Transcription : Welcome and where aren’t we today have a little guess at where we are. A quick glance. Would seem to put us in maybe Greece. I don’t know what your guess was and also how old. How old might this be. And it would not seem like this was a building built in the eighteen fifties. But this is actually the palace. Of justice. In Brussels Belgium. And let’s have a little look. Here we are. And the Palace of Justice was built between 1866 and eighteen eighty three.

The total cost of construction land and furnishings was somewhere in the region of forty five million francs. It is reputed to be the largest building constructed in the 19th century. And is a notable landmark of Brussels. So really amazing. I feel like I have never seen this building until recently. And here’s a little look and a 1944 postcard. And this thing is just a monster. I mean complete. Access in every way. And it actually appears as if there’s a whole other underground floor here.

This is actually only. The second floor here we see the first floor down here. And there’s stairs going up. And into this section here. And what looks like a ramp perhaps. I’m not sure. And another little look we see little people down here. Tiny little people and another little look. Towering above the home’s real beauty and initially it was this photo that I posted at the end of a video. Real briefly. And a lot of people asked where it was and I thought I would just share it real quick. I would love to go into more depth. As it is just a remarkable structure.

And today I wanted to start off by looking at some beautiful…Glass. And we spend a lot of time looking at impressive block work and buildings. That really don’t seem to make any sense that don’t seem to have been carved but rather seem to have been cast. And so here is a beautiful glass type of grail and very very intricate. ornamentation. And this beauty. Comes from Germany.

In Cologne and it’s called The Dish Cantharus. The object was found in Cologne Germany in 1860 – 1864. It’s first known owner was the collector Charles Damien Disch. A cantharus is a drinking vessel with higher handles and it was used to consume one. This example was elaborately decorated with gilding on the outside of the cup. Over which a network of hot glass trails was placed in a zigzag pattern. So very fascinating to have been found. In 1864. And truly a masterpiece.

Colorful Glass Beach in California

And what started me down this path was this video. and it’s an entire beach just filled with colorful glass of all colors of colors of glass that we’ve never seen before. Here at this beach you have tons. but not only are there just tons and hoards of. Glass at this beach. But what we also have is melted stone infused with glass and other objects. And here we can have a little look. At what this melted. Stone looks like and again infused with.

A whole era and just absolutely fascinating to experience and really within a hundred years. What a melting of stone may look like. And now the story that they gave us is that this Fort Bragg and California. used to dump their trash. over the side of the hill. and they dumped so much trash and eventually set fire to it. and would move to another location and all of this glass. And all of this melted stone infused with trash. They’re telling this is the result. Of this era and the history of Fort Bragg. In 1986 the residents established an official water dump site behind the union Lumber Company.

When the dump site filled up in 1943 the site was moved to what is known as Site to the active dump site. Lasted until. 1967. And here we can have a look at its location in California. Way up here. The pounding of the waves broke down the glass and pottery and tumbled them into pieces. Small and smooth. And here another little look at the beauty. And once again I mean what are you using glass for. I mean are we making bottles or are we making bottles this thick. So many of them I mean we would expect the bottles and window panes and even cathedral windows for that matter to be very. thin in comparison to these.

That video was showing him holding many and many of them are just chunks know as you can see here. They’re not thin little slivers by any means. These are very very or night. and you know even this one here doesn’t even really seem like any practical kind of glass just beautiful. and infused with these. imperfections here we see a little bit of red. And so yes you know I think that there is more of a mystery surrounding this.

So they tell us that glass was made as early as the 20th seventh century B.C. in ancient Egypt. in Mesopotamia. and glass beads. dating back to the 15th and 16th century in Syria. and glass making was a small scale artisan activity. Until the Emperor Augustus. In 27 B.C. to 14 A.D.. He decided to include glass making in the crafts. He wanted to develop by centralizing them in Italy he imported glass workers from Syria and Judea.

As we trace the history of glass production through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, we witness the material’s growing importance in art, stained glass windows, and architectural marvels

They didn’t volunteer. Most of them were brought in to Italy as slaves. Nevertheless glass soon became a successful alternative to pottery. This brown glass cup is decorated with gold sandwiched between two layers of glass which have been fused together. It has a cage and glass handles that were then applied.

Ancient Roman Glass Artifacts

The ancient Romans made significant strides in the history of glass production, developing new techniques for blowing and molding glass into intricate shapes and vessels. There is another kind of cage vessel produced by Roman glass artists where the cage is carved away from the glass body of the piece. So really amazing what they are attributing to the Roman abilities things we can’t even do today. And while on the subject of glass What is the melting point of glass. And the melting point of glass is a thousand 20 degrees Fahrenheit. So 10 20. And what about glass in the old world. The biggest glass palace in the world. in Leipzig Germany. They call the Great Hall. at the Loebsack fair the biggest glass palace in the world. It’s the largest levitated glass Hall. 

Two hundred and forty meters long and 80 wide. With over a thousand tons of glass floating above your head. Really remarkable. as are these crystal palaces found all over the world. And here was a little palace in Germany. In Munich. In the 19th century. There was the great palace a huge glass building with an iron supporting structure. Rather unusual for the time the palace was the first example of a new architectural style in the dawning age of technology. Mann accepted the challenge of this project. An amazing technology indeed. For the eighteen fifties.

The unprecedented building was built in just nine months. After being commissioned by King Maximilian the second in 1853. he wanted to put on a domestic Customs Union exhibition in Munich. However there is no building in the entire city that was suitable for this. So they decided to build on. Due to the short construction time a decision was taken to make a structure from glass and iron. which was designed by the Royal building officer. August void.

This was based on the Crystal Palace in London which had also been built in a very short period. The building was eight hundred feet long. with a maximum width of two hundred and eighty feet. In August of 1853. They signed a contract. and use prefabricated and structurally identical sections made from cast iron wrought iron and oak. Which could be bolted together. They really save time.

The total construction cost today would be estimated at one hundred and seventy million euros. The Glass Palace met a tragic end. On July 6 1931. When it was completely burned to the ground. in a major fire. the cause of the fire was never identified along with the building precious pieces of art. which were exhibited. There were also destroyed. So the Crystal Palace. Very amazing. And very early time period. And many still remain very suspicious.

The way that these iron and glass buildings would burn to the ground. And here we can see iron. In the periodic table. and it has a melting point. Of twenty eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit. And this was really beautiful. The Preston Bradley Hall and Chicago. Cultural Center. Amazing down. And amazing symbology in here. Looks like a little zodiac symbols and probably a lot more. And the next thing I wanted to show was this world’s largest stained glass window.

Now the largest stained glass window is at the Resurrection Cemetery in Justice Illinois. It seems like an unlikely destination for a glass lover. But if you drop by at sunset you’ll be treated to a spectacular display that very beautiful. And here is the St. Chapelle in Paris France. Now this is the jet. This is the real deal. and this is the kind of glass. that we would imagine. That would leave the kind of. debris that we saw on that beach.

All different colors and nowhere else. that we see so many colors of glass. And just beyond anything that we’re doing today. along with everything from this older world. and we’re looking for glass I ran across this article on this 14 million dollar Tribeca New York. Penthouse. It has a rotunda with a gorgeous stained glass calculus. once featured on the cover of Architectural Digest. This penthouse just hit the market for 14 million. And the place was built around 1898.

It was a commercial building originally. Which really doesn’t seem to make any sense. Why it would have this. Ornate stained glass window. I found it really funny that you know the repurposing is building. It just seems so obvious that. They really didn’t know what to do with it. Originally it was used as a dining room for members of the New York Wool Exchange. The building’s original tenant. And here it is. But really amazing.

I thought I would just share that real quick. And now back to this Fort Bragg where the glass beach is a very interesting story and very mysterious. We’re told that originally. the area was settled for Native Americans. As a reservation. and soon after that a fort arrives on the scene a military fought and really not much. population. We can see here that the population and let’s say nineteen fifty was thirty eight hundred. Nineteen hundreds. About fifteen hundred people. Very small population. And in present day around seven or eight thousand. Not. Really a booming area. Not then. and. not now. And yet we’re told this massive amount of glass. Just. Finds itself. Littered all over the place.

And you know we don’t see these in Los Angeles or in San Francisco. This is a special place. This is glass Beach. a tourist attraction a anomalous. feature. In California. And yet we’re told that this small population just littered. Littered an entire beach. With these heaps of garbage. And the result is this beautiful gem like. Pretty thick and stone like glass. And was there a massive. Building with stained glass perhaps at these sites. And if we have a little look on Google Earth we can see what the town looks like from above. And you know what’s really strange is here the prime real estate. Of any coastal city is pretty much nothing. No development. In fact what looks like UN. Development.

You know we see a footprint of a bunch of buildings here. And in fact these plots. Look larger than these lots across the street. So these were some massive type. of buildings here and this would make sense and really not. all the glass that’s found being the result of. This a little small population dumping their trash but rather the remains of whatever was here and probably a glorious. Amount of architecture with ornate colorful glass windows and everything else. And here we’re just seeing the scattered remains on this. Touristy glass beach. And I really would like to visit this place so that’s all. And one more thing. This was shared with me in a comment. Thanks Moneypenny.

Glass Production History in Fort Bragg

A mysterious city appeared in the sky in China. And this is actually pretty old. From 2015. yet I had never seen it. And let’s have a little look. at this city in the sky and really square seeming tops really not seeming cloud like and. just pretty impressive. Here again this is really let’s go back and look at that one. That was something really special there. I don’t know. And this is on you know mainstream. news. I’m not sure. that seems so real right there. There’s even antenna. And I believe that this Fata Morgana is some sort of mirage.

We all know about these mirages. Oh these magical mirages. And let’s go on again. Here we go. I mean this is you know not seeming cloud like and even they are saying that it’s the temperature. That bounces through different layers of air. Really remarkable play on air and temperature. I mean we see a window. I mean to imagine that a mirage is. You know going to be so perfect. in this sense. Like a castle in the sky. And so what are we really saying. What is this.

And it appears as if there’s like a waterfall coming off of here and. Dumping right into the clouds. Really. Really beautiful, and mysterious and… And we can have another look at another angle even here was another angle. So I mean if it was just one angle it would be one thing and this city appeared shortly after a heavy hailstorm and really just looking like old world architecture just you know just from the silhouette that we’re seeing and again this news channel is trying to make some kind of sense of mirages. And really I think just serving a benefit.

And so I don’t know what to make of it. Just really fascinating and I thought I would share. So that’s it for today. And do you have a blessed day and please like, share and subscribe.