title: Forging

text: Examples of parts made by this process are: wheel hub unit bearings, transmission gears, tapered roller bearing races, stainless steel coupling flanges, and neck rings for liquid propane (LP) gas cylinders. Manual transmission gears are an example of automatic hot forging used in conjunction with cold working.


title: Forging

text: Roll forging is a process where round or flat bar stock is reduced in thickness and increased in length. Roll forging is performed using two cylindrical or semi-cylindrical rolls, each containing one or more shaped grooves. A heated bar is inserted into the rolls and when it hits a spot the rolls rotate and the bar is progressively shaped as it is rolled through the machine. The piece is then transferred to the next set of grooves or turned around and reinserted into the same grooves. This continues until the desired shape and size is achieved. The advantage of this process is there is no flash and it imparts a favorable grain structure into the workpiece.


title: Forging

text: This process is also known as "precision forging". It was developed to minimize cost and waste associated with post-forging operations. Therefore, the final product from a precision forging needs little or no final machining. Cost savings are gained from the use of less material, and thus less scrap, the overall decrease in energy used, and the reduction or elimination of machining. Precision forging also requires less of a draft, 1° to 0°. The downside of this process is its cost, therefore it is only implemented if significant cost reduction can be achieved.


title: Forging

text: Near net shape forging is most common when parts are forged without heating the slug, bar or billet. Aluminum is a common material that can be cold forged depending on final shape. Lubrication of the parts being formed is critical to increase the life of the mating dies.


title: Forging

text: Unlike the above processes, induction forging is based on the type of heating style used. Many of the above processes can be used in conjunction with this heating method.


title: Forging

text: Multidirectional forging is forming of a work piece in a single step in several directions. The multidirectional forming takes place through constructive measures of the tool. The vertical movement of the press ram is redirected using wedges which distributes and redirects the force of the forging press in horizontal directions.


title: Forging

text: Isothermal forging is a process by which the materials and the die are heated to the same temperature ("iso-" meaning "equal"). Adiabatic heating is used to assist in the deformation of the material, meaning the strain rates are highly controlled. This technique is commonly used for forging aluminium, which has a lower forging temperature than steels. Forging temperatures for aluminum are around , while steels and super alloys can be .


title: Forging

text: For industrial processes steel alloys are primarily forged in hot condition. Brass, bronze, copper, precious metals and their alloys are manufactured by cold forging processes; each metal requires a different forging temperature.


title: Forging

text: Due to the narrow temperature range and high thermal conductivity, aluminium forging can only be realized in a particular process window. To provide good forming conditions a homogeneous temperature distribution in the entire workpiece is necessary. Therefore, the control of the tool temperature has a major influence to the process. For example, by optimizing the preform geometries the local effective strains can be influenced to reduce local overheating for a more homogeneous temperature distribution.


title: Forging

text: High-strength aluminium alloys have the tensile strength of medium strong steel alloys while providing significant weight advantages. Therefore, aluminium forged parts are mainly used in aerospace, automotive industry and many other fields of engineering especially in those fields, where highest safety standards against failure by abuse, by shock or vibratory stresses are needed. Such parts are for example pistons, chassis parts, steering components and brake parts. Commonly used alloys are AlSi1MgMn (EN AW-6082) and AlZnMgCu1,5 (EN AW-7075). About 80% of all aluminium forged parts are made of AlSi1MgMn. The high-strength alloy AlZnMgCu1,5 is mainly used for aerospace applications.


title: Forging

text: Magnesium alloys are more difficult to forge due to their low plasticity, low sensitivity to strain rates and narrow forming temperature. Using semi-open die hot forging with a three-slide forging press (TSFP) has become a newly developed forging method for Mg-Al alloy AZ31, commonly used in forming aircraft brackets. This forging method has shown to improve tensile properties but lacks uniform grain size. Even though the application of magnesium alloys increases by 15–20% each year in the aerospace and automotive industry, forging magnesium alloys with specialized dies is expensive and an unfeasible method to produce parts for a mass market. Instead, most magnesium alloy parts for industry are produced by casting methods.


title: Forging

text: The most common type of forging equipment is the hammer and anvil. Principles behind the hammer and anvil are still used today in "drop-hammer" equipment. The principle behind the machine is simple: raise the hammer and drop it or propel it into the workpiece, which rests on the anvil. The main variations between drop-hammers are in the way the hammer is powered; the most common being air and steam hammers. Drop-hammers usually operate in a vertical position. The main reason for this is excess energy (energy that isn't used to deform the workpiece) that isn't released as heat or sound needs to be transmitted to the foundation. Moreover, a large machine base is needed to absorb the impacts.


title: Forging

text: To overcome some shortcomings of the drop-hammer, the "counterblow machine" or "impactor" is used. In a counterblow machine both the hammer and anvil move and the workpiece is held between them. Here excess energy becomes recoil. This allows the machine to work horizontally and have a smaller base. Other advantages include less noise, heat and vibration. It also produces a distinctly different flow pattern. Both of these machines can be used for open-die or closed-die forging.


title: Forging

text: A "forging press", often just called a press, is used for press forging. There are two main types: mechanical and hydraulic presses. Mechanical presses function by using cams, cranks and/or toggles to produce a preset (a predetermined force at a certain location in the stroke) and reproducible stroke. Due to the nature of this type of system, different forces are available at different stroke positions. Mechanical presses are faster than their hydraulic counterparts (up to 50 strokes per minute). Their capacities range from 3 to 160 MN (300 to 18,000 short tons-force). Hydraulic presses use fluid pressure and a piston to generate force. The advantages of a hydraulic press over a mechanical press are its flexibility and greater capacity. The disadvantages include a slower, larger, and costlier machine to operate.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue of A$30.8 billion in the 2020 financial year, it is one of Australia's largest companies by revenue. Wesfarmers is also one of the largest private employers in Australia, with approximately 107,000 employees.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Wesfarmers was founded in 1914 as a co-operative to provide services and merchandise to Western Australian farmers. It was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1984 and grew into a major retail conglomerate.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Westralian Farmers Co‐operative Limited was formed in 1914 as a cooperative company by the Farmers' and Settlers' Association of Western Australia, to acquire the assets of the West Australian Producers' Union, to be focused on the provision of services and merchandise to the Western Australian rural community. By 1919, more than 65 local co-operative companies were acting as agents for Westralian Farmers Limited.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In 1924, it established the first public radio station in Western Australia with 6WF, before it passed into the hands of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1929, now called ABC Radio Perth


title: Wesfarmers

text: By the 1940s, the company's business included "being wheat and general merchants; country distribution for Commonwealth Oil Refineries; wool, livestock, skin and produce auctioneers; grain & fruit exporters; insurance underwriters; acquiring agents for the wheat pool of W.A." Known as Westralian Farmers Limited, it had premises in various locations within the Perth central business district. In the 1940s there were premises at 563-571 Wellington Street. It also had premises in Newman Street in Fremantle.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In 1949, Wesfarmers acquired Ashburton Transport, which at the time was lossmaking. The following year it also acquired its major competitor Gascoyne Trading, combining the operations of the two companies to supply the northwest of Western Australia. Along with wool and mail, it carted bananas from Carnarvon to Perth, returning with stores and mail from Perth. Gascoyne Trading introduced refrigerated transport to the region and three trailer road trains that now carry loads up to 115 tonnes.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In 1984, Westralian Farmers Co-operative Limited formed Wesfarmers Limited, restructuring from a co-operative to a public company and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange on 15 November 1984. Initially the Co-operative retained 60% of the ordinary shares, guaranteeing that the co-op's farmer members retained control, and the rest was distributed to its members.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In 1991, 19 m of the records of Westralian Farmers Co-operative were deposited with the J S Battye Library in Perth.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Bought in January 1993 the integration of Dalgety Farmers with Wesfarmers proved more difficult than expected. For a time the merged rural agency and merchandise business was Wesfarmers Dalgety until renamed Wesfarmers Landmark in March 2001 after IAMA Limited was brought in. Landmark, Wesfarmers foundation business, was sold to AWB Limited (originally the Australia Wheat Board) in August 2003.


title: Wesfarmers

text: An initial investment in 10 percent of Bunnings in February 1987 reached full ownership in January 1994. Bunnings bought UK retailer Homebase in February 2016 and Britain's first Bunnings store opened twelve months later in February 2017. They were 265 well-located stores and Wesfarmers believed Bunnings' management would greatly improve their modest profits. The plan was to make changes gently but tactics changed and local management, perceived as under-performing, was removed and replaced by expatriate management. The expatriate management's changes alienated the existing customer base and, aided by a poor retailing climate, brought a rapid decline into losses. A strategic review by Wesfarmers resulted in the May 2018 sale of the Homebase business to Hilco Capital at a loss of (Australian) $1.96 billion.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Australian Railroad Group begun in a joint venture with Genesee & Wyoming by the purchase of Westrail at the beginning of 2000. It was sold in 2006 to Babcock & Brown and Queensland Rail.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In 2001, Wesfarmers become a freely-traded publicly listed company with open ownership. After becoming a public company, Wesfarmers diversified its interests by acquiring other businesses.


title: Wesfarmers

text: This division is made up of Bunnings Warehouse, a retailer of home improvement and outdoor living products, servicing home and commercial customers in Australia and New Zealand, and Officeworks, a retailer and supplier of office products for home, business and education in Australia. There are 210 Bunnings "warehouse" (larger) stores, 67 Bunnings small-format stores, 36 Bunnings Trade centres and 150 Officeworks stores. Bunnings employs more than 33,000 staff and Officeworks employs more than 8,000 staff.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In January 2016, Home Retail Group accepted an offer from Wesfarmers to acquire the British home improvement retailer and garden centre Homebase. Stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland began to be rebranded as Bunnings following the takeover. However, following Wesfarmer's sale of Homebase to Hilco in May 2018, it was reported that the 24 stores already converted would return to the "Homebase" branding.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In 2019, Officeworks group acquired Geeks2U, an Australian provider of on-site information, communication and technology services.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In February 2016, Wesfarmers announced a restructure of its department store businesses into a single division named Department Stores, with each brand (originally Kmart and Target) continuing to operate independently. The division was later renamed Kmart Group. In August 2019, Catch Group, operator of the online shopping website catch.com.au, was acquired by Wesfarmers and included in the group.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Kmart is a discount department store retailer in Australia and New Zealand. Kmart has more than 300 stores around Australia and New Zealand, employing more than 42,000 staff. Kmart Tyre and Auto is no longer a part of Kmart after parent Wesfarmers sold the auto division to German company Continental AG. Kmart Tyre and Auto has since been rebranded by Continental AG to MyCar.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Target is a mid-level department store retailer in Australia. Target employs more than 12,000 staff. In 2014, Wesfarmers was forced to write-down the value of Target by $680 million because of a fall in the company's profits. Target Australia has no connection to the American retailer Target of similar name.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In August 2015, Wesfarmers announced an organisational restructure to cluster its three industrial businesses, Chemicals, Energy & Fertilisers (WesCEF); Resources; and Industrial and Safety (WIS) into a single, new Industrials division.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy & Fertilisers (WesCEF) produces and markets chemicals, fertilisers and gas products. WesCEF has ammonia and ammonium nitrate production facilities in Western Australia, 50% of QNP ammonium nitrate production facilities in Queensland, sodium cyanide production facilities in Western Australia, PVC resin and specialty chemicals production facilities in Victoria, LPG and LNG distribution across Australia with LPG and LNG production facilities in Western Australia and fertiliser production and importation facilities in Western Australia. WesCEF employs more than 1,200 staff. WesCEF businesses include CSBP, Australian Vinyls, AGR, QNP, Evol LNG, Kleenheat and Modwood.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Wesfarmers Industrial and Safety provides industrial and safety products and services in Australia and New Zealand. On 1 December 2014, Wesfamers Industrial and Safety completed the acquisition of the Workwear Group of Pacific Brands Limited. Its businesses now include Blackwoods, Greencap, Bullivants, Coregas, Blackwoods Protector, Safety Source, Total Fasteners, Packaging House, King Gee, Hard Yakka, Stubbies and GotStock.


title: Wesfarmers

text: The division's 32 New Zealand stores are now all branded as NZ Safety Blackwoods. These include former Blackwood and Packaging House stores, and 19 former Paykel Engineering Supplies purchased in 2003.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Wesfarmers is one step closer in acquiring Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API) after the shareholder approval on 17th March 2022.


title: Wesfarmers

text: API would form the basis of a new healthcare division of Wesfarmers and a base from which to invest and develop capabilities in the health and wellbeing sector


title: Wesfarmers

text: Wesfarmers has a 50% interest in investment house Gresham Partners plus interests in Gresham Private Equity Funds, 50% interest in Wespine, a plantation softwood sawmill in Dardanup and a 24% interest in BWP Trust which mainly owns Bunnings Warehouses tenanted by Bunnings Group Limited.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Wesfarmers has 100% interest in many other subsidiaries across Australia, New Zealand, India, New Caledonia, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, Bermuda and Singapore. These include BBC Hardware, Coles Ansett Travel, Coles Group Superannuation Fund, Coles Property Management, Comnet, Fosseys, Grocery Holdings Pty Ltd, Harris Technology, Howard Smith, Katies Fashions, Loyalty Pacific, Masters Home Improvement New Zealand, Morley Shopping Centre, now.com.au, Theo's Liquor, Tooronga Shopping Centre, Tyremaster, Viking Direct and World 4 Kids.


title: Wesfarmers

text: On 16 June 2014, Wesfarmers completed the sale of its insurance broking and premium funding operations, including OAMPS Insurance Brokers in Australia, OAMPS UK, Crombie Lockwood in New Zealand, Lumley Finance and Monument Premium Financing to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. On 30 June 2014, Wesfarmers completed the sale of its insurance underwriting operations, including the WFI and Lumley brands, to the Insurance Australia Group.


title: Wesfarmers

text: On 2 July 2007, Wesfarmers announced it was purchasing the Coles Group retail business for $22 billion making it the largest successful take-over in Australian corporate history. Wesfarmers took control of Coles on 23 November 2007, after paying almost $20 billion for the company. Wesfarmers had already purchased 13 per cent of the retailer in April.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Coles is a national supermarket, liquor, fuel and convenience retailer in Australia. As of September 2013, Coles operated 756 full-service supermarkets, 810 liquor outlets, 92 hotels, and 636 fuel and convenience stores. Coles employs more than 105,000 staff. Coles' businesses include Coles Supermarkets, Coles Online, Coles Express, Vintage Cellars, 1st Choice Liquor Superstore, BI-LO, Coles Financial Services and Liquorland.


title: Wesfarmers

text: On 16 March 2018, Wesfarmers held a meeting to discuss its intention to demerge Coles, The demerger was effective from 21 November 2018 with Wesfarmers retaining a 15% shareholding. During 2020 Wesfarmers reduced its equity in Coles to 4.9%.


title: Wesfarmers

text: Wesfarmers Resources owned and operated open-cut coal producing resources in Australia including the Curragh in Queensland. Wesfarmers divested its coal business, completing the process with the sale of its 40 per cent interest in the Bengalla Joint Venture to New Hope Corporation for $860 million on 3 December 2018.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In 1950 Wesfarmers purchased the Gascoyne Trading Company (GTC), growing it to become the largest transport operator in Western Australia. Until 1971 it held the sole rights for direct road transport between Carnarvon and Perth. In 1973 a joint venture was formed with Downard to enter the interstate freight forwarding market between Western Australia and Victoria.


title: Wesfarmers

text: In 1985, GTC purchased a 50% shareholding in Total West from Mayne Nickless. In 1996, after taking full ownership of Total West, Wesfarmers merged it with GTC to form Wesfarmers Transport. In 2001 the business was sold to Toll Holdings.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: Spike was created by series director Shinichirō Watanabe and was designed by Toshihiro Kawamoto as part of the production entity Hajime Yatate. Created as a mirror image of Watanabe and based on Japanese actor Yūsaku Matsuda's portrayal of Shunsaku Kudō in "Tantei Monogatari" ("Detective Story"), he was designed as someone who would expect others to follow his lead. Kawamoto deliberately designed him to appear "uncool" to create the opposite effect for viewers. His final confrontation with Vicious was planned well in advance. His portrayal in the later movie adaptation displayed the character's softer side and inner thoughts. Spike is voiced in Japanese by Kōichi Yamadera. In the English dub, he is voiced by Steven Blum.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: In addition to the series, Spike has been featured in two manga adaptations and has been the protagonist of two video game adaptations. His character was subject to much critical acclaim in Japan and the West, with multiple reviewers praising his portrayal. He has appeared on multiple reader and critic lists of the best anime characters. In addition to the series, many reviewers of the movie positively noted his expanded portrayal in "". Both actors have been praised for their performances, with Blum commenting that it boosted his voice acting career.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: Spike is a bounty hunter who was born on Mars on June 26, 2044. He is 27 years old. Spike has fluffy hair and brown eyes, the left being artificial. He is 6'1" tall and weighs 155 lbs. Spike is a heavy smoker, and is frequently seen smoking regardless of poor weather and the presence of "no smoking" signs. A skilled martial artist who practices Jeet Kune Do, Spike is a devout follower of the philosophies of Bruce Lee. He also owns a converted asteroid racer called the Swordfish II. During gunfights, he often uses a Jericho 941. The guns on the show were chosen by the director, Watanabe, and in discussion with set designer, Isamu Imakake, and mechanical designer, Kimitoshi Yamane. Setting producer, Satoshi Toba said, "They talked about how they didn’t want common guns, because that wouldn’t be very interesting, and so they decided on these guns."


title: Spike Spiegel

text: In Spike's younger days before joining the Bebop, he was part of the Red Dragon Syndicate, a Chinese criminal organization. During his time there, he was impetuous and volatile, but after leaving, he adopted a calm and collected demeanor. However, he still retains his love for combat. Spike always holds true to his own values and fulfills his obligations. He also generally goes his own way rather than following orders, which often gets him into trouble. Watanabe thought of Spike as a Yakuza. He also said that Spike has a habit of being very indirect with his emotions; for example, he may behave antagonistically towards someone he actually likes. Watanabe said that Spike's relationship with Faye Valentine is a prime example of this tendency.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: In the third volume of the manga, "Cowboy Bebop" illustrated by Yutaka Nanten and story by Hajime Yatate, Spike is described as "oriental," an outdated term for Asian.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: At Otakon 1999, Watanabe stated at the anime panel that the name Spike Spiegel was chosen because he liked the sound only, not because of Jewish origins. Kawamoto based the Spike's hairstyle and appearance on the Japanese actor, Yusaku Matsuda. The concept of Spike was created before the idea of the anime and months before Kawamoto was hired and had input from Watanabe on designing the character.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: Years before the beginning of the series, Spike is a rising member of the Red Dragon crime syndicate. While there, he becomes a partner and friend of Vicious, another member of the Syndicate. After being wounded in a gun battle, Spike is nursed back to health by Vicious' girlfriend Julia, and the two fall in love. They plan to elope and escape the Syndicate, but Vicious finds out and presents Julia with an ultimatum: kill Spike or be executed. After Spike fakes his death to escape the Syndicate, Julia never arrives to rendezvous with him—instead she goes into hiding to avoid betraying him or being killed herself. Spike eventually met and teamed up with former Inter-Solar System Police (ISSP) officer Jet Black. As legal bounty hunters, they travel the Solar System's inhabited worlds hunting bountyheads.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: During his time on the Bebop, he and Jet are joined by Ein, an intelligent Pembroke Welsh Corgi; Faye Valentine, a gambler and original resident of Earth woken from cryogenic sleep; and Edward "Ed" Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski IV, an eccentric girl from Earth who is a master hacker. Spike also has run-ins with Vicious on two occasions: in "Ballad of Fallen Angels", while pursuing a Red Dragon executive, Spike and Vicious battle in a derelict church and Spike is nearly killed. Later, in "Jupiter Jazz", Spike hears that Julia was seen on Callisto and abandons the Bebop to look for her. Once there, he stumbles into a drug deal orchestrated by Gren, a man Vicious betrayed who is seeking revenge. During their confrontation, a three-way battle ensues: Vicious escapes, and Gren is fatally injured, but he succeeds in telling Spike that Julia is alive and in hiding.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: During the final story of the series, "The Real Folk Blues", Julia comes out of hiding and sends a message to Spike through Faye: the two meet and resolve to flee as originally planned. Vicious, having staged a "coup d'état" and taken over the Red Dragon Syndicate, sends assassins after the two. During a battle, Julia is shot and killed. After saying his goodbyes to Jet and Faye, Spike storms the headquarters of the Syndicate and has a final confrontation with Vicious: Spike is severely wounded and Vicious is killed. Spike looks up to the sky and sees Julia. Some time after this, Spike walks into and collapses in the entrance hall. He is never shown moving again. A star is shown going out. Spike's ultimate fate has never been confirmed, with Watanabe eventually claiming he was unable to say whether he lived or died.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: Spike is the main protagonist of "", a story set between Episodes 22 and 23 of the original series while the Bebop crew are still working together. The crew of the Bebop take on a massive bounty for Vincent Volaju, who releases a cloud of deadly protein-based nanomachines in Mars' capital city. During his pursuit, Spike initially fights then allies with Elektra Ovirowa, a former comrade of Vincent's.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: Spike appears along with the other main characters in the manga adaptation of "Cowboy Bebop" and the alternate manga "Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star". In the PlayStation "Cowboy Bebop", players control Spike as he pilots the Swordfish II during aerial battles through pre-set courses. Spike appears as one of the playable characters in the PlayStation 2 action/beat 'em up video game "", a game set within the continuity of the series.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: John Cho portrayed Spike in the live-action series for Netflix released in 2021. For the role, Cho grew out his hair to mimic Spike's look from the anime.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: During the first work by Shinichirō Watanabe on "Cowboy Bebop", the first image that came to him was of Spike. Prior to that, Watanabe had the character of Spike in mind for a long time beforehand. From that point on, Watanabe "tried to build a story around him, trying to make him cool." Watanabe created Spike as a mirror image of himself: in Watanabe's words, "I don't smoke or drink or fight, but I want to – so Spike does." Spike forms the main focus on the series, with the central theme being his past and its karmic effect on him. Spike was portrayed as a "typical old-style Japanese man", who would simply do what he wanted and expect others to follow his lead and watch him from the sidelines. Spike's artificial eye was included as Watanabe wanted his characters to have flaws. He was originally going to give Spike an eye patch, but the producers vetoed it. In order to portray him as cool, Toshihiro Kawamoto designed Spike to look "uncool": when he stands still, he has a hunched appearance. This meant that when the character was moving vigorously, he came across as "extra cool". Spike's appearance was primarily based on the main protagonist of "Tantei Monogatari", portrayed by famous Japanese actor Yūsaku Matsuda. Although Yamadera was a fan of Matsuda's, he avoided imitating his distinctive manner of speaking, noting that it "wouldn't have sounded right" for Spike. Spike's Swordfish II spaceship was created by mecha designer Kimitoshi Yamane. Yamane liked the English biplane torpedo-bomber Fairey Swordfish, which led him to name the Swordfish II after the bomber. The conclusion of Spike's story and his final battle with Vicious were planned by Watanabe well in advance, with each episode featuring them meant to shadow their final confrontation. Some of the staff were unhappy about this approach as a continuation of the series would be difficult. While he considered altering the ending, he eventually settled with his original idea.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: With regards to casting, Watanabe considered Kōichi Yamadera to be "really perfect" for Spike. The staff had him audition as a formality, but Watanabe felt that "no matter how you looked at it, there was only Yamadera". After a decade of work in anime series, Yamadera was pleased to secure his first leading role, but Unshō Ishizuka, Jet's voice actor, was surprised that Yamadera was not cast as Jet. The two characters were designed to be opposites, with Spike being thin and wearing smart attire, while Jet was bulky and wore more casual clothing. Spike's English voice actor, Steven Blum, used film noir imagery to get himself in the right frame of mind to voice the character, but experienced some difficulty portraying in scenes where he was showing vulnerability. Reflecting on his performance, Blum said "there were a few lines here and there that I felt were awkward, and could have been smoothed out better." He called Spike an "example of a character [he] didn't fully appreciate until the series was over", adding that he would like to reprise his role as the character if given the chance. Spike's portrayal was expanded in "". Specifically, according to Yamadera, the character displayed more of his inner thoughts and showed a gentler side than he did in the series. This was because the team had more time available to express such details. Blum found his performance in the movie one of his most difficult from an emotional standpoint, as there were scenes where Spike was portrayed quite differently from the version he had been playing in the series.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: Spike's character has been well received in Japan. He won first place in the Best Male Character category at "Animage"s annual Anime Grand Prix awards two consecutive times in 1998 and 1999. In the August 2001 issue of "Newtype", Spike was ranked first on the magazine's list of "Top 10 Most Popular Male Anime Characters in Japan". The next year in July 2002, Spike was again placed at number one on "Newtype"s anime list of "Favorite Male Character". In a "Newtype" poll from March 2010, Spike was voted by readers as the eighteenth most popular male anime character from the 1990s. In 2014, Kōichi Yamadera was voted by fans as the third coolest "old guy" voice actor in a Goo Ranking poll, and three years later, topped Asahi's list of the 25 best voice actors as voted by their peers, with his portrayal of Spike cited as one of the contributing factors.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: Western critics have also directed significant praise towards Spike. In his review of "Cowboy Bebop", Anime News Network's Mike Crandol praised the character portrayals, especially Spike's, stating that "Spike's character in particular runs the gamut from goofy to blasé to teeth-gnashing tough; he is one of most three-dimensional anime leads in recent memory." Christi of THEM Anime Review 4.0 complimented Spike's story arc in the series, saying that "the underlying theme of Spike Spiegel and his motivations for what he does is absolutely intriguing." DVDTalk's Kyle Mills called Spike the epitome of a good lead protagonist, referring to him as "composed, always cool, and is essentially the ultimate badass", although his true nature is gradually shown throughout the series. In an article in "The Atlantic", writer Alex Suskind was positive about Spike's portrayal and development, saying that the word "cool" was the most apt way of describing him and referring to him as "a space-age samurai-cum-Marlboro Man". Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku, writing a retrospective on the series, praised the relationship between Spike and Faye, especially the way it evolved through the series without overt verbal expressions of affection.


title: Spike Spiegel

text: His portrayal in "The Movie" has also received praise: IGN's Andy Patrizio said that Spike "opens up his soul a little" during the film, while Chris Beveridge of Mania.com found Spike more likable in the film than in some parts of the series, comparing him to Lupin III and praising the moments where he could be himself and show more of his inner self. Carlos Ross of THEM Anime Review said that Spike's portrayal was one of the things that worked in the film, and DVD Talk's Neil Lumbard, alongside general praise of the characters, positively noted the further exploration of his personality. Anime News Network's Mike Crandol was less enthusiastic, saying that while Spike was the only one who got much attention during the film, some sequences felt like they could work without him.The Japanese and English portrayals of Spike have also drawn praise individually. While praising the Japanese cast as "perfectly complementing the characters", Kenneth Lee of EX.org argued that "there could be no one else to fill the role of Spike Spiegel except Yamadera". Meanwhile, IGN's Ramsey Isler stated that "Steve Blum launched his career into new heights when he gave the performance of a lifetime in the English dub of the series, giving Spike a sense of smooth, effortless cool that many argue surpassed the original Japanese version." Commending the principal American cast's work as one of the best English dubs, Serdar Yegulalp of About.com highlighted Blum as Spike as the standout performance of the series, stating that "Cynicism never sounded this suave or self-assured". However, AnimeNation's John Oppliger felt Spike's character was mishandled in the English dub, where he was depicted as a "carefree playboy" whose ambivalent taunts "come across as casual off-the-cuff bluffs, unlike his weighty, solemn statements in the Japanese version". Blum himself has called Spike a "gigantic benchmark" in his career and life, saying that "Spike changed everything" for him. He stated that his role as Spike opened up new opportunities for voicing characters, including T.O.M. on Toonami and Jamie on "Megas XLR".


title: Spike Spiegel

text: In 2009 and 2014, IGN ranked Spike among the best anime characters of all time. In 2009, Chris Mackenzie ranked Spike as the fourth greatest anime character behind Goku, Astro Boy, and Speed Racer. In 2014, Ramsey Isler ranked him as second greatest behind Shinji Ikari of "Neon Genesis Evangelion". At the 2005 Anime Awards from About.com, Spike was nominated in the category "Best Lead Male Character", though he lost to Goku. In 2010, "Wired" included Spike on its list of the "6 Genre-Tripping Gunfighters Jonah Hex Must Duel FTW!", with writer Scott Thill complimenting his abilities, while also commenting on his presence of heart compared to other equivalent protagonists. In 2013, "Complex" ranked Spike the fourth most stylish anime character ever, with writer Jian DeLeon commenting that "The Mars-born bounty hunter knows the benefit of a good uniform". According to the director of "Yakuza 4", the playable character Shun Akiyama was inspired by Spike in order to bring an aloof personality to contrast lead Kazuma Kiryu.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Garden of Shadows, a novel by V. C. Andrews, was first published in 1987. V. C. Andrews died in 1986, and her estate commissioned ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman to continue writing novels under her name developed from plot outlines originally written by Andrews. There is some dispute over whether this particular novel was written in part by Andrews before she died, or whether it was written entirely by Neiderman. This is the fifth novel of the Dollanganger series. The novel explains the origin of Olivia Winfield (the grandmother in "Flowers in the Attic"), the events that cause her to become the cold, domineering mistress of Foxworth Hall, and Corinne's childhood and eventual betrayal. It is the fifth novel of the Flowers in the Attic series but considered the prequel, as the story told takes place prior to the events of the first book. The story covers the years between 1918-1957.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Tall, plain Olivia Winfield is rescued from spinsterhood by the smart and handsome Malcolm Foxworth. She thinks she has found "the one" since he is the first man to ever show interest in her. Malcolm, taken by her forthright manner and impressed with her intelligence, proposes after only two days' acquaintance. They marry two weeks later. Olivia leaves her family home in New London, Connecticut to move to his family's mansion, Foxworth Hall, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Olivia starts to discover dark secrets about Malcolm, which eventually diminish her love for him. At a party to celebrate their wedding, Malcolm talks to and flirts with other women, neglecting Olivia.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: She discovers that Malcolm is still tormented by his mother Corinne's abandonment of him at age five. She believes her own plain looks and money attracted him to her, since he mistrusts conventionally beautiful women. While he is attracted to beauty and seems likely to consider an affair, it is obvious he lacks enough patience and true feeling for such an entanglement. Olivia feels betrayed and humiliated but is still optimistic that things will change as they begin their life together.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: When exploring the house, she discovers the "Swan Room" which belonged to Malcolm's mother. It has been kept as a shrine to her and contains a very large, ornate bed carved in the shape of a swan. When Malcolm discovers her in the room, they finally consummate their marriage, an act that could be considered more of an attack than an act of love, with Malcolm saying his mother's name the entire time. Olivia wants to scream but does not, trying to hide her humiliation from the servants.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Nine months later, Olivia gives birth to a boy, Malcolm Jr., referred to as "Mal." Malcolm is kind to her at times, giving her hope that things might improve between them. But for the most part, Olivia feels unimportant and ignored. Two years later, she gives birth to a second son, Joel. Malcolm is upset, as Joel is not healthy and he wanted their second child to be a girl. They are also told she cannot have any more children. Malcolm does not fully appreciate his sons because of his disappointment at not having a daughter.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Shortly after Joel is born, Malcolm's father Garland comes back to Foxworth Hall with his new wife, Alicia. Olivia is disgusted that Alicia is only nineteen and very beautiful. Malcolm is enraged to discover that she is pregnant, thinking that her child will inherit part of Garland's fortune. Alicia makes numerous friendly overtures to Olivia, but Olivia keeps distant from her. Alicia gives birth to a son, whom she names Christopher.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: However, Malcolm becomes obsessed with Alicia. When Alicia spurns his advances, Malcolm is convinced that she is leading him on and vows to make her pay dearly. Olivia witnesses Malcolm's lust. Humiliated and heartbroken, she blames Alicia for making herself attractive to Malcolm.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: On the night of Christopher's third birthday, Garland catches Malcolm trying to rape Alicia, gets into a violent argument with him, has a heart attack, and dies. Amidst the somber air in the manor, Malcolm seems to be feeling some guilt and avoids Alicia. Eventually, though, his obsession resumes. Soon Alicia confesses to Olivia that Malcolm has been coming to her bedroom and raping her, threatening to throw her and her son out on the street penniless if she does not yield. She has become pregnant with Malcolm's child. Olivia is humiliated and jealous.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Olivia decides that the only thing to do is to hide Alicia away while Olivia herself feigns being with child. Once Alicia secretly delivers, Olivia will pass the baby off as hers; Malcolm will give Alicia Garland's inheritance, and she and Christopher will leave. Alicia reluctantly agrees, says goodbye to Christopher, and goes into hiding in the attic of Foxworth Hall. Olivia hires new servants as an extra precaution to safeguard their secret, but she fears that Malcolm's interest in Alicia remains. To make Alicia less attractive to him, Olivia coerces her into cutting off her long hair, which Olivia leaves on Malcolm's desk to show that she is now the one in control.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: As months pass, Olivia begins to think of Christopher as another son and is heartbroken when Alicia suddenly and quietly leaves with him after the birth of a daughter. However, Olivia is soon enraged when she discovers that Malcolm has named his new child Corinne (her name is spelled "Corrine" in the V.C. Andrews-penned original novels), after his mother, and plans to oversee her upbringing. He acts like an only parent to the young Corinne, often overriding attempts by Olivia to raise her to be a proper young woman. Olivia still does what she can to be a mother to Corinne, and takes joy in their relationship.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: In the years that pass, Corinne grows up into a happy but spoiled girl and Malcolm continues to be emotionally distant from his sons and wife. He often criticizes the boys to Olivia and is upset that Joel exhibits little interest in his business, though Mal seems to be willing to follow in his father's footsteps. Mal dies in a motorcycling accident when he rides off a cliff near Foxworth Hall. Later John Amos, Olivia's cousin, is hired as butler and he incorporates religion into the household. Joel soon leaves on a tour of Europe with a professional orchestra--against his father's wishes--and receives fame in several European newspapers. Olivia is proud of Joel, but Malcolm dismisses Joel's path as frivolous and an embarrassment to the family. Beneath the criticism is worry for his son and disappointment in his choice to leave Foxworth Hall.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Joel's parents are informed of his death by avalanche in a telegram which also reveals that his body was not recovered. Devastated over the loss of their sons, Olivia and Malcolm turn to religion and bond somewhat, until Olivia receives a letter from Alicia, who is dying from breast cancer.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Alicia remarried soon after leaving Foxworth Hall, but her husband died a few years later. She and Christopher have been living in poverty since becoming bankrupt during the Great Depression. Remembering Olivia's kindness to Christopher while she was in the attic, Alicia pleads with her to give Christopher a home and put him through medical school. Olivia convinces Malcolm to agree to this, so Christopher comes to live with them.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: When they meet for the first time, Corinne and Christopher fall deeply in love. It goes unnoticed by the household, however, because they all adore Christopher. Later John Amos begins to suspect incest, although Olivia brushes it off as his jealousy. She and Malcolm seem truly happy and content with their family for the first time. Although she expresses herself subtly, Olivia is drawn to Christopher.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: After Christopher graduates from college and Corinne has finished high school, a letter of acceptance arrives from Harvard. Olivia is excitedly searching to tell Christopher when John Amos reports that Christopher and Corinne are making love in the Swan Room. She does not believe him, but a quick peek shows it is true. Olivia is heartbroken and tells Malcolm. Christopher and Corinne try to explain themselves, but Malcolm condemns them and Olivia sides with him instead of intervening. They are banished and disinherited.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Malcolm has a stroke followed by a heart attack, and he is forced to use a wheelchair. Olivia devotes herself to his care. Olivia reveals to John Amos that Christopher was not just Corinne's half-uncle, but also her half-brother. She tells of the sins and the events that led to them. John preys on Olivia's fear of God, urging her and Malcolm to become obsessively religious.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Malcolm is a changed man after the scandal. Finally he breaks, and asks Olivia to hire a private detective to find out what happened to Corinne. The P.I. returns and informs Olivia that they live in Gladstone, Pennsylvania (outside of Philadelphia) under the name of Dollanganger. Christopher has dropped out of medical school and works in public relations, while Corinne is a housewife. They live a typical suburban, middle-class life. The two have four children: Chris, Cathy, and twins Cory and Carrie. All four children are perfectly healthy, bright, and beautiful, known in their town as the Dresden Dolls. Olivia does not tell Malcolm about the children because she believes that he will want to see his grandchildren and become bewitched by their beauty, especially the girls'.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Years later, Corinne writes to tell of Christopher's death in a car accident and to seek shelter. Olivia is heartbroken over Christopher's death, but John Amos tells her that it was God's work. He also convinces her to allow Corinne and the children to come. But the children must be hidden from the world forever, if she wants to end the sins within Foxworth Hall. Olivia tells Malcolm that Corinne is coming home, still not mentioning the children's existence.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: When she first sees them, Chris and Cathy remind Olivia so much of Christopher and Corinne. But she refuses to love them; as products of incest, they are "the devil's spawn". The book ends with Olivia silently vowing to keep her heart hardened against the children and to keep them forever hidden from the world--while feeling just as imprisoned as they will soon be.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: This book, though a prequel, actually changes the entire scandalous nature of the series. As well as being half-uncle and niece, it is revealed Chris and Corinne are half-brother and sister. The book also gives a sympathetic side to Olivia previously unseen in the other books. However, Olivia's softer side was implied in "Flowers in the Attic", when Cathy theorizes at one point, though briefly, that Olivia was trying to prevent them from eating the poisoned donuts their mother sets out for them, when Olivia agrees with Cathy's demands that the dying twin Cory be taken to a hospital (but he really wasn't), when Olivia gives them a plant, and when Christopher witnesses Olivia in prayer at the foot of her bed.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: This book also clarifies the suspicious marriage of Corinne and John Amos (mentioned in "If There Be Thorns"), considering the latter's obvious disgust with incest. As Corinne is not Olivia's biological daughter, she and John Amos are not genetically related.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Also, this book examines Corinne's betrayal. It has stated in this book that she wanted to marry and have children, but her greedy side is shown in the other books, such as in "If There Be Thorns," when Christopher states that Corinne wanted him to sue and get the money that was his. Her betrayal is likely due to the fact that she was spoiled by her father and grew up in wealth, so once the children were in the attic, she turned her attention toward getting her inheritance. Corinne conspired with Olivia to lock her children away and said (about waking the twins so they could walk, as Chris and Cathy were complaining about their arms aching from holding them), "Lord knows, they'd better walk outside while they can." Corinne claims in "Petals On the Wind" that she "did" put arsenic on the doughnuts, but her plan was not to kill them—it was to get the children sick one by one and take them out of the attic "to the hospital," then come back and tell Olivia that they had died. However, this claim seems doubtful, as Corinne and her husband Bart moved out of Foxworth Hall after Cory died, and she did not seem concerned with helping the remaining three children escape.


title: Garden of Shadows

text: Lifetime is currently adapting the novel as "Flowers in the Attic: The Origin". The event series is set to air in the summer of 2022, starring Jemima Rooper as Olivia and Max Irons as Malcolm. Supporting cast includes Kelsey Grammer, Harry Hamlin, Kate Mulgrew, Paul Wesley, T’Shan Williams, Hannah Dodd, and Alana Boden.


title: Peter Bowles

text: Peter Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English television and stage actor. He gained prominence for television dramas such as "Callan: A Magnum for Schneider" and "I, Claudius". He is however, best remembered for his roles in sitcoms and television dramadies, including: "Rumpole of the Bailey", "Only When I Laugh", "To the Manor Born", "The Bounder", "The Irish R.M.", "Lytton's Diary", "Executive Stress" and "Perfect Scoundrels".


title: Peter Bowles

text: Bowles was born in London, England. His father, Herbert Reginald Bowles, was a valet-companion and chauffeur to Drogo Montagu, son of the George Montagu, 9th Earl of Sandwich, and later butler to Montagu’s widow, a daughter of Lord Beaverbrook. His mother, Sarah Jane (née Harrison), was from Scotland, and served as a nanny to the family of the Duke of Argyll, before working for Beaverbrook's family in England, which is how they met. In October 1939, the family lived in Brackley, Northamptonshire, moving to Nottingham a few months later. In Nottingham, they lived in the working-class area of Hyson Green. He attended Berridge Road Juniors and High Pavement Grammar School.


title: Peter Bowles

text: Bowles married Susan Bennett on 8 April 1961. The couple lived in Barnes, south-west London and had three children together. He died on 17 March 2022, aged 85, from cancer.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Peleș Castle ( ) is a Neo-Renaissance castle in the Carpathian Mountains, near Sinaia, in Prahova County, Romania, on an existing medieval route linking Transylvania and Wallachia, built between 1873 and 1914. Its inauguration was held in 1883. It was constructed for King Carol I.


title: Peleș Castle

text: The complex is northwest of the town of Sinaia, which is from Brașov and from Bucharest. In the southeastern Carpathian Mountains, the complex is composed of three monuments: Peleș Castle, Pelișor Castle, and the Foișor Hunting Lodge.


title: Peleș Castle

text: When King Carol I of Romania (1839–1914), under whose reign the country gained its independence, first visited the site of the future castle in 1866, he fell in love with the magnificent mountain scenery. In 1872, the Crown purchased of land near the Piatra Arsă River. The estate was named the Royal Estate of Sinaia. The King commissioned the construction of a royal hunting preserve and summer retreat on the property, and the foundation was laid for Peleș Castle on 22 August 1873. Several auxiliary buildings were built simultaneously with the castle: the guards' chambers, the Economat Building, the Foișor hunting lodge, the royal stables, and a power plant. Peleș became the world's first castle fully powered by locally produced electricity.


title: Peleș Castle

text: The first three design plans submitted for Peleș were copies of other palaces in Western Europe, and King Carol I rejected them all as lacking originality and being too costly. German architect Johannes Schultz won the project by presenting a more original plan, something that appealed to the King's taste: a grand palatial alpine castle combining different features of classic European styles, mostly following Italian elegance and German aesthetics along Renaissance lines. Works were also led by architect Carol Benesch. Later additions were made between 1893 and 1914 by the Czech architect Karel Liman, who designed the towers, including the main central tower, which is in height. The Sipot Building, which served as Liman's headquarters during the construction, was built later on. Liman would supervise the building of the nearby Pelișor Castle (1889–1903, the future residence of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania), as well as of King Ferdinand's villa in the Royal Sheepfold Meadow. King Carol I and Queen Elizabeth lived in Foişor Villa during construction, as King Ferdinand and Queen Marie had during the construction of Pelișor Castle.


title: Peleș Castle

text: The cost of the work on the castle undertaken between 1875 and 1914 was estimated to be 16,000,000 Romanian lei in gold (approx. US$ 120 million today). Between three and four hundred men worked on the construction. Queen Elisabeth of the Romanians, during the construction phase, wrote in her journal:


title: Peleș Castle

text: Construction saw a slight slowdown during the Romanian War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1877–78, but soon afterwards the plans grew in size and construction was quite rapid.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Peleș Castle had its official Royal Ball of Inauguration on 7 October 1883. King Carol II was born at the castle in 1893, giving meaning to the phrase "cradle of the dynasty, cradle of the nation" that Carol I bestowed upon Peleș Castle. Carol II lived in Foișor Villa for periods during his reign. Princess Maria died there in 1874.


title: Peleș Castle

text: After King Michael I's forced abdication in 1947, the Communist regime seized all royal property, including the Peleș Estate. The castle was opened as a tourist attraction for a short time. It also served as a recreation and resting place for Romanian cultural personalities. The castle was declared a museum in 1953. Nicolae Ceaușescu closed the entire estate between 1975 and 1990, during the last years of the Communist regime. The area was declared a "State Protocol Interest Area", and the only persons permitted on the property were maintenance and military personnel.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Ceaușescu did not like the castle very much and rarely visited. In the 1980s, some of the timber was infested with "Serpula lacrymans". After the December 1989 Revolution, Peleș and Pelișor Castle were re-established as heritage sites and opened to the public. Today, Foișor Castle serves as a presidential residence. The Economat Building and the Guard's Chambers Building are now hotels and restaurants. Some of the other buildings on the Peleș Estate were converted to tourist villas and some are now "state protocol buildings". In 2006, the Romanian government announced the restitution of the castle to former monarch Michael I. Negotiations soon began between the former king and the government of Romania, and were concluded in 2007. The castle is on lease from the royal family to the Romanian state. Peleș Castle receives between a quarter and almost a half million visitors annually.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Throughout its history, the castle hosted some important personalities, from royalty and politicians to artists. One of the most memorable visits was that of Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary on 2 October 1896, who later wrote in a letter:


title: Peleș Castle

text: Artists like George Enescu, Sarah Bernhardt, Jacques Thibaud and Vasile Alecsandri visited often as guests of Queen Elizabeth of Romania (herself a writer also known under the pen name of Carmen Sylva). In more recent times, many foreign dignitaries such as Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Muammar al-Gaddafi, and Yasser Arafat were welcomed at the castle.


title: Peleș Castle

text: The castle was featured in the 2009 film "The Brothers Bloom". The exterior of the castle is used to represent a large estate in New Jersey, the home of an eccentric billionaire played by Rachel Weisz.


title: Peleș Castle

text: The castle was featured in the Netflix original film "A Christmas Prince" and its two sequels, "" and "". It was also featured in the 2011 Hallmark Channel movie "A Princess for Christmas" and 2018's "Royal Matchmaker".


title: Peleș Castle

text: By form and function, Peleș is a palace, but it is consistently called a castle. Its architectural style is a romantically inspired blend Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival similar to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. A Saxon influence can be observed in the interior courtyard facades, which have allegorical hand-painted murals and ornate fachwerk similar to that seen in northern European alpine architecture. Interior decoration is mostly Baroque influenced, with heavy carved woods and exquisite fabrics.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Peleș Castle has a floor plan with over 170 rooms, many with dedicated themes from world cultures (in a similar fashion as other Romanian palaces, such as Cotroceni Palace). Themes vary by function (offices, libraries, armouries, art galleries) or by style (Florentine, Turkish, Moorish, French, Imperial); all the rooms are lavishly furnished and decorated to the slightest detail. There are 30 bathrooms. The establishment has collections of statues, paintings, furniture, arms and armor, gold, silver, stained glass, ivory, porcelain, tapestries and rugs. The collection of arms and armour has over 4,000 pieces, divided between Eastern and Western war pieces and ceremonial or hunting pieces, spreading over four centuries of history. Oriental rugs come from many sources: Bukhara, Mosul, Isparta, Saruk and Smirna. The porcelain is from Sèvres and Meissen; the leather is from Córdoba. The hand-painted stained glass vitralios, which are mostly Swiss.


title: Peleș Castle

text: A towering statue of King Carol I by Raffaello Romanelli overlooks the main entrance. Many other statues are present on the seven Italian neo-Renaissance terrace gardens, mostly of Carrara marble executed by the Italian sculptor Romanelli. The gardens also host fountains, urns, stairways, guarding lions, marble paths and other decorative pieces.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Peleș Castle shelters a painting collection of almost 2,000 pieces. Angelo de Gubernatis (1840–1913) was an Italian writer who arrived in 1898 in Sinaia as a guest of the Royal Family:


title: Peleș Castle

text: Public visits are made within guided tours. One of the tours is limited to the ground floor, another adds the first floor and the complete tour includes the second floor. Admission is charged, and there is an additional photography fee. The visiting hours are from 9 am to 5 pm; Wednesday through Sunday. On Tuesdays, the hours are 11 am to 5 pm. The castle is closed on Mondays. These visiting hours are subject to change by the Romanian Culture Ministry. The castle is closed in November each year for maintenance and cleaning.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Holul de Onoare (The Hall of Honour) was finished completely only in 1911, under the guidance of Karel Liman. It spreads over three floors. Walls are dressed in exquisitely carved woodwork, mostly European walnut and exotic timbers. Bas-reliefs, alabaster sculptures, and retractable stained glass panels complete the decor.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Apartamentul Imperial (The Imperial Suite) is believed to be a tribute to the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, who visited the palace as a friend of the Romanian Royal Family. Hence, decorator Auguste Bembe preferred the sumptuous Austrian Baroque in style of Empress Maria Theresa. A perfectly preserved five-hundred-year-old Cordoban tooled leather wall cover is the rarest of such quality.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Sala Mare de Arme (The Grand Armory or The Arsenal) is where 1,600 of the 4,000 pieces of weaponry and armor reside. One of Europe's finest collection of hunting and war implements, timelined between 14th and 19th century, are on display. The king added pieces used in his victory against the Ottoman Turks during the War of Independence. Famous are the complete Maximilian armor for horse and rider and a 15th-century German "nobles only" decapitation broadsword. Also on display are a wide array of polearms (glaives, halberds, lances, hunting spears), firearms (muskets, blunderbusses, snaphaunces, flintlocks, pistols), axes, crossbows, and swords (rapiers, sabers, broadswords, and many others).


title: Peleș Castle

text: Sala Mică de Arme (The Small Armory) is where predominantly Oriental (mostly Indo-Persian, Ottoman and Arab) arms and armor pieces are on exhibit, many of them made of gold and silver, and inlaid with precious stones. Included are chainmail armor, helmets, scimitars, yataghans, daggers, matchlocks, lances, pistols, shields, axes, and spears.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Sala de Teatru (The Playhouse) is decorated in Louis XIV style, with sixty seats and a Royal Box. Architectural decoration and mural paintings are signed by Gustav Klimt and Frantz Matsch.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Sala Florentină (The Florentine Room) combines revived elements of the Italian Renaissance, mostly from Florence. Most impressive are the solid bronze doors executed in Rome; ateliers of Luigi Magni; and the Grand Marble Fireplace executed by Paunazio with Michelangelo motifs.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Salonul Maur (The Moorish Salon) was executed under the guidance of Charles Lecompte de Nouy, and is meant to embody elements of North-African and Hispanic Moorish style. Mother-of-pearl inlaid furniture, fine Persian Sarouk and Ottoman Isparta rugs, and Oriental weapons and armor are perhaps the most expressive elements. The salon has an indoor marble fountain.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Salonul Turcesc (The Turkish Parlor) emulates an Ottoman "joie de vivre" atmosphere—a room full of Turkish Izmir rugs and copperware from Anatolia and Persia. It was used as a smoking room for gentlemen. Walls are covered in hand-made textiles like silk brocades from the Siegert shops of Vienna.


title: Peleș Castle

text: In something remarkable in comparison to most recent-era royal families, the monarchs shared a bedroom.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Originally personal property of the Royal Family, Peleș Castle was nationalized when King Michael I was forced to abdicate and into exile by the Communist government in 1947. In 1997, the castle was returned to the Royal Family in a long judicial case that was finally concluded in 2007. Michael I subsequently said the castle should continue to house the Peleș National Museum, as well as being occasionally used for public royal ceremonies.


title: Peleș Castle

text: Michael I's heir Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown occasionally uses the Castle for receptions, investitures and other public events. On 10 May (Monarchy Day) 2016, the Royal Family hosted a large Reception, Garden Party & Concert at Peleș Castle to mark the 150th anniversary of the Romanian Royal Dynasty, where Margareta's standard was flown from Peleș Castle—the first time since 1947 that a Royal Standard had flown from the Castle.


title: Peleș Castle

text: In August 2016, the body of Queen Anne Lay in State in the Hall of Honour at Peleș Castle in a ceremony attended by the Presidents of Romania and Moldova, as well as Prime Minister Dacian Cioloș and other national leaders. This was followed on 13 December 2017 by King Michael I Lying in State in the same location in a similar, but larger, ceremony prior to his funeral in Bucharest and burial in Curtea de Argeș.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Stalinist architecture, mostly known in the former Eastern Bloc as Stalinist style () or Socialist Classicism, is the architecture of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, between 1933 (when Boris Iofan's draft for the Palace of the Soviets was officially approved) and 1955 (when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past decades and disbanded the Soviet Academy of Architecture). Stalinist architecture is associated with the Socialist realism school of art and architecture.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: As part of the Soviet policy of rationalization of the country, all cities were built to a general development plan. Each was divided into districts, with allotments based on the city's geography. Projects would be designed for whole districts, visibly transforming a city's architectural image.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The interaction of the state with the architects would prove to be one of the features of this time. The same building could be declared a formalist blasphemy and then receive the greatest praise the next year, as happened to Ivan Zholtovsky and his Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya in 1949–50. Authentic styles like Zholtovsky's Renaissance Revival, Ivan Fomin's St. Petersburg Neoclassical architecture and Art Deco adaptation by Alexey Dushkin and Vladimir Shchuko coexisted with imitations and eclecticism that became characteristic of that era.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The "Vysotki" or "Stalinskie Vysotki" () are a group of skyscrapers in Moscow designed in the Stalinist style. Their English-language nickname is the "Seven Sisters". They were built officially from 1947 to 1953 (some work extended years past official completion dates) in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles and the technology used in building American skyscrapers.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The seven skyscrapers are the Hotel Ukraina, the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Leningradskaya Hotel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia main building, the main building of Moscow State University, and the Red Gate Building.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: In terms of construction methods, most of the structures, underneath the wet stucco walls, are simple brick masonry. Exceptions were Andrei Burov's medium-sized concrete block panel houses (such as the Lace building, 1939–41) and large buildings like the Seven Sisters, which necessitated the use of concrete. The masonry naturally dictated narrow windows, thus leaving a large wall area to be decorated. Fireproof terracotta finishes were introduced during the early 1950s, though this was rarely used outside of Moscow. Most of the roofing was traditional wooden trusses covered with metallic sheets.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: About 1948, construction technology improved – at least in Moscow – as faster and cheaper processes became available. Houses also became safer by eliminating wooden ceilings and partitions. The standardized buildings of 1948–1955 had the same housing quality as the Stalinist classics and are classified as such by real estate agents, but are excluded from the scope of Stalinist architecture. Ideologically they belong to mass housing, an intermediate phase before Nikita Khrushchev's standardized buildings known as "Khrushchyovka".


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Stalinist architecture does not equate to everything built during Stalin's era. It relied on labor-intensive and time-consuming masonry, and could not be scaled to the needs of mass construction. This inefficiency largely ended Stalinist architecture and resulted in mass construction methods which began while Stalin was still alive.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Although Stalin rejected Constructivism, completion of constructivist buildings extended through the 1930s. Industrial construction, endorsed by Albert Kahn and later supervised by Victor Vesnin, was influenced by modernist ideas. It was not as important to Stalin's urban plans, so most industrial buildings (excluding megaprojects like the Moscow Canal) are not part of the Stalinist category. Even the first stage of the Moscow Metro, completed during 1935, was not scrutinized by Stalin, and so included substantial constructivist influence.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Thus, the scope of Stalinist architecture is generally limited to urban public and residential buildings of good and middle quality, excluding mass housing, and selected infrastructure projects like the Moscow Canal, the Volga-Don Canal, and the latter stages of the Moscow Metro.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Before 1917, the Russian architectural scene was divided between "Russky Modern" (a local interpretation of Art Nouveau, stronger in Moscow), and Neoclassical Revival (stronger in Saint Petersburg). The Neoclassical school produced mature architects like Alexey Shchusev, Ivan Zholtovsky, Ivan Fomin, Vladimir Shchuko and Alexander Tamanian; by the time of the 1917 Revolution they were established professionals, with their own companies, schools and followers. These people would eventually become Stalinism's architectural elders and produce the best examples of the period.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Another school that began after the Revolution is now known as Constructivism. Some of the Constructivists (like the Vesnin brothers) were young professionals who had established themselves before 1917, while others had just completed their professional education (like Konstantin Melnikov) or didn't have any. They associated themselves with groups of modern artists, compensating for lack of experience with public exposure. When the New Economic Policy began, their publicity resulted in architectural commissions. Experience was not gained quickly, and many Constructivist buildings were justly criticized for irrational floor plans, cost overruns and low quality.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: For a brief time in the mid-1920s, the architectural profession operated in the old-fashioned manner, with private companies, international contests, competitive bidding and disputes in professional magazines. Foreign architects were welcomed, especially towards the end of this period, when the Great Depression reduced their jobs at home. Among these were Ernst May, Albert Kahn, Le Corbusier, Bruno Taut and Mart Stam. The difference between traditionalists and constructivists was not well defined. Zholtovsky and Shchusev hired modernists as junior partners for their projects, and at the same time incorporated constructivist novelties in their own designs.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: In 1930 Gosproektstroi was established as part of the Building Commission of Vesenkha with the help of Albert Kahn Inc. It employed 3,000 designers with a budget of 417 million Rbls.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Urban planning developed separately. Housing crises in big cities and the industrialization of remote areas required mass housing construction, development of new territories and reconstruction of old cities. Theorists devised a variety of strategies that created politicized discussions without much practical result; State intervention was imminent.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Stalin's personal architectural preferences and the extent of his own influence remains, for the most part, a matter of deduction, conjecture and anecdotal evidence. The facts, or their representation in public Soviet documents, largely concerns the Palace of Soviets contest of 1931–33:


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The architects invited to direct these workshops included traditionalists Ivan Zholtovsky, Alexey Shchusev, Ivan Fomin, Boris Iofan, Vladimir Schuko as well as practising constructivists: Ilya Golosov, Panteleimon Golosov, Nikolai Kolli, Konstantin Melnikov, Victor Vesnin, Moisei Ginzburg and Nikolai Ladovsky. This began an important trend that lasted until 1955. Stalin chose Iofan for one project, but retained all competing architects in his employ.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The first years of Stalinist architecture are characterized by individual buildings, or, at most, single-block development projects. Rebuilding vast spaces of Moscow proved much more difficult than razing historical districts. The three most important Moscow buildings of this time are on the same square, all built between 1931 and 1935, yet each draft evolved independently, with little thought given to overall ensemble (see prewar movie stills 1936 1938 1939). Each set its own vector of development for the next two decades.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: А separate type of development, known as "early Stalinism" or Postconstructivism, evolved from 1932 to 1938. It can be traced both to simplified Art Deco (through Schuko and Iofan), and to indigenous Constructivism, being converted slowly to Neoclassicism (Ilya Golosov, Vladimir Vladimirov). These buildings retain the simple rectangular shapes and large glass surfaces of Constructivism, but with ornate balconies, porticos and columns (usually rectangular and very lightweight). By 1938, it became disused.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: In July 1935 the State evaluated the results and finally issued a decree on the Moscow Master Plan. The Plan, among other things, included Stalin's urban development ideas:


title: Stalinist architecture

text: These rules effectively banned low-cost mass construction in the old city and "first-rate" streets, as well as single-family homebuilding. Low-cost development proceeded in remote areas, but most funds were diverted to new, expensive "ensemble" projects which valued façades and grandeur more than the needs of overcrowded cities.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The canal connects the Moskva River with the main transportation artery of European Russia, the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Moscow Oblast. The canal connects to the Moskva River 191 kilometers from its estuary in Tushino (an area in the north-west of Moscow), and to the Volga River in the town of Dubna, just upstream of the dam of the Ivankovo Reservoir. Length of the canal is 128 km.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: It was constructed from the year 1932 to the year 1937 by gulag prisoners during the early-to-mid Stalin era.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: During the late 1930s, the construction industry was experienced enough to build large, multi-block urban redevelopments – although all of these were in Moscow. The three most important Moscow projects were:


title: Stalinist architecture

text: In 1936, the annual Agricultural Exhibition was relocated to an empty field north of Moscow. By August 1, 1939, more than 250 pavilions were built on . A 1937 statue by Vera Mukhina, "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman", atop the USSR pavilion of the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937) (Paris Expo of 1937), was rebuilt at the entrance gates. Pavilions were created in the national styles of Soviet republics and regions; a walk through the exhibition recreated a tour of the huge country. The central pavilion by Vladimir Schuko was based slightly on the abortive 1932 Palace of Soviets draft by Zholtovsky. Unlike the "national" buildings, it hasn't survived (central gates and major pavilions were rebuilt during the early 1950s).


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The surviving 1939 pavilions are the last and only example of Stalin's monumental propaganda in their original setting. Such propaganda pieces were not built to last (like Shchusev's War Trophy Hangar in Gorky Park); some were demolished during the de-Stalinization of 1956.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Post-war architecture, sometimes perceived as a uniform style, was fragmented into at least four vectors of development:


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Residential construction in post-war cities was segregated according to the ranks of tenants. No effort was made to conceal luxuries; sometimes they were evident, sometimes deliberately exaggerated (in contrast with Iofan's plain House on Embankment). Country residencies of Stalin's officials was on the top level; so was the 1945 House of Lions by Ivan Zholtovsky (House of Lions was designed by Nikolai Gaigarov and M.M. Dzisko of Zholtovsky Workshop. Zholtovsky supervised and promoted the project), a luxurious downtown residence for Red Army Marshals. 1947 Marshals Apartments by Lev Rudnev, on the same block, has a less extravagant exterior package. There was a type of building for every rank of Stalin's hierarchy.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: High-class buildings can be identified easily by tell-tale details like spacing between windows, penthouses and bay windows. Sometimes, the relative rank and occupation of tenants is represented by ornaments, sometimes by memorial plaques. Note that these are all Moscow features. In smaller cities, the social elite usually comprised just one or two classes; St. Petersburg always had a supply of pre-revolutionary luxury space.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The construction of the present Volga-Don Canal, designed by Sergey Zhuk's Hydroproject Institute, began prior to the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, which would interrupt the process. During 1948–1952 construction was completed. Navigation was begun June 1, 1952. The canal and its facilities were predominantly built by prisoners, who were detained in several specially organized corrective labor camps. During 1952 the number of convicts employed by construction exceeded 100,000.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The first stage of Moscow Metro (1931–1935) began as an ordinary city utility. There was much propaganda about building it, but the subway itself wasn't perceived as propaganda. "Unlike other projects, Moscow Metro was never named "Stalin's metro"". Old architects avoided Metro commissions. Attitudes changed when the second stage work started in 1935. This time, the subway was a political statement and enjoyed much better funding. The second stage produced such different examples of Stalinist style as Mayakovskaya (1938), Elektrozavodskaya and Partizanskaya (1944).


title: Stalinist architecture

text: It required six years to complete the first post-war metro line (a 6.4 km section of the Ring Line). These stations were dedicated to "Victory". No more Comintern (the Comintern metro station was renamed Kalininskaya in December 1946), no more World revolution, but a statement of victorious, nationalist Stalinism. Oktyabrskaya station by Leonid Polyakov was built like a Classicist temple, with a shiny white-blue altar behind iron gates – a complete departure from prewar atheism. To see this altar, a rider had to pass a long row of plaster banners, bronze candlesticks and assorted military imagery. Park Kultury featured true Gothic chandeliers, another departure. Metrostroy operated its own marble and carpentry factories, producing 150 solid, whole block marble columns for this short section. The second section of Ring line was a tribute to "Heroic Labor" (with the exception of Shchusev's Komsomolskaya, set up as a retelling of Stalin's speech of November 7, 1941).


title: Stalinist architecture

text: April 4, 1953, the public learn that a 1935 stretch from Alexandrovsky Sad, then "Kalininskaya", to Kievskaya is closed for good and replaced with a brand-new, deep-alignment line. No official explanation of this expensive change exists; all speculations concern a bomb shelter function. One of the stations, Arbatskaya (2) by Leonid Polyakov, became the longest station in the system, 250 meters instead of the standard 160, and probably the most extravagant. "To some extent, it is Moscow Petrine baroque, yet despite citations from historical legacy, this station is hyperbolic, ethereal and unreal".


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Stalinist canon was officially condemned when two more sections, to Luzhniki and VDNKh, were being built. These stations, completed in 1957 and 1958, were mostly stripped of "excesses", but architecturally they still belong to Stalin's lineage. The date of May 1, 1958 when the last of these stations opened, marks the end of all late Stalinist construction.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Stalin's 1946 idea of building many skyscrapers in Moscow resulted in a decree of January 1947 that started a six-year-long publicity campaign. By the time of official groundbreaking, September 1947, eight construction sites were identified (the Eighth Sister, in Zaryadye, would be cancelled). Eight design teams, directed by the new generation of main architects (37 to 62 years old), produced numerous drafts; there was not any open contest or evaluation commission, which is an indicator of Stalin's personal management.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: All major architects were awarded Stalin prizes in April 1949 for preliminary drafts; corrections and amendments followed until very late completion stages. All the buildings had overengineered steel frames with concrete ceilings and masonry infill, based on concrete slab foundations (which sometimes required ingenious water retention technology).


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Skyscraper projects required new materials (especially ceramics) and technologies; solving these problems contributed to later housing and infrastructure development. However, it came at cost of slowing down regular construction, at a time when the country was in ruins. The toll of this project on real urban needs can be judged from these numbers:


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Similar skyscrapers were built in Warsaw, Bucharest, and Riga; the tower in Kiev was completed without crown and steeple.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The upward surge of the high-rises, publicised since 1947, was recreated by numerous smaller buildings across the country. Eight to twelve-story high towers marked the 4–5 story high "ensembles" of post-war regional centers. The Central Pavilion of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre, reopened in 1954, is 90 meters high, has a cathedral-like main hall, 35 meters high, 25 meters wide with Stalinist sculpture and murals.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The urban architectural ensemble of Nezalezhnastci Avenue in Minsk is an example of the integrated approach in organizing a city's environment by harmoniously combining its architectural monuments, the planning structure, the landscape and the natural or man-made places of vegetation. The Ensemble was constructed during the fifteen years after World War II. Its length was 2900 metres, although now it stretches to the outskirts of the city totaling nearly 16 km (which makes it one of the longest in Europe). The width of the road including side-walks varies from 42 to 48 metres.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The work on the general layout of the former Sovietskaya Street began in 1944, soon after the liberation of Minsk from the Nazi troops. The main architects from Moscow and Minsk were involved with the project. In 1947, as a result of the competition, the project which had been developed with the supervision of the academician of architecture M. Parusnikov, was selected for the implementation.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The project plan of the Nezalezhnastci Avenue ensemble is a good example. The layout provided for the main features of the town-planning ensemble – the length of the buildings facades, their silhouettes, the main divisions, and the general architectural pattern. The integrated building plan was based on the accommodation of innovative ideas with classical architecture. The survived pre-war buildings and park zones were incorporated into the architectural ensemble.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: At present buildings which form the Nezalezhnastci Avenue ensemble are inscribed on the State List of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus. The architectural ensemble itself, with its buildings and structures, the layout and the landscape is protected by the state and inscribed on the List as a complex of historical and cultural values. In 1968 a National Prize in architecture was introduced and it was won by a team of architects representing architectural schools of Moscow and Minsk, (M.Parusnikov, G.Badanov, I.Barsch, S.Botkovsky, A.Voinov, V.Korol, S.Musinsky, G.Sisoev, N.Trachtenberg, and N.Shpigelman) for the design and construction of the Nezaleznosci Avenue ensemble.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The most famous Stalinist architectural ensembles in Minsk are also on Lenina Street, Kamsamolskaya Street, Kamunistychnaya Street, Pryvakzalnaya Square and others.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Central Kiev was destroyed during World War II when the Red Army abandoned the city and employed remote explosives to detonate bombs, and deny it to German forces. After Kiev's liberation, the streets and squares of the city were cleared of the ruins. Symbolically (as commemoration of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the USSR) on 22 June 1944 the City Soviet organized a competition for architects from Kiev as well as other places from the Republic and the union to develop a new project for a complete reconstruction of the central city.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Stalin Prize for the year 1949, announced in March 1950, showed a clear and present division of Stalinist architecture – extravagant, expensive buildings are still praised, but so are attempts to make Stalinist style affordable. The 1949 prize was given exclusively for completed apartment buildings, a sign of priority. It also demonstrates class stratification of eligible tenants of this time. Three Moscow buildings received awards:


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The national republics of the USSR were entitled to develop their own Stalinist styles, with more or less freedom. When local forces were not enough, Russian architects were summoned (Shchusev designed an oriental-looking theater in Tashkent, etc.). Alexander Tamanian, appointed as the chief architect of Yerevan, is largely responsible for the Armenian variety of Stalinist architecture. A prominent example is the Yerevan railway station, which was completed in 1956.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Stalinist architecture was, from about 1948 to 1956, employed by the post-war Eastern Bloc 'People's Democracies', usually after defeating internal Modernist opposition. This would sometimes show certain local influences, though was frequently regarded as a Soviet import.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Lev Rudnev's Palace of Culture and Science, which was dubbed a 'gift from the Soviet people', was perhaps the most controversial of the importations of Stalinist architecture. This vast, high tower, which is still the fourth largest building in the European Union, dominated the city. However an earlier exercise in Neoclassicism was the large MDM Boulevard, which was developed in parallel with the faithful reconstruction of the old town centre. MDM was a typical Stalinist 'Magistrale', with the generous width of the street often rumoured to be for the purposes of tank movements. The planned city of Nowa Huta outside Kraków was also designed in a Stalinist style during the late 1940s.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: After the Soviet victory, various grandiose war memorials were built in Berlin, including one in the Tiergarten and another, larger one in Treptow. The first major Stalinist building in Germany was the Soviet embassy in Unter den Linden. This was initially mocked by Modernists such as Hermann Henselmann, and until around 1948, East Berlin's city planning (directed by Hans Scharoun) was Modernist, as in the galleried apartments that comprise the first part of a planned Stalinallee. However, the government condemned these experiments and adopted the Russian style, and the rest of the Stalinallee was designed by Henselmann and former Modernists like Richard Paulick in what was disrespectfully dubbed "Zuckerbäckerstil" ("wedding cake style").


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Due to its reputation as a baroque city, stalinist architecture in Dresden was mixed with elements of the Dresden Baroque. Similarly, the stalinist buildings in the port city of Rostock contain elements of Brick Gothic as a symbol of local identity.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Similar monuments were designed in other cities, such as Leipzig, Magdeburg, and the new town of Stalinstadt (founded 1950, re-named Eisenhüttenstadt in 1960, during de-Stalinization).


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Central buildings built in the Stalinist manner also included the House of the Free Press in Romania and the complex of the Largo, Sofia, in Bulgaria. These were all pre-1953 projects, even if some were finished after Stalin's death. There were fewer examples in Slovakia. An example in Albania is the former New Albania Film Studio in Tirana. In Hungary a Stalinist style was adopted for the new town of Sztálinváros and many other housing, government and infrastructural projects during the 1950s.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: As in the USSR, Modernism returned in much of Eastern Europe after the mid-1950s, although there were exceptions to this in the most hardline regimes: the enormous Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest is a very late example of neoclassicism, begun as late as 1984 and completed in 1997, soon after the end of Nicolae Ceauşescu's regime in 1989. Latvia features the Latvian Academy of Sciences building in Riga, also known as "Stalin's Birthday Cake".


title: Stalinist architecture

text: In East Asia, some examples may be found in North Korea and China like the Beijing Exhibition Center, the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, originally built as the Palace of Sino-Soviet Friendship, and the Moscow Restaurant in Beijing. Examples may also be found in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Stalinist styles were used for the design of Soviet embassies outside of the Eastern Bloc, notably the embassy (1952) in Helsinki, Finland. The building, designed by architect E.S.Grebenshthikov, has a certain resemblance to Buckingham Palace in London; this is said to be due to the then Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov's liking for the official residence of the British monarch.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Stalinist buildings, flanking major city squares, can be found from the eastern parts of Germany to Siberia:


title: Stalinist architecture

text: A change from Stalinist architecture to standard prefabricated concrete is usually associated with Khrushchev's reign and particularly the November 1955 decree On liquidation of excesses ... (November 1955). Indeed, Khrushchev was involved in a cost-reduction campaign, but it began in 1948, while Stalin was alive. A conversion to mass construction is evident in economy Stalinist buildings like Zholtovsky's Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya, 7. Based on masonry, they provided only a marginal gain; there had to be new technology. During 1948–1955, various architectural offices conducted an enormous feasibility study, devising and testing new technologies.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: In 1947, engineer Vitaly Lagutenko was appointed to direct the experimental Industrial Construction Bureau, with an objective to study and design the low-cost technology suitable for fast mass construction. Lagutenko emphasized large prefabricated concrete panes. He joined architects Mikhail Posokhin (senior) and Ashot Mndoyants, and in 1948 this team built their first concrete frame-and-panel building near present-day Polezhaevskaya metro station. Four identical buildings followed nearby; similar buildings were built during 1949–1952 across the country. This was still an experiment, not backed by industrial capacity or fast-track project schedules. Posokhin also devised various pseudo-Stalinist configurations of the same building blocks, with decorative "excesses"; these were not implemented. Concrete frames became common for industrial construction, but too expensive for mass housing.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: It is not known for sure which Party leader personally initiated the drive to reduce costs. The need was imminent. What is known is that in January 1951, Khrushchev – then City of Moscow party boss – hosted a professional conference on construction problems. The conference decreed a transition to plant-made, large-sized concrete parts, building new plants for prefabricated concrete and other materials, and replacement of wet masonry technology with fast assembly of prefabricated elements. The industry still had to decide – should they use big, story-high panels, or smaller ones, or maybe two-story panels, as Lagutenko tried in Kuzminki? Basic technology was set, feasibility studies continued. A year later, this line of action – establishing prefabricated concrete plants – was made a law by the XIX Party Congress, Stalin attending. Major public buildings and elite housing were not affected yet.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: A different type of experiment concerned the improvement of project management, switching from a single-building to a multi-block project scale. This was tested in the Peschanaya Square development (a territory north from the 1948 Posokhin-Lagutenko block). Using the 'flow methode' of moving crews through a sequence of buildings in different completion stages and a moderate application of prefabricated concrete on otherwise traditional masonry, builders managed to complete typical 7-storey buildings in five to six months. Instead of wet stucco (which caused at least two months of delay), these buildings are finished with open brickwork outside and a drywall inside; from a quality of life consideration, these are true – and the last – Stalinist buildings.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: When Stalin was alive, luxury "empire" and mass construction coexisted; endorsement of Lagutenko did not mean demise for Rybitsky. It changed in November 1954, when critics openly criticized the "excesses" and the will to build 10–14 storey buildings, Stalin's own will; according to Khmelnitsky, this must have been started by Khrushchev personally. Throughout the next year the campaign grew, preparing the public for an end of Stalinism.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The decree "On liquidation of excesses..." (November 4, 1955) provides some data on the cost of Stalinist excesses, estimated at 30–33% of total costs. Certainly, these examples were selected carefully, but they are reasonable. Alexey Dushkin and Yevgeny Rybitsky received special criticism for triple cost overruns and luxurious floor plans; Rybitsky and Polyakov were deprived of their Stalin Prizes. This was followed with specific orders to develop standardized designs and install an Institute of Standardized Buildings instead of the former Academy.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Stalinist architecture continued for five more years – work on "old" buildings was not a top priority anymore. Some were redesigned; some, structurally complete, lost the "excesses". The last Stalinist building, the Hotel Ukrayina in Kiev, was completed in 1961.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: The majestic Stalinallee in Berlin, also completed in 1961, was conceived in 1952. the scale and bulk of these buildings are Stalinist, but the modest finishes are similar to Jugendstil and Prussian Neoclassicism. The street would later be extended in an International Style idiom and renamed Karl-Marx-Allee.


title: Stalinist architecture

text: Certain buildings of the Brezhnev era, notably the "White House of Russia", can be traced to Stalin's legacy, while the Neo-Stalinist regime of Ceaușescu's Romania produced a vast, late example of the style in its Palace of the Parliament, which was started in 1984. Deliberate recreations of his style have appeared in Moscow since 1996, either as infill into period neighborhoods, or as individual developments. Some are influenced by pure Neoclassicism or Art Deco; with a few exceptions, their architectural quality and function in urban development is disputed. Examples of the least controversial kind are:


title: Jefferson Hall (actor)

text: Jefferson Hall (born 6 December 1977) is an English actor. He has played the roles of Hugh of the Vale in "Game of Thrones", Varg in "Wizards vs Aliens" on CBBC, Torstein in "Vikings" and as Aaron Korey in "Halloween". He was credited as Robert Hall in his earlier roles. In 2022, he was cast as twins Jason Lannister and Tyland Lannister in the "Game of Thrones" prequel series, "House of the Dragon".


title: Jefferson Hall (actor)

text: Jefferson trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He has had a varied TV and film career.


title: Vlachs

text: "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Eastern Romance-speaking subgroups of Central and Eastern Europe.


title: Vlachs

text: As a contemporary term, in the English language, the Vlachs are the Balkan Romance-speaking peoples who live south of the Danube in what are now southern Albania, Bulgaria, northern Greece, North Macedonia, and eastern Serbia as native ethnic groups, such as the Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians and the Timok Romanians. The term also became a synonym in the Balkans for the social category of shepherds, and was also used for non-Romance-speaking peoples, in recent times in the western Balkans derogatively. The term is also used to refer to the ethnographic group of Moravian Vlachs who speak a Slavic language but originate from Romanians.


title: Vlachs

text: "Vlachs" were initially identified and described during the 11th century by George Kedrenos. According to one origin theory, modern Romanians, Moldovans and Aromanians originated from Dacians. According to some linguists and scholars, the Eastern Romance languages prove the survival of the Thraco-Romans in the lower Danube basin during the Migration Period and western Balkan populations known as "Vlachs" also have had Romanized Illyrian origins.


title: Vlachs

text: Nowadays, Eastern Romance-speaking communities are estimated at 26–30 million people worldwide (including the Romanian diaspora and Moldovan diaspora).


title: Vlachs

text: The word "Vlach"/"Wallachian" (and other variants such as "Vlah", "Valah", "Valach", "Voloh", "Blac", "oláh", "Vlas", "Ilac", "Ulah", etc.) is etymologically derived from the ethnonym of a Celtic tribe, adopted into Proto-Germanic "*Walhaz", which meant "stranger", from "*Wolkā-" (Caesar's , Strabo and Ptolemy's ). Via Latin, in Gothic, as , the ethnonym took on the meaning "foreigner" or "Romance-speaker", and was adopted into Greek as "Vláhoi" (), Slavic "Vlah", Hungarian "oláh" and "olasz", etc. The root word was notably adopted in Germanic for Wales and Walloon, and in Switzerland for Romansh-speakers (), and in Poland "Włochy" or in Hungary "olasz" became an exonym for Italians. The Slovenian term "Lahi" has also been used to designate Italians.