'Suicide magnet' Golden Gate Bridge may soon get $66M safety net after record 46 plunged to their deaths in 2013

Golden Gate Bridge officials say they'll soon vote on whether to install a long-discussed but controversial suicide net on the span, considered by many as the biggest 'suicide magnet' in the world. Last year was the deadliest since the bridge was completed in 1937--with 46 substantiated jumping fatalities--and now a design that would put a stainless steel netting system 20 feet below the sidewalk to catch would-be jumpers is complete. The idea has strong support with directors of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, who plan to vote on the idea spring, but the $66 million cost and potential impact on the iconic span's aesthetic have some saying: not so fast.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2591163/Suicide-magnet-Golden-Gate-Bridge-soon-66M-safety-net-record-46-plunged-deaths-2013.html

The chapel made from thousands of human BONES: Walls made from skeletons including one of a 'giant' and another riddled with syphilis

-The chapel, built by a local priest, is located in town of Czermna in Poland

-Priest placed skeletons in the walls and ceilings between 1776 and 1804

-Skeletons are of fallen soldiers and civilians killed in the Silesian Wars and the Thirty Years’ War as well as those devastated by plagues and cholera

-They are intended to be a reminder of mortality and human salvation

-On the altar is the skull of the local mayor as well as bullet-ridden skeletons

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2582563/The-chapel-thousands-human-BONES-Walls-skeletons-including-one-giant-riddled-syphilis.html

Swiss philosopher plans London atheist temple

Swiss philosopher and writer, Alain de Botton, is proposing to build a temple to atheism in the heart of London’s financial district.

De Botton’s idea is to build a 46-meter high black tower, decorated on the outside with binary code representing the human genome, with exhibits inside tracking the evolution of life through time.

http://www.thelocal.ch/2508/20120208/

Qenqo (Labyrinth) Temple

Death rituals and sacrifice inside a Peruvian megalith

http://atlasobscura.com/place/temple-of-qenqo

Zuiderkerk (South Church) Amsterdam

The Zuiderkerk ("southern church") is a 17th Century Protestant church in the Nieuwmarkt area of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The church played an important part in the life of Rembrandt and was the subject of a painting by Claude Monet.

The Zuiderkerk was the city's first church built specifically for Protestant services. It was constructed between 1603 and 1611 and stands on the Zuiderkerkhof ("Southern Graveyard") square near the Sint Antoniesbreestraat. The distinctive church tower, which dominates the surrounding area, was not completed until 1614 and contains a carillon of bells built by the brothers Hemony, installed in 1656.

The design of the church in Amsterdam Renaissance style is by Hendrick de Keyser, who was also buried in the church in 1621. A memorial stone was placed on top of his tomb in 1921. De Keyser designed the church as a pseudo-basilica with a central nave and two lower side aisles, six bays long, with Tuscan columns, timber barrel vaults and dormers. The stained glass in the rectangular windows was replaced by transparent glass in the 17th Century. The richly detailed tower is a square stone substructure, on which an octagonal sandstone section stands with free-standing columns on the corners. On top of this is a wooden, lead-covered spire.

French Impressionist painter Claude Monet painted the church during a visit to the Netherlands. There is some confusion about the date of this painting, but it was probably one of 12 paintings made by Monet in 1874 during a visit to Amsterdam. The composition is centred on the church spire, with the Groenburgwal canal leading up to it in the foreground. The reflections of the buildings on the water are represented by yellow brushstrokes only, with no detail to them. The painting now hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Three of Rembrandt's children were buried in the Zuiderkerk, which is very near to Rembrandt's house in the Jodenbreestraat. Ferdinand Bol, one of Rembrandt's most famous pupils, was buried in the Zuiderkerk in 1680. According to local legend, Rembrandt painted the Night Watch at the church because his own studio was too small. However, the story is highly disputed and most likely untrue.

The Zuiderkerk was used for church services until 1929. During the final (1944-1945) winter of World War II, known as the hongerwinter ("winter of hunger") in the Netherlands because food was so scarce, the church was in use as a temporary morgue because people were dying faster than they could be buried. The church was closed in 1970 because it was at the point of collapse. In the years 1976-1979, the church underwent renovation, and since 1988 it serves as a municipal information centre, with regularly changing exhibitions as well as a permanent exhibition which features a scale model of Amsterdam as it is envisioned in 2020.

Since June 2006, the church also houses the "Wall of Fame", an homage to Dutch celebrities who have made a positive contribution to society, such as charitable work. The honourees include Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen, renowned former soccer player Johan Cruijff and four-time Olympic swimming champion Inge de Bruijn.

The church is open to visitors Monday through Saturday. The tower, which offers stunning views of the surrounding area, is open to visitors Tuesdays through Sundays during the summer months. The carillon plays on Sundays between 4pm and 5pm.

Wikipedia

Abandoned Places: 10 Creepy, Beautiful Modern Ruins

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Gothic Architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture.

Originating in 12th century France and lasting into the 16th century, Gothic architecture was known during the period as "the French Style," (Opus Francigenum), with the term Gothic first appearing during the latter part of the Renaissance. Its characteristic features include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress.

Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedrals, abbeys and churches of Europe. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings.

It is in the great churches and cathedrals and in a number of civic buildings that the Gothic style was expressed most powerfully, its characteristics lending themselves to appeal to the emotions. A great number of ecclesiastical buildings remain from this period, of which even the smallest are often structures of architectural distinction while many of the larger churches are considered priceless works of art and are listed with UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. For this reason a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches.

A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, into the 20th century.


Wikipedia