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Coffer

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Coffering on the ceiling of the Pantheon, Rome

Giuliano da Sangallo's flat caisson ceiling, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.

Coffered ceilings of Mir Castle, Belarus.

A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault.^[1] A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also called caissons ('boxes"), or lacunaria ("spaces, openings"),^[2] so that a coffered ceiling can be called a lacunar ceiling: the strength of the structure is in the framework of the coffers.

1 History
2 Asian architecture
3 See also
4 Footnotes
5 External links

History[edit]

The stone coffers of the ancient Greeks^[3] and Romans^[4] are the earliest surviving examples, but a seventh-century BC Etruscan chamber tomb in the necropolis of San Giuliano, which is cut in soft tufa-like stone reproduces a ceiling with beams and cross-beams lying on them, with flat panels filling the lacunae.^[5] For centuries, it was thought that wooden coffers were first made by crossing the wooden beams of a ceiling in the Loire Valley châteaux of the early Renaissance.^[6] In 2012, however, archaeologists working under Andrew Wallace-Hadrill at the House of the Telephus in Herculaneum discovered that wooden coffered ceilings were constructed in Roman times.^[7] Experimentation with the possible shapes in coffering, which solve problems of mathematical tiling, or tessellation, were a feature of Islamic as well as Renaissance architecture. The more complicated problems of diminishing the scale of the individual coffers were presented by the requirements of curved surfaces of vaults and domes.

A prominent example of Roman coffering, employed to lighten the weight of the dome, can be found in the ceiling of the rotunda dome in the Pantheon, Rome.

Asian architecture[edit]

In ancient Chinese wooden architecture, coffering is known as zaojing (Chinese: 藻井; pinyin: zǎojǐng).^[8]

Footnotes[edit]

^ Ching, Francis D.K. (1995). A Visual Dictionary of Architecture. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 30. ISBN 0-471-28451-3.
^ An alternative, in a description of Domitian's audience hall by Statius, noted by Ulrich 2007:156, is laquearia, not a copyist's error, as it appears in Manilius' Astronomica (1.533, quoted by Ulrich).
^ An example is the main hieron at Samothrace, where stone ceiling beams of the pronaos carried a coffered ceiling of marble slabs across a span of about 6.15 m (J.J. Coulton, Ancient Greek Architects at Work: Problems of Structure and Design (Cornell University Press) 1982:147. ISBN 978-0801492341
^ Roman wooden coffered ceilings are discussed in Roger Bradley Ulrich, Roman Woodworking, ch. "Roofing and ceilings" (Yale University Press) 2007.
^ Illustrated in Ulrich, fig 8.27.
^ "coffer". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
^ Hooper, John (2012-07-23). "House of the Telephus Relief: raising the roof on Roman real estate". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-01-16. Buried by Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago, archaeologists at Herculaneum have excavated and carried out the first-ever full reconstruction of the timber roof of a Roman villa
^ Ching, Francis D.K.; et al. (2007). A Global History of Architecture. New York: John Wiley and Sons. p. 787. ISBN 0-471-26892-5.

External links[edit]

Look up coffer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

U.S. National Capitol

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Pantheon, Rome – The Pantheon is a former Roman temple, now a church, in Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus. The present building was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126 AD and he retained Agrippas original inscription, which has confused its date of construction as the original Pantheon burnt down so it is not certain when the present one was built. The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns under a pediment, a rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheons dome is still the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome, the height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same,43.3 metres. Mary and the Martyrs but informally known as Santa Maria Rotonda, the square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della

1. Pantheon

3. The Pantheon and the Fontana del Pantheon.

4. The Pantheon dome. The concrete for the coffered dome was poured in moulds, probably mounted on temporary scaffolding. The oculus is the main source of natural light.

Rome – Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, du

Giuliano da Sangallo – Giuliano da Sangallo was an Italian sculptor, architect and military engineer active during the Italian Renaissance. He is known primarily for being the architect of Lorenzo de Medici. In this role, Giuliano designed a villa for Lorenzo as well as a monastery for Augustinian monks, additionally, Giuliano was commissioned to build multiple structures for Pope Julius II and Pope Leo X. Giuliano da Sangallo was born in 1443 in Florence. His father, Francesco Giamberti, was a woodworker and an architect who worked closely with Cosimo de Medici. This proved to be helpful to Giuliano and his brother, Antonio, later in life as it helped them to develop a working relationship and friendship with Cosimos grandson. As a child, Giuliano became an apprentice to a joiner, as an apprentice, his woodworking, building and sculpting skills drew the attention of Lorenzo de Medici. Through this, he was able to develop his eye, learn about classical design. Giulianos first major, independent commission ca

1. Portrait by Piero di Cosimo, c. 1482-1485 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore – The Basilica is located at 34 Piazza dellEsquilino, some five blocks southwest of Stazione Termini. Pursuant to the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Holy See and Italy, the Basilica is within Italian territory and not the territory of the Vatican City State and they prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honour. On 5 August, at the height of the Roman summer, in obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary which they had the same night, the couple built a basilica in honour of Mary on the very spot which was covered with snow. From the fact that no mention whatever is made of this alleged miracle until a few hundred years later and it would seem that the legend has no historical basis. The legend is first reported only after AD1000 and it may be implied in what the Liber Pontificalis, of the early 13th century, says of Pope Liberius, He built the basilica of his own name near the Macellum of Livia. Its prevalence in the 15th century is

1. The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary

2. The Blessed Virgin Mary overlooking Pope Liberius as the Pontiff scraped the foundation of the basilica into the snow. By Italian artist Masolino da Panicale. circa 15th-century. Museo di Capodimonte.

3. Map by Giacomo Lauro and Antonio Tempesta depicting Saint Mary Major among the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome in 1599, in view of the Holy Year of 1600.

4. The Piazza and Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, by Giovanni Paolo Pannini

Mir Castle – The Mirsky Castle Complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Belarus. It is in the town of Mir, in the Karelichy District of the Hrodna voblast, at 53°27′4. 46″N 26°28′22. 80″E,29 kilometres north-west of another World Heritage site, Mir Castle Complex is 164 metres above sea level. From 1921 to 1939 the castle belonged to the territory of Poland, duke Yuri Ivanovich Ilyinich began construction of the castle near the village of Mir after the turn of the 16th century in the Belarusian Gothic style. Five towers surrounded the courtyard of the citadel, the walls of which formed a square of 75 metres on each side, plastered facades were decorated with limestone portals, plates, balconies and porches in the Renaissance style. Later the castle became a possession of their daughter Maria, who married Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and their son, Maurice Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, sold the castle to Nikolai Svyatopolk-Mirsky, of the Bialynia clan, in 1895. Nikolais son Mikhail began

1. UNESCO World Heritage Site

2. View from the courtyard

Belarus – Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres is forested and its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing. In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Belarus declared independence as the Belarusian Peoples Republic, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922 and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921, during WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years, in 1945 the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR. The parliament of the declared the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990. Alexander Lukashenko has served as the pres

1. Stamp with the Cross of St. Euphrosyne from 1992

2. Flag

3. Principalities of Kievan Rus'

4. Khatyn Memorial. The Nazis murdered civilians in 5,295 different localities in occupied Soviet Belarus.

Architecture – Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings and other physical structures. Architectural works, in the form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements, Architecture can mean, A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures. The art and science of designing buildings and nonbuilding structures, the style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures. A unifying or coherent form or structure Knowledge of art, science, technology, the design activity of the architect, from the macro-level to the micro-level. The practice of the architect, where architecture means offering or rendering services in connection with the design and construction of buildings. The earliest surviving work on the subject of architecture is De architectura. According to Vitruvius, a building should satis

1. Brunelleschi, in the building of the dome of Florence Cathedral in the early 15th-century, not only transformed the building and the city, but also the role and status of the architect.

2. Section of Brunelleschi 's dome drawn by the architect Cigoli (c. 1600)

3. The Parthenon, Athens, Greece, "the supreme example among architectural sites." (Fletcher).

4. The Houses of Parliament, Westminster, master-planned by Charles Barry, with interiors and details by A.W.N. Pugin

Ceiling – A ceiling /ˈsiːlɪŋ/ is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room. It is not generally considered an element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the roof structure or the floor of a storey above. Ceilings can be decorated to taste, and there are fine examples of frescoes. The most common type of ceiling is the ceiling which is suspended from structural elements above. Pipework or ducts can be run in the gap above the ceiling, other types of ceiling include the cathedral ceiling, the concave or barrel-shaped ceiling, the stretched ceiling and the coffered ceiling. Coving often links the ceiling to the surrounding walls, ceilings can play a part in reducing fire hazard, and a system is available for rating the fire resistance of dropped ceilings. Ceilings are classified according to their appearance or construction, a cathedral ceiling is any tall ceiling area similar to those in a church. A dropped ceiling is one in which the surface is construct

1. California tract home with an open-beam ceiling, 1960.

2. An unrestrained non-loadbearing ceiling undergoing a 4-hour fire test. Deflection is measured off the I-beam.

3. Painted ceiling, " Icarus ", by Rainer Maria Latzke (c. 1986), Chateau Thal, Belgium

4. The ceiling of Wells Cathedral, England

Soffit – Soffit, in architecture, describes the underside of any construction element. The wall into which loudspeakers are mounted in a recording studio, a drop-down box used to mount a kitchen ventilation hood under a sloped or high ceiling. When so constructed, the material is typically screwed or nailed to rafters known as lookout rafters or lookouts for short. Soffit exposure profile on a buildings exterior can vary from a few centimetres to 3 feet or more and it can be non-ventilated or ventilated for cooling non livable attic space. A grill that covers the opening on the bottom of the soffit is called a soffit vent. A soffit joist is also a related piece, copper in architecture This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed

1. Eaves or Soffit lining on a house in Northern Australia. The flat section (underside) would be referred to as a soffit. In this example the soffit is fixed to the slope of the rafters. The fascias form the outer edge and have a groove in them to receive the soffit lining sheets.

2. Soffit lining a house in Northern Florida, USA. In this example the soffit is 12 inches wide and made from center lanced U groove perforated sections of vinyl in a return fashion and fixed to a truss roofing system.

3. Soffit box providing a level mounting plane for kitchen ventilation hoods.

Vault (architecture) – Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that requires a counter resistance, when vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required. However, when the vault is built above ground, various replacements are employed to supply the needed resistance, an example is the thicker walls used in the case of barrel or continuous vaults. Buttresses are used to supply resistance when intersecting vaults are employed, the simplest kind of vault is the barrel vault, which is generally semicircular in shape. The barrel vault is an arch, the length being greater than its diameter. As in building an arch, a support is needed while rings of voussoirs are constructed. Until the topmost voussoir, the keystone, is positioned, the vault is not self-supporting, with a barrel vault, the centering can then be shifted on to support the next rings. Amongst the earliest known examples of any

1. Gothic rib-vault ceiling of the Saint-Séverin church in Paris

2. In a pitched-brick vault the bricks lean (are pitched) against an existing wall.

3. St Paul's Cathedral Choir looking east, London

4. Pointed barrel vault showing direction of lateral forces.

Ancient Greeks – Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th c

1. The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena, located on the Acropolis in Athens, is one of the most representative symbols of the culture and sophistication of the ancient Greeks.

2. Dipylon Vase of the late Geometric period, or the beginning of the Archaic period, c. 750 BC.

3. Political geography of ancient Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods

Ancient Rome – In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictato

1. Senātus Populus que Rōmānus

2. Roman Republic

3. According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf.

4. This bust from the Capitoline Museums is traditionally identified as a portrait of Lucius Junius Brutus.

Loire Valley – The Loire Valley, spanning 280 kilometres, is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France, primarily within the administrative region named Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about 800 square kilometres and it is referred to as the Cradle of the French and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, and asparagus fields, which line the banks of the river. Notable for its towns, architecture, and wines, the valley has been inhabited since the Middle Palaeolithic period. In 2000, UNESCO added the part of the Loire River valley to its list of World Heritage Sites. The valley includes historic towns such as Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Orléans, Saumur, the climate is favorable most of the year, the river often acting as a line of demarcation in Frances weather between the northern climate and the southern. The river has a significant effect on the mesoclimate of the region, the climate can be cool

1. Château d'Azay-le-Rideau

2. Vineyard in the Loire Valley

3. Château de Valençay

Early Renaissance – The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissanc

1. David, by Michelangelo (Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art.

2. Renaissance

3. Leonardo da Vinci 's Vitruvian Man (c. 1490) shows clearly the effect writers of Antiquity had on Renaissance thinkers. Based on the specifications in Vitruvius ' De architectura (1st century BC), Leonardo tried to draw the perfectly proportioned man.

4. Portrait of a young woman (c. 1480-85) (Simonetta Vespucci) by Sandro Botticelli

Herculaneum – Located in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 AD. Its ruins are located in the commune of Ercolano, Campania and it had been thought until then that the town had been evacuated by the inhabitants. Herculaneum was a town than Pompeii, possessing an extraordinary density of fine houses with, for example. Ancient tradition connected Herculaneum with the name of the Greek hero Herakles, in fact, it seems that some forefathers of the Samnite tribes of the Italian mainland founded the first civilization on the site of Herculaneum at the end of the 6th century BC. Soon after, the town came under Greek control and was used as a trading post because of its proximity to the Gulf of Naples, the Greeks named the city Ἡράκλειον, Heraklion. In the 4th century BC, Herculaneum again came under the domination of the Samnites. The city remained under Samnite control until it became a Roman municipium in 89 BC, when, having pa

1. The excavations of Ercolano

2. Beginning in 1757, the eight volumes of Le Antichità di Ercolano brought knowledge of Pompeii and Herculaneum to the fore.

3. Plan of the excavations of Herculaneum

4. For the modern Italian commune, see Ercolano. For the pottery works, see Herculaneum Works.

Tessellation – A tessellation of a flat surface is the tiling of a plane using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellations can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of geometries, a periodic tiling has a repeating pattern. The patterns formed by periodic tilings can be categorized into 17 wallpaper groups, a tiling that lacks a repeating pattern is called non-periodic. An aperiodic tiling uses a set of tile shapes that cannot form a repeating pattern. In the geometry of higher dimensions, a space-filling or honeycomb is called a tessellation of space. A real physical tessellation is a made of materials such as cemented ceramic squares or hexagons. Such tilings may be decorative patterns, or may have such as providing durable and water-resistant pavement. Historically, tessellations were used in Ancient Rome and in Islamic art such as in the decorative geometric tiling of the Alhambra palace, in the twentieth century, the work of

1. Zellige terracotta tiles in Marrakech, forming edge-to-edge, regular and other tessellations

2. A wall sculpture at Leeuwarden celebrating the artistic tessellations of M. C. Escher

3. A temple mosaic from the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk IV (3400–3100 BC), showing a tessellation pattern in coloured tiles

4. Roman geometric mosaic

Renaissance architecture – Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the style was carried to France, Germany, England, Russia and other parts of Europe at different dates and with varying degrees of impact. Italy of the 15th century, and the city of Florence in particular, was home to the Renaissance, the scholarly approach to the architecture of the ancient coincided with the general revival of learning. A number of factors were influential in bringing this about, Italian architects had always preferred forms that were clearly defined and structural members that expressed their purpose. Many Tuscan Romanesque buildings demonstrate these characteristics, as seen in the Florence Baptistery, Italy had never fully adopted the Gothic style of architecture. In the 15th century, Florence, Venice and Naples extended their power through much of the area that surrounded t

1. Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, 1502, by Bramante. This small temple marks the place where St Peter was put to death.

2. Temple of Vesta, Rome, 205 AD. As the most important temple of Ancient Rome, it became the model for Bramante's Tempietto.

3. Renaissance

4. The Romanesque Baptistery of Florence was the object of Brunelleschi's studies of perspective

Rotunda (architecture) – A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a room within a building. The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda, a Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome. The rotunda has historical and architectural value because it was widespread in medieval Central Europe, a great number of parochial churches were built in this form in the 9th to 11th centuries BCE in Central Europe. This type of circular shaped parochial building can be found in great number in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Austria, Bavaria, Dalmatia, Germany, and it was thought of as a structure descending from the Roman Pantheon. However, it can be found mainly not on former Roman territories, generally its size was 6–9 meters inner diameter and the apsis was directed toward the east. Sometimes 3 or 4 apsides were glued to the central circle, several types of rotundas are found in the Carpathian Basin, within the former boundaries of Medieval

1. The Rotunda at the University of Virginia, famously designed by the third US president Thomas Jefferson.

2. The famous Rotunda church in Thessaloniki, Greece.

3. The Baptistery at the Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa, Italy

4. The most well known Danish rotunda is the village parochial church at Østerlars.

Ancient Chinese wooden architecture – Ancient Chinese wooden architecture is among the least studied of any of the worlds great architectural traditions from the western point of view. Although Chinese architectural history reaches far back in time, descriptions of Chinese architecture are often confined to the well known Forbidden City with little else explored by the West. Although common features of Chinese architecture have been unified into a vocabulary illustrating uniquely Chinese forms and methods, because of the lack of knowledge of the roots of Chinese architecture, description of its elements is often translated into Western terms and architectural theory, losing its unique Chinese meanings. Ancient Chinese architecture has numerous elements in part, because of the early Chinese method of standardizing and prescribing uniform features of structures. The standards are recorded in bureaucratic manuals and drawings that were passed down through generations, for example, the excavation of tombs has provided evidence

1. Diagram of bracket and cantilever arms from the building manual Yingzao Fashi (published in 1103) of the Song Dynasty

2. Rammed earth sections of the Great Wall of China

Caisson (Asian architecture) – The caisson is generally a sunken panel set into the otherwise largely flat ceiling. It is often layered and richly decorated, common shapes include square, octagon, hexagon, circle, and a combination of these. The caisson is a name for a coffer. In the case of East Asian architecture, however, the caisson is characterised by highly developed conventions as to its structure, the caisson is a sunken panel placed in the centre of the ceiling. Beams may also be used to create a hexagonal or octagonal caisson surrounded by a square border and these beams, and the dougong members, are usually visible, and richly carved and often painted with deities. The centre of the caisson is decorated with a large bas-relief carving or painting, common themes include two dragons chasing the pearl. Caissons were originally used to support skylights, therefore, they are a relatively recent structure in the Chinese architectural history. However, they became increasingly intricate and formalised, and were

1. A round caisson in the imperial garden at the Forbidden City

2. A modern caisson in traditional style, in the Grand Hotel, Taipei

3. The caisson of the Five Dragons Pavilion at the Beihai Park.

Chinese language – Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases mutually unintelligible, language varieties, forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the Han majority and many ethnic groups in China. Nearly 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language, the varieties of Chinese are usually described by native speakers as dialects of a single Chinese language, but linguists note that they are as diverse as a language family. The internal diversity of Chinese has been likened to that of the Romance languages, There are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin, followed by Wu, Min, and Yue. Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and certain Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms, all varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. Standard Chinese is a form of spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. It is the language of China and

1. The Tripitaka Koreana, a Korean collection of the Chinese Buddhist canon

2. Hànyǔ (Chinese) written in traditional (left) and simplified (right) characters

3. " Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion " by Wang Xizhi, written in semi-cursive style

Pinyin – Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years

1. A school slogan asking elementary students to speak Putonghua is annotated with pinyin, but without tonal marks.

2. In Yiling, Yichang, Hubei, text on road signs appears both in Chinese characters and in Hanyu Pinyin

Dropped ceiling – A dropped ceiling is a secondary ceiling, hung below the main ceiling. Dropped ceilings and ceiling tiles were being used in Japan for aesthetic reasons as early as the Muromachi Period, blackfriars Theater in London, England, built in 1596, had dropped ceilings to aid acoustics. U. S. Patent No.1,470,728 for modern dropped ceilings was applied for by E. E. Hall on May 28,1919, once the repair or inspection was completed, the tiles had to be reinstalled. This process could be very time-consuming and expensive, on September 8,1958 Donald A. Brown of Westlake, Ohio filed for a patent for Accessible Suspended Ceiling Construction. This invention provided suspended ceiling construction in which access may readily be obtained at any desired location, Patent Number US2,984,946 A was granted on May 23,1961. Brown has sometimes credited as being the inventor of the dropped ceiling even though other patents preceded his as shown in the table below. Drop ceilings may also be used to hide problem

1. Dropped ceiling, after installation. Light fixtures, a speaker grill, smoke detectors, and an air grill are all visible.

2. Dropped ceiling with LED lamps

3. Interlocked panels can be "slid" across and out of the grid

4. Stretch Ceiling Installation over an existing popcorn ceiling.

Coving (interior design) – Moulding, also known as coving, is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster, in classical architecture and sculpture, the molding is often carved in marble or other stones. A sprung molding has bevelled edges that allow mounting between two planes, with an open space behind the molding. Other types of molding are referred to as plain, at their simplest, moldings are a means of applying light- and dark-shaded stripes to a structural object without having to change the material or apply pigments. The contrast of dark and light areas gives definition to the object, imagine the vertical surface of a wall lit by sunlight at an angle of about 45 degrees above the wall. Adding a small overhanging horizontal molding to the surface of the wall will introduce a dark horizontal shadow below the molding, adding a vertical fillet to a horizontal surface will create a light verti

1. Moldings from 1728 Table of architecture in the Cyclopedia

2. Cavetto molding and resulting shadow pattern

Beam (structure) – A beam is a structural element that primarily resists loads applied laterally to the beams axis. Its mode of deflection is primarily by bending, the loads applied to the beam result in reaction forces at the beams support points. The total effect of all the acting on the beam is to produce shear forces and bending moments within the beam. Beams are characterized by their manner of support, profile, length, historically beams were squared timbers but are also metal, stone, or combinations of wood and metal such as a flitch beam. Beams generally carry vertical gravitational forces but can also be used to carry horizontal loads, the loads carried by a beam are transferred to columns, walls, or girders, which then transfer the force to adjacent structural compression members. In light frame construction joists may rest on beams, in carpentry a beam is called a plate as in a sill plate or wall plate, beam as in a summer beam or dragon beam. In engineering, beams are of types, Simply support

1. A statically determinate beam, bending (sagging) under a uniformly distributed load

International Standard Book Number – The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial

1. A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an EAN-13 bar code

Domitian – Domitian was the Emperor of Rome from 81 to 96. He was the brother of Titus and son of Vespasian. During his reign, his authoritarian rule put him at odds with the senate. After the death of his brother, Domitian was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard and his 15-year reign was the longest since that of Tiberius. As emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman coinage, expanded the defenses of the empire. Significant wars were fought in Britain, where his general Agricola attempted to conquer Caledonia, and in Dacia, Domitians government exhibited totalitarian characteristics, he saw himself as the new Augustus, an enlightened despot destined to guide the Roman Empire into a new era of brilliance. Religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, as a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and army, but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate. Domitians reign came to an end in 96 when he was assassinated by cour

1. Bust of Domitian, in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.

2. A denarius of Domitian.

3. A bust of Vespasian (Pushkin Museum).

4. A bust of Emperor Vitellius, (Louvre).

Statius – Publius Papinius Statius was a Roman poet of the 1st century AD. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the Thebaid, a collection of poetry, the Silvae, and an unfinished epic. He is also known for his appearance as a guide in the Purgatory section of Dantes epic poem The Divine Comedy, information about Statius life is almost entirely drawn from his Silvae and a mention by the satirist Juvenal. The poets father was a native of Velia but later moved to Naples, Statius declares in his lament for his father that his father was in his time equal to any literary task, whether in prose or verse. He mentioned Mevania, and may have spent time there, or been impressed by the confrontation of Vitellius, Statius father was a Roman eques, but may have lost his status because of money troubles. At Naples, he was a teacher of Greek and Roman literature who attracted many pupils who were destined for religious offices in Rome, from Pliny the Youngers Letters, it has recently be

1. The Thebaid describes the siege of Thebes by the seven Argive champions.

2. Villas not unlike the Getty Villa are described by Statius in his Silvae.

Samothrace – Samothrace is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a municipality within the Evros regional unit of Thrace, the island is 17 km long and is 178 km2 in size and has a population of 2,859. Its main industries are fishing and tourism, resources on the island include granite and basalt. Samothrace is one of the most rugged Greek islands, with Mt. Saos and its tip Fengari rising to 1,611 m. Samothrace was not a state of any significance in ancient Greece, since it has no natural harbour and most of the island is too mountainous for cultivation. It was, however, the home of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, among those who visited this shrine to be initiated into the island cult were Lysander of Sparta, Philip II of Macedon and Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, father-in-law of Julius Caesar. The ancient city, the ruins of which are called Palaeopoli, was situated on the north coast, demetrios of Skepsis mention the Samothracian Mysteries. The traditional account from antiquity i

1. View of the Chora (Samothraki)

2. Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Palaiopolis.

3. Samothrace, with Mount Fengari in the background.

4. Waterfall and pond, characteristics of the island.

Pronaos – A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was used in Ancient Greece and has influenced many cultures. Some noteworthy examples of porticos are the East Portico of the United States Capitol, the portico adorning the Pantheon in Rome, porticos are sometimes topped with pediments. Bologna, Italy, is famous for its porticos, in total, there are over 45 km of arcades, some 38 in the city center. The longest portico in the world, about 3.5 km, in Bologna, Italy, porticos stretch for 18 km. Palladio was a pioneer of using temple-fronts for secular buildings, in the UK, the temple-front applied to The Vyne, Hampshire was the first portico applied to an English country house. A pronaos is the area of the portico of a Greek or Roman temple. Roman temples commonly had an open pronaos, usually with only columns and no walls, the word pronaos is Greek for before

1. Under the portico of the Pantheon

2. Portico close to piazza Santo Stefano, Bologna

3. Temple of Portunus, with its tetrastyle portico of four Ionic columns

4. The hexastyle Temple of Concord at Agrigentum (c. 430 B.C.)

The Guardian

1. The Guardian front page on 6 June 2014

2. The Guardian senior news writer Esther Addley interviewing Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño for this article relating to Julian Assange (August 2014)

3. The Guardian's HQ in London

4. The Guardian' s Newsroom visitor centre and archive (No 60), with an old sign with the name The Manchester Guardian

LIST OF IMAGES

1. Pantheon, Rome – The Pantheon is a former Roman temple, now a church, in Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus. The present building was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126 AD and he retained Agrippas original inscription, which has confused its date of construction as the original Pantheon burnt down so it is not certain when the present one was built. The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns under a pediment, a rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheons dome is still the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome, the height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same,43.3 metres. Mary and the Martyrs but informally known as Santa Maria Rotonda, the square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. The Pantheon is a property, ruled by Italys Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism through the Polo Museale del Lazio. The Pantheons large circular domed cella, with a temple portico front, is unique in Roman architecture. Nevertheless, it became a standard exemplar when classical styles were revived, Pantheon is derived from the Ancient Greek Pantheion meaning of, relating to, or common to all the gods. His uncertainty strongly suggests that Pantheon was merely a nickname, not the name of the building. In fact, the concept of a dedicated to all the gods is questionable. The only definite pantheon recorded earlier than Agrippas was at Antioch in Syria and it seems highly significant that Dio does not quote the simplest explanation for the name—that the Pantheon was dedicated to all the gods. Godfrey and Hemsoll maintain that the word Pantheon need not denote a group of gods, or, indeed, even all the gods. Certainly the word pantheus or pantheos, could be applicable to individual deities…, bearing in mind also that the Greek word θεῖος need not mean of a god but could mean superhuman, or even excellent. It seems likely that the Pantheon and the Basilica of Neptune were Agrippas sacra privata and this less solemn designation would help explain how the building could have so easily lost its original name and purpose in such a relatively short period of time. However, archaeological excavations have shown that the Pantheon of Agrippa had been destroyed except for the façade. Lise Hetland argues that the present construction began in 114, under Trajan and her argument is particularly interesting in light of Heilmeyers argument that, based on stylistic evidence, Apollodorus of Damascus, Trajans architect, was the obvious architect. The form of Agrippas Pantheon is debated and this description was widely accepted until the late 20th century. The only passages referring to the decoration of the Agrippan Pantheon written by an eyewitness are in Plinys Natural History, from him we know that the capitals, too, of the pillars, which were placed by M

Pantheon, Rome – Pantheon
Pantheon, Rome
Pantheon, Rome – The Pantheon and the Fontana del Pantheon.
Pantheon, Rome – The Pantheon dome. The concrete for the coffered dome was poured in moulds, probably mounted on temporary scaffolding. The oculus is the main source of natural light.

2. Rome – Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth

Rome
Rome
Rome
Rome

3. Giuliano da Sangallo – Giuliano da Sangallo was an Italian sculptor, architect and military engineer active during the Italian Renaissance. He is known primarily for being the architect of Lorenzo de Medici. In this role, Giuliano designed a villa for Lorenzo as well as a monastery for Augustinian monks, additionally, Giuliano was commissioned to build multiple structures for Pope Julius II and Pope Leo X. Giuliano da Sangallo was born in 1443 in Florence. His father, Francesco Giamberti, was a woodworker and an architect who worked closely with Cosimo de Medici. This proved to be helpful to Giuliano and his brother, Antonio, later in life as it helped them to develop a working relationship and friendship with Cosimos grandson. As a child, Giuliano became an apprentice to a joiner, as an apprentice, his woodworking, building and sculpting skills drew the attention of Lorenzo de Medici. Through this, he was able to develop his eye, learn about classical design. Giulianos first major, independent commission came from other than the Medici family and it showed not only his architectural skill. Lorenzo the Magnificent called upon Giuliano to build fortifications and manage the artillery in the town of Castellina against an invasion led by the Duke of Calabria. In this role, Giuliano successfully pushed out the Calabrian forces and showed his talent for military building. The victory at Calabria gave Lorenzo de Medici confidence to keep working with Giuliano, consequently, Lorenzo commissioned him to design a villa in Poggio a Caiano after holding a competition to determine the best design. Giuliano was able to use Leon Battista Albertis design for the Villa Medici in Fiesole as his initial inspiration, construction on the villa began in 1485 and remained largely unfinished throughout Lorenzos life. His son, Giovanni, oversaw its completion after being elected pope as Pope Leo X. Giulianos design featured classical design elements including Ionic columns and an ancient temple style façade. The Medici Villa in Poggia a Caiano is one of the oldest examples of Renaissance-style country villas and served as an inspiration for many future architects of the era. In 1484, a child from the town of Prato claimed to have seen a painting of the Virgin Mary, Santa Maria delle Carceri was commissioned after the townspeople declared this a miracle and decided that a church should be built at the site of the vision to commemorate it. For this project, Lorenzo de Medici once again hired his favorite architect and his designs relied heavily on his study of the work of Alberti and Brunelleschi. Specifically, Sangallo used a Greek cross plan and this is a classical layout design that features four arms of equal length extending off of a central nave and it had not been used extensively in the Renaissance before that point. Construction began on the church in 1486 but the façade remains unfinished to this day, in 1488, after the initial plans were set for the villa in Poggia a Caiano, Lorenzo de Medici commissioned Giuliano to build a castle for Ferrante of Aragon, the King of Naples

Giuliano da Sangallo – Portrait by Piero di Cosimo, c. 1482-1485 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

4. Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore – The Basilica is located at 34 Piazza dellEsquilino, some five blocks southwest of Stazione Termini. Pursuant to the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Holy See and Italy, the Basilica is within Italian territory and not the territory of the Vatican City State and they prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honour. On 5 August, at the height of the Roman summer, in obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary which they had the same night, the couple built a basilica in honour of Mary on the very spot which was covered with snow. From the fact that no mention whatever is made of this alleged miracle until a few hundred years later and it would seem that the legend has no historical basis. The legend is first reported only after AD1000 and it may be implied in what the Liber Pontificalis, of the early 13th century, says of Pope Liberius, He built the basilica of his own name near the Macellum of Livia. Its prevalence in the 15th century is shown in the painting of the Miracle of the Snow by Masolino da Panicale. The feast was originally called Dedicatio Sanctae Mariae, and was celebrated only in Rome until inserted for the first time into the General Roman Calendar, with ad Nives added to its name, in 1568. A congregation appointed by Pope Benedict XIV in 1741 proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from the Office, no action was taken on the proposal until 1969, when the reading of the legend was removed and the feast was called In dedicatione Basilicae S. Mariae. The legend is commemorated by dropping white rose petals from the dome during the celebration of the Mass. The earliest building on the site was the Liberian Basilica or Santa Maria Liberiana, Liberiana is still included in some versions of the basilicas formal name, and Liberian Basilica may be used as a contemporary as well as historical name. This building was replaced under Pope Sixtus III by the present structure dedicated to Mary. No Catholic church can be honoured with the title of basilica unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom, St. Mary Major is one of the only four that hold the title of major basilica. The other three are the Basilicas of St. John in the Lateran, St. Peters, along with all of the other four Major Basilicas, St. Mary Major is also styled a Papal basilica. St. Mary Major was associated with the Patriarchate of Antioch, Philip Neri on 25 February 1552. It is agreed that the present church was built under Pope Sixtus III, the dedicatory inscription on the triumphal arch, Sixtus Episcopus plebi Dei, is an indication of that Popes role in the construction. The church retains the core of its structure, despite several additional construction projects. Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the first churches built in honour of the Virgin Mary, was erected in the aftermath of the Council of Ephesus of 431. Pope Sixtus III built it to commemorate this decision and these fines enabled the papacy to carry out through the 5th century an ambitious building program, including Santa Maria Maggiore

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore – The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore – The Blessed Virgin Mary overlooking Pope Liberius as the Pontiff scraped the foundation of the basilica into the snow. By Italian artist Masolino da Panicale. circa 15th-century. Museo di Capodimonte.
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore – Map by Giacomo Lauro and Antonio Tempesta depicting Saint Mary Major among the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome in 1599, in view of the Holy Year of 1600.
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore – The Piazza and Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, by Giovanni Paolo Pannini

5. Mir Castle – The Mirsky Castle Complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Belarus. It is in the town of Mir, in the Karelichy District of the Hrodna voblast, at 53°27′4. 46″N 26°28′22. 80″E,29 kilometres north-west of another World Heritage site, Mir Castle Complex is 164 metres above sea level. From 1921 to 1939 the castle belonged to the territory of Poland, duke Yuri Ivanovich Ilyinich began construction of the castle near the village of Mir after the turn of the 16th century in the Belarusian Gothic style. Five towers surrounded the courtyard of the citadel, the walls of which formed a square of 75 metres on each side, plastered facades were decorated with limestone portals, plates, balconies and porches in the Renaissance style. Later the castle became a possession of their daughter Maria, who married Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and their son, Maurice Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, sold the castle to Nikolai Svyatopolk-Mirsky, of the Bialynia clan, in 1895. Nikolais son Mikhail began to rebuild the castle according to the plans of architect Teodor Bursze, the Svyatopolk-Mirsky family owned the castle until 1939, when the Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland. When German forces invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, they occupied the castle and converted it to a ghetto for the local Jewish population, between 1944 and 1956, the castle was used as a housing facility, resulting in damage to the castles interior. In December 2000, the Mir Castle was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Старажытнае дойлідства Міра Photos on Globus. tut. by Mir Castle on 3D F4 Map

Mir Castle – UNESCO World Heritage Site
Mir Castle – View from the courtyard
Mir Castle
Mir Castle

6. Belarus – Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres is forested and its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing. In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Belarus declared independence as the Belarusian Peoples Republic, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922 and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921, during WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years, in 1945 the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR. The parliament of the declared the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990. Alexander Lukashenko has served as the president since 1994. Belarus has been labeled Europes last dictatorship by some Western journalists, Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. Though not directly espousing communism like the five remaining communist countries of China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea, in 2000 Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, with some hints of forming a Union State. Over 70% of Belaruss population of 9.49 million resides in urban areas, more than 80% of the population is ethnic Belarusian, with sizable minorities of Russians, Poles and Ukrainians. Since a referendum in 1995, the country has had two official languages, Belarusian and Russian, the Constitution of Belarus does not declare any official religion, although the primary religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Belarus is the only European country to retain capital punishment in both law and practice, the name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya Rus, i. e. White Rus. There are several claims to the origin of the name White Rus, an alternate explanation for the name comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population. A third theory suggests that the old Rus lands that were not conquered by the Tatars had been referred to as white, other sources claim that, before 1267, the land not conquered by the Mongols was considered White Rus. The name Rus is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia, in some languages, including German and Dutch, the country is generally called White Russia to this day. The Latin term Alba Russia was used again by Pope Pius VI in 1783 to recognize the Society of Jesus there, exclaiming Approbo Societatem Jesu in Alba Russia degentem, approbo, approbo. The first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in the century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey. During the 17th century, the Russian tsars used White Rus to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Belarus – Stamp with the Cross of St. Euphrosyne from 1992
Belarus – Flag
Belarus – Principalities of Kievan Rus'
Belarus – Khatyn Memorial. The Nazis murdered civilians in 5,295 different localities in occupied Soviet Belarus.

7. Architecture – Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings and other physical structures. Architectural works, in the form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements, Architecture can mean, A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures. The art and science of designing buildings and nonbuilding structures, the style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures. A unifying or coherent form or structure Knowledge of art, science, technology, the design activity of the architect, from the macro-level to the micro-level. The practice of the architect, where architecture means offering or rendering services in connection with the design and construction of buildings. The earliest surviving work on the subject of architecture is De architectura. According to Vitruvius, a building should satisfy the three principles of firmitas, utilitas, venustas, commonly known by the original translation – firmness, commodity. An equivalent in modern English would be, Durability – a building should stand up robustly, utility – it should be suitable for the purposes for which it is used. Beauty – it should be aesthetically pleasing, according to Vitruvius, the architect should strive to fulfill each of these three attributes as well as possible. Leon Battista Alberti, who elaborates on the ideas of Vitruvius in his treatise, De Re Aedificatoria, saw beauty primarily as a matter of proportion, for Alberti, the rules of proportion were those that governed the idealised human figure, the Golden mean. The most important aspect of beauty was, therefore, an inherent part of an object, rather than something applied superficially, Gothic architecture, Pugin believed, was the only true Christian form of architecture. The 19th-century English art critic, John Ruskin, in his Seven Lamps of Architecture, Architecture was the art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by men. That the sight of them contributes to his health, power. For Ruskin, the aesthetic was of overriding significance and his work goes on to state that a building is not truly a work of architecture unless it is in some way adorned. For Ruskin, a well-constructed, well-proportioned, functional building needed string courses or rustication, but suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say, This is beautiful, le Corbusiers contemporary Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. The notable 19th-century architect of skyscrapers, Louis Sullivan, promoted an overriding precept to architectural design, function came to be seen as encompassing all criteria of the use, perception and enjoyment of a building, not only practical but also aesthetic, psychological and cultural

Architecture – Brunelleschi, in the building of the dome of Florence Cathedral in the early 15th-century, not only transformed the building and the city, but also the role and status of the architect.
Architecture – Section of Brunelleschi 's dome drawn by the architect Cigoli (c. 1600)
Architecture – The Parthenon, Athens, Greece, "the supreme example among architectural sites." (Fletcher).
Architecture – The Houses of Parliament, Westminster, master-planned by Charles Barry, with interiors and details by A.W.N. Pugin

8. Ceiling – A ceiling /ˈsiːlɪŋ/ is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room. It is not generally considered an element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the roof structure or the floor of a storey above. Ceilings can be decorated to taste, and there are fine examples of frescoes. The most common type of ceiling is the ceiling which is suspended from structural elements above. Pipework or ducts can be run in the gap above the ceiling, other types of ceiling include the cathedral ceiling, the concave or barrel-shaped ceiling, the stretched ceiling and the coffered ceiling. Coving often links the ceiling to the surrounding walls, ceilings can play a part in reducing fire hazard, and a system is available for rating the fire resistance of dropped ceilings. Ceilings are classified according to their appearance or construction, a cathedral ceiling is any tall ceiling area similar to those in a church. A dropped ceiling is one in which the surface is constructed anywhere from a few inches or centimetres to several feet or a few metres below the structure above it. This may be done for aesthetic purposes, such as achieving a desirable ceiling height, an inverse of this would be a raised floor. A cove ceiling uses a curved plaster transition between wall and ceiling, it is named for cove molding, a molding with a concave curve, a stretched ceiling uses a number of individual panels using material such as PVC fixed to a permieter rail. Ceilings have frequently been decorated with painting, mosaic tiles. While hard to execute a decorated ceiling has the advantage that it is protected from damage by fingers. In the past, however, this was more than compensated for by the damage from smoke from candles or a fireplace, many historic buildings have celebrated ceilings. Perhaps the most famous is the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo, ceiling height may have psychological impacts. The most common ceiling that contributes to fire-resistance ratings in commercial and residential construction is the dropped ceiling, an independent ceiling, however, can be constructed such that it has a stand-alone fire-resistance rating. Such systems must be tested without the benefit of being suspended from a slab above in order to prove that the system is capable of holding itself up. This type of ceiling would be installed to protect items above from fire, merriam-Webster ceiling definition Diydata. com treatise on lath & plasterboard ceilings Virtualmuseum. ca treatise on ceiling construction

Ceiling – California tract home with an open-beam ceiling, 1960.
Ceiling – An unrestrained non-loadbearing ceiling undergoing a 4-hour fire test. Deflection is measured off the I-beam.
Ceiling – Painted ceiling, " Icarus ", by Rainer Maria Latzke (c. 1986), Chateau Thal, Belgium
Ceiling – The ceiling of Wells Cathedral, England

9. Soffit – Soffit, in architecture, describes the underside of any construction element. The wall into which loudspeakers are mounted in a recording studio, a drop-down box used to mount a kitchen ventilation hood under a sloped or high ceiling. When so constructed, the material is typically screwed or nailed to rafters known as lookout rafters or lookouts for short. Soffit exposure profile on a buildings exterior can vary from a few centimetres to 3 feet or more and it can be non-ventilated or ventilated for cooling non livable attic space. A grill that covers the opening on the bottom of the soffit is called a soffit vent. A soffit joist is also a related piece, copper in architecture This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed

Soffit – Eaves or Soffit lining on a house in Northern Australia. The flat section (underside) would be referred to as a soffit. In this example the soffit is fixed to the slope of the rafters. The fascias form the outer edge and have a groove in them to receive the soffit lining sheets.
Soffit – Soffit lining a house in Northern Florida, USA. In this example the soffit is 12 inches wide and made from center lanced U groove perforated sections of vinyl in a return fashion and fixed to a truss roofing system.
Soffit – Soffit box providing a level mounting plane for kitchen ventilation hoods.

10. Vault (architecture) – Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that requires a counter resistance, when vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required. However, when the vault is built above ground, various replacements are employed to supply the needed resistance, an example is the thicker walls used in the case of barrel or continuous vaults. Buttresses are used to supply resistance when intersecting vaults are employed, the simplest kind of vault is the barrel vault, which is generally semicircular in shape. The barrel vault is an arch, the length being greater than its diameter. As in building an arch, a support is needed while rings of voussoirs are constructed. Until the topmost voussoir, the keystone, is positioned, the vault is not self-supporting, with a barrel vault, the centering can then be shifted on to support the next rings. Amongst the earliest known examples of any form of vaulting is to be found in the village of Khirokitia on Cyprus. Dating from ca.6000 BCE, the circular buildings supported beehive shaped corbel domed vaults of unfired mud-bricks, similar Beehive tombs, called tholoi, exist in Crete and Northern Iraq. Their construction differs from that at Khirokitia in that most appear partially buried, the inclusion of domes, however, represents a wider sense of the word vault. The distinction between the two is that a vault is essentially an arch which is extruded into the third dimension, whereas a dome is an arch revolved around its vertical axis. Pitched-brick vaults are named for their construction, the bricks are installed vertically and are leaning at an angle, examples have been found in archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia dating to the 2nd and 3rd millennium BC which were set in gypsum mortar. A barrel vault is the simplest form of a vault and resembles a barrel or tunnel cut lengthwise in half, the effect is that of a structure composed of continuous semicircular or pointed sections. The earliest known examples of barrel vaults were built by the Sumerians, possibly under the ziggurat at Nippur in Babylonia, which was built of fired bricks cemented with clay mortar. The earliest barrel vaults in ancient Egypt are thought to be those in the built by the 19th dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II. The vault being over 800 feet long,10 feet in span, the enormous Eyvan-e Khosro at Ctesiphon was built over 1,500 years ago during the Persian Sasanian period as a throne room. The arch is about 37 metres high,26 metres across and 50 metres long, built entirely without centering, the rings relieved the centering from the weight imposed, and the two layers of bricks carried the concrete till it had set. As the walls carrying these vaults were built in concrete with occasional bond courses of brick

Vault (architecture) – Gothic rib-vault ceiling of the Saint-Séverin church in Paris
Vault (architecture) – In a pitched-brick vault the bricks lean (are pitched) against an existing wall.
Vault (architecture) – St Paul's Cathedral Choir looking east, London
Vault (architecture) – Pointed barrel vault showing direction of lateral forces.

11. Ancient Greeks – Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC

Ancient Greeks – The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena, located on the Acropolis in Athens, is one of the most representative symbols of the culture and sophistication of the ancient Greeks.
Ancient Greeks – Dipylon Vase of the late Geometric period, or the beginning of the Archaic period, c. 750 BC.
Ancient Greeks – Political geography of ancient Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods

12. Ancient Rome – In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid

Ancient Rome – Senātus Populus que Rōmānus
Ancient Rome – Roman Republic
Ancient Rome – According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf.
Ancient Rome – This bust from the Capitoline Museums is traditionally identified as a portrait of Lucius Junius Brutus.

13. Loire Valley – The Loire Valley, spanning 280 kilometres, is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France, primarily within the administrative region named Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about 800 square kilometres and it is referred to as the Cradle of the French and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, and asparagus fields, which line the banks of the river. Notable for its towns, architecture, and wines, the valley has been inhabited since the Middle Palaeolithic period. In 2000, UNESCO added the part of the Loire River valley to its list of World Heritage Sites. The valley includes historic towns such as Amboise, Angers, Blois, Chinon, Orléans, Saumur, the climate is favorable most of the year, the river often acting as a line of demarcation in Frances weather between the northern climate and the southern. The river has a significant effect on the mesoclimate of the region, the climate can be cool with springtime frost while wine harvest months may have rain. Summers are hot, however, influences from the Atlantic moderate the temperature with breezes, Loire wines tend to exhibit a characteristic fruitiness with fresh, crisp flavors. On December 2,2000, UNESCO added the part of the river valley. When the French kings began constructing their huge châteaux here, the nobility, not wanting or even daring to be far from the seat of power and their presence in the lush, fertile valley began attracting the very best landscape designers. In addition to its many châteaux, the cultural monuments illustrate to a degree the ideals of the Renaissance. Many of the châteaux were designed to be built on the top of hills, many of the châteaux had extremely detailed and expensive churches on the grounds, or within the actual château itself. Loire Valley world heritage site Loire Valley Chateau du Rivau Chinon Fortress Western France Tourist Board

Loire Valley – Château d'Azay-le-Rideau
Loire Valley – Vineyard in the Loire Valley
Loire Valley – Château de Valençay

14. Early Renaissance – The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history

Early Renaissance – David, by Michelangelo (Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence) is a masterpiece of Renaissance and world art.
Early Renaissance – Renaissance
Early Renaissance – Leonardo da Vinci 's Vitruvian Man (c. 1490) shows clearly the effect writers of Antiquity had on Renaissance thinkers. Based on the specifications in Vitruvius ' De architectura (1st century BC), Leonardo tried to draw the perfectly proportioned man.
Early Renaissance – Portrait of a young woman (c. 1480-85) (Simonetta Vespucci) by Sandro Botticelli

15. Herculaneum – Located in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 AD. Its ruins are located in the commune of Ercolano, Campania and it had been thought until then that the town had been evacuated by the inhabitants. Herculaneum was a town than Pompeii, possessing an extraordinary density of fine houses with, for example. Ancient tradition connected Herculaneum with the name of the Greek hero Herakles, in fact, it seems that some forefathers of the Samnite tribes of the Italian mainland founded the first civilization on the site of Herculaneum at the end of the 6th century BC. Soon after, the town came under Greek control and was used as a trading post because of its proximity to the Gulf of Naples, the Greeks named the city Ἡράκλειον, Heraklion. In the 4th century BC, Herculaneum again came under the domination of the Samnites. The city remained under Samnite control until it became a Roman municipium in 89 BC, when, having participated in the Social War, it was defeated by Titus Didius, a legate of Sulla. After the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, the town of Herculaneum was buried under approximately 20 metres of ash, excavations continued sporadically up to the present and today many streets and buildings are visible, although over 75% of the town remains buried. Today, the Italian towns of Ercolano and Portici lie on the site of Herculaneum. Until 1969 the town of Ercolano was called Resina and it changed its name to Ercolano, the Italian modernization of the ancient name in honour of the old city. The inhabitants worshipped above all Hercules, who was believed to be the founder of both the town and Mount Vesuvius, Other important deities worshipped include Venus and Apollo. The catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius occurred on the afternoon of 24 August 79 AD, because Vesuvius had been dormant for approximately 800 years, it was no longer even recognized as a volcano. Based on archaeological excavations and on two letters of Pliny the Younger to the Roman historian Tacitus, the course of the eruption can be reconstructed, at around 1pm on 24 August, Vesuvius began spewing volcanic ash and stone thousands of meters into the sky. When it reached the tropopause, the top of the cloud flattened, the prevailing winds at the time blew toward the southeast, causing the volcanic material to fall primarily on the city of Pompeii and the surrounding area. Since Herculaneum lay to the west of Vesuvius, it was only affected by the first phase of the eruption. While roofs in Pompeii collapsed under the weight of falling debris, only a few centimetres of ash fell on Herculaneum, causing little damage, during the following night, the eruptive column which had risen into the stratosphere collapsed onto Vesuvius and its flanks. The first pyroclastic surge, formed by a mixture of ash and hot gases, a succession of six flows and surges buried the citys buildings, causing little damage in some areas and preserving structures, objects and victims almost intact. In 1709 the digging of a deep well revealed some exceptional statues at the lowest levels which was found to be the site of the theatre

Herculaneum – The excavations of Ercolano
Herculaneum – Beginning in 1757, the eight volumes of Le Antichità di Ercolano brought knowledge of Pompeii and Herculaneum to the fore.
Herculaneum – Plan of the excavations of Herculaneum
Herculaneum – For the modern Italian commune, see Ercolano. For the pottery works, see Herculaneum Works.

16. Tessellation – A tessellation of a flat surface is the tiling of a plane using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellations can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of geometries, a periodic tiling has a repeating pattern. The patterns formed by periodic tilings can be categorized into 17 wallpaper groups, a tiling that lacks a repeating pattern is called non-periodic. An aperiodic tiling uses a set of tile shapes that cannot form a repeating pattern. In the geometry of higher dimensions, a space-filling or honeycomb is called a tessellation of space. A real physical tessellation is a made of materials such as cemented ceramic squares or hexagons. Such tilings may be decorative patterns, or may have such as providing durable and water-resistant pavement. Historically, tessellations were used in Ancient Rome and in Islamic art such as in the decorative geometric tiling of the Alhambra palace, in the twentieth century, the work of M. C. Escher often made use of tessellations, both in ordinary Euclidean geometry and in geometry, for artistic effect. Tessellations are sometimes employed for decorative effect in quilting, Tessellations form a class of patterns in nature, for example in the arrays of hexagonal cells found in honeycombs. Tessellations were used by the Sumerians in building wall decorations formed by patterns of clay tiles, decorative mosaic tilings made of small squared blocks called tesserae were widely employed in classical antiquity, sometimes displaying geometric patterns. In 1619 Johannes Kepler made a documented study of tessellations. He wrote about regular and semiregular tessellations in his Harmonices Mundi, he was possibly the first to explore and to explain the structures of honeycomb. Some two hundred years later in 1891, the Russian crystallographer Yevgraf Fyodorov proved that every periodic tiling of the features one of seventeen different groups of isometries. Fyodorovs work marked the beginning of the mathematical study of tessellations. Other prominent contributors include Shubnikov and Belov, and Heinrich Heesch, in Latin, tessella is a small cubical piece of clay, stone or glass used to make mosaics. The word tessella means small square and it corresponds to the everyday term tiling, which refers to applications of tessellations, often made of glazed clay. Tessellation or tiling in two dimensions is a topic in geometry that studies how shapes, known as tiles, can be arranged to fill a plane without any gaps, according to a given set of rules

Tessellation – Zellige terracotta tiles in Marrakech, forming edge-to-edge, regular and other tessellations
Tessellation – A wall sculpture at Leeuwarden celebrating the artistic tessellations of M. C. Escher
Tessellation – A temple mosaic from the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk IV (3400–3100 BC), showing a tessellation pattern in coloured tiles
Tessellation – Roman geometric mosaic

17. Renaissance architecture – Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the style was carried to France, Germany, England, Russia and other parts of Europe at different dates and with varying degrees of impact. Italy of the 15th century, and the city of Florence in particular, was home to the Renaissance, the scholarly approach to the architecture of the ancient coincided with the general revival of learning. A number of factors were influential in bringing this about, Italian architects had always preferred forms that were clearly defined and structural members that expressed their purpose. Many Tuscan Romanesque buildings demonstrate these characteristics, as seen in the Florence Baptistery, Italy had never fully adopted the Gothic style of architecture. In the 15th century, Florence, Venice and Naples extended their power through much of the area that surrounded them and this enabled Florence to have significant artistic influence in Milan, and through Milan, France. Successive Popes, especially Julius II, 1503–13, sought to extend the Pope’s temporal power throughout Italy, in the early Renaissance, Venice controlled sea trade over goods from the East. Trade brought wool from England to Florence, ideally located on the river for the production of fine cloth, by dominating Pisa, Florence gained a seaport, and also maintained dominance of Genoa. In this commercial climate, one family in particular turned their attention from trade to the business of money-lending. The Medici became the chief bankers to the princes of Europe, becoming virtually princes themselves as they did so, along the trade routes, and thus offered some protection by commercial interest, moved not only goods but also artists, scientists and philosophers. This commenced in the mid 15th century and gained momentum in the 16th century, the construction of the Sistine Chapel with its uniquely important decorations and the entire rebuilding of St Peters, one of Christendoms most significant churches, were part of this process. In wealthy republican Florence, the impetus for church-building was more civic than spiritual, the unfinished state of the enormous cathedral dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary did no honour to the city under her patronage. The dome inspired further religious works in Florence, through Humanism, civic pride and the promotion of civil peace and order were seen as the marks of citizenship. Some major ecclesiastical building works were commissioned, not by the church. During the Renaissance, architecture became not only a question of practice, printing played a large role in the dissemination of ideas. The first treatise on architecture was De re aedificatoria by Leon Battista Alberti in 1450 and it was to some degree dependent on Vitruviuss De architectura, a manuscript of which was discovered in 1414 in a library in Switzerland. De re aedificatoria in 1485 became the first printed book on architecture, Sebastiano Serlio produced the next important text, the first volume of which appeared in Venice in 1537, it was entitled Regole generali darchitettura. It is known as Serlios Fourth Book since it was the fourth in Serlios original plan of a treatise in seven books, in all, five books were published

Renaissance architecture – Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, 1502, by Bramante. This small temple marks the place where St Peter was put to death.
Renaissance architecture – Temple of Vesta, Rome, 205 AD. As the most important temple of Ancient Rome, it became the model for Bramante's Tempietto.
Renaissance architecture – Renaissance
Renaissance architecture – The Romanesque Baptistery of Florence was the object of Brunelleschi's studies of perspective

18. Rotunda (architecture) – A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a room within a building. The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda, a Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome. The rotunda has historical and architectural value because it was widespread in medieval Central Europe, a great number of parochial churches were built in this form in the 9th to 11th centuries BCE in Central Europe. This type of circular shaped parochial building can be found in great number in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Austria, Bavaria, Dalmatia, Germany, and it was thought of as a structure descending from the Roman Pantheon. However, it can be found mainly not on former Roman territories, generally its size was 6–9 meters inner diameter and the apsis was directed toward the east. Sometimes 3 or 4 apsides were glued to the central circle, several types of rotundas are found in the Carpathian Basin, within the former boundaries of Medieval Hungary. The role and form developed from gradual enlargements of ancient small village churches, many of them still stand today, e. g. in Nagytótlak, Kallósd and Kissikátor in Hungary or in Bíňa and Šivetice in Slovakia. In many places the ancient foundations have been excavated and conserved, the village church of Sárospatak is complete with a simple circular nave and an eastern apse. The church of Alagimajor at Dunakeszi was enlarged toward the apse in the 14th century, in many cases the rotunda was used as the apse of the villages new and larger church. Such semi-circle apses are preserved all over the Carpathian Basin, rotundas of six apses, a most interesting form, are found at Karcsa, Kiszombor in Hungary, at Horjany in Ukraine and several places in Armenia. There is a connection between Central European and Caucasian rotundas of the 9th to 11th centuries BCE. Several Armenian built rotunda churches have sixfold arched central apsis, i. e. at Aragatz, Bagaran, Bagnayr, Botshor, at the same time eightfold arched central buildings are also frequently occurring in Armenia, Ani, Irind, Varzhahan. It was a suggestion that there was not only western European, temple of Heaven construction completed on 1420 during Yongle Emperor who also constructed Forbidden City of China. Fujian Tulou is a traditional rural dwellings of the Hakka in Fujian region of China and they are built between the 12th and the 20th centuries. The Baptistery at the Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa, Italy, the Church of the Rotonda in Thessaloniki, built as the Tomb of Galerius in 306 AD. The St George Rotunda in Sofia, Bulgaria, a 4th-century Early Christian church, St. George Cathedral Church at Zvartnots, Armenia. St. Martins Rotunda in Vyšehrad Castle, Prague, Czech Republic, the Rotunda of St Marija Assunta in Mosta, Malta

Rotunda (architecture) – The Rotunda at the University of Virginia, famously designed by the third US president Thomas Jefferson.
Rotunda (architecture) – The famous Rotunda church in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Rotunda (architecture) – The Baptistery at the Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa, Italy
Rotunda (architecture) – The most well known Danish rotunda is the village parochial church at Østerlars.

19. Ancient Chinese wooden architecture – Ancient Chinese wooden architecture is among the least studied of any of the worlds great architectural traditions from the western point of view. Although Chinese architectural history reaches far back in time, descriptions of Chinese architecture are often confined to the well known Forbidden City with little else explored by the West. Although common features of Chinese architecture have been unified into a vocabulary illustrating uniquely Chinese forms and methods, because of the lack of knowledge of the roots of Chinese architecture, description of its elements is often translated into Western terms and architectural theory, losing its unique Chinese meanings. Ancient Chinese architecture has numerous elements in part, because of the early Chinese method of standardizing and prescribing uniform features of structures. The standards are recorded in bureaucratic manuals and drawings that were passed down through generations, for example, the excavation of tombs has provided evidence to produce facsimiles of wooden building parts and yielded site plans several thousand years old. The recent excavation of the Prehistoric Beifudi site is an example, Three components make up the foundation of ancient Chinese architecture, the foundation platform, the timber frame, and the decorative roof. In addition, the most fundamental feature is a rectangular enclosure. The traditional Chinese belief in a universe with the four world quarters is manifested physically in its architecture. By the middle Neolithic period, the use of rammed earth, Hangtu, the pounding of layers of earth to make walls, altars, and foundations remained an element of Chinese construction for the next several millennia. The Great Wall of China, built of Hangtu, was erected beginning in the first millennium BC, sundried mud bricks and rammed mud walls were typically constructed within wood frames. Hard pounded earth floors were strengthened by heating, a fundamental achievement of Chinese wooden architecture is the load-bearing timber frame, a network of interlocking wooden supports forming the skeleton of the building. This is considered Chinas major contribution to worldwide architectural technology, however, it is not known how the builders got the huge wooden support columns into position. Unlike western architecture, in ancient Chinese wooden architecture, the only defined an enclosure. Buildings in China have been supported by wooden frames for as long as seven millennia, the emergence of the characteristic articulated wooden Chinese frame emerged during the Neolithic period. Seven thousand years ago mortise and tenon joinery was used to build wood-framed houses, over a thousand of these sites have been identified, usually with circular, square or oblong shaped buildings. During the Yangshao culture in the Middle Neolithic, circular and rectangular structures are found with wooden beams. Wooden beams or earth supported the roofs which were most likely thatched, as the villages and towns grew they adhered to symmetrical shapes. Symmetry was also important in the layout of homes, altars, in traditional Chinese architecture, every facet of a building was decorated using various materials and techniques

Ancient Chinese wooden architecture – Diagram of bracket and cantilever arms from the building manual Yingzao Fashi (published in 1103) of the Song Dynasty
Ancient Chinese wooden architecture – Rammed earth sections of the Great Wall of China

20. Caisson (Asian architecture) – The caisson is generally a sunken panel set into the otherwise largely flat ceiling. It is often layered and richly decorated, common shapes include square, octagon, hexagon, circle, and a combination of these. The caisson is a name for a coffer. In the case of East Asian architecture, however, the caisson is characterised by highly developed conventions as to its structure, the caisson is a sunken panel placed in the centre of the ceiling. Beams may also be used to create a hexagonal or octagonal caisson surrounded by a square border and these beams, and the dougong members, are usually visible, and richly carved and often painted with deities. The centre of the caisson is decorated with a large bas-relief carving or painting, common themes include two dragons chasing the pearl. Caissons were originally used to support skylights, therefore, they are a relatively recent structure in the Chinese architectural history. However, they became increasingly intricate and formalised, and were in later periods a standard item of decoration in formal buildings. The caisson has been found in tombs of the Han Dynasty dating the use of architectural feature back at least 2,000 years. Without the use of columns, this ceiling is held up by a hidden second-floor four-sided frame with a hexagonal ceiling frame on the third floor. In traditional Chinese architecture, every facet of a building was decorated using various materials, simple ceiling ornamentations in ordinary buildings were made of wooden strips and covered with paper. More decorative was the ceiling, constructed of woven wooden strips or sorghum stems fastened to the beams. The most decorative and the most complex ceiling was the caisson, because of the intricacy of its ornamentation, the caisson was reserved for the ceilings of the most important Chinese buildings such as imperial palaces and Buddhist temple altars. The Baoguo Monastery in Yuyao in Zhejiang has three zaojing in the ceiling, making it unique among surviving examples of Song architecture, sanqing Hall is the only Yuan period structure with three zaojing in its ceiling. A zaojing is a dome over an imperial throne or statue in Chinese architecture. As the caisson became increasingly standard in formal architecture in ancient China, similar structures also appeared in Buddhist grottos and these sunken panels in the ceiling of grottos would be carved to imitate the dougong-based structure in wooden buildings. Caissons were highly decorative and only included in important or highly decorated buildings and they had no specific cultural significance, since in structure they were equal to cupolas and domes constructed around the world. However the rich oramentation often conveyed cultural significance in the themes chosen, Chinese architecture Forbidden City Coffer Baoguo Temple - Dougong and caisson structures A collection of caisson images at Fotoe. com

Caisson (Asian architecture) – A round caisson in the imperial garden at the Forbidden City
Caisson (Asian architecture) – A modern caisson in traditional style, in the Grand Hotel, Taipei
Caisson (Asian architecture) – The caisson of the Five Dragons Pavilion at the Beihai Park.

21. Chinese language – Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases mutually unintelligible, language varieties, forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the Han majority and many ethnic groups in China. Nearly 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language, the varieties of Chinese are usually described by native speakers as dialects of a single Chinese language, but linguists note that they are as diverse as a language family. The internal diversity of Chinese has been likened to that of the Romance languages, There are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin, followed by Wu, Min, and Yue. Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and certain Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms, all varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. Standard Chinese is a form of spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. It is the language of China and Taiwan, as well as one of four official languages of Singapore. It is one of the six languages of the United Nations. The written form of the language, based on the logograms known as Chinese characters, is shared by literate speakers of otherwise unintelligible dialects. Of the other varieties of Chinese, Cantonese is the spoken language and official in Hong Kong and Macau. It is also influential in Guangdong province and much of Guangxi, dialects of Southern Min, part of the Min group, are widely spoken in southern Fujian, with notable variants also spoken in neighboring Taiwan and in Southeast Asia. Hakka also has a diaspora in Taiwan and southeast Asia. Shanghainese and other Wu varieties are prominent in the lower Yangtze region of eastern China, Chinese can be traced back to a hypothetical Sino-Tibetan proto-language. The first written records appeared over 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty, as the language evolved over this period, the various local varieties became mutually unintelligible. In reaction, central governments have sought to promulgate a unified standard. Difficulties have included the great diversity of the languages, the lack of inflection in many of them, in addition, many of the smaller languages are spoken in mountainous areas that are difficult to reach, and are often also sensitive border zones. Without a secure reconstruction of proto-Sino-Tibetan, the structure of the family remains unclear. A top-level branching into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman languages is often assumed, the earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BCE in the late Shang dynasty

Chinese language – The Tripitaka Koreana, a Korean collection of the Chinese Buddhist canon
Chinese language – Hànyǔ (Chinese) written in traditional (left) and simplified (right) characters
Chinese language – " Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion " by Wang Xizhi, written in semi-cursive style

22. Pinyin – Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks

Pinyin – A school slogan asking elementary students to speak Putonghua is annotated with pinyin, but without tonal marks.
Pinyin – In Yiling, Yichang, Hubei, text on road signs appears both in Chinese characters and in Hanyu Pinyin

23. Dropped ceiling – A dropped ceiling is a secondary ceiling, hung below the main ceiling. Dropped ceilings and ceiling tiles were being used in Japan for aesthetic reasons as early as the Muromachi Period, blackfriars Theater in London, England, built in 1596, had dropped ceilings to aid acoustics. U. S. Patent No.1,470,728 for modern dropped ceilings was applied for by E. E. Hall on May 28,1919, once the repair or inspection was completed, the tiles had to be reinstalled. This process could be very time-consuming and expensive, on September 8,1958 Donald A. Brown of Westlake, Ohio filed for a patent for Accessible Suspended Ceiling Construction. This invention provided suspended ceiling construction in which access may readily be obtained at any desired location, Patent Number US2,984,946 A was granted on May 23,1961. Brown has sometimes credited as being the inventor of the dropped ceiling even though other patents preceded his as shown in the table below. Drop ceilings may also be used to hide problems, such as structural damage, further, drop out ceilings can also conceal the sprinkler systems while still providing full fire suppression functionality. Custom runs of specialty ceiling tiles can be done at low cost compared with the past. Acoustic balance and control was another early objective of dropped ceilings, a noisy room can overstimulate occupants, while a too quiet interior may seem dull and uninviting. The acoustic performance of suspended ceilings has improved dramatically over the years and this is sometimes achieved by adding insulation known as Sound Attenuation Batts, more commonly referred to as sound batts, above the panels to help deaden sounds and keep adjacent rooms quieter. Many manufacturers of modern dropped ceilings include sustainability as an objective, sustainable features may include, Energy efficiency, including daylight efficacy and thermal insulating qualities. This uses the plane to reflect daylight as well as electrical illumination to maximize lumen efficacy. A common measure of the reflectance of a ceiling material is ASTM E1477 for Light Reflectance. A level of about 75% is considered good, although levels are possible. Fortunately, most ceiling system products are now designed with this integration in mind, decisions here can also affect aesthetics as well as access and maintenance. These channels snap together in a regularly spaced pattern of cells, each cell is then filled with lightweight ceiling tiles or panels which simply drop into the grid. The primary grid types are Standard 1, Slimline, and concealed grid, in the United States the cell size in the suspension grids is typically either 2 ft ×2 ft or 2 ft ×4 ft and the ceiling tiles are the same size. In Europe the cell size in the grids is 600×600 mm

Dropped ceiling – Dropped ceiling, after installation. Light fixtures, a speaker grill, smoke detectors, and an air grill are all visible.
Dropped ceiling – Dropped ceiling with LED lamps
Dropped ceiling – Interlocked panels can be "slid" across and out of the grid
Dropped ceiling – Stretch Ceiling Installation over an existing popcorn ceiling.

24. Coving (interior design) – Moulding, also known as coving, is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster, in classical architecture and sculpture, the molding is often carved in marble or other stones. A sprung molding has bevelled edges that allow mounting between two planes, with an open space behind the molding. Other types of molding are referred to as plain, at their simplest, moldings are a means of applying light- and dark-shaded stripes to a structural object without having to change the material or apply pigments. The contrast of dark and light areas gives definition to the object, imagine the vertical surface of a wall lit by sunlight at an angle of about 45 degrees above the wall. Adding a small overhanging horizontal molding to the surface of the wall will introduce a dark horizontal shadow below the molding, adding a vertical fillet to a horizontal surface will create a light vertical shadow. Other varieties of concave molding are the scotia and congé and other convex moldings the echinus, the torus, placing an ovolo directly above a cavetto forms a smooth s-shaped curve with vertical ends that is called an ogee or cyma reversa molding. Its shadow appears as a light at the top and bottom. Similarly, a cavetto above an ovolo forms an s with horizontal ends and its shadow shows two dark bands with a light interior. Together the basic elements and their variants form a vocabulary that can be assembled and rearranged in endless combinations. This vocabulary is at the core of classical architecture and Gothic architecture. Decorative moldings have been made of wood, stone and cement, recently moldings made of Expanded Polystyrene as a core with a cement-based protective coating have become popular. These moldings have environmental, health and safety concerns that were investigated by Doroudiani et al, there are a variety of common moldings, Astragal — A semi-circular molding attached to one of a pair of especially fire doors to cover the air gap where the doors meet. Baguette — Thin, half-round molding, smaller than an astragal, sometimes carved, when enriched with ornaments, it was also called chapelet. Bandelet — Any little band or flat molding, which crowns a Doric architrave and it is also called a tenia (from Greek ταινία an article of clothing in the form of a ribbon. Baseboard, base molding or skirting board — used to conceal the junction of a wall and floor, to protect the wall from impacts. A speed base makes use of a base cap molding set on top of a plain 1 thick board, see also, chin-beak Bed molding — a narrow molding used at the junction of a wall and ceiling. Bed moldings can be either sprung or plain, bolection — a molding which is raised, projecting proud of the face frame

Coving (interior design) – Moldings from 1728 Table of architecture in the Cyclopedia
Coving (interior design) – Cavetto molding and resulting shadow pattern

25. Beam (structure) – A beam is a structural element that primarily resists loads applied laterally to the beams axis. Its mode of deflection is primarily by bending, the loads applied to the beam result in reaction forces at the beams support points. The total effect of all the acting on the beam is to produce shear forces and bending moments within the beam. Beams are characterized by their manner of support, profile, length, historically beams were squared timbers but are also metal, stone, or combinations of wood and metal such as a flitch beam. Beams generally carry vertical gravitational forces but can also be used to carry horizontal loads, the loads carried by a beam are transferred to columns, walls, or girders, which then transfer the force to adjacent structural compression members. In light frame construction joists may rest on beams, in carpentry a beam is called a plate as in a sill plate or wall plate, beam as in a summer beam or dragon beam. In engineering, beams are of types, Simply supported - a beam supported on the ends which are free to rotate and have no moment resistance. Fixed - a beam supported on both ends and restrained from rotation, over hanging - a simple beam extending beyond its support on one end. Double overhanging - a simple beam with both ends extending beyond its supports on both ends, continuous - a beam extending over more than two supports. Cantilever - a projecting beam fixed only at one end, trussed - a beam strengthened by adding a cable or rod to form a truss. In the beam equation I is used to represent the moment of area. It is commonly known as the moment of inertia, and is the sum, about the axis, of dA*r^2, where r is the distance from the neutral axis. Therefore, it not just how much area the beam section has overall. The greater I is, the stiffer the beam in bending, internally, beams experience compressive, tensile and shear stresses as a result of the loads applied to them. Above the supports, the beam is exposed to shear stress, there are some reinforced concrete beams in which the concrete is entirely in compression with tensile forces taken by steel tendons. These beams are known as prestressed concrete beams, and are fabricated to produce a more than the expected tension under loading conditions. High strength steel tendons are stretched while the beam is cast over them, then, when the concrete has cured, the tendons are slowly released and the beam is immediately under eccentric axial loads. This eccentric loading creates a moment, and, in turn

Beam (structure) – A statically determinate beam, bending (sagging) under a uniformly distributed load

26. International Standard Book Number – The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker

International Standard Book Number – A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an EAN-13 bar code

27. Domitian – Domitian was the Emperor of Rome from 81 to 96. He was the brother of Titus and son of Vespasian. During his reign, his authoritarian rule put him at odds with the senate. After the death of his brother, Domitian was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard and his 15-year reign was the longest since that of Tiberius. As emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman coinage, expanded the defenses of the empire. Significant wars were fought in Britain, where his general Agricola attempted to conquer Caledonia, and in Dacia, Domitians government exhibited totalitarian characteristics, he saw himself as the new Augustus, an enlightened despot destined to guide the Roman Empire into a new era of brilliance. Religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, as a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and army, but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate. Domitians reign came to an end in 96 when he was assassinated by court officials and he was succeeded the same day by his advisor Nerva. Modern revisionists instead have characterized Domitian as a ruthless but efficient autocrat whose cultural, economic, Domitian was born in Rome on 24 October 51, the youngest son of Titus Flavius Vespasianus—commonly known as Vespasian—and Flavia Domitilla Major. He had a sister, Domitilla the Younger, and brother. One such family, the Flavians, or gens Flavia, rose from obscurity to prominence in just four generations, acquiring wealth. Domitians great-grandfather, Titus Flavius Petro, had served as a centurion under Pompey during Caesars civil war and his military career ended in disgrace when he fled the battlefield at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. Sabinus himself amassed further wealth and possible equestrian status through his services as tax collector in Asia, by marrying Vespasia Polla he allied the Flavian family to the more prestigious gens Vespasia, ensuring the elevation of his sons Titus Flavius Sabinus II and Vespasian to senatorial rank. The political career of Vespasian included the offices of quaestor, aedile, and praetor, and culminated with a consulship in 51, as a military commander, Vespasian gained early renown by participating in the Roman invasion of Britain in 43. Nevertheless, ancient sources allege poverty for the Flavian family at the time of Domitians upbringing, even claiming Vespasian had fallen into disrepute under the emperors Caligula, by all appearances, the Flavians enjoyed high imperial favour throughout the 40s and 60s. While Titus received an education in the company of Britannicus, Vespasian pursued a successful political. The same year the Jews of the Judaea province revolted against the Roman Empire in what is now known as the First Jewish-Roman War. Vespasian was assigned to lead the Roman army against the insurgents, of the three Flavian emperors, Domitian would rule the longest, despite the fact that his youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his older brother

Domitian – Bust of Domitian, in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Domitian – A denarius of Domitian.
Domitian – A bust of Vespasian (Pushkin Museum).
Domitian – A bust of Emperor Vitellius, (Louvre).

28. Statius – Publius Papinius Statius was a Roman poet of the 1st century AD. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the Thebaid, a collection of poetry, the Silvae, and an unfinished epic. He is also known for his appearance as a guide in the Purgatory section of Dantes epic poem The Divine Comedy, information about Statius life is almost entirely drawn from his Silvae and a mention by the satirist Juvenal. The poets father was a native of Velia but later moved to Naples, Statius declares in his lament for his father that his father was in his time equal to any literary task, whether in prose or verse. He mentioned Mevania, and may have spent time there, or been impressed by the confrontation of Vitellius, Statius father was a Roman eques, but may have lost his status because of money troubles. At Naples, he was a teacher of Greek and Roman literature who attracted many pupils who were destined for religious offices in Rome, from Pliny the Youngers Letters, it has recently been deduced that Statius also wrote under the pseudonym of Propertius. Less is known of the events of Statius life, for the Alban Festival, Statius composed a poem on the German and Dacian campaigns of Domitian which Juvenal lampoons in his seventh satire. Statius is thought to have moved to Rome c.90 after his fathers death where he published his epic poem the Thebaid c. In the capital, Statius seems to have many connections among the Roman aristocracy and court. He competed in the great Capitoline competition, although it is not known in what year, Statius failed to win the coveted prize, a loss he took very hard. The disappointment may have prompted his return to Naples around 94, in existence is a poem he addressed to his wife, Claudia, the widow of a famous singer who had a musically talented daughter by her first husband, on this occasion. Statius first three books of the Silvae seem to have received criticism, and in response he composed a fourth book at Naples. During this period at Naples, Statius maintained his relations with the court and his patrons, earning himself another invitation to a palace banquet. He seems to have taken an interest in the marriage and career of his stepdaughter and he took a young slave boy under his wing, as he was childless. In that same year Statius embarked on a new epic, the Achilleid, giving recitations of his work only to complete a book. His fifth book of Silvae were published after his death c, as a poet, Statius was versatile in his abilities and contrived to represent his work as otium.94. Based on Statius own testimony, the Thebaid was written c.80 – c.92 AD, beginning when the poet was around 35, the poem is divided into twelve books in imitation of Virgils Aeneid and is composed in dactylic hexameter. In the Silvae, Statius speaks of his work in polishing and revising the Thebaid

Statius – The Thebaid describes the siege of Thebes by the seven Argive champions.
Statius – Villas not unlike the Getty Villa are described by Statius in his Silvae.

29. Samothrace – Samothrace is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a municipality within the Evros regional unit of Thrace, the island is 17 km long and is 178 km2 in size and has a population of 2,859. Its main industries are fishing and tourism, resources on the island include granite and basalt. Samothrace is one of the most rugged Greek islands, with Mt. Saos and its tip Fengari rising to 1,611 m. Samothrace was not a state of any significance in ancient Greece, since it has no natural harbour and most of the island is too mountainous for cultivation. It was, however, the home of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, among those who visited this shrine to be initiated into the island cult were Lysander of Sparta, Philip II of Macedon and Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, father-in-law of Julius Caesar. The ancient city, the ruins of which are called Palaeopoli, was situated on the north coast, demetrios of Skepsis mention the Samothracian Mysteries. The traditional account from antiquity is that Samothrace was first inhabited by Pelasgians and Carians, at the end of the 8th century BC the island was colonised by Greeks from Samos, from which the name Samos of Thrace, that later became Samothrace, however, Strabo denies this. The archaeological evidence suggests that Greek settlement was in the sixth century BC, the Persians occupied Samothrace in 508 BC, it later passed under Athenian control, and was a member of the Delian League in the 5th century BC. It was subjugated by Philip II, and from then till 168 BC it was under Macedonian suzerainty, with the battle of Pydna Samothrace became independent, a condition that ended when Vespasian absorbed the island in the Roman Empire in AD70. Apart from the sanctuary, decisive role in the great development of Samothrace played also her two ports from which passed the sea road Troas - Macedonia. Furthermore, an important role played as well her possessions in Perea, st. Theophanes died in Samothrace in 818. The Byzantines ruled until 1204, when Venetians took their place, only to be dislodged by a Genoan family in 1355, the island came under Greek rule in 1913 following the Balkan War. It was occupied by Bulgaria during the Second World War, from 1941 to 1944, the modern port town of Kamariotissa is on the north-west coast and provides ferry access to and from points in northern Greece such as Alexandroupoli and Kavala. There is no airport on the island. Other sites of interest on the island include the ruins of Genoese forts, the picturesque Chora and Paliapoli and it was discovered in pieces on the island in 1863 by the French archaeologist Charles Champoiseau, and is now—headless—in the Louvre in Paris. It had the territory as the present municipality. List of settlements in the Evros regional unit Samothrace temple complex Winged Victory of Samothrace Samothrace travel guide from Wikivoyage Official Samothrace webpage

Samothrace – View of the Chora (Samothraki)
Samothrace – Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Palaiopolis.
Samothrace – Samothrace, with Mount Fengari in the background.
Samothrace – Waterfall and pond, characteristics of the island.

30. Pronaos – A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was used in Ancient Greece and has influenced many cultures. Some noteworthy examples of porticos are the East Portico of the United States Capitol, the portico adorning the Pantheon in Rome, porticos are sometimes topped with pediments. Bologna, Italy, is famous for its porticos, in total, there are over 45 km of arcades, some 38 in the city center. The longest portico in the world, about 3.5 km, in Bologna, Italy, porticos stretch for 18 km. Palladio was a pioneer of using temple-fronts for secular buildings, in the UK, the temple-front applied to The Vyne, Hampshire was the first portico applied to an English country house. A pronaos is the area of the portico of a Greek or Roman temple. Roman temples commonly had an open pronaos, usually with only columns and no walls, the word pronaos is Greek for before a temple. In Latin, a pronaos is also referred to as an anticum or prodomus, the different variants of porticos are named by the number of columns they have. The style suffix comes from the Greek στῦλος, column, the tetrastyle has four columns, it was commonly employed by the Greeks and the Etruscans for small structures such as public buildings and amphiprostyles. Roman provincial capitals also manifested tetrastyle construction, such as the Capitoline Temple in Volubilis, the North Portico of the White House is perhaps the most notable four-columned portico in the United States. Hexastyle buildings had six columns and were the standard façade in canonical Greek Doric architecture between the archaic period 600–550 BC up to the Age of Pericles 450–430 BC. With the colonization by the Greeks of Southern Italy, hexastyle was adopted by the Etruscans, Roman taste favoured narrow pseudoperipteral and amphiprostyle buildings with tall columns, raised on podiums for the added pomp and grandeur conferred by considerable height. The Maison Carrée at Nîmes, France, is the best-preserved Roman hexastyle temple surviving from antiquity, octastyle buildings had eight columns, they were considerably rarer than the hexastyle ones in the classical Greek architectural canon. The best-known octastyle buildings surviving from antiquity are the Parthenon in Athens, built during the Age of Pericles, and the Pantheon in Rome. The destroyed Temple of Divus Augustus in Rome, the centre of the Augustan cult, is shown on Roman coins of the 2nd century AD as having built in octastyle. The decastyle has ten columns, as in the temple of Apollo Didymaeus at Miletus, the temple of Venus and Rome, built by Hadrian in Rome about 130 A. D. was decastyle, the only known example in Roman architecture. Classical architecture List of classical architecture terms Hypostyle Loggia Stoa Greek architecture, Encyclopædia Britannica,1968 Stierlin, Greece, From Mycenae to the Parthenon, TASCHEN,2004, Editor-in-chief Angelika Taschen, Cologne, ISBN 3-8228-1225-0 Stierlin, Henri

Pronaos – Under the portico of the Pantheon
Pronaos – Portico close to piazza Santo Stefano, Bologna
Pronaos – Temple of Portunus, with its tetrastyle portico of four Ionic columns
Pronaos – The hexastyle Temple of Concord at Agrigentum (c. 430 B.C.)

Coffer

Contents

History[edit]

Asian architecture[edit]

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

External links[edit]