Travel photography is one of my favorite hobbies. It is quite challenging type of shooting because it encompasses certain factors, which you may hardly control, like time of the day, light quality, direction and the distan
ce of the object, especially if you are pressed with tight itinerary. Apart from the conventional sites I love to click and ‘capture’ the unusual and atypical sights too. They may be street signs or window designs, soaring spires or local attires, scribbling on the walls or eatables in the stalls, tower clocks or just ancient mailbox. Generally these subjects are the impromptu decisions. [of course they have made some of my unique photographic ‘collections’ like ‘cows in New York’ or ‘cabs in London’] .But this time, for the first time, the unusual theme was almost pre decided- before starting the trip!
While planning our trip and studying different cities to set up our route for Eastern Europe, we discovered many interesting facts about ‘manhole covers’. We were to land in Prague in Czech [for IPP], and to return via Warsaw, of Poland. Bratislava, the capital of the young nation-Slovakia was squeezed in ,literally for the visit to that world famous ‘Cumil-Manhole sculpture’ During that fortnight, our ‘search’ on cobbled streets of the above cities, along with Budapest and Krakow, was in real sense stretched to s. e. a. r. c. h., an acronym which befittingly describes the different faces of these ‘Poziom Wlazu’ (‘Gates to underground’)…viz. Sanitation & Sewers, Endangerment & Explosions, Artwork & Antiquity, Rescue & Resistance, Culture and Craftsmanship, History & Humour.
Ignoring the above order of this ‘search’, let’s take the ‘sweeping’ view of these manhole covers.
HISTORY
Webster's Dictionary defines manhole as “a hole through which a man can get into a sewer, conduit, etc. for repairs or inspection “
People who worry about gender and language want the term "manhole cover" changed to "sewer cover." However, the word manhole was first used to access the holes between the decks of the old, all-male, sailing ships. It had nothing to do with the sewers.
Asides from the sewage systems, which came in the existence only in last few centuries, manhole covers were in the use thousands of years ago, mainly to cover ‘access ports’ of water supply conduits. Either large slabs of wood or stone could be found on such aqueducts. The size may have varied, but the basic design of the slabs remained the same from Roman times until approx. the 18-19th century. Prior to sewage systems, many pre-18th century houses made use of cesspits underneath their homes - or simply let their waste flow directly on the street. The open channels on the sides of the streets then transported the waste to the closest body of water. For practical reasons, sewers were the convenient choice to transport waste out of the resident's way. The word itself - sewer - derives from the old French "seuwiere” meaning "to drain”. They were created underneath the streets in an effort to keep the waste away from the structures, and allow it to flow away from the residential areas. However - there was no easy street access to the conduits, meaning the workers would have to either dig their way down, or most likely, enter through the actual toilet hole. The toilets themselves thus became manholes. Extensive studies over many years were conducted to ensure that sanitation workers would have easier access to the system for maintenance. Street level channels would lead to the waste conduits, giving access to the sewers. These channels - or manholes - needed obvious covers; easy for workers to access, yet hard for residents to accidentally fall in or steal.
Cultural influence on Design Manhole cover design varies greatly from city to city. The emerging layout defin
itely depends on the city corporation’s budget and art consciousness. Some American cities, such as Seattle, opted for a clever street map design on their covers; others went with city logos or seals. Most, though, choose a simple grid pattern, or checkered design. The reason behind a pattern or design on the covers is simple - traction - both for pedestrians, as for vehicles. Round, cast-iron manhole covers were an efficient choice over square for a few simple reasons. Another reason was transportation and installation. Rolling covers could make maneuvering easier. Then - the shape could assist preventing the covers from falling in the manholes once removed (although additional ledges under the covers keep them in place). As of late, manhole cover design is no longer something to tread on lightly. Cities like New York and Tokyo have decided to pursue commissioned designer covers, giving their cities more than just a curiosity and still more beauty. In competitions to find the best designs, these cities have their communities actively participating in waste awareness, while simultaneously promoting a livelier city.
Manhole Covers -as Works of Art
Who would have thought that such mundane objects as manhole covers would ever be regarded as works of art? A quick tour of the internet shows that several of the world's great cities have made a feature of these essential pieces of road furniture, and encourage artists to suggest new designs. They're proud of their manhole covers, which are found with a wide range of patterns.
The idea for artist-designed manhole covers in Seattle came from that city's Arts Commissioner after she admired hatch covers (US term for manhole covers) in Florence, Italy in the late 1950s.
Vail, in Colorado even offers replicas of its manholes for sale. Its official website says "The custom cast iron manhole covers resemble the real ones, but are slightly lighter. The two-foot diameter, 52-pound version retails for $295. Suggested uses include end tables, patio or driveway inlays, garden conversation pieces, landscaping, etc. The smaller version, an eight-inch, six-pound gate valve cover sells for $65, with possible uses to include hot pads, deck pieces, decorative wall pieces (inside or out), etc."The ‘Art Underfoot’ competition was launched in April 2004. It invited anyone who lived, worked, or went to school in Vancouver to submit design ideas for new manhole covers, the lids that mark the entrances to our underground network of sewers. The Public Art Program received more than 640 entries from Vancouverites of all walks of life and ages.
In 1998, the Sewer Museum of Paris (Musée des Egouts de Paris) held a Sewers art exhibition which displayed prints in relief created and derived from nearly 100 manhole covers from some of the world's largest cities “We want to show people the beauty at their feet." Two graduates of Stroganova's Industrial Art Institute in Moscow have set up an interesting Moscow Collection, comprising 3052 images of manhole covers from 71 countries, entitled "Sewers of the World – Unite!”
Lions are a symbol of God’s ever-present guardianship over Jerusalem. Lions are mentioned 150 times in the Bible, and the biblical name of Jerusalem is “Ari-el” – Lion of God. These Lions are even engraved on manhole covers.
Ms. Diana Stuart often used to conduct tours like "Historic Cast-Iron Artwork", in lower Manhattan in late nineties and the information on this page has been taken largely from the article in New York Chronicle November, 2000.
This statue of manhole entry, in Bratislava [Slovakia] known as ‘Cumil’, maybe the coolest statue ever! Cumil means “peeper” in Slovak .He is an underground sewage worker peeking out of a hole in the ground. Bad rumors say that Cumil looks under women’s skirts! Dotted around the old town, near by this Cumil or the Peeper, are two other bronze sculptures called The Frenchman [Napoleonic soldier] and The Photographer [paparazzo].
Warsaw. The Monument of ‘ Resistance fighters’.
The sculpture showing a resistance fighter 
hauling himself out of a manhole commemorates those who used the sewer system during the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. This sewer system remained the domain of the Polish underground fighters for the duration of the Warsaw Uprising and was used as the transportation for the military and the civilian population, as well as a place of their combat. More than 7000 civil population of the Old Town disappeared through the sewer system under the eyes of the German occupiers at the end of August 1944. General von dem Bach took some time to recognize the usefulness of sewers as a means of transportation and communication but “sewer paranoia” soon developed among the German forces in Warsaw who lived in constant anxiety that ‘resistance fighters’ might come out of the sewers unexpectedly and strike at German positions from the rear. Germans resorted to counter attack by throwing grenades down the manhole covers. At places, they also pumped poisonous gas into the sewers.
Risk of Flying Manhole Covers
These curious phenomena were reported in many American cities, as seen in seen in this article of NY Times [June 17, 2000]
Sent aloft by underground explosions, manhole covers have shattered a toilet inside a home near Minneapolis, dented cars parked at Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and knocked over a sanitation worker and a parked car in Manhattan.
The phenomenon of flying manhole covers had been seen increasingly over the late nineties in many cities, the result of aging underground infrastructures that sizzle, leak, flame, spark and sometimes explode and pop like deadly pressure cookers
In major Manhole events- ‘Explosions ‘happen when an electrical spark, from the damaged underground wires, ignites a gaseous underground mixture in the sewers and sends cast-iron lids [weighing 50 to 150 kg]–at least a foot in the air.
Manholes- as death Traps!
When searched on the ‘net’, I found the blogs written by few, who had been the victims of the mishaps of falling into these gaping holes on the roads. The gross negligence or the greed to steal these cast iron covers, especially when the prices of the metal soars high- has resulted in great casualty, not just injuries but even the loss of limb or life.
There is no dearth of news articles related to such accidents, not in our country, but the world around. Following are two examples, on successive days in the most developed countries, just six months back.
1] Newsweek Web Exclusive- May 19, 2008; USA
Rising Rip-offs ~
Three weeks ago 12-year-old Shamira Fingers from South Philadelphia, while walking down a city street near her home, suddenly fell into an open sewer hole. Frantic witnesses called 911, and rescue crews rushed to the scene, pulled her out and took her to Children's Hospital, where she was reportedly treated and released. Investigators say she was very fortunate to escape serious injury or even death after falling six feet into an open manhole, the cover of which had been stolen. In the last year a staggering 600 manhole covers have been swiped by thieves in Philadelphia.
2] BBC news-Tuesday, 20 May 2008 ; UK
Manhole covers theft- safety- risk ~
Drivers are being warned to take extra care after a spate of manhole and gully cover thefts in a County Durham town… In the past few days, 66 covers have been stolen from roads in Darlington and a minor accident was caused when a car drove into an uncovered gully.
FOOTNOTE
The Daspark hotel features 'hotel-rooms' inside the concrete sewer pipes. This , Sewer Pipe Hotel, is the new concept, introduced for the first time in Linz in Austria .
http://www.dasparkhotel.net/
The man sitting on the next bench spoke in broken English. But my wife was not convinced, and she insisted that I make an inquiry in the main reservation office. That big man, biting sandwiches and taking sips of coke, again asserted that- “the train is 20 minutes late, and it will arrive here only.” However, Namita had all the reasons to be skeptical …How can he understand our language? Or did he pick up just few English words of our conversation in Guajarati, and misunderstood for something else? How can he be so precise in providing us this information? We both had travelled in Central Europe by Eurail, some couple of years back, but had not come across any delay of more than a minute in any of some thirty train journeys in those three weeks. And then Namita’s concern was rational- we could not afford to miss this train, lest it disturb our further itinerary.
hem something in Slovak [?] language, and then everybody erupted in big laughter. Not to embarrass me further, he immediately clarified and revealed that he is the Locomotive Driver of The Federal Railway of Slovakia, and he is the one 'on duty' for the next shift, to ride the train, further ahead to Hungary. We introduced ourselves. He, along with that ‘navy blue bunch’, were curious and quite entertained to see me shooting with my camera-all those odd shots and pictures - like timetables written in local script, manhole covers around and on the platforms, iron works of that very old, historical railway station and what not. [We jocularly quote that during travel – ‘mis-s-pacing’ ,‘cros-swords’ and-‘klicking’ are the best ways of time ‘ckilling’….]
[by now we knew each other’s names] suddenly offered me –if I am interested in travelling with him in his engine cabin of the train. Long back, during my college days, I was compelled to jump, with two other friends in that ‘sooty’ cabin of engine driver from Londha to Miraj, to catch a running train, on the way back from Goa. In vivid contrast, Namita and I travelled in the sleek and posh cabin, adjoining and almost a part of ‘high-tec-cockpit-like’ engine of ICE train –a superfast from Freiberg to Cologne, ‘flying’ at speed of 240kms/hour. Then also we had chance to converse with the ‘engine drivers’. 
--The locomotive engine-no: 350007, was 1.3 mega wats power having double systems [?] It was 25 years old, of older Czeko-Slovakia Rail, and now belonged to Slovak Railway, after the partition in 1993. Speed limit was just 140 kms per hour and nobody liked such ‘old –horses’ to drive. [..grumble].Most of the trains had better and advanced diesel engines than this. 
ch-goer. Andrea Morowich [30 yrs] -elder of his two daughters ,was a doctor, having worked in Sudan for Red Cross for 3 years, and now working in Hrade Kralove, Poliklinika, in Slovakia. He wrote for me all these difficult sounding, and even more difficult to spell names in my note book. In return I also scribbled the probable diagnosis of his nail-problem on the back of h
is ‘rule-book’-as ?.onichomycosis and jokingly told him that somebody may mistake it for the name of the railway station. I could make out that his medico daughter must not be, at least a Dermatologist! He took quite a time and many gestures to convey that she was an Anesthetist. Like this-our game of ‘Dumb Sherad’ continued for quite a while. 
