Author: Charley

What is now a national library started in 1944 as the library for a province of Yugoslavia. The area’s history is long and bloody, and did not improve greatly after 1944. The people of Kosovo see themselves as a separate nation. Serbia still sees them as a semi-autonomous province of Serbia.

The present building opened in 1982. Designed by Croatian architect Andrija Mutnjakovic, the design has not been without controversy. As you might imagine. For the record there are 99 domes.

This is what one of the domes looks like from the inside:

The domes are not the only thing that might be regarded as peculiar, entirely covered in a metal fishing net.

Inside it doesn’t look much different from other large libraries:

Although not everything has been computerized yet:

The library is not a huge collection. All formats considered it holds around 1,890,194 items. Considering the context, not bad, and it is certainly serving as a focal point for the culture of its country.

Those who checked the place out (get it?):

• hhgygy
• Lighthouse
• Paul Voestermans
• Phil Ower
• Eloy Cano
• Garfield
• Ann K.
• RicardPG
• Glenmorren
• mehmet durmus
• George, Esq
• Tim
• Romano
• Lelie

And those who checked in late:

• Steven Simmons

No, it is not some weird bubble machine, but a center for history and culture for its frequently war torn country.

Gloucester, on Cape Ann, is the oldest seaport in the United States. The town officially dates to 1623, before both Boston and Salem. Unofficially there is evidence that fishermen from Cornwall and Devon had been using Cape Ann as a rest stop, and place to dry fish, since around 1600. Gloucester was, and to an extent still is, a major fishing port for much of its history. For at least one vision of those that go down to the sea in ships, see the 1937 movie Captains Courageous (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028691/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) The Gloucester Marine Railways was started in 1855 (http://www.gloucestermarinerailways.com/history.htm) and has remained in business ever since. As long as there are ships on the great waters they will need repair work, and this is where they go.

The schooner Roseway, built in 1925, up for repairs in 2012:

Why it is called a railway:

Working on the brig Beaver, replica of a ship involved in the Boston Tea Party (http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/history-brig-beaver)

Inside a wooden ship:

Stepping the mast onto Roseway after finishing the refitting:

And finally, how a marine railway works:

Those that went down to the sea early for 2 points:

• Garfield
• Lighthouse
• Phil Ower
• hhgygy
• Eloy Cano

And those needing a nautical chart, for 1 point:

• Glenmorren
• joe9000
• Max_Power
• Robin
• Paul Voestermans
• Steve J

Well done, all hands!

The oldest operation of its kind in the country of location, in the oldest seaport in that country.

A “full size” replica of Noah’s Ark underway a couple of ticks southwest of Williamstown, Kentucky. All privately funded by roughly the same folks who brought you the Creation Museum (http://creationmuseum.org/) in Petersburg, Kentucky.

Building materials for the partially framed construction:

Interior under construction:

Mock up of the final project. No word on whether it will actually float:

And a video, dated May 27, 2016.

Those that got on board early, two points:

• Garfield
• Glenmorren
• RicardPG
• LawnBoy
• Lighthouse
• Phil Ower

Those that started heading for the entry ramp when the rain started, one point:

• mehmet DURMUS
• hhgygy
• Junebug
• Ann K.
• steven simmons
• rob de wolff
• Chris Nason
• Robin
• Max_Power
• Barbie
• Gillian B
• Maureen

Well done!

Wherever it is, it is not Mount Ararat.

Or, for the musically inclined, a situational hint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaEEFBTtofc

Which was not exactly the subject of the search, but perhaps we got a little too detailed.

What started this whole thing was the discovery that the very first shots fired in the Great War (1914-1918) were by the Austro-Hungarian gunboat Bodrog, which is still extant, sitting by a sandbank in Belgrade:

The Bodrog as she appeared in 1914:

Here she is bombarding Belgrade:

And here she is today:

Various nations have owned her since then, and there have been some name changes. Here’s the Wiki article telling the whole story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_monitor_Sava

And an article with a little more technical detail:

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/bodrog-wwimonitor.html

Well, nobody got it before the hint, and nobody identified Bodrog. It was, admittedly, pretty obscure. We’ll have to do more of these!

All those that got to Belgrade, just east of the bridge:

• Eloy Cano
• Garfield
• Phil Ower
• hhgygy
• Lighthouse
• Paul Voestermans
• Glenmorren

And congratulations! Now await contest 450