Tranquebar - Last news 2006

Videos from Danish TV - See under "Last News & Info / Videos".

Photos about the renovation of the grave monuments are moved to
"Pictures / Churches in Tranquebar". You can click here.
All about the coastal protection are moved to a page under "Last News & Info" - you can click here.

Tranquebar-video 2005. The Bestseller-Foundation has as a part of a Christmas gift to the employed made this video about Tranquebar. Download the video here. The 3,6 MB file - wmv - is comprimized.

(From Tranquebar to Karaikal: 12 km.)

The Danish National Museum and the Galathea-expedition has started the Tranquebar project - read about the project here.

26.12.2006.
To-day the Tsunami-victims have been reminded. A memorial has been inaugurated in Tranquebar for the victims on Dec. 26th 2004.
Below you see some photos from to-day..

05.11.2006.
From a member in the Tranquebar Association is received a photo of a picture seen in the museum on Fort Dansborg in 1998.
If some of the readers know something about the persons on the photo, please contact webmaster.

22.10.2006.
From Mr. Wilkinson in London we have received old photos from Tranquebar - one of them are showed below.
Mr. David from the mission in Madurai has visited the house Flora Cottage in Tranquebar. He is born in 1934 and has - as a child - played in the old building between the Fort and New Street Churchyard. This building does not exist to-day.
In 1940 the building was a ruin. It was totally removed in 1950.
If some of the readers have information about this building - please send information to webmaster.

04.10.2006.
Arrived at Tranquebar are now people from Bestseller, DR/TV and Dansk Skolemuseum (Danish School Museum).
Bestseller has started the planting out of new plants to protect the coastal area.
DR/TV shoots movies for a program in Danish TV about Tranquebar and the Nicobar Islands.
Dansk Skolemuseum is making contacts to schools and museums in the area..


Eating time in Flora Cottage.	The new painted wall around Zion Church.

From England is received some very old and interesting photos from about 1860. Two of them are put together, then they show a part of the town with the Governor´s House in foreground - with flat roof.
The picture is taken from "The Judge's House" - now the Neemrana Hotel.

The Governor´s House is with a white frame.

03.10.2006.
The first idea to visit Chief Minister Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi - was to have a permission to renovate the Governor´s House in Tranquebar. Only he would be able to tell the Minister of Tourism about the necessity of this renovation, but he was too busy to have a meeting before my homeward journey.
Four local politicians helped me with all the arrangements.
Two days before my homeward journey it succeeded to have a meeting with Member of Parliament Mr. A.K.S. Vijayan in his home office.


Mr. Vijayan's office.	Three of the local politicians.	After the meeting with Mr. Vijayan.

Mr. Vijayan arranged a meeting with the Minister of Tourism N. Suresh Rajan. This meeting would be the next day - the day of my homeward journey.
The meeting with Mr. Rajan went fine. On my application he wrote a positive remark and sent us to the Secretary of Government Mr. V.I. Anbu. He would make a permission within two days if no objections from the Danish Consulate. Consul Rao could not do anything because he had to talk to the Danish Ambassador through whom the Danish National Museum had negotiated with the Minister of Tourism.


At the Minister of Tourism Mr. Rajan.	Meeting with Mr. Rajan.	Meeting with Mr. Anbu.

The idea was that INTACH, Chennai, should be responsible for the renovation work together with the Danish National Museum and the Tranquebar Association. This Mr. Anbu found as a very good idea.
Our co-ordinator in the National Museum has now been in Chennai for meetings with Mr. Anbu and INTACH. It is expected that a permission will come to INTACH late in the month of October.


At Fort St. George.	Outside the Fort St. George.	At the Danish Consulate.

06.09.02
The INTACH-office in Tranquebar has together with surveyors made a new map of the town.
The blue-green colour marks Indian buildings worth preserving.

10.06.2006

	The renovation on New jerusalem Church and work in front of the Zion Church. Both churches are in King Street..
New Jerusalem Church.		Zion Church.

06.06.2006
The renovation of New Ny Jerusalem Church has soon finished - now just one month before the Ziegenbalg-jubilee on July 9th.

03.06.2006

01.06.2006
The Bestseller-Foundation is working with preserving old Indian and local houses - here a house in Gold Smith Street. The house has to be used as an office for a local group.

The house in Gold Smith Street.

25.05.2006
The Masallimanathar Temple which has been a ruin for many years is now going to be restored. A private person has locally collected an amount for the work.

09.05.2006
Sankar has been on the top of the new water tower. The photos show what can been seen from there.


Fort Dansborg.	New Street Churchyard.


The Parade Ground with Queen Street, Church of Zion and the Commander's House.	The Commander's House and the Governor's Residence.	The Governor's Residence with the newly restored temple to the right.

Neemrana.	New Street Churchyard.	T.E.L.C. Teachers Training School.

16.04.2006
The Bestseller-Foundation has made a small video in English. The video is made by a film company in Auroville / Pondicherry. Download from here. (See also at the top of this page).

31.03.2006

In the Danish town Frederiksvaerk canons and bullets were made in the 1700-centuries and exported to places as Tranquebar.

The picture shows 2 canons in the local museum in Frederiksvaerk. In Government Museum in Chennai there are 2 canons like these. They are made in 1787.

29.03.2006
A family from the Danish city Horsens visited Tranquebar in 1970. One more picture of the temple with 2 towers.

26.03.2006
An inauguration to-day tells about the new water tower on the Parade Place in Tranquebar

Waiting on guests.

Opening the tap.

Speeches.

Local visitors.

18.03.2006
Read above. Pictures and information about the coastal protection project have been moved.

28.02.2006
From Chennai Airport they tell: everybody are well and soon they enter the flight bound for Frankfurt..

21.02.2006

From the beach - coastal protection work.


A visit in a pottery	Burning pots.	Making pots.

Three photos of the temple. The 2 last photos are taken in1998.

2006.02.19

A drawing for the coastal protection between Gold Smith Street and the temple is sent to Tranquebar.
Pictures of Danish Tranquebar guests on a boat in the Bay of Bengal.


On the boat.	Fort Dansborg.

2006.02.18
At the coast line towards Angalamman-Koil-Street.

2006.02.17

Some photos from the start with coastal protection between Gold Smith Street and the temple.


Used bricks.	The road for transport.


The work.	The work.	The work.

From M.W. in London we have received a shadowgraph of Stevenson and a picture of Mühldorff.


Maj Edward Boyd Stevenson, Muhldorff's grandson.	Mathias Jürgen Mühldorff.

2006.02.15
Pictures from the Bestseller project.

2006.02.13
From Tranquebar it is told that the phone line soon will be fine again.
Yesterday - Sunday - there was a confirmation in the church of Zion.
Old bricks are filled on the beach between Gold Smith Street and the temple. Granite stone will cover these bricks and will be used as a part of the coastal protection financed by the tsunami relief fund.

(The phone line is OK again - new pictures are received


Irwin and Anitha - wedding. Porayar.	Confirmation in Zion's Church on Februray 12th.	From Mühldorff's House.

The CSI-bishop on New Street churchyard.

From the area between Gold Smith Street and the temple.
Used bricks are used as a kind of coastal protection.
Afterwards big granite stones will cover the bricks and some soil will cover the bricks too then plants will come.

Women in the Bestseller project.


Making corner to a house.	Shelves of concrete..

2006.02.10


The new base seen south of Fort Dansborg.	The new base seen south of Fort Dansborg..

2006.02.06

Photos from Karin K.


Newly renovated grave monument.	The wall around the moat is visible.	The new statue of Ziegenbalg.


Part of the wall around the moat of Fort Dansborg.	New base seen after the sea has moved the sand.


New houses.	The new built water tower seen from New Street..

2006.02.05
The project concerning education of women bricklayers is going on and some women soon have finished.
In co-operation with Bestseller Foundation and INTACH there will be an INTACH-office in Tranquebar to take care of the historical buildings etc.


Education of women bricklayers - Bestseller-project.	Education of women bricklayers - Bestseller-project.

Education of women bricklayers - Bestseller-project.	Renovation - New Street Churchyard.

2006.01.31

Letters are written and sent to the Indian authorities about the destruction of a gate built in 1802 and the projected destruction of a part of the more than 300 years old Commanders House. This destructive work is projected by the T.E.L.C.

	Scaffold for renovation of New Jerusalem Church. Photo: Karin K.


Project "Landing Stage" is visible again. Photo: Karin K.	Old things are still to be found in Tranquebar. Photo: Karin K.

2006.01.27

Information from Tranquebar just now:

There are negotiations between The Tranquebar Association and the T.E.L.C. about destruction of old historical buildings and monuments in Tranquebar.
The new water tower is sponsored by an Italian group of NGO's.
The 3 new bells for New Jerusalem Church will be placed in the old church tower which will be strengthened.

2006.01.24

24.01.2006.
The last news from Tranquebar:
The old T.E.L.C. gate from 1802 is destructed. Objections are sent to relevant Indian authorities, the INTACH-office and local Panchayat.
The expedition ship "Galathea 3" will arrive in Tranquebar on October 25th 2006. The Tranquebar Association which arrange the receiving of ship, crew and scientists is co-operating with the local authorities and a Danish maritime association about this. Galathea 3 is expecting to stay in Tranquebar a couple of days..

Queen Street seen from King Street. The new concrete surface. Next street with new surface should be Queen Street. Photo: Karin K.

2006.01.22

From Tranquebar we got information and photo.

Karin K. writes.:

The work with renovation of the grave monuments on the New Street churchyard is going on. The experts from the Danish National Museum are doing a fine work. Experts are architects.

King Street has got a concrete surface. "The gate" at T.E.L.C. - (from 1802 (webmaster)) - has been destructed in spite of other promises.

The renovation of the New Jerusalem Church is still going on.
The Ziegenbalg Spiritual Centre is going to have a first floor.
The new water tower is nearly finished.
The Catholic School in King Street has got a long new building - before Rehling's House.



The beach at Gold Smith Street - photo 21/01/06: K.K.	The beach at Gold Smith Street - photo 21/01/21: K.K.

The beach at Gold Smith Street 14/11/05 - photo: Sankar.	The beach at Gold Smith Street16/11/05 - photo: Sankar.

The beach at Gold Smith Street 18/11/05 - photo: Sankar.	Renovation of a house in Gold Smith Street. Photo: Sankar.

The beach at Gold Smith Street 20/11/05 - photo: Sankar.	Tsunami memorial ceremony on 26.dec 2006. Photo: Sankar.

Tsunami memorial ceremony on 26.dec 2006. Photo: Sankar.	From the Bestseller coastal protection program with plants. Photo 21/01/06: K.K.

Education of women bricklayers - Bestseller project	Education of women bricklayers - Bestseller project

Education of women bricklayers - Bestseller project	Education of women bricklayers - Bestseller project

2006.01.18

.In "ARUNODAYAM" Nov. 2005 - T.E.L.C.'s monthly magazine - we find the new statue of Bartholomäeus Ziegenbalg as cover photo.

2006.01.12
The board of the Tranquebar Association has had a meeting a few days ago. As information from this meeting we will inform about a letter from the chairman of the Tranquebar Panchayat. The letter tells that Tranquebar is going to be a Heritage Village.
A copy of the most relevant in this letter is shown below. This letter is sent as a copy to all in all 24 official institutions - among these are the Bestseller Foundation and The Tranquebar Association - both Denmark

Tranquebar is going to be declared as a heritage area very shortly since it possess lot of historical monuments and valuable old buildings which reflect the Indo-Danish culture and tradition. It is the sincere duty of each and every citizen of Tranquebar to value and preserve the rich architectural heritage of our ancestors and to preserve and maintain the the spirit of the city for the future generation to understand and respect the past. So, the local administration has resolved to take every measures to protect the ancient city of Tranquebar. Hence, the Tranquebar Special Village Panchayat is hereby issuing this notice banning all the unnecessary building works, like demolition/re-modelling/ alteration/ painting/ repairing /changing the structure like plastering/roofing/changing the elevation/new construction of all the old buildings, Educational Institutions, religious places, compound walls/gates and doors up to 500 meters from the sea-shore. The tsunami works which are already permitted by the District Administration and State Government are exempted. So, all the building owners are hereby instructed that they should not do any such above mentioned building works without getting prior permission from the Tranquebar Special Village Panchayat. This notice is issued under the Environmental Protection Act–1986. Any violation of this notice shall be illegal under Tamil Nadu Municipal Act– 1920, Section 199, 216(1), (2) and Section 317.

In co-operation with The Danish National Museum and The Bestseller Foundation the Tranquebar Association starts the renovation of the valuable historical grave monuments in The Old Danish Cemetery in New Street. An architect and some architect students are in Tranquebar from January 14th. The work will be done with local help.

2006.01.05
A list with the Moravians in Brother Garden is put in under "History". The list with ships to and from Tranquebar is updated. Later a list with all the heads / chiefs in Tranquebar and also a list with persons as the men in the street in Tranquebar will be supplied to this website.

2006.01.02
Many readers are interested in pictures of the Masallimanathar Temple in Tranquebar showing both "towers". The picture below is from 1999 and taken by a student from Vestfyns Efterskole.

Welcome to a new year with lot of information.

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