Lens is a municipality in the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
History
Lens is first mentioned in 1177 as de Lenz.
Geography
Lens has an area, as of 2009, of 13.9 square kilometers (5.4 sq mi). Of this area, 5.07 km2 (1.96 sq mi) or 36.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 5.48 km2 (2.12 sq mi) or 39.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.74 km2 (1.06 sq mi) or 19.7% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.1 km2 (25 acres) or 0.7% is either rivers or lakes and 0.46 km2 (0.18 sq mi) or 3.3% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 11.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.0%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.8%. Out of the forested land, 33.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 5.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.4% is used for growing crops and 11.6% is pastures, while 9.1% is used for orchards or vine crops and 15.3% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
In geology a lens is a body of ore or rock or a deposit that is thick in the middle and thin at the edges, resembling a convex lens in cross-section. Adjective: "lenticular".
A lens can also refer to an irregular shaped formation consisting of a porous, permeable sedimentary deposit surrounded by impermeable rock.
Lens (French pronunciation: [lɑ̃s]) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is one of France's large Picarde cities along with Lille, Valenciennes, Amiens, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Arras, and Douai. The inhabitants are called Lensois.
Metropolitan area
Lens belongs to the intercommunality of Lens-Liévin, which consists of 36 communes, with a total population of 250,000. Lens, along with Douai, forms the metropolitan area of Douai-Lens, whose population at the 1999 census was 552,682.
History
Lens was initially a fortification from the Norman invasions. In 1180, it was owned by the Count of Flanders, and sovereignty was exercised by the Crown of France. In the 13th century, Lens received a charter from Louis VIII of France, allowing it to become a city. The Flemish razed the city in 1303. Prior to this, the city's population relied on its markets. In 1526, Lens was made part of the Spanish Netherlands under the ownership of the French monarchy, and only passed back to France on 7 November 1659 with the Treaty of the Pyrenees.
Ira or IRA may denote:
Ira
Ira may refer to:
Toponymy
IRA
The initials IRA most commonly refer to:
Iraí is a municipality in the state Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
See also
References
IRA - Polish rock band formed in 1987 in Radom by Jakub Płucisz (guitar), Wojciech Owczarek (drums), Artur Gadowski (vocal, guitar), Dariusz Grudzień (bass) and Grzegorz Wawrzeńczuk (keyboards). They gained a wide popularity in Poland in the early nineties, mainly after releasing the "Mój Dom" album, with the hit title song, which was still during their garage and semi-professional days. They also gained some local popularity amongst the Polish-speaking citizens in the United States, where they lived and worked for few months. After signing a professional contract back in Poland, they released a few albums which didn't prove to be commercially successful (except for the "Mój Dom" follow-up, which was "IRA 1993"), and the band disbanded afterwards. Artur Gadowski started a solo career. He opened for Brian May before his show in Warsaw in September 1998. Artur's solo efforts weren't very successful either, and what success he did gain was largely based on the then legendary status of IRA. A few years later the band reunited, and exists up to now. Once again, they have not attained much popularity, but are well-known amongst hard rock fans in Poland (though they play mainly pop-oriented hard rock), and their concerts are selling rather well.
Letters is the debut album by American metalcore band Aftershock. It was released in 1997.