Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I reigned as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825. He was the son of Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, Alexander was the first Russian King of Poland, reigning from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland. He was sometimes called Alexander the Blessed and he was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, Emperor Paul I, and succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered. He ruled Russia during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. As prince and emperor, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, in the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and major, liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities. He promised constitutional reforms and a desperately needed reform of serfdom in Russia, Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky, the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The Collegia was abolished and replaced by the The State Council, plans were made to set up a parliament and sign a constitution.
In foreign policy, he changed Russias position relative to France four times between 1804 and 1812 among neutrality and alliance and he fought a small-scale naval war against Britain between 1807 and 1812. He and Napoleon could never agree, especially about Poland, the tsars greatest triumph came in 1812 as Napoleons invasion of Russia proved a total disaster for the French. As part of the coalition against Napoleon he gained some spoils in Finland and Poland. He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe that he saw as threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. He helped Austrias Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements, in the second half of his reign he was increasingly arbitrary and fearful of plots against him, he ended many earlier reforms. He purged schools of teachers, as education became more religiously oriented as well as politically conservative. Speransky was replaced as advisor with the artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev.
Alexander died of typhus in December 1825 while on a trip to southern Russia and he left no children as heirs and both of his brothers wanted the other to become emperor. After a period of confusion that included the failed Decembrist revolt of liberal army officers, he was succeeded by his younger brother. Alexander and his younger brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, some sources allege that she planned to remove her son Paul I from the succession altogether. From the free-thinking atmosphere of the court of Catherine and his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, but from his military governor, Nikolay Saltykov, he imbibed the traditions of Russian autocracy
Berlin
Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries include IT, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions.
The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod.
In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
Helsinki Senate Square
The Senate Square presents Carl Ludvig Engels architecture as a unique allegory of political, religious and commercial powers in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. Senate Square and its surroundings make up the oldest part of central Helsinki, the Palace of the Council of State was completed on the eastern side of the Senate Square in 1822. It served as the seat of the Senate of Finland until it was replaced by the Council of State in 1918, and now houses the offices of the Prime minister of Finland and the cabinet. The main University building, on the side of the Senate Square, was constructed in 1832. The Helsinki Cathedral on the edge of the Senate Square was Engels lengthiest architectural project. He was working on it from 1818 until his death in 1840, the Helsinki Cathedral — called the Church of St. Nicholas — dominates the Senate Square, and was finalized twelve years afters Engels death, in 1852. A statue of Emperor Alexander II is located in the center of the square, the statue, erected in 1894, was built to commemorate his re-establishment of the Diet of Finland in 1863 as well as his initiation of several reforms that increased Finlands autonomy from Russia.
The statue comprises Alexander on a pedestal surrounded by figures representing law, after Finlands independence in 1917, demands were made to remove the statue. Later, it was suggested to replace it with the statue of Mannerheim currently located on Mannerheimintie in front of the Kiasma museum. Nothing came of either of these suggestions, and today the statue is one of the major tourist landmarks of the city, the Senate Square is one of the main tourist attractions of Helsinki. Various art happenings, ranging from concerts to snow buildings to controversial snow board happenings, have set up on the Senate Square. The United Buddy Bears exhibition, which was displayed in autumn of 2010 on the square, was the largest open air art show ever held in Finland. Digital carillon music is played daily at 17,49 at the Senate Square, the sound installation was composed by Harri Viitanen and organist of Helsinki Cathedral, and Jyrki Alakuijala, Doctor of Technology. The optimal listening position is at the proximity of the Squares central monument, locals even refer to the point as the cliff edge.
Several buildings near the Senate Square are managed by the government real estate provider, american actor and film director Warren Beatty filmed scenes from his film Reds on the square — Helsinki playing the role of St. Peterburg — but without showing the Cathedral. The title sequence of John Hustons The Kremlin Letter was filmed over the square at night, snowy night scenes from Jim Jarmuschs film Night on Earth were filmed on the square, but given the impression that there is a traffic roundabout at the centre. The opening sequence of the video for Sandstorm by Darude was filmed on Senate Square. Media related to Helsinki Senate Square at Wikimedia Commons
Great Fire of Turku
The Great Fire of Turku was a conflagration that is still the largest urban fire in the history of Finland and the Nordic countries. The fires started burning on 4 September 1827 in burgher Carl Gustav Hellman’s house on the Aninkaistenmäki hill slightly before 9 p. m. The fire quickly swept through the quarter, spread to the southern quarter and jumped the Aura River. By the next day, the fire had destroyed 75% of the city, only 25% of the city was spared, mainly the western and southern portions. The fire destroyed the downtown area of Turku, including Turku Cathedral and the main building of the Imperial Academy of Turku, Akatemiatalo. The damage was considerable and was felt for a period of time in the aftermath of the event. 11,000 people were homeless, and 27 casualties. The night of the fire, Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander, Observator at the Imperial Academy of Turku, was in the Vartiovuori Observatory on Vartiovuorenmäki, due to the fire, he had to stop what he was doing. In his observation log, he wrote, Today observation was interrupted by a fire that reduced Turku to ashes”.
The observatory, placed on the top of a hill, was spared though. As the rest of the academy has suffered damage, its indispensable activities such as meetings of the consistory. Most Finnish archives, including practically all material from the Middle ages, was destroyed in the fire. At the time of the fire, and for some time afterwards, Turku was the largest city in Finland, governor-General of the Grand Duchy of Finland Arseniy Zakrevskiy was responsible for rebuilding the city after the fire. His proposal resulted in the Senate of Finland selecting Architect Carl Ludvig Engel to create the new city plan for Turku, downtown Turku is still based on Engel’s grid plan, which was approved on 15 December 1828. The largest buildings in downtown Turku, the cathedral and Akatemiatalo, were refurbished, and some of the buildings, such as the Old Town Hall. The majority of the city, had to be completely rebuilt, turku’s grid plan design had a significant influence on how other Finnish towns were laid out.
The Cloister Hill area, which was spared due to its location on the outskirts of the area hit by the fire, was protected and opened up as a handicrafts open-air museum in 1940
Holy Trinity Church, Helsinki
The Holy Trinity Church is an Orthodox Church located in the Kruununhaka district of Helsinki, on the corner of Unioninkatu and Rauhankatu. The church was built in the style in 1826 under the direction of the architect Carl Ludvig Engel. The Holy Trinity services the citys orthodox community with masses held in both Church Slavic and Finnish, the church is Helsinkis oldest Orthodox church. When Finland became 1808 autonomic Grand Duchy of Finland, a number of Russian civil servants and they needed a place for worship, and the czar supported their efforts to get a church. In the 21st century, many of the churchgoers still speak Russian, Finnish Orthodox Church Uspenski Cathedral Holy Trinity Church, Helsinki
Empire style
From France it spread into much of Europe and the United States. The style originated in and takes its name from the rule of Napoleon I in the First French Empire, when it was intended to idealize Napoleons leadership and the French state. The style corresponds in that intent to the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States, the previous style in France was called Louis XVI style. Conventionels saw themselves as antique heroes, children were named after Brutus and Lycurgus. The festivals of the Revolution were staged by David as antique rituals, even the chairs in which the committee of Salut Publique sat were made on antique models devised by David. In fact Neo-classicism became fashionable. The Empire style turned to the opulence of Imperial Rome. The abstemious severity of Doric was replaced by Corinthian richness and splendour, two French architects, Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, were together the creators of the French Empire style. The two had studied in Rome and in the 1790s became leading furniture designers in Paris, where they received commissions from Napoleon.
Architecture of the Empire style was based on elements of the Roman Empire and its archaeological treasures. The preceding Louis XVI and Directoire styles employed straighter, simpler designs compared to the Rococo style of the eighteenth century, Empire designs strongly influenced the contemporary American Federal style, and both were forms of propaganda through architecture. It was a style of the people, not ostentatious but sober, the style was considered to have liberated and enlightened architecture just as Napoleon liberated the peoples of Europe with his Napoleonic Code. The Empire period was popularized by the designs of Percier and Fontaine. The designs drew for inspiration on symbols and ornaments borrowed from the glorious ancient Greek, buildings typically had simple timber frames and box-like constructions, veneered in expensive mahogany imported from the colonies. Biedermeier furniture used ebony details, originally due to financial constraints, ormolu details displayed a high level of craftsmanship.
General Bernadotte, to become King Karl Johan of Sweden and Norway, introduced the Napoleonic style to Sweden, the Karl Johan style remained popular in Scandinavia even as the Empire style disappeared from other parts of Europe. France paid some of its debts to Sweden in ormolu bronzes instead of money, leading to a vogue for crystal chandeliers with bronze from France, after Napoleon lost power, the Empire style continued to be in favour for many decades, with minor adaptations. There was a revival of the style in the last half of the century in France, again at the beginning of the twentieth century. Stalinist architecture is referred to as Stalins Empire style
Turku
Turku is a city on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Southwest Finland. Turku, as a town, was settled during the 13th century and founded most likely at the end of the 13th century and it quickly became the most important city in Finland, a status it retained for hundreds of years. Because of its history, it has been the site of many important events. Along with Tallinn, the city of Estonia, Turku was designated the European Capital of Culture for 2011. In 1996, it was declared the official Christmas City of Finland, due to its location, Turku is a notable commercial and passenger seaport with over three million passengers traveling through the Port of Turku each year to Stockholm and Mariehamn. As of 31 December 2016, the population of Turku was 187,564, there were 318,168 inhabitants living in the Turku sub-region, ranking it as the third largest urban area in Finland after the Greater Helsinki area and Tampere sub-region. The city is bilingual as 5.2 percent of its population identify Swedish as a mother-tongue.
The Finnish name Turku originates from an Old East Slavic word, tǔrgǔ, the word turku still means market place in some idioms in Finnish. The Swedish word for market place is torg, and was borrowed from Old East Slavic. The Swedish name Åbo may be a combination of å. As this pattern does not appear in any other Swedish place names in Finland, one theory is that it comes from Aabo, the Finnish rendition of the Russian Avram, which could be the origin of the name of the river Aura. There is however an old legal term called åborätt, which gave citizens the right to live at land owned by the crown. In Finnish, the genitive of Turku is Turun, meaning of Turku, the Finnish names of organizations and institutes of Turku often begin with this word, as in Turun yliopisto for the University of Turku. Turku has a history as Finlands largest city and occasionally as the administrative center of the country. The citys identity stems from its status as the oldest city in Finland, the word Finland referred only to the area around Turku.
Although archaeological findings in the date back to the Stone Age. The Cathedral of Turku was consecrated in 1300, during the Middle Ages, Turku was the seat of the Bishop of Turku, covering the eastern half of the Kingdom of Sweden until the 17th century. Even if Turku had no official status, both the short-lived institutions of Dukes and Governors-General of Finland usually had their Finnish residences there
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg is an affluent locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Charlottenburg was an independent city to the west of Berlin until 1920 when it was incorporated into Groß-Berlin, in the course of Berlins 2001 administrative reform it was merged with the former borough of Wilmersdorf becoming a part of a new borough called Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Later, in 2004, the new districts were rearranged, dividing the former borough of Charlottenburg into the localities of Charlottenburg proper, Westend. Charlottenburg is located in Berlins inner city, west of the Großer Tiergarten park and its historic core, the former village green of Alt Lietzow, is situated on the southern shore of the Spree River running through the Berlin glacial valley. In the north and west, the Berlin Ringbahn and the Bundesautobahn 100 mark the border with the Charlottenburg-Nord, adjacent in the south is the territory of Wilmersdorf. Charlottenburg borders on the district of Halensee in the southwest, as well as on Moabit and Tiergarten in the east, archaeological findings in the area date back to the Neolithic era.
Although these names are of Slavic origin, the settlements are likely to have had a mixed Slavic, Lietzow is first documented in a 1239 deed. In 1315, Lietzow and Casow became the property of the Sankt Marien nunnery in nearby Spandau, as a result, the Lietzow farmstead probably was expanded to a village. In the course of the Protestant Reformation, Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg confiscated the estates, while the Lietzow area has been populated continuously and Glienicke were abandoned. From old field names it is believed that Glienicke lay in the area of the present day streets Kantstraße, Fasanenstraße, Kurfürstendamm, the development of Lietzow is well documented. For more than four hundred years, members of the Berendt family were mayors, in 1695, Sophia Charlotte of Hanover received Lietzow from her husband, Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg, in exchange for her estates in Caputh and Langerwisch near Potsdam. Frederick had a residence built there for Sophie Charlotte by the architect Johann Arnold Nering between 1695 and 1699.
After he had crowned himself Frederick I, King in Prussia, the Swedish master builder Johann Friedrich Eosander supervised this work. The king served as the mayor until the historic village of Lietzow was incorporated into Charlottenburg in 1720. Fredericks successor as king, Frederick William I of Prussia, rarely stayed at the palace, Frederick William even tried to revoke the towns privileges. With the coronation of his successor Frederick II inl 1740 the towns significance increased, between 1740 and 1747 Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff built the eastern New Wing as Fredericks residence. Later, Frederick II preferred the palace of Sanssouci, which he had designed himself. After the defeat of the Prussian army at Jena in 1806, napoleon took over the palace, while his troops made a camp nearby
Helsinki Old Church
The Old Church of Helsinki, designed by Carl Ludvig Engel and completed in 1826, is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Helsinki. However, the rapid population growth from the early 19th century onwards ensured that the church would remain needed. The neoclassical wooden church was built under Engels supervision between 1824 and 1826 and consecrated on 17 December 1826 by dean Johan Borgström and these furnishings were however replaced over the years with the exception of the pulpit. A new 36 stop organ built by Per Larsson Åkermann was installed in 1869, the altarpiece painted by Robert Wilhelm Ekman was initially commissioned for Helsinki Cathedral, but was instead placed in the Old Church in 1854. The church is located in a park maintained by the city. The park is sometimes colloquially called Plague Park as over a victims of the 1710 plague are buried next to the park. The park itself was a cemetery from the 1780s until shortly after the churchs construction, some 40 gravestones and memorials, as well as the Sederholm tomb remain of the cemetery.
Media related to Helsinki Old Church at Wikimedia Commons Official parish website
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia.
Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France and Serbia, against the German and Ottoman empires.
The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire.
After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD.
The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
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