The largest tropical forest in the world. The largest forests on earth
Memorial to Victor Emmanuel in Rome - Vittoriano) dedicated to the first king of a united Italy. It is located where the main thoroughfares of Rome converge. Therefore, for the anniversary of the unification of Italy, it was decided to build here Memorial to Victor EmmanuelII (Monumento Vittorio Emanuele II, or Vittoriano, Giuseppe Sacconi, 1885-1911).
History of the construction of Vittoriano
In 1878, the Italian parliament decided to dedicate a national monument to the deceased first king of a united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II. In 1880 and 1882, two international competitions for the best project were held. The winner was the version from Giuseppe Sacconi.
The architecture of the monument was designed as an ideal ascending path through staircases and terraces, decorated with various groups of sculptures and bas-reliefs, to the central Altar of the Fatherland, from it to the side temples, then to the great pillared porch, topped with a bronze chariot, allegorical to the Fatherland and Liberty.
Despite the fact that construction began already in 1885, work continued slower than planned, and the project was constantly changed. For example, the initially planned material from which they were going to build - travertine - was replaced with pure white stone from.
On June 4, 1911, at the International Exhibition on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the unification of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III unveiled a large equestrian statue in gilded bronze. In 1921, the body was buried in a crypt designed by Armando Brasini unknown soldier .
Construction of the entire complex was completed only in 1935.
Vittoriano and Altar of the Fatherland
The architects failed to harmoniously fit the huge structure into the ensemble of earlier, low buildings. The monument made of white limestone, 70 m high and 135 m wide, subjugated the entire space piazza Venezia. Residents of Rome call it “wedding cake”, “inkwell” and “typewriter”.
In the center of the memorial there is an equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II. The monument was cast from bronze of old papal cannons, as a sign of the transfer of power over Rome to the king.
At the foot of the monument in Altar of the Fatherland(Altare della Patria, Angelo Zanelli, 1924) buried the coffin with the ashes of the Unknown Soldier. Here the Eternal Flame burns and there is an honor guard of the Bersaglieri, soldiers of the elite infantry units of the Italian army.
Visit Vittoriano:
You can climb to the roof of the Vittoriano and admire the excellent panorama of Rome. At the top there is an observation deck, which can be reached by elevator.
Opening hours:
- Winter: Mon-Sun from 9:30 to 16:30 (last entry at 16:00)
- Summer: Mon-Sun from 9:30 to 17:30 (last entry at 17:00)
- Closed January 1, May 1 and December 25
Panoramic platform on the roof of Vittoriano:
Opening hours:
- daily 9:30 - 19:30 (last rise at 18:45)
- Closed December 25 and January 1.
- full rate - € 7.00
- 10 - 18 years - € 3.50
- up to 10 years - free
The Altar of the Fatherland is a monument located in Piazza Venezia in Rome. This is the only monument about which all guides allow tourists to draw their own conclusions. The Altar of the Fatherland is also called Vittorino - it is a monument to the unifier of Italy Victor Emmanuel II, and looking at its shape and details, many jokingly call it a typewriter, dentures, inkwell or even a wedding cake.
How to get to the Altar of the Fatherland
Metro – Colosseo station, then go up Via dei Fori Impereali.
Opening hours of the observation deck at the Altar of the Fatherland in Rome - summer 2019
- Every day from 9:30 to 19:30
- Visitors are allowed until 18:45
- Closed December 25
Ticket prices for the observation deck - summer 2019
- For adults - 10 euros
- For children under 18 years old - free
- For persons from 18 to 25 years old - 2 euros
From history
It was decided to erect the monument to Victor Emmanuel II in 1878 after his death. 98 construction projects took part in the competition, from which the work of the architect Giuseppe Sacconi was selected, who proposed to build a palace in the Empire spirit of ancient Roman architecture.
Construction of the monument began in 1885; an entire block of Renaissance palaces was demolished for the construction site. And then the long-term construction began - the monument was built only 50 years later.
In 1911, a twelve-meter bronze equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II was installed and on June 4 of the same year, on the day of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the unification of Italy, the grand opening of the monument took place.
After the First World War, it was decided to add a monument to the Unknown Soldier to the building - the so-called Altar of the Fatherland. It was placed under the bronze statue of the king and the sculpture of Rome in 1921.
In the 1920s, quadrigas symbolizing Unity and Freedom were installed, and bronze details were added in 1935.
Now the monument looks like a white structure with a square bronze plaque. Its width is 135 meters, length – 130 meters and height – 81 meters, it was built from Botticino marble.
Before the construction of the Typewriter, the semantic center of the square was the ancient Palace of Venice, built in 1455-1467 under Pope Paul II.
Since the completion of the monument, Italians began to say that Rome has its own Eiffel Tower - this is a monument that is visible from everywhere and is difficult to hide from. There is also an opinion that the monument is overly cluttered with details typical of ancient Roman buildings - columns, bas-reliefs and statues.
In Rome, people are demanding of all new monuments, which can easily be explained by the presence of such ancient buildings as the Forum and the Colosseum, as well as world-famous cathedrals and squares. Therefore, many believe that the Altar of the Fatherland monument does not fit into the baroque square of Venice and is not entirely appropriate next to the Forum.
Now in Vittoriano there are two museums - the Risorgimento and the Banner of the Navy.
At the same time, for most tourists, the Altar of the Fatherland is an attraction in no way inferior to the Colosseum. In the evening there are many young people sitting on the lawns, and the monument itself in the rays of soft light seems romantic and attractive.
A huge white marble monument located in the very center of Rome in Piazza Venezia, and at first glance striking travelers with its splendor and grandiose size, is the Vittoriano monument (Altar of the Fatherland).
It takes its name from King Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy. Why was such a huge monument erected here in honor of the king instead of a simple classical statue?
The thing is that during the reign of Victor Emmanuel II, twenty fragmented regions of Italy finally united into one country - the Kingdom of Italy. This happened in 1861, after a long period of liberation wars of the Italian people against foreign domination. Until 1861, Italy as such did not exist - twenty regions of the country were fragmented and existed on their own, and only after a long process of political, territorial and public interventions was born a new united country - Italy. Therefore, the Vittoriano monument is, first of all, the main national monument.
History of construction
The initiative to build the monument belongs to the son of Victor Emmanuel, Umberto the First, who decided to erect it as a tribute to the memory of his father and his efforts to unite Italy into one state.
King Victor Emmanuel II died in 1878, and in 1980 the first designs for the monument appeared. The authorities of Rome could not decide for a long time who to entrust such an important construction to, and therefore in 1882 they decided to hold a competition for the best design of the monument among architects. Several important requirements were presented to the future complex: its facade had to face via del Corso, occupy the northern part of the Capitol Hill and contain a bronze sculpture of Victor Emmanuel on a horse, be at least 29 meters high and at least 30 meters wide.
The winner of the competition was the young and not very famous architect Giovanni Sacconi from the Italian region of Marche, who managed to perfectly comply with all the architectural requirements of the customers.
The Vittoriano Monument was inaugurated in Rome on June 4, 1911, with celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of a united Italy.
There is a legend that on the eve of the opening in the huge equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel, a festive table was set for twenty architects (Sacconi's assistants who participated in the construction) and after the workers had dinner, the table was removed and the door at the back of the bronze horse was finally closed by welding.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Eternal Flame
In 1921, the ashes of an unknown soldier were buried at the bottom of the statue of the Goddess of Rome (Dea Roma), which is located in the center of the monument - in memory of all the Italian soldiers who died during the war and were never found.
The Eternal Flame, guarded by the Italian Military Guard, is also located here.
At the top of the Vittoriano monument are the chariots of the goddess of victory Victoria. Under the equestrian statue of King Victor Emmanuel II are twenty human figures in different clothes, they represent 20 different regions that were united into one country - Italy.
Vittorianto - panoramic platform
On the roof of the complex there is a beautiful terrace with a beautiful panoramic view of Rome. It is easily accessible by elevator, which is located inside the monument - the entrance is from the street via di San Pietro in Carcere. The cost of climbing to the panoramic platform is 7 euros. There is a cafe and viewing binoculars at the top. Not long ago, another elevator was opened, which takes you for free to the observation deck around the giant statue of Victor Emmanuel II. Also inside the complex, exhibitions dedicated to art and national Italian history are constantly held.
Opening hours of the Vittoriano complex: from Monday to Thursday: from 9.30 to 19.30, Friday-Saturday from 9.30 to 22.00, Sunday: 9.30-20.30
Entrance: via di San Pietro in Carcere (left side of the monument)
Phone: + 39 06 87 15 111
The Vittoriano Monument is also included in the Welcome
The structure, nicknamed “The Typewriter,” is located in the center of Rome in Piazza Venezia. It is impossible not to notice this huge monument made of white limestone. Vittoriano is a symbol of the age-old dream - the unification of Italy.
Vittoriano- a monument in honor of the first king of united Italy, Victor Emmanuel II. The construction of this colossal monument began in 1885 and lasted half a century.
Vittoriano is embodied at the same time as an allegorical monument of loyalty to the Motherland. A wide staircase leads to the altar of the Motherland with a chapel in the center, in which there is a statue of Rome, framed by high reliefs depicting triumphal processions of Labor and Love for the Motherland; Below the statue is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from 1921.
At the top of the monument stands an equestrian bronze statue of Victor Emmanuel II himself, once gilded. On the sides of the huge portico are two bronze chariots with statues of a winged Victory by Carlo Fontana and Paolo Bartolini from 1908.
Project Vittoriano was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in the Empire spirit of ancient Roman architecture. Construction lasted from 1885 to 1911. The two fountains on the sides symbolize the Tyrrhenian (right) and Adriatic (left) seas. Part of the monument is a twelve-meter high equestrian statue of the king made of gilded bronze; on the plinth there are symbolic images of the most famous cities of the country. Above is the colonnade of the portico, with propylaea on the sides, crowned with the quadriga of Liberty and the quadriga of Unity. Under the statue of the king is the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the so-called “Altar of the Fatherland”.
Vittoriano is home to two museums: the Central Museum of the Risorgimento and the Museum of the Colors of the Navy. The monument is characterized by excessive eclecticism and a congestion of various details characteristic of ancient Roman buildings (columns, bas-reliefs, statues, etc.).
Despite the reverent attitude of the Romans to the idea of the monument, the townspeople find that its neoclassical massiveness does not fit into the baroque Piazza Venice, to which the ancient Roman Forum adjoins, and among themselves they call Vittoriano “Wedding Cake”, “False Jaws” and “Typewriter” . Well, among tourists this place is no less popular than, for example, the same Colosseum.
When evening comes, Roman youth like to sit on the lawn in front of Vittoriano. Thanks to the soft lighting of the monument, romance is in the air around this place) It’s not for nothing that if you turn the word Roma over, you get Amor, that is, love).
It was not for nothing that Congo was chosen to host the XII General Assembly of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. One of the main problems discussed there was the problem of tropical rainforests, and Congo is the largest owner of them on the African continent. However, approaching Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, we did not expect to see it surrounded by forests: at least two hundred kilometers in front of it, visibility from the plane became good again. The connection here is the most direct. Most of the way west from the Great Lakes, with the blue plush carpet of tropical forest stretching beneath our wings, we flew in almost continuous clouds - the forest could only occasionally be seen through the gaps between the clouds. The forest is over - the clouds are over, it’s not for nothing that it is called “rain”. The sun-scorched hills began again, only here and there along river valleys - pitiful remnants of former forests with red clearings of fallen trees and white skeletons of huge trees scattered here and there.
Of the first impressions of Kinshasa, perhaps the strongest is dust, gray, stuffy, smelling of smoke. The road leading from the airport is lined with gray palm trees. “And there are dusty palm trees, thank you, at least not in tubs,” someone jokes. Here, at the fifth degree of southern latitude, we find ourselves at the end of the dry season - winter. From June to September the sun is not so scorching, and there is no rain and, therefore, tropical stuffiness, so painful for northerners - from a climatic point of view, a kind of velvet season. But from an aesthetic point of view, we were a clear loser, and the capital of the Congo appeared before us far from at its best. Everything is burnt out, drooping, exhausted by long thirst. Fresh greens are only available near the Congo or where the plants are specially watered, and there are few such places.
On the first morning we were taken to Mount Ngaliema, which, as they explained to us, offers an excellent view of Kinshasa and its surroundings. This mountain is better known as Stanley. It was from here that the great traveler surveyed these places at the end of his trans-African journey in the eighties of the last century. Then he discovered the second great African river, the Congo, after the Nile, to the world, passing from its very sources in the region of the Great Lakes to its confluence with the Atlantic Ocean. This mountain, like everything around it, was at that time covered with virgin forest, and hippos splashed in the Congo. Hippos have long been forgotten here, and on the mountain there is now a presidential park with spacious well-groomed lawns, asphalt paths, trimmed bushes and neat alleys, and places where you can even sing African Karaoke.
The view from the mountain, which is not high but dominates the area, is truly excellent. If you look to the right, upstream of the Congo, you see a wide, majestic river, smoothly and leisurely carrying its yellow waters, as befits a great river. And to the left side of the mountain, downstream, the breakers of the rapids are already boiling with might and main. The river, previously surrounded by low-lying banks, here enters a narrow valley and turns into a roaring beast. It remains this way until its delta before flowing into the ocean. That is why the “gates” of the Congo remained closed to whites for so long - it was impossible to penetrate along the river from the ocean. To this day, it is impassable for ships on this important route, and all cargo to the ocean goes by rail.
Along the banks of the Congo upstream, two capitals are visible at once: Brazzaville - the capital of the Republic of the Congo - and Kinshasa. Brazzaville on the other side of the river is drowned in foggy haze, but Kinshasa is clearly visible. With its one and a half million inhabitants, it stretches for tens of kilometers, gradually turning into a “country”: whitish hills with rusty spots of burnt areas on the slopes, rare gnarled trees and thickets of thorny bushes are lost in the stuffy haze (we soon became intimately acquainted with them). And smoke, smoke everywhere, settling on the lips with an alarming bitter taste of burning - in September the soil is being prepared for sowing and planting, and this is done, first of all, with the help of fire.
In the language of botanists, before us was a secondary savanna, secondary because, according to natural laws, savanna has no place here, and if not for human intervention, it would not have existed here. According to natural laws, forests belong here.
For us, biologists and geographers, the secondary savanna was of great interest. Here you could observe with your own eyes and feel with your own hands what happens when forests are cut down under these conditions, and I also really wanted to imagine, from the remaining bits and pieces, the former appearance of these places. We were helped by the fact that the assembly was not held in Kinshasa itself, but about an hour’s drive from it - in the town of N’Sele.
If the road to Mount Ngaliema goes downstream of the Congo, then in N’Sele you have to go up. And if the Congo narrows downwards, here, on the contrary, the banks move apart, and the river suddenly turns into a vast lake about 30 kilometers long and 25 wide. N’Sele lies on its very bank, low and level. A fresh green oasis suddenly appears before your eyes - the subject of the vigilant care of an entire army of garden workers. The park is very young, and the palm trees are about the same height as you can see in our tubs, but the lawns are cheerfully green, colored with colorful strokes of flowering trees and shrubs.
I was especially struck by some kind of acacia with delicate leaves, like our mimosa, all of whose branches were strewn as if not with flowers, but with fluffy white and pink feathers, like those of a flamingo, that accidentally got caught on the branches. As if having come to its senses, nature finally decided to show what she is capable of in these parts, and placed a sunbird on an acacia branch - a small graceful bird, metallic black with a violet tint and a dazzling carmine-red spot on the chest.
The sunbird feasted, as it should, on nectar, launching a long beak, like a hummingbird’s, into the feather-flower, and evoked admiring exclamations from observers in front of the front entrance of the building where the assembly was scheduled.
...Immediately after registration - elegant organizers, a crowd of respectable participants - instead of enjoying the coolness by the fountain or sipping ice-cold beer under the refreshing breath of air conditioners, instead of all these blessings bestowed by civilization, we northerners rushed under the scorching sun to the forest visible on the banks of the Congo . On the way to N’Sele we looked at pieces of such a forest with the tops of palm trees rising here and there with lust from the bus windows, and finally such a forest is within reach! We almost ran to him, but - alas! - instead of solemnly stepping under its canopy, they hit it like a stone wall.
Thorns! My God, what kind of sophisticated thorns nature has not invented here! Everything turned out to be armed to the teeth. Here is a plant that has just crawled out of the ground, still at a tender age, and has only managed to produce a couple of leaves. But from the recess between the leaves a hard stalk with quite strong thorns, arranged according to the principle of a spear, is already sticking out. A little time passes - and the innocent stem turns into a powerful vine, hand-thick, planted with large feathery leaves, and the continuation of each leaf is a hard stem, armed with terrible, paired teeth, strong, like a dinner fork. Clinging to everything it comes across with its thorny stem, the vine crawls to the very tops of ficuses and palm trees, but even here it continues to groping for further support, hanging out its terrible hunting gear in all directions.
Not only the vines here are equipped with thorns and thorns of the most bizarre systems, but also all the trees that serve as supports for them - palm trees and acacias are also thorny from top to bottom. You can’t touch anything with impunity, you can’t touch anything, and even after all possible precautions, you end up with hooks and thorns for a long time afterwards.
This is what this forest is like. Let me clarify right away: this is not at all the same forest that grew here in Stanley’s time. Like the local savannah, this forest is also secondary and is the result of spontaneous anthropogenic selection, the result of the predation of the colonialists who ruled Africa until recently. Here, first of all, all the trees with valuable wood were cut down, then those whose branches were suitable for cattle feed were cut down, then the cattle themselves ate everything they could digest, and finally, the rest was burned out, and the vacated lands were cleared for crops. Those same areas of the forest that by some miracle survived the fire are composed exclusively of plant species that have undergone this most severe selection for survival - they are armed with thorns to such an extent that both people and animals have abandoned them. (In the same way, in other places, only deadly poisonous plants survive on pastures grazed by cattle.) Only parrots - wonderful gray gray bells - chat merrily here on the tops of palm trees, other living creatures are buried inside the thorny fortress.
Having said goodbye to the hope of getting to know this forest better, we turned to the surrounding fields. However, in this case this word is not suitable: they are too different from the fields we are familiar with. The well-known picture of a plowed field with glossy gleaming chunks of earth is a luxury here unheard of and impossible. It is not easy for us, inhabitants of the temperate zone, to imagine the true situation with African soils - everything is not like that with us. We, for example, are accustomed to a meter thick soil, whether poor or rich - a different story, but thicker! And we know that if a person behaves wisely and follows agricultural practices, soil fertility can be maintained almost forever, even with intensive farming. It’s a completely different matter - Africa, contrary to our usual ideas, is a naturally infertile continent. On most of it, the soil layer is so thin and fragile that the hoe is still recognized as the most appropriate tool for the farmer, as the most gentle.
The main thing is that the already poor soils are under constant threat of destruction by the rays of the scorching equatorial sun, uncontrollable tropical downpours and drying winds. The only reliable protection of the local soils - this precious capital accumulated by nature with such difficulties - remains vegetation cover. And in the tropical part of Africa, where the drying heat is combined with terrible downpours, only tropical forests can resist the destructive power of the elements. Here lies the cruelest paradox of the African continent: in pursuit of fertile lands and pastures, its former owners reduced natural vegetation and cut down forests; and soils, deprived of primordial protection, after three to four years completely lose their fertility and degrade.
What we saw around Kinshasa was the result of the predation that led to such degradation. I looked into all the holes I came across - and always saw the same thing: the thickness of the sands was only slightly covered by a darker humus layer. Every now and then this thin film of soil was interrupted, and then the sands crawled to the surface, as in a real desert. The thin earth looked more like ash - gray, friable, and for the most part it consisted of ash. Everything here is at its extreme limit, there are practically no reserves in the soil, and the entire life of the new crop is based on the nutrients that were accumulated by the plants in the previous season. That is why firewoods walk around - thus fertilizing the poor soil.
But fires are very harmful. Not only do they lead to the depletion of vegetation, when the few species that are most resistant to fire survive. The soil also becomes depleted, losing some of the nitrogen and carbon carried away with smoke. It turns out to be a vicious circle. Every year the picture repeats itself again, and it’s hard to imagine something sadder! In the smoky haze, gnarled oil palms with charred trunks stick out from the black earth, somehow incomprehensibly remaining alive. During deforestation, the local population spares this palm tree: oil is squeezed out of the pulp of its fruits and seeds, and even in greater quantities than coconut yields, and wine is made from the sweet juice flowing from the cuts of the inflorescences.
Due to its resistance to fire, the oil palm outlive its fellow forest members for a long time. And - as the only evidence of its existence - it continues to grow in those places where not a trace of the forest remains for a long time. The secondary savanna in the vicinity of Kinshasa is called oil palm savanna. In addition to this palm tree, cereals are resistant to firewood here, growing at the beginning of the wet season and providing food for livestock. Of course, not a single cultivated plant can grow on such poor soils, and to grow, say, pineapples here, requires a lot of labor and fertilizer - a luxury that only a very rich landowner can afford.
As for the bulk of the local population, they are forced to be content with the tribute they take in the immediate vicinity of their homes. Usually near the shack you can see several coconut palms, a spreading mango tree, sometimes melon trees - papaya, cassava, bottle gourds, peppers and other vegetables grow in the beds - these are the so-called “women’s gardens”, bred in Africa by almost every housewife. Thanks to fertilizer in the form of all sorts of garbage and watering, the plants here develop well and even produce two harvests a year. But given the insignificant efficiency of land use that we saw in the vicinity of Kinshasa, it remains a complete mystery to us how the population here feeds.
So, without much difficulty we were able to obtain a fairly clear and - alas! - a disappointing answer to the first question: what happens on these lands after deforestation. The second question remained unanswered: what did these forests look like? From literary sources it was known that moist semi-deciduous tropical forests grew here. Not all tree species were evergreen; some shed their leaves during the dry season - hence the name. Very soon we had to say goodbye to the idea of seeing at least a small piece of forest that had survived from not so long ago. When Stanley made his brilliant discoveries, there were already many national parks in the world, but the ideas of nature conservation reached these parts too late. Therefore, nothing has survived from the local forests. Well, then plant it! - another reader will say, remembering the neat pine forest near his dacha, where he collects boletus.
Nothing will come of it - and here the standards of our temperate zone are not suitable! Together with the forest, all those conditions without which its existence was no longer possible were irretrievably lost. The climate, soils, water regime - everything has become completely different.
There is one more important circumstance: the tropical forest is not comparable in complexity to ours. Suffice it to say that on one hectare of such a forest you cannot find two trees belonging to the same species, they are all different, and everyone in this grandiose natural orchestra must play their own part. At appropriate costs, it is also possible to grow a monoculture of the same limba, which, by the way, quite suits the loggers. However, such a forest will resemble a natural one even less than what can be seen in the greenhouse of a botanical garden. Restoring the rainforest in all its incredible complexity is almost impossible. He dies once and for all as a single organism, like a huge, magnificent animal.
Under such circumstances, there was nothing left to do but try to get to know the forest at least in parts - certain local forest species must be preserved somewhere, for example, in a city where there are a lot of different trees.
To be continued.
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