Troyes (French pronunciation: [tʁwa] ^ⓘ) is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about 140 km (87 mi) south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near the Orient Forest Regional Natural Park.

Troyes had a population of 61,996 inhabitants in 2018. It is the center of the Communauté d'agglomération Troyes Champagne Métropole, which was home to 170,145 inhabitants.

Troyes developed as early as the Roman era, when it was known as Augustobona Tricassium. It stood at the hub of numerous highways, primarily the Via Agrippa. The city has a rich historical past, from the Tricasses tribe to the liberation of the city on 25 August 1944 during the Second World War, including the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, the Council of Troyes, the marriage of Henry V and Catherine of France, and the Champagne fairs to which merchants came from all over Christendom. The city has a rich architectural and urban heritage: many buildings are protected as historical monuments, including the half-timbered houses (mainly of the 16th century) that survived in the old town. They have contributed to Troyes being designated as a City of Art and History.

Manufacturing of textiles, developed from the 18th century onwards, was a chief part of Troyes' economy until the 1960s. Today, Troyes is the European capital of factory outlets and trading, and has three brand centers.

Prehistoric evidence found in the Troyes area suggests that the settlement may have developed as early as 600 BC. Celtic grave-mounds have been found near the city, and Celtic artifacts have been excavated within the city grounds.^[3]

In the Roman era, Troyes was known as Augustobona Tricassium. Numerous highways intersected here, primarily the Via Agrippa, which led north to Reims and south to Langres, and eventually to Milan.^[4] Other Roman routes from Troyes led to Poitiers, Autun and Orléans.^[5]

It was the civitas of the Tricasses people,^[6] whom Augustus separated from the Senones. Of the Gallo-Roman city of the early Roman Empire, some scattered remains have been found, but no public monuments, other than traces of an aqueduct. By the late Empire the settlement had reduced in extent. It was referred to as Tricassium or Tricassae, the origin of French Troyes.

From the fourth century AD, the people had become Christian and the Church made the city the seat of a bishop. The legend of its bishop Lupus (Loup), who allegedly saved the city from Attila in 451 by offering himself as hostage, is hagiographic rather than historical.^[7] A disciple of Saint Lupus, Aventinus (Saint Aventin of Troyes, died 537) founded a monastery at Troyes.^[8] It was several centuries before Troyes gained importance as a medieval centre of commerce.

The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, also called the Battle of Troyes, took place nearby in 451 AD: the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I fought against Attila.

The early cathedral occupied the site of the current one. Here Louis the Stammerer in 878 received the crown of West Francia from Pope John VIII. At the end of the ninth century, following depredations of the city by Normans, the counts of Champagne chose Troyes as their capital. It remained the capital of the Province of Champagne until the Revolution of the late eighteenth century. The Abbey of Saint-Loup developed a renowned library and scriptorium.

During the Middle Ages, Troyes functioned as an important international trading town. It was the namesake of troy weight for gold - a standard of measurement developed here.^[9] The Champagne cloth fairs and the revival of long-distance trade, together with new extension of coinage and credit, were the drivers of the medieval economy of Troyes.

In 1040, Shlomo Yitzchaki, better known as Rashi, was born in Troyes. The rabbi and philosopher, a prominent commentator on the Bible and the Talmud, established an influential school of Jewish thought in the city.

In 1285, when King Philip the Fair united Champagne to the French royal domain, the town kept a number of its traditional privileges. John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and ally of the English during the Hundred Years War, in 1417 worked to have Troyes designated as the capital of France. He came to an understanding with Isabeau of Bavaria, wife of King Charles VI of France, for the establishment at Troyes of a court, council, and parlement with comptroller's offices.

On 21 May 1420, the Treaty of Troyes was signed in this city, still under control of the Burgundians, by which King Henry V of England was betrothed to Catherine, daughter of Charles VI. Under the terms of the treaty, Henry V, rather than the Dauphin, was to succeed Charles as King of France. The high-water mark of Plantagenet hegemony in France was reversed in 1429 when the Dauphin (afterwards King Charles VII) and Joan of Arc re-established French control of the town of Troyes by armed conflict (Siege of Troyes).

The great fire of 1524 destroyed much of the medieval city, although the city had numerous canals separating sections.

During the repression of January and February 1894, the police conducted raids targeting the anarchists living there, without much success.^[10][11][12]

• Many half-timbered houses (mainly of the 16th century) survive in the old town.
• Hôtels particuliers (mansions) of the old town
• The Hôtel de Ville on Place Alexandre Israël, is an urbane example of the style Louis XIII. On the central corps de logis, which contains the main reception rooms, its cornice is rhythmically broken forward over paired Corinthian columns; these are supported below by strong clustered pilasters. Above the entrance door the statue of Louis XIV was pulled out of its niche and smashed in 1793, during the Reign of Terror at the height of the French Revolution; it was replaced in the nineteenth century with the present Helmeted Minerva and the device in its original form. It is now rare to see "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, ou la Mort". In the Salle du Conseil (Council Chamber) a marble medallion of Louis XIV (1690) by François Girardon, born at Troyes, survived the destruction unscathed.^[13]

• Museum of Modern Art (Musée d'Art Moderne)
• Maison de l'outil et de la pensée ouvrière
• Vauluisant Museum :
  • Historical museum of Troyes and Champagne-Ardenne
  • Museum of hosiery
• Hôtel-Dieu-Lecomte apothecary
• Saint-Loup Museum (museum of fine arts)
• Di Marco Museum (Open from 1 April to 1 October, each year)

Not having suffered from the last wars, Troyes has a high density of old religious buildings grouped close to the city centre. They include:

• Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul Cathedral
• Saint-Nizier Church, in Gothic and Renaissance style, with remarkable sculptures. Classified as a Monument Historique (French equivalence) in 1840.
• The Gothic Saint-Urbain Basilica (thirteenth century), with a roofing covered by polished tiles. It was built by Jacques Pantaléon, who was elected pope in 1261, under the name of Urbain IV, on grounds where his father had a workshop. Classified Monument Historique in 1840. It was proclaimed a basilica in 1964.
• Sainte-Madeleine Church. Very early Gothic, with east end rebuilt around 1500. Remarkably elaborate stone rood screen of 1508–17 in Flamboyant Gothic style, sculpted by Jean Gailde, with a statue of Saint Martha. Fine Renaissance stained glass. Saint Jean district. Classified Monument historique in 1840.
• Saint-Jean Church, with a Renaissance chancel, tabernacle of the high altar by Giraudon. On the portal, coat of arms of Charles IX. Classified Monument Historique in 1840.
• Gothic Saint-Nicolas Church, dating to the beginning of the sixteenth century, with a calvary chapel -shaped rostrum reached by a monumental staircase. On the south portal, two sculptures by François Gentil of David and Isaiah.
• Saint-Pantaléon Church, with extensive statuary from the sixteenth century.
• Saint Remy Church, with a 14th-century spire rising to a height of 60 m (196.85 ft). A 17th-century sundial on its south side bears the Latin inscription sicut umbra dies nostri super terram ("our days on earth pass like a shadow").
• Church of Saint-Martin-ès-Vignes. It has stained glass windows of the seventeenth century by the local master verrier Linard Gonthier.

Several Troyes churches have sculpture by The Maître de Chaource.

Jewish worship is conducted in the Rashi Synagogue of Troyes, named in honor of Rabbi Salomon Ben Isaac, known as Rashi, the famous commentator of the Talmud. The current building was constructed on the site of an old abbey from the 16th century and replaced the synagogue destroyed during World War II^[14] · .^[15] The building is in Renaissance style and was restored in the 20th century. It consists of a half-timbered house from the 16th century and another house dating from the 18th century (Louis XV style).^[16] A cultural center has also been established.^[17]

Recent renovations were undertaken to restore the synagogue to reflect the spirit of Rashi of Troyes' time. The inauguration took place on 4 September 2016, in the presence of Haim Korsia, the Chief Rabbi of France.^[18]

While the original sculpture at Troyes has largely disappeared, the cathedral still has a large number of its original stained glass windows, installed from the 13th to 16th century, along with some windows incorporating sections of medieval glass, for a total of 1,600 square meters of stained glass. The windows illustrate vividly the evolution of stained glass in France, from the 13th-century windows, with their deeply-colored, thicker pieces of glass assembled like mosaics, to the 15th- and 16th-century windows, using silver stain and enamel painting to create the effects of shading and perspective similar to those of Renaissance painting.^[22]

• 
  The Apostles - Lower windows of the nave, (south side Bay 51) (14th century)
 
• 
  Saint Peter (south side-Bay 47) (14th century)
 
• 
  The Annunciation (south side Bay 47) (14th century)
 
• 
  Apostles - Upper windows of nave (Bay 51)
 
• 
  Sainte Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Maurice of Agaune (16th c.)
 
• 
  The Mystical Wine Press - Bay 49 (1625)

The nave has glass from a wide variety of periods and styles – sometimes in the same bay. Some of the oldest windows, from the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century, are in the lateral chapels. Most of these underwent considerable restoration in the 19th century.

Other bays were given new windows in the 16th and 17th centuries. Of these, some were designed by Linard Gontier, a prominent Troyes artist of the Renaissance. His most famous window in the cathedral is the "Mystical Wine Press", inspired by the prominence of the champagne from the region. It depicts Christ with grapevines sprouting from this chest, and a variety of scenes associating grapes and wine with the apostles.

• 
  Windows of the axis chapel of the apse, dedicated to the Virgin Mary (13th–19th c.)
 
• 
  The Flight to Egypt and Adoration of the Magi (13th century)
 
• 
  Musician in the Tree of Jesse window, 13th c. Chapel of Joan of Arc, (Bay 31)
 
• 
  Detail of 15th-century window (Bay 38)
 
• 
  King Philip II of France (Choir, Bay 52)
 
• 
  Powers of the Ecclesiastical hierarchy (Bishops and Kings) (Bay 52)
 
• 
  Upper windows of the choir (Bay 208); Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

The choir and the ambulatory, to the east of the cathedral, still have much of their original stained glass. The oldest windows are in the radiating chapels on the east, some dating to 1200–1230. The higher windows and those of the triforium date to about 1235–40. Some of these windows are more recent, but include portions of the older original glass, which had not yet been installed at the time of the hurricane of 1228. While many of the lower windows were considerably modified, the upper windows of the choir are mostly in their original state.^[21]

• 
  Grisaille windows in the transept

The transept windows have a mixture of styles. The windows on the west are from the 14th century, while those on the east were replaced in the 16th century with windows with tracery of the Flamboyant Gothic style. The triforium windows on the west were made in the 19th century, while the triforium windows on the east include vestiges of restored 13th-century glass.^[23]

• 
  The west rose window (partly hidden by organ)
 
• 
  Rose window of the north transept
 
• 
  Detail of the north rose window

The rose window at the west end of the nave, from 1239, was made by the artist Jean Soudain on the theme of the celestial court. The view of this window from the ground floor is largely obscured by the organ.

The rose window in the north transept, ten meters in diameter, was installed in the 15th century to replace the earlier window, which fell in 1340. It is in the Rayonnant Gothic style, with its tracery radiating outward from the center. The rose window on the south transept is a copy of the north window.

• 
  The grand organ, made in 1730 for Clairvaux Abbey
 
• 
  The choir organ

The grand organ is located on a tribune over the portal on the reverse side of the west front. It was originally built in 1730 for Clairvaux Abbey in Burgundy. When the abbey was closed in 1793 during the Revolution, the organ was nationalised and sold at auction. It was purchased by the overseers of Troyes Cathedral, but was not put into place until 1808. It replaced the original Troyes organ, built in the 15th century and placed next to the choir. That organ had been destroyed in 1792. The installation of the new organ was controversial because it largely blocked the view of the west rose window from the nave and choir.^[24]

The organ has fifty-five jeux or sounds, played with four keyboards and a set of pedals. The instrument was classified as an historical monument in 1963, and the case in 1974.^[25] The organ is decorated with statues of angels and atlantes.

The cathedral has a second, smaller organ, which is located in the choir. This instrument was built in 1865 and was restored in 1987. It has thirteen jeux, played with two keyboards and a set of pedals.

Troyes Cathedral has four bourdons, heavy bells which made a deep note, for tolling on solemn occasions. Each has a name, and all were made in the early 19th century, replacing the early bells taken out and melted down during the French Revolution.

• Petrus Carolus - (4500 kilos, made in 1827)
• Paulus Ana - (3,269 kilos, made in 1813)
• Savinianus - (2,437 kilos, made in 1813)
• Marie - (2000 kilos, made in 1827)

• 
  The Coffret of Troyes (Ivory, 11th century)
 
• 
  The Stuart Cross, made of crystal
 
• 
  Reliquary of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, with silver, copper and enamel (12th century)

The treasury of the cathedral was constructed at the beginning of the 13th century within the choir, next to the apse. It was particularly designed to display the collection of sacred relics which the Bishop Garnier de Traînel had brought back to France from the Fourth Crusade. Some of the relics and other valuable objects were used as ransom for the captive King Francois I in 1525, and others were lost during the Revolution, but the collection was gradually rebuilt. It has a particularly large collection of medieval enamel art, made by local craftsmen in the 12th century, as well as vestments, reliquaries and other medieval liturgical objects. Notable objects include the coffret of Troyes, an ivory chest of Byzantine craftsmanship from the 11th century.^[26]

Among the stained-glass windows is one which appears to have a representation of the famous Indo-Parthian king Gondophares who was ruling in ancient Taxila from 20 to 41 CE, in what is now north-western Pakistan.^[27]

According to the legends and traditions contained in the Acts of Thomas, and preserved by the Indian Christians of St. Thomas, the Apostle Thomas fled to the East after the crucifixion. He stayed for some time at Gondophares' court where Thomas is said to have built a palace for him before heading on to southern India where he was, according to the legend, martyred near modern Chennai (Madras) ^[28]

[The following is based on Part 9 & Part 13 of my "Super Bowl decoding" series I've been doing on STRUG/Super Torch Ritual Underground.]

Feb 11 SpaceX Launches DSCOVR Space Weather Satellite,
But No Rocket Landing

Feb 11 Costa Concordia captain convicted in deadly shipwreck
Feb 11 Costa Concordia captain sentenced for deadly wreck

DSCOVR is all about monitoring the Sun (solar wind, coronal mass ejections) for potential danger to Earth!

     

[Rio de Janeiro in 2012 poster]

The "solar doom" storyline is also something we had found encoded in the DSCOVR launch timing via the late October 2014 X-class solar flares and the movie Knowing.

February 2015 "super solar filament"
Feb 11 Sun Frowning After Scrubbed Launch of DSCOVR?

There the story begins with a time capsule... just as in real life a time capsule was discovered and opened in Boston just recently (Dec-Jan 2015).

Dec 12, 2014 Paul Revere's 1795 time capsule unearthed
Jan 07, 2015 Time Capsule, Once Sealed by Paul Revere, Opened

The 2015 Super Bowl was played in Phoenix (Glendale)...

...a city repeatedly mentioned in Knowing (conceptually what the story is about, i.e. Earth destruction and New Earth).

Feb 03 Seven killed as New York train hits vehicle

Two...

Feb 03 Taiwan TransAsia plane crashes into river killing more than 31

[Video of the scene]

Feb 03 ISIS video purports to show Jordanian pilot burned alive
[Feb 04 Jordan executes 2 prisoners after ISIS killing of pilot]
[Feb 04 Jordan vows 'earth-shaking' response to ISIS]
[Feb 05 Jordan jets 'strike Islamic State' after pilot's death]

April 5-6, 2009
Italy (L'Aquila) earthquake near Rome (~300 dead)

'Gotta Be Somebody' crossing over into reality
Time mirroring via Venus (Amor/Roma)

Trojan Horse of Troy

Submitted by Iza on Sun, 03/01/2020 - 17:21. Last modification: Sun, 03/01/2020 - 17:21

 

 

+–

 

• © OpenStreetMap contributors.

GPS coordinates: 39.957107, 26.240502

Archaeological site: 

Troy

Trojan Horse of Troy

Description: 

This text is a fragment of a guidebook to Troy "The Secrets of Troy (TAN Travel Guide)".

The tale of the Trojan Horse is one of the most frequently told stories from the mythical Trojan War. It tells about the trick employed by the Greeks who were tired of besieging Troy for a decade. Cunning Odysseus, the legendary king of Ithaca, suggested building an enormous wooden horse. When the construction was ready, the elite of warriors hid inside, while the remaining Greeks pretended to sail away, bored of the war. The jubilant Trojans wheeled the horse into the city and started the celebrations. Undercover of the night, the Greeks sneaked out of the horse, opened the gates of Troy, and the Greek army entered the city, destroyed it, and killed its inhabitants.

The fundamental question arises after hearing the tale of the Trojan horse: why would the Greeks build a model of this animal and not another? There are many interpretations of the story. The most straightforward explanation is that the horse was the emblem of Troy, so the Trojans willingly accepted such a gift.

Another speculation states that the horse was a battering ram, such as used at the time by the armies. These devices were covered with wet horse hides to protect them from fire. The horse could also be a ship with the hidden warriors, as ships were called sea-horses, for instance in the Odyssey.

Finally, a more complicated theory states that the Trojan Horse did not exist in any material form but was a metaphor for an earthquake that destroyed the walls of Troy, letting the Greeks inside. This speculation is supported by the fact that Poseidon was not only the god of the seas but of earthquakes and horses too.

The modern wooden replica of the Trojan Horse was created in 1975 by the Turkish architect İzzet Senemoğlu. It is possible to get inside the horse and climb up to its two levels. There are windows on both of them, offering an overview of the site. The model of the Trojan Horse, 12.5 meters high, was built of 25 cubic meters of pinewood, brought from the Kaz Mountain. This mountain, in ancient times known as Mount Ida, is situated some 50 km to the south-east of Troy. It was the setting of several important episodes of the Trojan War. It was also the place where the Olympian gods sat and watched the progress of the epic fight. Another model of the Trojan Horse, used in the filming of the movie "Troy" from 2004, stands on the quay in the city of Çanakkale, the main base for the tours of Troy.

Getting there: 

Go through the entrance to the archaeological site of Troy, situated next to the ticket office. The main sightseeing route goes straight on, but you can see the model of the Trojan Horse standing on a square, slightly to your right. At the square, there is also a toilet, the only one at the whole site, as well as the official museum shop where you can buy souvenirs, maps, and books devoted to Troy and other archaeological sites in Turkey.