1.
Utrecht
–
Utrecht is the capital and most populous city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the corner of the Randstad conurbation and is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands with a population of 330,772 in 2014. Utrechts ancient city centre features many buildings and structures several dating as far back as the High Middle Ages and it has been the religious centre of the Netherlands since the 8th century. It lost the status of prince-bishopric but remains the religious center in the country. Utrecht was the most important city in the Netherlands until the Dutch Golden Age, Utrecht is host to Utrecht University, the largest university in the Netherlands, as well as several other institutions of higher education. Due to its position within the country, it is an important transport hub for both rail and road transport. It has the second highest number of events in the Netherlands. In 2012, Lonely Planet included Utrecht in the top 10 of the world’s unsung places, a series of such fortresses was built after the Roman emperor Claudius decided the empire should not expand north. To consolidate the border the limes Germanicus defense line was constructed along the branch of the river Rhine. These fortresses were designed to house a cohort of about 500 Roman soldiers, near the fort settlements would grow housing artisans, traders and soldiers wives and children. In Roman times, the name of the Utrecht fortress was simply Traiectum, Traiectum became Dutch Trecht, with the U from Old Dutch uut added to distinguish U-trecht from Maas-tricht. In 11th-century official documents it was Latinized as Ultra Traiectum, around the year 200, the wooden walls of the fortification were replaced by sturdier tuff stone walls, remnants of which are still to be found below the buildings around Dom Square. From the middle of the 3rd century Germanic tribes regularly invaded the Roman territories, around 275 the Romans could no longer maintain the northern border and Utrecht was abandoned. Little is known about the next period 270–650, Utrecht is first spoken of again several centuries after the Romans left. Under the influence of the realms of the Franks, during Dagobert Is reign in the 7th century. In ongoing border conflicts with the Frisians this first church was destroyed, by the mid-7th century, English and Irish missionaries set out to convert the Frisians. The pope appointed their leader, Willibrordus, bishop of the Frisians, the tenure of Willibrordus is generally considered to be the beginning of the Bishopric of Utrecht. In 723, the Frankish leader Charles Martel bestowed the fortress in Utrecht, from then on Utrecht became one of the most influential seats of power for the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands
2.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
3.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Steeple
–
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure and they may be stand-alone structures, or incorporated into the entrance or center of the building. Clock towers were not a part of Christian churches until about AD600, at first they were fairly modest and entirely separate structures from churches. Over time, they were incorporated into the building and capped with ever-more-elaborate roofs until the steeple resulted. St. Martins church steeple, in Arbon, Switzerland, is an example of such an early church tower. Towers are an element of religious architecture worldwide and are generally viewed as attempts to reach skyward toward heavens. Some wooden steeples like the one in Kingston, New York pictured below are built with large wooden structural members arranged like tent poles and braced diagonally inside both with wood and steel. The steeple is clad with wooden boards and finished with slate tiles nailed to the boards using copper over gaps on corners where the slate would not cover. Steeples can be vulnerable to earthquakes, a number of Romanian churches feature unusually slender steeples and over half of these have been lost to earthquakes. Because of their height, steeples can also be vulnerable to lightning, an example of this is Holy Trinity Church in Luxemburg, Iowa, which lost its steeple in a fire which was believed to be started by a lightning strike. Bell-gable Media related to Church towers at Wikimedia Commons
5.
Architectural style
–
An architectural style is characterized by the features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, building materials, styles therefore emerge from the history of a society. They are documented in the subject of architectural history, at any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. Styles often spread to places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. A style may also spread through colonialism, either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, one example is the Spanish missions in California, brought by Spanish priests in the late 18th century and built in a unique style. After a style has gone out of fashion, revivals and re-interpretations may occur, for instance, classicism has been revived many times and found new life as neoclassicism. Each time it is revived, it is different, the Spanish mission style was revived 100 years later as the Mission Revival, and that soon evolved into the Spanish Colonial Revival. Vernacular architecture works slightly differently and is listed separately and it is the native method of construction used by local people, usually using labour-intensive methods and local materials, and usually for small structures such as rural cottages. It varies from region to region even within a country, as western society has developed, vernacular styles have mostly become outmoded due to new technology and to national building standards. Paul Jacobsthal and Josef Strzygowski are among the art historians who followed Riegl in proposing grand schemes tracing the transmission of elements of styles across great ranges in time and this type of art history is also known as formalism, or the study of forms or shapes in art. Terms originated to describe architectural periods were often applied to other areas of the visual arts, and then more widely still to music, literature. In architecture stylistic change often follows, and is possible by. While many architectural styles explore harmonious ideals, Mannerism wants to take style a step further and explores the aesthetics of hyperbole, Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial qualities. Mannerism favours compositional tension and instability rather than balance and clarity, the definition of Mannerism, and the phases within it, continues to be the subject of debate among art historians. An example of mannerist architecture is the Villa Farnese at Caprarola. in the country side outside of Rome. The proliferation of engravers during the 16th century spread Mannerist styles more quickly than any previous styles, a center of Mannerist design was Antwerp during its 16th-century boom. Through Antwerp, Renaissance and Mannerist styles were introduced in England, Germany. During the Mannerist Renaissance period, architects experimented with using architectural forms to emphasize solid, the Renaissance ideal of harmony gave way to freer and more imaginative rhythms
6.
Gothic architecture
–
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture and its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the cathedrals, abbeys. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings, for this reason a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, the term Gothic architecture originated as a pejorative description. Hence, François Rabelais, also of the 16th century, imagines an inscription over the door of his utopian Abbey of Thélème, Here enter no hypocrites, slipping in a slighting reference to Gotz and Ostrogotz. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old medieval style, the Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic. Gothic architecture is the architecture of the medieval period, characterised by use of the pointed arch. As an architectural style, Gothic developed primarily in ecclesiastical architecture, the greatest number of surviving Gothic buildings are churches. The Gothic style is most particularly associated with the cathedrals of Northern France. At the end of the 12th century, Europe was divided into a multitude of city states, norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Poland were influenced by trading contacts with the Hanseatic League. Angevin kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to Southern Italy, throughout Europe at this time there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany and the Lowlands had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with other, or united for mutual weal. Civic building was of importance to these towns as a sign of wealth. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic architecture for their kings, dukes and bishops, the Catholic Church prevailed across Europe at this time, influencing not only faith but also wealth and power. Bishops were appointed by the lords and they often ruled as virtual princes over large estates. The early Medieval periods had seen a growth in monasticism, with several different orders being prevalent. Foremost were the Benedictines whose great abbey churches vastly outnumbered any others in France, a part of their influence was that towns developed around them and they became centers of culture, learning and commerce
7.
National Historic Landmark
–
A National Historic Landmark is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Of over 85,000 places listed on the countrys National Register of Historic Places, a National Historic Landmark District may include contributing properties that are buildings, structures, sites or objects, and it may include non-contributing properties. Contributing properties may or may not also be separately listed, prior to 1935, efforts to preserve cultural heritage of national importance were made by piecemeal efforts of the United States Congress. The first National Historic Site designation was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17,1938. In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the data gathered under this legislation. Because listings often triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the procedures to require owner agreement to the designations. On October 9,1960,92 properties were announced as designated NHLs by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton, more than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States, there are NHLs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Three states account for nearly 25 percent of the nations NHLs, three cities within these states all separately have more NHLs than 40 of the 50 states. In fact, New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states, Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, there are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia. Some NHLs are in U. S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states. There are 15 in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and other U. S. commonwealths and territories,5 in U. S. -associated states such as Micronesia, over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs. About half of the National Historic Landmarks are privately owned, the National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which also assists in maintaining the landmarks. A friends group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve, protect, if not already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, an NHL is automatically added to the Register upon designation. About three percent of Register listings are NHLs, american Water Landmark List of U. S
8.
Rijksmonument
–
A rijksmonument is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. To be designated, a place must be over 50 years old, there are around 51,000 designated rijksmonuments in the Netherlands. The program was started during the Hague Convention in 1954, the current legislation governing the monuments is the Monumentenwet van 1988. The organization responsible for caring for the monuments, which used to be called Monumentenzorg, was recently renamed, and is now called Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. In June 2009, the Court of The Hague decided that individual purchasers of buildings that were listed as rijksmonuments would be exempt from paying transfer tax, previously this exemption had only applied to legal entities. Many Dutch tourist attractions are rijksmonuments, such as castles or windmills, among the rijksmonuments are also many churches. A provincial monument is a monument designated by a province, in the Netherlands there are only two provinces that assign monuments, North Holland and Drenthe. The designation allows the provinces to protect the monuments and are a base for the regulation of subsidy for restoring the monuments, a municipal monument is a monuments designated by a municipality. A municipal monument is not of importance but it is important for the region or city/village. List of Rijksmonuments List of heritage registers Monumentenregister, official database of heritage sites Monumenten. nl
9.
St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht
–
St. Martins Cathedral, Utrecht, or Dom Church, is a Gothic church dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, which was the cathedral of the Diocese of Utrecht during the Middle Ages. It is the countrys only pre-Reformation cathedral, but has been a Protestant church since 1580 and it was once the Netherlands largest church, but the nave collapsed in a storm in 1674 and has never been rebuilt, leaving the tower isolated from the east end. The building is the one church in the Netherlands that closely resembles the style of classic Gothic architecture as developed in France, all other Gothic churches in the Netherlands belong to one of the many regional variants. Unlike most of its French predecessors, the building has one tower, the 112-metre-high Dom Tower. The first chapel in Utrecht was founded around 630 by Frankish clergy under the patronage of the Merovingian kings but was destroyed during an attack of the Frisians on Utrecht shortly thereafter, the site of this first chapel within Utrecht is unknown. Saint Willibrord, the Apostle to the Frisians, established a chapel devoted to Saint Martin on the site of the current building. This church was destroyed by the Normans in the 9th century during one of their raids on Utrecht. During this period St. Martins came to be the church of Utrecht. The church had its own small territorial close and was led by a chapter of canons. The church was destroyed by fires and then rebuilt. A Romanesque style church was built by Bishop Adalbold and consecrated in 1023 and it is thought to have been the center of a cross-shaped conglomeration of 5 churches, called a Kerkenkruis, built to commemorate Conrad II. The construction of the Gothic cathedral continued into the 16th century, the first part to be built was the choir. The Dom Tower was started in 1321 and finished in 1382, after 1515, steadily diminishing financing prevented completion of this building project, of which an almost complete series of building accounts exists. In 1566, the Beeldenstorm or Iconoclast Fury swept across much of the Low Countries, as a result, many of the ornaments on both the exterior and interior of the cathedral were destroyed. In 1580 the Utrecht city government devolved the cathedral from the Diocese of Utrecht to local Calvinists. From then on Protestant services were held in the building with one exception, in 1672 and 1673, during the Franco-Dutch War. A year after the French retreat, the unfinished and insufficiently supported nave collapsed on 1 August 1674 during a massive storm that caused a tornado. Over the subsequent centuries, much of the building fell into further neglect
10.
Geert Groote
–
Gerard Groote, otherwise Gerrit or Gerhard Groet, in Latin Gerardus Magnus, was a Dutch Roman Catholic deacon, who was a popular preacher and the founder of the Brethren of the Common Life. He was a key figure in the Devotio Moderna movement and he was born in the Hanseatic city Deventer in the Bishopric of Utrecht, where his father held a good civic position. He studied at Aachen, then went to the University of Paris when only fifteen, after a brilliant course he graduated in 1358. In 1362 he was appointed teacher at the Deventer chapter school, in 1366 his admiring countrymen sent him to Avignon on a secret mission to Pope Urban V. Soon after Groote settled in Cologne, teaching philosophy and theology, in 1374 Groote turned his family home in Deventer into a shelter for poor women and lived for several years as a guest of a Carthusian monastery. In 1379, having received ordination as a deacon, he became a preacher throughout the diocese of Utrecht. The bishop of Utrecht supported him warmly, and got him to preach against concubinage in the presence of the clergy assembled in synod. The bishop was induced to issue an edict which prohibited from preaching all who were not in orders. At the close of his life he was asked by some of the clerics who attached themselves to him to form them into a religious order, no time was lost in the effort to carry out the project, but Groote died before a foundation could be made. To initiation of movement was the great achievement of Grootes life, he lived to preside over the birth and first days of his other creation. He died of the plague at Deventer, which he had contracted while nursing the sick, young men especially flocked to him in great numbers. Some of these he sent to his schools, others he occupied at transcribing good books, Groote and Florence Radewyns, his favourite disciple, founded at Zwolle the Brethren of the Common Life. Henceforth his communities, which were spreading rapidly through the Netherlands, Lower Germany and he contemplated organizing his clerics into a community of canons regular, but it was left to Radewyns, his successor, to realize this plan at Windesheim two years later. A movement known as the Modern Devotion was founded in the Netherlands by Groote and Florens Radewyns, for Grote the pivotal point is the search for inner peace, which results from the denial of ones own self and is to be achieved by ardour and silence. This is the heart of the New Devotion, the Devotio moderna, solitary meditation on Christ’s Passion and redemption, on one’s own death, the Last Judgment, heaven, and hell was essential. In the course of the 15th century, the Modern Devotion found adherents throughout the Netherlands and its precepts were further disseminated in texts such as The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, which reached an increasingly literate public. In this context small works of art such as diptychs that provided a focus for private worship enjoyed wide popularity, geert Groote College is located in Amsterdam. Florens Radewyns Devotio Moderna This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Groot
.jpg)
