is transmitted by droplets and close contact. Droplets play a very important role − you've got to wear a mask, because when you speak, there are always droplets coming out of your mouth. Many people have asymptomatic or presymptomatic infections. If they are wearing face masks, it can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others."[81]
Rationale for wearing masks[edit]
Queue to buy face masks in Hong Kong, 30 January 2020. Everyone in the line is already wearing a disposable medical mask.
File:Qualitative-Real-Time-Schlieren-and-Shadowgraph-Imaging-of-Human-Exhaled-Airflows-An-Aid-to-Aerosol-pone.0021392.s002.ogv
Shadowgraphs. Left, videos of the outer airflow during a sneeze, comparing different methods of covering one's mouth and nose (and none).[82] Right, conversation. Convection also shown.
Among the reasons cited by Chinese health officials for the wearing of masks, even by healthy individuals, are the following:
Asymptomatic transmission. Many people can be infected without symptoms or only with mild symptoms.[83]
Impossibility of appropriate social distancing in many public places at all times.[83]
Cost-benefit mismatch. If only the infected individuals wear a mask, they would possibly have a negative incentive to do so. An infected individual might get nothing positive, but only bear the costs such as inconvenience, purchasing expenses, and even prejudice.[83]
There is no shortage of masks in China, which has been producing 100 million masks per day since early March.[83]
Leading microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung from the University of Hong Kong cites a large viral load in sputum and saliva of an infected person and asymptomatic cases as the reasons why even healthy individuals should wear a mask.[84][85]
According to Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, "Wearing a mask can reduce the propensity [of] people to touch their faces, which is a major source of infection without proper hand hygiene."[86] The precautionary principle has also been cited by the British Medical Journal as a reason some may encourage universal face mask wearing.[87]
Asian health officials and experts have been promoting universal masking. For instance, Linfa Wang (a leading infectious disease expert who heads a joint Duke University and National University of Singapore research team) stated that masking is about "preventing the spread of disease rather than preventing getting the disease", remarking that the point is to cover the faces of people who are infected but do not know it, so it is imperative for everyone to wear one in public.[88]
Recent studies have suggested that the required six feet of social distancing is insufficient and based on debunked studies from the 1930s or error.[89][90][1]
Shortages of face masks[edit]
See also: Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic
Early epidemic in China[edit]
People in Wuhan lining up in front of a drug store to buy surgical masks.
A notice at a supermarket in Beijing, which says each person can only buy one pack of surgical masks and one bottle of 84 disinfectant liquid a day.
Chinese electronics manufacturers, such as BYD Electronic, began to produce surgical masks after the outbreak.
As the epidemic accelerated, the mainland market in China saw a shortage of face masks due to increased public demand.[91] In Shanghai, customers had to queue for nearly an hour to buy a pack of face masks; stocks were sold out in another in half an hour.[92] Hoarding and price gouging drove up prices, so the market regulator said it would crack down on such acts.[93][94] In January 2020, price controls were imposed on all face masks on Taobao and Tmall.[95] Other Chinese e-commerce platforms – JD.com,[96] Suning.com,[97] Pinduoduo[98] – did likewise; third-party vendors would be subject to price caps, with violators subject to sanctions.
By March China had quadrupled its production capacity (100 million masks per day).[83]
National stocks and shortages[edit]
In 2006, 156 million masks were added to the US Strategic National Stockpile in anticipation of a flu pandemic.[99] After they were used against the 2009 flu pandemic, neither the Obama administration nor the Trump administration renewed the stocks.[99] By 1 April, the US's Strategic National Stockpile was nearly emptied.[100][clarification needed]
In France, 2009 H1N1-related spending rose to €382 million, mainly on supplies and vaccines, which was later criticised.[101][102] It was decided in 2011 to not replenish its stocks and rely more on supply from China and just-in-time logistics.[101] In 2010, its stock included 1 billion surgical masks and 600 million FFP2 masks; in early 2020 it was 150 millions and zero, respectively.[101] While stocks were progressively reduced, a 2013 rationale stated the aim to reduce costs of acquisition and storage, now distributing this effort to all private enterprises as an optional best practice to ensure their workers' protection.[101] This was especially relevant to FFP2 masks, more costly to acquire and store.[101][103] As the COVID-19 pandemic in France took an increasing toll on medical supplies, masks and PPE supplies ran low, causing national outrage. France needs 40 millions masks per week, according to French president Emmanuel Macron.[104] France instructed its few remaining mask-producing factories to work 24/7 shifts, and to ramp up national production to 40 million masks per month.[104] French lawmakers opened an inquiry on the past management of these strategic stocks.[105] The mask shortage has been called a "scandal d'État" (State scandal).[106]
In late-March/early-April 2020, as Western countries were in turn dependent on China for supplies of masks and other equipment, China was seen as making soft-power play to influence world opinion.[107][12] However, a batch of masks purchased by the Netherlands was reportedly rejected as being sub-standard. The Dutch health ministry issued a recall of 600,000 face masks from a Chinese supplier on 21 March which did not fit properly and whose filters did not work as intended despite them having a quality certificate.[107][12] The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that the customer should "double-check the instructions to make sure that you ordered, paid for and distributed the right ones. Do not use non-surgical masks for surgical purposes".[12] Eight million of 11 million masks delivered to Canada in May also failed to meet standards.[108][109]
N95 and FFP masks[edit]
A woman in Ukraine wearing an FFP mask after masking in public places was made mandatory.
N95 and FFP masks were in short supply and high demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.[110][101] Production of N95 masks was limited due to constraints on the supply of nonwoven polypropylene fabric (which is used as the primary filter), as well as the cessation of exports from China.[43][111] China controls 50 percent of global production of masks, and facing its own coronavirus epidemic, dedicated all its production for domestic use, only allowing exports through government-allocated humanitarian assistance.[43]
In March 2020, US President Donald Trump applied the Defense Production Act against the American company 3M, which allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to obtain N95 respirators from 3M.[112][113] White House trade adviser Peter Navarro stated that there were concerns that 3M products were not making their way to the US.[112] 3M replied that it has not changed the prices it charges, and was unable to control the prices its dealers or retailers charge.[112]
In early April 2020, Berlin politician Andreas Geisel alleged that a shipment of 200,000 N95 masks that it had ordered from American producer 3M's China facility were intercepted in Bangkok and diverted to the United States. Berlin police president Barbara Slowik stated that she believed "this is related to the US government's export ban."[114] 3M said they had no knowledge of the shipment, stating "We know nothing of an order from the Berlin police for 3M masks that come from China," and the US government denied that any confiscation had taken place and said that they use appropriate channels for all their purchases.[114][115] Berlin police later confirmed that the shipment was not seized by US authorities, but was said to have simply been bought at a better price, widely believed to be from a German dealer or China. This revelation outraged the Berlin opposition, whose CDU parliamentary group leader Burkard Dregger accused Geisel of "deliberately misleading Berliners" in order "to cover up its own inability to obtain protective equipment". FDP interior expert Marcel Luthe said "Big names in international politics like Berlin's senator Geisel are blaming others and telling US piracy to serve anti-American clichés."[116] Politico Europe reported that "the Berliners are taking a page straight out of the Trump playbook and not letting facts get in the way of a good story."[117] The Guardian also reported that "There is no solid proof Trump [nor any other American official] approved the [German] heist".[118]
Jared Moskowitz, head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, accused 3M of selling N95 masks directly to foreign countries for cash, instead of the US. Moskowitz stated that 3M agreed to authorized distributors and brokers to represent they were selling the masks to Florida, but instead his team for the last several weeks "get to warehouses that are completely empty." He then said the 3M-authorized US distributors later told him the masks Florida contracted for never showed up because the company instead prioritized orders that came in later, for higher prices, from foreign countries (including Germany, Russia, and France). As a result, Moskowitz highlighted the issue on Twitter, saying he decided to “troll” 3M.[119][120][121] Forbes reported that "roughly 280 million masks from warehouses around the US had been purchased by foreign buyers [on March 30, 2020] and were earmarked to leave the country, according to the broker — and that was in one day", causing massive critical shortages of masks in the US.[122][123]
As more and more countries restricted the export of N95 masks, Novo Textiles in British Columbia had plans to become the number-one manufacturer in Canada.[124] AMD Medicom in Quebec also plans to become the second Canadian manufacturer of N95 masks, with a contract to supply the Government of Canada.[125]
The mask industry[edit]
Manufacturing[edit]
The government of Taiwan instituted a mask rationing system. With population of 24 million, Taiwan has been producing more than 10 million masks per day since March.
The U.S. National Guard sews facemasks
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As of 2019, mainland China manufactured half the world output of masks.[126] As Covid-19 spread, enterprises in several countries quickly started or increased the production of face masks.[127] Cottage industries and volunteer groups also emerged, manufacturing cloth masks for localised use. They used various patterns, including some with a bend-to-fit nosepiece inserts. Individual hospitals developed and requested a library of specific patterns.[128][129][130][131]
Distribution[edit]
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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2020)
Some clinical stockpiles have proved inadequate in scale, and markets have expanded as non-medical consumers started obeying mandated mask-wearing or determined that masks might help or encourage them. Worldwide demand for face masks has resulted in masks shipping around the globe as a result of commercial transactions or of donations.[132]
Culture[edit]
A sign language interpreter (on the right) is wearing a transparent mask to allow lip reading.
Attitudes[edit]
In East Asian societies, a primary reason for mask-wearing is to protect others from oneself.[133][134] It is seen as a collective responsibility to reduce the transmission of the virus.[135] The broad assumption behind the act is that anyone, including seemingly healthy people, can be a carrier of the coronavirus.[134] A face mask is thus seen as a symbol of solidarity.[135] Elsewhere, the need for mask-wearing is often seen in an individual's perspective where masks only serve to protect oneself.[133]
Cultural norms and social pressure may also impede mask-wearing in public.[136] According to the Hong Kong doctor and infectious disease expert Joseph Tsang, the promotion of universal masking may resolve perceptions against mask-wearing, because mask-wearing is intimidating if few people wear masks due to cultural barriers, but if all people wear masks it shows a message that people are in this together.[88]
In the western world, the public usage of masks still often carries a large stigma,[133][135][137] as it is seen as a sign of sickness.[137] This stigmatization is a large obstacle to overcome, because people may feel too ashamed to wear a mask in public and therefore opt to not wear one.[138] Secondly, it is heavily racialized as an Asian phenomenon.[135] This has been reinforced in a lot of media discourses, where unrelated stories about the pandemic are often accompanied by imagery of Asian people in masks.[139] The focus on race has brought hostility towards Asians who are confronted with the choice to mask as precaution while they face discrimination for it.[140] However, there is also a divide within the western world, as seen in the Czech Republic and Slovakia where mass mobilization has occurred to reinforce the solidarity in mask-wearing since March 2020.[133]
On social media, there has been an effort with the #masks4all campaign to encourage people to use masks.[141] Mask-wearing has been called a prosocial behavior in which one protects others within their community.[142][143]
In the US, mask-wearing was politicized and is seen as a political statement by some people. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to say that they are wearing a mask when leaving home, 76% to 59% according to one poll.[144]
Fashion[edit]
Face masks have had an impact on fashion, with the masks themselves becoming a fashion statements, haute couture brands having pivoted to address both public health and aesthetic needs.[145][146][147][148]
Mask use and policies by country and territory[edit]
See also: COVID-19 pandemic by country and territory and National responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
Beijing Subway advises passengers to wear masks when taking trains
Argentina Argentina: After appearance of three asymptomatic cases, the capital Buenos Aires introduced compulsory masking since 14 April. Wearing a mask was made obligatory for everyone on public transit and everyone who contacts with the public in their position. Violators can face a fine. Authorities also prohibited the sale of N95 face masks to non-medical workers, suggesting the general public to use home-made masks instead.[149]
Austria Austria: Everyone entering a supermarket, a grocery store, or a drug store or using public transportation must wear a face mask, mandatory since 14 April.[150][151][152]
The Bahamas Bahamas: On 19 April, the prime minister announced that wearing a mask or covering one's face with clothing is mandatory in public. Employers must provide their employees who are serving the general public with masks.[153]
Bahrain Bahrain: The Kingdom made wearing face masks in public areas compulsory for citizens and residents as well as shop workers.[154]
Benin Benin: From 8 April, Benin's authorities began enforcing the mandatory wearing of face masks to halt the coronavirus.[155]
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina: Wearing a face mask is compulsory.[156][157]
Bulgaria Bulgaria: Bulgaria's government passed an order imposing an obligation to wear face masks on 30 March. The order was cancelled the next day and changed into a recommendation, due to legal complaints.[158]
Cambodia Cambodia: Many Cambodians started wearing face masks soon after the outbreak began in Wuhan. Businesses started to require customers to wear masks.[159]
Cameroon Cameroon: On 6 April, mayor of Douala announced that wearing a mask will be mandatory to slow the spread of coronavirus.[160]
Canada Canada: Since 6 April, health officials recommend wearing non-medical masks in situations where physical distancing from others is difficult (like buying groceries, or public transit).[161]
Chile Chile: From 8 April, Chilean Health Minister announced wearing a mask is mandatory in public transit.[162]
China China: Healthy individuals are advised to wear disposable medical masks in public places.[11][77] Some local governments require wearing masks when going outside. Shanghai makes wearing masks mandatory in public places.[163]
Colombia Colombia: In response to the most recent recommendations of the WHO, Colombia changed its policy on the use of masks and made it mandatory throughout the country for the use of public transport during the coronavirus emergency.[164]
Cuba Cuba: On 11 March, the government urged citizens to make their own masks, while the textile industry was drafted to fabricate them. People were advised to carry several cloth masks with them, depending on how many hours they plan to spend in public areas.[165] Later, wearing a mask was made mandatory.[166]
Czech Republic Czech Republic: Forbidden to go out in public without wearing a mask, or covering one's nose and mouth.[167]
Dominican Republic: Since 16 April, the use of face mask is mandatory in all public spaces and in the workplace.[168]
Democratic Republic of the Congo DR Congo: Since 20 April, wearing masks in the capital of Kinshasa is mandatory.[169]
Ecuador Ecuador: On 8 April, the Emergency Operations Committee (COE) decided to make face masks obligatory in public spaces.[170]
Ethiopia Ethiopia: The Council of Ministers approved a regulation that outlaws handshakes, and obligates the use of face masks in public places.[171]
France France: On 3 March, the government issued a degree announcing requisition of stocks of FFP2 and anti-splash masks until 31 May 2020.[172]
Gabon Gabon: On 10 April, the Gabonese government announced individuals in all parts of the country are required to wear masks in public to limit the spread of COVID-19.[173]
Germany Germany: On 31 March, city-county Jena, Thuringia, was the first large German city to introduce an obligation to wear masks, or makeshift masks including scarves, in supermarkets, public transport, and buildings with public traffic, from 6 April, very successfully. On 2 April, the Robert Koch Institute, the federal epidemic authority, changed its previous recommendation that only people with symptoms should wear masks to also include people without symptoms.[174][175] County Nordhausen, Thuringia, followed the example of Jena, since 13 April, several other cities later. German chancellor Merkel and state governors first gave "strong advice" to wear face masks in public from 20 April, Saxony made it mandatory from that day, Saxony-Anhalt followed from 23 April and (the rest of) Thurinigia from 24 April, finally the governors agreed to make it mandatory, so most other states followed from 27 April, except Schleswig-Holstein, from 29 April, and Berlin, where shops were excluded first, they were included from 29 April.[176]
Guinea Guinea: Guinean President Alpha Conde decided to make wearing masks compulsory.[177]
Honduras Honduras: From 7 April, Honduras President announced all citizens will now be required to cover their mouths when they are outside.[178]
Hong Kong Hong Kong: Members of the public are recommended to wear a surgical mask when taking public transport or staying in crowded places.[78]
India India: From 9 April, masking is compulsory in the state of Odisha. When leaving their home, people must cover their mouth and nose with masks or multilayered cloth (like handkerchief, dupatta, towel, etc.).[179]
Indonesia Indonesia: Citizens were ordered to wear face masks when they leave the house.[180]
Republic of Ireland Ireland: Starting monday 18th of May, the use of cloth face covering is recommend in enclosed public spaces where it's difficult to maintain social distance.[181][182]
Israel Israel: All residents are asked to wear face masks when in public.[183]
Italy Italy: Regions of Lombardy and Tuscany made wearing a face mask compulsory before going out in early April.[184]
Ivory Coast Ivory Coast: From April, 26 masks have become compulsory to enter shopping malls or supermarkets in the Southern suburb of Abidjan, Marcory.[185]
Japan Japan: Masks have been widely used by healthy individuals despite absence of official advice to do so.[186] On 1 March, prime minister Shinzo Abe enacted a policy in Hokkaido instructing manufacturers to sell face masks directly to the government, which would then deliver them to residents.[187]
Kenya Kenya: Wearing a face mask is compulsory since April 4. The government has Kenyans to strictly observe social distancing, which has been proved to one of the most efficient ways of preventing infection risks.[188]
Liberia Liberia: From 21 April, it is now compulsory to wear a face mask or covering in public.[189]
Lithuania Lithuania: Wearing a face mask or any other means of covering one's nose and mouth in public places is compulsory since 10 April 2020.
Luxembourg Luxembourg: From 20 April, wearing a mask is mandatory in places where it is not possible to keep enough distance to others such as supermarkets or on public transport.[190]
Malaysia Malaysia: Masks have been widely used by healthy individuals despite absence of official advice to do so.[191] On 17 March, Malaysia banned exports of medical and surgical masks, to meet local demand.[192] In April, the government was set to distribute 24.62 million masks, four for each household, while advising people to only use them if they have symptoms.[180]
Mexico Mexico: From 17 April, all Mexico City Metro passengers must wear masks while inside stations and on trains, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced on 15 April.[193]
Mongolia Mongolia: Wearing a mask is now mandatory while riding public transportation in Ulaanbaatar. Public officials and news broadcasters had even adopted to wearing masks through press conferences and news broadcasts.[194]
Morocco Morocco: Wearing a face mask is compulsory.[195]
Mozambique Mozambique: The Mozambican government announced on 8 April that wearing face masks is now compulsory on all forms of passenger transport, and wherever groups of people are gathered.[196]
North Macedonia North Macedonia: As of 22 April, citizens of Kumanovo, Tetovo, and Prilep must wear protective masks and gloves outside their homes, at public places, outdoor and indoor areas, markets, and shops announced the government.[197]
Pakistan Pakistan: The Balochistan government on 18 April told citizens to wear face masks when going outside. According to provincial government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani, citizens have been urged to wear masks or to cover their faces with any cloth in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.[198]
Panama Panama: Panama has made it obligatory to wear a face mask whenever going outside, while also recommending the manufacture of a homemade cloth face mask to those who cannot purchase face masks.[199]
Peru Peru: From 7 April, the Peruvian government started distributing free masks after decreeing their mandatory use in the streets to chase away the new coronavirus, said President Martin Vizcarra.[200]
Philippines Philippines: From 2 April, the government required all those living in areas under enhanced community quarantine to wear face masks.[201]
Poland Poland: Since 16 April, covering lips and nose is compulsory before leaving one's house (e.g., by a disposable mask, cloth mask, or scarf).[202]
Russia Russia: Khabarovsk has made the wearing of face masks obligatory to fight the spike in respiratory diseases and prevent the spread of the coronavirus.[203]
Rwanda Rwanda: On 20 April, Cabinet Minister of Health Daniel Ngamije said the latest guidelines require everyone to wear a mask in public, and at home during the lockdown and thereafter.[169]
Scotland Scotland: On 28 April, the First Minister for Scotland Nicola Sturgeon advised the voluntary use of cloth face masks in enclosed spaces such as shops and public transport (but not generally in public), while noting their limitation.[204]
Singapore Singapore: Masks have been widely used by healthy individuals despite initial absence of official advice to do so.[205] General mask-wearing was no longer discouraged from 3 April,[206] and made mandatory outside of one's residence from 14 April.[207]
Spain Spain: Wearing masks has been required since 4 May while on public transportation, which includes taxis, trains and buses. The government is providing masks to the majority of people riding public transportation, regardless of if they have a mask on.[208][209]
Slovakia Slovakia: Forbidden to go out in public without wearing a mask or covering one's nose and mouth.[167][156]
Slovenia Slovenia: From 29 March, wearing a face mask, even one made at home, or equivalents such as scarves that cover the mouth and nose is mandatory along with protective gloves; the decree stipulates that masks and gloves need to be worn in indoor public spaces.[210]
South Africa South Africa: On 10 April, Minister of Health recommended that the general public use cloth face masks when going out in public (in addition to hand-washing and social distancing).[211] After 1 May, covering one's nose and mouth will be mandatory in public (with a cloth mask, scarf, T-shirt, etc.).[212]
South Korea South Korea: Masks have been widely used by healthy individuals despite absence of official advice to do so.[213] The government implemented a policy of centralized procurement and rationing of face masks, purchasing 80 percent of national production since early March.[214]
Sweden Sweden: Sweden's Public Health Agency doubts the effectiveness of face masks, and the agency does not recommend public use of face masks.[215] The government has also warned that wearing them might create a false sense of security.[216]
Taiwan Taiwan: On 21 January, the government announced a temporary ban on the export of face masks.[217] On 6 February, the government instituted a mask rationing system.[218] Taiwan has been producing ten million masks per day since mid-March.[219] On 1 April, passengers on trains and intercity buses were required to wear face masks,[220] unmasked riders facing a fine.[221]
Turkey Turkey: Residents will be required to wear masks at markets, as Turkish president announced.[222]
Ukraine Ukraine: Since 6 April, wearing a face mask is required by the government in public places. In Kyiv, public places were clarified to include parks and streets.[223]
United States United States: On 6 April, the CDC recommended the wearing of non-medical cloth face coverings when in public places.[224][225] Since 17 April, residents of New York, must wear masks in public; New Jersey and Maryland issued similar requirements for their residents.[226]
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan: Officials made protective masks mandatory in all major cities in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Officials on 22 March said citizens not wearing masks in public in major cities would be fined $22 for the first offense and $67 for repeat offenses.[227]
Venezuela Venezuela: The government ordered the country’s citizens to wear face masks in public in response to the arrival of the novel coronavirus.[228]
Vietnam Vietnam: Since 16 March, everyone must wear a face mask when going to public places (such as grocery stores, transportation hubs, and public transport).[229]
Zambia Zambia: The government made it mandatory to wear face masks to minimise the spread in the country.[230]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_masks_during_the_COVID-19_pand...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη, often referred to internationally as Thessalonica or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace.[3][4] Its honorific title is Συμπρωτεύουσα (Symprotévousa), literally "co-capital",[5] and stands as a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (Symvasilévousa) or "co-reigning" city of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, alongside Constantinople.[6]
According to the preliminary results of the 2011 census, the municipality of Thessaloniki today has a population of 322,240,[1] while the Thessaloniki Urban Area (the contiguous built up area forming the "City of Thessaloniki") has a population of 790,824.[1] Furthermore, the Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area extends over an area of 1,455.62 km2 (562.02 sq mi) and its population in 2011 reached a total of 1,104,460 inhabitants.[1]
Thessaloniki is Greece's second major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre, and a major transportation hub for the rest of southeastern Europe;[7] its commercial port is also of great importance for Greece and the southeastern European hinterland.[7] The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general,[8] and is considered to be Greece's cultural capital.[8] Events such as the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival are held annually, while the city also hosts the largest bi-annual meeting of the Greek diaspora.[9] Thessaloniki is the 2014 European Youth Capital.[10]
Founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, Thessaloniki's history spans some 2,300 years. An important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. Thessaloniki is home to numerous notable Byzantine monuments, including the Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as several Roman, Ottoman and Sephardic Jewish structures. The city's main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans.[11]
Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece. In 2010, Lonely Planet ranked Thessaloniki as the world's fifth-best party city worldwide, comparable to other cities such as Dubai and Montreal.[12] For 2013 National Geographic Magazine included Thessaloniki in its top tourist destinations worldwide,[13] while in 2014 Financial Times FDI magazine (Foreign Direct Investments) declared Thessaloniki as the best mid-sized European city of the future for human capital and lifestyle.
Etymology
All variations of the city's name derive from the original (and current) appellation in Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη (from Θεσσαλός, Thessalos, and Νίκη, Nike), literally translating to "Thessalian Victory". The name of the city came from the name of a princess, Thessalonike of Macedon, half sister of Alexander the Great, so named because of her birth on the day of the Macedonian victory at the Battle of Crocus Field (353/352 BCE).[16]
The alternative name Salonica (or Salonika) derives from the variant form Σαλονίκη (Saloníki) in popular Greek speech, and has given rise to the form of the city's name in several languages. Names in other languages prominent in the city's history include Солѹнь (Solun) in Old Church Slavonic, סלוניקה (Salonika) in Ladino, Selanik (also Selânik) in Turkish (سلانیك in Ottoman Turkish), Solun (also written as Солун) in the local and neighboring South Slavic languages, Салоники (Saloníki) in Russian, and Sãrunã in Aromanian. In local speech, the city's name is typically pronounced with a dark and deep L characteristic of Macedonian Greek accent.[17][18]
The name often appears in writing in the abbreviated form Θεσ/νίκη
History
From antiquity to the Roman Empire
The city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages.[20] He named it after his wife Thessalonike,[21] a half-sister of Alexander the Great and princess of Macedon as daughter of Philip II. Under the kingdom of Macedon the city retained its own autonomy and parliament[22] and evolved to become the most important city in Macedon.[21]
After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, Thessalonica became a free city of the Roman Republic under Mark Antony in 41 BC.[21][23] It grew to be an important trade-hub located on the Via Egnatia,[24] the road connecting Dyrrhachium with Byzantium,[25] which facilitated trade between Thessaloniki and great centers of commerce such as Rome and Byzantium.[26] Thessaloniki also lay at the southern end of the main north-south route through the Balkans along the valleys of the Morava and Axios river valleys, thereby linking the Balkans with the rest of Greece.[27] The city later became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia.[24] Later it became the capital of all the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire due to the city's importance in the Balkan peninsula. When the Roman Empire was divided into the tetrarchy, Thessaloniki became the administrative capital of one of the four portions of the Empire under Galerius Maximianus Caesar,[28][29] where Galerius commissioned an imperial palace, a new hippodrome, a triumphal arch and a mausoleum among others.[29][30][31]
In 379 when the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum.[24] In 390 Gothic troops under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led a massacre against the inhabitants of Thessalonica, who had risen in revolt against the Germanic soldiers. With the Fall of Rome in 476, Thessaloniki became the second-largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire.[26] Around the time of the Roman Empire Thessaloniki was also an important center for the spread of Christianity; some scholars hold that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians written by Paul the Apostle is the first written book of the New Testament.
Byzantine era and Middle Ages
From the first years of the Byzantine Empire, Thessaloniki was considered the second city in the Empire after Constantinople,[33][34][35] both in terms of wealth and size.[33] with an population of 150,000 in the mid 1100s.[36] The city held this status until it was transferred to Venice in 1423. In the 14th century the city's population exceeded 100,000 to 150,000,[37][38][39] making it larger than London at the time.[40]
During the 6th and 7th centuries the area around Thessaloniki was invaded by Avars and Slavs, who unsuccessfully laid siege to the city several times.[41] Traditional historiography stipulates that many Slavs settled in the hinterland of Thessaloniki,[42] however, this migration was allegedly on a much smaller scale than previously thought.[42][42][43] In the 9th century, the Byzantine Greek missionaries Cyril and Methodius, both natives of the city, created the first literary language of the Slavs, the Glagolic alphabet, most likely based on the Slavic dialect used in the hinterland of their hometown.[44][45][46][47][48]
An Arab naval attack in 904 resulted in the sack of the city.[49] The economic expansion of the city continued through the 12th century as the rule of the Komnenoi emperors expanded Byzantine control to the north. Thessaloniki passed out of Byzantine hands in 1204,[50] when Constantinople was captured by the forces of the Fourth Crusade and incorporated the city and its surrounding territories in the Kingdom of Thessalonica[51] — which then became the largest vassal of the Latin Empire. In 1224, the Kingdom of Thessalonica was overrun by the Despotate of Epirus, a remnant of the former Byzantine Empire, under Theodore Komnenos Doukas who crowned himself Emperor,[52] and the city became the Despotat's capital.[52][53] This era of the Despotate of Epirus is also known as the Empire of Thessalonica.[52][54][55] Following his defeat at Klokotnitsa however in 1230,[52][54] the Empire of Thessalonica became a vassal state of the Second Bulgarian Empire until it was recovered again in 1246, this time by the Nicaean Empire.[52] In 1342,[56] the city saw the rise of the Commune of the Zealots, an anti-aristocratic party formed of sailors and the poor,[57] which is nowadays described as social-revolutionary.[56] The city was practically independent of the rest of the Empire,[56][57][58] as it had its own government, a form of republic.[56] The zealot movement was overthrown in 1350 and the city was reunited with the rest of the Empire.[56]
In 1423, Despot Andronicus, who was in charge of the city, ceded it to the Republic of Venice with the hope that it could be protected from the Ottomans who were besieging the city (there is no evidence to support the oft-repeated story that he sold the city to them). The Venetians held Thessaloniki until it was captured by the Ottoman Sultan Murad II on 29 March 1430.
Ottoman period
When Sultan Murad II captured Thessaloniki and sacked it in 1430, contemporary reports estimated that about one-fifth of the city's population was enslaved.[60] Upon the conquest of Thessaloniki, some of its inhabitants escaped,[61] including intellectuals such as Theodorus Gaza "Thessalonicensis" and Andronicus Callistus.[62] However, the change of sovereignty from the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman one did not affect the city's prestige as a major imperial city and trading hub.[63][64] Thessaloniki and Smyrna, although smaller in size than Constantinople, were the Ottoman Empire's most important trading hubs.[63] Thessaloniki's importance was mostly in the field of shipping,[63] but also in manufacturing,[64] while most of the city's trade was controlled by ethnic Greeks.[63]
During the Ottoman period, the city's population of mainly Greek Jews and Ottoman Muslims (including those of Turkish and Albanian, as well as Bulgarian Muslim and Greek Muslim convert origin) grew substantially. By 1478 Selânik (سلانیك), as the city came to be known in Ottoman Turkish, had a population of 4,320 Muslims, 6,094 Greek Orthodox and some Catholics, but no Jews. Soon after the turn of the 15th to 16th century, nearly 20,000 Sephardic Jews had immigrated to Greece from Spain following their expulsion by the 1492 Alhambra Decree.[65] By c. 1500, the numbers had grown to 7,986 Greeks, 8,575 Muslims, and 3,770 Jews. By 1519, Sephardic Jews numbered 15,715, 54% of the city's population. Some historians consider the Ottoman regime's invitation to Jewish settlement was a strategy to prevent the ethnic Greek population (Eastern Orthodox Christians) from dominating the city.[38]
Thessaloniki was the capital of the Sanjak of Selanik within the wider Rumeli Eyalet (Balkans)[66] until 1826, and subsequently the capital of Selanik Eyalet (after 1867, the Selanik Vilayet).[67][68] This consisted of the sanjaks of Selanik, Serres and Drama between 1826 and 1912.[69] Thessaloniki was also a Janissary stronghold where novice Janissaries were trained. In June 1826, regular Ottoman soldiers attacked and destroyed the Janissary base in Thessaloniki while also killing over 10,000 Janissaries, an event known as The Auspicious Incident in Ottoman history.[70] From 1870, driven by economic growth, the city's population expanded by 70%, reaching 135,000 in 1917.[71]
The last few decades of Ottoman control over the city were an era of revival, particularly in terms of the city's infrastructure. It was at that time that the Ottoman administration of the city acquired an "official" face with the creation of the Command Post[72] while a number of new public buildings were built in the eclectic style in order to project the European face both of Thessaloniki and the Ottoman Empire.[72][73] The city walls were torn down between 1869 and 1889,[74] efforts for a planned expansion of the city are evident as early as 1879,[75] the first tram service started in 1888[76] and the city streets were illuminated with electric lamp posts in 1908.[77] In 1888 Thessaloniki was connected to Central Europe via rail through Belgrade, Monastir in 1893 and Constantinople in 1896.
Since the 20th century
In the early 20th century, Thessaloniki was in the center of radical activities by various groups; the Bulgarian Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, founded in 1897,[78] and the Greek Macedonian Committee, founded in 1903.[79] In 1903 an anarchist group known as the Boatmen of Thessaloniki planted bombs in several buildings in Thessaloniki, including the Ottoman Bank, with some assistance from the IMRO. The Greek consulate in Ottoman Thessaloniki (now the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle) served as the center of operations for the Greek guerillas. In 1908 the Young Turks movement broke out in the city, sparking the Young Turk Revolution.[80]
The Ottoman Feth-i Bülend being sunk in Thessaloniki in 1912 by a Greek ship during the First Balkan War.
Constantine I of Greece with George I of Greece and the Greek army enter the city.
As the First Balkan War broke out, Greece declared war on the Ottoman Empire and expanded its borders. When Eleftherios Venizelos, Prime Minister at the time, was asked if the Greek army should move towards Thessaloniki or Monastir (now Bitola, Republic of Macedonia), Venizelos replied "Salonique à tout prix!" (Thessaloniki, at all costs!).[81] As both Greece and Bulgaria wanted Thessaloniki, the Ottoman garrison of the city entered negotiations with both armies.[82] On 8 November 1912 (26 October Old Style), the feast day of the city's patron saint, Saint Demetrius, the Greek Army accepted the surrender of the Ottoman garrison at Thessaloniki.[83] The Bulgarian army arrived one day after the surrender of the city to Greece and Tahsin Pasha, ruler of the city, told the Bulgarian officials that "I have only one Thessaloniki, which I have surrendered".[82] After the Second Balkan War, Thessaloniki and the rest of the Greek portion of Macedonia were officially annexed to Greece by the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913.[84] On 18 March 1913 George I of Greece was assassinated in the city by Alexandros Schinas.[85]
In 1915, during World War I, a large Allied expeditionary force established a base at Thessaloniki for operations against pro-German Bulgaria.[86] This culminated in the establishment of the Macedonian Front, also known as the Salonika Front.[87][88] In 1916, pro-Venizelist Greek army officers and civilians, with the support of the Allies, launched an uprising,[89] creating a pro-Allied[90] temporary government by the name of the "Provisional Government of National Defence"[89][91] that controlled the "New Lands" (lands that were gained by Greece in the Balkan Wars, most of Northern Greece including Greek Macedonia, the North Aegean as well as the island of Crete);[89][91] the official government of the King in Athens, the "State of Athens",[89] controlled "Old Greece"[89][91] which were traditionally monarchist. The State of Thessaloniki was disestablished with the unification of the two opposing Greek governments under Venizelos, following the abdication of King Constantine in 1917.[86][91]
The 1st Battalion of the National Defence army marches on its way to the front.
Aerial picture of the Great Fire of 1917.
Most of the old center of the city was destroyed by the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, which started accidentally by an unattended kitchen fire on 18 August 1917.[92] The fire swept through the centre of the city, leaving 72,000 people homeless; according to the Pallis Report, most of them were Jewish (50,000). Many businesses were destroyed, as a result, 70% of the population were unemployed.[92] Also a number of religious structures of the three major faiths were lost. Nearly one-quarter of the total population of approximately 271,157 became homeless.[92] Following the fire the government prohibited quick rebuilding, so it could implement the new redesign of the city according to the European-style urban plan[6] prepared by a group of architects, including the Briton Thomas Mawson, and headed by French architect Ernest Hébrard.[92] Property values fell from 6.5 million Greek drachmas to 750,000.[93]
After the defeat of Greece in the Greco-Turkish War and during the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, a population exchange took place between Greece and Turkey.[90] Over 160,000 ethnic Greeks deported from the former Ottoman Empire were resettled in the city,[90] changing its demographics. Additionally many of the city's Muslims were deported to Turkey, ranging at about 20,000 people.[94]
During World War II Thessaloniki was heavily bombarded by Fascist Italy (with 232 people dead, 871 wounded and over 800 buildings damaged or destroyed in November 1940 alone),[95] and, the Italians having failed to succeed in their invasion of Greece, it fell to the forces of Nazi Germany on 8 April 1941[96] and remained under German occupation until 30 October 1944 when it was liberated by the Greek People's Liberation Army.[97] The Nazis soon forced the Jewish residents into a ghetto near the railroads and on 15 March 1943 began the deportation process of the city's 56,000 Jews to its concentration camps.[98][99] They deported over 43,000 of the city's Jews in concentration camps,[98] where most were killed in the gas chambers. The Germans also deported 11,000 Jews to forced labor camps, where most perished.[100] Only 1,200 Jews live in the city today.
Part of Eleftherias Square during the Axis occupation.
The importance of Thessaloniki to Nazi Germany can be demonstrated by the fact that, initially, Hitler had planned to incorporate it directly in the Third Reich[101] (that is, make it part of Germany) and not have it controlled by a puppet state such as the Hellenic State or an ally of Germany (Thessaloniki had been promised to Yugoslavia as a reward for joining the Axis on 25 March 1941).[102] Having been the first major city in Greece to fall to the occupying forces just two days after the German invasion, it was in Thessaloniki that the first Greek resistance group was formed (under the name «Ελευθερία», Eleftheria, "Freedom")[103] as well as the first anti-Nazi newspaper in an occupied territory anywhere in Europe,[104] also by the name Eleftheria. Thessaloniki was also home to a military camp-converted-concentration camp, known in German as "Konzentrationslager Pavlo Mela" (Pavlos Melas Concentration Camp),[105] where members of the resistance and other non-favourable people towards the German occupation from all over Greece[105] were held either to be killed or sent to concentration camps elsewhere in Europe.[105] In the 1946 monarchy referendum, the majority of the locals voted in favour of a republic, contrary to the rest of Greece.[106]
After the war, Thessaloniki was rebuilt with large-scale development of new infrastructure and industry throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Many of its architectural treasures still remain, adding value to the city as a tourist destination, while several early Christian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988.[107] In 1997, Thessaloniki was celebrated as the European Capital of Culture,[108] sponsoring events across the city and the region. Agency established to oversee the cultural activities of that year 1997 was still in existence by 2010.[109] In 2004 the city hosted a number of the football events as part of the 2004 Summer Olympics.[110]
Today Thessaloniki has become one of the most important trade and business hubs in Southeastern Europe, with its port, the Port of Thessaloniki being one of the largest in the Aegean and facilitating trade throughout the Balkan hinterland.[7] On 26 October 2012 the city celebrated its centennial since its incorporation into Greece.[111] The city also forms one of the largest student centres in Southeastern Europe, is host to the largest student population in Greece and will be the European Youth Capital in 2014
Geography
Geology
Thessaloniki lies on the northern fringe of the Thermaic Gulf on its eastern coast and is bound by Mount Chortiatis on its southeast. Its proximity to imposing mountain ranges, hills and fault lines, especially towards its southeast have historically made the city prone to geological changes.
Since medieval times, Thessaloniki was hit by strong earthquakes, notably in 1759, 1902, 1978 and 1995.[113] On 19–20 June 1978, the city suffered a series of powerful earthquakes, registering 5.5 and 6.5 on the Richter scale.[114][115] The tremors caused considerable damage to a number of buildings and ancient monuments,[114] but the city withstood the catastrophe without any major problems.[115] One apartment building in central Thessaloniki collapsed during the second earthquake, killing many, raising the final death toll to 51.[114][115]
Climate
Thessaloniki's climate is directly affected by the sea it is situated on.[116] The city lies in a transitional climatic zone, so its climate displays characteristics of several climates. According to the Köppen climate classification, it is a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) that borders on a semi-arid climate (BSk), with annual average precipitation of 450 millimetres (18 in) due to the Pindus rain shadow drying the westerly winds. However, the city has a summer precipitation between 20 to 30 millimetres (0.79 to 1.18 in), which borders it close to a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa).
Winters are relatively dry, with common morning frost. Snowfalls are sporadic, but οccur more or less every winter, but the snow cover does not last for more than a few days. Fog is common, with an average of 193 foggy days in a year.[117] During the coldest winters, temperatures can drop to −10 °C (14 °F).[117] The record minimum temperature in Thessaloniki was −14 °C (7 °F).[118] On average, Thessaloniki experiences frost (sub-zero temperature) 32 days a year.[117] The coldest month of the year in the city is January, with an average 24-hour temperature of 6 °C (43 °F).[119] Wind is also usual in the winter months, with December and January having an average wind speed of 26 km/h (16 mph).[117]
Thessaloniki's summers are hot with rather humid nights.[117] Maximum temperatures usually rise above 30 °C (86 °F),[117] but rarely go over 40 °C (104 °F);[117] the average number of days the temperature is above 32 °C (90 °F) is 32.[117] The maximum recorded temperature in the city was 42 °C (108 °F).[117][118] Rain seldom falls in summer, mainly during thunderstorms. In the summer months Thessaloniki also experiences strong heat waves.[120] The hottest month of the year in the city is July, with an average 24-hour temperature of 26 °C (79 °F).[119] The average wind speed for June and July in Thessaloniki is 20 kilometres per hour (12 mph)
Government
According to the Kallikratis reform, as of 1 January 2011 the Thessaloniki Urban Area (Greek: Πολεοδομικό Συγκρότημα Θεσσαλονίκης) which makes up the "City of Thessaloniki", is made up of six self-governing municipalities (Greek: Δήμοι) and one municipal unit (Greek: Δημοτική ενότητα). The municipalities that are included in the Thessaloniki Urban Area are those of Thessaloniki (the city center and largest in population size), Kalamaria, Neapoli-Sykies, Pavlos Melas, Kordelio-Evosmos, Ampelokipoi-Menemeni, and the municipal unit of Pylaia, part of the municipality of Pylaia-Chortiatis. Prior to the Kallikratis reform, the Thessaloniki Urban Area was made up of twice as many municipalities, considerably smaller in size, which created bureaucratic problems.[123]
Thessaloniki Municipality
The municipality of Thessaloniki (Greek: Δήμος Θεσαλονίκης) is the second most populous in Greece, after Athens, with a population of 322,240[1] people (in 2011) and an area of 17.832 km2 (7 sq mi). The municipality forms the core of the Thessaloniki Urban Area, with its central district (the city center), referred to as the Kentro, meaning 'center' or 'downtown'.
The institution of mayor of Thessaloniki was inaugurated under the Ottoman Empire, in 1912. The first mayor of Thessaloniki was Osman Sait Bey, while the current mayor of the municipality of Thessaloniki is Yiannis Boutaris. In 2011, the municipality of Thessaloniki had a budget of €464.33 million[124] while the budget of 2012 stands at €409.00 million.[125]
According to an article in The New York Times, the way in which the present mayor of Thessaloniki is treating the city's debt and oversized administration problems could be used as an example by Greece's central government for a successful strategy in dealing with these problems.[126]
Other
Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece. It is an influential city for the northern parts of the country and is the capital of the region of Central Macedonia and the Thessaloniki regional unit. The Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace is also based in Thessaloniki, being that the city is the de facto capital of the Greek region of Macedonia.
It is customary every year for the Prime Minister of Greece to announce his administration's policies on a number of issues, such as the economy, at the opening night of the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair. In 2010, during the first months of the 2010 Greek debt crisis, the entire cabinet of Greece met in Thessaloniki to discuss the country's future.[127]
In the Hellenic Parliament, the Thessaloniki urban area constitutes a 16-seat constituency. As of the national elections of 17 June 2012 the largest party in Thessaloniki is New Democracy with 27.8%, followed by the Coalition of the Radical Left (27.0%) and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (10.2%).[128] The table below summarizes the results of the latest elections.
Cityscape
Architecture
Architecture in Thessaloniki is the direct result of the city's position at the centre of all historical developments in the Balkans. Aside from its commercial importance, Thessaloniki was also for many centuries the military and administrative hub of the region, and beyond this the transportation link between Europe and the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel / Palestine). Merchants, traders and refugees from all over Europe settled in the city. The need for commercial and public buildings in this new era of prosperity led to the construction of large edifices in the city center. During this time, the city saw the building of banks, large hotels, theatres, warehouses, and factories. Architects who designed some of the most notable buildings of the city, in the late 19th and early 20th century, include Vitaliano Poselli, Pietro Arrigoni, Xenophon Paionidis, Eli Modiano, Moshé Jacques, Jean Joseph Pleyber, Frederic Charnot, Ernst Ziller, Roubens Max, Levi Ernst, Angelos Siagas and others, using mainly the styles of Eclecticism and Art Nouveau.
The city layout changed after 1870, when the seaside fortifications gave way to extensive piers, and many of the oldest walls of the city were demolished, including those surrounding the White Tower, which today stands as the main landmark of the city. As parts of the early Byzantine walls were demolished, this allowed the city to expand east and west along the coast.[129]
The expansion of Eleftherias Square towards the sea completed the new commercial hub of the city and at the time was considered one of the most vibrant squares of the city. As the city grew, workers moved to the western districts, due to their proximity to factories and industrial activities; while the middle and upper classes gradually moved from the city-center to the eastern suburbs, leaving mainly businesses. In 1917, a devastating fire swept through the city and burned uncontrollably for 32 hours.[71] It destroyed the city's historic center and a large part of its architectural heritage, but paved the way for modern development and allowed Thessaloniki the development of a proper European city center, featuring wider diagonal avenues and monumental squares; which the city initially lacked – much of what was considered to be 'essential' in European architecture.
City Center
After the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, a team of architects and urban planners including Thomas Mawson and Ernest Hebrard, a French architect, chose the Byzantine era as the basis of their (re)building designs for Thessaloniki's city center. The new city plan included axes, diagonal streets and monumental squares, with a street grid that would channel traffic smoothly. The plan of 1917 included provisions for future population expansions and a street and road network that would be, and still is sufficient today.[71] It contained sites for public buildings and provided for the restoration of Byzantine churches and Ottoman mosques.
The Metropolitan Church of Saint Gregory Palamas, designed by Ernst Ziller.
Today the city center of Thessaloniki includes the features designed as part of the plan and forms the point in the city where most of the public buildings, historical sites, entertainment venues and stores are located. The center is characterized by its many historical buildings, arcades, laneways and distinct architectural styles such as Art Nouveau and Art Deco, which can be seen on many of its buildings.
Also called the historic center, it is divided into several districts, of which include Ladadika (where many entertainment venues and tavernas are located), Kapani (were the city's central city market is located), Diagonios, Navarinou, Rotonta, Agia Sofia and Ippodromio (white tower), which are all located around Thessaloniki's most central point, Aristotelous Square.
The west point of the city center is home to Thessaloniki's law courts, its central international railway station and the port, while on its eastern side stands the city's two universities, the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Center, the city's main stadium, its archaeological and Byzantine museums, the new city hall and its central parklands and gardens, namely those of the ΧΑΝΘ/Palios Zoologikos Kipos and Pedio tou Areos. The central road arteries that pass through the city center, designed in the Ernest Hebrard plan, include those of Tsimiski, Egnatia, Nikis, Mitropoleos, Venizelou and St. Demetrius avenues.
Ano Poli
Ano Poli (also called Old Town and literally the Upper Town) is the heritage listed district north of Thessaloniki's city center that was not engulfed by the great fire of 1917 and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site by ministerial actions of Melina Merkouri, during the 1980s. It consists of Thessaloniki's most traditional part of the city, still featuring small stone paved streets, old squares and homes featuring old Greek and Ottoman architecture.
Ano Poli also, is the highest point in Thessaloniki and as such, is the location of the city's acropolis, its Byzantine fort, the Heptapyrgion, a large portion of the city's remaining walls, and with many of its additional Ottoman and Byzantine structures still standing. The area provides access to the Seich Sou Forest National Park[131] and features amphitheatric views of the whole city and the Thermaic Gulf. On clear days Mount Olympus, at about 100 km (62 mi) away across the gulf, can also be seen towering the horizon.
Southeastern Thessaloniki up until the 1920s was home to the city's most affluent residents and formed the outermost suburbs of the city at the time, with the area close to the Thermaic Gulf coast called Exoches, from the 19th century holiday villas which defined the area. Today southeastern Thessaloniki has in some way become a natural extension of the city center, with the avenues of Megalou Alexandrou, Georgiou Papandreou (Antheon), Vasilissis Olgas Avenue, Delfon, Konstantinou Karamanli (Nea Egnatia) and Papanastasiou passing through it, enclosing an area traditionally called Dépôt (Ντεπώ), from the name of the old tram station, owned by a French company. The area extends to Kalamaria and Pylaia, about 9 km (5.59 mi) from the White Tower in the city centre.
Some of the most notable mansions and villas of the old-era of the city remain along Vasilissis Olgas Avenue. Built for the most wealthy residents and designed by well known architects they are used today as museums, art galleries or remain as private properties. Some of them include Villa Bianca, Villa Ahmet Kapanci, Villa Modiano, Villa Mordoch, Villa Mehmet Kapanci, Hatzilazarou Mansion, Chateau Mon Bonheur (often called red tower) and others.
Most of southeastern Thessaloniki is characterized by its modern architecture and apartment buildings, home to the middle-class and more than half of the municipality of Thessaloniki population. Today this area of the city is also home to 3 of the city's main football stadiums, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, the Posidonio aquatic and athletic complex, the Naval Command post of Northern Greece and the old royal palace (called Palataki), located on the most westerly point of Karabournaki cape. The municipality of Kalamaria is also located in southeastern Thessaloniki and has become this part of the city's most sought after areas, with many open spaces and home to high end bars, cafés and entertainment venues, most notably on Plastira street, along the coast
Northwestern Thessaloniki had always been associated with industry and the working class because as the city grew during the 1920s, many workers had moved there, due to its proximity near factories and industrial activities. Today many factories and industries have been moved further out west and the area is experiencing rapid growth as does the southeast. Many factories in this area have been converted to cultural centres, while past military grounds that are being surrounded by densely built neighborhoods are awaiting transformation into parklands.
Northwest Thessaloniki forms the main entry point into the city of Thessaloniki with the avenues of Monastiriou, Lagkada and 26is Octovriou passing through it, as well as the extension of the A1 motorway, feeding into Thessaloniki's city center. The area is home to the Macedonia InterCity Bus Terminal (KTEL), the Zeitenlik Allied memorial military cemetery and to large entertainment venues of the city, such as Milos, Fix, Vilka (which are housed in converted old factories). Northwestern Thessaloniki is also home to Moni Lazariston, located in Stavroupoli, which today forms one of the most important cultural centers for the city.
Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments (UNESCO)
The church of Saint Demetrius, patron saint of the city, built in the 4th century, is said to be the largest basilica in Greece and is one of the city's most prominent Paleochristian monuments.
Panagia Chalkeon church in Thessaloniki (1028 AD); one of 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the city.
Due to Thessaloniki's importance during the early Christian and Byzantine periods, the city is host to several paleochristian monuments that have significantly contributed to the development of Byzantine art and architecture throughout the Byzantine Empire as well as Serbia.[107] The evolution of Imperial Byzantine architecture and the prosperity of Thessaloniki go hand in hand, especially during the first years of the Empire,[107] when the city continued to flourish. It was at that time that the Complex of Roman emperor Galerius was built, as well as the first church of Hagios Demetrios.[107]
By the 8th century, the city had become an important administrative center of the Byzantine Empire, and handled much of the Empire's Balkan affairs.[133] During that time, the city saw the creation of more notable Christian churches that are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as Hagia Sophia of Thessaloniki, the Church of the Acheiropoietos, the Church of Panagia Chalkeon.[107] When the Ottoman Empire took control of Thessaloniki in 1430, most of the city's churches were converted into mosques,[107] but have survived to this day. Travelers such as Paul Lucas and Abdul Mecid[disambiguation needed][107] document the city's wealth in Christian monuments during the years of the Ottoman control of the city.
The church of Hagios Demetrios was burnt down during the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, as did many other of the city's monuments, but it was rebuilt. During the Second World War, the city was extensively bombed and as such many of Thessaloniki's paleochristian and Byzantine monuments were heavily damaged.[133] Some of the sites were not restored until the 1980s. Thessaloniki has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites listed than any other city in Greece, a total of 15 monuments.[107] They have been listed since 1988.[107]
In regards to the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of Thessaloniki into Greece, during 1912, the government announced a large-scale redevelopment program for the city of Thessaloniki, which aims in addressing the current environmental and spatial problems[134] that the city faces. More specifically, the program will drastically change the physiognomy of the city[134] by relocating the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Center and grounds of the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair outside the city centre and turning the current location into a large metropolitan park,[135] redeveloping the coastal front of the city,[135] relocating the city's numerous military camps and using the grounds and facilities to create large parklands and cultural centers;[135] and the complete redevelopment of the harbor and the Lachanokipoi and Dendropotamos districts (behind and near the Port of Thessaloniki) into a commercial business district,[135] with possible highrise developments.[136]
The plan also envisions the creation of new wide avenues in the outskirts of the city[135] and the creation of pedestrian-only zones in the city center.[135] Furthermore, the program includes plans to expand the jurisdiction of Seich Sou Forest National Park[134] and the improvement of accessibility to and from the Old Town.[134] The ministry has said that the project will take an estimated 15 years to be completed, in 2025.[135]
Part of the plan has been implemented with extensive pedestrianization's within the city center by the municipality of Thessaloniki and the revitalization the eastern urban waterfront/promenade, Nea Paralia (Greek: Νέα Παραλία, literally new beach), with a modern and vibrant design. Its first section opened in 2008, having been awarded as the best public project in Greece of the last five years by the Hellenic Institute of Architecture.[137]
The municipality of Thessaloniki's budget for the reconstruction of important areas of the city and the completion of the waterfront, opened in January 2014, was estimated at around €28.2 million (US$39.9 million) for the year 2011 alone.[138]
Economy of Thessaloniki
GDP of Thessaloniki.svg
GDP of the Thessaloniki regional unit 2000–2011
Rank 2nd in Greece
Statistics
GDP €19.851 billion (PPP, 2011)[2]
GDP growth
-7.8% (2011)[2]
GDP per capita
€17,200 (PPP, 2011)[2]
Labour force
534,800 (2010)[139]
Unemployment 15.4% (2009)[140]
Thessaloniki rose to economic prominence as a major economic hub in the Balkans during the years of the Roman Empire. The Pax Romana and the city's strategic position allowed for the facilitation of trade between Rome and Byzantium (later Constantinople and now Istanbul) through Thessaloniki by means of the Via Egnatia.[141] The Via Egnatia also functioned as an important line of communication between the Roman Empire and the nations of Asia,[141] particularly in relation to the Silk Road. With the partition of the Roman Emp. into East(Byzantine) and West, Thessaloniki became the second-largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire after New Rome (Constantinople) in terms of economic might.[33][141] Under the Empire, Thessaloniki was the largest port in the Balkans.[142] As the city passed from Byzantium to the Republic of Venice in 1423, it was subsequently conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Under Ottoman rule the city retained its position as the most important trading hub in the Balkans.[63] Manufacturing, shipping and trade were the most important components of the city's economy during the Ottoman period,[63] and the majority of the city's trade at the time was controlled by ethnic Greeks.[63]
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard that was published by Charles Skilton & Fry Ltd. The card, which has a divided back, was printed in Great Britain. The photography was by Lord Lichfield, courtesy of Weidenfeld Publishers Ltd.
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was born on the 21st. August 1930. She was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II.
Margaret spent much of her childhood with her parents and sister. Her life changed at the age of six when King Edward VIII, her paternal uncle, abdicated to marry divorcée Wallis Simpson. Margaret's father became king, and her sister became heir presumptive, with Margaret second in line to the throne.
Margaret's position in the line of succession diminished over the following decades as Elizabeth's children and grandchildren were born. During the Second World War, the two sisters stayed at Windsor Castle despite suggestions that they should be evacuated to Canada. During the war years, Margaret was too young to perform official duties and continued her education, being nine years old when the war broke out and turning 15 just after hostilities ended.
From the 1950's onwards, Margaret became one of the world's most celebrated socialites, famed for her glamorous lifestyle and reputed romances. Most famously, she fell in love in the early 1950's with Peter Townsend, a married RAF officer in the royal household.
In 1952, Margaret's father died, her sister became queen, and Townsend divorced his wife. He proposed to Margaret early in the following year. Many in the government believed that he would be an unsuitable husband for the Queen's 22-year-old sister, and the Archbishop of Canterbury refused to countenance her marriage to a divorced man.
Margaret abandoned her plans with Townsend and married Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960; the Queen created him Earl of Snowdon. The couple had two children, David and Sarah, and divorced in 1978. Margaret did not remarry.
Margaret was a controversial member of the British royal family. Her divorce received much negative publicity, and her private life was for many years the subject of speculation by the media and royal watchers. Her health deteriorated in the last 20 years of her life. She was a heavy smoker for most of her adult life, and had a lung operation in 1985, a bout of pneumonia in 1993 as well as three strokes between 1998 and 2001.
Margaret died in London at the age of 71 on the 9th. February 2002, following a fourth stroke.
Princess Margaret - The Early Years
Princess Margaret was born at 9:22 p.m. on the 21st. August 1930 at Glamis Castle in Scotland, her mother's ancestral home, and was affectionately known as Margot within the royal family. She was the first member of the royal family in direct line of succession to be born in Scotland since the 1600's.
She was delivered by Sir Henry Simson, the royal obstetrician. The Home Secretary, J. R. Clynes, was present to verify the birth. The registration of her birth was delayed for several days to avoid her being numbered 13 in the parish register. Margaret was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on the 30th. October 1930 by Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
At the time of her birth, Margaret was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne. Her father was the Duke of York (later King George VI), the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. Her mother was the Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother), the youngest daughter of the 14th. Earl and the Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
The Duchess of York originally wanted to name her second daughter Ann Margaret, as she explained to Queen Mary in a letter:
"I am very anxious to call her Ann
Margaret, as I think Ann of York
sounds pretty, & Elizabeth and Ann
go so well together."
King George V disliked the name Ann but approved of the alternative, Margaret Rose.
Margaret's early life was spent primarily at the Yorks' residences at 145 Piccadilly (their town house in London) and Royal Lodge in Windsor. The Yorks were perceived by the public as an ideal family: father, mother and children, but unfounded rumours that Margaret was deaf and mute were not completely dispelled until her first main public appearance at her uncle Prince George's wedding in 1934.
Margaret was educated alongside her sister, Elizabeth, by their Scottish governess, Marion Crawford. Margaret's education was mainly supervised by her mother, who in the words of Randolph Churchill "never aimed at bringing her daughters up to be more than nicely behaved young ladies".
When Queen Mary insisted upon the importance of education, the Duchess of York commented:
"I don't know what she meant.
After all, I and my sisters only
had governesses, and we all
married well — one of us very
well".
Margaret resented her limited education, especially in later years, and criticised at her mother. However, Margaret's mother told a friend that she "regretted" that her daughters did not go to school like other children, and the employment of a governess rather than sending the girls to school may have been done only at the insistence of King George V.
J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, read stories to the sisters as children.
Margaret's grandfather, George V, died when she was five, and her uncle acceded as King Edward VIII. Less than a year later, on 11 December 1936, in the abdication crisis, he left the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American, whom neither the Church of England nor the Dominion governments would accept as queen. The Church would not recognise the marriage of a divorced woman with a living ex-husband as valid.
Edward's abdication made a reluctant Duke of York the new king, and Margaret became second in line to the throne with the title The Princess Margaret to indicate her status as a child of the sovereign. The family moved into Buckingham Palace; Margaret's room overlooked The Mall.
Margaret was a Brownie in the 1st. Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack, formed in 1937. She was also a Girl Guide and later a Sea Ranger. She served as President of Girlguiding UK from 1965 until her death in 2002.
At the outbreak of World War II, Margaret and her sister were at Birkhall, on the Balmoral Castle estate, where they stayed until Christmas 1939, enduring nights so cold that drinking water in carafes by their bedside froze. They spent Christmas at Sandringham House before moving to Windsor Castle for much of the remainder of the war.
Viscount Hailsham wrote to Prime Minister Winston Churchill to advise the evacuation of the princesses to the greater safety of Canada, to which their mother famously replied:
"The children won't go without me.
I won't leave without the King.
And the King will never leave."
At Windsor, the princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas in aid of the Queen's Wool Fund, which bought yarn to knit into military garments. In 1940, Margaret sat next to Elizabeth during their radio broadcast for the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from cities. Margaret spoke at the end by wishing all the children goodnight.
Unlike other members of the royal family, Margaret was not expected to undertake any public or official duties during the war. She developed her skills at singing and playing the piano, often tunes from stage musicals. Her contemporaries thought she was spoiled by her parents, especially her father, who allowed her to take liberties not usually permissible, such as being allowed to stay up to dinner at the age of 13.
Crawford despaired at the attention Margaret was getting, writing to friends:
"Could you this year only ask
Princess Elizabeth to your party?
Princess Margaret does draw all
the attention, and Princess
Elizabeth lets her do that."
Elizabeth, however, did not mind this, and commented:
"Oh, it's so much easier when
Margaret's there — everybody
laughs at what Margaret says".
King George described Elizabeth as his pride and Margaret as his joy.
Princess Margaret and the Post-War Years
At the end of the war in 1945, Margaret appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace with her family and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Afterwards, both Elizabeth and Margaret joined the crowds outside the palace, incognito, chanting:
"We want the King, we want the Queen!"
On the 15th. April 1946, Margaret was confirmed into the Church of England. On the 1st. February 1947, she, Elizabeth and their parents embarked on a state tour of Southern Africa. The three-month-long visit was Margaret's first visit abroad, and she later claimed that she remembered "every minute of it".
Margaret's chaperone was Peter Townsend, the King's equerry, and very firm toward Margaret, whom he apparently considered an indulged child. Later that year, Margaret was a bridesmaid at Elizabeth's wedding. In the next three years, Elizabeth had two children, Charles and Anne, whose births moved Margaret further down the line of succession.
In 1950, the former royal governess, Marion Crawford, published an unauthorized biography of Elizabeth's and Margaret's childhood years, titled The Little Princesses, in which she described Margaret's "light-hearted fun and frolics" and her "amusing and outrageous antics".
The Margaret Set
Around the time of Princess Elizabeth's wedding in November 1947, the press started to follow the social life of "unconventional" Margaret and her reputation for vivacity and wit. As a beautiful young woman, with an 18-inch waist and "vivid blue eyes", Margaret enjoyed socialising with high society and young aristocrats, including Sharman Douglas, the daughter of the American ambassador, Lewis Williams Douglas.
A celebrated beauty known for her glamour and fashion sense, Margaret was often featured in the press at balls, parties, and nightclubs with friends who became known as the "Margaret Set". The number of her official engagements increased, and she joined a growing number of charitable organisations as president or patron.
Favoured haunts of the Margaret Set were The 400 Club, the Café de Paris and the Mirabelle restaurant. Anticipation of an engagement or romance between Margaret and a member of her set were often reported. In 1948, international news grew that her engagement to "Sunny", the Marquess of Blandford, would be announced on her 18th. birthday.
Similar speculation moved to the Hon. Peter Ward, then Billy Wallace and others. The set also mixed with celebrities, including Danny Kaye, whom she met after watching him perform at the London Palladium in February 1948. He was soon accepted by the royal social circle.
In July 1949, at a fancy dress ball at the American Ambassador's residence, Margaret performed the can-can on stage, accompanied by Douglas and ten other costumed girls. A press commotion ensued, with Kaye denying he had taught Margaret the dance. Press interest could be intrusive. During a private visit to Paris in 1951, Margaret and Prince Nicholas of Yugoslavia were followed into a nightclub by a paparazzo who took photographs of them until British detectives physically removed him from the club.
In 1952, although Margaret attended parties and debutante balls with friends such as Douglas and Mark Bonham Carter, the set were seen infrequently together. They regrouped in time for Coronation season social functions. In May 1953, Margaret met singer Eddie Fisher when he performed at the Red, White and Blue Ball.
She asked him to her table and he was "invited to all sorts of parties". Margaret fell out with him in 1957, but years later, Fisher still claimed the night he was introduced to her was the greatest thrill of his lifetime. In June 1954, the Set performed the Edgar Wallace play 'The Frog' at the Scala Theatre. It was organized by Margaret's by now best girlfriend Judy Montagu with Margaret as Assistant Director.
The play drew praise for raising £10,500 for charity, but was also criticised for incompetent performances. By the mid 1950's, although still seen at fashionable nightspots and theatre premieres, the set was depleted by its members getting married. As Margaret reached her late twenties unmarried, the press increasingly turned from predicting whom she might marry to suspecting she would remain a spinster.
'Romances' and the Press (1947–1959)
The press avidly discussed "the world's most eligible bachelor-girl" and her alleged romances with more than 30 bachelors, including David Mountbatten and Michael I of Romania, Dominic Elliot, Colin Tennant (later Baron Glenconner), Prince Henry of Hesse-Kassel, and future Prime Minister of Canada John Turner.
Most had titles and almost all were wealthy. Blandford and Lord Dalkeith, both wealthy sons of dukes, were the likeliest potential husbands. Her family reportedly hoped that Margaret would marry Dalkeith, but, unlike him, the princess was uninterested in the outdoors. Billy Wallace, sole heir to a £2.8 million (£78 million today) fortune and an old friend, was reportedly Margaret's favourite date during the mid-1950's.
During her 21st. birthday party at Balmoral in August 1951, the press was disappointed to only photograph Margaret with Townsend, always in the background of pictures of royal appearances, and to her parents a safe companion as Elizabeth's duties increased.
The following month her father underwent surgery for lung cancer, and Margaret was appointed one of the Counsellors of State who undertook the King's official duties while he was incapacitated. Her father died five months later, on the 6th. February 1952, and her sister became Queen.
Romance with Peter Townsend
-- The Early Relationship
During the war, the King suggested choosing palace aides who were highly qualified men from the military, instead of only aristocrats. Told that a handsome war hero had arrived, the princesses met Townsend, the new equerry, on his first day at Buckingham Palace in 1944; Elizabeth reportedly told her sister, 13 years old, "Bad luck, he's married".
A temporary assignment of three months from the RAF became permanent. George VI and the Queen Mother were fond of Townsend; the king reportedly saw the calm and efficient combat veteran as the son he never had. He may have been aware of his daughter's infatuation with the non-titled and non-wealthy Townsend, reportedly seeing the courtier reluctantly obey the princess's order to carry her up palace stairs after a party.
Townsend was so often near Margaret that gossip columnists overlooked him as a suitor for the princess. When their relationship began is unclear. The princess told friends she fell in love with the equerry during the 1947 South Africa tour, where they often went riding together. Her biographer Craig Brown stated that, according to a National Trust curator, Townsend requested the bedroom next to hers during a trip to Belfast in October 1947.
In November 1948, they attended the inauguration of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. In later life, Townsend admitted at this point there was an attraction between them, but neither of them ever acknowledged it to one another. Not long after he discovered his wife Rosemary was involved in an extramarital affair, which ended.
Contemporary anecdotes about their closeness then dissipated until late 1950, when friendship seems to have rekindled, coinciding with Townsend's appointment as Deputy Master of the Household and the breakdown of his marriage.
From the spring of 1951 came several testimonies of a growing romantic attraction. A footman told how the King diverted the pair's picnic plans, adding that whatever the King and Queen knew about the developing relationship, few royal staff failed to notice as it was obvious to them.
Townsend said that his love for Margaret began in Balmoral in 1951, and recalled an incident there in August when the princess woke him from a nap after a picnic lunch while the King watched, to suggest the King knew. Townsend and his wife separated in 1951, which was noticed by the press by July.
Margaret was grief-stricken by her father's death and was prescribed sedatives to help her sleep. Of her father she wrote:
"He was such a wonderful person,
the very heart and centre of our
happy family."
Margaret was consoled by her deeply-held Christian beliefs, sometimes attending church twice daily. She re-emerged attending events with her family in April, and returned to public duties and the social scene when official mourning ended in June.
American newspapers noted her increasing vitality and speculated that she must be in love. With the widowed Queen Mother, Margaret moved out of Buckingham Palace and into Clarence House in May 1953, while her older sister, now Queen, and her family moved out of Clarence House and into Buckingham Palace. After the king's death, Townsend was appointed Comptroller of Margaret's mother's restructured household.
In June 1952, the estranged Townsends hosted Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret at a cocktail party at their home. A month later, Rosemary Townsend and her new partner John de László attended judging at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. It is thought that the romance between Margaret and Townsend began around this time.
The first reports that Townsend and Margaret wished to marry began in August 1952, but these remained uncommon. The Townsend divorce in November was mentioned little in Britain and in greater detail abroad. After the divorce was finalized in December 1952, however, rumours spread about him and Margaret; the divorce, and shared grief over the death of the king in February 1952, likely helped them come together within the privacy of Clarence House, where the princess had her own apartment.
-- The Marriage Proposal
Private Secretary to the Queen Sir Alan Lascelles wrote that Townsend came to tell him that he had asked Margaret to marry him shortly before Christmas 1952. Other sources claim it occurred in April 1953. He was 15 years her senior, and had two children from his previous marriage. Margaret accepted and informed her sister, the Queen, whose consent was required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772.
During the abdication crisis, the Church of England refused to countenance the remarriage of the divorced.
Queen Mary had recently died, and, after the coronation of Elizabeth II, the new queen planned to tour the Commonwealth for six months. She told her sister:
"Under the circumstances, it isn't
unreasonable for me to ask you
to wait a year."
Although foreign media speculated on Margaret and Townsend's relationship, the British press did not. After reporters saw her plucking fluff from his coat during the coronation on the 2nd. June 1953. Townsend later said:
"I never thought a thing about it,
and neither did Margaret. After
that the storm broke."
The People first mentioned the relationship in Britain on the 14th. June 1953. With the headline "They Must Deny it NOW", the front-page article warned that "scandalous rumours about Princess Margaret are racing around the world", which the newspaper stated were "of course, utterly untrue".
The foreign press believed that the Regency Act 1953—which made Prince Philip, the Queen's husband, regent instead of Margaret on the Queen's death—was enacted to allow the princess to marry Townsend, but as late as the 23rd. July most other British newspapers except the Daily Mirror did not discuss the rumours. Acting Prime Minister Rab Butler asked that "deplorable speculation" end, without mentioning Margaret or Townsend.
The constitutional crisis that the proposed marriage caused was public. The Queen was advised by Lascelles to post Townsend abroad, but she refused, and instead transferred him from the Queen Mother's household to her own, although Townsend did not accompany Margaret as planned on a tour of Southern Rhodesia.
Prime Minister Churchill personally approved of "a lovely young royal lady married to a gallant young airman" but his wife reminded Churchill that he had made the same mistake during the abdication crisis. His cabinet refused to approve the marriage, and Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, did not approve of Margaret marrying a divorced man; opponents said that the marriage would threaten the monarchy as Edward VIII's had.
The Church of England Newspaper said that:
"Margaret is a dutiful churchwoman
who knows what strong views leaders
of the church hold in this matter."
However the Sunday Express—which had supported Edward and Wallis—asked:
"IF THEY WANT TO MARRY,
WHY SHOULDN'T THEY?"
Churchill discussed the marriage at the 1953 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference held with the coronation; the Statute of Westminster 1931 requires Dominion parliaments to also approve any Bill of Renunciation changing the line of succession.
The Canadian government stated that altering the line twice in 25 years would harm the monarchy. Churchill informed the Queen that both his cabinet and Dominion prime ministers were against the marriage, and that Parliament would not approve a marriage that would be unrecognized by the Church of England unless Margaret renounced her rights to the throne.
Prince Philip was reportedly the most opposed to Townsend in the royal family, while Margaret's mother and sister wanted her to be happy, but could not approve of the marriage. Besides Townsend's divorce, two major problems were financial and constitutional.
Margaret did not possess her sister's large fortune, and would need the £6,000 annual civil list allowance and £15,000 additional allowance Parliament had provided for her upon a suitable marriage. She did not object to being removed from the line of succession to the throne, as the Queen and all her children dying was unlikely, but receiving parliamentary approval for the marriage would be difficult and uncertain.
At the age of 25 Margaret would not need Elizabeth's permission under the 1772 Act; she could, after notifying the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, marry in one year if Parliament did not prevent her. If Churchill told the Queen, however, one could easily leave the line of succession, another could easily enter the line, dangerous for a hereditary monarchy.
The Queen told the couple to wait until 1955, when Margaret would be 25, avoiding the Queen having to publicly disapprove of her sister's marriage. Lascelles—who compared Townsend to Theudas "boasting himself to be somebody"—hoped that separating him and Margaret would end their romance.
Churchill arranged for Townsend's assignment as air attaché at the British Embassy in Brussels; he was sent on the 15th. July 1953, before Margaret's return from Rhodesia on the 30th. July. The assignment was so sudden that the British ambassador learned about it from a newspaper. Although the princess and Townsend knew about his new job, they had reportedly been promised a few days together before his departure.
-- Press Coverage
For two years, press speculation continued. In Brussels, Townsend only said that "The word must come from somebody else". He avoided parties and being seen with women. With few duties (the sinecure was abolished after him), Townsend improved his French and horsemanship. He joined a Belgian show jumping club and rode in races around Europe.
Margaret was told by the Church that she would be unable to receive communion if she married a divorced man. Three quarters of Sunday Express readers opposed the relationship, and Mass-Observation recorded criticism of the "silly little fool" as a poor example for young women who emulated her. Other newspaper polls showed popular support for Margaret's personal choice, regardless of Church teaching or government.
97% of Daily Mirror readers supported marriage, and a Daily Express editorial stated that even if the Archbishop of Canterbury was displeased:
"She would best please the vast
majority of ordinary folk by finding
happiness for herself".
The couple were not restricted on communicating by mail and telephone. Margaret worked with friends on charity productions of Lord and Lady Algy and The Frog, and publicly dated men such as Tennant and Wallace. In January 1955, she made the first of many trips to the Caribbean, perhaps to distract, and as a reward for being apart, from Townsend.
The attaché secretly travelled to Britain; while the palace was aware of one visit, he reportedly made other trips for nights and weekends with the princess at Clarence House—her apartment had its own front door—and friends' homes.
That spring Townsend for the first time spoke to the press:
"I am sick of being made to hide in
my apartment like a thief, but whether
I can marry involves more people than
myself".
He reportedly believed that his exile from Margaret would soon end, their love was strong, and that the British people would support marrying. Townsend received a bodyguard and police guard around his apartment after the Belgian government received threats on his life, but the British government still said nothing.
Stating that people were more interested in the couple than the recent 1955 United Kingdom general election, on the 29th. May the Daily Express published an editorial demanding that Buckingham Palace confirm or deny the rumours.
The press described Margaret's 25th. birthday, the 21st. August 1955, as the day she was free to marry, and expected an announcement about Townsend soon. Three hundred journalists waited outside Balmoral, four times as many as those later following Diana, Princess of Wales. "COME ON MARGARET!", the Daily Mirror's front page said two days earlier, asking her to "Please Make up Your Mind!".
On the 12th. October Townsend returned from Brussels as Margaret's suitor. The royal family devised a system in which it did not host Townsend, but he and Margaret formally courted each other at dinner parties hosted by friends such as Mark Bonham Carter. A Gallup poll found that 59% of Britons approved of their marrying, with 17% opposed.
Women in the East End of London shouted "Go on, Marg, do what you want" at the princess. Although the couple were never seen together in public during this time, the general consensus was that they would marry. Crowds waited outside Clarence House, and a global audience read daily updates and rumours on newspaper front pages.
The Manchester Guardian said on the 15th. October:
"Nothing much else than Princess
Margaret's affairs is being talked
of in this country, Now the Nation
Waits."
Observers interpreted Buckingham Palace's request to the press to respect Margaret's privacy—the first time the palace discussed the princess's recent personal life—as evidence of an imminent betrothal announcement,
As no announcement occurred—the Daily Mirror on the 17th. October showed a photograph of Margaret's left hand with the headline "NO RING YET!"—the press wondered why. The News Chronicle wrote:
"Parliamentarians are frankly puzzled
by the way the affair has been handled.
If a marriage is on, why not announce it
quickly?
If there is to be no marriage, why allow
the couple to continue to meet without
a clear denial of the rumours?"
Why a betrothal did not occur is still unclear. Margaret may have been uncertain of her desire, having written to Prime Minister Anthony Eden in August that:
"It is only by seeing him in this way
that I feel I can properly decide
whether I can marry him or not".
Margaret may have told Townsend as early as the 12th. October that governmental and familial opposition to their marriage had not changed; it is possible that neither they nor the Queen fully understood until that year how difficult the 1772 Act made a royal marriage without the monarch's permission.
An influential 26th. October editorial in The Times stating that "The Queen's sister married to a divorced man (even though the innocent party) would be irrevocably disqualified from playing her part in the essential royal function" represented The Establishment's view of what it considered a possibly dangerous crisis.
It convinced many, who had believed that the media were exaggerating, that the princess really might defy the Church and royal standards. Leslie Weatherhead, President of the Methodist Conference, now criticized the proposed marriage.
Townsend recalled that:
"We felt mute and numbed at
the centre of this maelstrom."
The Queen also wanted the media circus to end. Townsend only had his RAF income and, other than a talent for writing, had no experience in other work. He wrote in his autobiography that:
"The princess could have married
me only if she had been prepared
to give up everything -- her position,
her prestige, her privy purse.
I simply hadn't the weight, I knew it,
to counterbalance all she would have
lost"
Kenneth Rose described Margaret's potential marriage as "life in a cottage on a Group Captain's salary".
Royal historian Hugo Vickers wrote that:
"Lascelles's separation plan
had worked, and the love
between them had died".
Margaret's authorized biographer Christopher Warwick said that:
"Having spent two years apart, they
were no longer as in love as they had
been. Townsend was not the love of
her life – the love of her life was her
father, King George VI, whom she
adored".
More than 100 journalists waited at Balmoral when Eden arrived to discuss the marriage with the Queen and Margaret on the 1st. October 1955. Lord Kilmuir, the Lord Chancellor, that month prepared a secret government document on the proposed marriage.
According to a 1958 biography of Townsend by Norman Barrymaine and other accounts, Eden said that his government would oppose in Parliament Margaret retaining her royal status. Parliament might pass resolutions opposing the marriage, which the people would see as a disagreement between government and monarchy; Lord Salisbury, a High Anglican, might resign from the government rather than help pass a Bill of Renunciation.
While the government could not prevent the marriage when Margaret become a private individual after a Bill of Renunciation, she would no longer be a Counsellor of State, and would lose her civil list allowance; otherwise, taxpayers would subsidise a divorced man and the princess's new stepsons. The Church would consider any children from the marriage to be illegitimate. Eden recommended that, like Edward VIII and Wallis, Margaret and Townsend leave Great Britain for several years.
Papers released in 2004 to the National Archives disagree. They show that the Queen and Eden (who had been divorced and remarried himself) planned to amend the 1772 Act. Margaret would have been able to marry Townsend by removing her and any children from the marriage from the line of succession, and thus the Queen's permission would no longer be necessary. Margaret would be allowed to keep her royal title and her allowance, stay in the country, and even continue with her public duties.
Eden described the Queen's attitude in a letter on the subject to the Commonwealth prime ministers as:
"Her Majesty would not wish to stand
in the way of her sister's happiness".
Eden himself was sympathetic. He wrote:
"Exclusion from the Succession would
not entail any other change in Princess
Margaret's position as a member of the
Royal Family."
In the 28th. October 1955 final draft of the plan, Margaret would announce that she would marry Townsend and leave the line of succession. As prearranged by Eden, the Queen would consult with the British and Commonwealth governments, and then ask them to amend the 1772 Act. Eden would have told Parliament that it was "out of harmony with modern conditions"; Kilmuir estimated that 75% of Britons would approve of allowing the marriage.
He advised Eden that the 1772 Act was flawed, and might not apply to Margaret anyway. The decision not to marry was made on the 24th. October, and for the following week, Margaret was in disputes about the release and wording of her statement, which was released on the 31st.
It is unverified what or when she was told about proposals, drafted on the 28th., four days after the decision was made. By the early 1980's she was still protesting to biographers that the couple had been given false hope that marriage was possible, and she would have ended the relationship sooner had she been informed otherwise.
The Daily Mirror on the 28th. October discussed The Times's editorial with the headline "THIS CRUEL PLAN MUST BE EXPOSED". Although Margaret and Townsend had read the editorial the newspaper denounced as from "a dusty world and a forgotten age", they had earlier made their decision and written an announcement.
-- The End of the Relationship
On the 31st. October 1955, Margaret issued a statement:
"I would like it to be known that I have decided
not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend.
I have been aware that, subject to my renouncing
my rights of succession, it might have been possible
for me to contract a civil marriage.
But mindful of the Church's teachings that Christian
marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty
to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these
considerations before others.
I have reached this decision entirely alone, and in
doing so I have been strengthened by the unfailing
support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend."
"Thoroughly drained, thoroughly demoralized", Margaret later said, she and Townsend wrote the statement together. She refused when Oliver Dawnay, the Queen Mother's private secretary, asked to remove the word "devotion". The written statement, signed "Margaret", was the first official confirmation of the relationship.
Some Britons were disbelieving or angry while others, including clergy, were proud of the princess for choosing duty and faith; newspapers were evenly divided on the decision. Mass-Observation recorded indifference or criticism of the couple among men, but great interest among women, whether for or against.
Kenneth Tynan, John Minton, Ronald Searle, and others signed an open letter from "the younger generation". Published in the Daily Express on 4 November, the letter said that the end of the relationship had exposed The Establishment and "our national hypocrisy".
Townsend recalled that:
"We had reached the end of the road, our
feelings for one another were unchanged,
but they had incurred for us a burden so
great that we decided together to lay it
down".
The Associated Press said:
"Margaret's statement is almost a
rededication of her life to the duties
of royalty, making unlikely any
marriage for her in the near future,"
The princess may have expected to never marry after the long relationship ended, because most of her eligible male friends were no longer bachelors.
Barrymaine agreed that Margaret intended the statement to mean that she would never marry, but wrote that Townsend probably did not accept any such vow to him by the princess, and his subsequent departure from Britain for two years was to not interfere with her life.
Townsend said:
"We both had a feeling of unimaginable
relief. We were liberated at last from this
monstrous problem."
After resigning from the RAF and travelling around the world for 18 months, Townsend returned in March 1958; he and Margaret met several times, but could not avoid the press ("TOGETHER AGAIN") or royal disapproval. Townsend again left Britain to write a book about his trip; Barrymaine concluded in 1958 that:
"None of the fundamental obstacles to
their marriage has been overcome – or
shows any prospects of being overcome".
Townsend said during a 1970 book tour that he and Margaret did not correspond, and they had not seen each other since a "friendly" 1958 meeting:
"Just like I think a lot of people
never see their old girl friends".
Their love letters are in the Royal Archives, and will not be available to the public until 100 years after Margaret's birth, February 2030. These are unlikely to include Margaret's letters. In 1959, she wrote to Townsend in response to him informing her of his remarriage plans, accusing him of betraying their vow not to marry anyone else, and requesting her love letters to him be destroyed.
He claimed he had complied with her wishes, but kept this letter and an envelope of burned shards of the vow she had sent, eventually destroying these also. He was apparently unaware Margaret had already broken the pact by her engagement to Billy Wallace, as it wasn't revealed until many years later.
In October 1993, a friend of Margaret revealed she had met Townsend for what turned out to be the last time before his death in 1995. She hadn't wanted to attend the reunion they'd both been invited to, in 1992, for fear it might be picked up by the press, so she asked to see him privately instead.
Margaret said that he looked "exactly the same, except he had grey hair". Guests said he hadn't really changed, and that they just sat chatting like old friends. They also found him disgruntled and had convinced himself that in agreeing to part, he and Margaret had set a noble example which seemed to have been in vain.
Marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones
Billy Wallace later said that:
"The thing with Townsend was a girlish
nonsense that got out of hand. It was
never the big thing on her part that
people claim".
Margaret accepted one of Wallace's many proposals to marry in 1956, but the engagement ended before an official announcement when he admitted to a romance in the Bahamas; "I had my chance and blew it with my big mouth", Wallace said.
Margaret did not reveal this publicly until an interview and subsequent biography with Nigel Dempster in 1977.
Margaret met the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at a supper party in 1958. They became engaged in October 1959. Armstrong-Jones proposed to Margaret with a ruby engagement ring surrounded by diamonds in the shape of a rosebud. She reportedly accepted his proposal a day after learning from Townsend that he intended to marry a young Belgian woman, Marie-Luce Jamagne, who was half his age and greatly resembled Margaret.
Margaret's announcement of her engagement, on the 26th. February 1960, surprised the press, as she had concealed the romance from reporters.
Margaret married Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey on the 6th. May 1960. The ceremony was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television, and it attracted viewing figures of 300 million worldwide. 2,000 guests were invited for the wedding ceremony.
Margaret's wedding dress was designed by Norman Hartnell and worn with the Poltimore tiara. She had eight young bridesmaids, led by her niece, Princess Anne. The Duke of Edinburgh escorted the bride, and the best man was Dr. Roger Gilliatt. The Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher conducted the marriage service.
Following the ceremony, the couple made the traditional appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The honeymoon was a six-week Caribbean cruise aboard the royal yacht Britannia. As a wedding present, Colin Tennant gave her a plot of land on his private Caribbean island, Mustique. The newlyweds moved into rooms in Kensington Palace.
In 1961, Margaret's husband was created the Earl of Snowdon. The couple had two children (both born by Caesarean section at Margaret's request): David, born 3rd. November 1961, and Sarah, born 1st. May 1964.
The marriage widened Margaret's social circle beyond the Court and aristocracy to include show business celebrities and bohemians. At the time, it was thought to reflect the breaking down of British class barriers. The Snowdons experimented with the styles and fashions of the 1960's.
Separation and Divorce
Both parties in the marriage regularly committed adultery. Antony had a series of affairs, including with long-term mistress, Ann Hills, and Lady Jacqueline Rufus-Isaacs, daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Reading. Anne De Courcy’s 2008 biography summarises the situation with a quote from a close friend: "If it moves, he'll have it."
Reportedly, Margaret had her first extramarital affair in 1966, with her daughter's godfather Anthony Barton, a Bordeaux wine producer. A year later she had a one-month liaison with Robin Douglas-Home, a nephew of former British Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home.
Margaret claimed that her relationship with Douglas-Home was platonic, but her letters to him (which were later sold) were intimate. Douglas-Home, who suffered from depression, died by suicide 18 months after the split with Margaret.
Claims that she was romantically involved with musician Mick Jagger, actor Peter Sellers, and Australian cricketer Keith Miller are unproven. According to biographer Charlotte Breese, entertainer Leslie Hutchinson had a "brief liaison" with Margaret in 1955.
A 2009 biography of actor David Niven included assertions, based on information from Niven's widow and a good friend of Niven's, that he had had an affair with the princess, who was 20 years his junior. In 1975, the Princess was listed among women with whom actor Warren Beatty had had romantic relationships.
John Bindon, an actor from Fulham, who had spent time in prison, sold his story to the Daily Mirror, boasting of a close relationship with Margaret.
Beyond adultery, the marriage was accompanied by drugs, alcohol, and bizarre behaviour by both parties, such as his leaving lists of "things I hate about you" for the princess to find between the pages of books she read.
According to biographer Sarah Bradford, one note read:
"You look like a Jewish
manicurist and I hate you".
By the early 1970's, the Snowdons had drifted apart. In September 1973, Colin Tennant introduced Margaret to Roddy Llewellyn. Llewellyn was 17 years her junior. In 1974, she invited him as a guest to Les Jolies Eaux, the holiday home she had built on Mustique. It was the first of several visits.
Margaret described their relationship as "a loving friendship". Once, when Llewellyn left on an impulsive trip to Turkey, Margaret became emotionally distraught and took an overdose of sleeping tablets. She later said:
"I was so exhausted because
of everything that all I wanted
to do was sleep".
As she recovered, her ladies-in-waiting kept Lord Snowdon away from her, afraid that seeing him would distress her further.
In February 1976, a picture of Margaret and Llewellyn in swimsuits on Mustique was published on the front page of the News of the World. The press portrayed Margaret as a predatory older woman and Llewellyn as her toyboy lover. On the 19th. March 1976, the Snowdons publicly acknowledged that their marriage had irretrievably broken down and had decided to separate.
Some politicians suggested removing Margaret from the civil list. Labour MPs denounced her as "a royal parasite" and a "floozie". On the 24th. May 1978, the decree nisi for their divorce was granted. In the same month, Margaret was taken ill, and diagnosed as suffering from gastroenteritis and alcoholic hepatitis, although Warwick denied that she was ever an alcoholic.
On the 11th. July 1978, the Snowdons' divorce was finalized. It was the first divorce of a senior member of the British royal family since Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh's in 1901. On the 15th. December 1978, Snowdon married Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, but he and Margaret remained close friends.
In 1981, Llewellyn married Tatiana Soskin, whom he had known for 10 years. Margaret remained close friends with them both.
Princess Margaret's Public Life
Among Margaret's first official engagements was launching the ocean liner Edinburgh Castle in Belfast in 1947. Subsequently, Margaret went on multiple tours of various places; in her first major tour she joined her parents and sister for a tour of South Africa in 1947. Her tour aboard Britannia to the British colonies in the Caribbean in 1955 created a sensation throughout the West Indies, and calypsos were dedicated to her.
As colonies of the British Commonwealth of Nations sought nationhood, Princess Margaret represented the Crown at independence ceremonies in Jamaica in 1962 and Tuvalu and Dominica in 1978. Her visit to Tuvalu was cut short by an illness, which may have been viral pneumonia, and she was flown to Australia to recuperate.
Other overseas tours included East Africa and Mauritius in 1956, the United States in 1965, Japan in 1969 and 1979, the United States and Canada in 1974, Australia in 1975, the Philippines in 1980, Swaziland in 1981, and China in 1987.
In August 1979, Louis Mountbatten, 1st. Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and members of his family were killed by a bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. That October, while on a fundraising tour of the United States on behalf of the Royal Opera House, Margaret was seated at a dinner reception in Chicago with columnist Abra Anderson and Mayor Jane Byrne.
Margaret told them that the royal family had been moved by the many letters of condolence from Ireland. The following day, Anderson's rival Irv Kupcinet published a claim that Margaret had referred to the Irish as "pigs". Margaret, Anderson and Byrne all issued immediate denials, but the damage was already done. The rest of the tour drew demonstrations, and Margaret's security was doubled in the face of physical threats.
Princess Margaret's Charity Work
Margaret's main interests were welfare charities, music and ballet. She was president of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and of the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (Children 1st.) and Invalid Children's Aid Nationwide (also called 'I CAN').
She was Grand President of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and Colonel-in-Chief of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. She was also the president or patron of numerous organisations, such as the West Indies Olympic Association, the Girl Guides, Northern Ballet Theatre, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Tenovus Cancer Care, the Royal College of Nursing, and the London Lighthouse (an AIDS charity that has since merged with the Terrence Higgins Trust).
In her capacity as president of the Royal Ballet, she played a key role in launching a fund for Dame Margot Fonteyn, who was experiencing financial troubles. With the help of the Children's Royal Variety Performance, she also organized yearly fundraisers for NSPCC.
Princess Margaret's Illness and Death
Margaret's later life was marred by illness and disability. She began smoking cigarettes in her early teens, and had continued to smoke heavily for many years thereafter. In the 1970s, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was treated for depression by Mark Collins, a psychiatrist from the Priory Clinic. Later on, she suffered from migraines, laryngitis, and bronchitis. On the 5th. January 1985, she had part of her left lung removed; the operation drew parallels with that of her father 34 years earlier. In 1991, she gave up smoking, though she continued to drink heavily.
In January 1993, Margaret was admitted to hospital for pneumonia. She experienced a mild stroke on the 23rd. February 1998 at her holiday home in Mustique. Early the following year, she suffered severe scalds to her feet in a bathroom accident, which affected her mobility in that she required support when walking and sometimes used a wheelchair.
Margaret was hospitalized on the 10th. January 2001, due to loss of appetite and swallowing problems after a further stroke. By March 2001, strokes had left her with partial vision and paralysis on the left side. Margaret's last public appearances were at the 101st. birthday celebrations of her mother in August 2001, and the 100th. birthday celebration of her aunt Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, that December.
Princess Margaret died in the King Edward VII's Hospital, London, at 06:30 (GMT) on the 9th. February 2002, at the age of 71, one day after having suffered another stroke that was followed by cardiac problems, and three days after the 50th. anniversary of her father's death.
Her sister's eldest son, Charles, then Prince of Wales, paid tribute to his aunt in a television broadcast. UK politicians and foreign leaders sent their condolences as well. Following her death, private memorial services were held at St. Mary Magdalene Church and Glamis Castle.
Margaret's coffin, draped in her personal standard, was taken from Kensington Palace to St. James's Palace before her funeral. The funeral was held on the 15th. February 2002, the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral. In line with her wishes, the ceremony was a private service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, for family and friends.
Unlike most other members of the royal family, Princess Margaret was cremated, at Slough Crematorium. Her ashes were placed in the Royal Vault in St. George's Chapel before being transferred to the tomb of her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (who died seven weeks after Margaret), in the King George VI Memorial Chapel two months later.
A state memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey on the 19th. April 2002. Another memorial service to mark the 10th. anniversary of Margaret and the Queen Mother's death was held on the 30th. March 2012 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, which was attended by the Queen and other members of the royal family.
The Legacy of Princess Margaret
Observers often characterized Margaret as a spoiled snob capable of cutting remarks and hauteur. Critics claimed that she even looked down on her grandmother Queen Mary because Mary was born a princess with the lower "Serene Highness" style, whereas Margaret was a "Royal Highness" by birth. Their letters, however, provide no indication of friction between them.
Margaret could also be charming and informal. People who came into contact with her could be perplexed by her swings between frivolity and formality. Former governess Marion Crawford wrote in her memoir:
"Impulsive and bright remarks she
made became headlines and, taken
out of their context, began to produce
in the public eye an oddly distorted
personality that bore little resemblance
to the Margaret we knew."
Margaret's acquaintance Gore Vidal, the American writer, wrote: "She was far too intelligent for her station in life". He recalled a conversation with Margaret in which, discussing her public notoriety, she said:
"It was inevitable, when there are
two sisters and one is the Queen,
who must be the source of honour
and all that is good, while the other
must be the focus of the most
creative malice, the evil sister".
As a child, Margaret enjoyed pony shows, but unlike other family members she did not express interest in hunting, shooting, and fishing in adulthood. She became interested in ballet from a very young age, and enjoyed participating in amateur plays. She directed one such play, titled The Frogs, with her aristocratic friends as cast members.
Actors and movie stars were among the regular visitors to her residence at Kensington Palace. In January 1981, she was the castaway in an episode of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. There she chose Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake as her favourite piece of music. In 1984, she appeared as herself in an episode of the radio drama The Archers, becoming the first member of the royal family to take part in a BBC drama.
Princess Margaret's private life was for many years the subject of intense speculation by media and royalty watchers. Her house on Mustique, designed by her husband's uncle Oliver Messel, a stage designer, was her favourite holiday destination. Allegations of wild parties and drug taking also surfaced in the media.
Following Margaret's death, her lady-in-waiting, Lady Glenconner, said that Margaret was devoted to the Queen and tremendously supportive of her. Margaret was described by her cousin Lady Elizabeth Shakerley as:
"Somebody who had a wonderful
capacity for giving a lot of people
pleasure, and she was making a
very, very, very good and loyal
friend".
Another cousin, Lord Lichfield, said that:
"Margaret was pretty sad towards
the end of her life because it was
a life unfulfilled".
The Independent wrote in Townsend's 1995 obituary that:
"The immense display of popular sentiment and interest
in the relationship can now be seen to have constituted
a watershed in the nation's attitude towards divorce".
The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church received much of the popular anger toward the end of the relationship. Randolph Churchill believed that rumours that Fisher had intervened to prevent the Princess from marrying Townsend has done incalculable harm to the Church of England.
A Gallup poll found that 28% agreed, and 59% disagreed, with the Church's refusal to remarry a divorced person while the other spouse was alive. Biographer Warwick suggests that Margaret's most enduring legacy is an accidental one. Perhaps unwittingly, Margaret paved the way for public acceptance of royal divorce. Her life, if not her actions, made the decisions and choices of her sister's children, three of whom divorced, easier than they otherwise would have been.
Eden reportedly told the Queen in Balmoral when discussing Margaret and Townsend that, regardless of outcome, the monarchy would be damaged. Harold Brooks-Baker said
"In my opinion, this was the turning point to
disaster for the royal family. After Princess
Margaret was denied marriage, it backfired
and more or less ruined Margaret's life.
The Queen decided that from then on,
anyone that someone in her family wanted
to marry would be more or less acceptable.
The royal family and the public now feel
that they've gone too far in the other direction".
Princess Margaret's Fashion and Style
During her lifetime, Princess Margaret was considered a fashion icon. Her fashion earned the nickname 'The Margaret Look'. The princess, dubbed a 'royal rebel' styled herself in contrast to her sister's prim and timeless style, adopting trendy mod accessories, such as brightly coloured headscarves and glamorous sunglasses.
Margaret developed a close relationship with atelier Christian Dior, wearing his designs throughout her life and becoming one of his most prominent customers. In 1950, he designed a cream gown worn for her 21st. birthday, which has been cited as an iconic part of fashion history. Throughout the decade, the princess was known for wearing floral-print dresses, bold-hued ballgowns and luxurious fabrics, accessorising with diamonds, pearls, and fur stoles.
British Vogue wrote that Margaret's style 'hit her stride' in the mid-60's, where she was photographed alongside celebrities like The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren. Princess Margaret was also known for her "magnificent" hats and headdresses, including a canary feather hat worn on a 1962 Jamaica visit and a peacock feather pillbox hat to the 1973 Royal Ascot.
Marie Claire stated that the princess "refused to compromise" on her style later in life, continuing with trends of big sleeves and strapless evening gowns.
In April 2007, an exhibition titled Princess Line – The Fashion Legacy of Princess Margaret opened at Kensington Palace, showcasing contemporary fashion from British designers such as Vivienne Westwood inspired by Princess Margaret's legacy of style. Christopher Bailey's Spring 2006 collection for Burberry was inspired by Margaret's look from the 1960's.
Princess Margaret's Finances
In her lifetime, Margaret's fortune was estimated to be around £20 million, with most of it being inherited from her father. She also inherited pieces of art and antiques from Queen Mary, and Dame Margaret Greville left her £20,000 in 1943.
In 1999, her son, Lord Linley, sold his mother's Caribbean residence Les Jolies Eaux for a reported £2.4 million. At the time of her death Margaret received £219,000 from the Civil List. Following her death, she left a £7.6 million estate to her two children, which was cut down to £4.5 million after inheritance tax.
In June 2006, much of Margaret's estate was auctioned by Christie's to meet the tax and, in her son's words, "normal family requirements such as educating her grandchildren", though some of the items were sold in aid of charities such as the Stroke Association.
Reportedly, the Queen had made it clear that the proceeds from any item that was given to her sister in an official capacity must be donated to charities.
A world record price of £1.24 million was set by a Fabergé clock. The Poltimore Tiara (shown in the above photograph), which Margaret wore for her wedding in 1960, sold for £926,400. The sale of her effects totalled £13,658,000.
The Poltimore Tiara
You know the photograph: Princess Margaret lying in a bath and wearing nothing but a tiara on her head. The photograph taken by her husband, famed photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, was not released to the public until 2006, four years after Margaret's death.
As flirtatious as it is shameless, the photograph consolidated her status as the eternal rebel of the British Royal House. Margaret once said about herself:
"Disobedience is my fun."
Eleven years later, the portrait was withdrawn from the public eye, but the image remains ingrained in the minds of the world, to such an extent that The Crown included a scene about it in the third season.
Despite the fact that much of what was so shocking about the image had to do with the fact that it was taken in a bath, it acquired iconic status due to the presence of the tiara: grand, resplendent and downright stunning.
The tiara has a lot of history. Known as the Poltimore tiara, it originally belonged to Lady Poltimore, the wife of the 2nd. Baron Poltimore. Made in 1870 by London's House of Garrard, it is the epitome of Victorian-era jewellery style: diamond scrolls evoking flora and nature.
Lady Poltimore wore this fantastic creation, whose support is made up of gold and silver, at the coronation of King George V in 1911. The family put it up for auction in January 1959, and it was then that Princess Margaret acquired it for £5,500.
Despite having access to the crown jewels (the Duchess of Cambridge, for example, wears tiaras borrowed from the Queen), the then-29-year-old princess wanted something she could call uniquely hers.
Sara Prentice, Creative Director of the House of Garrard, says:
“It's very modern. It is becoming more and
more common for women to buy for themselves,
but looking back to 1959, the truth is that she
chose it for herself. She had to charm him to
do it."
A year and a half later, on the 6th. May 1960, Princess Margaret wore her tiara on the most important of occasions: her wedding to Antony Armstrong-Jones. The tiara has been part of history ever since. It is the tiara most associated with Princess Margaret.
Margaret's wedding was the tiara's most high-profile outing. In 1977 she wore it again for the Shah of Iran's state visit to the United Kingdom.
While no tiara can be considered functional, the design of the Poltimore tiara allowed for multiple uses. It could be transformed into a necklace (which Margaret did in 1960) or, if she wanted to, into 11 different brooches.
The tiara appears to be practically floating when worn. This is because the bracket is entwined with a brown ribbon that matched Margaret 's hair color. Thus, only the ribbon-covered portion sank into her hair, while her spectacular jewellery remained fully in view.
Prentice estimates that such a piece would take around six months to make.
Since the Christie's sale of the Poltimore, the tiara's current whereabouts are unknown.
The Postcard
A Valentine's Series postcard with photography by Lafayette of Dublin. The date of posting is not legible, but it was posted prior to the 3rd. June 1918, because the card only bears a half-penny stamp, and on the 3rd. June 1918, the UK inland postal rate for postcards was raised to one penny in order to help pay for the Great War.
The card was posted to:
Mr. E. King,
83, Winchelsea Road,
Tottenham,
London N.W.
The pencilled message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear Dad,
I hope you got back
alright on Sunday night.
I have been to school
today.
Aunt Mabel has not
been up today.
I went on the pond this
afternoon.
I wish you were with me.
Love from Violet & Mum.
xx"
Madame Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was born Henriette-Rosine Bernard on the 22nd. or 23rd. October 1844. The exact date is not known.
Sarah was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th. and early 20th. centuries, including 'La Dame Aux Camelias' by Alexandre Dumas, 'Ruy Blas' by Victor Hugo; 'Fédora' and 'La Tosca' by Victorien Sardou; and 'L'Aiglon' by Edmond Rostand.
Sarah also played male roles, including Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.
Rostand called her "The Queen of the Pose and the Princess of the Gesture", while Hugo praised her "Golden Voice".
Sarah made several theatrical tours around the world, and was one of the first prominent actresses to make sound recordings and to act in motion pictures.
Sarah Bernhardt - The Early Years
Henriette-Rosine Bernard was born at 5 Rue de L'École-de-Médecine in the Latin Quarter of Paris. She was the illegitimate daughter of Judith Bernard, a Dutch-Jewish courtesan with a wealthy clientele.
The name of Sarah's father is not recorded. Bernhardt later wrote that her father's family paid for her education, insisted she be baptised as a Catholic, and left a large sum to be paid when she came of age. Her mother travelled frequently, and saw little of her daughter. She placed Sarah with a nurse in Brittany, then in a cottage in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.
When Sarah was seven, her mother sent her to a boarding school for young ladies in the Paris suburb of Auteuil, paid with funds from her father's family. There, she acted in her first theatrical performance in the play 'Clothilde', where she held the role of the Queen of the Fairies, and performed the first of many dramatic death scenes.
While she was at the boarding school, Sarah's mother rose to the top ranks of Parisian courtesans, consorting with politicians, bankers, generals, and writers. Her patrons and friends included Charles, Duke of Morny, the half-brother of Emperor Napoleon III and President of the French legislature.
At the age of 10, with the sponsorship of Morny, Bernhardt was admitted to Grandchamp, an exclusive Augustine convent school near Versailles. At the convent, she performed the part of the Archangel Raphael in 'Tobias and the Angel'.
Sarah declared her intention to become a nun, but did not always follow convent rules; she was accused of sacrilege when she arranged a Christian burial, with a procession and ceremony, for her pet lizard.
She received her first communion as a Roman Catholic in 1856, and thereafter she was fervently religious. However, she never forgot her Jewish heritage. When asked years later by a reporter if she were a Christian, she replied:
"No, I'm a Roman Catholic, and a
member of the great Jewish race.
I'm waiting until Christians become
better."
Sarah accepted the last rites shortly before her death.
In 1859, Bernhardt learned that her father had died overseas. Her mother summoned a family council, including Morny, to decide what to do with her. Morny proposed that Bernhardt should become an actress, an idea that horrified Sarah, as she had never been inside a theatre.
Morny arranged for her to attend her first theatre performance at the Comédie Française in a party which included her mother, Morny, and his friend Alexandre Dumas Père. The play they attended was 'Brittanicus', by Jean Racine, followed by the classical comedy 'Amphitryon' by Plautus.
Bernhardt was so moved by the emotion of the play, she began to sob loudly, disturbing the rest of the audience. Morny and others in their party were angry with her and left, but Dumas comforted her, and later told Morny that he believed that she was destined for the stage. After the performance, Dumas called her "My little star".
Sarah Bernhardt and the Paris Conservatory
Morny used his influence with the composer Daniel Auber, the head of the Paris Conservatory, to arrange for Bernhardt to audition. She began preparing, as she described it in her memoirs:
"With that vivid exaggeration with
which I embrace any new enterprise."
Dumas coached her. The jury comprised Auber and five leading actors and actresses from the Comédie Française. Sarah was supposed to recite verses from Racine, but no one had told her that she needed someone to give her cues as she recited.
Sarah told the jury she would instead recite the fable of the Two Pigeons by La Fontaine. The jurors were sceptical, but the fervour and pathos of her recitation won them over, and she was invited to become a student.
Bernhardt studied acting at the Conservatory from January 1860 until 1862 under two prominent actors of the Comédie Française, Joseph-Isidore Samson and Jean-Baptiste Provost. She wrote in her memoirs that Provost taught her diction and grand gestures, while Samson taught her the power of simplicity.
For the stage, Sarah changed her name from 'Bernard' to 'Bernhardt'. While studying, she also received her first marriage proposal, from a wealthy businessman who offered her 500 thousand francs. He wept when she refused. Bernhardt later wrote:
"I was confused, sorry, and delighted -
because he loved me the way people
love in plays at the theatre".
Before the first examination for her tragedy class, she tried to straighten her abundance of frizzy hair, which made it even more uncontrollable, and came down with a bad cold, which made her voice so nasal that she hardly recognized it.
Furthermore, the parts assigned for her performance were classical and required carefully stylized emotions, while she preferred romanticism and fully and naturally expressing her emotions. The teachers ranked her 14th. in tragedy, and 2nd. in comedy.
Sarah Bernhardt and The Théâtre Français
Once again, Morny came to her rescue. He put in a good word for her with the National Minister of the Arts, Camille Doucet. Doucet recommended her to Edouard Thierry, the chief administrator of the Théâtre Français, who offered Bernhardt a place as a pensionnaire at the theatre, at a minimum salary.
Bernhardt made her debut with the company on the 31st. August 1862 in the title role of Racine's 'Iphigénie'. Her premiere was not a success. She experienced stage fright and rushed her lines. Furthermore some audience members made fun of her thin figure.
When the performance ended, Provost was waiting in the wings, and she asked his forgiveness. He told her:
"I can forgive you, and you'll
eventually forgive yourself,
but Racine in his grave never
will."
Francisque Sarcey, the influential theatre critic of 'L'Opinion Nationale' and 'Le Temps', wrote:
'She carries herself well and pronounces
with perfect precision. That is all that can
be said about her at the moment.'
Bernhardt did not remain long with the Comédie-Française. She played Henrietta in Molière's 'Les Femmes Savantes' and Hippolyte in 'L'Étourdi', and the title role in Scribe's 'Valérie', but did not impress the critics, or the other members of the company, who had resented her rapid rise.
The weeks passed, but she was given no further roles. Her hot temper also got her into trouble; when a theatre doorkeeper addressed her as "Little Bernhardt", she broke her umbrella over his head. She apologised profusely, and when the doorkeeper retired 20 years later, she bought him a cottage in Normandy.
At a ceremony honouring the birthday of Molière on the 15th. January 1863, Bernhardt invited her younger sister, Regina, to accompany her. Regina accidentally stood on the train of the gown of a leading actress of the company, Zaire-Nathalie Martel (1816–1885). Madame Nathalie pushed Regina off the gown, causing her to strike a stone column and gash her forehead.
Regina and Madame Nathalie began shouting at one another, and Bernhardt stepped forward and slapped Madame Nathalie on the cheek. The older actress fell onto another actor. Thierry asked that Bernhardt apologise to Madame Nathalie. Bernhardt refused to do so until Madame Nathalie apologised to Regina.
Bernhardt had already been scheduled for a new role with the theatre, and had begun rehearsals. Madame Nathalie demanded that Bernhardt be dropped from the role unless she apologised. Since neither would yield, and Madame Nathalie was the more senior member of the company, Thierry was forced to ask Bernhardt to leave.
The Gymnase and Brussels (1864–1866)
Sarah's family could not understand her departure from the theatre; it was inconceivable to them that anyone would walk away from the most prestigious theatre in Paris at the age of 18.
Instead, Sarah went to a popular theatre, the Gymnase, where she became an understudy to two of the leading actresses. She almost immediately caused another offstage scandal, when she was invited to recite poetry at a reception at the Tuileries Palace hosted by Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie, along with other actors from the Gymnase.
Sarah chose to recite two romantic poems by Victor Hugo, unaware that Hugo was a bitter critic of the Emperor. Following the first poem, the Emperor and Empress rose and walked out, followed by the court and all the other guests.
Her next role at the Gymnase, as a foolish Russian princess, was entirely unsuited for her; her mother told her that her performance was "ridiculous". She decided abruptly to quit the theatre to travel, and like her mother, to take on lovers. She went briefly to Spain, then, at the suggestion of Alexandre Dumas, to Belgium.
Sarah carried to Brussels letters of introduction from Dumas, and was admitted to the highest levels of society. She attended a masked ball in Brussels where she met the Belgian aristocrat Henri, Prince de Ligne, and had an affair with him. However the affair was cut short when she learned that her mother had suffered a heart attack. She returned to Paris, where she found that her mother was better, but that she herself was pregnant from her affair with the Prince.
She did not notify the Prince. Her mother did not want the fatherless child born under her roof, so Sarah moved to a small apartment on Rue Duphot, and on the 22nd. December 1864, the 20-year-old actress gave birth to her only child, Maurice Bernhardt.
Sarah never discussed Maurice's parentage with anyone. When asked who his father was, she sometimes answered:
"I could never make up my mind
whether his father was Gambetta,
Victor Hugo, or General Boulanger."
Many years later, in January 1885, when Bernhardt was famous, the Prince came to Paris and offered to formally recognise Maurice as his son, but Maurice politely declined, explaining he was entirely satisfied to be the son of Sarah Bernhardt.
Sarah Bernhardt and the Théâtre de l'Odéon (1866–1872)
To support herself after the birth of Maurice, Bernhardt played minor roles and understudies at the Porte-Saint-Martin, a popular melodrama theatre.
In early 1866, she obtained a reading with Felix Duquesnel, director of the Théâtre de L’Odéon on the Left Bank. Duquesnel described the reading years later, saying:
"I had before me a creature who
was marvellously gifted, intelligent
to the point of genius, with enormous
energy under an appearance frail and
delicate, and a savage will."
The co-director of the theatre, Charles de Chilly, wanted to reject Sarah as unreliable and too thin, but Duquesnel was enchanted; he hired her for the theatre at a modest salary of 150 francs a month, which he paid out of his own pocket.
The Odéon was second in prestige only to the Comédie Française, and unlike that very traditional theatre, specialised in more modern productions. The Odéon was popular with the students of the Left Bank.
Sarah's first performances at the Odéon were not successful. She was cast in highly stylised and frivolous 18th.-century comedies, whereas her strong point on stage was her complete sincerity.
Sarah's thin figure also made her look ridiculous in the ornate costumes. Dumas, her strongest supporter, commented after one performance:
"She has the head of a virgin
and the body of a broomstick."
Soon, however, with different plays and more experience, her performances improved; Sarah was praised for her performance of Cordelia in 'King Lear'. In June 1867, she played two roles in 'Athalie' by Jean Racine: the part of a young woman and a young boy, Zacharie, the first of many male parts she played in her career. The influential critic Sarcey wrote
'She charmed her audience
like a little Orpheus.'
Sarah's breakthrough performance was in the 1868 revival of 'Kean' by Alexandre Dumas, in which she played the female lead part of Anna Danby. The play was interrupted in the beginning by disturbances in the audience by young spectators who called out:
"Down with Dumas!
Give us Hugo!"
Bernhardt addressed the audience directly:
"Friends, you wish to defend the
cause of justice. Are you doing it
by making Monsieur Dumas
responsible for the banishment of
Monsieur Hugo?"
With this, the audience laughed and applauded, and then fell silent. At the final curtain, she received an enormous ovation, and Dumas hurried backstage to congratulate her. When she exited the theatre, a crowd had gathered at the stage door and tossed flowers at her. Her salary was immediately raised to 250 francs a month.
Sarah's next success was her performance in François Coppée's 'Le Passant', which premiered at the Odéon on the 14th. January 1868, playing the part of the boy troubadour, Zanetto, in a romantic renaissance tale. Critic Theophile Gautier described the 'delicate and tender charm' of her performance.
'Le Passant' played for 150 performances, plus a command performance at the Tuileries Palace for Napoleon III and his court. Afterwards, the Emperor sent her a brooch with his initials written in diamonds.
In her memoirs, Sarah wrote of her time at the Odéon:
"It was the theatre that I loved the most,
and that I only left with regret. We all
loved each other. Everyone was gay.
The theatre was a like a continuation of
school. All the young came there...
I remember my few months at the
Comédie Française. That little world was
stiff, gossipy, jealous.
I remember my few months at the Gymnase.
There they talked only about dresses and
hats, and chattered about a hundred things
that had nothing to do with art.
At the Odéon, I was happy. We thought only
of putting on plays. We rehearsed mornings,
afternoons, all the time. I adored that."
Bernhardt lived with her longtime friend and assistant Madame Guerard and her son in a small cottage in the suburb of Auteuil, and drove herself to the theatre in a small carriage. She developed a close friendship with the writer George Sand, and performed in two plays that she had written.
Sarah received celebrities in her dressing room, including Gustave Flaubert and Leon Gambetta. In 1869, as she became more prosperous, she moved to a larger seven-room apartment at 16 Rue Auber in the centre of Paris. Her mother began to visit her for the first time in years, and her Orthodox Jewish grandmother moved into the apartment to take care of Maurice.
Bernhardt added a maid and a cook to her household, as well as the beginning of a collection of animals; she had one or two dogs with her at all times, and two turtles moved freely around the apartment.
In 1868, a fire completely destroyed Sarah's apartment, along with all of her belongings. She had neglected to purchase insurance. The brooch presented to her by the Emperor and her pearls melted, as did the tiara presented by one of her lovers, Khalid Bey. She found the diamonds in the ashes.
The managers of the Odéon organized a benefit performance for Sarah. The most famous soprano of the time, Adelina Patti, performed for free. In addition, the grandmother of her father donated 120,000 francs. Bernhardt was able to buy an even larger residence, with two salons and a large dining room, at 4 Rue de Rome.
Sarah Bernhardt's Wartime service at the Odéon (1870–1871)
The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War abruptly interrupted Sarah's theatrical career. The news of the defeat of the French Army, the surrender of Napoleon III at Sedan, and the proclamation of the Third French Republic on the 4th. September 1870 was followed by a siege of the city of Paris by the Prussian Army.
Paris was cut off from news and from its food supply, and the theatres were closed. Bernhardt took charge of converting the Odéon into a hospital for soldiers wounded in the battles outside the city. She organized the placement of 32 beds in the lobby and in the foyers, brought in her personal chef to prepare soup for the patients, and persuaded her wealthy friends and admirers to donate supplies to the hospital.
Besides organising the hospital, Sarah worked as a nurse, assisting the chief surgeon with amputations and operations. When the coal supply of the city ran out, Bernhardt used old scenery, benches, and stage props for fuel to heat the theatre. In early January 1871, after 16 weeks of siege, the Germans began to bombard the city with long-range artillery. The patients had to be moved to the cellar, and before long, the hospital was forced to close.
Bernhardt arranged for serious cases to be transferred to another military hospital, and she rented an apartment on Rue de Provence to house the remaining 20 patients. By the end of the siege, Bernhardt's hospital had cared for more than 150 wounded soldiers, including a young undergraduate from the École Polytechnique, Ferdinand Foch, who later commanded the Allied armies in the First World War.
The French government signed an armistice on the 19th. January 1871, and Bernhardt learned that her son and family had been moved to Hamburg. She went to the new chief executive of the French Republic, Adolphe Thiers, and obtained a pass to go to Germany to bring them back.
When she returned to Paris several weeks later, the city was under the rule of the Paris Commune. She moved again, taking her family to Saint-Germain-en-Laye. She later returned to her apartment on the Rue de Rome in May, after the Commune was defeated by the French Army.
The Tuileries Palace, the City Hall of Paris, and many other public buildings had been burned by the Commune or damaged in the fighting, but the Odéon was still intact.
Charles-Marie Chilly, the co-director of the Odéon, came to her apartment, where Bernhardt received him reclining on a sofa. He announced that the theatre would re-open in October 1871, and he asked her to play the lead in a new play, 'Jean-Marie' by André Theuriet. Bernhardt replied that she was finished with the theatre, and was going to move to Brittany in order to start a farm.
Chilly, who knew Bernhardt's moods well, told her that he understood and accepted her decision, and would give the role to Jane Essler, a rival actress. According to Chilly, Bernhardt immediately jumped up from the sofa and asked:
"When are the rehearsals beginning?"
'Jean-Marie', featuring a young Breton woman forced by her father to marry an old man she did not love, was another critical and popular success for Bernhardt. The critic Sarcey wrote:
'She has the sovereign grace, the
penetrating charm, the I don't
know what. She is a natural artist,
an incomparable artist.'
The directors of the Odéon next decided to stage 'Ruy Blas', a play written by Victor Hugo in 1838, with Bernhardt playing the role of the Queen of Spain. Hugo himself attended all the rehearsals. At first, Bernhardt pretended to be indifferent to him, but he gradually won her over, and she became a fervent admirer.
The play premiered on the 16th. January 1872. The opening night was attended by the Prince of Wales and by Hugo himself; after the performance, Hugo approached Bernhardt, dropped to one knee, and kissed her hand. After the 100th. performance of 'Ruy Blas', Hugo gave a dinner for Bernhardt and her friends, toasting:
"My adorable Queen
and her Golden Voice."
'Ruy Blas' played to packed houses. A few months after it opened, Bernhardt received an invitation from Emile Perrin, Director of the Comédie Française, asking if she would return, and offering her 12,000 francs a year, compared with less than 10,000 at the Odéon. Bernhardt asked Chilly if he would match the offer, but he refused.
Always pressed by her growing expenses and growing household to earn more money, she announced her departure from the Odéon when she finished the run of 'Ruy Blas'. Chilly responded with a lawsuit, and she was forced to pay 6,000 francs in damages.
Sarah Bernhardt and the Comédie Française
Sarah returned to the Comédie Française on the 1st. October 1872, and quickly took on some of the most famous and demanding roles in French theatre. She played Junie in 'Britannicus' by Jean Racine, the male role of Cherubin in 'The Marriage of Figaro' by Pierre Beaumarchais, and the lead in Voltaire's five-act tragedy 'Zaïre'.
In 1873, with just 74 hours to learn the lines and practise the part, Sarah played the lead in Racine's 'Phédre', playing opposite the celebrated tragedian, Jean Mounet-Sully, who soon became her lover. The leading French critic Sarcey wrote:
'This is nature itself served by marvellous
intelligence, by a soul of fire, by the most
melodious voice that ever enchanted
human ears. This woman plays with her
heart, with her entrails.'
Phédre became her most famous classical role, performed over the years around the world, often for audiences who knew little or no French; she made them understand by her voice and gestures.
In 1877, Sarah had another success as Dona Sol in 'Hernani', a tragedy written 47 years earlier by Victor Hugo. Her lover in the play was her lover off-stage, as well, Mounet-Sully. Hugo himself was in the audience. The next day, he sent her a note:
"Madame, you were great and charming;
you moved me, me the old warrior, and,
at a certain moment when the public,
touched and enchanted by you, applauded,
I wept. The tear which you caused me to
shed is yours. I place it at your feet."
The note was accompanied by a tear-shaped pearl on a gold bracelet.
Sarah maintained a highly theatrical lifestyle in her house on the Rue de Rome. She kept a satin-lined coffin in her bedroom, and occasionally slept in it, or lay in it to study her roles, though, contrary to popular belief, she never took it with her on her travels.
Sarah cared for her younger sister who was ill with tuberculosis, and allowed her to sleep in her own bed, while she slept in the coffin. She posed in it for photographs, adding to the legends she created about herself.
Bernhardt repaired her old relationships with the other members of the Comédie Française; she participated in a benefit for Madame Nathalie, the actress she had once slapped. However, she was frequently in conflict with Perrin, the director of the theater.
In 1878, during the Paris Universal Exposition, she took a flight over Paris with balloonist Pierre Giffard, in a balloon decorated with the name of her current character, Dona Sol. However, an unexpected storm carried the balloon far outside of Paris to a small town.
When she returned by train to the city, Perrin was furious; he fined Bernhardt a thousand francs, citing a theatre rule which required actors to request permission before they left Paris. Bernhardt refused to pay, and threatened to resign from the Comédie. Perrin recognised that he could not afford to let her go. Perrin and the Minister of Fine Arts arranged a compromise; she withdrew her resignation, and in return was raised to a Societaire, the highest rank of the theatre.
Triumph in London and Departure from the Comédie Française (1879–1880)
Bernhardt was earning a substantial amount at the theatre, but her expenses were even greater. By this time she had eight servants, and she built her first house, an imposing mansion on rue Fortuny, not far from the Parc Monceau. She looked for additional ways to earn money.
In June 1879, while the theatre of the Comédie Française in Paris was being remodelled, Perrin took the company on tour to London. Shortly before the tour began, a British theatre impresario named Edward Jarrett travelled to Paris and proposed that she give private performances in the homes of wealthy Londoners; the fee she would receive for each performance was greater than her monthly salary with the Comédie.
When Perrin read in the press about the private performances, he was furious. Furthermore, the Gaiety Theatre in London demanded that Bernhardt star in the opening performance, contrary to the traditions of Comédie Française, where roles were assigned by seniority, and the idea of stardom was scorned.
When Perrin protested, saying that Bernhardt was only 10th. or 11th. in seniority, the Gaiety manager threatened to cancel the performance; Perrin had to give in. He scheduled Bernhardt to perform one act of 'Phèdre' on the opening night, between two traditional French comedies, 'Le Misanthrope' and 'Les Précieuses'.
On the 4th. June 1879, just before the opening curtain of her premiere in 'Phèdre', she suffered an attack of stage fright. She wrote later that she also pitched her voice too high, and was unable to lower it. Nonetheless, the performance was a triumph. Though most of the audience could not understand Racine's classical French, she captivated them with her voice and gestures; one member of the audience, Sir George Arthur, wrote that:
"She set every nerve and fibre in
their bodies throbbing, and held
them spellbound."
In addition to her performances of 'Zaire', 'Phèdre', 'Hernani', and other plays with her troupe, she gave the private recitals in the homes of British aristocrats arranged by Jarrett, who also arranged an exhibition of her sculptures and paintings in Piccadilly. This was attended by both the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister Gladstone.
While in London, Sarah added to her personal menagerie of animals by buying three dogs, a parrot, and a monkey. She also made a side trip to Liverpool, where she purchased a cheetah, a parrot, and a wolfhound, as well as receiving a gift of six chameleons, which she kept in her rented house on Chester Square, before taking them all back to Paris.
Having returned to Paris, Sarah was increasingly discontented with Perrin and the management of the Comédie Française. He insisted that she perform the lead in a new play, 'L'Aventurière' by Emile Augier, a play which she thought was mediocre. When she rehearsed the play without enthusiasm, and frequently forgot her lines, she was criticised by the playwright.
She responded:
"I know I'm bad, but not
as bad as your lines."
The play went ahead, but was a failure. She wrote immediately to Perrin:
"You forced me to play when I
was not ready... what I foresaw
came to pass... this is my first
failure at the Comédie and my
last."
Sarah sent a resignation letter to Perrin, made copies, and sent them to all the major newspapers. Perrin sued her for breach of contract; the court ordered her to pay 100,000 francs, plus interest, and she lost her accrued pension of 43,000 francs. She did not settle the debt until 1900.
Later, however, when the Comédie Française theatre was nearly destroyed by fire, she allowed her old troupe to use her own theatre.
'La Dame aux Camélias' and the first American tour (1880–1881)
In April 1880, as soon as he learned Bernhardt had resigned from the Comédie Française, the impresario Edward Jarrett hurried to Paris and proposed that she make a theatrical tour of England and then the United States. She could select her repertoire and the cast. She would receive 5,000 francs per performance, plus 15% of any earnings over 150,000 francs, plus all of her expenses, plus an account in her name for 100,000 francs, the amount she owed to the Comédie Française. Sarah accepted immediately.
Now on her own, Bernhardt first assembled and tried out her new troupe at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Lyrique in Paris. She performed for the first time 'La Dame aux Camélias', by Alexandre Dumas. She did not create the role; the play had first been performed by Eugénie Dochein in 1852, but it quickly became Sarah's most performed and most famous role. She eventually played the role more than a thousand times, and acted regularly and successfully in it until the end of her life. Audiences were often in tears during her famous death scene at the end.
Sarah could not perform 'La Dame aux Camélias' on a London stage because of British censorship laws; instead, she put on four of her proven successes, including 'Hernani' and 'Phèdre', plus four new roles, including 'Adrienne Lecouvreur' by Eugène Scribe and the drawing-room comedy 'Frou-Frou' by Meilhac-Halévy, both of which were highly successful in London.
In six of the eight plays in her repertoire, Sarah died dramatically in the final act. When she returned to Paris from London, the Comédie Française asked her to come back, but she refused their offer, explaining that she was making far more money on her own. Instead, she took her new company and new plays on tour to Brussels and Copenhagen, and then on a tour of French provincial cities.
Sarah and her troupe departed from Le Havre for America on the 15th. October 1880, arriving in New York on the 27th. October. On the 8th. November, she performed Scribe's 'Adrienne Lecouvreur' at Booth's Theatre before an audience which had paid a top price of $40 for a ticket, an enormous sum at the time.
Few in the audience understood French, but it was not necessary; her gestures and voice captivated the audience, and she received a thunderous ovation. She thanked the audience with her distinctive curtain call; she did not bow, but stood perfectly still, with her hands clasped under her chin, or with her palms on her cheeks, and then suddenly stretched them out to the audience.
After her first performance in New York, she made 27 curtain calls. However, although she was welcomed by theatre-goers, she was entirely ignored by New York high society, who considered her personal life scandalous.
Bernhardt's first American tour carried her to 157 performances in 51 cities. She travelled on a special train with her own luxurious palace car, which carried her two maids, two cooks, a waiter, her maitre d'hôtel, and her personal assistant, Madame Guérard. It also carried an actor named Édouard Angelo whom she had selected to serve as her leading man, and, according to most accounts, her lover during the tour.
From New York, Sarah made a side trip to Menlo Park, where she met Thomas Edison, who made a brief recording of her reciting a verse from Phèdre, which has not survived. She crisscrossed the United States and Canada from Montreal and Toronto to Saint Louis and New Orleans, usually performing each evening, and departing immediately after the performance.
Sarah gave countless press interviews, and in Boston posed for photos on the back of a dead whale. She was condemned as immoral by the Bishop of Montreal and by the Methodist press, which only increased ticket sales.
Sarah performed 'Phèdre' six times and 'La Dame aux Camélias' 65 times (which Jarrett had renamed 'Camille' to make it easier for Americans to pronounce, despite the fact that no character in the play has that name).
On the 3rd. May 1881, Sarah gave her final performance of 'La Dame aux Camélias' in New York. Throughout her life, she always insisted on being paid in cash. When Bernhardt returned to France, she brought with her a chest filled with $194,000 in gold coins. She described the result of her trip to her friends:
"I crossed the oceans, carrying my
dream of art in myself, and the genius
of my nation triumphed.
I planted the French verb in the heart
of a foreign literature, and it is that of
which I am most proud."
Return to Paris, European tour, Fédora to Theodora (1881–1886)
No crowd greeted Bernhardt when she returned to Paris on the 5th. May 1881, and theatre managers offered no new roles; the Paris press ignored her tour, and much of the Paris theatre world resented her leaving the most prestigious national theatre to earn a fortune abroad.
When no new plays or offers appeared, she went to London for a successful three-week run at the Gaiety Theatre. This London tour included the first British performance of 'La Dame aux Camelias' at the Shaftesbury Theatre; her friend, the Prince of Wales, had persuaded Queen Victoria to authorise the performance. Many years later, Sarah gave a private performance of the play for the Queen while she was on holiday in Nice.
When she returned to Paris, Bernhardt contrived to make a surprise performance at the annual 14th. July patriotic spectacle at the Paris Opera, which was attended by the President of France, and a houseful of dignitaries and celebrities.
Sarah recited the Marseillaise, dressed in a white robe with a tricolor banner, and at the end dramatically waved the French flag. The audience gave her a standing ovation, showered her with flowers, and demanded that she recite the song two more times.
With her place in the French theatre world restored, Bernhardt negotiated a contract to perform at the Vaudeville Theatre in Paris for 1,500 francs per performance, as well as 25 percent of the net profit. She also announced that she would not be available to begin until 1882.
She departed on a tour of theatres in the French provinces, and then on to Italy, Greece, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Austria, and Russia. In Kiev and Odessa, she encountered anti-Semitic crowds who threw stones at her; pogroms were being conducted, forcing the Jewish population to leave.
However, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, she performed before Czar Alexander III, who broke court protocol and bowed to her. During her tour, she also gave performances for King Alfonso XII of Spain, and the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.
The only European country where she refused to play was Germany, due to the German annexation of French territory after the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War.
When she returned to Paris, she was offered a new role in 'Fédora', a melodrama written for her by Victorien Sardou. It opened on the 12th. December 1882, with her husband Damala as the male lead. The play received good reviews. Critic Maurice Baring wrote:
'A secret atmosphere emanated from her,
an aroma, an attraction, which was at once
exotic and cerebral. She literally hypnotised
her audience.'
Another journalist wrote,
'She is incomparable ... The extreme love,
the extreme agony, the extreme suffering.'
However, the abrupt end of her marriage shortly after the premiere put her back into financial distress. She had leased and refurbished a theatre, the 'Ambigu', specifically to give her husband Damala leading roles, and made her 18-year-old son Maurice, who had no business experience, the manager.
'Fédora' ran for just 50 performances and lost 400,000 francs. She was forced to give up the Ambigu, and then, in February 1883, to sell her jewellery, her carriages, and her horses at an auction.
When Damala left, she took on a new leading man and lover, the poet and playwright Jean Richepin, who accompanied her on a quick tour of European cities to help pay off her debts. She renewed her relationship with the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII.
When they returned to Paris, Bernhardt leased the theatre of Porte-Saint-Martin and starred in a new play by Richepin, 'Nana-Sahib', a costume drama about love in British India in 1857. The play and Richepin's acting were poor, and it quickly closed. Richepin then wrote an adaptation of 'Macbeth' in French, with Bernhardt as Lady Macbeth, but it was also a failure.
The only person who praised the play was Oscar Wilde, who was then living in Paris. He began writing a play, 'Salomé', in French, especially for Bernhardt, though it was quickly banned by British censors, and Sarah never performed it.
Bernhardt then performed a new play by Sardou, 'Theodora' (1884), a melodrama set in sixth-century Byzantium. Sardou wrote a non-historic but dramatic new death scene for Bernhardt; in his version, the empress was publicly strangled, whereas the historical empress died of cancer.
Bernhardt travelled to Ravenna, Italy, to study and sketch the costumes seen in Byzantine mosaic murals, and had them reproduced for her own costumes. The play opened on the 26th. December 1884 and ran for 300 performances in Paris, and 100 in London, and was a financial success.
Sarah was able to pay off most of her debts, and bought a lion cub, which she named Justinian, for her home menagerie. She also renewed her love affair with her former lead actor, Philippe Garnier.
World tours (1886–1892)
Theodora was followed by two failures. In 1885, in homage to Victor Hugo, who had died a few months earlier, she staged one of his older plays, 'Marion Delorme', written in 1831, but the play was outdated, and her role did not give her a chance to show her talents. She next put on 'Hamlet', with Philippe Garnier in the leading role and Bernhardt in the relatively minor role of Ophelia. The critics and audiences were not impressed, and the play was unsuccessful.
Bernhardt had built up large expenses, which included a 10,000 francs a month allowance paid to her son Maurice, a passionate gambler. Bernhardt was forced to sell her chalet in Sainte-Addresse and her mansion on Rue Fortuny, and part of her collection of animals.
Her impresario, Edouard Jarrett, immediately proposed she make another world tour, this time to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Panama, Cuba, and Mexico, then on to Texas, New York, England, Ireland, and Scotland.
Sarah was on tour for 15 months, from early 1886 until late 1887. On the eve of departure, she told a French reporter:
"I passionately love this life of adventures.
I detest knowing in advance what they are
going to serve at my dinner, and I detest a
hundred thousand times more knowing
what will happen to me, for better or worse.
I adore the unexpected."
In every city she visited, she was feted and cheered by audiences. Emperor Pedro II of Brazil attended all of her performances in Rio de Janeiro, and presented her with a gold bracelet with diamonds, which was almost immediately stolen from her hotel.
The two leading actors both fell ill with yellow fever, and her long-time manager, Edward Jarrett, died of a heart attack. Bernhardt was undaunted, however, and went crocodile hunting at Guayaquil, and also bought more animals for her menagerie.
Her performances in every city were sold out, and by the end of the tour, she had earned more than a million francs. The tour allowed her to purchase her final home, which she filled with her paintings, plants, souvenirs, and animals.
From then on, whenever she ran short of money (which generally happened every three or four years), she went on tour, performing both her classics and new plays. In 1888, she toured Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. She returned to Paris in early 1889 with an enormous owl given to her by the Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovich, the brother of the Czar.
Sarah's 1891–92 tour was her most extensive, including much of Europe, Russia, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Samoa. Her personal luggage consisted of 45 costume crates for her 15 different productions, and 75 crates for her off-stage clothing, including her 250 pairs of shoes. She carried a trunk for her perfumes, cosmetics and makeup, and another for her sheets and tablecloths and her five pillows.
After the tour, she brought back a trunk filled with 3,500,000 francs, but she had also suffered a painful injury to her knee when she leaped off the parapet of the Castello Sant' Angelo in 'La Tosca'. The mattress on which she was supposed to land was misplaced, and she landed on the boards.
La Tosca to Cleopatra (1887–1893)
When Bernhardt returned from her 1886–87 tour, she received a new invitation to return to the Comédie Française. The theatre management was willing to forget the conflict of her two previous periods there, and offered a payment of 150,000 francs a year.
The money appealed to her, and she began negotiations. However, the senior members of the company protested the high salary offered, and conservative defenders of the more traditional theatre also complained; one anti-Bernhardt critic, Albert Delpit of 'Le Gaulois', wrote:
'Madame Sarah Bernhardt is forty-three;
she can no longer be useful to the Comédie.
Moreover, what roles could she have?
I can only imagine that she could play mothers'.
Bernhardt was deeply offended, and immediately broke off negotiations. She turned once again to Sardou, who had written a new play for her, 'La Tosca', which featured a prolonged and extremely dramatic death scene at the end.
The play was staged at the Porte-Saint-Martin Theatre, opening on the 24th. November 1887. It was extremely popular, and critically acclaimed. Bernhardt played the role for 29 consecutive sold-out performances.
The success of 'La Tosca' allowed Bernhardt to buy a new pet lion for her household menagerie. She named him Scarpia, after the villain of 'La Tosca'. The play inspired Giacomo Puccini to write one of his most famous operas, 'Tosca' (1900).
Following this success, Sarah acted in several revivals and classics, and many French writers offered her new plays. In 1887, she acted in a stage version of the controversial drama 'Thérèse Raquin' by Emile Zola. Zola had previously been attacked due to the book's confronting content. Asked why she chose this play, she declared to reporters:
"My true country is the free air,
and my vocation is art without
constraints."
The play was unsuccessful; it ran for just 38 performances. She then performed another traditional melodrama, 'Francillon' by Alexandre Dumas in 1888. A short drama Sarah wrote herself, 'l'Aveu', disappointed both critics and the audience, and lasted only 12 performances.
Sarah had considerably more success with 'Jeanne d'Arc' by the poet Jules Barbier, in which the 45-year-old actress played Joan of Arc, a 19-year-old martyr.
Sarah's next success was another melodrama by Sardou and Moreau, 'Cleopatra', which allowed her to wear elaborate costumes and finished with a memorable death scene. For this scene, she kept two live garter snakes, which played the role of the poisonous asp which bites Cleopatra. For realism, she painted the palms of her hands red, though they could hardly be seen from the audience. Sarah explained:
"I shall see them. If I catch sight
of my hand, it will be the hand
of Cleopatra."
Bernhardt's violent portrayal of Cleopatra led to the theatrical story of a matron in the audience exclaiming to her companion:
"How unlike, how very unlike, the
home life of our own dear Queen!"
Théâtre de la Renaissance (1893–1899)
Bernhardt made a two-year world tour (1891–1893) to replenish her finances. Upon returning to Paris, she paid 700,000 francs for the Théâtre de la Renaissance, and from 1893 until 1899, was its artistic director and lead actress.
She managed every aspect of the theatre, from the finances to the lighting, sets, and costumes, as well as appearing in eight performances a week.
Sarah imposed a rule that women in the audience, no matter how wealthy or famous, had to take off their hats during performances, so the rest of the audience could see, and eliminated the prompter's box from the stage, declaring that actors should know their lines.
She abolished in her theatre the common practice of hiring claqueurs in the audience to applaud stars. She used the new technology of lithography to produce vivid colour posters, and in 1894, she hired Czech artist Alphonse Mucha to design the first of a series of posters for her play 'Gismonda'. He continued to make posters for her for six years.
In five years, Bernhardt produced nine plays, three of which were financially successful. The first was a revival of her performance as 'Phédre', which she took on tour around the world. In 1898, she had another success, in the play 'Lorenzaccio', playing the male lead role in a Renaissance revenge drama written in 1834 by Alfred de Musset, but never before actually staged.
As her biographer Cornelia Otis Skinner wrote, she did not try to be overly masculine when she performed male roles:
'Her male impersonations had the
sexless grace of the voices of
choirboys, or the not quite real
pathos of Pierrot.'
Anatole France wrote of her performance in 'Lorenzaccio':
'She formed out of her own self
a young man melancholic, full of
poetry and of truth.'
This was followed by another successful melodrama by Sardou, 'Gismonda', one of Bernhardt's few plays not finishing with a dramatic death scene. Her co-star was Lucien Guitry, who also acted as her leading man until the end of her career. Besides Guitry, she shared the stage with Edouard de Max, her leading man in 20 productions, and Constant Coquelin, who frequently toured with her.
In April 1895, she played the lead role in a romantic and poetic fantasy, 'Princess Lointaine', by the little-known 27-year-old poet Edmond Rostand. It was not a monetary success and lost 200,000 francs, but it began a long theatrical relationship between Bernhardt and Rostand. Rostand went on to write 'Cyrano de Bergerac' and became one of the most popular French playwrights of the period.
In 1898, she performed the female lead in the controversial play 'La Ville Morte' by the Italian poet and playwright Gabriele D'Annunzio; the play was fiercely attacked by critics because of its theme of incest between brother and sister.
Along with Emile Zola and Victorien Sardou, Bernhardt also became an outspoken defender of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer falsely accused of betraying France. The issue divided Parisian society; a conservative newspaper ran the headline:
'Sarah Bernhardt has joined
the Jews against the Army'.
Even Bernhardt's own son Maurice condemned Dreyfus; he refused to speak to her for a year.
At the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Bernhardt staged and performed in several modern plays, but she was not a follower of the more natural school of acting that was coming into fashion at the end of the 19th. century, preferring a more dramatic expression of emotions. She declared:
"In the theatre the natural is good,
but the sublime is even better."
Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt (1899–1900)
Despite her successes, Sarah's debts continued to mount, reaching two million gold francs by the end of 1898. Bernhardt was forced to give up the Renaissance, and was preparing to go on another world tour when she learned that a much larger Paris theatre, the Théâtre des Nations on the Place du Châtelet, was for lease. The theatre had 1,700 seats, twice the size of the Renaissance, enabling her to pay off the cost of performances more quickly; it had an enormous stage and backstage, allowing her to present several different plays a week; and since it was originally designed as a concert hall, it had excellent acoustics. On the 1st. January 1899, she signed a 25-year lease with the City of Paris, though she was already 55 years old.
She renamed it the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, and began to renovate it to suit her needs. The façade was lit by 5,700 electric bulbs, 17 arc lights, and 11 projectors. She completely redecorated the interior, replacing the red plush and gilt with yellow velvet, brocade, and white woodwork. The lobby was decorated with life-sized portraits of her in her most famous roles.
Her dressing room was a five-room suite, which, after the success of her Napoleonic play 'l'Aiglon', was decorated in Empire Style, featuring a marble fireplace with a fire Bernhardt kept burning all year round, a huge bathtub that was filled with the flowers she received after each performance, and a dining room seating 12 people, where she entertained guests after the final curtain.
Bernhardt opened the theatre on the 21st. January 1899 with a revival of Sardou's 'La Tosca', which she had first performed in 1887. This was followed by revivals of her other major successes, including 'Phédre', 'Theodora', 'Gismonda', and 'La Dame aux Camélias', plus Octave Feuillet's 'Dalila', Gaston de Wailly's 'Patron Bénic', and Rostand's 'La Samaritaine'.
On the 20th. May, Sarah premiered one of her most famous roles, playing the titular character of Hamlet in a prose adaptation. She played Hamlet in a manner which was direct, natural, and very feminine. Her performance received largely positive reviews in Paris, but mixed reviews in London. The British critic Max Beerbohm wrote:
'The only compliment one can
conscientiously pay her is that
her Hamlet was, from first to last,
a truly grand dame.'
In 1900, Bernhardt presented 'l'Aiglon', a new play by Rostand. She played the Duc de Reichstadt, the son of Napoleon Bonaparte, imprisoned by his unloving mother and family until his melancholy death in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. 'l'Aiglon' was a verse drama, six acts long.
The 56-year-old actress studied the walk and posture of young cavalry officers, and had her hair cut short to impersonate the young Duke. The Duke's stage mother, Marie-Louise of Austria, was played by Maria Legault, an actress 14 years younger than Bernhardt. The play ended with a memorable death scene; according to one critic:
'She died as dying angels would
die if they were allowed to."
The play was extremely successful; it was especially popular with visitors to the 1900 Paris International Exposition, and ran for nearly a year, with standing-room places selling for as much as 600 gold francs.
The play inspired the creation of Bernhardt souvenirs, including statuettes, medallions, fans, perfumes, postcards of her in the role, uniforms and cardboard swords for children, and pastries and cakes; the famed chef Escoffier added Peach Aiglon with Chantilly Cream to his repertoire of desserts.
Bernhardt continued to employ Mucha to design her posters, and expanded his work to include theatrical sets, programs, costumes, and jewellery props. His posters became icons of the Art Nouveau style. To earn more money, Bernhardt set aside a certain number of printed posters of each play to sell to collectors.
Farewell tours (1901–1913)
After her season in Paris, Bernhardt performed 'l'Aiglon' in London, and then made her sixth tour of the United States. On this tour, she travelled with Constant Coquelin, then the most popular leading man in France.
Bernhardt played the secondary role of Roxanne to his Cyrano de Bergerac, a role which he had premiered, and he co-starred with her as Flambeau in 'l'Aiglon' and as the first grave-digger in 'Hamlet'.
Sarah also changed, for the first time, her resolution not to perform in Germany or the "occupied territories" of Alsace and Lorraine. In 1902, at the invitation of the French Ministry of Culture, she took part in the first cultural exchange between Germany and France since the 1870 war. She performed 'l'Aiglon' 14 times in Germany; Kaiser William II of Germany attended two performances and hosted a dinner in her honour in Potsdam.
During her German tour, she began to suffer agonising pain in her right knee, probably connected with the fall she had suffered on stage during her tour in South America. She was forced to reduce her movements in l'Aiglon.
A German doctor recommended that she halt the tour immediately and have surgery, followed by six months of complete immobilisation of her leg. Bernhardt promised to see a doctor when she returned to Paris, but continued the tour.
In 1903, she had another unsuccessful role playing another masculine character in the opera 'Werther', a gloomy adaptation of the story by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
However, Sarah quickly came back with another hit, 'La Sorcière' by Sardou. She played a Moorish sorceress in love with a Christian Spaniard, leading to her persecution by the church. This story of tolerance, coming soon after the Dreyfus affair, was financially successful, with Bernhardt often giving both a matinee and evening performance.
Between 1904 and 1906, Sarah appeared in a wide range of parts, including in 'Francesca di Rimini' by Francis Marion Crawford, the role of Fanny in 'Sappho' by Alphonse Daudet, the magician Circe in a play by Charles Richet, and the part of Marie Antoinette in the historical drama 'Varennes' by Lavedan and Lenôtre.
Sarah also played the part of the prince-poet Landry in a version of 'Sleeping Beauty' by Richepin and Henri Cain, and a new version of the play 'Pelléas and Mélissande' by Maurice Maeterlinck, in which she played the male role of Pelléas with the British actress Mrs Patrick Campbell as Mélissande.
Sarah also starred in a new version of 'Adrienne Lecouvreur', which she wrote herself, departing from the earlier version which had been written for her by Scribe.
During this time, she wrote a drama, 'Un Coeur d'Homme', in which she had no part, which was performed at the Théâtre des Arts, but lasted only three performances. She also taught acting briefly at the Conservatory, but found the system there too rigid and traditional. Instead, she took aspiring actresses and actors into her company, trained them, and used them as unpaid extras and bit players.
Bernhardt made her first American Farewell Tour in 1905–1906, the first of four farewell tours she made to the US, Canada, and Latin America, with her new managers, the Shubert brothers.
Sarah attracted controversy and press attention when, during her 1905 visit to Montreal, the Roman Catholic bishop encouraged his followers to throw eggs at Bernhardt, because she portrayed prostitutes as sympathetic characters.
The US portion of the tour was complicated due to the Shuberts' competition with the powerful syndicate of theatre owners who controlled nearly all the major theatres and opera houses in the United States. The syndicate did not allow outside producers to use their stages.
As a result, in Texas and Kansas City, Bernhardt and her company performed under an enormous circus tent, seating 4,500 spectators, and in skating rinks in Atlanta, Savannah, Tampa, and other cities.
Her private train took her to Knoxville, Dallas, Denver, Tampa, Chattanooga, and Salt Lake City, then on to the West Coast. She could not play in San Francisco because of the recent 1906 earthquake, but she performed across the bay in the Hearst Greek Theatre at the University of California at Berkeley.
Sarah also gave a recital, entitled 'A Christmas Night during the Terror', for inmates at San Quentin penitentiary. (Johnny Cash - Sarah did it first!)
In April 1906 Bernhardt toured the ruins of San Francisco after the earthquake and fire, escorted by the critic Ashton Stevens.
Sarah's tour continued into South America, where it was marred by a more serious event: at the conclusion of 'La Tosca' in Rio de Janeiro, she leaped, as always, from the wall of the fortress to plunge to her death in the Tiber. This time, however, the mattress on which she was supposed to land had been positioned incorrectly.
She landed on her right knee, which had already been damaged in earlier tours. She fainted, and was taken from the theatre on a stretcher, but refused to be treated in a local hospital. She later sailed by ship from Rio to New York. When she arrived, her leg had swollen, and she was immobilised in her hotel for 15 days before returning to France.
In 1906–1907, the French government finally awarded Bernhardt the Legion of Honour, but only in her role as a theatre director, not as an actress. The award at that time required a review of the recipient's moral standards, and Bernhardt's behaviour was still considered scandalous.
Bernhardt ignored the snub, and continued to play both inoffensive and controversial characters. In November 1906, she starred in 'La Vierge d'Avila, ou La Courtisan de Dieu', by Catulle Mendes, playing Saint Theresa, followed on the 27th. January 1907 by 'Les Bouffons', by Miguel Zamocois, in which she played a young and amorous medieval lord.
In 1909, she again played the 19-year-old Joan of Arc in 'Le Procès de Jeanne d'Arc' by Émile Moreau. French newspapers encouraged schoolchildren to view her personification of French patriotism.
Despite the injury to her leg, Sarah continued to go on tour every summer, when her own theatre in Paris was closed. In June 1908, she made a 20-day tour of Great Britain and Ireland, performing in 16 different cities.
In 1908–1909, she toured Russia and Poland. Her second American farewell tour (her eighth tour in America) began in late 1910. She took along a new leading man, the Dutch-born Lou Tellegen, a very handsome actor who had served as a model for the sculpture 'Eternal Springtime' by Auguste Rodin, and who became her co-star for the next two years, as well as her escort to all events, functions, and parties.
Lou was not a particularly good actor, and had a strong Dutch accent, but he was successful in roles such as Hippolyte in 'Phédre', where he could take off his shirt and show off his physique.
In New York, Sarah created yet another scandal when she appeared in the role of Judas Iscariot in 'Judas' by the American playwright John Wesley De Kay. It was performed in New York's Globe Theatre for only one night in December 1910 before it was banned by local authorities. It was also banned in Boston and Philadelphia.
In April 1912, Bernhardt presented a new production in her theatre, 'Les Amours de la Reine Élisabeth', a romantic costume drama by Émile Moreau about Queen Elizabeth's romances with Robert Dudley and Robert Devereux.
It was lavish and expensive, but was a financial failure, lasting only 12 performances. Fortunately for Bernhardt, she was able to pay off her debt with the money she received from the American producer Adolph Zukor for a film version of the play.
Sarah departed on her third farewell tour of the United States in 1913–1914, when she was 69. Her leg had not yet fully healed, and she was unable to perform an entire play, only selected acts. She also separated from her co-star and lover of the time, Lou Tellegen. When the tour ended, he remained in the United States, where he briefly became a silent movie star, while she returned to France in May 1913.
Amputation of Sarah's Leg and Wartime Performances (1914–1918)
In December 1913, Bernhardt achieved another success with the drama 'Jeanne Doré'. On the 16th. March, she was made a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur. Despite her successes, she was still short of money. She had made her son Maurice the director of her new theatre, and permitted him to use the receipts of the theatre to pay his gambling debts, eventually forcing her to pawn some of her jewels to pay her bills.
In 1914, she went as usual to her holiday home on Belle-Île with her family and close friends. There, she received the news of the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and the beginning of the Great War.
Sarah hurried back to Paris, which was threatened by an approaching German army. In September, Bernhardt was asked by the Minister of War to move to a safer place. She departed for a villa on the Bay of Arcachon, where her physician discovered that gangrene had developed on her injured leg.
She was transported to Bordeaux, where on the 22nd. February 1915, a surgeon amputated her leg almost to the hip. She refused the idea of an artificial leg, crutches, or a wheelchair, and instead was usually carried in a palanquin she had designed, supported by two long shafts and carried by two men. She had the chair decorated in the Louis XV style, with white sides and gilded trim.
She returned to Paris on the 15th. October, and, despite the loss of her leg, continued to go on stage at her theatre; scenes were arranged so she could be seated, or supported by a prop with her leg hidden. She took part in a patriotic 'scenic poem' by Eugène Morand, 'Les Cathédrales', playing the part of Strasbourg Cathedral; first, while seated, she recited a poem; then she hoisted herself up on her one leg, leaned against the arm of the chair, and declared:
"Weep, weep, Germany! The German
eagle has fallen into the Rhine!"
Bernhardt joined a troupe of famous French actors and travelled to the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Argonne, where she performed for soldiers who had just returned or were about to go into battle.
Propped on pillows in an armchair, she recited her patriotic speech at Strasbourg Cathedral. Another actress present at the event, Beatrix Dussanne, described her performance:
"The miracle again took place; Sarah,
old, mutilated, once more illuminated
a crowd by the rays of her genius.
This fragile creature, ill, wounded and
immobile, could still, through the magic
of the spoken word, re-instil heroism in
those soldiers weary from battle."
Sarah returned to Paris in 1916 and made two short films on patriotic themes, one based on the story of Joan of Arc, the other called 'Mothers of France'.
Sarah then embarked on her final American farewell tour. Despite the threat of German submarines, she crossed the Atlantic and toured the United States, performing in major cities including New York and San Francisco.
Bernhardt was diagnosed with uremia, and had to have an emergency kidney operation. She recuperated in Long Beach, California, for several months, writing short stories and novellas for publication in French magazines. In 1918, she returned to New York and boarded a ship to France, landing in Bordeaux on the 11th. November 1918, the day that the Armistice was signed ending the First World War.
Sarah Bernhardt - The Final years (1919–1923)
In 1920, Sarah resumed acting in her theatre, usually performing single acts of classics such as Racine's 'Athelée', which did not require much movement. For her curtain calls, she stood, balancing on one leg and gesturing with one arm.
She also starred in a new play, 'Daniel', written by her grandson-in-law, playwright Louis Verneuil. She played the male lead role, but appeared in just two acts. She took the play and other famous scenes from her repertory on a European tour and then for her last tour of England, where she gave a special performance for Queen Mary.
In 1921, Bernhardt made her last tour of the French provinces, lecturing about the theatre and reciting the poetry of Rostand. Later that year, she produced a new play by Rostand, 'La Gloire', and another play by Verneuil, 'Régine Arnaud' in 1922. She continued to entertain guests at her home. One such guest, French author Colette, described being served coffee by Bernhardt:
"The delicate and withered hand offering
the brimming cup, the flowery azure of the
eyes, so young still in their network of fine
lines, the questioning and mocking coquetry
of the tilted head, and that indescribable
desire to charm, to charm still, to charm
right up to the gates of death itself."
In 1922, Sarah began rehearsing a new play by Sacha Guitry, called 'Un Sujet de Roman'. On the night of the dress rehearsal she collapsed into a coma for an hour, then awakened with the words, "When do I go on?"
She recuperated for several months, before preparing for a new role as Cleopatra in 'Rodogune' by Corneille, and agreed to make a new film called 'La Voyante', for a payment of 10,000 francs a day.
The Death of Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah was too weak to travel, so a room in her house on Boulevard Pereire was set up as a film studio, with scenery, lights, and cameras. However, on the 21st. March 1923, Sarah collapsed again, and never recovered. She died at the age of 78 from uremia on the 26th. March 1923.
Sarah died peacefully in the arms of her son. At her request, her Funeral Mass was celebrated at the church of Saint-François-de-Sales, which she attended when she was in Paris.
The following day, 30,000 people attended her funeral to pay their respects, and an enormous crowd followed her casket from the church to Père Lachaise Cemetery.
On the Indian Pacific train you depart Aelaide 6:40 pm reaching Port August at 11pm; then Tarcoola 4:20 am; the siding of Bates at 7:40am. We have a brief stop at the former township of Cook at 9:45 am. We should reach Forrest in Western Australia about 1:54 pm; Rawlinna at 2:26 pm and Kalgoorlie at 7:10 pm.
As a condition of entering the federation of Australia WA Premier Sir John Forrest insisted on a transcontinental rail link with the eastern states via Port Augusta. Work began in 1912 and was completed in 1917. Water for the steam engines was obtained from bores across the Nullarbor but the high salt content meant steam engines rusted out very quickly. Coal was shipped from NSW and transported across the Nullarbor to tiny rail sidings and left in stockpiles to fuel the steam furnaces. It was a costly and relatively slow way of crossing from SA to Perth. The journey involved several changes of gauges from Adelaide with the first at Terowie where the 5’3” rail gauge line ended. The 3’6” gauge from Terowie meandered north through Quorn and down through the Pichi Richi Pass to Port August. Here was another change of gauge to the new standard line across to Kalgoorlie. At Kalgoorlie a further change of gauge occurred back to 3’6” the main gauge used in WA. The first train to cross from Sydney to Perth without a change of gauge was in 1970. The first air-conditioned train to cross to Perth from Port Pirie was in 1951. The original trip from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie took 42 hours but was later reduced to 29 hours by 1936 when the new direct line from Adelaide to Port Pirie opened. Today we travel the same section in 19 hours from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie.
Map of the proposed state of Auralia based on Kalgoorlie when WA hesitated about joining the Australian Federation in 1901.
Nullarbor.
This flat limestone plain is the largest area of karst landscape, with numerous subsurface caves, in the world. It stretches 1,200 kms from near Ceduna to near Norseman in WA. On it southern border high limestone cliffs face the Great Australian Bight; to the north the limestone plain becomes the Great Victoria Desert, a typical sandy desert. Nullarbor comes for the Latin “nullus” meaning not any and “arbor” meaning trees- hence no trees. However, this does not mean the Nullarbor lacks vegetation (or interest). Around 800 species of plants including saltbush and blue bush grow across the Nullarbor or its edges. Wildlife is plentiful but water is not. Somehow Edward John Eyre managed to cross the inhospitable landscape with the help of his Aboriginal friend Wylie in 1841. The pair was saved by a French whaling ship on the coast near Esperance. After receiving food and water Eyre and Wylie continued overland to Albany to complete the crossing from Streaky Bay. Eyre was award the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society in London for this incredible journey. After the journey Eyre took up land in SA and became Protector of Aborigines near Blanchetown (Moorundie).
The Characters of the Crossing.
The stations/sidings which you will probably not even see as they whizz by include a list of many of Australian
Prime Ministers and the eccentric Daisy Bates. In order, after Tarcoola which we pass through during the night, the sidings are: Barton; Bates; Ooldea; Watson; Fisher and Cook where we stop for a short time. Beyond Cook where the line is straight for a very long distance the sidings are: Denman; Hughes; Forrest (which has the major airport); Rawlinna, Chifley; Curtin and finally Kalgoorlie.
Barton. Sir Edmund Barton, 1829-1920, was an Australian born NSW scholar and politician. A staunch federalist he became the first Australian Prime Minister in 1901. He was the driving fore behind the writing of the Australian Constitution. He pushed for the White Australia Policy and got an act to repatriate Kanaka workers from Queensland. He resigned in 1903 to become a judge of the High Court of Australia.
Bates. Daisy Bates, 1863-1951, was an eccentric Irishwoman who migrated to Australia in 1884. She married in 1885 but seldom lived with her husband. After a five year trip to England she returned to Australia and took up living with remote Aboriginal communities, firstly in the Kimberlies and then at Ooldea in SA. She lived at Yalata or Ooldea from 1915 to 1934. She favoured segregation of full blood Aboriginal people, maintained they practised cannibalism and was unpopular with academic anthropologists but she had many articles written in newspapers to popularise her ideas and her work. She died at Prospect and was buried in North Road Anglican cemetery.
Ooldea. Ooldea has been an Aboriginal camping place for aeons as it has permanent water. Ernest Giles the explorer was the first white person to discover the water here in 1875. Ooldea became the rail siding for the Maralinga nuclear testing site and it was the home of Daisy Bates for many years.
Watson. John Christian Watson, 1867 -1941, was the third Prime Minister but served for only four months in 1904. He was Australia’s first Labor Prime Minister and he favoured protective tariffs. He retired from federal politics in 1910. He was known for his “Viking style” beard!
Fisher. Andrew Fisher, 1862-1928, was Prime Minister three times, 1908-9; 1910-13; and 1914-15. He was a founding Labor politician. Whilst PM he oversaw the establishment of the Australian Navy, the founding of the Commonwealth Bank, the founding of Canberra and the splitting of the Northern Territory from SA. He was also PM when a start was made on the Transcontinental rail line from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie in 1912. Not surprisingly the first few rail sidings across the Nullarbor are named after Labor Prime Ministers, except for Barton, our first Prime Minister. The conservative/national/free trade Prime Minsters generally have sidings in WA towards Kalgoorlie!
Cook. This station and tiny township was not named after Captain James Cook but Prime Minister Sir Joseph Cook, 1860-1947. Cook was the sixth PM in 1913-14. He began as a Labor politician but in the federal sphere switched away from protectionism to free trade. He served as a Liberal free trade Prime Minister. Cook agreed to the British request for troops to support them in World War One in France and Turkey.
Denman. Sir Thomas Denman, 1874-1954, was a British military man. He was appointed as Governor General of Australia in 1911. He conducted the founding ceremony for the establishment of Canberra in 1913. Denman interfered in federal politics and supported the PM who wanted complete Australian control and autonomy for the Australian Navy. Denman publically supported this. He was recalled to England in May 1914. Throughout the 1920s he supported Australia’s point of view in debates in the British House of Lords.
Hughes. William (Billy) Hughes was the first long surviving Australian Prime Minister as he was in power from 1915-1923. This record was not beaten until 1957 by Sir Robert Menzies. Billy Hughes lived from 1862- 1952. Hughes’ other record, being the longest serving member of parliament has not yet been surpassed. He was a politician for almost 52 years! Hughes served in earlier Labor ministries but split the Labor Party in 1917 by proposing conscription for the World War One war effort. He was expelled from the Labor Party! But he won the next election in alliance with the National Party. In 1923 he had insufficient parliamentarians to form government but he remained in parliament as a member of the United Australia Party which later became the Liberal Party. He died whilst still a parliamentarian aged 90 years.
Deakin. This siding is right on the WA/SA border. Alfred Deakin, 1856-1919, served as Prime Minister three times in the first few years of federation from 1903-4; 1905-8; and 1909-10. Alfred Deakin was a protectionists and finally Liberal in parliament. He was a great leader in the federation moment, a former Victorian Premier and is credited with starting the nation building process for Australia when he was Prime Minister. He was a scholar and a lawyer.
Reid. Sir George Reid, 1845-1918, was Prime Minister in 1904-5. He was a devout exponent of free trade and a Liberal but the other Liberal Alfred Deakin would not support him and his free trade policies. He went on to be leader of the Opposition against the Labor governments that followed him.
Forrest. Sir John Forest, 1847-1918, the first Baron Forrest of Bunbury, was an explorer, surveyor and politician extraordinaire. He was born at Bunbury in WA and became the founding Premier of WA when partial self-government was granted by Britain in 1890. Forrest led the explorers who did the first west to east crossing of the Nullarbor from Perth to Adelaide in 1870. He was the first Western Australian knighted in 1891. He served as Premier of WA from 1890 to 1901 during the decade when the population exploded with the gold discoveries at Kalgoorlie. He acted for the establishment of a water pipeline to Kalgoorlie; he unilaterally rejected Britain’s control of WA Aboriginal Affairs and summarily ended it; he took government control of the Great Southern Railway to Albany; he repealed a section of the state Constitution which stated 1% of all tax royalties must be spent on Aboriginal people. From 1901 to his death in 1918 he was a member of the federal parliament aligned with non-Labor politicians. Although he supported federation he fought hard for rights for WA including the building of a transcontinental railway from Port Augusta. Forrest’s reluctance to join federation until concessions were promised for WA led politicians and others in the goldfields to propose a new state called Auralia to enter the federation, even if the rest of WA did not. The capital of that state would have been Kalgoorlie. Once Forrest finally committed WA to join the federation this proposal for a separate state of Auralia was dropped. The Forrest siding or settlement with only a couple for residents is known for its airport. It has the largest runway outside of a capital city in case it is needed for emergency or military use. Light aircraft use the airport as a refuelling stop across the Nullarbor.
Rawlinna. This siding is named after the local sheep station, the largest in the world, with an historical homestead. Up to 80,000 sheep have been shorn in one year on Rawlinna Station.
Chifley. Joseph Benedict Chifley, 1885-1951, was a Labor Prime Minister for Australia after the Second World War from 1945- 1949. Ben Chifley introduced the Snowy Mountains irrigation scheme and founded the Australian National University in Canberra. He was no longer PM in 1951 but still a parliamentarian when he died in office in Canberra. He lost the 1949 elections on his proposal to nationalise the banks of Australia.
Curtin. John Curtin, 1884-1945 was the Labor Prime Minister for Australia during most of World War Two from 1941-45. He died in office in July 1945 just six weeks before the end of the War. His great contribution was to reject British proposals for the deployment of Australian troops to protect their interests and to put them under the command of General Douglas MacArthur from America who used our troops in South East Asia and New Guinea to protect Australia from invasion by the Japanese.
Kalgoorlie.
Gold was discovered here by Patrick Hannan and the city emerged overnight in 1893. The finds were so rich that it is still known as the richest mile on the planet. Thousands swarmed to the gold fields but deep shaft mining meant casual prospectors were soon just mine employees and most left the goldfields. By 1898 the town had a population of around 2,000 but only 500 were women. Once a railway line from Perth reached the town the population grew. The water pipeline reached the city in 1903 offering coastal amenities to outback residents! It was this small population of about 5,000 in 1900 that were in favour of joining the federation of Australia and creating a new state called Auralia. The port for this new colony would have been Esperance. The mine continued giving its riches to the mining companies. When it began in 1893 gold worth £421,000 was produced in WA. By 1900 the value of gold found in WA was worth £6,000,000! And the boom still continues in WA with nickel, oil, gas and iron and Kalgoorlie has the largest open cut mine in the world.
But relations on the gold fields have not always been cordial. Kalgoorlie is known for the 1934 Race Riots as mobs against Greek, Italian and Slavic mobs rioted, attacked and burned Greek and Slavic owned properties. Extra police were sent from Perth to quell the riots. The riot broke out on a Saturday night, a traditional night for drinking and violence. Foreign owned hotels were burned and residences lived in by foreigners had their windows smashed in both Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie. This was and still is the Wild West! Unlike the eastern states WA has always had more land than people and even into the 1970s virgin farmland was being granted or sold to new comers for little money. One of the last large cereal farming areas developed, which would have been in the state of Auralia, was at Esperance in the 1970s.
Kurdish protesters outside the Royal Institute of International Affairs in St James's Square, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a speech about foreign policy during a three day visit to the UK. Mr Erdogan stands accused of invading the Kurdish province of Afrin, backing anti-Syrian jihadists, jailing more journalists than any other country and of widespread human rights abuses. A small, but very loud, group of Mr Erdogan's supporters were also present.
President Erdogan is expected to discuss the purchase of British-made weapons during his visit, in which he will meet the Queen and UK Prime Minister Theresa May.
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Meamwhile Meanwhile the Venice Biennale 2019 is going on , here intervention from 23 august 2019 . Mors
www.emergencyrooms.org/biennalist.html
www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
more here about the Biennale :
Ralph Rugoff has declared: «May You Live in Interesting Times will no doubt include artworks that reflect upon precarious aspects of existence today, including different threats to key traditions, institutions and relationships of the “post-war order.” But let us acknowledge at the outset that art does not exercise its forces in the domain of politics. Art cannot stem the rise of nationalist movements and authoritarian governments in different parts of the world, for instance, nor can it alleviate the tragic fate of displaced peoples across the globe (whose numbers now represent almost one percent of the world’s entire population).»
ALBANIA
Maybe the cosmos is not so extraordinary
Commissioner: Ministry of Culture Republic of Albania. Curator: Alicia Knock.
Exhibitor: Driant Zeneli.
ALGERIA***
Time to shine bright
Commissioner/Curator: Hellal Mahmoud Zoubir, National Council of Arts and Letters Ministry of Culture. Exhibitors: Rachida Azdaou, Hamza Bounoua, Amina Zoubir, Mourad Krinah, Oussama Tabti.
Venue: Fondamenta S. Giuseppe, 925
ANDORRA
The Future is Now / El futur és ara
Commissioner: Eva Martínez, “Zoe”. Curators: Ivan Sansa, Paolo De Grandis.
Exhibitor: Philippe Shangti.
Venue: Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, Castello 3701
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA
Find Yourself: Carnival and Resistance
Commissioner: Daryll Matthew, Minister of Sports, Culture, National Festivals and the Arts. Curator: Barbara Paca with Nina Khrushcheva. Exhibitors: Timothy Payne, Sir Gerald Price, Joseph Seton, and Frank Walter; Intangible Cultural, Heritage Artisans and Mas Troup.
Venue: Centro Culturale Don Orione Artigianelli, Dorsoduro 919
ARGENTINA
El nombre de un país / The name of a country
Commissioner: Sergio Alberto Baur Ambasciatore. Curator: Florencia Battiti. Exhibitor: Mariana Telleria.
Venue: Arsenale
ARMENIA (Republic of)
Revolutionary Sensorium
Commissioner: Nazenie Garibian, Deputy Minister. Curator: Susanna Gyulamiryan.
Exhibitors: "ArtlabYerevan" Artistic Group (Gagik Charchyan, Hovhannes Margaryan, Arthur Petrosyan, Vardan Jaloyan) and Narine Arakelian.
Venue: Palazzo Zenobio – Collegio Armeno Moorat-Raphael, Dorsoduro 2596
AUSTRALIA
ASSEMBLY
Commissioner: Australia Council for the Arts. Curator: Juliana Engberg. Exhibitor: Angelica Mesiti.
Venue: Giardini
AUSTRIA
Discordo Ergo Sum
Commissioner: Arts and Culture Division of the Federal Chancellery of Austria.
Curator: Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein. Exhibitor: Renate Bertlmann.
Venue: Giardini
AZERBAIJAN (Republic of )
Virtual Reality
Commissioner: Mammad Ahmadzada, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Curators: Gianni Mercurio, Emin Mammadov. Exhibitors: Zeigam Azizov, Orkhan Mammadov, Zarnishan Yusifova, Kanan Aliyev, Ulviyya Aliyeva.
Venue: Palazzo Lezze, Campo S. Stefano, San Marco 2949
BANGLADESH (People’s Republic of)
Thirst
Commissioner: Liaquat Ali Lucky. Curators: Mokhlesur Rahman, Viviana Vannucci.
Exhibitors: Bishwajit Goswami, Dilara Begum Jolly, Heidi Fosli, Nafis Ahmed Gazi, Franco Marrocco, Domenico Pellegrino, Preema Nazia Andaleeb, Ra Kajol, Uttam Kumar karmaker.
Venue: Palazzo Zenobio – Collegio Armeno Moorat-Raphael, Dorsoduro 2596
BELARUS (Republic of)
Exit / Uscita
Commissioner: Siarhey Kryshtapovich. Curator: Olga Rybchinskaya. Exhibitor: Konstantin Selikhanov.
Venue: Spazio Liquido, Sestiere Castello 103, Salizada Streta
BELGIUM
Mondo Cane
Commissioner: Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Curator: Anne-Claire Schmitz.
Exhibitor: Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys.
Venue: Giardini
BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA
ZENICA-TRILOGY
Commissioner: Senka Ibrišimbegović, Ars Aevi Museum for Contemporary Art Sarajevo.
Curators: Anja Bogojević, Amila Puzić, Claudia Zini. Exhibitor: Danica Dakić.
Venue: Palazzo Francesco Molon Ca’ Bernardo, San Polo 2184/A
BRAZIL
Swinguerra
Commissioner: José Olympio da Veiga Pereira, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo.
Curator: Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro. Exhibitor: Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca.
Venue: Giardini
BULGARIA
How We Live
Commissioner: Iaroslava Boubnova, National Gallery in Sofia. Curator: Vera Mlechevska.
Exhibitors: Rada Boukova , Lazar Lyutakov.
Venue: Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, San Marco 2893
CANADA
ISUMA
Commissioner: National Gallery of Canada. Curators: Asinnajaq, Catherine Crowston, Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Barbara Fischer, Candice Hopkins. Exhibitors: Isuma (Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn, Paul Apak, Pauloosie Qulitalik).
Venue: Giardini
CHILE
Altered Views
Commissioner: Varinia Brodsky, Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage.
Curator: Agustín Pérez. Rubio. Exhibitor: Voluspa Jarpa.
Venue: Arsenale
CHINA (People’s Republic of)
Re-睿
Commissioner: China Arts and Entertainment Group Ltd. (CAEG).
Curator: Wu Hongliang. Exhibitors: Chen Qi, Fei Jun, He Xiangyu, Geng Xue.
Venue: Arsenale
CROATIA
Traces of Disappearing (In Three Acts)
Commissioner: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia. Curator: Katerina Gregos.
Exhibitor: Igor Grubić.
Venue: Calle Corner, Santa Croce 2258
CUBA
Entorno aleccionador (A Cautionary Environment)
Commissioner: Norma Rodríguez Derivet, Consejo Nacional de Artes Plásticas.
Curator: Margarita Sanchez Prieto. Exhibitors: Alejandro Campins, Alex Hérnandez, Ariamna Contino and Eugenio Tibaldi. Venue: Isola di San Servolo
CYPRUS (Republic of)
Christoforos Savva: Untimely, Again
Commissioner: Louli Michaelidou. Curator: Jacopo Crivelli Visconti. Exhibitor: Christoforos Savva.
Venue: Associazione Culturale Spiazzi, Castello 3865
CZECH (Republic) and SLOVAK (Republic)
Stanislav Kolíbal. Former Uncertain Indicated
Commissioner: Adam Budak, National Gallery Prague. Curator: Dieter Bogner.
Exhibitor: Stanislav Kolibal.
Venue: Giardini
DOMINICAN (Republic) *
Naturaleza y biodiversidad en la República Dominicana
Commissioner: Eduardo Selman, Minister of Culture. Curators: Marianne de Tolentino, Simone Pieralice, Giovanni Verza. Exhibitors: Dario Oleaga, Ezequiel Taveras, Hulda Guzmán, Julio Valdez, Miguel Ramirez, Rita Bertrecchi, Nicola Pica, Marraffa & Casciotti.
Venue: Palazzo Albrizzi Capello, Cannaregio 4118 – Sala della Pace
EGYPT
khnum across times witness
Commissioner: Ministry of Culture. Curator: Ahmed Chiha.
Exhibitors: Islam Abdullah, Ahmed Chiha, Ahmed Abdel Karim.
Venue: Giardini
ESTONIA
Birth V
Commissioner: Maria Arusoo, Centre of Contemporary Arts of Estonia. Curators: Andrew Berardini, Irene Campolmi, Sarah Lucas, Tamara Luuk. Exhibitor: Kris Lemsalu.
Venue: c/o Legno & Legno, Giudecca 211
FINLAND (Alvar Aalto Pavilion)
A Greater Miracle of Perception
Commissioner: Raija Koli, Director Frame Contemporary Art Finland.
Curators: Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Christopher Wessels. Exhibitors: Miracle Workers Collective (Maryan Abdulkarim, Khadar Ahmed, Hassan Blasim, Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Sonya Lindfors, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Outi Pieski, Leena Pukki, Lorenzo Sandoval, Martta Tuomaala, Christopher L. Thomas, Christopher Wessels, Suvi West).
Venue: Giardini
FRANCE
Deep see blue surrounding you / Vois ce bleu profond te fondre
Commissioner: Institut français with the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture. Curator: Martha Kirszenbaum. Exhibitor: Laure Prouvost.
Venue: Giardini
GEORGIA
REARMIRRORVIEW, Simulation is Simulation, is Simulation, is Simulation
Commissioner: Ana Riaboshenko. Curator: Margot Norton. Exhibitor: Anna K.E.
Venue: Arsenale
GERMANY
Commissioner: ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) on behalf of the Federal Foreign Office, Germany. Curator: Franciska Zólyom. Exhibitor: Natascha Süder Happelmann.
Venue: Giardini
GHANA ***
Ghana Freedom
Commissioner: Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. Curator: Nana Oforiatta Ayim.
Exhibitors: Felicia Abban, John Akomfrah, El Anatsui, Lynette Yiadom Boakye, Ibrahim Mahama, Selasi Awusi Sosu.
Venue: Arsenale
GREAT BRITAIN
Cathy Wilkes
Commissioner: Emma Dexter. Curator: Zoe Whitley. Exhibitor: Cathy Wilkes.
Venue: Giardini
GREECE
Mr Stigl
Commissioner: Syrago Tsiara (Deputy Director of the Contemporary Art Museum - Metropolitan Organization of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki - MOMus).
Curator: Katerina Tselou. Exhibitors: Panos Charalambous, Eva Stefani, Zafos Xagoraris.
Venue: Giardini
GRENADA
Epic Memory
Commissioner: Susan Mains. Curator: Daniele Radini Tedeschi.
Exhibitors: Amy Cannestra, Billy Gerard Frank, Dave Lewis, Shervone Neckles, Franco Rota Candiani, Roberto Miniati, CRS avant-garde.
Venue: Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello (first floor), Cannaregio 4118
GUATEMALA
Interesting State
Commissioner: Elder de Jesús Súchite Vargas, Minister of Culture and Sports of Guatemala. Curator: Stefania Pieralice. Exhibitors: Elsie Wunderlich, Marco Manzo.
Venue: Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello (first floor), Cannaregio 4118
HAITI
THE SPECTACLE OF TRAGEDY
Commissioner: Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Curator: Giscard Bouchotte. Exhibitor: Jean Ulrick Désert.
Venue: Circolo Ufficiali Marina, Calle Seconda de la Fava, Castello 2168
HUNGARY
Imaginary Cameras
Commissioner: Julia Fabényi, Museo Ludwig – Museo d’arte contemporanea, Budapest.
Curator: Zsuzsanna Szegedy-Maszák. Exhibitor: Tamás Waliczky.
Venue: Giardini
ICELAND
Chromo Sapiens – Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir / Shoplifter
Commissioner: Eiríkur Þorláksson, Icelandic Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.
Curator: Birta Gudjónsdóttir. Exhibitor: Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir / Shoplifter.
Venue: Spazio Punch, Giudecca 800
INDIA
Our time for a future caring
Commissioner: Adwaita Gadanayak National Gallery of Modern Art.
Curator: Roobina Karode, Director & Chief Curator, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. Exhibitors: Atul Dodiya, Ashim Purkayastha, GR Iranna, Jitish Kallat, Nandalal Bose, Rummana Hussain, Shakuntala Kulkarni.
Venue: Arsenale
INDONESIA
Lost Verses
Commissioner: Ricky Pesik & Diana Nazir, Indonesian Agency for Creative Economy.
Curator: Asmudjo Jono Irianto. Exhibitors: Handiwirman Saputra and Syagini Ratna Wulan.
Venue: Arsenale
IRAN (Islamic Republic of)
of being and singing
Commissioner: Hadi Mozafari, General Manager of Visual Arts Administration of Islamic Republic of Iran. Curator: Ali Bakhtiari.
Exhibitors: Reza Lavassani, Samira Alikhanzadeh, Ali Meer Azimi.
Venue: Fondaco Marcello, San Marco 3415
IRAQ
Fatherland
Commissioner: Fondazione Ruya. Curators: Tamara Chalabi, Paolo Colombo.
Exhibitor: Serwan Baran.
Venue: Ca’ del Duca, Corte del Duca Sforza, San Marco 3052
IRELAND
The Shrinking Universe
Commissioner: Culture Ireland. Curator: Mary Cremin. Exhibitor: Eva Rothschild.
Venue: Arsenale
ISRAEL
Field Hospital X
Commissioner: Michael Gov, Arad Turgeman. Curator: Avi Lubin. Exhibitor: Aya Ben Ron.
Venue: Giardini
ITALY
Commissioner: Federica Galloni, Direttore Generale Arte e Architettura Contemporanee e Periferie Urbane, Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali. Curator: Milovan Farronato.
Exhibitors: Enrico David, Liliana Moro, Chiara Fumai.
Venue: Padiglione Italia, Tese delle Vergini, Arsenale
IVORY COAST
The Open Shadows of Memory
Commissioner: Henri Nkoumo. Curator: Massimo Scaringella. Exhibitors: Ernest Dükü, Ananias Leki Dago, Valérie Oka, Tong Yanrunan.
Venue: Castello Gallery, Castello 1636/A
JAPAN
Cosmo-Eggs
Commissioner: The Japan Foundation. Curator: Hiroyuki Hattori. Exhibitors: Motoyuki Shitamichi, Taro Yasuno, Toshiaki Ishikura, Fuminori Nousaku.
Venue: Giardini
KIRIBATI
Pacific Time - Time Flies
Commissioner: Pelea Tehumu, Ministry of Internal Affairs. Curators: Kautu Tabaka, Nina Tepes. Exhibitors: Kaeka Michael Betero, Daniela Danica Tepes, Kairaken Betio Group; Teroloang Borouea, Neneia Takoikoi, Tineta Timirau, Teeti Aaloa, Kenneth Ioane, Kaumai Kaoma, Runita Rabwaa, Obeta Taia, Tiribo Kobaua, Tamuera Tebebe, Rairauea Rue, Teuea Kabunare, Tokintekai Ekentetake, Katanuti Francis, Mikaere Tebwebwe, Terita Itinikarawa, Kaeua Kobaua, Raatu Tiuteke, Kaeriti Baanga, Ioanna Francis, Temarewe Banaan, Aanamaria Toom, Einako Temewi, Nimei Itinikarawa, Teniteiti Mikaere, Aanibo Bwatanita, Arin Tikiraua.
Venue: European Cultural Centre, Palazzo Mora, Strada Nuova 3659
KOREA (Republic of)
History Has Failed Us, but No Matter
Commissioner: Arts Council Korea. Curator: Hyunjin Kim. Exhibitors: Hwayeon Nam, siren eun young jung, Jane Jin Kaisen.
Venue: Giardini
KOSOVO (Republic of)
Family Album
Commissioner: Arta Agani. Curator: Vincent Honore. Exhibitor: Alban Muja.
Venue: Arsenale
LATVIA
Saules Suns
Commissioner: Dace Vilsone. Curators: Valentinas Klimašauskas, Inga Lāce.
Exhibitor: Daiga Grantiņa.
Venue: Arsenale
LITHUANIA
Sun & Sea (Marina)
Commissioner: Rasa Antanavičıūte. Curator: Lucia Pietroiusti.
Exhibitors: Lina Lapelyte, Vaiva Grainyte and Rugile Barzdziukaite.
Venue: Magazzino No. 42, Marina Militare, Arsenale di Venezia, Fondamenta Case Nuove 2738c
LUXEMBOURG (Grand Duchy of)
Written by Water
Commissioner: Ministry of Culture of Luxembourg.
Curator: Kevin Muhlen. Exhibitor: Marco Godinho.
Venue: Arsenale
NORTH MACEDONIA (Republic of )
Subversion to Red
Commissioner: Mira Gakina. Curator: Jovanka Popova. Exhibitor: Nada Prlja.
Venue: Palazzo Rota Ivancich, Castello 4421
MADAGASCAR ***
I have forgotten the night
Commissioner: Ministry of Communication and Culture of the Republic of Madagascar. Curators: Rina Ralay Ranaivo, Emmanuel Daydé.
Exhibitor: Joël Andrianomearisoa.
Venue: Arsenale
MALAYSIA ***
Holding Up a Mirror
Commissioner: Professor Dato’ Dr. Mohamed Najib Dawa, Director General of Balai Seni Negara (National Art Gallery of Malaysia), Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia. Curator: Lim Wei-Ling. Exhibitors: Anurendra Jegadeva, H.H.Lim, Ivan Lam, Zulkifli Yusoff.
Venue: Palazzo Malipiero, San Marco 3198
MALTA
Maleth / Haven / Port - Heterotopias of Evocation
Commissioner: Arts Council Malta. Curator: Hesperia Iliadou Suppiej. Exhibitors: Vince Briffa, Klitsa Antoniou, Trevor Borg.
Venue: Arsenale
MEXICO
Actos de Dios / Acts of God
Commissioner: Gabriela Gil Verenzuela. Curator: Magalí Arriola. Exhibitor: Pablo Vargas Lugo.
Venue: Arsenale
MONGOLIA
A Temporality
Commissioner: The Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports of Mongolia.
Curator: Gantuya Badamgarav. Exhibitor: Jantsankhorol Erdenebayar with the participation of traditional Mongolian throat singers and Carsten Nicolai (Alva Noto).
Venue: Bruchium Fermentum, Calle del Forno, Castello 2093-2090
MONTENEGRO
Odiseja / An Odyssey
Commissioner: Nenad Šoškić. Curator: Petrica Duletić. Exhibitor: Vesko Gagović.
Venue: Palazzo Malipiero (piano terra), San Marco 3078-3079/A, Ramo Malipiero
MOZAMBIQUE (Republic of)
The Past, the Present and The in Between
Commissioner: Domingos do Rosário Artur. Curator: Lidija K. Khachatourian.
Exhibitors: Gonçalo Mabunda, Mauro Pinto, Filipe Branquinho.
Venue: Palazzo Mora, Strada Nova, 3659
NETHERLANDS (The)
The Measurement of Presence
Commissioner: Mondriaan Fund. Curator: Benno Tempel. Exhibitors: Iris Kensmil, Remy Jungerman. Venue: Giardini
NEW ZEALAND
Post hoc
Commissioner: Dame Jenny Gibbs. Curators: Zara Stanhope and Chris Sharp.
Exhibitor: Dane Mitchell.
Venue: Palazzina Canonica, Riva Sette Martiri
NORDIC COUNTRIES (FINLAND - NORWAY - SWEDEN)
Weather Report: Forecasting Future
Commissioner: Leevi Haapala / Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma / Finnish National Gallery, Katya García-Antón / Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA), Ann-Sofi Noring / Moderna Museet. Curators: Leevi Haapala, Piia Oksanen. Exhibitors: Ane Graff, Ingela Ihrman, nabbteeri.
Venue: Giardini
PAKISTAN ***
Manora Field Notes
Commissioner: Syed Jamal Shah, Pakistan National Council of the Arts, PNCA.
Curator: Zahra Khan. Exhibitor: Naiza Khan.
Venue: Tanarte, Castello 2109/A and Spazio Tana, Castello 2110-2111
PERU
“Indios Antropófagos”. A butterfly Garden in the (Urban) Jungle
Commissioner: Armando Andrade de Lucio. Curator: Gustavo Buntinx. Exhibitors: Christian Bendayán, Otto Michael (1859-1934), Manuel Rodríguez Lira (1874-1933), Segundo Candiño Rodríguez, Anonymous popular artificer.
Venue: Arsenale
PHILIPPINES
Island Weather
Commissioner: National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) / Virgilio S. Almario.
Curator: Tessa Maria T. Guazon. Exhibitor: Mark O. Justiniani.
Venue: Arsenale
POLAND
Flight
Commissioner: Hanna Wroblewska. Curators: Łukasz Mojsak, Łukasz Ronduda.
Exhibitor: Roman Stańczak.
Venue: Giardini
PORTUGAL
a seam, a surface, a hinge or a knot
Commissioner: Directorate-General for the Arts. Curator: João Ribas. Exhibitor: Leonor Antunes.
Venue: Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi Onlus, Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, San Marco 2893
ROMANIA
Unfinished Conversations on the Weight of Absence
Commissioner: Attila Kim. Curator: Cristian Nae. Exhibitor: Belu-Simion Făinaru, Dan Mihălțianu, Miklós Onucsán.
Venues: Giardini and New Gallery of the Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanistic Research (Campo Santa Fosca, Palazzo Correr, Cannaregio 2214)
RUSSIA
Lc 15:11-32
Commissioner: Semyon Mikhailovsky. Curator: Mikhail Piotrovsky. Exhibitors: Alexander Sokurov, Alexander Shishkin-Hokusai.
Venue: Giardini
SAN MARINO (Republic of)
Friendship Project International
Commissioner: Vito Giuseppe Testaj. Curator: Vincenzo Sanfo. Exhibitors: Gisella Battistini, Martina Conti, Gabriele Gambuti, Giovanna Fra, Thea Tini, Chen Chengwei, Li Geng, Dario Ortiz, Tang Shuangning, Jens W. Beyrich, Xing Junqin, Xu de Qi, Sebastián.
Venue: Palazzo Bollani, Castello 3647; Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, Castello 6691
SAUDI ARABIA
After Illusion بعد توهم
Commissioner: Misk Art Insitute. Curator: Eiman Elgibreen. Exhibitor: Zahrah Al Ghamdi.
Venue: Arsenale
SERBIA
Regaining Memory Loss
Commissioner: Vladislav Scepanovic. Curator: Nicoletta Lambertucci. Exhibitor: Djordje Ozbolt.
Venue: Giardini
SEYCHELLES (Republic of)
Drift
Commissioner: Galen Bresson. Curator: Martin Kennedy.
Exhibitors: George Camille and Daniel Dodin.
Venue: Palazzo Mora, Strada Nova, 3659
SINGAPORE
Music For Everyone: Variations on a Theme
Commissioner: Rosa Daniel, Chief Executive Officer, National Arts Council (NAC).
Curator: Michelle Ho. Exhibitor: Song-Ming Ang.
Venue: Arsenale
SLOVENIA (Republic of)
Here we go again... SYSTEM 317
A situation of the resolution series
Commissioner: Zdenka Badovinac, Director Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana. Curator: Igor Španjol. Exhibitor: Marko Peljhan.
Venue: Arsenale
SOUTH AFRICA (Republic of)
The stronger we become
Commissioner: Titi Nxumalo, Console Generale. Curators: Nkule Mabaso, Nomusa Makhubu. Exhibitors: Dineo Seshee Bopape, Tracey Rose, Mawande Ka Zenzile.
Venue: Arsenale
SPAIN
Perforated by Itziar Okariz and Sergio Prego
Commissioner: AECID Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional Para El Desarrollo. Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Union Europea y Cooperacion. Curator: Peio Aguirre.
Exhibitors: Itziar Okariz, Sergio Prego.
Venue: Giardini
SWITZERLAND
Moving Backwards
Commissioner: Swiss Arts Council Pro-Helvetia: Marianne Burki, Sandi Paucic, Rachele Giudici Legittimo. Curator: Charlotte Laubard. Exhibitors: Pauline Boudry/Renate Lorenz.
Venue: Giardini
SYRIAN ARAB (Republic)
Syrian Civilization is still alive
Commissioner/Curator: Emad Kashout. Exhibitors: Abdalah Abouassali, Giacomo Braglia, Ibrahim Al Hamid, Chen Huasha, Saed Salloum, Xie Tian, Saad Yagan, Primo Vanadia, Giuseppe Biasio.
Venue: Isola di San Servolo; Chiesetta della Misericordia, Campo dell'Abbazia, Cannaregio
THAILAND
The Revolving World
Commissioner: Vimolluck Chuchat, Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, Ministry of Culture, Thailand. Curator: Tawatchai Somkong. Exhibitors: Somsak Chowtadapong, Panya Vijinthanasarn, Krit Ngamsom.
Venue: In Paradiso 1260, Castello
TURKEY
We, Elsewhere
Commissioner: IKSV. Curator: Zeynep Öz. Exhibitor: İnci Eviner.
Venue: Arsenale
UKRAINE
The Shadow of Dream cast upon Giardini della Biennale
Commissioner: Svitlana Fomenko, First Deputy Minister of Culture. Curators: Open group (Yurii Biley, Pavlo Kovach, Stanislav Turina, Anton Varga). Exhibitors: all artists of Ukraine.
Venue: Arsenale
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Nujoom Alghanem: Passage
Commissioner: Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation.
Curators: Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. Exhibitor: Nujoom Alghanem.
Venue: Arsenale
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Martin Puryear: Liberty
Commissioner/Curator: Brooke Kamin Rapaport. Exhibitor: Martin Puryear.
Venue: Giardini
URUGUAY
“La casa empática”
Commissioner: Alejandro Denes. Curators: David Armengol, Patricia Bentancur.
Exhibitor: Yamandú Canosa.
Venue: Giardini
VENEZUELA (Bolivarian Republic of)
Metaphore of three windows
Venezuela: identity in time and space
Commissioner/Curator: Oscar Sottillo Meneses. Exhibitors: Natalie Rocha Capiello, Ricardo García, Gabriel López, Nelson Rangelosky.
Venue: Giardini
ZIMBABWE (Republic of)
Soko Risina Musoro (The Tale without a Head)
Commissioner: Doreen Sibanda, National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Curator: Raphael Chikukwa. Exhibitors: Georgina Maxim, Neville Starling , Cosmas Shiridzinomwa, Kudzanai Violet Hwami.
Venue: Istituto Provinciale per L’infanzia “Santa Maria Della Pietà”. Calle della Pietà Castello n. 3701 (ground floor)
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invited artist :
Lawrence Abu Hamdan (Jordan / Beirut)
Njideka Akunyili Crosby (Nigeria / USA),Halil Altındere (Turkey),Michael Armitage (Kenya / UK),Korakrit Arunanondchai (Thailand / USA),Alex Gvojic (USA),Ed Atkins (UK / Germany / Denmark),Tarek Atoui (Lebanon / France),
Darren Bader (USA),Nairy Baghramian (Iran / Germany,
Neïl Beloufa (France),Alexandra Bircken (Germany),Carol Bove (Switzerland / USA,
Christoph Büchel (Switzerland / Iceland,
Ludovica Carbotta (Italy / Barcelona),Antoine Catala (France / USA),Ian Cheng (USA),George Condo (USA
Alex Da Corte (USA),Jesse Darling (UK / Germany),Stan Douglas (Canada),Jimmie Durham (USA / Germany),Nicole Eisenman (France / USA,
Haris Epaminonda (Cyprus / Germany),Lara Favaretto (Italy),Cyprien Gaillard (France / Germany), Gill (India),Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (France),Shilpa Gupta (India),Soham Gupta (India),Martine Gutierrez (USA),Rula Halawani (Palestine),Anthea Hamilton (UK),Jeppe Hein (Denmark / Germany),Anthony Hernandez (USA),Ryoji Ikeda (Japan / France),Arthur Jafa (USA),Cameron Jamie (USA / France / Germany),Kahlil Joseph (USA),Zhanna Kadyrova (Ukraine),Suki Seokyeong Kang (South Korea),Mari Katayama (Japan),Lee Bul (South Korea),Liu Wei (China),Maria Loboda (Poland / Germany),Andreas Lolis (Albania / Greece),Christian Marclay (USA / London),Teresa Margolles (Mexico / Spain),Julie Mehretu (Ethiopia / USA),Ad Minoliti (Argentina),Jean-Luc Moulène (France),Zanele Muholi (South Africa),Jill Mulleady (Uruguay / USA),Ulrike Müller (Austria / USA),Nabuqi (China),Otobong Nkanga (Nigeria / Belgium),Khyentse Norbu (Bhutan / India),Frida Orupabo (Norway),Jon Rafman (Canada).Gabriel Rico (Mexico),Handiwirman Saputra (Indonesia),Tomás Saraceno (Argentina / Germany),Augustas Serapinas (Lithuania),Avery Singer (USA),Slavs and Tatars (Germany),Michael E. Smith (USA),Hito Steyerl (Germany),Tavares Strachan (Bahamas / USA),Sun Yuan and Peng Yu (China),Henry Taylor (USA),Rosemarie Trockel (Germany),Kaari Upson (USA),Andra Ursuţa (Romania),Danh Vō (Vietnam / Mexico),Kemang Wa Lehulere (South Africa),Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) and Tsuyoshi Hisakado (Japan),Margaret Wertheim and Christine Wertheim (Australia / USA) ,Anicka Yi (South Korea/ USA),Yin Xiuzhen (China),Yu Ji (China / Austria)
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other Biennale :(Biennials ) :Venice Biennial , Documenta Havana Biennial,Istanbul Biennial ( Istanbuli),Biennale de Lyon ,Dak'Art Berlin Biennial,Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial ,Bienal do Mercosul Porto Alegre.,Berlin Biennial ,Echigo-Tsumari Triennial .Yokohama Triennial Aichi Triennale,manifesta ,Copenhagen Biennale,Aichi Triennale
Yokohama Triennial,Echigo-Tsumari Triennial.Sharjah Biennial ,Biennale of Sydney, Liverpool , São Paulo Biennial ; Athens Biennale , Bienal do Mercosul ,Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art
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