Carved graffiti

.. a coat full of names..

The first historical reference to Fondi dates to 338 BC, at the time of the Latin War, when its inhabitants gained minor Roman citizenship status. The importance of Fondi lay in its position across the old Via Appia, the main roadway from Rome to southern Italy. In the 6th century, Fondi was devastated by the Lombards but remained a dominion of the Eastern Roman Empire. Later a part of the Papal States, in 846 it was burnt out by the Saracens they settled there until they were defeated in the naval battle of Circeo of 877. In 1140 Fondi passed to the Dell'Aquila family, of Norman heritage, and then, in 1299, to the powerful Caetani barons, who for two centuries made Fondi the center of their power. I found this carved in "Nine Men's Morris" near the place, where the ruins of the Roman thermal baths were excavated.

Payerne Priory (= Peterlingen), a former Cluniac monastery, was founded around 962 by Empress Adelheid as the burial place of her mother Queen Berta of Burgundy. It was annexed to the reform abbey of Cluny in 962 as one of the first daughter monasteries. It was richly endowed by the kings of Burgundy and the German emperors and had extensive landholdings In 1033, Conrad II was crowned King of Burgundy in Peterlingen. The priory was first directly managed by the abbots from Cluny, but starting in 1050 the local prior led the monastery with increasing independence. Saint Ulrich of Zell, was prior here in the later 11th century. He later founded two Cluniac monasteries in the Black Forest. In 1444, the antipope Felix V raised the priory to an abbey. This elevation brought no benefits to the monastery. The Reformation and the weakening of Savoy's power led to the dissolution of the monastery. After the Bernese conquest of Vaud, some of the buildings were demolished. The former abbey church of Notre Dame is an example of Cluniac architecture and an important Romanesque church building. The current construction was started in the 11th century by Abbot Odilo of Cluny on the site of the previous 10th-century church. Parts of the previous building, including the archaic capitals, were included in the new church.After the Reformation, the church was profaned and served in the 17th century as a bell foundry, in the 18th century as a granary, and later also as a prison and barracks. Since 1926 a careful restoration was carried out. There are many conditions that cause people to carve graffiti. Soft stones and a neglected building are optimal for the "vandals". The church was such a building for a long time.

Payerne Priory (= Peterlingen), a former Cluniac monastery, was founded around 962 by Empress Adelheid as the burial place of her mother Queen Berta of Burgundy. It was annexed to the reform abbey of Cluny in 962 as one of the first daughter monasteries. It was richly endowed by the kings of Burgundy and the German emperors and had extensive landholdings In 1033, Conrad II was crowned King of Burgundy in Peterlingen. The priory was first directly managed by the abbots from Cluny, but starting in 1050 the local prior led the monastery with increasing independence. Saint Ulrich of Zell, was prior here in the later 11th century. He later founded two Cluniac monasteries in the Black Forest. In 1444, the antipope Felix V raised the priory to an abbey. This elevation brought no benefits to the monastery. The Reformation and the weakening of Savoy's power led to the dissolution of the monastery. After the Bernese conquest of Vaud, some of the buildings were demolished. The former abbey church of Notre Dame is an example of Cluniac architecture and an important Romanesque church building. The current construction was started in the 11th century by Abbot Odilo of Cluny on the site of the previous 10th-century church. Parts of the previous building, including the archaic capitals, were included in the new church.After the Reformation, the church was profaned and served in the 17th century as a bell foundry, in the 18th century as a granary, and later also as a prison and barracks. Since 1926 a careful restoration was carried out. There are many conditions that cause people to carve graffiti. Soft stones and a neglected building are optimal for the "vandals". The church was such a building for a long time.

Luxeuil les Bains was known to the Romans as Luxovium. They were attracted by the more than a dozen warm springs. In 590, the iro-scottish missionary St. Columban founded the Abbey of Luxeuil. In the 8th century, it was destroyed by the Saracens. It was rebuilt, but afterward, the monastery and town were devastated by the Normans, Magyars, and Muslims. The abbey schools were celebrated in the Middle Ages but the abbey´s influence power was curtailed by Charles V and the abbey was suppressed at the time of the French Revolution. Construction of the abbey church began in 1215 on the foundations of a 10th-century previous building that had been burned down in 1201 by Richard de Montbéliard. It was consecrated in 1340. After the abbey was dissolved during the French Revolution, the church became a parish church in 1830. In the 1860s it was restored under the direction of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Carved graffiti

The fortified town of Stendal was founded by the first Brandenburg Margrave Albert the Bear and granted Magdeburg rights about 1160. A deed issued by Emperor Heinrich II in 1022, in which the village appears among the possessions of the Michaeliskloster in Hildesheim, is a 12th-century forgery. Stendal quickly prospered as a center of commerce and trade. The parish of St. Jacobi was founded in the 12th century. The construction of a Franciscan monastery began in 1230. In the 13th century, the Stendal Seafarers' Guild was formed, which traded its own ships in the Baltic and North Sea areas. The oldest documented mention of the church of St. Marien dates back to 1283. Stendal received city walls around 1300 and in 1338 a Latin school was built. The local merchants joined the Hanseatic League in 1358 and purchased the privilege of minting from the Brandenburg margraves in 1369. Just like in neighboring Tangermünde, the citizens of Stendal rebelled against the beer tax in 1488. - In 1188, Margrave Otto II and his brother Heinrich von Gardelegen, both sons of the Ascanian Otto I, founded a collegiate monastery in Stendal. The chapter consisted of twelve secular canons. It was independent of the bishop, was directly subordinate to the pope, and was, therefore, an important spiritual center in the Altmark area. The canons had church patronage over all Stendal parish churches, as well as numerous churches in the surrounding villages. Around the same time, the construction of the first collegiate church is started. It was a three-nave basilica with a transept and choir apse, similar to the monastery church of Jerichow. Of this first building, the lower part of the west facade is preserved, below the two early Gothic towers. The present building was erected from 1423 onwards. Towards the middle of the 15th century, the new church was probably largely completed. It is a three-nave, four-bay hall church with a transept and nave choir. The west building from the second quarter of the 13th century was taken over from the foundation building. The top floor of the towers dates from the 15th century and is crowned by pointed helmets. The transept has a richly decorated stepped gable on the north side. - The parishioners had the time to carve their names into the wooden benches

The fortified town of Stendal was founded by the first Brandenburg Margrave Albert the Bear and granted Magdeburg rights about 1160. A deed issued by Emperor Heinrich II in 1022, in which the village appears among the possessions of the Michaeliskloster in Hildesheim, is a 12th-century forgery. Stendal quickly prospered as a center of commerce and trade. The parish of St. Jacobi was founded in the 12th century. The construction of a Franciscan monastery began in 1230. In the 13th century, the Stendal Seafarers' Guild was formed, which traded its own ships in the Baltic and North Sea areas. The oldest documented mention of the church of St. Marien dates back to 1283. Stendal received city walls around 1300 and in 1338 a Latin school was built. The local merchants joined the Hanseatic League in 1358 and purchased the privilege of minting from the Brandenburg margraves in 1369. Just like in neighboring Tangermünde, the citizens of Stendal rebelled against the beer tax in 1488. - In 1188, Margrave Otto II and his brother Heinrich von Gardelegen, both sons of the Ascanian Otto I, founded a collegiate monastery in Stendal. The chapter consisted of twelve secular canons. It was independent of the bishop, was directly subordinate to the pope, and was, therefore, an important spiritual center in the Altmark area. The canons had church patronage over all Stendal parish churches, as well as numerous churches in the surrounding villages. Around the same time, the construction of the first collegiate church is started. It was a three-nave basilica with a transept and choir apse, similar to the monastery church of Jerichow. Of this first building, the lower part of the west facade is preserved, below the two early Gothic towers. The present building was erected from 1423 onwards. Towards the middle of the 15th century, the new church was probably largely completed. It is a three-nave, four-bay hall church with a transept and nave choir. The west building from the second quarter of the 13th century was taken over from the foundation building. The top floor of the towers dates from the 15th century and is crowned by pointed helmets. The transept has a richly decorated stepped gable on the north side. - The parishioners had the time to carve their names into the wooden benches. Even the long ones like Bartholomäus.

Nienburg is about 5 km northeast of Bernburg. Nienburg was mentioned in a document from the Gernrode monastery in 961. Around 970, the Jewish traveler Ibrahim ibn Jaqub, who came from Moorish Spain, mentions the place. For several centuries, Nienburg was on the eastern outer border of the Carolingian and German empires. A castle belonging to the Carolingians was probably built here in the 9th century. Between 930 and 950 the "New Castle" (= Nienburg) was built. The Benedictine abbey, founded in Thankmarsfelde in 970, was relocated to the fort in 975 with the aim of evangelizing the then Sorbian population of the region. In 1004 the first monastery church was consecrated in the presence of King Heinrich II, who was on a military campaign against the Poles. The church burned down in 1042. The 1042-1060 built successor was by Emperor Heinrich III. promoted. This building had a gallery transept in the west and a crypt under the chancel, of which a window can still be seen today. After a fire in 1242, the church was renovated. Moreover, the walls of the 11th century building continued to be used and increased. However, after another fire in 1280, the nave was designed as a three-nave, three-bay hall church. As a result of the Reformation and the Peasants' War, the monastery was handed over to the princes of Anhalt-Köthen in 1563, who converted the cloister building from 1680 to 1690 to use it as a palace and widow's residence. In 1871, the palace was sold to an industrialist who converted the building into a malt factory. A complex that is abandoned over long periods of course attracts people to carve in names and dates.

Merseburg was first mentioned in 850. King König Heinrich I. (Henry the Fowler) built a royal palace at Merseburg after having married the daughter of Count Erwin of Merseburg, so that the place came under the rule of the Saxon dynasty. In 955, after finally defeating the Hungarians at the Battle of Lechfeld, King Otto I vowed to found a diocese. Otto I founded the archbishopric of Magdeburg in 968 with the suffragan bishopric Merseburg, but the diocese was dissolved in 981 and only re-established in 1004 by King Heinrich II. Until the Protestant Reformation, Merseburg was the seat of the Bishop of Merseburg, in addition to being for a time the residence of the margraves of Meissen. It was a favorite residence of the German kings during the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries. Fifteen diets were held here during the Middle Ages, during which time its fairs enjoyed the importance which was afterward transferred to those of Leipzig. In the years 1218/19, the area on the left bank of the Saale was protected by a city wall that adjoined the already fortified "Domfreiheit". Civil self-government of the city was first mentioned in 1289. In 1428, Merseburg, together with other towns and against the resistance of the bishops, joined the Hanseatic League, to which it was to belong until at least 1604. The town suffered severely during the German Peasants' War and also during the Thirty Years' War. Construction of the early Romanesque cathedral was begun by Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg in 1015. It was consecrated on 1 October 1021 in the presence of Emperor Heinrich II and his wife, Kunigunde. However, the eastern part of the building collapsed twice within a few years and had to be rebuilt. It was only in 1042 that the cathedral was formally opened. The early Romanesque structure still influences the appearance of today's cathedral. The lower parts of the choir, transept and western towers remain Romanesque as do the eastern towers. Only the crypt still maintains the original spatial impression, however. The shape of the windows was later changed to Gothic style, probably in the second quarter of the 13th century when a new narthex was added to the church. In the first half of the 13th century the western façade, the western towers were mostly reconstructed. It is also likely that the nave was changed substantially and largely attained its final form. Finally, the eastern towers were raised around the middle of the 13th century. One of them retains a Gothic roof, the other is topped by a Baroque roof. Under Bishop Thilo von Trotha (1466-1514) the nave was rebuilt, due to the building of the adjacent Schloss/palace. The old nave was demolished in 1510 and the new nave built between 1510 and 1514 . I have the impression, that whoever C. FRIDEL was, did a mistake. MCDLXXX is 1480 - but the graffiti inside the church are way younger.

Seville was a Roman "colonia" since 45 BC. The important city was looted by the Vandals in 428 and developed into a Bishopric seat under Visigothic rule. After the Moors had defeated the Visigoths in the Battle of Guadalete, they conquered Seville and made it the capital of a province. Normans devastated Seville in 844 but Seville was rebuilt and flourished under the different Moorish dynasties. In 1248 Seville was conquered by the troops of Ferdinand III of Castile. The emigration of thousands of Moors to Northern Africa led to a decrease in economics in the whole area. Seville recovered in the 16th and 17th century when it became the hub of Spanish maritime trade. During this period, the port of Seville had a monopoly on overseas trade. Vespucci and Magellan planned and started their voyages here. As a result of the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1717 Seville lost the transatlantic trade monopoly to Cádiz. The Alcázar of Seville was formerly the site of the city's Islamic-era citadel, whose construction began in the 10th century. It was expanded into a palace complex by the Abbadid dynasty (11th century) and the Almohads (12th to early 13th centuries). After the Castilian conquest in 1248, the site was gradually rebuilt and replaced with new palaces and gardens. The palace is an outstanding example of the Mudejar style and also includes sections with Gothic and Renaissance elements. The complex was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987, along with the adjacent Seville Cathedral. The soft surface of the walls attracts vandals

The official name of the monastery is "Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitória". After Portugal's victory over the Kingdom of Castile in the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385, it was built as a vow of gratitude. It took around 150 years to build, from 1388 to around 1563. The Portuguese kings from the period between 1385 and 1495 are buried in the monastery of Batalha. According to tradition, João I had promised to build a monastery for the Virgin Mary if she would assist the Portuguese army in the battle against the Castilian army, which was more than four times superior in numbers. It was probably built under the exclusive supervision and financing of the royal family, which explains the sophisticated architecture. The monastery is to be understood as a demonstration of the new royal dynasty of Avis founded by João I. The monastery was dissolved as a result of the Napoleonic occupation and became state property. Extensive restoration work began before the middle of the 19th century, some of which took on the character of a new building. The entire church furnishings were removed. The monastery was purified in the sense of a strict Gothic style and large parts of the 16th to 18th century were demolished. Such a large complex, which has been neglected for decades, naturally attracts many vandals who leave graffiti. Most are done in grease pencil, but some are carved in.

The official name of the monastery is "Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitória". After Portugal's victory over the Kingdom of Castile in the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385, it was built as a vow of gratitude. It took around 150 years to build, from 1388 to around 1563. The Portuguese kings from the period between 1385 and 1495 are buried in the monastery of Batalha. According to tradition, João I had promised to build a monastery for the Virgin Mary if she would assist the Portuguese army in the battle against the Castilian army, which was more than four times superior in numbers. It was probably built under the exclusive supervision and financing of the royal family, which explains the sophisticated architecture. The monastery is to be understood as a demonstration of the new royal dynasty of Avis founded by João I. The monastery was dissolved as a result of the Napoleonic occupation and became state property. Extensive restoration work began before the middle of the 19th century, some of which took on the character of a new building. The entire church furnishings were removed. The monastery was purified in the sense of a strict Gothic style and large parts of the 16th to 18th century were demolished. Such a large complex, which has been neglected for decades, naturally attracts many vandals who leave graffiti. Most are done in grease pencil, but some are carved in.