title: Elim Garak

text: Garak is introduced in the second episode of the first season of "Deep Space Nine", "Past Prologue". He appears in the replimat on Deep Space Nine, where he introduces himself to the station's doctor, Julian Bashir, as Garak, a tailor exiled from Cardassia. In the same episode, it is discovered that Garak was known as "The Spy" to the crew of Deep Space Nine, as the only Cardassian left on the station after Cardassia ended their occupation of the nearby planet, Bajor.


title: Elim Garak

text: Garak often denied involvement with the feared Cardassian intelligence agency, the Obsidian Order, only later to reveal a likely connection. As Garak's friendship with Bashir develops, it is revealed that he was one of the Obsidian Order's highest ranking operatives and that he was exiled from Cardassia for unspecified reasons. It is suggested that his exile resulted from either letting prisoners escape during the occupation of Bajor or the betrayal of Enabran Tain, head of the Order, who is later revealed to be Garak's resentful biological father. Garak's secrecy keeps him a character of interest and importance; he later uses his contacts with Cardassia and his training in the Obsidian Order to assist the Federation in the war against the Dominion. Garak appears in 37 of the 176 episodes of "Deep Space Nine", including the series finale, and appears in each of the seven seasons.


title: Elim Garak

text: Garak was intended to be a one-off character; Robinson said that he portrayed the character in the episode for the simple fact that he needed money for that month to pay his bills. The producers were impressed with Robinson's performance and decided to develop the character after Robinson agreed to return. The decision to incorporate Garak into more of the series led to Garak becoming a pivotal character—transforming him into a character of importance with unusual complexity and resonance.


title: Elim Garak

text: Robinson's initial performance as Garak received scrutiny as his portrayal was interpreted as Garak being homosexual or bisexual. Robinson denied that his portrayal was intended to portray Garak as homosexual and stated that he was omnisexual. As a result of the controversy, Robinson removed the particular characteristic from Garak.


title: Elim Garak

text: Garak changes from a simple mysterious character to one of complexity and secrecy. Robinson stated that the complexity of Garak's character did not come from his lies but rather his refusal to elaborate on himself.


title: Elim Garak

text: Garak has a long-standing antagonistic relationship with the prefect of Bajor, Gul Dukat. In the episode "", Dukat states that it was a mistake for his father to have once trusted Garak and later in "", it is revealed that Garak had Dukat's father tortured and killed. During the occupation of Bajor, Garak was a Gul serving the Cardassian mechanized infantry, or so Garak tells Bashir during the episode "The Wire". The episode "", in which Garak was (briefly) reinstated to the Obsidian Order, there is mention of an incident with Dukat and Garak that involved an arms merchant, with Garak admitting he plans to kill Dukat when he returns to Cardassia. Later, Garak fell from grace and was exiled from Cardassia. He fled to the Cardassian space station Terok Nor when the Cardassians withdrew from the station, leaving it to the Federation and Bajorans. The reasons for Garak's exile were never stated explicitly. In "", a delirious Garak gave three contradictory stories for his exile: first that he had killed some escaping Bajoran prisoners in the last days of the occupation but in the process also killed the daughter of a powerful Cardassian military official; then that he actually took pity on some Bajoran children and allowed them to escape and finally that he had been framed by his best friend Elim, for letting Bajoran prisoners escape. The name he gives as his friend "Elim", is actually his own first name, which the others did not know while he was telling the story. In "Improbable Cause", Garak's former mentor Enabran Tain plainly accuses him of betraying Cardassia, but no details are given.


title: Elim Garak

text: Garak's character is elaborated upon when his childhood abuse is revealed. Garak, whose father, Enabran Tain, was the head of the Obsidian Order, is seen to have an acute form of claustrophobia as an adult. His claustrophobia is strongly suggested to have resulted from his father locking him in a closet as punishment for him not doing his chores, often for hours at a time, possibly exacerbated by an incident as an adult where he may have been trapped in a collapsing building. In "", Garak only overcomes an acute attack of this condition with the help of Ezri Dax who was newly posted to DS9 as the station's psychologist when she helps him understand and accept his feelings of guilt over his role in the current war, including decoding Cardassian messages for the Federation.


title: Elim Garak

text: To gain his father's approval, Garak followed in his footsteps and joined the Obsidian Order; at one point he was stationed on Romulus working as a gardener in the Cardassian embassy as his cover (and was likely involved in the deaths of several Romulan officials), until the Cardassians stationed him on occupied Bajor. In his role as an agent of the Obsidian Order, it is suggested that Garak was one of the most skilled operatives within the organization with a particular talent for interrogation—both physical and psychological. Garak has shown ability in hand-to-hand combat, computer programming and repair, piloting and code breaking. These talents came to the forefront on many occasions and Captain Sisko made use of them by recruiting Garak to work with Federation personnel, especially during the Dominion War. In "A Time to Stand", Garak worked with a Starfleet detachment commanded by Captain Sisko during a mission to destroy a vital Jem'Hadar supply depot.


title: Elim Garak

text: In the third season of "Deep Space Nine", during the Romulan–Cardassian attempt to destroy the Founders' home world, Garak is given the opportunity to return home by proving himself to Tain as a trustworthy operative of the Obsidian Order. Garak is assigned to interrogate and torture Deep Space Nine's chief of security, Odo, whose people had founded the Dominion. Although reluctant, Garak agrees, to demonstrate his loyalty to Tain and to prevent anyone else from taking the assignment. During the interrogation, Garak is surprised to discover that he no longer has the stomach for cold-blooded torture and horrified with how far he takes it before Odo reveals his secret (which is ultimately irrelevant to their mission anyway). Garak returns to Deep Space Nine with Odo after apologizing to him and the two form a unique bond after realizing that they were more alike than they had originally thought, both longing to return home to their people but forced into exile. Later, during “In Purgatory's Shadow”, when Garak goes with Worf to the Gamma Quadrant to try to find surviving members of the failed attack on the Founders, a dying Tain admits before witnesses that he is Garak's father, including the depth of his feelings ("I should have killed your mother before you were born. You have always been a weakness I can't afford."), finally telling Garak that he is proud of him as his son.


title: Elim Garak

text: In the final two seasons, Garak shifted his loyalties completely towards the Federation, primarily because his old political rival, Gul Dukat, seized control of Cardassia and aligned it with the Dominion. Garak uses his knowledge to assist the Federation in its war against the Dominion and Cardassia. With Sisko, Garak tricked the Romulans into entering the Dominion War on the Federation side by forging evidence of a high level Dominion meeting to plan the invasion of Romulus and then planting a bomb on the shuttle of a Romulan senator, when he concludes that the evidence was forged. Garak developed serious psychological trauma knowing that he had contributed to the deaths of his fellow Cardassians, a condition that Ezri Dax in her first case as Counsellor was able to treat to a manageable degree. Towards the end of the war Garak served as a Federation liaison to Legate Damar and his Cardassian rebellion against the Dominion, along with the Bajoran Kira Nerys. In retaliation for the rebellion, the Dominion killed 800 million Cardassians. As a result of the war and the liberation of Cardassia from Dominion control, Garak's exile ends.


title: Elim Garak

text: In the novel "A Stitch in Time" (2000) (), written by Andrew Robinson, Garak's life is further explored. The novel focuses on a letter from Garak to Bashir and shows that Garak has become involved in the political and social rebuilding of Cardassia. In the short story "The Calling" within the book "Prophecy and Change" (), his story continues.


title: Elim Garak

text: In the "Deep Space Nine" novel "The Never-Ending Sacrifice" (2009), Garak is shown to have become Cardassian Ambassador to the United Federation of Planets. In the novel "Mere Mortals", part of the "Star Trek: Destiny" trilogy, Garak is summoned to an emergency meeting by Federation President Nanietta Bacco. Bacco had called the unprecedented meeting because the Borg had launched an invasion of local space with the intention to completely wipe out all sentient threats. After some territorial concessions, Garak agreed to attempt to convince the Castellan (head of state) of the Cardassian Union to contribute ships to a massive allied response to the Borg.


title: Elim Garak

text: In the novel "The Crimson Shadow" (2013), part of the "Star Trek: The Fall" miniseries, the "Enterprise-E" transports Ambassador Garak back home to Cardassia in order to oversee Starfleet's final withdrawal from Cardassian space. However, the expected mere formality in Federation-Cardassian relations attracted the attention of Cardassian terrorists who were involved in the assassination of Federation President Bacco. At the end of the novel, Garak decides to run for the office of Castellan, and goes on to win.


title: Elim Garak

text: Outwardly, Garak is gregarious and polite, traits that he uses to obscure people's knowledge, or suspicion, of his work as a spy. Despite his image of an optimistic and well-mannered being, he is widely known to be deceitful, even to those whom he considers to be "friends"; e.g., Doctor Julian Bashir. Garak is secretive, often creating elaborate stories about himself to avoid scrutiny about his exile. As his father Tain once said of him, one of Garak's basic philosophies is "Never tell the truth when a lie will do." He once explained his belief that "the truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination." At one point, Doctor Bashir told him the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and upon hearing the moral ("no one believes a liar when he is telling the truth"), Garak insisted that the true moral was, "you should never tell the same lie twice".


title: Elim Garak

text: In the episode "" Bashir accuses him of being a pessimist and he defends himself by asserting, "I always hope for the best. Experience, unfortunately, has taught me to expect the worst." On several occasions, when an otherwise trusting or idealistic character expresses a lack of trust in him, he reacts positively, remarking "there may be hope for you yet".


title: Elim Garak

text: Garak on numerous occasions is seen to have internal conflicts between his morals and his obligations to the Cardassian central command. Despite substantial evidence to suggest that he was an operative of the Obsidian Order, Garak on several occasions denies having ever been involved with the group, claiming he is just "plain, simple Garak, a tailor on the Promenade" and that his difficulties with the Cardassian government stem from tax evasion. He repeats this story frequently, even to people that he knows are aware of (some of) the truth about his past, and even those who are unaware of Garak's past find the assertion to be dubious, at best.


title: Elim Garak

text: In the mirror universe Garak is a vicious and sadistic Gul in the Cardassian military. He was Intendant Kira's second-in-command and resented her authority. Worf's mirror universe counterpart personally blamed Garak for losing the Terok Nor station to a Terran (human) slave rebellion, although Garak blamed Kira and attempted to manipulate Worf into trying to get revenge on her.


title: Elim Garak

text: Robinson reportedly disliked portraying this version of Garak, as he lacked any of his counterpart's depth or complexity, instead serving as a mere treacherous minion. This quality was noted in his last appearance when Quark, Rom and Zek travelled to the Mirror Universe, Quark and Rom criticizing Mirror-Garak's plans to simply kill them by talking about the elaborate lengths that their Garak would go to, resulting in Mirror-Garak being killed by the Mirror version of Ezri Tigan while he was distracted.


title: Elim Garak

text: In 2017, Screen Rant ranked Garak the 14th best character of all "Star Trek". They note that the character is beloved by fans, although seems to have a morally grey quality that feeds a level of mystery about the apparently exiled Cardassian alien. They note that the actor that played Garak wrote "A Stitch In Time", and recommended for aficionados of this "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" character.


title: Scalping (trading)

text: Scalping, when used in reference to trading in securities, commodities and foreign exchange, may refer to either


title: Scalping (trading)

text: Scalping, in the arbitrage sense, is a type of trading in which traders try to open and close positions in very short periods of time in markets such as foreign exchange and securities with the aim of making a small profit from the trades.


title: Scalping (trading)

text: Scalping is the shortest time frame in trading and it exploits small changes in currency prices. Scalpers attempt to act like traditional market makers or specialists. To "make the spread" means to buy at the Bid price and sell at the Ask price, in order to gain the bid/ask difference. This procedure allows for profit even when the bid and ask don't move at all, as long as there are traders who are willing to take market prices. It normally involves establishing and liquidating a position quickly, usually within minutes or even seconds.


title: Scalping (trading)

text: The role of a scalper is actually the role of market makers or specialists who are to maintain the liquidity and order flow of a product of a market.


title: Scalping (trading)

text: The profit for each transaction is based only on a few bips (basis points), so scalping is typically conducted when there are large amounts of capital and high leverage or there are currency pairs where the bid–offer spread is narrow.


title: Scalping (trading)

text: Whenever the "spread is made" one (or more) party must pay it (paying the cost to receive some value on completing the transaction quickly) and some party (or parties) will receive that money as profit.


title: Scalping (trading)

text: Scalping in this sense is the practice of purchasing a security for one's own account shortly before recommending that security for investment and then shortly thereafter selling the security at a profit upon the rise in the market price following the recommendation. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that scalping by an investment adviser operates as a fraud or deceit upon any client or prospective client and is a violation of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The prohibition on scalping has been applied against persons who are not registered investment advisers, and it has been ruled that scalping is also a violation of Rule 10b-5 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 if the scalper has a relationship of trust and confidence with the persons to whom the recommendation is made. The Securities and Exchange Commission has stated that it is committed to stamping out scalping schemes.


title: Scalping (trading)

text: Scalping is analogous to front running, a similar improper practice by broker-dealers. It is also similar to but differs from conventional pumping and dumping, which usually does not involve a relationship of trust and confidence between the fraudster and their victims. Scalping schemes involving social media stock promoters have become a significant focus of both civil and criminal enforcement in the United States in recent years as the use of Twitter and other social media networks has allowed online stock promoters to tout stocks and then sell them on their followers after their stock promotion campaigns cause a spike in the share price.


title: Thunderbolt

text: A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hellenic representations of Zeus and Vedic descriptions of the "vajra" wielded by the god Indra. It may have been a symbol of cosmic order, as expressed in the fragment from Heraclitus describing "the Thunderbolt that steers the course of all things".


title: Thunderbolt

text: In its original usage the word may also have been a description of the consequences of a close approach between two planetary cosmic bodies, as Plato suggested in "Timaeus", or, according to Victor Clube, meteors, though this is not currently the case. As a divine manifestation the thunderbolt has been a powerful symbol throughout history, and has appeared in many mythologies. Drawing from this powerful association, the thunderbolt is often found in military symbolism and semiotic representations of electricity.


title: Thunderbolt

text: Lightning plays a role in many mythologies, often as the weapon of a sky god and weather god. As such, it is an unsurpassed method of dramatic instantaneous retributive destruction: thunderbolts as divine weapons can be found in many mythologies.


title: Thunderbolt

text: The name "thunderbolt" or "thunderstone" has also been traditionally applied to the fossilised rostra of belemnoids. The origin of these bullet-shaped stones was not understood, and thus a mythological explanation of stones created where a lightning struck has arisen.


title: Thunderbolt

text: The thunderbolt or lightning bolt continues into the modern world as a prominent symbol; it has entered modern heraldry and military iconography.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: The Family—also called the Santiniketan Park Association and the Great White Brotherhood—is an Australian New Age group formed in the mid-1960s under the leadership of yoga teacher Anne Hamilton-Byrne (born Evelyn Grace Victoria Edwards; 30 December 1921–13 June 2019). The group's headquarters was raided by the police on 14 August 1987 and all children were removed from the premises. In June 1993, Hamilton-Byrne was charged with conspiracy to defraud and to commit perjury by falsely registering the births of three unrelated children as her own triplets, but those charges were eventually dropped. She pleaded guilty to the remaining charge of making a false declaration and was fined $5,000.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: The Family taught an eclectic mixture of Christianity and Hinduism with other Eastern and Western religions on the principle that spiritual truths are universal. The children studied the major scriptures of these religions and also the works of fashionable gurus including Sri Chinmoy, Meher Baba, and Rajneesh. The group has an inner circle who justify their actions by their claim to be reincarnations of the Apostles of Jesus.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: The basis of The Family's philosophy was that Hamilton-Byrne was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and a living god. Jesus was said to be a great master who came down to Earth, and the group believed that Buddha and Krishna were other enlightened beings who similarly came down to help humanity. Hamilton-Byrne was regarded as being in the same category as these teachers. One adopted daughter, Sarah Hamilton-Byrne, later described the group's beliefs as a "hotch-potch" of Christianity and Eastern mysticism.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: Around 1964, Raynor Johnson was hosting regular meetings of a religious and philosophical discussion group led by Hamilton-Byrne at "Santiniketan", his home at Ferny Creek in the Dandenong Ranges on the eastern outskirts of Melbourne. Also connected was a series of weekly talks he gave at the Council of Adult Education in Melbourne, entitled "The Macrocosm and the Microcosm". The group purchased an adjoining property which they named Santiniketan Park in 1968 and constructed a meeting hall, Santiniketan Lodge.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: The group consisted of middle class professionals; it has been estimated that a quarter were nurses and other medical personnel and that many were recruited by Johnson, who referred them to Hamilton-Byrne's hatha yoga classes. Members mainly lived in nearby suburbs and townships in the Dandenongs, meeting each Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evening at Santiniketan Lodge, Crowther House in Olinda or another property in the area known as the White Lodge.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: During the late 1960s and the 1970s, Newhaven Hospital in Kew was a private psychiatric hospital owned and managed by Marion Villimek, a Santiniketan member; many of its staff and attending psychiatrists were also members.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: Many patients at Newhaven were treated with the hallucinogenic drug LSD. The hospital was used to recruit potential new members from among the patients, and also to administer LSD to members under the direction of the Santiniketan psychiatrists John Mackay and Howard Whitaker. One of the original members of the Association was given LSD, electroconvulsive therapy, and two leucotomies, also called lobotomies, during the late 1960s.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: Although the psychiatric hospital had been closed down by 1992, that year a new inquest was ordered into the death of a Newhaven patient in 1975 after claims that his death had been due to deep sleep therapy. The inquest heard evidence concerning the use of electroconvulsive therapy, LSD, and other practices at Newhaven but found no evidence that deep sleep had been used on this patient. The Newhaven building was later reopened as a nursing home with no connections to its previous owner or uses.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: Anne Hamilton-Byrne acquired fourteen infants and young children between about 1968 and 1975. Some were the natural children of members of The Family; others had been obtained through irregular adoptions arranged by lawyers, doctors, and social workers within the group who could bypass the normal processes. The children's identities were changed using false birth certificates or deed poll, all being given the surname "Hamilton-Byrne" and dressed alike even to the extent of their hair being dyed uniformly blonde.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: The children were kept in seclusion and home-schooled at Kai Lama, a rural property usually referred to as "Uptop", at Taylor Bay on Lake Eildon near the town of Eildon, Victoria. They were told that Anne Hamilton-Byrne was their biological mother, and knew the other adults in the group as "aunties" and "uncles". They were denied almost all access to the outside world, and subjected to a discipline that included frequent, severe beatings – often for little or no reason – and starvation diets.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: The children were frequently dosed with the psychiatric drugs fluphenazine, diazepam, haloperidol, chlorpromazine, nitrazepam, oxazepam, trifluoperazine, carbamazepine, or imipramine. On reaching adolescence they were compelled to undergo an initiation involving LSD: while under the influence of the drug the child would be left in a dark room, alone, apart from visits by Hamilton-Byrne or one of the psychiatrists from the group.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: For a few years, Anne Hamilton-Byrne developed a connection to the Siddha Yoga movement, receiving shaktipat initiation from Swami Muktananda and taking the Sanskrit name Ma Yoga Shakti. She took some of the children to stay with Muktananda at his ashram at South Fallsburg, New York (later known as the Shree Muktananda Ashram) in the Catskill Mountains in 1979 and 1981, and purchased a nearby property as her own base in the US.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: Sarah Hamilton-Byrne tells how Muktananda would give a private audience (or darshan) once a week to Hamilton-Byrne's group. He once asked the children if they would like to leave The Family and live with him at his Gurudev Siddha Peeth ashram in Ganeshpuri, India. The children all gave an enthusiastic yes, but were later punished by Hamilton-Byrne for disloyalty. She states that Hamilton-Byrne eventually caused a lot of trouble in the Shree Muktananda Ashram, and some of Muktananda's devotees defected to The Family. Sarah was present when Swami Tejomayanand was initiated into The Family; she states that she could not understand why he would want to join a sect where everyone was so miserable, when it seemed that everyone around Muktananda was so happy.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: Sarah Hamilton-Byrne was expelled by her adoptive mother in 1987 because of arguing and rebellious behaviour. With the support of a private investigator and others, she then played an instrumental role in bringing The Family to the attention of the Victoria Police. As a result, a raid took place at Kai Lama on Friday, 14 August 1987, and all children were removed from the premises. Sarah later went on to study medicine and become a qualified doctor. She also learned that she had been adopted and eventually met her biological mother.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: After the raid in 1987, Anne Hamilton-Byrne and her husband, William, remained outside Australia for the next six years. Operation Forest, an investigation involving police in Australia, the UK, and the US resulted in their arrest in June 1993 by the FBI in the town of Hurleyville in the Catskills in New York. They were extradited to Australia and charged with conspiracy to defraud and to commit perjury by falsely registering the births of three unrelated children as their own triplets, charges that were later dropped. Elizabeth Whitaker, wife of the psychiatrist Howard Whitaker, was their co-defendant. The Hamilton-Byrnes pleaded guilty to the remaining charge of making a false declaration and were fined $5000 each. The conspiracy charges against Whitaker were dropped, but she was convicted of falsely obtaining nearly $23,000 between 1983 and 1987.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: Margot MacLellan, aged 64, was convicted of falsely obtaining $28,000 between 1978 and 1988. Joy Travellyn, aged 56, was convicted of falsely obtaining over $38,000 between 1979 and 1988. Helen Buchanan, aged 49, was convicted of falsely obtaining almost $15,000 between 1980 and 1987.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: In August 2009, two individuals received financial compensation from Anne Hamilton-Byrne after suing her. Her granddaughter, Rebecca Cook-Hamilton, sued her in 2007 for alleged psychiatric and psychological illnesses. She alleged that she received "cruel and inhuman treatment" from Hamilton-Byrne and her servants, including beatings, being locked in a freezing shed overnight and being forced to take medications. She also alleged that she was given insufficient food. Her award was estimated to be $250,000.


title: The Family (Australian New Age group)

text: A former member of The Family, Cynthia Chan, alleged that she paid the sum of $352,115 to Hamilton-Byrne for real estate in Olinda, Victoria, but the property was never transferred to her. She also alleged that she paid the sum of $70,400 to Hamilton-Byrne for another property, but this too was never transferred to her. Hamilton-Byrne said she had no memory of the matter. Chan's judgement was estimated at $250,000.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. The park contains attractions such as an early 19th-century fort named Castle Clinton; multiple monuments; and the SeaGlass Carousel. The surrounding area, known as South Ferry, contains multiple ferry terminals, including the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal; a boat launch to the Statue of Liberty National Monument (which includes Ellis Island and Liberty Island); and a boat launch to Governors Island.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The park and surrounding area is named for the artillery batteries that were built in the late 17th century to protect the settlement behind them. By the 1820s, the Battery had become an entertainment destination, with the conversion of Castle Clinton into a theater venue. During the mid-19th century, the modern-day Battery Park was constructed and Castle Clinton was converted into an immigration and customs center. The Battery was commonly known as the landing point for immigrants to New York City until 1892, when the immigration center was relocated to Ellis Island. Castle Clinton then hosted the New York Aquarium from 1896 to 1941.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: By the 20th century, the quality of Battery Park had started to decline, and several new structures were proposed within the park, many of which were not built. In 1940, the entirety of Battery Park was closed for twelve years due to the construction of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel and the Battery Park Underpass. The park reopened in 1952 after a renovation, but then subsequently went into decline. The Battery Conservancy, founded in 1994 by Warrie Price, underwrote and funded the restoration and improvement of the once-dilapidated park. In 2015, the Conservancy restored the park's historical name, "the Battery".


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The area was originally occupied by the Lenape Native Americans. Dutch settlers populated the area as part of the settlement of New Amsterdam in the early 17th century. The Dutch referred to the southern tip of Manhattan as "Capske Hook" or "Capsie Hoek", the term coming from the Lenape word "Kapsee", meaning "rocky ledge". Capske Hook was originally a narrow, hilly ledge that extended northward to Broadway, which at the time was a Lenape trail. Schreyers Hook (cf. Amsterdam's Schreierstoren) was just adjacent. In 1625–1626, the Dutch built Fort Amsterdam atop of a hill at the site of the present Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House. However, the fort was largely ineffective, despite several attempts at reconstruction. The British took over the settlement in 1664 and renamed the defenses Fort James. An artillery battery was installed at the fort in 1683 by Governor Thomas Dongan, the first of a series of batteries put in around King William's War which gave the area its name, including also at Whitehall in 1693 and at Oyster Pasty in 1695. The history of the various "batteries" is confused as the British sometimes used the names interchangeably. The fortification would later be renamed several times more, before the British settled on the name of "Fort George" by 1714.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The Battery did not fire any additional shots until 1776, during the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War, when American troops commandeered the fort and fired on British ships in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent them from sailing up the Hudson River. Following the British landing at Kip's Bay on September 15, 1776, the Americans had abandoned the fort, and the British took Lower Manhattan. At the end of the war in 1783, the Battery was the center of Evacuation Day celebrations commemorating the departure of the last British troops in the United States; the event was later commemorated with the erection of a flagstaff. By 1788, Fort George had been demolished, and debris from the fort was used to expand the Battery. The fort itself became the site of Government House, an executive mansion intended for U.S. president George Washington, though never actually used for that purpose.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: In 1808–1811, just prior to the War of 1812, the West Battery was erected on a small artificial offshore island nearby, to replace the earlier batteries in the area. At the time, the shore at the Battery was a relatively flat edge. The West Battery was never used, and following the war, the artillery battery was renamed Castle Clinton. When Battery Park's landmass was created, it encircled and incorporated the island. About were added to the park area in 1824. Meanwhile, Castle Clinton was turned over to the city government, which turned the structure into an entertainment venue. It subsequently served various purposes, including as an immigration and customs center as well as an aquarium.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: By the 1840s, members of the city's elite were publicly calling for the construction of a new large park in Manhattan. Proponents said that the park would serve three purposes: abetting good health, improving the behavior of the "disorderly classes", and showcasing the refinement of the city's elite. At the time, Manhattan's seventeen squares comprised a combined of land, the largest of which was the park at the Battery. Two sites were considered for a large park: Jones's Wood, and the present site of Central Park. An alternate suggestion was to enlarge the existing Battery Park, a move endorsed by most of the public. However, the expansion of Battery Park was opposed by wealthy merchants who deemed the proposed enlargement to be dangerous to maritime traffic, and they obtained the opinion of a United States Navy lieutenant who agreed with them. As a compromise, New York City's aldermen also voted to expand Battery Park to . Ultimately, the plans for the large park would result in the construction of Central Park.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The relatively modern Battery Park was mostly created by landfill as part of Lower Manhattan expansion starting from 1855, using earth from street-widening projects in Lower Manhattan which united Castle Garden's island with the "mainland" of Manhattan. The original shoreline is roughly the modern-day park's eastern boundary at State Street. On State Street, the former harbor front and the northern boundary of the park, a single Federal mansion, the James Watson House, survives as part of the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: By 1870, there were plans to improve Battery Park and Bowling Green, which were seen as having degraded substantially due to overuse. Paths were to be laid through both parks, intersecting with a plaza to be built outside Castle Clinton. City Pier A, located immediately north of Castle Clinton, was commissioned in 1886 and completed two years after. The building originally housed the New York City Board of Dock Commissioners and subsequently was used as a fireboat station until 1992.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Several elevated railroad lines or "els" were being built to Battery Park by the late 19th century, but they were controversial for several reasons. Because the els were originally pulled by steam trains until 1902, this caused substantial pollution at Battery Park. The New York Elevated Railroad Company opened the Battery Place elevated station at Battery Place, on the park's northern end, in 1872. This was followed by the opening of the two-track South Ferry elevated station at the park's southern end in 1877. New York Elevated Railroad agreed to beautify Battery Park as a condition of being allowed to construct the station, but the elevated station's construction soon prompted opposition among people who wanted the elevated tracks removed.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: A larger four-track station was built nearby in 1879, serving the Second, Third, Sixth, and Ninth Avenue Lines. In 1883, the state legislature established a committee to examine the process through which permission had been granted to construct the elevated station. The following year, New York Elevated proposed to extend the platforms of the Battery Place station over Battery Park because the platforms were too short to accommodate four-car trains. Another plan, which would have created elevated track loops over Battery Park, was rejected in 1887 as being unlawful. Other unsuccessful plans to build elevated tracks over Battery Park were proposed in 1889 and 1891.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: By 1900, the els were considered a nuisance, and there were calls to destroy the segments of elevated tracks that ran directly over the park, though this did not come to pass for another fifty years. In 1903, a state assemblyman proposed a bill that would give the elevated railroad companies the exclusive rights to build a rail terminal at Battery Park, precluding the construction of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s underground subway. The bill was not passed. By that time, the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, the Joralemon Street Tunnel to Brooklyn, and the South Ferry subway terminal were being built directly under the park. The South Ferry station opened in 1905, while the Joralemon Street Tunnel opened in 1908.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Another early method of transportation was by streetcars, which stopped at Battery Place and traveled up both sides of Manhattan Island. These streetcar lines terminated at South Ferry and included what are now the bus routes. The streetcars were eliminated by 1936, though only some were replaced by buses.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: By the 20th century, the quality of Battery Park had started to decline, and several new structures were being proposed within the park itself, though most plans faced opposition and were not built. For instance, in 1901, a large memorial arch to honor United States Navy sailors was proposed within the park. Another monument, to steamboat operator Robert Fulton, was proposed in September 1905 by Gustav H. Schwab. There was also a bill to construct a playground in the park, which was vetoed in 1903. Opposition to structures in Battery Park was such that even the construction of the IRT subway under Battery Park was opposed by the Manhattan parks commissioner. Other proposals included a 1910 plan to expand the Aquarium within Battery Park and a proposal for an athletic jogging field the following year. Furthermore, during World War I, there was a plan to construct a federal government building on the site, but this was withdrawn after the U.S. government found new premises following opposition to the project.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Proposals to redesign Battery Park continued through the next decade. An expansion of the New York Aquarium within the park was announced in 1921, and a new memorial plaque was unveiled the same year. By 1926, a group called the Battery Park Association had formed a committee to study ways to improve the park. In 1928, it was proposed to remove the els from Battery Park. The following year, an immigrants' memorial was proposed within Battery Park, and the park itself was proposed for reconstruction into a formal vista. In 1937, Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes proposed making Battery Park into a landscaped "front door" for New York City, with a semicircular seawall and a curving plaza. Officials announced a proposal the following year to expand the park by in conjunction with improvements to roads around the park.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: In 1940, Battery Park was partially closed for the construction of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, and the aquarium was shuttered. Subsequently, several plans to modify Battery Park were proposed. A design competition to rebuild Battery Park was hosted in 1941, and a plan to replace Castle Clinton with a Fort Clinton memorial was also discussed. During the park's closure, its northern end was used to store debris. A second tunnel, the Battery Park Underpass, started construction in 1949. The following year, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel opened, and the South Ferry elevated station was removed after the closure of the last elevated line leading to the station. After the underpass was completed in 1951, the park was re-landscaped and expanded by , and it reopened on July 15, 1952. In Battery Park's new layout, it contained a landscaped esplanade, a raised waterfront terrace, and an oval lawn with a playground. Various statues, formerly scattered across the park, were rearranged in patterns. The reconstruction of Battery Park had cost roughly $2.38 million.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Several memorials opened through the mid-20th century. Peter Minuit Plaza and a Coast Guard memorial were both dedicated in 1955, and the East Coast Memorial was dedicated in 1963. Additionally, a "space needle" with office and commercial space, twice the height of the Empire State Building, was proposed for the Battery in the 1960s, while discussions were ongoing on where to put the additional earth created from the construction of the World Trade Center. The building would have been placed partially on landfill adjacent to the Battery. The "needle" was never built, and the earth was used as landfill for the creation of Battery Park City, just to the north of Battery Park. By 1971, Battery Park was so dilapidated that a U.S. representative from Missouri, Richard Howard Ichord Jr., called the litter-ridden park "a national disgrace" and proposed that two National Park Service employees be hired to clean up the park. Castle Clinton was restored several years later, and reopened in 1975.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: In 1982, Battery Park and multiple other "historic waterfront sites" were designated by the government of New York State as part of a zone called "Harbor Park". The other sites included South Street Seaport in Manhattan, Liberty and Ellis Islands in New York Harbor, Fulton Ferry in Brooklyn, and Sailors' Snug Harbor in Staten Island, which were to be linked by new ferry routes. The Harbor Park legislation was part of a city proposal to create a larger tourist destination out of these sites, focused chiefly around New York Harbor's history. The "park" was opened in July 1984.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Battery Park City was constructed as a luxury waterfront neighborhood through the 1970s and 1980s. The success of the development resulted in attention and new funding for Battery Park projects, such as $5 million for a garden near Castle Clinton. In 1988, governor Mario Cuomo and mayor Ed Koch announced a $100 million plan to construct two new parks in Battery Park City and rearrange the park at the Battery as part of a new Hudson River waterfront park system. Part of the waterfront park system had been completed previously, but the new proposal would complete the system of parks. Within Battery Park, the Battery Park City Authority would add new entrances and redesign the park to give clearer views of the Hudson River.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: However, by the 1990s, Battery Park was worn down, and many of the nearby residents and tourists shunned it altogether, except when taking boats to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. "The New York Times" said of the park, "Some benches are broken, all need repainting. Where grass should be, there is dirt and litter. A sign with a map and guide is so smeared with graffiti it is unreadable. There are potholes on the asphalt where people line up for boats to the Statue of Liberty." The nonprofit Battery Conservancy was created in 1994, and one of its first actions was to create an architectural plan for the park, and renovating it for $30 million. In 1998, the administration of mayor Rudy Giuliani announced a $40 million initiative to renovate Battery Park. The restoration project, based on similar successful projects at Bryant and Central Parks, called for the relocation of the Battery's 23 statues, as well as an expansion of Castle Clinton. Much of the funding was to be raised privately, and at the time, this was thought to be a minor obstacle since Battery Park was neither as high-profile as Central Park, nor as worn-down as Bryant Park.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: One of the first renovation projects to commence was the reconstruction of the park's seawall and promenade at a cost of $5.5 million. Although Battery Park was used as an emergency staging site following the September 11 attacks in 2001, construction on the upper promenade continued largely uninterrupted, and it opened in December 2001. Five months after being damaged in the September 11 attacks, Fritz Koenig's "The Sphere", which once stood at the center of the plaza of the World Trade Center a few blocks away, was reinstalled in a temporary location in the northern section of the park. It was located near the Netherland Monument in the northeast corner of the park before being moved to Liberty Park in the new World Trade Center in late 2017. The Battery Bosque, a new landscaped garden, opened in 2005.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Some restoration projects were undertaken in Battery Park in the 2010s, including the addition of a community garden, the renovation of a promenade, and the construction of the SeaGlass Carousel. By June 2012, a third of the park was being cordoned off for these construction projects, though the park itself remained open, serving 10,000 to 15,000 daily visitors. In October of that year, Hurricane Sandy caused severe damage to the area, submerging the park under salt water for several hours. the Battery Conservancy restored the wooded areas within Battery Park, as well as added gardens and green patches to mitigate the effects of future storms. Though the SeaGlass Carousel was left largely intact during Hurricane Sandy, its opening was delayed. Following the storm, the attraction was supposed to open in late 2013, but did not actually open until August 2015.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation restored the park's original, historical title of "The Battery" in 2015. By the following year, the Battery Conservancy had raised $46 million in private funding over its 22-year existence, as well as $92 million in city funding. The conservancy planned to use these funds to make additional improvements to the park. For instance, the Battery Oval was opened in 2016. A environmentally-friendly, flood-resistant playground called the Playscape was proposed in 2016. Work began in March 2020, and the Playscape was completed in December 2021.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The Battery contains multiple attractions and points of interest. Castle Clinton, a former fort, lies near the northwestern corner of the Battery and serves as the park's main attraction. To its north is the former fireboat station, Pier A, which was converted into a restaurant called Harbor House in 2014 and operated until 2020. Another eatery, the Battery Gardens restaurant, is located next to the United States Coast Guard Battery Building.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Located nearby is a garden called the Battery Bosque, which was designed by Dutch landscape architect Piet Oudolf and is centered around a grove of 140 plane trees. An additional grove of 15 trees was dedicated at the park in 1976 as a gift from the city of Jerusalem. This area, located northwest of Castle Clinton, is called Jerusalem Grove. The northeastern corner hosts a lawn called the Battery Oval. The lawn opened in 2016 as part of a major restoration of the park, and contains turf made of Kentucky bluegrass. Along the waterfront, Statue Cruises offers ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The southwestern corner of the Battery contains the SeaGlass Carousel, an attraction with bioluminescent design that pays homage not only to the carousel's waterfront site, but also to Castle Clinton's former status as an aquarium. The southeastern corner contains Peter Minuit Plaza, an intermodal passenger transport hub. The plaza hosts a bus terminal for the buses, an entrance to the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal, entrances to the New York City Subway's South Ferry/Whitehall Street station, and taxi stands. The plaza also includes the New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion, a pavilion gifted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which displays art, design, and horticulture.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The park is also the site of numerous memorials and monuments placed there over the years. , the park saw over five million annual visitors. In 2016, the Battery Conservancy said that the park saw 600,000 visitors a month, which amounted to about 7.2 million visitors per year.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Castle Clinton was originally called the West Battery, it was built as a fort just prior to the War of 1812. It was renamed Castle Clinton in 1815 after the war, in honor of mayor DeWitt Clinton, and became property of the city in 1823. When leased by the city, it became a popular promenade and beer garden called Castle Garden. Later roofed over, it became one of the premier theatrical venues in the United States and contributed greatly to the development of New York City as the theater capital of the nation. In the early 1850s alone, the venue hosted such acts as Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, European dancing star Lola Montez, French conductor Louis-Antoine Jullien, and the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The migration of the city's elite uptown increased during the mid-19th century, and in 1855, Castle Garden was closed and made into the world's first immigration depot. The immigration center operated until 1890, just before the offshore immigration facility at Ellis Island opened. An estimated 7.7 million immigrants passed through the center during its operation. The structure then housed the New York Aquarium from 1896 to 1941, when it was closed as part of Triborough Bridge Authority commissioner Robert Moses's plans to build the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Moses wanted to create a Fort Clinton memorial on the site, but would only keep Castle Clinton if the federal government agreed to pay for its restoration. Ultimately, Castle Clinton was preserved as part of a National Monument in 1946.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The structure was restored in 1975. Today, Castle Clinton retains its original name and is managed by the National Park Service. It contains a small history exhibit and ticket booths for the ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island; in addition, it occasionally hosts concerts. As the site of the ferry ticket office, it recorded nearly 4.08 million visitors in 2009. According to data from the National Park Service, the Statue of Liberty National Monument, which includes Castle Clinton, was the most popular national monument in the United States that year.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Battery Park contains over 20 monuments, many of which are clustered in an area called "Monument Walk".


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Within the park is Hope Garden, a memorial dedicated to AIDS victims, where "The Sphere" had been exhibited at times. The garden has also been used as a site for environmental demonstrations due to its fragility and the Battery's status as a tourist attraction. "The Sphere" was later moved to Liberty Park.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The Netherland Monument with its flagpole was dedicated on December 6, 1926, as a gift from the Dutch in commemoration of the purchase of Manhattan Island three centuries prior. It was originally located south of Castle Clinton, but during the 1940–1952 renovation, the flagpole was relocated to the northeast entrance of the Battery, where it still stands. It was renovated and rededicated in 2000.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: A World War II war memorial, the East Coast Memorial is one of three war memorials in the United States administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission; the others are the West Coast Memorial to the Missing of World War II in San Francisco and the Honolulu Memorial. The memorial commemorates U.S. servicemen who died in coastal waters of the western Atlantic Ocean during the Battle of the Atlantic. A total of 4,609 names are inscribed on both sides of eight 19-foot-tall granite pylons. The pylons are arranged in two rows of four each. Between the two rows stands a bronze statue of an eagle, erected on a black granite pedestal. The eagle faces the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The memorial was designed by the architectural firm of Gehron & Seltzer, while the eagle statue was created by Albino Manca, an Italian-born sculptor. The granite slabs were set up in October 1959; the sculpture was installed in February 1963, and the memorial was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy that May.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The American Merchant Mariners' Memorial sculpture, located in the Hudson River west of the park, is sited on a stone breakwater just south of Pier A and connected to the pier by a dock. It was designed by the sculptor Marisol Escobar and dedicated in 1991. The bronze sculpture depicts four merchant seamen with their sinking vessel after it had been attacked by German submarine "U-123" during World War II. One of the seamen is in the water, and is covered by the sea with each high tide. The sculpture is loosely based on a real photograph by the U-boat's commander, of crewmen of the SS "Muskogee", all of whom died at sea. The memorial was commissioned by the American Merchant Mariners' Memorial, Inc., chaired by AFL–CIO president Lane Kirkland.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Temporary monuments have also been installed in the Battery, such as the "Staten Island Ferry Disaster Memorial Museum", a 2016 piece memorializing a fake octopus attack on the Staten Island Ferry, as well as a "UFO Tugboat Abduction Memorial" from the same sculptor as the ferry "memorial".


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: At least ten monuments, including the Verrazzano, Coast Guard and Wireless memorials, were stored in the park behind a temporary fence from the mid-2000s until 2016. Controversy over the statues' integrity arose in 2015 after renovations took longer than expected. Representatives of NYC Park Advocates and the Italian-American organization UNICO expressed concern about the statues' condition, although experts said there should be no long-term physical harm. The monuments have since been installed in or around the perimeter of the park, although not necessarily in their previous locations. Prior to the restoration, which cost $875,000, some of the monuments had not been restored for 60 years.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: To the northwest of the park lies Battery Park City, a planned community built on landfill in the 1970s and 1980s, which includes Robert F. Wagner Park and the Battery Park City Promenade. Battery Park City, proposed in 1966, was named after the park.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Battery Park contains the Battery Bikeway, a component piece of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, a system of parks, bikeways, and promenades around Manhattan Island. The bicycle path was completed in late 2015 and consists of terracotta pavings near the waterfront, adjacent to a pedestrian walkway. The bikeway contains three connections to other parts of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway:


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Across State Street to the northeast is Bowling Green, as well as the old U.S. Customs House, now used as a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian and the district U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Peter Minuit Plaza abuts the southeast end of the park, directly in front of the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal at South Ferry.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Two road tunnels and several rail tunnels run under Battery Park. The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, opened 1950, carries vehicular traffic to Brooklyn. The Battery Park Underpass, opened 1951, carries vehicular traffic from the West Side Highway to the FDR Drive.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Several New York City Subway tunnels also run under the Battery. The old South Ferry station, opened 1905 as part of the city's first subway line, the former Interborough Rapid Transit Company's Broadway–Seventh Avenue and Lexington Avenue Lines have a balloon loop to enable trains to turn around and switch between the two lines. It closed in 2009 following the opening of a replacement subway station. The replacement station, South Ferry on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (), opened in 2009, created a new free connection with the BMT Broadway Line's Whitehall Street station (), comprising the South Ferry/Whitehall Street station complex. The new station sustained severe damage following Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 and the old loop station was temporarily reactivated between April 2013 and June 2017, when the new station reopened.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: The Bowling Green station, which opened in 1905 as part of the original subway, serves the at the northeast corner of the park. Its original entrance, or "Control House", is a New York City designated landmark. Tracks leading south of the station go to both the old South Ferry station and to the Joralemon Street Tunnel, which skirts the park before traveling under the East River.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: In late 2005, New York City authorities announced that builders working on the new station had found the remains of a stone wall from the British colonial era, during the late 17th or 18th century. After archeological analysis, the wall was widely reported to be the oldest man-made structure still in place in Manhattan. Four walls and over 250,000 individual artifacts were found, and a portion of one wall was placed on temporary display inside Castle Clinton. Another, long portion of the wall was embedded permanently into the entrance to the newly constructed station, at the same depth below street level as originally discovered.


title: The Battery (Manhattan)

text: Robert Tierney, chairman of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, said that the wall was probably built to protect the park's original artillery batteries. The remains were described as "an important remnant of the history of New York City".


title: Venus of Hohle Fels

text: The Venus of Hohle Fels (also known as the Venus of Schelklingen; in German variously "") is an Upper Paleolithic Venus figurine made of mammoth ivory that was unearthed in 2008 in Hohle Fels, a cave near Schelklingen, Germany. It is dated to between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago, belonging to the early Aurignacian, at the very beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, which is associated with the earliest presence of "Cro-Magnon" in Europe.


title: Venus of Hohle Fels

text: The figure is the oldest undisputed example of a depiction of a human being. In terms of figurative art only the lion-headed, zoomorphic Löwenmensch figurine is older. The Venus figurine is housed at the Prehistoric Museum of Blaubeuren ().


title: Venus of Hohle Fels

text: The Swabian Alb region of Germany has a number of caves that have yielded many mammoth-ivory artifacts of the Upper Paleolithic period. Approximately 25 items have been discovered to date. These include the Löwenmensch figurine of Hohlenstein-Stadel dated to 40,000 years ago and an ivory flute found at Geißenklösterle, dated to 42,000 years ago. This mountainous region is located in Baden-Württemberg and is bounded by the Danube in the southeast, the upper Neckar in the northwest, and in the southwest it rises to the higher mountains of the Black Forest.


title: Venus of Hohle Fels

text: This concentration of evidence of full behavioral modernity, including figurative art and instrumental music among humans in the period of 40 to 30 thousand years ago, is unique worldwide and its discoverer, archaeologist Nicholas Conard, speculates that the bearers of the Aurignacian culture in the Swabian Alb may be credited with the invention, not just of figurative art and music, but possibly, the earliest religious practices as well. Within a distance of 70 cm to the Venus figurine, Conard's team also found a flute made from a vulture bone. Additional artifacts excavated from the same cave layer included flint-knapping debris, worked bone, and carved ivory as well as remains of tarpans, reindeer, cave bears, woolly mammoths, and Alpine Ibexes.


title: Venus of Hohle Fels

text: The discovery of the Venus of Hohle Fels by the archaeological team led by Nicholas J. Conard of Universität Tübingen Abteilung Ältere Urgeschichte und Quartärökologie pushed back the date of the oldest known human figurative art, by several millennia, establishing that works of art were being produced throughout the Aurignacian Period.


title: Venus of Hohle Fels

text: The remarkably early figurine was discovered in September 2008 in a cave called "" (Swabian German for "hollow rock") near Schelklingen, some west of Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, in southwestern Germany, by a team from the University of Tübingen led by archaeology professor Nicholas Conard, who reported their find in "Nature". The figurine was found in the cave hall, approximately from the entrance and below the current ground level. Nearby a bone flute dating to approximately 42,000 years ago was found, the oldest known uncontested musical instrument.


title: Venus of Hohle Fels

text: In 2015 the team presented two further pieces of carved mammoth ivory discovered at the site that have been identified as parts of a second female figurine. The venus and the fragment are shown in comparison here.


title: Venus of Hohle Fels

text: The figurine was sculpted from a woolly mammoth tusk and it has broken into fragments, of which six have been recovered, with the left arm and shoulder still missing. In place of the head, the figurine has a perforated protrusion, which may have allowed it to be worn as an amulet.


title: Venus of Hohle Fels

text: The discoverer, anthropologist Nicholas Conard, said: "This [figure] is about sex, reproduction... [it is] an extremely powerful depiction of the essence of being female". Anthropologist, Paul Mellars of Cambridge University has suggested that—by modern standards—the figurine "could be seen as bordering on the pornographic".


title: Venus of Hohle Fels

text: Anthropologists from Victoria University of Wellington have suggested that such figurines were not depictions of beauty, but represented "hope for survival and longevity, within well-nourished and reproductively successful communities", reflecting the conventional interpretation of these types of figurines as representing a fertility goddess.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi (; born 22 June 1956) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 29th Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022. He previously held the post from 2008 to 2011. He has been a member of the National Assembly since August 2018 and the vice chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party since December 2011.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Born in Multan, Punjab, Qureshi studied at Aitchison College and received Bachelor of Arts degree from Forman Christian College and Master of Arts degree from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He remained a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab for nine years from 1985 to 1993 and had served in the provincial cabinet in various positions between 1988 and 1993. He served as the minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in the federal cabinet from 1993 to 1996 and later as the Mayor of Multan from 2000 to 2002.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Qureshi was born on 22 June 1956 in Multan, Punjab to a wealthy, political and prominent Sufi Muslim family.<ref name="times/29dec2008"></ref> His family claims to be of saintly lineage and caretaker of the Shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya<ref name="nyt/6jan2011"></ref> in Multan, which provides the family with substantial income as well votes during the elections. However, in 2014, he rejected the claims saying "I have never used religion for political gain. I have never dragged devotees of sufi saints in political matters, and those who vote for me do it of their free will." after his brother accused Qureshi was using the names of Sufi saints for political gains and Qureshi using donations for the PTI.<ref name="dawn/2sept2016"></ref>


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Qureshi is fluent in Urdu, English, Saraiki, and Punjabi. Qureshi's father Makhdoom Sajjad Hussain Qureshi was former member of Senate of Pakistan and 15th Governor of the Punjab from 1985 to 1988 and was close friend of then President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq who appointed him as governor of Punjab. Qureshi received his early education from Aitchison College, Lahore,<ref name="tribune/27nov2011"></ref> a bachelor's from Forman Christian College and received MA (Law) and MA (History) degree from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He also holds a B.A. degree from University


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Qureshi is married and he is a father of one son, named Zain Hussain Qureshi and two daughters. Qureshi is an agriculturalist and was the president of the Farmers Association of Pakistan.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Qureshi was elected for the first time to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from Multan in 1985 Pakistani general election which were held on a non-party basis during the military government of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. He joined the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) in 1986.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Qureshi later joined the faction of PML led by Nawaz Sharif, which would later become PML (N). When PML split in 1988 after the death of Zia-ul-Haq and was re-elected for the second time to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from Multan in 1988 Pakistani general election and served as the Minister of Planning and Development in the provincial cabinet of Punjab of then Chief Minister of Punjab Nawaz Sharif from November 1988 to August 1990.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Qureshi was re-elected for the third time to the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from Multan as a candidate of PML N in 1990 Pakistani general election and served as the Minister of Finance in Chief Minister Manzoor Wattoo's provincial cabinet of Punjab from 1990 to 1993. In 1993 he joined Pakistan People's Party.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Qureshi was elected for the first time to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Multan as a candidate of PPP in 1993 Pakistani general election. He was appointed as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs under then Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto ministry. In November, 1996, he was appointed as the spokesman of PPP.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Qureshi was defeated in the 1997 Pakistani general election by Makhdoom Javed Hashmi of PML-N. He was offered a position in the Council of Economic Advisers to then President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf, which he refused.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Qureshi served as the District Nazim (mayor) of Multan from 2000 to 2002. During his mayor period, he well administrated the Multan district and oversaw a number of development projects.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: He was re-elected for the second time to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Multan in 2002 Pakistani general election on PPP seat and defeated Makhdoom Javed Hashmi. Reportedly, he used his influence as a mayor of Multan to win the 2002 elections. In 2006, Benazir Bhutto appointed Qureshi as the President of Pakistan Peoples Party Punjab to revive the popularity of PPP in southern Punjab given his good experience. Reportedly, Qureshi slapped an officer for beating a party activist of PPP in 2006.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: He was re-elected for the third time to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Multan in 2008 Pakistani general election.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Reportedly, Qureshi was a potential candidate for the Prime Minister of Pakistan in the coalition government headed by the PPP. However, Qureshi was instead given the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: After taking charge of the office, Qureshi immediately made clear that he was committed to establishing peace in the region and that maintaining friendly ties with neighbouring India were amongst his top priorities. Qureshi went on his first visit as foreign minister to China in October 2008 with then Defence Minister of Pakistan Ahmad Mukhtar and then President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: In 2011, Qureshi faced criticism in Pakistan when it was discovered that his son, Zain H. Qureshi, was working as a Legislative Fellow in the office of Senator John Kerry


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: In February 2011, the Government of Pakistan reduced the number of cabinet seats and during the transition, Qureshi was offered the position of Minister of Water and Power. He declined, saying that he was "not interested in water and power ministry in place of foreign affairs."


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: In November 2011, Qureshi resigned from the PPP where he had been for the past 20 years. He also quit his National Assembly membership saying that "I had joined the PPP under Benazir Bhutto’s leadership, and PPP was no longer a party of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto; it is now Zardari league. He said he did not want to be a part of Zardari league and announced to resign from the party membership."


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: Qureshi is one of three prominent politicians from Multan District, the other two being the Yousaf Raza Gillani and Javed Hashmi (Multan II) and are considered political rivals to each other. It was reported that Qureshi would re-join PML-N.<ref name="tribune/14nov2011"></ref>


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: In late November 2011, Qureshi announced joining the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) at a rally in Ghotki. On 4 December 2011, he was appointed as the first Vice Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf<ref name="nation/13may2013"></ref> as its parliamentary leader in National Assembly of Pakistan. In 2016 intra-party elections, Qureshi was re-appointed as the Vice Chairman of PTI, which is considered one of the three senior most positions in the party. He was re-elected to the National Assembly from Multan in 2013 Pakistani general election on the ticket of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI from Constituency NA-156 (Multan-III) in 2018 Pakistani general election. Following his successful election, he emerged as PTI's nominee for the office of Speaker of the National Assembly. Reportedly, Imran Khan convinced him to take the office because of his long parliamentary experience. However Qureshi showed reluctance to take the portfolio.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: On 18 August, Imran Khan formally announced his federal cabinet structure and Qureshi was named as Minister for Foreign Affairs. On 20 August 2018, he was sworn in as Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: On May 21, 2021, while he was in New York City at an emergency session held by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 May to discuss a response to the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, Qureshi conducted an interview with American journalist Bianna Golodryga on CNN. During the interview, Qureshi stated: "Israel is losing out. They're losing the media war despite their connections"; Golodryga asked, "What are their connections?"; to which Qureshi replied, "Deep pockets." before elaborating further: "Well, they are very influential people. I mean, they control media." The comment sparked controversy. Other journalists, including Mehdi Hasan, condemned the FM's remark. However, he was commended by Muslims.


title: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

text: On 3 July 2020, Qureshi announced he had tested positive for COVID-19 days after holding high-profile meetings including one with U.S. special representative on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad in Islamabad. He eventually recovered.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Monuments' or classics of the European calendar, and contributes points towards the UCI World Ranking. The most recent edition was held on 17 April 2022.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Paris–Roubaix is famous for rough terrain and cobblestones, or pavé (setts), being, with the Tour of Flanders, E3 Harelbeke and Gent–Wevelgem, one of the cobbled classics. It has been called "the Hell of the North", "a Sunday in Hell" (also the title of a film about the 1976 race), "the Queen of the Classics" or "la Pascale": the "Easter race". Since 1977, the winner of Paris–Roubaix has received a sett (cobble stone) as part of his prize.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The terrain has led to the development of specialised frames, wheels and tyres. Punctures and other mechanical problems are common and often influence the result. Despite the esteem of the race, some cyclists dismiss it because of its difficult conditions. The race has also seen several controversies, with winners disqualified.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: From its beginning in 1896 until 1967, it started in Paris and ended in Roubaix; in 1966 the start moved to Chantilly; and since 1977 it has started in Compiègne, about north-east of the centre of Paris. Since 1943, the finish has for the most part taken place in the Roubaix Velodrome. The race is organised by the media group Amaury Sport Organisation annually in mid-April.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The course is maintained by "Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix", a group of fans of the race formed in 1983. The "forçats du pavé" seek to keep the course safe for riders while maintaining its difficulty. Other than during the world wars and, in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic (the April 2021 race was postponed to October), it has taken place every year from its inception.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Paris–Roubaix is one of the oldest races of professional road cycling. It was first run in 1896 and has stopped only for the two world wars and the COVID-19 pandemic. The race was created by two Roubaix textile manufacturers, Théodore Vienne (born 28 July 1864) and Maurice Perez. They had been behind the building of a velodrome on 46,000 square metres at the corner of the rue Verte and the route d'Hempempont, which opened on 9 June 1895.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Vienne and Perez held several meetings on the track, one including the first appearance in France by the American sprinter Major Taylor, and then looked for further ideas. In February 1896 they hit on the idea of holding a race from Paris to their track. This presented two problems. The first was that the biggest races started or ended in Paris and that Roubaix might be too provincial a destination. The second was that they could organize the start or finish but not both.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: They spoke to Louis Minart, the editor of "Le Vélo", the only French daily sports paper. Minart was enthusiastic but said the decision of whether the paper would organize the start and provide publicity belonged to the director, Paul Rousseau. Minart may also have suggested an indirect approach because the mill owners recommended their race not on its own merits, but as preparation for another. They wrote:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Dear M. Rousseau, Bordeaux–Paris is approaching and this great annual event which has done so much to promote cycling has given us an idea. What would you think of a training race which preceded Bordeaux–Paris by four weeks? The distance between Paris and Roubaix is roughly 280 km, so it would be child's play for the future participants of Bordeaux–Paris. The finish would take place at the Roubaix vélodrome after several laps of the track. Everyone would be assured of an enthusiastic welcome as most of our citizens have never had the privilege of seeing the spectacle of a major road race and we count on enough friends to believe that Roubaix is truly a hospitable town. As prizes we already have subscribed to a first prize of 1,000 francs in the name of the Roubaix velodrome and we will be busy establishing a generous prize list which will be to the satisfaction of all. But for the moment, can we count on the patronage of "Le Vélo" and on your support for organising the start?


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The proposed first prize represented seven months' wages for a miner at the time.<ref name="VoduNo 10/10/2004">Voix du Nord, France, 10 April 2004</ref>


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Rousseau was enthusiastic and sent his cycling editor, Victor Breyer, to find a route. Breyer travelled to Amiens in a Panhard driven by his colleague, Paul Meyan. The following morning Breyer — later deputy organiser of the Tour de France and a leading official of the Union Cycliste Internationale - continued by bike. The wind blew, the rain fell and the temperature dropped. Breyer reached Roubaix filthy and exhausted after a day of riding on cobbles (setts). He swore he would send a telegram to Minart urging him to drop the idea, saying it was dangerous to send a race the way he had just ridden. But that evening a meal and drinks with the team from Roubaix changed his mind.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Vienne and Perez scheduled their race for Easter Sunday. The Roman Catholic Church objected to it being held on the most sacred day of the liturgical year, suggesting that riders would not have time to attend mass and that spectators might not bother to attend either. Tracts were distributed in Roubaix decrying the venture.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: What happened next is uncertain. Legend says that Vienne and Perez promised a mass would be said for the riders in a chapel 200m from the start, in the boulevard Maillot. This story is repeated by Pascal Sergent, the historian of the race, and by Pierre Chany, historian of the sport in general. Sergent goes as far as saying that Victor Breyer, who he says was there, said the service, scheduled for 4am, was cancelled because it was too early. Neither Chany nor Sergent mentions if the date of the race was subsequently changed, however the first Paris–Roubaix (according to Sergent) was held on 19 April 1896, whereas Easter Sunday in 1896 occurred two weeks earlier, on 5 April.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: News of Breyer's ride to Roubaix may have spread. Half those who entered did not turn up at the Brassérie de l'Espérance, the race headquarters at the start. Those who dropped out before the race began included Henri Desgrange, a prominent track rider who went on to organize the Tour de France. The starters did include Maurice Garin, who went on to win Desgrange's first Tour and was the local hope in Roubaix because he and two brothers had opened a cycle shop in the boulevard de Paris the previous year.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Garin came third, 15 minutes behind Josef Fischer, the only German to have won the race until 2015. Only four finished within an hour of the winner. Garin would have come second had he not been knocked over by a crash between two tandems, one of them ridden by his pacers. Garin "finished exhausted and Dr Butrille was obliged to attend the man who had been run over by two machines," said Sergent.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Garin won the following year, beating Dutchman Mathieu Cordang in the last two kilometres of the velodrome at Roubaix. Sergent said:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: As the two champions appeared they were greeted by a frenzy of excitement and everyone was on their feet to acclaim the two heroes. It was difficult to recognise them. Garin was first, followed by the mud-soaked figure of Cordang. Suddenly, to the stupefaction of everyone, Cordang slipped and fell on the velodrome's cement surface. Garin could not believe his luck. By the time Cordang was back on his bike, he had lost 100 metres. There remained six laps to cover. Two miserable kilometres in which to catch Garin. The crowd held its breath as they watched the incredible pursuit match. The bell rang out. One lap, there remained one lap. 333 metres for Garin, who had a lead of 30 metres on the Batave.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: A classic victory was within his grasp but he could almost feel his adversary's breath on his neck. Somehow Garin held on to his lead of two metres, two little metres for a legendary victory. The stands exploded and the ovation united the two men. Garin exulted under the cheers of the crowd. Cordang cried bitter tears of disappointment.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The race usually leaves riders caked in mud and grit, from the cobbled roads and rutted tracks of northern France's former coal-mining region. However, this is not how this race earned the name "l'enfer du Nord", or "Hell of the North". The term was used to describe the route of the race after World War I. Organisers and journalists set off from Paris in 1919 to see how much of the route had survived four years of shelling and trench warfare. "Procycling" reported:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: They knew little of the permanent effects of the war. Nine million had died and France lost more than any. But, as elsewhere, news was scant. Who even knew if there was still a road to Roubaix? If Roubaix was still there? The car of organisers and journalists made its way along the route those first riders had gone. And at first all looked well. There was destruction and there was poverty and there was a strange shortage of men. But France had survived. But then, as they neared the north, the air began to reek of broken drains, raw sewage and the stench of rotting cattle. Trees which had begun to look forward to spring became instead blackened, ragged stumps, their twisted branches pushed to the sky like the crippled arms of a dying man. Everywhere was mud. Nobody knows who first described it as 'hell', but there was no better word. And that's how it appeared next day in the papers: that little party had seen 'the hell of the north.'


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: We enter into the centre of the battlefield. There's not a tree, everything is flattened! Not a square metre that has not been hurled upside down. There's one shell hole after another. The only things that stand out in this churned earth are the crosses with their ribbons in blue, white and red. It is hell! '


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Seeking the challenge of racing on cobbles is relatively recent. It began at the same time in Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, when widespread improvements to roads after the second world war brought realisation that the character of both races were changing. Until then the race had been over cobbles not because they were bad but because that was how roads were made. André Mahé, who won in 1949 ("see below" Controversies), said:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: After the war, of course, the roads were all bad. There were cobbles from the moment you left Paris, or Senlis where we started in those days. There'd be stretches of surfaced roads and often there'd be a cycle path or a pavement and sometimes a thin stretch of something smoother. But you never knew where was best to ride and you were for ever switching about. You could jump your bike up on to a pavement but that got harder the more tired you got. Then you'd get your front wheel up but not your back wheel. That happened to me. And then you'd go sprawling, of course, and you could bring other riders down. Or they'd fall off and bring you down with them. And the cycle paths were often just compressed cinders, which got soft in the rain and got churned up by so many riders using them and then you got stuck and you lost your balance. And come what may, you got covered in coal dust and other muck. No, it's all changed and you can't compare then and now.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The coming of live television prompted mayors along the route to surface their cobbled roads for fear the rest of France would see them as backward and not invested in the region. Albert Bouvet, the organiser, said: "If things don't change, we'll soon be calling it Paris–Valenciennes," reference to a flat race on good roads that often ends in a mass sprint. "L'Équipe" said: "The riders don't deserve that." Its editor, Jacques Goddet, called Paris–Roubaix "the last great madness of cycling." Bouvet and Jean-Claude Vallaeys formed Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix ("see below"). Its president, Alain Bernard, led enthusiasts to look for and sometimes maintain obscure cobbled paths. He said:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: It was Alain Bernard who found one of the race's most significant cobbled stretches, the Carrefour de l'Arbre. He was out on a Sunday ride, turned off the main road to see what was there and found the last bad cobbles before the finish. It is a bleak area with just a bar by the crossroads. Bernard said:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The Amis de Paris–Roubaix spend €10–15,000 a year on restoring and rebuilding cobbles. The Amis supply the sand and other material and the repairs are made as training by students from horticulture schools at Dunkirk, Lomme, Raismes and Douai. Each section costs €4–6,000, paid for equally by the Amis, the organisers and the local commune. Bernard said:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The strategic places where earlier races could be won or lost include Doullens Hill, Arras, Carvin and the Wattignies bend. Some sections of cobbles have deteriorated beyond the point of safety and repair or have been resurfaced and lost their significance. Other sections are excluded because the route of the race has moved east.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Early races were run behind pacers, as were many competitions of the era. The first pacers were other cyclists, on bicycles or tandems. Cars and motorcycles were allowed to pace from 1898. The historian Fer Schroeders says:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: In 1898, even cars and motorcycles were allowed to open the road for the competitors. In 1900, the race was within a hair's breadth of disappearing, with only 19 riders at the start. The following year, the organisation therefore decided to allow help only from pacers on bicycles. And in 1910, help from pacers were stopped for good. An option which lifted Paris–Roubaix out of the background and pushed it, in terms of interest, ahead of the prestigious Bordeaux–Paris.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Originally, the race was from Paris to Roubaix, but in 1966 the start moved to Chantilly, 50 km north, then in 1977 to Compiègne, 80 km north.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: From Compiègne it now follows a 260 km winding route north to Roubaix, hitting the first cobbles after 100 km. During the last 150 km the cobbles extend more than 50 km. The race culminates with 750m on the smooth concrete of the large outdoor Vélodrome André-Pétrieux in Roubaix. The route is adjusted from year to year as older roads are resurfaced and the organisers seek more cobbles to maintain the character of the race — in 2005, for example, the race included 54.7 km of cobbles.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The opening kilometres (the "départ fictif") have often been a rolling procession. Racing has started further into the ride ("départ réel"). The start of open racing has been at:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The organisers grade the cobbles by length, irregularity, the general condition and their position in the race.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: This sector is now usually the first cobbled section, typically about 100 km into the race, and was first used 1987. It is the highest of all the cobbles at 136 m.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: A 2.5 km sector named after Bernard Hinault, the 1981 winner, which also features frequently in the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque race. It starts at 31m and finishes at 34m. It begins with a gentle rise and finishes with a gentle fall.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The "Trouée d'Arenberg", "Tranchée d'Arenberg", (Trench of Arenberg), "Trouee de Wallers Arenberg", has become the symbol of Paris–Roubaix. Officially 'La Drève des Boules d'Herin', the 2400m of cobbles were laid in the time of Napoleon I through the Raismes Forest-Saint-Amand-Wallers, close to Wallers and Valenciennes. () The road was proposed for Paris–Roubaix by former professional Jean Stablinski, who had worked in the mine under the woods of Arenberg. The mine closed in 1990 and the passage is now preserved. Although almost 100 km from Roubaix, the sector usually proves decisive and as Stablinski said,


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Introduced in 1968, the passage was closed from 1974 to 1983 by the Office National des Fôrets. Until 1998 the entry to the Arenberg pavé was slightly downhill, leading to a sprint for best position. The route was reversed in 1999 to reduce the speed. This was as a result of Johan Museeuw's crash in 1998 as World Cup leader, which resulted in gangrene so severe that amputation of his leg was considered. In 2005 the Trouée d'Arenberg was left out, organisers saying conditions had deteriorated beyond safety limits as abandoned mines had caused sections to subside. The regional and local councils spent €250,000 on adding 50 cm to restore the original width of three metres and the race continued using it. The Italian rider Filippo Pozzato said after trying the road after its repairs:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: It's the true definition of hell. It's very dangerous, especially in the first kilometre when we enter it at more than 60kh. It's unbelievable. The bike goes in all directions. It will be a real spectacle but I don't know if it's really necessary to impose it on us.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: In 2001 a French rider, Philippe Gaumont, broke his femur after falling at the start of the Trouée when leading the peloton. He said:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: What I went through, only I will ever know. My knee cap completely turned to the right, a ball of blood forming on my leg and the bone that broke, without being able to move my body. And the pain, a pain that I wouldn't wish on anyone. The surgeon placed a big support ["un gros matériel"] in my leg, because the bone had moved so much. Breaking a femur is always serious in itself but an open break in an athlete of high level going flat out, that tears the muscles. At 180 beats [a minute of the heart], there was a colossal amount of blood being pumped, which meant my leg was full of blood. I'm just grateful that the artery was untouched.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Gaumont spent a month and a half in bed, unable to move, and was fitted with a 40 mm section fixed just above the knee and, to the head of the femur, with a 12 mm screw. So many fans have taken away cobbles as souvenirs that the Amis de Paris–Roubaix have had to replace them.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The second of three sectors usually graded as five star difficulty, this 3 km sector includes a 16m rise and 2 right-angled turns. It was first used in 1978 and, as of 2016, has been used every year since except 2001.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Le Carrefour de l'Arbre (or Pavé de Luchin) is the last section of pavé of the hardest level of difficulty, five stars. The crossroads ("carrefour") is on open land between Gruson and Camphin-en-Pévèle. The route departs westward from Camphin-en-Pévèle along the rue de Cysoing towards Camphin de l'Arbre. The first half is a series of corners, then along irregular pavé towards Luchin. The second half finishes at the Café de l'Arbre restaurant and has more even pavé. This 2.1 km sector has often proved decisive due to its proximity to Roubaix (15 km) and cumulative difficulty.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The final stretch of cobbles before the stadium is named after a local rider, Charles Crupelandt, who won in 1912 and 1914. The organiser of the Tour de France, Henri Desgrange, predicted he would win his race. Crupelandt then went to war and returned a hero, with the Croix de Guerre.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: This 300 m sector was created for the centenary event in 1996 by laying a strip of smooth new cobbles down the centre of a wide street. Among the cobbles are plaques to every race winner, giving the road an official name of 'Chemin des Géants,' [Road of the Giants].


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The finish until 1914 was on the original track at Croix, where the Parc clinic now stands. There were then various finish points:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The race moved to the current stadium in 1943, and there it has stayed with the exceptions of 1986, 1987 and 1988 when the finish was in the avenue des Nations-Unies, outside the offices of La Redoute, the mail-order company which sponsored the race.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The shower room inside the velodrome is distinctive for the open, three-sided, low-walled concrete stalls, each with a brass plaque to commemorate a winner. These include Peter Van Petegem, Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck, Rik Van Looy and Fausto Coppi.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Paris–Roubaix presents a technical challenge to riders, team personnel, and equipment. Special frames and wheels are often used. In the past, developments to cope with the demands of Paris–Roubaix have included the use of wider tires, cantilever brakes, and dual brake levers. More recently, manufacturers such as Specialized have developed new types of bike which are designed to cope with the demands on the cobbled classics: the best known being the Specialized Roubaix series, which has a longer wheelbase and is designed to offer the rider a more forgiving ride. Many teams disperse personnel along the course with spare wheels, equipment and bicycles to help in locations not accessible to the team car.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Riders have experimented, however. After the Second World War many tried wooden rims of the sort used at the start of cycle racing. Francesco Moser wrapped his handlebars with strips of foam in the 1970s. Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle and Greg LeMond experimented with suspension in their front forks in the 1990s.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Some top riders receive special frames to give more stability and comfort. Different materials make the ride more comfortable. Tom Boonen, using a Time frame with longer wheelbase for the first time, won the race in 2005 and has since continued to use a bike with a longer wheelbase. George Hincapie had a frame featuring a 2 mm elastomer insert at the top of the seat stays. The manufacturers claimed this took nearly all the shock out of the cobbles. Hincapie's Trek bicycle fared less well in 2006: his aluminum steerer tube snapped with 46 km to go, the crash injuring his shoulder.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Canadian rider Steve Bauer had a frame built by Eddy Merckx Bicycles with extremely slack angles, to the extent of being semi-recumbent. It was not a success and was only used for one edition of the race.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The bicycle made for Peter Van Petegem in 2004 was a Time. The distance from bottom bracket to rear axle was 419 mm rather than his normal 403. The distance from the bottom bracket to the front hub was 605 mm instead of 600 mm. The depth of the front forks was 372 mm instead of 367.5 mm The forks were spaced to take 28 mm tyres. The sprockets were steel rather than alloy and the steerer column was cut 5 mm higher than usual to raise the handlebars if needed before the start.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: The bad roads cause frequent punctures. A service fleet consisting of four motorcycles and four cars provides spares to riders regardless of team. Yves Hézard of Mavic the equipment company which provides the coverage, said:


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: Every year we change fewer wheels, because the wheels and tyres are getting better and better. We changed about 20 wheels today. Five years ago, it was much worse — we'd be changing about a hundred. Tyres are becoming much better than before. So, yes, our job is easier — except that the race generally goes faster now, so we're under a bit more pressure. Every year, there's new types of gears, new aluminium frames, new titanium frames, so it's getting more complex for us to offer neutral service. We have a list in the car of who is riding Mavic or Shimano or Campagnolo; the moment someone gets a flat tyre we need to think of a lot of things at once. Is it a titanium frame or a carbon frame or a steel frame?


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: In 1907, Georges Passerieu broke away from a small leading group just before Douai because he knew he could not outsprint them if they all finished together. He was chased all the way to Roubaix by a Belgian, Cyrille van Hauwaert, and tension in the velodrome was high. The crowd heard that Passerieu had reached the stadium but nobody rode on to the track. The leader was just about to ride in when a gendarme stepped into his path to check if his bicycle had the obligatory tax plate attached to it. Passerieu had already had a hard day and a shouting match broke out before he was allowed to continue.


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: In 1930, Jean Maréchal finished 24 seconds ahead of Belgian Julien Vervaecke but was moved to second because, while Maréchal was trying to pass Vervaecke, the Belgian tumbled into a ditch. According to some, Maréchal hit the Belgian's shoulder, causing his fall. Jacques Augendre, historian of the Tour de France, said Maréchal, who was 20, "was riding as an individual for a little bike-maker, Colin, and he got to Roubaix alone. His happiness was short-lived. Arbitrarily accused of having provoked a fall by Julien Vervaecke, with whom he had broken away, he was disqualified without any sort of hearing. Important detail: Vervaecke belonged to the all-powerful Alcyon team, run by the no less powerful Ludovic Feuillet () ..."


title: Paris–Roubaix

text: In 1934 Roger Lapébie was disqualified for changing bicycles. Second placed rider Gaston Rebry was awarded the victory once officials discovered that Lapébie's bike was missing a race sticker.