title: History of Chile

text: On 4 September 2022, voters rejected overwhelmingly the new constitution in the constitutional referendum, which was put forward by the constitutional convention and strongly backed by President Boric. Prior to the dismissal of the proposed constitution the issue of constitutional plurinationalism was noted in polls as particularly divisive in Chile.


title: Little Wing

text: "Little Wing" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1967. It is a slower tempo, rhythm and blues-inspired ballad featuring Hendrix's vocal and guitar with recording studio effects accompanied by bass, drums, and glockenspiel. Lyrically, it is one of several of his songs that reference an idealized feminine or guardian angel-like figure. At about two and a half minutes in length, it is one of his most concise and melodically focused pieces.


title: Little Wing

text: The origins of "Little Wing" have been traced back to the 1966 recording of "(My Girl) She's a Fox", an R&B song which features Hendrix playing Curtis Mayfield-influenced guitar accompaniment. He developed the song while performing in New York City's Greenwich Village prior to his involvement with producer Chas Chandler. After being inspired by events at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, Hendrix completed the song in October 1967, when it was recorded by the Experience during the sessions for their second album "".


title: Little Wing

text: "Little Wing" was released with the "Axis" album in December 1967 in the UK and the following month in the US. As one of only two songs from the album to become part of the Experience's concert repertoire, the Experience often performed it live and recordings were issued on early Hendrix posthumous albums "Hendrix in the West" in 1972 and "The Jimi Hendrix Concerts" in 1982. More recently, demo versions have been released as well as additional live renditions. "Little Wing" is one of Hendrix's most popular songs and has become a standard, with interpretations recorded by musicians in a variety of styles. It is ranked number 188 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".


title: Little Wing

text: Jimi Hendrix began his career as a rhythm and blues guitarist and performed and recorded with several popular R&B artists, including the Isley Brothers, Don Covay, and Little Richard. He learned from other R&B guitarists, including Curtis Mayfield, who was known for his understated rhythmic fills and chording. Hendrix toured as a support act with Mayfield in 1963. He described the experience: "The best gig was with Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions. Curtis was a "really" good guitarist ... I learned a lot in that short time. He probably influenced me more than anyone I'd ever played with up to that time, that sweet sound of his, you know". In 1966, Hendrix recorded a song titled "(My Girl) She's a Fox" with the Icemen, an R&B duo. Hendrix biographer Harry Shapiro has described it as "paced and phrased in the style of Curtis Mayfield, [that] is virtually a blueprint for 'Little Wing'". Later Hendrix producer John McDermott called his contribution to "She's a Fox" (included on the 2010 "") "perhaps the strongest of his pre-Experience career. Hendrix's Curtis Mayfield-influenced guitar styling is the song's strongest attribute".


title: Little Wing

text: According to Hendrix, "Little Wing" came from an idea he had originally developed while playing in Greenwich Village, when he was fronting his band Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in the summer of 1966. He later explained that he was further inspired during the Experience's performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival:


title: Little Wing

text: In October 1967, recording sessions for the second Experience album, "", began at Olympic Studios in London. On October 25, after recording the strongly R&B-oriented "Wait Until Tomorrow", the Experience recorded an instrumental version of "Little Wing". It followed the same chord progression as the later master recording, but had a more forceful rock feel. After another take in the same vein, Chandler called for a different approach. Recording engineer Eddie Kramer explained, "Chas knew right away what was needed. He had Jimi slow the tempo down and try it again". After the basic track was completed, Hendrix and Kramer recorded overdubs on October 28, 1967. For his recordings, Hendrix expended considerable effort to achieve the optimal tone for his guitar tracks. For his rhythm guitar, he had set his pickup selector to a nonstandard position between the neck and middle settings to achieve a "hollow" tone, sometimes mistakenly referred to as "out-of-phase". However, for the lead, Kramer later fed the guitar signal through a makeshift Leslie speaker, which was normally used for electric organs. By rotating the sound, Leslie speakers produce vibrato- and tremolo-like effects, i.e., a pulsing or quivering addition to the sound (Hendrix later popularized the use of the Univibe phase shifter effects pedal, which can be set to get a roughly similar effect). Next, Hendrix added a straight ("dry, without any effects") glockenspiel to underscore his vocal and guitar. According to Kramer, "Jimi always kept an eye out for odd instruments that would be lying about the studio" and found the glockenspiel in Studio A. Last to be recorded was his vocal, which was treated with sound processing techniques to give it an airy sound. These have been variously described as artificial double tracking (ADT), phasing, Pultec filter equalization, and processing with a Leslie speaker.


title: Little Wing

text: Regarding the song's arrangement, Shapiro commented, "Musically, 'Little Wing' is structured to lay a gossamer touch across the whole song from the arresting opening statement and the haunting glockenspiel to the use of a Leslie speaker cabinet for the guitar". According to AllMusic's Matthew Greenwald, it is based on a "gentle, soulful chord progression [which] guides the melody and is an accurate mirror of the title and lyrics". The song has been notated in 4/4 time with one bar in 2/4 at a slow rock (70–72 beats per minute) tempo and is built on a chord progression without a bridge section:


title: Little Wing

text: After an instrumental introduction, there are two verses, followed by a guitar solo, which has been described as "richly melodic" by biographer Keith Shadwick. Shapiro noted the song's brevity: "The song fades on a magical solo after only two minutes and twenty-five seconds. Even live, 'Little Wing' was hardly any longer – he said what he wanted to say and stopped".


title: Little Wing

text: Hendrix's use of guitar chords for the song involves unconventional finger positions and approach to the fretboard. Guitarist Frank Marino explained:


title: Little Wing

text: A reference work by Hal Leonard compares it to a pianist's approach, with Hendrix's "thumb fret[ting] the bass notes, functioning in almost the same manner as a keyboardist's left hand, and the fingers of his fretting hand can be likened to a pianist's right hand". Leonard also adds that guitarist Adrian Belew describes the technique as a "lost art".


title: Little Wing

text: In discussing his lyrics, Jimi Hendrix was characteristically enigmatic. In a 1967 interview, he explained "Most ballads come across in different ways. Sometimes you see things in different ways than other people see it. So then you write it in a song. It could represent anything". In different interviews, he acknowledged an American Indian-influence on his songs "I Don't Live Today", "May This Be Love", and "Little Wing". He described "Little Wing" as being "based on a very, very simple Indian style", perhaps referring to some Native American mythologies in which spirits inhabit nature and animals, including birds. In one interview, he saw it as self-explanatory: "That's exactly what it's about, like 'She's walking through the clouds'",


title: Little Wing

text: Music journalist Charles Shaar Murray likens the figure to a feminine ideal: "Sometimes she is a spirit, sometimes a fantasy, sometimes a woman as solidly, palpably physical as he is". The figure first appears as "Waterfall" in "May This Be Love", where she offers solace and hope, and as "a soulful, loving sprite" in "Little Wing". However, other writers have suggested that the figure is similar to the guardian angel associated with Christianity, which is clearly what she represents in Hendrix's later song "Angel". Hendrix's brother, Leon, interpreted "Little Wing" (and "Angel") as a general tribute: "He wrote it for his girlfriends, our aunties, and especially for our mama, who looked over us from high above in the afterlife". Hendrix's hand-written lyrics for "Angel" (with the note, "Finished January 14, 1968") use the title "My Angel Catherina (Return of Little Wing)", which suggests that he saw a connection between the two songs. At the time, Hendrix had just finished a short tour of Scandinavia, where he had performed "Little Wing" in concert for the first time. At some point he responded to a question, "Love? I know a girl, Katerina, in Sweden." In a later 1969 interview, Hendrix described his relationships while he was on tour: "So like 'Little Wing' is like one of these beautiful girls that come around sometimes ... She was a very sweet girl that came around that gave me her whole life and more if I wanted it. And me with my crazy ass couldn't get it together, so I'm off here and there and off over there."


title: Little Wing

text: "Little Wing", along with the rest of the tracks for "Axis: Bold as Love", was mixed October 31, 1967. Because some of the masters had been lost, stereo remixes were prepared on November 1 (it is not clear if "Little Wing" was among those remixed). On November 2, 1967, a monaural mix was prepared, making "Axis" the last Hendrix album specifically mixed in mono (subsequent mono albums were electronically "folded" from the stereo mixes). When recording engineer Kramer was preparing the album for a new mono reissue, he commented on the differences: "Perhaps the most unique track was 'Little Wing'. Jimi's guitar and vocals were much drier while the drum reverb was much more present. It was experimentation ... the entire [mono] album was all mixed in one day!"


title: Little Wing

text: The album was issued by Track Records in the UK on December 1, 1967, and Reprise Records on January 15, 1968, in the US. The song appears on subsequent reissues of "Axis: Bold as Love", which continues to be a best selling Hendrix album. It has also been included on numerous Hendrix compilation albums, including "The Essential Jimi Hendrix", "Stone Free", "The Ultimate Experience", "", and "". In 2022, the British Phonographic Industry awarded "Little Wing" its Silver certification, signifying sales of over 200,000. However, it is unknown whether this applies to the original recording or a subsequent live version.


title: Little Wing

text: "Little Wing" was one of only two songs from "Axis" that the Experience regularly performed in concert, the other being "Spanish Castle Magic". Except for the glockenspiel and the song's ending, their live performances generally follow the studio arrangement. Since the "Axis" recording ends on a fade, Hendrix needed to devise a different live ending. Early recordings show a progression to an open chord, while later ones have more elaborate single-string guitar improvisation with effects, such as wah-wah, before a chiming final chord. For one 1968 performance in San Francisco, Hendrix's guitar signal was routed through a Leslie speaker. Writer Dave Rubin commented, "the real Leslie played outdoors [out of the studio] like this really gives a very delicate, gentle swirl to the chords and helps the chordal embellishments in the intro". This version was also rendered at a slower (56 bpm) tempo, making it somewhat longer (4:01).


title: Little Wing

text: On January 8, 1968, the Experience debuted the song at the Konserthuset in Stockholm, Sweden, recordings of which have appeared on bootleg albums. Other live versions appear on "Stages: Paris 68" (L'Olympia Paris, January 29, 1968), "The Jimi Hendrix Concerts" (Winterland Ballroom San Francisco, October 12, 1968),


title: Little Wing

text: and "Hendrix in the West" (Royal Albert Hall London, February 24, 1969). These recordings have been reissued on "Live in Paris & Ottawa 1968", "Winterland", and "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" box set. The 1969 Royal Albert Hall live recording was included on singles issued in the UK and US in 1972. A March 17, 1968, instrumental jam with Hendrix and members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Electric Flag is built around "Little Wing". Hendrix recorded it for his personal use around the time he began recording tracks for "Electric Ladyland" at the Record Plant studio in New York. This low fidelity tape from the Cafe au Go Go, along with others from the Generation Club and the Scene in New York, was later stolen from his apartment and has appeared on several bootleg albums over the years.


title: Little Wing

text: English guitarist and singer Eric Clapton has performed "Little Wing" throughout his career, beginning in 1970 with Derek and the Dominos. He explained in an interview:


title: Little Wing

text: Derek and the Dominos performed the song in London at the Marquee Club ten days after their live debut at the Lyceum on June 14, 1970. With Duane Allman on second guitar, the group recorded "Little Wing" at Criteria Studios in Miami, during the sessions for "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" shortly before Hendrix's death on September 18, 1970. Clapton biographer Michael Schumacher notes, "Clapton had intended it as a tribute to a living legend, but now that Hendrix was gone, the song hit on a different emotional level."


title: Little Wing

text: Atco Records issued the song on a single as the B-side to "Bell Bottom Blues" and included it on "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs". Critics' comments on Derek and the Dominos' rendition range from "exquisitely arranged" ("Rolling Stone") to "bombastic"("Legends of Rock Guitar"). The group performed the song during their tour and a recording from the Fillmore East in New York City on October 23, 1970, was released on the "Live at the Fillmore" album in 1994.


title: Little Wing

text: After the break up of Derek and the Dominos, Clapton continued to perform "Little Wing". Live recordings appear on "Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert" (1973), "" (1974, released 1996), "Eric Clapton & Friends in Concert" (DVD with Sheryl Crow 1999), "Live in San Diego" (2007, released 2016), "Live from Madison Square Garden" (with Steve Winwood 2008, released 2009).


title: Little Wing

text: "Rolling Stone" magazine has included "Little Wing" on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" at number 357 in 2004, number 366 when the list was updated in 2010, and 188 in 2021. Several musicians have recorded the song in a variety of styles.


title: Little Wing

text: Gil Evans included a jazz arrangement in his band's repertoire throughout his career. A version was later included on an expanded reissue of "The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix" (1974). In 1987, Evans provided an arrangement and backing for a recording by English musician Sting for his second solo album "...Nothing Like the Sun". Murray describes Evans' involvement as "almost his last creative act" (Evans died less than a year later).


title: Little Wing

text: Texas blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded an instrumental version in 1984, although it was not released until 1991, when it appeared on Vaughan's posthumously released album "The Sky Is Crying". Vaughan's interpretation of the song won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Irish pop rock band the Corrs recorded the song for their 1997 album "Talk on Corners". An AllMusic album review noted "[t]he best and most spirited Celtic cut is 'Little Wing,' deliciously resting on the contributions of the dropping-by Chieftains."


title: Keukenhof

text: Keukenhof (English: "Kitchen garden"; ), also known as the Garden of Europe, is one of the world's largest flower gardens, situated in the municipality of Lisse, in the Netherlands. According to the official website, Keukenhof Park covers an area of and approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted in the gardens annually. Keukenhof is widely known for its tulips, and it also features numerous other flowers, including hyacinths, daffodils, lilies, roses, carnations and irises.


title: Keukenhof

text: Keukenhof is located in the province of South Holland, south of Haarlem and southwest of Amsterdam in the area called the "Dune and Bulb Region" (Duin- en Bollenstreek). It is accessible by bus from Haarlem and Leiden train stations as well as Schiphol. Though its grounds are open year-round for private affairs and festivals, Keukenhof is only open to the general public for a world-renowned 8 week tulip display from mid-March to mid-May, with peak viewing arriving near mid-April, depending on growing season weather, which varies annually. In 2019, 1.5 million people visited Keukenhof, equivalent to 26,000 visitors per day. By comparison, the Rijksmuseum receives an average of 8,000 visitors per day, the Efteling receives 14,000.


title: Keukenhof

text: Keukenhof is situated on the 15th-century hunting grounds of Slot Teylingen; it was the castle's kitchen garden (in Dutch: "keukentuin"), providing game, fruit and vegetables. The most noted inhabitant, and beneficiary of the garden was Countess Jacoba van Beieren (1401-1436). In 1638, the estate was purchased by Adriaen Maertensz Block, captain and governor of the Dutch East India Company. In 1641 he had a large manor house constructed, which he named Keukenhof, now known as Castle Keukenhof.


title: Keukenhof

text: In 1857, Baron and Baroness Van Pallandt, at the time owners of the estate, tasked landscape architect Jan David Zocher and his son Louis Paul Zocher, both also designers of Amsterdam's Vondelpark, to restructure the park and grounds around the castle. Those parks, designed in English style, remain the foundations for the gardens.


title: Keukenhof

text: Keukenhof, the park as it is now known, was established in 1949 by a consortium of bulb growers and flower exporters to showcase their products and support the export industry. The garden opened to the public in 1950 and received 200,000 visitors in its first year. It operates under a charitable foundation of Count Carel De Gaaf van Lynden.


title: Keukenhof

text: Each autumn, 40 gardeners plant the 7 million bulbs, donated to the park by over 100 growers. Planting starts early October and is usually completed by 5 December, around Sinterklaas. The flowerbeds are synchronised to the different bulb flowerings to ensure blooms throughout the duration of park's 8-week opening. To ensure continuous bloom, three bulbs are planted in each location. The shallowest bulb will bloom first for three weeks, followed by the subsequent layers.


title: Keukenhof

text: In addition to the tulip gardens, Keukenhof features a variety of other gardens. The English landscape garden features winding paths and surprise see-through vistas. The walled area of the historical features archival varieties. In the Nature Garden shrubs and perennials are combined with bulb plants. The Japanese Country Garden is a non-traditional garden in a natural environment. Four pavilions house rotating displays and flower exhibits.


title: Keukenhof

text: The grounds of Castle Keukenhof are open all year long and are frequently used for festivals such as Castlefest, the Ladies Winternight, and the Christmas Fair. The castle also hosts classical music concerts.


title: Keukenhof

text: In 2017, Keukenhof received 1.4 million visitors. 20% of the visitors are Dutch, while 40% are from Germany, UK and Belgium. The number of visitors from the USA (10%) and China (8%) has grown over the years.


title: Keukenhof

text: Keukenhof falls under a charitable foundation of Count Carel De Graaf van Lynden ("Stichting Graaf Carel van Lynden"). As of January 1, 2016, the foundation owns both Keukenhof and Castle Keukenhof plus the surrounding estate.


title: Keukenhof

text: The Keukenhof does not receive government subsidies; revenues are generated from ticket sales and the food and beverage licensees on premise. In 2019 Keukenhof generated €25 million in revenue. In 2020, as a consequence of the COVID-19 COVID pandemic and closures to contain it, the park was shut from its scheduled opening day, 21 March until its scheduled closing date, 10 May, costing it an estimated $25 million in revenues.


title: Volos

text: Volos ( ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos is also the only outlet to the sea from Thessaly, the country's largest agricultural region. With a population of 144,449 (2011), the city is an important industrial centre, and its port provides a bridge between Europe and Asia.


title: Volos

text: Volos is the newest of the Greek port cities, with a large proportion of modern buildings erected following catastrophic earthquakes in 1955. It includes the municipal units of Volos, Nea Ionia and Iolkos, as well as smaller suburban communities. The economy of the city is based on manufacturing, trade, services and tourism. Home to the University of Thessaly, the city also offers facilities for conferences, exhibitions and major sporting, cultural and scientific events. Volos participated in the 2004 Olympic Games, and the city has since played host to other athletic events, such as the European Athletic Championships. Volos hosted the 7th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics from 27 July to 5 August 2013.


title: Volos

text: Built at the innermost point of the Pagasetic Gulf and at the foot of Mount Pilio (Pelion, the land of the Centaurs). The city spreads in the plain on the foothills of Mount Pelion, bordering the town of Agria to the east and Nea Anchialos to the southwest. Volos' municipality includes both towns, along with many nearby villages, including Makrinitsa and Portaria.


title: Volos

text: Volos is a major commercial port of mainland Greece in the Aegean sea (after Piraeus and Thessaloniki), with connection by ferry and hydrofoil to the nearby Sporades Islands, which include Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonissos. There are also connections to Lemnos, Lesbos, Chios and Skyros.


title: Volos

text: Modern Volos is built on the area of the ancient cities of Demetrias, Pagasae and Iolcos. Demetrias was established in 293 BC by Demetrius Poliorcetes, King of Macedon. Iolcus, or Iolkos, was known in mythology as the homeland of the hero Jason, who boarded the ship Argo accompanied by the Argonauts and sailed in quest of the Golden Fleece to Colchis. To the west of Volos lie the Neolithic settlements of Dimini, with a ruined acropolis, walls, and two beehive tombs dating to between 4000–1200 BC, and Sesklo, with the remains of the oldest acropolis in Greece (6000 BC). The mound of Kastro/Palaia in western Volos is the site of a Bronze Age settlement, including a Mycenaean palace complex where a couple of preserved Linear B tablets have been found.


title: Volos

text: Iolcus is still attested in the early Byzantine period but was eclipsed for most of the Middle Ages by Demetrias. The Slavic tribe of the Belegezites settled in the area during the 7th century.


title: Volos

text: Volos first appears again in 1333, as one of the cities captured by the Byzantine general John Monomachos in Thessaly, under the name "Golos" (Γόλος). The name is of Slavic origin, from "golo", "golъ", "barren". Another theory derives the name from Slavic "golosh", "seat of administration". Two alternative theories allude to a Greek origin through the words βολή (throw), as fishermen threw their nets into the sea from that area, and βώλος (piece of land) but the Greek scholar G. Hatzidakis considers them to be paretymologies at best. The modern form of the name is first attested in 1540.


title: Volos

text: The walls of medieval Golos follow the traces of the fortifications of ancient Iolcus, and many remnants of the ancient city have been found in the medieval citadel.


title: Volos

text: Along with the rest of Thessaly, Volos fell under Serbian rule in 1348, governed by Gregory Preljub. After Preljub's death Thessaly passed under the brief rule of Nikephoros II Orsini, followed by the Serbian rulers Simeon Uroš and John Uroš. After the latter's death in 1373, Thessaly returned under Byzantine rule for twenty years, until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Bayezid I.


title: Volos

text: Ottoman rule was not yet firm. The first period of Ottoman control lasted from 1393–1397, followed by another , but it was not until 1423 that Volos was definitively incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman name of the city was . The Ottomans strengthened the town's fortifications against a possible Venetian attack, and installed not only a garrison, but also Muslim settlers from Anatolia. The local Christian population in turn moved to the slopes of Pelion. From this time on, Volos became the chief settlement on the Pagasetic Gulf.


title: Volos

text: The city began to spread outside its walls in the late 16th/early 17th centuries, coinciding with a growth in commerce, helped by the city's famed twice-weekly local fair and the first works at the waterfront harbour. The fortress was captured by the Venetians under Francesco Morosini in 1665, during the Cretan War, but recovered and refortified by the Ottomans.


title: Volos

text: In May 1821, at the beginning of the Greek Revolution, the Greek rebels of Mount Pelion tried to capture the fortress but failed. On 8 April 1827, the Greek fleet, under the command of the British philhellene Frank Abney Hastings, captured five Ottoman ships in the city's harbour and forced the local garrison to evacuate the fortress. The provisional government of Greece claimed Volos as part of Greek national territory, but the Treaty of Constantinople (1832), which established a Greek independent state, set its northern boundary along a line running south from Arta to Volos. Volos was incorporated into the Greek Kingdom in November 1881 with the rest of Thessaly.


title: Volos

text: After its incorporation into the Greek Kingdom, the town had a population of only 4,900, but grew rapidly in the next four decades as merchants, businessmen, craftsmen and sailors gravitated toward it from the surrounding area. In the 1920s a large influx of refugees to the settlement took place, especially from Ionia, but also from Pontus, Cappadocia and Eastern Thrace. In 1882, Andreas Syngros established the Privileged Bank of Epirus and Thessaly, which the National Bank of Greece acquired in 1899 after its founder's death. Volos was occupied by Ottomans on 8 May 1897, during the Greco Turkish War.


title: Volos

text: The city had a vibrant Jewish community in the early 20th century: from ca. 500 in 1896, it rose to ca. 2,000 in 1930, before falling drastically to 882 members in 1940, because of emigration to the great cities of Thessaloniki and Athens or abroad. During the Axis occupation of Greece, the prompt actions of the local chief rabbi, Moshe Pessach, and the Greek authorities saved about 700 of the local Jewish community from deportation to the Nazi death camps.


title: Volos

text: After an aerial attack by Italian troops in November 1940 and another by the Germans in 1941, many of the city's inhabitants took refuge in the villages of Pelion. Abandoning Volos after Italy's capitulation in September 1943, the Italians left storerooms full of food, arms and ammunition. Large quantities of this material was transported with the Pelion railway to the mountain village Milies and under the supervision of ELAS loaded onto mules and taken to secure hideaways. When the Germans set off a column to Milies an officer and a soldier were killed by resistance fighters. In reprisal nearly the whole village was burnt down by German occupation troops on October 4, 1943. According to the official report of the municipality the Germans executed 25 men, and three inhabitants died in their houses from the flames.


title: Volos

text: Volos is also well known for its assortment of mezedes and a clear, alcoholic beverage known as "tsipouro".


title: Volos

text: A street in a sister city, Rostov-on-Don, bears the name "Улица Греческого Города Волос" (Street of the Greek City of Volos), weaving through a mix of early 20th-century buildings with characteristic inner yards, tiered balconies and open iron stairs that lend the old Rostov its characteristic Mediterranean look.


title: Volos

text: The municipality Volos was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following nine former municipalities, that became municipal units:


title: Volos

text: The province of Volos () was one of the provinces of the Magnesia Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipalities Volos, Rigas Feraios, South Pelion and Zagora-Mouresi. It was abolished in 2006.


title: Volos

text: Volos is the administrative centre of the Magnesia regional unit. Many of the city domains are separated through natural barricades, such as rivers.


title: Volos

text: Three main rivers/mountain torrents all rise from mount Pelion (with its peak at ), crossing the city to create a unique urban geography, before ending in the Pagasetic Gulf flowing west. The Anavros river, famous for Jason's pass, divides the Nea Demetriada district from the rest of the urban area. Krafsidonas is the major river passing through the city and constitutes the natural lung of the urbanized area of Volos, as well as the boundary between the major municipalities of the metropolitan city, the municipalities of Volos and Nea Ionia. Xirias (Ξηριάς), is the largest torrent in the metropolitan urban area of Volos and passes through the Nea Ionia municipal area.


title: Volos

text: Volos, having a Csa Mediterranean climate, typically experiences neither particularly high nor extremely low temperatures throughout the year. Its climate is one of low humidity, favourable for all kinds of activities. The Pelion mountain, with its own microclimate, affects the city's weather.


title: Volos

text: Two of the most known churches of Volos, St Nicholas and Sts Constantine and Helen on the promenade, were designed by architect . Volos was once also characterised by a number of old mansions, the majority of which were destroyed after the earthquakes in 1955. Nowadays, only some of them have been saved, restored and have a new, mainly public, use.


title: Volos

text: The development of the new city coincided with the flourishing of neoclassicism. Public buildings conformed to this style and private buildings belonging to prosperous merchants were particularly sophisticated. Typical examples include:


title: Volos

text: The city of Volos consists of the administrative and academic centre of University of Thessaly, which was founded in 1984, and is the most important centre of education in central Greece. The faculties of Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences and Agricultural Sciences, with their twelve departments, are based in Volos, emphasising the academic, economic and cultural development of the city. The faculties are located in different areas of the city ; “Pedion Areos” Campus is used by the Departments of the School of Engineering, while the School of Humanities and Social Sciences is located in the centre of Volos. The School of Agricultural Sciences is based in a renovated building in Fytoko. In addition to Greek students, the city and the University attract many foreign students via Erasmus and other programmes.


title: Volos

text: In addition, in the city, there are 56 kindergartens, 51 primary schools, 18 junior high schools and 13 senior high schools.


title: Volos

text: Volos is one of the most industrialized provincial cities of Greece, because of its strategic location between the largest population centers of the country (Athens – Thessaloníki) and its port. Industry is intensely specialized in steel production and manufacturing. Three major steel producers (METKA, SIDENOR and Hellenic Steel Industry (Ελληνική Χαλυβουργία)) have production facilities in the industrial areas of Volos and nearby Almyros.


title: Volos

text: AGET Heracles, a member of the Lafarge group, operates one of the largest cement facilities in the world (with capacity exceeding 7,000,000 tn) with its own private port, next to the city. Volos is also active in the research sector, hosting the Institute of Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology (iBO), one of the five Institutes of the Center for Research and Technology – Hellas (CERTH).


title: Volos

text: The port lies upon the port of the ancient Thessalian settlement of Iolkos. According to Greek mythology, this was where the hero Jason built his trireme, Argo, and along with his oarsmen set course for Colhis, bringing back and marrying priestess Medea.


title: Volos

text: The new port was founded in 1893 and was the most significant element in the industrial development of the area. Today, Volos has the third-largest cargo port in Greece (after Piraeus and Thessaloniki), carrying agricultural and industrial products. In the past, it was home to a maritime link with Tartus in Syria.


title: Volos

text: Ferries and flying dolphins operate daily, connecting Volos to the Magnesia islands of the Sporades, (Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonissos). In addition, many cruise ships use the port of Volos as a destination. During the summers of 2015 and 2016, more than 100 cruises arrived in Volos, carrying more than 100,000 visitors.


title: Volos

text: The city of Volos has always had a major role in the financial, economic, commercial and administrative matters of the region of Thessaly and Central Greece, due to the strategic position of the city's port, unique between Athens and Thessaloniki.


title: Volos

text: The wider region of Volos is a place rich with history, finding the first signals of culture in the Neolithic period. In the villages of Sesklo and Dimini, the first traces of Neolithic culture in Europe have been discovered.


title: Volos

text: Moreover, close by Volos there are the ancient Dimitrias, a town built by Dimitrios Poliorkitis in 294-2 AC. Today, the ancient theater of Dimitrias remains preserved. Also present are the archaeological areas of Goritsa hill, archaeological findings dating from the early Christian period in Nea Anchialos, and the wall of Volos's old castle, which is open to visitors.


title: Volos

text: Volos consists of a city with diverse Greek trades, as its industrial development encouraged many people to move to the city. The city's industrial and financial evolution also gradually resulted in cultural and social evolution, too ; in 1894, Volos acquired its Municipal Theater, and later its Gymnastics Club. In 1908, Volos became home to the first Labour Union in Greece.


title: Volos

text: After 1922, following the Asia Minor Catastrophe, Volos received a large number of people from the destroyed regions. This coexistence with the locals deeply influenced the culture of the city, leaving a mark still visible in the food, music, sports, entertainment and social life of the city today.


title: Volos

text: In modern times, there are plentiful of museums and galleries to be visited throughout the city, but also in the wider region. Above all, Volos forms one of the most attractive and tourist-friendly cities in Greece because of its physical setting, combining the Pagasetic Gulf with Mount Pelion.


title: Volos

text: One of the main characteristics and most widely known specialities of Volos is its traditional drink, tsipouro, and the seafood that is served accompanying the drink.


title: Volos

text: Volos, taking advantage of its physical setting by the sea, has a significant presence in Greek sporting history in the areas of rowing and sailing. The city also has two covered and one open sporting swimming pools, with a long history in swimming and water polo. Additionally, Volos has clubs and facilities in several sports, including football, basketball, volleyball, tennis and horseriding. The most popular clubs, with significant contributions to the sporting and cultural history of the city and significant successes in football, are Olympiakos Volou and Niki Volou. The main clubs of Volos are shown below :


title: Volos

text: With its sporting traditions, Volos was one of the five cities that played host to the 2004 Summer Olympics.


title: Volos

text: Since 2004, Volos's facilities have hosted significant sports events, such as 27th European Championship of Artistic Gymnastics in 2006, the FIBA European Youth Championship (2015), when Greece won the gold medal, and the Finals of Greek Football Cup, in 2007 and 2017.


title: Volos

text: All land transport reaches Volos, while the International Airport of Central Greece in Nea Anchialos links the city to international destinations, and the Port of Volos provides links to the islands, mostly the Sporades, as well as to some destinations in Pilio.


title: Volos

text: Volos is linked through Greece's E75 Highway Axis (most often known as PATHE) with Northern and Southern Greece. Beyond this, the Axis E65 will be the gateway to Western Greece and the port of Igoumenitsa, through the plains of inner Thessaly, when this part of the E65 link is completed.


title: Volos

text: The city of Volos, along with the rest of Central Greece, is linked to the rest of Greece and Europe by the Nea Anchialos National Airport. The airport has the second longest commercial runway in Greece after Eleftherios Venizelos.


title: Volos

text: Volos is the first city in Europe to feature Seaplane Services through Argo Airways, which is based in Volos. The seaplanes connect Volos with Skiathos, Skopelos, Allonisos, Athens and Thessaloniki.


title: Volos

text: Today, the city is served by direct lines to the rest of Greece, and the railway complex houses facilities for train maintenance. Volos is directly linked with Athens once per day, with Thessaloniki twice per day, and with Larissa 15 times a day. In the past, Volos was served by railway lines of three different gauges, the metre gauge line of Thessaly Railways to Kalampaka, the standard gauge line to Larissa and the gauge line to Pelion. Remnants of triple gauge lines still exist near the station. Currently, the Pelion railway line operates for tourist reasons every Saturday, Sunday and public holiday from mid-April to the end of October. The train runs every day during July and August.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Irish satirist, a politician, a playwright, poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He is known for his plays such as "The Rivals", "The School for Scandal", "The Duenna" and "A Trip to Scarborough". He was also a Whig MP for 32 years in the British House of Commons for Stafford (1780–1806), Westminster (1806–1807), and Ilchester (1807–1812). He is buried at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. His plays remain a central part of the canon and are regularly performed worldwide.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: Sheridan was born in 1751 in Dublin, Ireland, where his family had a house on then fashionable Dorset Street. His mother, Frances Sheridan, was a playwright and novelist. She had two plays produced in London in the early 1760s, though she is best known for her novel "The Memoirs of Miss Sidney Biddulph" (1761). His father, Thomas Sheridan, was for a while an actor-manager at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin, but following his move to England in 1758 he gave up acting and wrote several books on the subject of education, especially the standardisation of the English language in education.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: While his family was in Dublin, Richard attended the English Grammar School in Grafton Street. In 1758, when he was seven years old, the Sheridans moved permanently to England.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: He was a pupil at Harrow School from 1762 to 1768. At the end of his 1768 school year, his father employed a private tutor, Lewis Ker, to direct his studies in his father's house in London, while Domenico Angelo instructed him in fencing and horsemanship.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: In 1772, aged 20 or 21, Sheridan fought two duels with Captain Thomas Mathews, who had written a newspaper article defaming the character of Elizabeth Ann Linley, whom Sheridan intended to marry. In the first duel, they agreed to fight in Hyde Park, but finding it too crowded they went first to the Hercules Pillars tavern (on the site where Apsley House now stands at Hyde Park Corner) and then on to the Castle Tavern in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. Far from its romantic image, the duel was short and bloodless. Mathews lost his sword and, according to Sheridan, was forced to 'beg for his life' and sign a retraction of the article. The apology was made public and Mathews, infuriated by the publicity the duel had received, refused to accept his defeat as final and challenged Sheridan to another duel. Sheridan was not obliged to accept this challenge but could have become a social pariah if he had not. The second duel, fought in July 1772 at Kingsdown near Bath, was a much more ferocious affair. This time both men broke their swords but carried on fighting in a 'desperate struggle for life and honour'. Both were wounded, Sheridan dangerously, and he had to be 'borne from the field with a portion of his antagonist's weapon sticking through an ear, his breast-bone touched, his whole body covered with wounds and blood, and his face nearly beaten to jelly with the hilt of Mathews' sword'. Mathews escaped in a post chaise. Eight days after the bloody affair the "Bath Chronicle" was able to announce that Sheridan was out of danger.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: Later that year, Elizabeth and the 21-year-old Richard eloped and set up house in London on a lavish scale. Sheridan had little money and no immediate prospects of any, other than his wife's dowry. The young couple entered the fashionable world and apparently held up their end in entertaining. Sheridan was a patron of Margaret Cuyler and she was his presumed mistress. Under his wing she appeared at Drury Lane in January 1777 despite being a poor actress.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: In 1775 Sheridan's first play, "The Rivals", was produced at London's Covent Garden Theatre. It was a failure on its first night, and John Lee’s performance as Sir Lucius O'Trigger was criticised for rendering the character "ridiculous and disgusting". Sheridan rewrote the play and presented it again a few days later, with Laurence Clinch replacing Lee in the role. In its reworked form it was a huge success, immediately establishing the young playwright's reputation and the favour of fashionable London. It went on to become a standard of English literature.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: Shortly after the success of "The Rivals", Sheridan and his father-in-law Thomas Linley the Elder, a successful composer, produced the opera "The Duenna". This piece, warmly received, played for seventy-five performances.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: His most famous play, "The School for Scandal", premiered at Drury Lane on 8 May 1777. It is considered one of the greatest comedies of manners in English. It was followed by "The Critic" (1779), an updating of the satirical Restoration play "The Rehearsal".


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: Having quickly made his name and fortune, in 1776 Sheridan bought David Garrick's share in the Drury Lane patent, and in 1778 the remaining share; his later plays were all produced there. In 1778 Sheridan wrote "The Camp", which commented on the ongoing threat of a French invasion of Britain. The same year Sheridan's brother-in-law Thomas Linley, a young composer who worked with him at Drury Lane Theatre, died in a boating accident. Sheridan had a rivalry with his fellow playwright Richard Cumberland and included a parody of Cumberland in his play "The Critic". On 24 February 1809 (despite the much vaunted fire safety precautions of 1794) the theatre burned down. On being encountered drinking a glass of wine in the street while watching the fire, Sheridan was famously reported to have said, 'A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside.' Sheridan was the manager of the theatre for many years, and later became sole owner with no managerial role.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: In 1780, Sheridan entered the House of Commons as the ally of Charles James Fox on the side of the American Colonials in the political debate of that year. He is said to have paid the burgesses of Stafford five guineas apiece to allow him to represent them. As a consequence, his first speech in Parliament was a defence against the charge of bribery.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: In 1787 Sheridan demanded the impeachment of Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of India. His speech in the House of Commons was described by Edmund Burke, Charles James Fox, and William Pitt as the greatest ever delivered in ancient or modern times.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: In 1793, during the debates on the Aliens Act designed to prevent French Revolutionary spies and saboteurs from flooding into the country, Edmund Burke made a speech in which he claimed there were thousands of French agents in Britain ready to use weapons against the authorities. To dramatically emphasise his point he threw down a knife onto the floor of the House of Commons. Sheridan shouted, 'Where's the fork?', which led to much of the house collapsing in laughter.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: In April 1798 he appeared at the trial in Maidstone of United Irishmen accused of treasonable conspiracy with the French. Along with Charles James Fox, Lord Moria and other radical Whig grandees, he testified on behalf of Arthur O'Connor. O'Connor was acquitted. His companion, Father James Coigly was hanged.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: THEY, by a strange Frenzy driven, fight for Power, for Plunder, and extended Rule—WE, for our Country, our Altars, and our Homes.—THEY follow an ADVENTURER, whom they fear—and obey a Power which they "hate"—WE serve a "Monarch" whom we love—a God whom we adore...They call on us to barter all of Good we have inherited and proved, for the desperate Chance of Something better which they "promise".—Be our plain Answer this: The Throne WE honour is the PEOPLE'S CHOICE—the Laws we reverence are our brave Fathers' Legacy—the Faith we follow teaches us to live in bonds of Charity with all Mankind, and die with Hope of Bliss beyond the Grave. Tell your "Invaders" this; and tell them too, we seek no Change; and, least of all, such Change as "they" would bring us.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: He held the posts of Receiver-General of the Duchy of Cornwall (1804–1807) and Treasurer of the Navy (1806–1807). Sheridan was noted for his close political relationship with the Prince of Wales, leading a faction of his supporters in the Commons. By 1805 when the Prince was cooling on his previous support of Catholic Emancipation Sheridan, George Tierney and others announced their own opposition to it.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: When, after 32 years in Parliament, he lost re-election in 1812, his creditors closed in on him and his last years were harassed by debt and disappointment. On hearing of his debts, the American Congress offered Sheridan £20,000 in recognition of his efforts to prevent the American War of Independence. He refused the offer.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: In December 1815 Sheridan became ill and was largely confined to bed. He died in poverty. However, dukes, earls, lords, viscounts, the Lord Mayor of London, and other notables attended his funeral, and he was buried in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: In 1825 the Irish writer Thomas Moore published a sympathetic two-volume biography, "Memoirs of the Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan", which became a major influence on subsequent perceptions. A Royal Society of Arts blue plaque was unveiled in 1881 to commemorate Sheridan at 14 Savile Row in Mayfair. Another plaque is in Stafford.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: Elizabeth also had a daughter, Mary, born 30 March 1792 but fathered by her lover, Lord Edward FitzGerald. After Elizabeth's death, Sheridan fulfilled his promise to look after Thomas and FitzGerald's baby daughter. A nurse was employed to care for the child at his Wanstead home. The baby had a series of fits one evening in October 1793, when she was 18 months old, dying before a doctor could attend. She was interred beside her mother at Wells Cathedral.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: In 1795, Richard B. Sheridan married Esther Jane Ogle (1776–1817), daughter of the Dean of Winchester. They had at least one child: Charles Brinsley Sheridan (1796–1843). At one time Sheridan owned Downe House, Richmond Hill in London.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: Sheridan was a womanizer. He had recorded affairs with Frances Crewe, Lady Crewe (he dedicated his 1777 play The School for Scandal to her), and a disastrous affair with Harriet Spencer, Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, beginning in 1789. Sheridan's affair with Harriet was disastrous for her, as the worst case scenario actually happened: her abusive husband Viscount Duncannon, Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough walked in on Harriet and Sheridan having intercourse. Violently enraged, Duncannon immediately wanted to divorce Harriet. Divorce in the 18th century was social ruin for women, and Harriet narrowly escaped such calamity only when Duncannon's father William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough and the powerful Cavendish clan sided with Harriet, making divorcing her social suicide.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: Whilst attempting to win back his wife Eliza Elizabeth Ann Linley, one of multiple similar occasions, he conceived a child with a governess named Caroline Townsend in 1789. Sheridan's friends Georgiana, Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire and Harriet, Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough helped him arrange for Caroline to go abroad to deliver, "and on her return they adopted the baby. They named her Fanny Mortimer and she grew up at Devonshire House as a sort of foundling, inhabiting a nether world between the servants' quarters and the nursery. After Georgiana died in 1806, Harriet sent Fanny to private school and eventually saw her marry quite well. Fanny always suspected that either Harriet or Georgiana was her mother and never quite recovered from learning that her true mother was a mere governess."


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: To his contemporaries, Sheridan was as known for his dazzling wit, lively humour, and political acuity as for his duplicitousness, vindictive nastiness, and general profligacy. Sheridan was a social-climber who had no qualms about backstabbing friends to maintain his social status amongst actual aristocrats and to gain power in Whig society. Perhaps the best summary of Sheridan's character was by Sir Gilbert Elliot, Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto who observed to his wife: "He employs a great deal of art, with a great deal of pain, to gratify, not the proper passion in such affairs, but vanity; and he deals in the most intricate plotting and under plotting, like a Spanish play." By 1789, Sheridan's two-faced cunning made him despised by most of Whig society.


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: Like most of the Ton (le bon ton), Sheridan drank heavily and was a gambling addict, he gambled most nights with money he did not have. Whilst most of his fellow gambling addicts attempted to pay their creditors, Sheridan pointedly never paid his debts, as he believed paying his creditors "only encourages them."


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: Sheridan's behaviour towards women in particular was dishonourable. A womaniser, he was a gifted apologiser and made promises to his wives and lovers he knew he would never keep. Sheridan sexually harassed and assaulted women. An example of this is his sexual harassment and then assault of Lady Webster, later known as Lady Holland, Elizabeth Fox, Baroness Holland. After falsely accusing her of having an affair with a man she "did not care for in the least", he threatened to ruin her by telling society of her imaginary affair. When Lady Webster did not submit to his advances, he retaliated by assaulting her in her home. Lady Webster herself recorded the assault: "...when I defied [his] threat he took another most extraordinary method --I was told one day that a servant had brought a message which he would deliver to no one but myself, and before I could order him to be admitted, in entered Sheridan, wrapped up in a great watchcoat, and after my servant had quitted the room he rushed up to me and with a ferociousness quite frightful bit my cheek so violently that the blood ran on down my neck -- I had just enough sense to ring the bell and he withdrew."


title: Richard Brinsley Sheridan

text: By 1802, Sheridan's despicable behaviour took an even more sinister turn, and he began harassing one of his few remaining friends, Harriet Spencer, Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough. By 1805, Sheridan had escalated his harassment of Harriet via the anonymous sending of threatening letters; as they had been longtime friends and former lovers, Harriet quickly deduced the author's identity as Sheridan's from his handwriting. Sheridan accosted Harriet in public and made a scene any chance he could, reproaching her for not loving him enough and declaring his undying love for her. Despite his cruelty towards her, Harriet was kind to him on his deathbed in 1816. In return, Sheridan 'grasped her hand hard and told her he intended to haunt her after his death. Harriet, petrified, asked why, having persecuted her all his life, he was determined to continue his persecution after death. "Because I am resolved you shall remember me."' After enduring a few more minutes of his terror, Harriet fled the room. Three days later, Richard Brinsley Sheridan died alone.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate business has actively acquired commercial real estate. Blackstone is also active in credit, infrastructure, hedge fund solutions, insurance solutions, secondaries and growth equity. As of Q3 2022, the company's total assets under management were approximately US$951 billion, making it the largest alternative investment firm globally.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman Brothers.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone was founded in 1985 by Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman with $400,000 in seed capital. The founders named their firm "Blackstone," using a cryptogram derived from the names of the two founders (Schwarzman and Peterson). "Schwarz" is German for "black"; "Peter", "Petros" or "Petra" (Πέτρος and πετρα, the masculine and feminine rendering of the word, respectively), in Greek means "stone" or "rock". The two founders had previously worked together at Lehman Brothers. At Lehman, Schwarzman served as head of Lehman Brothers' global mergers and acquisitions business. Prominent investment banker Roger C. Altman, another Lehman veteran, left his position as a managing director of Lehman Brothers to join Peterson and Schwarzman at Blackstone in 1987, but left in 1992 to join the Clinton Administration as Deputy Treasury Secretary and later founded top advisory investment bank Evercore Partners in 1995.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone was originally formed as a mergers and acquisitions advisory boutique. Blackstone advised on the 1987 merger of investment banks E. F. Hutton & Co. and Shearson Lehman Brothers, collecting a $3.5 million fee.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: From the outset in 1985, Schwarzman and Peterson planned to enter the private equity business but had difficulty in raising their first fund because neither had ever led a leveraged buyout. Blackstone finalized fundraising for its first private equity fund in the aftermath of the October 1987 stock market crash. After two years of providing strictly advisory services, Blackstone decided to pursue a merchant banking model after its founders determined that many situations required an investment partner rather than just an advisor. The largest investors in the first fund included Prudential Insurance Company, Nikko Securities and the General Motors pension fund.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone also ventured into other businesses, most notably investment management. In 1987 Blackstone entered into a 50–50 partnership with the founders of BlackRock, Larry Fink (current CEO of BlackRock), and Ralph Schlosstein (CEO of Evercore). The two founders, who had previously run the mortgage-backed securities divisions at First Boston and Lehman Brothers, respectively, initially joined Blackstone to manage an investment fund and provide advice to financial institutions. They also planned to use a Blackstone fund to invest in financial institutions and help build an asset management business specializing in fixed income investments.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: As the business grew, Japanese bank Nikko Securities acquired a 20% interest in Blackstone for a $100 million investment in 1988 (valuing the firm at $500 million). Nikko's investment allowed for a major expansion of the firm and its investment activities. The growth firm also recruited politician and investment banker David Stockman from Salomon Brothers in 1988. Stockman led many key deals in his time at the firm, but had a mixed record with his investments. He left Blackstone in 1999 to start his own private equity firm, Heartland Industrial Partners, based in Greenwich, Connecticut.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: The firm advised CBS Corporation on its 1988 sale of CBS Records to Sony to form what would become Sony Music Entertainment. In June 1989, Blackstone acquired freight railroad operator, CNW Corporation. That same year, Blackstone partnered with Salomon Brothers to raise $600 million to acquire distressed thrifts in the midst of the savings and loan crisis.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 1990, Blackstone launched its hedge funds business, initially intended to manage investments for Blackstone senior management. That same year, Blackstone formed a partnership with J. O. Hambro Magan in the UK and Indosuez in France. Additionally, Blackstone and Silverman acquired a 65% interest in Prime Motor Inn's Ramada and Howard Johnson franchises for $140 million, creating Hospitality Franchise Systems as a holding company.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 1991, Blackstone created its Europe unit and launched its real estate investment business with the acquisition of a series of hotel businesses under the leadership of Henry Silverman. In October 1991, Blackstone and Silverman added Days Inns of America for $250 million. In 1993, Hospitality Franchise Systems acquired Super 8 Motels for $125 million. Silverman would ultimately leave Blackstone to serve as CEO of HFS, which would later become Cendant Corporation.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone made a number of notable investments in the early and mid-1990s, including Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company (1991), Six Flags (1991), US Radio (1994), Centerplate (1995), MEGA Brands (1996). Also, in 1996, Blackstone partnered with the Loewen Group, the second largest funeral home and cemetery operator in North America, to acquire funeral home and cemetery businesses. The partnership's first acquisition was a $295 million buyout of Prime Succession from GTCR.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 1995, Blackstone sold its stake in BlackRock to PNC Financial Services for $250 million. Between 1995 and 2014, PNC reported $12 billion in pretax revenues and capital gains from BlackRock, Schwarzman later described the selling of BlackRock as his worst business decision ever.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 1997, Blackstone completed fundraising for its third private equity fund, with approximately $4 billion of investor commitments and a $1.1 billion real estate investment fund. Also in 1997, Blackstone made its first investment in Allied Waste. In 1998, Blackstone sold a 7% interest in its management company to AIG, valuing Blackstone at $2.1 billion. In 1999, Blackstone partnered, together with Apollo Management to provide capital for Allied Waste's acquisition of Browning-Ferris Industries. Blackstone's investment in Allied was one of its largest at that point in the firm's history.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 1999, Blackstone launched its mezzanine capital business. Blackstone brought in five professionals, led by Howard Gellis from Nomura Holding America's Leveraged Capital Group to manage the business.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone's investments in the late 1990s included AMF Group (1996), Haynes International (1997), American Axle (1997), Premcor (1997), CommNet Cellular (1998), Graham Packaging (1998), Centennial Communications (1999), Bresnan Communications (1999), PAETEC Holding Corp. (1999). Haynes and Republic Technologies International, both had problems and ultimately filed bankruptcy.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone's investments in telecommunications businesses—four cable TV systems in rural areas (TW Fanch 1 and 2, Bresnan Communications and Intermedia Partners IV) and a cell phone operator in the


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Rocky Mountain states (CommNet Cellular) were among the most successful of the era, generating $1.5 billion of profits for Blackstone's funds.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone Real Estate Advisers, its real estate affiliate, bought the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. in July 1998 for $39 million and sold it to Monument Reality in August 2004.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In October 2000, Blackstone acquired the mortgage for 7 World Trade Center from the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In July 2002, Blackstone completed fundraising for a $6.45 billion private equity fund, Blackstone Capital Partners IV, the largest private equity fund at that time.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: With a significant amount of capital in its new fund, Blackstone was one of a handful of private equity investors capable of completing large transactions in the adverse conditions of the early 2000s recession. At the end of 2002, Blackstone, together with Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, acquired Houghton Mifflin Company for $1.28 billion. The transaction represented one of the first large club deals completed since the collapse of the Dot-com bubble.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 2002, Hamilton E. James joined global alternative asset manager Blackstone, where he currently serves as president and chief operating officer. He also serves on the firm's executive and management committees, and its board of directors. In late 2002, Blackstone remained active acquiring TRW Automotive in a $4.7 billion buyout, the largest private equity deal announced that year (the deal was completed in early 2003). TRW's parent was acquired by Northrop Grumman, while Blackstone purchased its automotive parts business, a major supplier of automotive systems. Blackstone also purchased a majority interest in Columbia House, a music-buying club, in mid-2002.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone made a significant investment in Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC), a monoline bond insurer alongside PMI Group, The Cypress Group and CIVC Partners. FGIC incurred heavy losses, along with other bond insurers in the 2008 credit crisis.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Two years later, in 2005, Blackstone was one of seven private equity firms involved in the buyout of SunGard in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion. Blackstone's partners in the acquisition were Silver Lake Partners, Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Providence Equity Partners, and TPG Capital. This represented the largest leveraged buyout completed since the takeover of RJR Nabisco at the end of the 1980s leveraged buyout boom. Also, at the time of its announcement, SunGard would be the largest buyout of a technology company in history, a distinction it would cede to the buyout of Freescale Semiconductor. The SunGard transaction is also notable in the number of firms involved in the transaction, the largest club deal completed to that point. The involvement of seven firms in the consortium was criticized by investors in private equity who considered cross-holdings among firms to be generally unattractive.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 2006, Blackstone launched its long/short equity hedge fund business, Kailix Advisors. According to Blackstone, as of September 30, 2008, Kailix Advisors had $1.9 billion of assets under management. In December 2008, Blackstone announced that Kailix would be spun off to its management team to form a new fund as an independent entity backed by Blackstone.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: While Blackstone was active on the corporate investment side, it was also busy pursuing real estate investments. Blackstone acquired Prime Hospitality and Extended Stay America in 2004. Blackstone followed these investments with the acquisition of La Quinta Inns & Suites in 2005. Blackstone's largest transaction, the $26 billion buyout of Hilton Hotels Corporation occurred in 2007 under the tenure of Hilton CFO Stephen Bollenbach. Extended Stay Hotels was sold to The Lightstone Group in July 2007 and Prime Hospitality's Wellesley Inns were folded into La Quinta. La Quinta Inns & Suites was spun out for IPO in 2014 and was later acquired by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: During the buyout boom of 2006 and 2007, Blackstone completed some of the largest leveraged buyouts. Blackstone's most notable transactions during this period included the following:


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 2004, Blackstone had explored the possibility of creating a business development company (BDC), Blackridge Investments, similar to vehicles pursued by Apollo Management. However, Blackstone failed to raise capital through an initial public offering that summer and the project were shelved. It also planned to raise a fund on the Amsterdam stock exchange in 2006, but its rival, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., launched a $5 billion fund there that soaked up all demand for such funds, and Blackstone abandoned its project.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 2007, Blackstone acquired Alliant Insurance Services, an insurance brokerage firm. The company was sold to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 2012.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: On June 21, 2007, Blackstone became a public company via an initial public offering, selling a 12.3% stake in the company for $4.13 billion, in the largest U.S. IPO since 2002.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: During the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Blackstone managed to close only a few transactions. In January 2008, Blackstone made a small co-investment alongside TPG Capital and Apollo Management in their buyout of Harrah's Entertainment, although that transaction had been announced during the buyout boom period. Other notable investments that Blackstone completed in 2008 and 2009 included AlliedBarton, Performance Food Group, Apria Healthcare and CMS Computers.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In July 2008, Blackstone, together with NBC Universal and Bain Capital acquired The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications for $3.5 billion. In 2015, the digital assets were sold to IBM for $2 billion. In 2018, the remainder of the company was sold to Byron Allen for $300 million.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In December 2009, Blackstone acquired Busch Entertainment Corporation from Anheuser-Busch InBev for $2.9 billion.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In November 2013, Merlin Entertainments, owned in part by Blackstone Group, became a public company via an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In August 2010, Blackstone announced it would buy Dynegy, an energy firm, for nearly $5 billion; however, the acquisition was terminated in November 2010.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone operates through four primary departments: private equity; real estate; hedge funds; and credit.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: , Blackstone was the world's largest private equity firm by capital commitments as ranked by Private Equity International. The firm invests through minority investments, corporate partnerships, and industry consolidations, and occasionally, start-up investments. The firm focuses on friendly investments in large capitalization companies.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone has primarily relied on private equity funds, pools of committed capital from pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, fund of funds, high-net-worth individuals, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors. From 1987 to its IPO in 2007, Blackstone invested approximately $20 billion in 109 private equity transactions.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone's most notable investments include Allied Waste, AlliedBarton Security Services, Graham Packaging, Celanese, Nalco, HealthMarkets, Houghton Mifflin, American Axle, TRW Automotive, Catalent Pharma Solutions, Prime Hospitality, Legoland, Madame Tussauds, Luxury Resorts (LXR), Pinnacle Foods, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Motel 6, Apria Healthcare, Travelport, The Weather Channel (United States) and The PortAventura Resort. In 2009, Blackstone purchased Busch Entertainment (comprising the Sea World Parks, Busch Garden Parks and the two water parks).


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 2012, Blackstone acquired a controlling interest in Utah-based Vivint, Inc., a home automation, security, and energy company.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: Blackstone's most notable real estate investments have included EQ Office, Hilton Worldwide, Trizec Properties, Center Parcs UK, La Quinta Inns & Suites, Motel 6, Wyndham Worldwide, Southern Cross Healthcare and Vicinity Centres.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: The purchase and subsequent IPO of Southern Cross led to controversy in the UK. Part of the purchase involved splitting the business into a property company, NHP, and a nursing home business, which Blackstone claimed would become "the leading company in the elderly care market". In May 2011, Southern Cross, now independent, was almost bankrupt, jeopardizing 31,000 elderly residents in 750 care homes. It denied blame, although Blackstone was widely accused in the media for selling on the company with an unsustainable business model and crippled with an impossible sale and leaseback strategy.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: After the 2007–2010 subprime mortgage crisis in the United States, Blackstone Group LP bought more than $5.5 billion worth of single-family homes to rent, and then be sold when the prices rise.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 2014, Blackstone sold Northern California office buildings for $3.5 billion. The buildings sold in San Francisco and Silicon Valley included 26 office buildings and two development parcels.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 2018, a critique was raised regarding a purchase agreement on several hundred apartments in Frederiksberg, Denmark, between Blackstone's Danish partner North 360 and Frederiksberg Boligfond, a non-profit housing organization established by Frederiksberg Municipality in 1930. After a resistance of residents and questions regarding the legality of the purchase agreement, Blackstone withdrew from it in October 2019.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: On December 1, 2022, Blackstone Inc. restricted withdrawals from its $125 billion real estate investment fund BRIET due to a surge in redemption requests from investors. The move caused investor consternation and limited the ability to attract new capital for BRIET.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 1990, Blackstone created a fund of hedge funds business to manage internal assets for Blackstone and its senior managers. This business evolved into Blackstone's marketable alternative asset management segment, which was opened to institutional investors. Among the investments included in this segment are funds of hedge funds, mezzanine funds, senior debt vehicles, proprietary hedge funds and closed-end mutual funds.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In March 2008, Blackstone acquired GSO Capital Partners, a credit-oriented alternative asset manager, for $620 million in cash and stock and up to $310 million through an earnout over the next five years based on earnings targets. The combined entity created one of the largest credit platforms in the alternative asset management business, with over $21 billion under management. GSO was founded in 2005 by Bennett Goodman, Tripp Smith, and Doug Ostrover. The GSO team had previously managed the leveraged finance businesses at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and later Credit Suisse First Boston, after they acquired DLJ. Blackstone had been an original investor in GSO's funds. Following the acquisition, Blackstone merged GSO's operations with its existing debt investment operations.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In separate cases in 2018 and 2019, the hotel chain Motel 6, owned by Blackstone, agreed to settle for a total of $19.6 million for giving guest lists to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without a warrant.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: The company has invested in companies with links to the commercialization and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: In 2019, a United Nations report found that Blackstone's massive purchasing of single-family homes after the financial crisis of 2007–2008 had "devastating consequences." The report alleged that Blackstone had abused tenants with exorbitant fees, rent hikes, and aggressive eviction practices, and that Blackstone's real estate practices had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, in part because the company targeted foreclosures resulting from subprime loans.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: The report also condemned Blackstone for "using its significant resources and political leverage to undermine domestic laws and policies that would in fact improve access to adequate housing." Blackstone spent at least $6.2 million to defeat California's Proposition 10, which would have allowed cities to enact rent control. Blackstone is a member of the Real Estate Roundtable, a special interest group which spends millions on lobbying and political donations every year.


title: Blackstone Inc.

text: United Nations housing rapporteur Leilani Farha and Surya Deva, chair of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, criticized Blackstone's business practices, including frequent rent increases and "aggressive" evictions, for contributing to the global housing crisis. Blackstone disputed these claims.


title: Karnataka Legislative Council

text: The Karnataka Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Karnataka state in South Western India. Karnataka is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses: the Legislative Assembly, the Legislative Council and the Governor. The Karnataka Legislative Council is a permanent body comprising 75 members.


title: Karnataka Legislative Council

text: It was established as the Mysore Legislative Council in 1907 (under Regulation I of 1907) in the Princely State of Mysore with a view to creating a body composed of a certain number of non-official persons with practical experience and knowledge of local conditions and requirements to assist government in making laws and regulations. In addition to the Dewan, President and the Members of Council, who were "ex-officio" members, at that time the Council consisted of not less than 10 and not more than 15 additional members to be nominated by the government, out of which not less than two-fifths were required to be non-officials. The minimum and maximum number of additional members was increased from 15 to 21 respectively by Regulation I of 1914 and the maximum was further increased to 30 by Regulation II of 1919.


title: Karnataka Legislative Council

text: In 1923, under the Mysore Legislative Council Regulation, (Regulation XIX of 1923), the strength of Legislative Council was fixed at 50. Of the 50 seats, 28 were allotted to the nominated members (official 20 and non-official 8) and 22 to elected members. In 1914 the Council was empowered to discuss the Budget and in 1923 it was given power to vote on the demands for grants. From 1919 onwards Resolution were discussed in the Council. The term of the Council was three years in 1917 and four years in 1940.


title: Karnataka Legislative Council

text: After the implementation of the 1956 States Reorganisation Act, the strength of the Legislative Council of the re-organized Mysore State was increased to 63 under the Legislative Councils Act, 1957 and it remained same until 1987. Following adoption of a resolution in Karnataka Legislative Assembly on 18 August 1986 and subsequent approval by the Parliament of India, the strength of Legislative Council was increased to 75 with effect from 8 September 1987.


title: Karnataka Legislative Council

text: The Karnataka Legislative Council is a permanent body with one-third of its members retiring every two years. The term of members is 6 years (renewable).


title: Karnataka Legislative Council

text: At present, among the 75 members of the Legislative Council, 25 are elected by the Karnataka Legislative Assembly members, 25 are elected by local authorities, 7 are elected by the Graduates, 7 are elected by the Teachers and 11 members are nominated by the Governor of Karnataka. The following is the list of the current members:


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles Wesley. More broadly it refers to the theological system inferred from the various sermons (e.g. the Forty-four Sermons), theological treatises, letters, journals, diaries, hymns, and other spiritual writings of the Wesleys and their contemporary coadjutors such as John William Fletcher.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: In 1736, the Wesley brothers travelled to the Georgia colony in America as Christian missionaries; they left rather disheartened at what they saw. Both of them subsequently had "religious experiences", especially John in 1738, being greatly influenced by the Moravian Christians. They began to organize a renewal movement within the Church of England to focus on personal faith and holiness. John Wesley took Protestant churches to task over the nature of sanctification, the process by which a believer is conformed to the image of Christ, emphasizing New Testament teachings regarding the work of God and the believer in sanctification.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Wesleyan–Arminian theology, manifest today in Methodism (inclusive of the Holiness movement), is named after its founders, John Wesley in particular, as well as for Jacobus Arminius, since it is a subset of Arminian theology. The Wesleys were clergymen in the Church of England, though the Wesleyan tradition places stronger emphasis on extemporaneous preaching, evangelism, as well as personal faith and personal experience, especially on the new birth, assurance, growth in grace, entire sanctification and outward holiness. In his "Sunday Service" John Wesley included the Articles of Religion, which were based on the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, though stripped of their more peculiarly Calvinistic theological leanings. Wesleyan theology asserts the primary authority of Scripture and affirms the Christological orthodoxy of the first five centuries of church history.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Wesleyan–Arminianism developed as an attempt to explain Christianity in a manner unlike the teachings of Calvinism. Arminianism is a theological study conducted by Jacobus Arminius, from the Netherlands, in opposition to Calvinist orthodoxy on the basis of free will. In 1610, after the death of Arminius his followers, the Remonstrants led by Simon Episcopius, presented a document to the Netherlands. This document is known today as the "Five Articles of Remonstrance". Wesleyan theology, on the other hand, was founded upon the teachings of John Wesley, an English evangelist, and the beliefs of this dogma are derived from his many publications, including his collected sermons, journal, abridgements of theological, devotional, and historical Christian works, and a variety of tracts and treatises on theological subjects. Subsequently, the two theories have joined into one set of values for the contemporary church; yet, when examined separately, their unique details can be discovered, as well as their similarities in ideals.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: In the early 1770s, John Wesley, aided by the theological writings of John William Fletcher, emphasized Arminian doctrines in his controversy with the Calvinistic wing of the evangelicals in England. Then, in 1778, he founded a theological journal which he titled the "Arminian Magazine". This period, during the Calvinist–Arminian debate, was influential in forming a lasting link between Arminian and Wesleyan theology.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Wesley's opposition to Calvinism was more successful than Arminius's, especially in the United States where Arminianism would become the dominant school of soteriology of Evangelical Protestantism, largely because it was spread through popular preaching in a series of Great Awakenings. Arminius's work was not a direct influence on Wesley. Yet, he chose the term "Arminianism" to distinguish the kind of Evangelicalism his followers were to espouse from that of their Calvinist theological opponents. Many have considered the most accurate term for Wesleyan theology to be "Evangelical Arminianism."


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Wesley is remembered for visiting the Moravians of both Georgia and Germany and examining their beliefs, then founding the Methodist movement, the precursor to the later variety of Methodist denominations. Wesley's desire was not to form a new sect, but rather to reform the nation and "spread scriptural holiness" as truth. However, the creation of Wesleyan–Arminianism has today developed into a popular standard for many contemporary churches.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Although its primary legacy remains within the various Methodist denominations (see ""), the Wesleyan tradition has been refined and reinterpreted as catalyst for other distinct denominations as well, e.g., Phoebe Palmer and the Holiness movement (which includes Methodism, but spread to other traditions too); Phineas F. Bresee and the Church of the Nazarene; and William J. Seymour and the Wesleyan holiness wing of the Pentecostal movement represented by denominations such as the International Pentecostal Holiness Church.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Wesleyan–Arminian theology falls squarely in the tradition of substitutionary atonement, though it is linked with Christus Victor and moral influence theories. John Wesley, reflecting on , connects penal substitution with victory over Satan in his "Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament": "the voluntary passion of our Lord appeased the Father's wrath, obtained pardon and acceptance for us, and consequently, dissolved the dominion and power which Satan had over us through our sins." In elucidating , John Wesley says that Christ manifesting himself in the hearts of humans destroys the work of Satan, thus making Christus Victor imagery "one part of the framework of substitutionary atonement." The Methodist divine Charles Wesley's hymns "Sinners, Turn, Why Will You Die" and "And Can It be That I Should Gain" concurrently demonstrate that Christ's sacrifice is the example of supreme love, while also convicting the Christian believer of his/her sins, thus using the moral influence theory within the structure of penal substitution in accordance with the Augustinian theology of illumination. Wesleyan theology also emphasizes a participatory nature in atonement, in which the Methodist believer spiritually dies with Christ and Christ dies for humanity; this is reflected in the words of the following Methodist hymn (122):


title: Wesleyan theology

text: The Christian believer mystically draws themselves into the scene of the crucifixion in order to experience the power of salvation that it possesses. In the Lord's Supper, the Methodist especially experiences the participatory nature of substitutionary atonement as "the sacrament sets before our eyes Christ's death and suffering whereby we are transported into an experience of the crucifixion."


title: Wesleyan theology

text: With regard to the fate of the unlearned, Willard Francis Mallalieu, a Methodist bishop, wrote in "Some Things That Methodism Stands For":


title: Wesleyan theology

text: In Methodism, the way of salvation includes conviction, repentance, restitution, faith, justification, regeneration and adoption, which is followed by sanctification and witness of the Spirit. Being convicted of sin and the need for a saviour, as well as repenting of sin and making restitution, is "essential preparation for saving faith". Wesleyan theology teaches that the new birth contains two phases that occur together, justification and regeneration:


title: Wesleyan theology

text: At the moment a person experiences the New Birth, he/she is "adopted into the family of God". The Wesleyan tradition seeks to establish justification by faith as the gateway to sanctification or "scriptural holiness." Wesleyans teach that God provides grace that enables any person to freely choose to place faith in Christ or reject his salvation (see synergism). If the person accepts it, then God justifies them and continues to give further grace to spiritually heal and sanctify them. In Wesleyan theology, justification specifically refers to "pardon, the forgiveness of sins", rather than "being made actually just and righteous", which Wesleyans believe is accomplished through sanctification, that is, the pursuit of holiness in salvation. John Wesley taught that the keeping of the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, as well as engaging in the works of piety and the works of mercy, were "indispensable for our sanctification".


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Wesley insisted that imputed righteousness must become imparted righteousness. He taught that a believer could progress in love until love became devoid of self-interest at the moment of entire sanctification. Wesleyan theology teaches that there are two distinct phases in the Christian experience. In the first work of grace (the new birth) a person repents of his/her sin that he/she confesses to God, places his/her faith in Jesus, receives forgiveness and becomes a Christian; during the second work of grace, entire sanctification, the believer is purified and made holy.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Wesleyan Methodism, inclusive of the holiness movement, thus teaches that restitution occurs subsequent to repentance. Additionally, "justification [is made] conditional on obedience and progress in sanctification" emphasizing "a deep reliance upon Christ not only in coming to faith, but in remaining in the faith." Bishop Scott J. Jones states that "United Methodist doctrine thus understands true, saving faith to be the kind that, give time and opportunity, will result in good works. Any supposed faith that does not in fact lead to such behaviors is not genuine, saving faith." For Methodists, "true faith..."cannot" subsist without works". (See .) Methodist evangelist Phoebe Palmer stated that "justification would have ended with me had I refused to be holy." While "faith is essential for a meaningful relationship with God, our relationship with God also takes shape through our care for people, the community, and creation itself."


title: Wesleyan theology

text: John Wesley held that the new birth "is that great change which God works in the soul when he brings it into life, when he raises it from the death of sin to the life of righteousness" ("Works", vol. 2, pp. 193–194). In the life of a Christian, the new birth is considered the first work of grace. The Articles of Religion, in Article XVII—Of Baptism, state that baptism is a "sign of regeneration or the new birth." (See "".) "The Methodist Visitor" in describing this doctrine, admonishes individuals: "'Ye must be born again.' Yield to God that He may perform this work in and for you. Admit Him to your heart. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'"


title: Wesleyan theology

text: After the New Birth, if a person commits sin, he/she may be restored to fellowship with God through sincere repentance and then "by the grace of God, rise[s] again and amend[s]" his/her life.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Methodists, following in John Wesley's footsteps, believe in the second work of grace— enabling entire sanctification, also called Christian perfection—which removes original sin and makes the believer holy (cf. "baptism with the Holy Spirit"); Wesley explained: "Entire sanctification, or Christian perfection, is neither more nor less than pure love; love expelling sin, and governing both the heart and life of a child of God. The Refiner's fire purges out all that is contrary to love." Wesley taught both that sanctification could be an instantaneous experience, and that it could be a gradual process. Before a believer is entirely sanctified, he/she consecrates himself/herself to God; the theology behind consecration is summarized with the maxim "Give yourself to God in all things, if you would have God give Himself to you."


title: Wesleyan theology

text: The Methodist Churches teach that apostasy can occur through a loss of faith or through sinning (refusing to be holy). If a person backslides but later decides to return to God, he or she must confess his or her sins and be entirely sanctified again (see conditional security).


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Richard P. Bucher, contrasts this position with the Lutheran one, discussing an analogy put forth by Wesley:


title: Wesleyan theology

text: John Wesley believed that all Christians have a faith which implies an "assurance" of God's forgiving love, and that one would feel that assurance, or the "witness of the Spirit". This understanding is grounded in Paul's affirmation, "...ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. The same Spirit beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God..." (, "Wesley's translation"). This experience was mirrored for Wesley in his Aldersgate experience wherein he "knew" he was loved by God and that his sins were forgiven.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: John Wesley was an outspoken defender of the doctrine of conditional preservation of the saints, or commonly "conditional security". In 1751, Wesley defended his position in a work titled, "Serious Thoughts Upon the Perseverance of the Saints." In it he argued that a believer remains in a saving relationship with God if he "continue in faith" or "endureth in faith unto the end." Wesley affirmed that a child of God, "while he continues a true believer, cannot go to hell." However, if he makes a "shipwreck of the faith, then a man that believes now may be an unbeliever some time hence" and become "a child of the devil." He then adds, "God is the Father of them that believe, so long as they believe. But the devil is the father of them that believe not, whether they did once believe or no."


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Like his Arminian predecessors, Wesley was convinced from the testimony of the Scriptures that a true believer may abandon faith and the way of righteousness and "fall from God as to perish everlastingly."


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Methodism maintains the superstructure of classical covenant theology, but being Arminian in soteriology, it discards the "predestinarian template of Reformed theology that was part and parcel of its historical development." The main difference between Wesleyan covenant theology and classical covenant theology is as follows:


title: Wesleyan theology

text: As such, in the traditional Wesleyan view, only Adam and Eve were under the covenant of works, while on the other hand, all of their progeny are under the covenant of grace. With Mosaic Law belonging to the covenant of grace, all of humanity is brought "within the reach of the provisions of that covenant." This belief is reflected in John Wesley's sermon "Righteousness of Faith": "The Apostle does not here oppose the covenant given by Moses, to the covenant given by Christ. ... But it is the covenant of grace, which God, through Christ, hath established with men in all ages". The covenant of grace was therefore administered through "promises, prophecies, sacrifices, and at last by circumcision" during the patriarchal ages and through "the paschal lamb, the scape goat, [and] the priesthood of Aaron" under Mosaic Law. Under the Gospel, the covenant of grace is mediated through the greater sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Methodists affirm belief in "the one true Church, Apostolic and Universal", viewing their Churches as constituting a "privileged branch of this true church". With regard to the position of Methodism within Christendom, the founder of the movement "John Wesley once noted that what God had achieved in the development of Methodism was no mere human endeavor but the work of God. As such it would be preserved by God so long as history remained." Calling it "the grand depositum" of the Methodist faith, Wesley specifically taught that the propagation of the doctrine of entire sanctification was the reason that God raised up the Methodists in the world.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: The 20th-century Wesley scholar Albert Outler argued in his introduction to the 1964 collection "John Wesley" that Wesley developed his theology by using a method that Outler termed the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. The Free Methodist Church teaches:


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Likewise, the United Methodist Church asserts that "Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason. Scripture [however] is primary, revealing the Word of God 'so far as it is necessary for our salvation.'"


title: Wesleyan theology

text: With respect to the four last things, Wesleyan theology affirms the belief in Hades, "the intermediate state of souls between death and the general resurrection," which is divided into Paradise (for the righteous) and Gehenna (for the wicked). After the general judgment, Hades will be abolished. John Wesley "made a distinction between hell (the receptacle of the damned) and Hades (the receptacle of all separate spirits), and also between paradise (the antechamber of heaven) and heaven itself." The dead will remain in Hades "until the Day of Judgment when we will all be bodily resurrected and stand before Christ as our judge. After the Judgment, the Righteous will go to their eternal reward in Heaven and the Accursed will depart to Hell (see )."


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Wesley stated that: "I believe it to be a duty to observe, to pray for the Faithful Departed". He "taught the propriety of Praying for the Dead, practised it himself, provided "Forms" that others might." In a joint statement with the Catholic Church in England and Wales, the Methodist Church of Great Britain affirmed that "Methodists who pray for the dead thereby commend them to the continuing mercy of God."


title: Wesleyan theology

text: While baptism imparts regenerating grace, its permanence is contingent upon repentance and a personal commitment to Jesus Christ.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Wesleyan theology holds that baptism is a sacrament of initiation into the visible Church. Wesleyan covenant theology further teaches that baptism is a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace:


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Methodists recognize three modes of baptism as being valid—immersion, aspersion or affusion—in the name of the Holy Trinity.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: The followers of John Wesley have typically affirmed that the sacrament of Holy Communion (the Lord's Supper) is an instrumental Means of Grace through which the real presence of Christ is communicated to the believer, but have otherwise allowed the details to remain a mystery. In particular, Methodists reject the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (see "Article XVIII" of the Articles of Religion); the Primitive Methodist Church, in its "Discipline" also rejects the Lollardist doctrine of consubstantiation. In 2004, the United Methodist Church affirmed its view of the sacrament and its belief in the real presence in an official document entitled "This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion". Of particular note here is the church's unequivocal recognition of the anamnesis as more than just a memorial but, rather, a "re-presentation" of Christ Jesus and his love.


title: Wesleyan theology

text: This affirmation of real presence can be seen clearly illustrated in the language of the United Methodist Communion Liturgy where, in the epiclesis of the Great Thanksgiving, the celebrating minister prays over the elements:


title: Wesleyan theology

text: Methodists assert that Jesus is truly present, and that the means of his presence is a "Holy Mystery". A celebrating minister will pray for the Holy Spirit to make the elements "be for us the body and blood of Christ", and the congregation can even sing, as in the third stanza of Charles Wesley's hymn "":


title: Wesleyan theology

text: The distinctive feature of the Methodist doctrine of the real presence is that the way Christ manifests his presence in the sacrament is a sacred mystery—the focus is that Christ "is" truly present in the sacrament. The "Discipline" of the Free Methodist Church thus teaches: