The French can be funny

 

la mairie de Limoges

  Je suis en larmes… voici les rares photos de la mairie de Limoges, vue de l’intérieur. 143 ans d’histoire et de beauté, ravagés en une nuit. Elle avait survécu à deux guerres mondiales.

Inaugurée le 14 juillet 1883 grâce au legs d’Alfred Fournier, pensée par l’architecte Charles-Alfred Leclerc (Grand Prix de Rome), elle était le château de la République des Limougeauds : style néo-Renaissance inspiré de l’ancien Hôtel de Ville de Paris, escalier d’honneur aux marbres roses, toiles marouflées d’Henri-Paul Motte sur le palier (l’union du Limousin à la France et l’atelier de Léonard Limosin), plafond du Salon Bleu, salle des mariages peinte avec son « Ubi Fides Ubi Amor »… Tout cela, les ors, les boiseries, les allégories de l’orfèvrerie et de l’émaillerie, le campanile de 43 mètres, parti en fumée. La partie historique est quasi entièrement détruite à l’intérieur. La toiture s’est effondrée, le beffroi est tombé. Il ne reste qu’une coquille vide là où des générations se sont mariées, ont fait enregistrer leurs enfants, ont siégé pour décider de l’avenir de la ville. Un monument historique depuis 1975, symbole de la maison commune, brûlé volontairement en quelques heures. Les Limougeauds sont sous le choc, en colère et en deuil.

La République tient encore, disent certains, mais le cœur patrimonial de la ville a été arraché. On parle déjà de reconstruction, mais rien ne remplacera ces décors, ces souvenirs, cette lumière particulière qui filtrait dans ces salles.

I’m in tears… here are the rare photos of Limoges town hall, seen from the inside. 143 years of history and beauty, ravaged in a single night. It had survived two world wars.

Inaugurated on July 14, 1883, thanks to the legacy of Alfred Fournier, designed by architect Charles-Alfred Leclerc (Grand Prix de Rome winner), it was the castle of the Republic for the people of Limoges: neo-Renaissance style inspired by the old Paris City Hall, grand staircase with pink marbles, marouflaged canvases by Henri-Paul Motte on the landing (the union of Limousin with France and the workshop of Léonard Limosin), ceiling of the Blue Salon, wedding hall painted with its “Ubi Fides Ubi Amor”… All of that—the gilding, the woodwork, the allegories of goldsmithing and enameling, the 43-meter bell tower—gone up in smoke. The historic section is almost entirely gutted inside. The roof has collapsed, the belfry has fallen. All that remains is an empty shell where generations were married, had their children registered, and sat to decide the city’s future. A historic monument since 1975, a symbol of the communal home, deliberately burned in just a few hours. The people of Limoges are in shock, angry, and grieving. The Republic still stands, some say, but the city’s patrimonial heart has been torn out. Talk of reconstruction is already underway, but nothing will replace those decorations, those memories, that particular light that filtered through those rooms.

Rabbi Shraga Silverstein

 

Shraga Silverstein

• 
  

• From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rabbi Shraga Silverstein was a Rabbi, author, and translator. He translated a number of books, including seventeen that were not published by 2014, and wrote three books himself.^[1] He lived in Jerusalem until his death in 2014.^[2][3]

Biography

Rabbi Shraga Silverstein graduated from Brooklyn College summa cum laude, with honours in English. He was also an alumnus of Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin. He taught in universities in the United States and Israel and served as Principal of various yeshivas.^[2]

Books authored

• Silverstein, Shraga (1967). Hear My Son. New York: Feldheim. OCLC 5639570.^[4]
• ——— (1979). The Antidote: Human Sexuality in a Torah Perspective. Jerusalem: Feldheim. OCLC 610500202.^[5]
• ——— (1981). A Candle By Day: Three Thousand ... Topical Musar Modules. Jerusalem: H. Wagshal. OCLC 11310360.^[6]

Translations

• Shmirath Halashon (by the Chofetz Chaim)
• The Knowing Heart: Da'Ath Tevunoth (by Moshe Chayim Luzzatto)
• Ways of the Tzaddikim: Orchos Tzaddikim
• The Gates of Repentance: Sha'arei Teshuvah (by Jonah Ben Abraham Gerondi)
• The Path of the Just/Mesillat Yesharim (by Moshe Chayim Luzzatto)
• Derashoth HaRan / The Discourses of the Ran (by Nissim of Gerona)
• The Essential Torah Temimah (by Boruch Halevi Epstein)
• The Rashi Chumash (by Rashi)
• Pathways to Teshuvah (by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto)
• Sefer Hamitzvot (by Maimonides)

Germany before Germany

This is what Germany looked like before Germany existed.

Hundreds of duchies, bishoprics, abbeys, cities, and tiny lordships were packed into the Holy Roman Empire. Some were even fragmented into several disconnected pieces.

Iain Cameron

2nd language