1.
The Egyptian Halls
–
For the London building see Egyptian Hall The Egyptian Halls is a category A listed building at 84–100 Union Street, Glasgow, Scotland. It was built between 1870–72 and designed by Alexander Greek Thomson, other than some retailers on the ground floor, the building is currently unoccupied. Despite several attempts at restoration, it remained in a state and was under threat of demolition in 2011. Planning approval and listed building consent has since been given for a scheme which has secured funding for conversion to a 114-bed four-star hotel, as of 20 February 2013, subsidy was still being sought for work to the ground floor. Work started on the Egyptian Halls in March 1870 to provide new premises for James Robertson, an iron manufacturer. Built using cast iron and stone, the Egyptian Halls was one of the last major projects of Alexander Thomson, the building broke many of the rules of the time, thick stone columns normally found at ground level were on the top floor. The building is built on four storeys, the ground floor was occupied by shops with fully glazed wide bays. The first floor features eighteen window bays divided by columns with a flowing scroll capital. On the second floor, shorter couple columns are positioned exactly above the first floor columns, finally, on the third floor is a plinth with dwarf columns and pseudo-Egyptian lotus flower capitals. Behind these columns is a glazed screen, which is not fixed to these columns. Topping these columns is another entablature with a cornice and this attic room is lit by a series of sloping skylights. The name of the building seems to be a misnomer as there is very little Egyptian influence in its design. Instead, it is closely modelled on Greek classical architecture, in particular the Corinthian order of the Tower of the Winds in Athens. It is speculated that it takes its title from the earlier Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London and it is also speculated that some of the shops may have been Egyptian-themed. Thomson was very proud of his work and it has been protected as a category A listed building since 1966. In common with other buildings of this era, such as Thomsons Caledonian Road Church. This did not stop the decay and in 1995 further repairs were undertaken following an Urgent Repairs Notice, in 1996 Glasgow City Council announced a compulsory purchase order on the building. In subsequent years a number of schemes were proposed to restore the building, but legal wrangles with the buildings owners, who were contesting the CPO, led to further delays
2.
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
3.
John Buonarotti Papworth
–
John Buonarotti Papworth was a prolific architect, artist and a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He adopted the middle name Buonarotti in around 1815, Papworth was born in Marylebone, London, in 1775 to John Papworth and his wife Charlotte. He was one of children and the second of six sons. His father described himself as an architect, plasterer and builder and his background was in decorative plasterwork, and he dominated the trade in London, employing more than 500 men. At the recommendation of Sir William Chambers he spent two years as a pupil of the architect John Plaw and was apprenticed to the builder Thomas Wapshott. John Summerson described Papworth as one of the most versatile architects and he contributed designs to Ackermanns Repository of the Arts for almost 20 years, and published some of his designs for houses as Designs for Rural Residences in 1818. In London he designed shop fronts and warehouses, and built or remodelled many villas for middle-class clients in the countryside, at Cheltenham he laid out the Montpellier Estate, and extended the Montpellier Pump Room, with a domed rotunda inspired by the Pantheon. Bullock published the plans, hoping to attract purchasers for the plots and he exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1816 and 1841. His address is given as Bath Place, New Road, London, until 1816, in the latter year he is described as Architect to the King of Wirtemberg, and exhibited a design for a Palace at Canstadt for the King of Wirtemberg. In 1838 he became director of the newly established Government School of Design and his archive of drawings is in the Royal Institute of British Architects Drawings and Archives Collections. He had two sons, John Woody Papworth, and Wyatt Papworth and his brother George Papworth acted as his clerk of works until 1804 and then practised as an architect in Ireland. A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840, the Royal Academy, A Complete Dictionary of Contributors from its Foundations in 1769 to 1904. Catalogue of Drawings in the RIBA Collections, Papworth, Architect to the King of Wurtemburg, a Brief Record of his Life and Works. Architecture in Britain,1530 to 1830
4.
Napoleonic era
–
The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. The Congress of Vienna soon set out to restore Europe to pre-French Revolution days, Napoleon brought political stability to a land torn by revolution and war. He made peace with the Roman Catholic Church and reversed the most radical religious policies of the Convention, in 1804 Napoleon promulgated the Civil Code, a revised body of civil law, which also helped stabilize French society. The Civil Code confirmed many of the revolutionary policies of the National Assembly. The code restored patriarchal authority in the family, for example, whilst working to stabilise France, Napoleon also sought to extend his authority throughout Europe. Napoleons armies conquered the Iberian and Italian peninsulas, occupied lands, and he forced Austria, Prussia, the United Kingdom refused to recognise French hegemony and continued the war throughout. The First French Empire began to unravel in 1812, when he decided to invade Russia, Napoleon underestimated the difficulties his army would have to face whilst occupying Russia. Convinced that the Tsar was conspiring with his British enemies, Napoleon led an army of 600,000 soldiers to Moscow. He defeated the Russian army at Borodino before capturing Moscow, but the Tsar withdrew and Moscow was set ablaze, leaving Napoleons vast army without adequate shelter or supplies. Napoleon ordered a retreat, but the bitter Russian winter and repeated Russian attacks whittled down his army, the allies then continued a united effort against Napoleon until they had seized Paris forcing his abdication in 1814. His return to power the year was resisted by all the allies
5.
William Bullock (collector)
–
William Bullock was an English traveller, naturalist and antiquarian. Bullock was the son of William Bullock and his wife Elizabeth proprietors of a travelling waxworks and he began as a goldsmith and jeweller in Birmingham. By 1795 Bullock was in Liverpool, where he founded a Museum of Natural Curiosities at 24 Lord Street, in 1809, Bullock moved to London and the collection, housed first at 22 Piccadilly and in 1812 in the newly built Piccadilly Egyptian Hall, proved extremely popular. The collection, which included over 32,000 items, was disposed of by auction in 1819, in 1810, Bullock figured briefly in a law case concerning Sarah Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman brought to England for purposes of exhibition as the Hottentot Venus. Bullock had been approached by Alexander Dunlop, the army surgeon responsible for Baartmans arrival in England, in 1822 Bullock went to Mexico where he became involved in silver mine speculation. He brought back many artefacts and specimens which formed a new exhibition in the Egyptian Hall, a second visit to Mexico, and to the United States, took place in 1827. Bullock bought land on the bank of the Ohio River from Thomas D. Carneal where he proposed to build a community named Hygeia laid out by John Buonarotti Papworth. The speculation was not a success, although some people, including Frances Trollope, took part, Bullock sold the land to Israel Ludlow, Bullock was back in London by 1843 and died there at 14 Harley Terrace, Chelsea. He was buried at St Marys Church, Chelsea, on 16 March 1849, Bullock was a fellow of the Linnean, Horticultural, Geological, Wernerian, and other learned societies, and published several pamphlets on natural history. A Companion to the Liverpool Museum, containing a description of. Natural & foreign curiosities, antiquities & productions of the fine arts, at the house of William Bullock, Church Street. A concise and easy method of preserving objects of natural history, intended for the use of sportsmen, travellers, London, printed for the proprietor,1818. Six months residence and travels in Mexico, containing remarks on the present state of New Spain, its productions, state of society, manufactures, trade, agriculture. Sechs Monate in Mexiko oder Bemerkungen über den gegenwärtigen Zustand Neu-Spaniens von W. Bullock, le Mexique en 1823, ou Relation dun voyage dans la Nouvelle-Espagne, contenant des notions exactes et peu connues sur la situation physique, morale et politique de ce pays. A description of the exhibition, called Ancient Mexico, collected on the spot in 1823. for public inspection at the Egyptian Hall. London, Printed for the proprietors,1824, catalogue of the exhibition, called Modern Mexico, containing a panoramic view of the city, with specimens of the natural history of New Spain. London, Printed for the proprietors,1825, Sketch of a journey through the Western States of North America, from New Orleans, by the Mississippi, Ohio, city of Cincinnati and falls of Niagara, to New York, in 1827. Robert D. Aguirre, Informal Empire, Mexico and Central America in Victorian Culture, minneapolis and London, University of Minnesota Press,2005
6.
Polynesia
–
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including the language family, culture, and beliefs. Historically, they were experienced sailors who used stars to navigate at night, the term Polynesia was first used in 1756 by French writer Charles de Brosses, and originally applied to all the islands of the Pacific. In 1831, Jules Dumont dUrville proposed a restriction on its use during a lecture to the Geographical Society of Paris, historically, these islands have also been referred to as the South Sea Islands. Polynesia is characterized by an amount of land spread over a very large portion of the mid. Most Polynesian islands and archipelagos, including the Hawaiian Islands and Samoa, are composed of volcanic islands built by hotspots, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, and Ouvéa, the Polynesian outlier near New Caledonia, are the unsubmerged portions of the largely sunken continent of Zealandia. At first, the Pacific plate was subducted under the Australian plate, the Alpine Fault that traverses the South Island is currently a transform fault while the convergent plate boundary from the North Island northwards is called the Kermadec-Tonga Subduction Zone. The volcanism associated with subduction zone is the origin of the Kermadec. Out of approximately 300,000 or 310,000 square kilometres of land, over 270,000 km2 are within New Zealand, the Zealandia continent has approximately 3,600,000 km2 of continental shelf. The oldest rocks in the region are found in New Zealand and are believed to be about 510 million years old, the oldest Polynesian rocks outside of Zealandia are to be found in the Hawaiian Emperor Seamount Chain, and are 80 million years old. Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the Polynesian Triangle, geographically, the Polynesian Triangle is drawn by connecting the points of Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island. The other main island groups located within the Polynesian Triangle are Samoa, Tonga, there are also small Polynesian settlements in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Caroline Islands, and in Vanuatu. An island group with strong Polynesian cultural traits outside of this triangle is Rotuma. The people of Rotuma have many common Polynesian traits but speak a non-Polynesian language, some of the Lau Islands to the southeast of Fiji have strong historic and cultural links with Tonga. However, in essence, Polynesia is a term referring to one of the three parts of Oceania. Some islands of Polynesian origin are outside the triangle that geographically defines the region. The Phoenix Islands and Line Islands, most of which are part of Kiribati, are geographically Polynesian islands, tracing Polynesian languages places their prehistoric origins in the Malay Archipelago, and ultimately, in Taiwan. Between about 3000 and 1000 BC speakers of Austronesian languages began spreading from Taiwan into Island Southeast Asia, there are three theories regarding the spread of humans across the Pacific to Polynesia
7.
James Cook
–
Captain James Cook FRS RN was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755 and he saw action in the Seven Years War, and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec. This helped bring Cook to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society, in three voyages Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail, as he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, Cook was attacked and killed while attempting to kidnap the native chief of Hawaii during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him. James Cook was born on 7 November 1728 in the village of Marton in Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November in the church of St Cuthbert. He was the second of eight children of James Cook, a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, in 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his fathers employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend the local school. In 1741, after five years schooling, he work for his father. For leisure, he would climb a hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude. Cooks Cottage, his parents last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, having moved from England and reassembled, brick by brick. In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved 20 miles to the village of Staithes. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window. After 18 months, not proving suitable for work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to friends of Sandersons, John. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade and their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their fleet of vessels. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters, sailing between the Tyne and London. As part of his apprenticeship, Cook applied himself to the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and his three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading ships in the Baltic Sea
8.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
9.
Ancient Egyptian architecture
–
The core of the pyramids consisted of locally quarried stone, mudbricks, sand or gravel. For the casing stones were used that had to be transported from farther away, predominantly white limestone from Tura, Ancient Egyptian houses were made out of mud collected from the Nile river. It was placed in molds and left to dry in the hot sun to harden for use in construction, others are inaccessible, new buildings having been erected on ancient ones. Fortunately, the dry, hot climate of Egypt preserved some mud brick structures, examples include the village Deir al-Madinah, the Middle Kingdom town at Kahun, and the fortresses at Buhen and Mirgissa. Also, many temples and tombs have survived because they were built on high ground unaffected by the Nile flood and were constructed of stone, in a similar manner, the incised and flatly modeled surface adornment of the stone buildings may have derived from mud wall ornamentation. Exterior and interior walls, as well as the columns and piers, were covered with hieroglyphic and pictorial frescoes, many motifs of Egyptian ornamentation are symbolic, such as the scarab, or sacred beetle, the solar disk, and the vulture. Other common motifs include leaves, the papyrus plant. Hieroglyphs were inscribed for decorative purposes as well as to record historic events or spells, in addition, these pictorial frescoes and carvings allow us to understand how the Ancient Egyptians lived, statuses, wars that were fought and their beliefs. This was especially true when exploring the tombs of Ancient Egyptian officials in recent years, Ancient Egyptian temples were aligned with astronomically significant events, such as solstices and equinoxes, requiring precise measurements at the moment of the particular event. Measurements at the most significant temples may have been undertaken by the Pharaoh himself. The Giza Necropolis stands on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo and this complex of ancient monuments is located some 8 kilometers inland into the desert from the old town of Giza on the Nile, some 20 kilometers southwest of Cairo city center. The pyramids, which were built in the Fourth Dynasty, testify to the power of the pharaonic religion and they were built to serve both as grave sites and also as a way to make their names last forever. The size and simple design show the skill level of Egyptian design. The pyramid of Khafre is believed to have been completed around 2532 BC, Khafre ambitiously placed his pyramid next to his fathers. It is not as tall as his fathers pyramid but he was able to give it the impression of appearing taller by building it on a site with a foundation 33 feet higher than his fathers. Along with building his pyramid, Chefren commissioned the building of the giant Sphinx as guardian over his tomb, the face of a human, possibly a depiction of the pharaoh, on a lions body was seen as a symbol of divinity among the Greeks fifteen hundred years later. The Great Sphinx is carved out the bedrock and stands about 65 feet tall. Menkaures pyramid dates to circa 2490 BC and stands 213 feet high making it the smallest of the Great Pyramids, popular culture leads people to believe that Pyramids are highly confusing, with many tunnels within the pyramid to create confusion for grave robbers
_p135_-_Arcana,_Egyptian_Hall_(advertisement).jpg)
