1.
Champ de Mars
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The Champ de Mars is a large public greenspace in Paris, France, located in the seventh arrondissement, between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire to the southeast. The park is named after the Campus Martius in Rome, a tribute to the Latin name of the Roman God of war, the name also alludes to the fact that the lawns here were formerly used as drilling and marching grounds by the French military. The nearest Métro stations are La Motte-Picquet–Grenelle, École Militaire, and Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel, a disused station, Champ de Mars is also nearby. Originally, the Champ de Mars was part of a flat open area called Grenelle. Citizens would claim small plots and exploit them by growing fruits, vegetables, however, the plain of Grenelle was not an especially fertile place for farming. The construction, in 1765, of the École Militaire designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, was the first step toward the Champ de Mars in its present form. Grounds for military drills were originally planned for an area south of the school, the choice to build an esplanade to the north of the school led to the erection of the noble facade which today encloses the Champ de Mars. The planners leveled the ground, surrounded it with a ditch and a long avenue of elms, and, as a final touch. The Isle of Swans, formerly a riverine islet at the location of the foot of the Eiffel Tower, was, for the sake of symmetry and pleasing perspectives. Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers launched the worlds first hydrogen-filled balloon from the Champ-de-Mars on 27 August 1783 and this place witnessed the spectacle and pageantry of some of the best-remembered festivals of the French Revolution. On 14 July 1790 the first Federation Day celebration, now known as Bastille Day, was held on the Champ de Mars, the following year, on 17 July 1791, the massacre on the Champ de Mars took place. Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first mayor of Paris, became a victim of his own revolution and was guillotined there on 12 November 1793, the Champ de Mars was also the site of the Festival of the Supreme Being on 8 June 1794. With a design by the painter Jacques-Louis David, a massive Altar of the Nation was built atop an artificial mountain, the festival is regarded as the most successful of its type in the Revolution. The Champ de Mars was the site of Expositions Universelles in 1867,1878,1889,1900, in 2012 the United Buddy Bears exhibit was held on the Champ de Mars, an international art exhibition with more than 140 two-meter-tall bears representing individual countries. They promote peace, love, tolerance and international understanding and are displayed across the planet and they stand at Champ de Mars in Paris, fronting the Eiffel Tower. List of worlds fairs Champ de Mars Massacre Fête de la Concorde
2.
7th arrondissement of Paris
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The 7th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city in France. It is also home to foreign diplomatic embassies, some of them occupying outstanding Hôtels particuliers. The arrondissement has been home to the French upper class since the 17th century, the 7th arrondissement of Paris and Neuilly-sur-Seine form the most affluent and prestigious residential area in France. The district became so fashionable within the French aristocracy that the phrase le Faubourg has been used to describe French nobility ever since. The oldest and most prestigious families of the French nobility built outstanding residences in the area, such as the Hôtel Matignon, the Hôtel de Salm, and the Hôtel Biron. After the Revolution many of these mansions, offering magnificent inner spaces, many receptions rooms, the French expression les ors de la Republique, referring to the luxurious environment of the national palaces, comes from that time. During the Restauration, the Faubourg recovered its past glory as the most exclusive high nobility district of Paris and was the heart of the country. After the Fall of Charles X, the district lost most of its political influence, during the 19th century, the arrondissement hosted no less than five Universal Exhibitions that have immensely impacted its cityscape. The Eiffel Tower and the Orsay building have been built for these Exhibitions, the land area of the arrondissement is 4.088 km². The 7th arrondissement attained its peak population in 1926 when it had 110,684 inhabitants, because it is the location of so many French government bodies, this arrondissement has never been as densely populated as some of the others. In 1999, the population was 56,985, while the arrondissement provided 76,212 jobs, the American University of Paris, a private liberal arts university, maintains several buildings near the Quai dOrsay. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Education have their offices in the arrondissement. The arrondissement hosted the events for the 1900 Summer Olympics. 7th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
3.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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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
5.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
6.
Stephen Sauvestre
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Charles Léon Stephen Sauvestre was a French architect. He is notable for being one of the architects contributing to the design of the world-famous Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, Sauvestre was born in Bonnétable, Sarthe in First French Empire in 1847. His father Charles Sauvestre was a writer, socialist, activist and teacher and he graduated with first class honors from École Spéciale dArchitecture in 1868. Sauvestre contributed to the design of the Eiffel Tower, adding the decorative arches to the base, a pavilion to the first level. He also chose the color of the tower and he received the support of Gustave Eiffel who bought the rights to the patent on the design which he had filed together with Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier
7.
Maurice Koechlin
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Maurice Koechlin was a Franco-Swiss structural engineer from the Koechlin family. A member of the renowned Alsatian Koechlin family, he was born in Buhl, Haut-Rhin and he was the first cousin once removed of André Koechlin, and the great-grandfather of actress Kalki Koechlin. When France lost the Franco-Prussian war to Prussia in 1870/1871 the Koechlin family as a decided to become citizens of Switzerland. After the defeat of the German Empire in 1918, however, Maurice studied at the lycée in Mulhouse, then between 1873 and 1877 civil engineering at the Polytechnikum Zürich under Carl Culmann. In 1876 he became a citizen of Zurich Between 1877 and 1879 he worked for the French railway company Chemin de Fer de lEst, much of his work was done for Gustave Eiffels Compagnie des établissements Eiffel, which Koechlin joined in 1879. In 1886 Maurice married Emma Rossier and they had six children, three sons and three daughters. Maurice and Emma were lifelong members of the Plymouth Brethren, in 1887 he started work on his plans for the Tour de 300 mètres in Paris, along with his younger brother Henri Koechlin and civil engineer Émile Nouguier. Maurice Koechlin became the Managing Director of Eiffels company when Eiffel retired from the profession in 1893. The company was renamed Société de construction de Levallois-Perret, Maurice Koechlin died in 1946 in Veytaux, Switzerland in a house built by himself in 1900. Major structural designs include, Garabit viaduct, Armature for the Statue of Liberty - in collaboration with Frédéric Bartholdi, Kalki Koechlin, an Indian film actress, through her father Joel, is a descendant of Maurice Koechlin. Maurice Koechlin et la Tour Eiffel, Paris, Éditions du Centre Georges Pompidou. Trautz, M. Maurice Koechlin Der eigentliche Erfinder des Eiffelturms, walbrach, K. F. Ohne ihn gäbe es keinen Eiffelturm, Maurice Koechlin. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Maurice Koechlin
8.
Gustave Eiffel
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Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was a French civil engineer and architect. A graduate of École Centrale Paris, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway network and he is best known for the world-famous Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, and his contribution to building the Statue of Liberty in New York. After his retirement from engineering, Eiffel focused on research into meteorology and aerodynamics, Gustave Eiffel was born in France, in the Côte-dOr, the first child of Catherine-Mélanie and Alexandre Bönickhausen. He was a descendant of Jean-René Bönickhausen, who had emigrated from the German town of Marmagen, the family adopted the name Eiffel as a reference to the Eifel mountains in the region from which they had come. Although the family used the name Eiffel, Gustaves name was registered at birth as Bönickhausen. The business was successful enough for Catherine Eiffel to sell it in 1843, both men spent a lot of time with the young Eiffel, teaching him about everything from chemistry and mining to theology and philosophy. During his second year he chose to specialize in chemistry, however, shortly afterwards Nepveus company went bankrupt, but Nepveu found Eiffel a job designing a 22 m sheet iron bridge for the Saint Germaine railway. These were constructed with the aid of compressed air caissons and hydraulic rams, Eiffel was initially given the responsibility of assembling the metalwork and eventually took over the management of the entire project from Nepveu, who resigned in March 1860. Following the completion of the project on schedule Eiffel was appointed as the engineer of the Compagnie Belge. Further promotion within the company followed, but the business began to decline, at the same time he was employed by Jean-Baptiste Kranz to assist him in the design of the exhibition hall for the Exposition Universelle which was to be held in 1867. Eiffels principal job was to draw up the arch girders of the Galerie des Machines, at the end of 1866 Eiffel managed to borrow enough money to set up his own workshops at 48 Rue Fouquet in Levallois-Perret. On 6 October 1868 he entered partnership with Théophile Seyrig, like Eiffel a graduate of the École Centrale. In 1875, Eiffel et Cie were given two important contracts, one for a new terminus for the line from Vienna to Budapest, the station in Budapest was an innovative design. The bridge over the Douro came about as the result of a competition held by the Royal Portuguese Railroad Company and this was greater than the longest arch span which had been built at the time. Eiffels proposal was for a bridge deck was supported by five iron piers. The price quoted by Eiffel was FF, the members included Jean-Baptiste Krantz, Henri Dion and Léon Molinos, both of whom had known Eiffel for a long time, their report was favorable, and Eiffel got the job. On-site work began in January 1876 and was complete by the end of October 1877, the Exposition Universelle in 1878 firmly established his reputation as one of the leading engineers of the time. As well as exhibiting models and drawings of work undertaken by the company, one of these, a pavilion for the Paris Gas Company, was Eiffels first collaboration with Stephen Sauvestre, who was later to become the head of the companys architectural office
9.
Emporis
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Emporis GmbH is a real estate data mining company with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. The company collects and publishes data and photographs of buildings worldwide, Emporis offers a variety of information on its public database, Emporis. com, located at www. emporis. com. Emporis is frequently cited by media sources as an authority on building data. Emporis previously focused exclusively on high-rise buildings and skyscrapers, which it defines as buildings between 35 and 100 metres tall and at least 100 metres tall, respectively, today, the database has expanded to include low-rise buildings and other structures. Michael Wutzke started a website about skyscrapers in Frankfurt in 1996, in 2000 he started skyscrapers. com which was folded into Emporis in 2003. In 2004, Stephan R. Boehm assumed the role of Chairman, Wutzke was Chief Technology Officer and managing director until 2010, when he left the company. In 2007 venture capital firm Neuhaus Partners and KfW Bankengruppe invested several million Euro in the company, effective January 1,2009, the company moved its headquarters from Darmstadt to Frankfurt. In 2011, the company moved from Frankfurt to Hamburg, in 2000 a group of Emporis senior editors began presenting the Emporis Skyscraper Award. Eligible buildings are selected from a list of all buildings in the world at least 100 meters tall which were completed that year
10.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
11.
Wrought iron
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Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content in contrast to cast iron. It is a mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions which gives it a grain resembling wood. Wrought iron is tough, malleable, ductile, corrosion-resistant and easily welded, before the development of effective methods of steelmaking and the availability of large quantities of steel, wrought iron was the most common form of malleable iron. A wrought product is one that has been worked by forging, extruding, rolling, hammering, etcetera, to change its form. Wrought iron is a worked iron product that is seldom produced today as other cheaper. Historically, a modest amount of iron was refined into steel. The demand for wrought iron reached its peak in the 1860s with the adaptation of ironclad warships, however, as properties such as brittleness of mild steel improved, it became less costly and more widely available than wrought iron, whose usage then declined. Wrought iron is no longer produced on a commercial scale, many products described as wrought iron, such as guard rails, garden furniture and gates, are actually made of mild steel. They retain that description because they are made to resemble objects which in the past were wrought by hand by a blacksmith, the word wrought is an archaic past participle of the verb to work, and so wrought iron literally means worked iron. Wrought iron is a term for the commodity, but is also used more specifically for finished iron goods. It was used in that sense in British Customs records. Cast iron, unlike wrought iron, is brittle and cannot be worked either hot or cold, Cast iron can break if struck with a hammer. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, wrought iron went by a variety of terms according to its form, origin. While the bloomery process produced wrought iron directly from ore, cast iron or pig iron were the materials used in the finery forge. Pig iron and cast iron have higher content than wrought iron. Cast and especially pig iron have excess slag which must be at least partially removed to produce quality wrought iron, at foundries it was common to blend scrap wrought iron with cast iron to improve the physical properties of castings. Fusion eventually became accepted as relatively more important than composition below a given low carbon concentration. Another difference is that steel can be hardened by heat treating, historically, wrought iron was known as commercially pure iron, however, it no longer qualifies because current standards for commercially pure iron require a carbon content of less than 0.008 wt%
12.
Lattice tower
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A lattice tower or truss tower is a freestanding framework tower. They can be used as electricity transmission towers especially for voltages above 100 kilovolts, before 1940, they were used as radio transmission towers especially for short and medium wave, occasionally lattice towers consisting of wood were utilized. The tallest wooden tower was at Mühlacker, Germany. It had a height of 190 metres and was built in 1934, most wood lattice towers were demolished before 1960. In Germany the last big radio towers consisting of wood were the towers of the Golm transmitter. They were demolished in 1979 and 1983 respectively, the tallest lattice tower is the Tokyo Skytree, with a height of 634 metres. Lattice towers are designed as either a space frame or a hyperboloid structure. Architectural structure List of towers Hyperboloid structure Partially guyed tower Additionally guyed tower
13.
Exposition Universelle (1889)
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The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a worlds fair held in Paris, France, from 6 May to 31 October 1889. It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event considered symbolic of the beginning of the French Revolution. The 1889 Exposition covered an area of 0.96 km2, including the Champ de Mars, the Trocadéro, the quai dOrsay, a part of the Seine. Transport around the Exposition was partly provided by a 3 kilometre 600 millimetre gauge railway by Decauville and it was claimed that the railway carried 6,342,446 visitors in just six months of operation. Some of the used on this line later saw service on the Chemins de Fer du Calvados. The main symbol of the Fair was the Eiffel Tower, which served as the arch to the Fair. The 1889 fair was held on the Champ de Mars in Paris, which had been the site of the earlier Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867, since the lifts had not been completed when the Exposition opened, the first visitors had to walk up to the second floor platform. Workers had worked through the night the day before the exhibition opened to complete the construction needed to safely allow patrons to set foot upon the structure. No one other than construction personnel were allowed higher than the second floor platform, an equally significant building constructed for the fair was the Galerie des machines, designed by architect Ferdinand Dutert and engineer Victor Contamin. It was reused at the exposition of 1900 and then destroyed in 1910, at 111 meters, the Galerie spanned the longest interior space in the world at the time, using a system of hinged arches made of steel or iron. Although often described as being constructed of steel, it was made of iron. There is a description, with illustrations, of the Expositions two famous buildings in the British journal Engineering. A follow-up report appears a late issue with this summation, the exhibition will be famous for four distinctive features, the 28 June issue of Engineering also mentions a remarkable Great Model of the Earth created by Theodore Villard and Charles Cotard. There were unseasonal thunderstorms in Paris during that summer of 1889, causing distress to the canopies and decoration of the exposition. The Exhibition included a building by the Paris architect Pierre-Henri Picq and this was an elaborate iron and glass structure decorated with ceramic tiles in a Byzantine-Egyptian-Romanesque style. After the Exposition the building was shipped to Fort de France and reassembled there, known as the Schoelcher Library, initially it contained the 10,000 books that Victor Schoelcher had donated to the island. Today it houses over 250,000 books and an ethnographic museum, a Negro village where 400 people were displayed constituted the major attraction. At the Exposition, the French composer Claude Debussy first heard Javanese gamelan music and this influenced some of his later compositions
14.
Cultural icon
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A cultural icon is an artifact that is recognised by members of a culture or sub-culture as representing some aspect of cultural identity. Icons are judged by their ability to be an authentic proxy, when individuals perceives a cultural icon, they compare it with their perceptions of the culture identity it attempts to mimic. Cultural Icons can also be identified as a representation of the practices of one culture by another. In the media, many items of culture have been called iconic despite their lack of durability. Some commentators believe that the word is overused or misused, a subset of cultural icons are national icons. Some examples are, Big Ben, Cup of tea, Red telephone box, Red AEC Routemaster London double decker bus, Spitfire, matryoshka dolls are seen internationally as cultural icons of Russia. Thus an apple pie is an icon of the United States. Religious icons can become cultural icons in societies where religion and culture are deeply entwined. Describing something as iconic or as an icon has become common in the popular media. This has drawn criticism from some, a writer in Liverpool Daily Post calls iconic a word that makes my flesh creep, category, Lists of cultural icons Pop icon Popular culture Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism, Cultural Icons and the Meanings Behind Them, batman Unmasked, Analysing a Cultural Icon. Edwards, Peter, Karl Enenkel, and Elspeth Graham, the Horse as Cultural Icon, The Real and the Symbolic Horse in the Early Modern World. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Foudy, Julie, Leslie Heywood, built to Win, The Female Athlete as Cultural Icon. Titanic Century, Media, Myth, and the Making of a Cultural Icon, titanic Century, Media, Myth, and the Making of a Cultural Icon. Cles Pour la France en 80 Icones Culturelles, the DNA Mystique, The Gene as a Cultural Icon. Reydams-Schils, Gretchen J. Platos Timaeus as Cultural Icon and our New Icons by The Daily Telegraph Nothing and no one are Off Limits in an Age of Iconomania by The Age British Postal Museum & Archive, Icons of England Culture24, Icons of England
15.
Washington Monument
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It is the tallest monumental column in the world if all are measured above their pedestrian entrances. Although the stone structure was completed in 1884, internal ironwork, the knoll, a difference in shading of the marble, visible approximately 150 feet or 27% up, shows where construction was halted and later resumed with marble from a different source. The original design was by Robert Mills, but he did not include his proposed colonnade due to a lack of funds, despite many proposals to embellish the obelisk, only its original flat top was altered to a pointed marble pyramidion, in 1884. Upon completion, it became the worlds tallest structure, a previously held by the Cologne Cathedral. The monument held this designation until 1889, when the Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris, the monument was damaged during the 2011 Virginia earthquake and Hurricane Irene in the same year and remained closed to the public while the structure was assessed and repaired. After 32 months of repairs, the National Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall reopened the Washington Monument to visitors on May 12,2014, as of September 2016, the monument has been closed indefinitely due to reliability issues with the current elevator system. On December 2,2016, the National Park Service announced that the monument would be closed until 2019 in order to modernize the elevator. The $2 to 3 million project will correct the elevators ongoing mechanical, electrical and computer issues, the National Park Service has also requested funding in its FY2017 Presidents Budget Request to construct a permanent screening facility for the Washington Monument. The Washington Monument is expected to re-open to visitors in 2019, even his erstwhile enemy King George III called him the greatest character of the age. At his death in 1799 he left a legacy, he exemplified the core ideals of the American Revolution. Washington was the unchallenged public icon of American military and civic patriotism, starting with victory in the Revolution, there were many proposals to build a monument to Washington. After his death, Congress authorized a memorial in the national capital. The Republicans were dismayed that Washington had become the symbol of the Federalist Party and they also blocked his image on coins or the celebration of his birthday. Further political squabbling, along with the North-South division on the Civil War, by that time, Washington had the image of a national hero who could be celebrated by both North and South, and memorials to him were no longer controversial. As early as 1783, the Continental Congress had resolved That an equestrian statue of George Washington be erected at the place where the residence of Congress shall be established, currently, there are two equestrian statues of President Washington in Washington, D. C. Ten days after Washingtons death, a Congressional committee recommended a different type of monument, John Marshall, a Representative from Virginia proposed that a tomb be erected within the Capitol. Progress toward a memorial began in 1832. That year, which marked the 100th anniversary of Washingtons birth, in 1836, after they had raised $28,000 in donations, they announced a competition for the design of the memorial
16.
Chrysler Building
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At 1,046 feet, the structure was the worlds tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. It is the tallest brick building in the world, with a steel structure, in addition, The New York Times Building, which opened in 2007, is exactly level with the Chrysler Building in height. The Chrysler Building is an example of Art Deco architecture. In 2007, it was ranked ninth on the List of Americas Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects and it was the headquarters of the Chrysler Corporation from 1930 until the mid-1950s. Although the building was built and designed specifically for the car manufacturer, Chrysler decided to pay for it himself, so that his children could inherit it. The Chrysler Building was designed by architect William Van Alen for a project of Walter P. Chrysler, when the ground breaking occurred on September 19,1928, there was an intense competition in New York City to build the worlds tallest skyscraper. Despite a frantic pace, no workers died during the construction of this skyscraper, Van Alens original design for the skyscraper called for a decorative jewel-like glass crown. It also featured a base in which the windows were tripled in height and topped by 12 stories with glass-wrapped corners. The height of the skyscraper was originally designed to be 246 meters. However, the proved to be too advanced and costly for building contractor William H. Reynolds. The design and lease were then sold to Walter P. Chrysler, construction commenced on September 19,1928. In total,391,881 rivets were used and approximately 3,826,000 bricks were manually laid, contractors, builders and engineers were joined by other building-services experts to coordinate construction. Prior to its completion, the building stood about even with a project at 40 Wall Street. Severance increased the height of his project and then claimed the title of the worlds tallest building. In response, Van Alen obtained permission for a 38-meter long spire and had it secretly constructed inside the frame of the building, the spire was delivered to the site in four different sections. On October 23,1929, the section of the spire was hoisted to the top of the buildings dome. The other remaining sections of the spire were hoisted and riveted to the first one in order in just 90 minutes. It was the first man-made structure to stand taller than 1,000 feet, Van Alens satisfaction in these accomplishments was likely muted by Walter Chryslers later refusal to pay the balance of his architectural fee
17.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
18.
Antenna (radio)
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In radio and electronics, an antenna, or aerial, is an electrical device which converts electric power into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a transmitter or radio receiver. In reception, an antenna intercepts some of the power of a wave in order to produce a tiny voltage at its terminals. Antennas are essential components of all equipment that uses radio, typically an antenna consists of an arrangement of metallic conductors, electrically connected to the receiver or transmitter. These time-varying fields radiate away from the antenna into space as a transverse electromagnetic field wave. Antennas can be designed to transmit and receive radio waves in all directions equally. The first antennas were built in 1888 by German physicist Heinrich Hertz in his experiments to prove the existence of electromagnetic waves predicted by the theory of James Clerk Maxwell. Hertz placed dipole antennas at the point of parabolic reflectors for both transmitting and receiving. He published his work in Annalen der Physik und Chemie, the words antenna and aerial are used interchangeably. Occasionally the term aerial is used to mean a wire antenna, however, note the important international technical journal, the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. In the United Kingdom and other areas where British English is used, the origin of the word antenna relative to wireless apparatus is attributed to Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. In the summer of 1895, Marconi began testing his wireless system outdoors on his fathers estate near Bologna, Marconi discovered that by raising the aerial wire above the ground and connecting the other side of his transmitter to ground, the transmission range was increased. Soon he was able to transmit signals over a hill, a distance of approximately 2.4 kilometres, in Italian a tent pole is known as lantenna centrale, and the pole with the wire was simply called lantenna. Until then wireless radiating transmitting and receiving elements were simply as aerials or terminals. Because of his prominence, Marconis use of the word spread among wireless researchers. In common usage, the antenna may refer broadly to an entire assembly including support structure, enclosure. Especially at microwave frequencies, an antenna may include not only the actual electrical antenna. An antenna, in converting radio waves to electrical signals or vice versa, is a form of transducer, Antennas are required by any radio receiver or transmitter to couple its electrical connection to the electromagnetic field
19.
Millau Viaduct
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The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. It is the tallest bridge in the world with one summit at 343.0 metres above the base of the structure. The Millau Viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Béziers, the cost of construction was approximately €394 million. It was formally inaugurated on 14 December 2004, and opened to traffic on 16 December. The first plans were discussed in 1987 by CETE, and by October 1991, during 1993–1994 the government consulted with seven architects and eight structural engineers. During 1995–1996, a second study was made by five associated architect groups. In January 1995, the government issued a declaration of public interest to solicit design approaches for a competition, in July 1996, the jury decided in favour of a cable-stayed design with multiple spans, as proposed by the Sogelerg consortium. The decision to proceed by grant of contract was made in May 1998, then in June 2000 the contest for the contract was launched. In March 2001 Eiffage established the subsidiary Compagnie Eiffage du Viaduc de Millau and was declared winner of the contest and this option would have allowed access to Millau only from the Larzac plateau, using the long and tortuous descent from La Cavalerie. Although this option was shorter and better suited to through traffic, it did not satisfactorily serve the needs of Millau, great Western, longer than the eastern option by 12 km, following the Cernon valley. Technically easier, this solution was judged to have negative impacts on the environment, in particular on the villages of Peyre. It was more expensive than the option, and served the region badly. Near RN9, would have served the town of Millau well, intermediate, west of Millau was supported by local opinion, but presented geological difficulties, notably on the question of crossing the valley of the Tarn. Expert investigation concluded that these obstacles were not insurmountable, the fourth option was selected by ministerial decree on 28 June 1989. The choice of the solution was decided by ministerial decree on 29 October 1991. After the choice of the viaduct, five teams of architects. The concept and design for the bridge was devised by French designer Michel Virlogeux and he worked with the Dutch engineering firm ARCADIS, responsible for the structural engineering of the bridge. The high solution required the construction of a 2,500 m long viaduct, from 1991 to 1993, the structures division of Sétra, directed by Michel Virlogeux, carried out preliminary studies and examined the feasibility of a single structure spanning the valley
20.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
21.
World's fair
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A worlds fair, world fair, world exposition, or universal exposition is a large international exhibition designed to showcase achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in varying parts of the world, the next world Expo is Expo 2020 and is to be held in Dubai, UAE. Since the 1928 Convention Relating to International Exhibitions came into force, bIE-approved fairs are of three types, universal, specialized and horticultural. They usually last from three weeks to six months, Worlds fairs originated in the French tradition of national exhibitions, a tradition that culminated with the French Industrial Exposition of 1844 held in Paris. This fair was followed by other exhibitions in continental Europe. The best-known first World Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. The Great Exhibition, as it is called, was an idea of Prince Albert, Queen Victorias husband. It influenced the development of aspects of society, including art-and-design education, international trade and relations. This expo was the most obvious precedent for the international exhibitions, later called worlds fairs. Since their inception in 1851, the character of world expositions has evolved, three eras can be distinguished, the era of industrialization, the era of cultural exchange, and the era of nation branding. The first era could be called the era of industrialization and covered, roughly, in these days, world expositions were especially focused on trade, and were famous for the display of technological inventions and advancements. World expositions were the platforms where the state-of-the-art in science and technology from around the world were brought together, inventions such as the telephone were first presented during this era. An important part of the image of worlds fairs stems from this first era, the 1939–40 New York Worlds Fair diverged from the original focus of the worlds fair expositions. From then on, worlds fairs adopted specific cultural themes, they forecasted a future for society. Technological innovations were no longer the primary exhibits at fairs, the fairs encouraged effective intercultural communication for the exchange of innovation. The 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal was promoted under the name Expo 67, event organizers retired the term worlds fair in favor of expo. From Expo 88 in Brisbane onwards, countries started to use world expositions more widely, finland, Japan, Canada, France and Spain are cases in point. A large study by Tjaco Walvis called Expo 2000 Hanover in Numbers showed that improving national image was the primary goal for 73% of the countries at Expo 2000
22.
French Revolution
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Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
23.
Latting Observatory
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The Latting Observatory was a wooden tower in New York City built as part of the 1853 Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, adjoining the New York Crystal Palace. It was located on the North side of 42nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue across the street from the site of present-day Bryant Park. The tower, taller than the spire of Trinity Church at 290 feet, was the tallest structure in New York City from the time it was constructed in 1853 until it burnt down in 1856. The towers base was a 75-foot square, tapering to a top of six to eight feet and it could handle up to 1,500 people at a time. The Latting Observatory was an inspiration for the Eiffel Tower, engineer Eiffel acknowledged that the origin of the idea for an observation tower came from America but that his tower in Paris improved upon the American version in several ways. The Latting Observatory was built without regard for beauty of form and purely for commercial purpose in contrast to the Eiffel Tower, none of the accounts of the tower mention steam elevators, and so it would appear that they were never installed. Ascent was possible using winding stairways with several intermediate landings, the ascent to the top of the structure was described as fatiguing, but it improves digestion. The building was acquired by the Hydeville Marble Works shortly after the end of the fair in 1854, the observatory burned down in a fire that started between midnight and 1,00 AM on August 30,1856 in a coopers shop located at 49 West 43rd Street. The fire spread rapidly and attracted spectators from around the city, though the fire destroyed more than twelve buildings and several families were left homeless, there were no known injuries or fatalities related to the incident. The Hydeville Marble Works, which owned the observatory, suffered a loss of $100,000 on merchandise and structures, the New York Times described the fire as one of the most destructive conflagrations that has occurred in the City for a long time. With property valued at a total of $150,000 destroyed, spectators feared that the tower would topple on and crush the north side of the Crystal Palace, but the observatory burnt down on its base into a mass of smouldering cinders. Fire companies from Williamsburg and elsewhere in Brooklyn were ferried across the East River to assist in extinguishing the blaze
24.
Notre-Dame de Paris
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Notre-Dame de Paris, also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral or simply Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. The cathedral is considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. The naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture, as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Paris, Notre-Dame contains the cathedra of the Archbishop of Paris, currently Cardinal André Vingt-Trois. The cathedral treasury contains a reliquary, which some of Catholicisms most important relics, including the purported Crown of Thorns, a fragment of the True Cross. In the 1790s, Notre-Dame suffered desecration in the phase of the French Revolution when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. An extensive restoration supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc began in 1845, a project of further restoration and maintenance began in 1991. The Notre-Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress, in response, the cathedrals architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern. The total surface area is 5,500 m², many small individually crafted statues were placed around the outside to serve as column supports and water spouts. Among these are the famous gargoyles, designed for water run-off, the statues were originally colored as was most of the exterior. The cathedral was complete by 1345. It is possible therefore that the faults with the structure were exaggerated by the Bishop to help justify the rebuilding in a newer style. According to legend, Sully had a vision of a new cathedral for Paris. To begin the construction, the bishop had several houses demolished and had a new road built to transport materials for the rest of the cathedral. Construction began in 1163 during the reign of Louis VII, however, both were at the ceremony. Bishop de Sully went on to devote most of his life, construction of the choir took from 1163 until around 1177 and the new High Altar was consecrated in 1182. By this stage, the facade had also been laid out. Numerous architects worked on the site over the period of construction, between 1210 and 1220, the fourth architect oversaw the construction of the level with the rose window and the great halls beneath the towers. Shortly afterwards Pierre de Montreuil executed a similar scheme on the southern transept,1160 Maurice de Sully orders the original cathedral demolished
25.
Egyptian pyramids
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The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt. As of November 2008, sources cite either 118 or 138 as the number of identified Egyptian pyramids, most were built as tombs for the countrys pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found at Saqqara, northwest of Memphis, the earliest among these is the Pyramid of Djoser which was built during the third dynasty. This pyramid and its surrounding complex were designed by the architect Imhotep, the most famous Egyptian pyramids are those found at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo. Several of the Giza pyramids are counted among the largest structures ever built, the Pyramid of Khufu at Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It is the one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still in existence. By the time of the Early Dynastic Period, those with sufficient means were buried in bench-like structures known as mastabas, the second historically-documented Egyptian pyramid is attributed to the architect Imhotep, who planned what Egyptologists believe to be a tomb for the pharaoh Djoser. Imhotep is credited with being the first to conceive the notion of stacking mastabas on top of each other, the result was the Pyramid of Djoser, which was designed to serve as a gigantic stairway by which the soul of the deceased pharaoh could ascend to the heavens. Such was the importance of Imhoteps achievement that he was deified by later Egyptians, the most prolific pyramid-building phase coincided with the greatest degree of absolutist rule. It was during this time that the most famous pyramids, the Giza pyramid complex, were built. Long after the end of Egypts own pyramid-building period, a burst of pyramid-building occurred in what is present-day Sudan, al-Aziz Uthman tried to destroy the Giza pyramid complex. He gave up after damaging the Pyramid of Menkaure because the task proved too huge, the shape of Egyptian pyramids is thought to represent the primordial mound from which the Egyptians believed the earth was created. Pyramids were often named in ways that referred to solar luminescence. For example, the name of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur The Southern Shining Pyramid. While it is agreed that pyramids were burial monuments, there is continued disagreement on the particular theological principles that might have given rise to them. One suggestion is that they were designed as a type of resurrection machine, the Egyptians believed the dark area of the night sky around which the stars appear to revolve was the physical gateway into the heavens. One of the shafts that extend from the main burial chamber through the entire body of the Great Pyramid points directly towards the center of this part of the sky. This suggests the pyramid may have designed to serve as a means to magically launch the deceased pharaohs soul directly into the abode of the gods
26.
Charles Garnier (architect)
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Jean-Louis Charles Garnier was a French architect, perhaps best known as the architect of the Palais Garnier and the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Charles Garnier was born Jean-Louis Charles Garnier on 6 November 1825 in Paris, on the Rue Mouffetard and his father was originally from Sarthe, and had worked as a blacksmith, wheelwright, and coachbuilder before settling down in Paris to work in a horse-drawn carriage rental business. He married Felicia Colle, daughter of a captain in the French Army, later in life, Garnier would all but ignore the fact that he was born of humble origins, preferring to claim Sarthe as his birthplace. Garnier became an apprentice of Louis-Hippolyte Lebas, and after that a student of the École royale des Beaux-Arts de Paris. He obtained the Premier Grand Prix de Rome in 1848, at age twenty-three, the subject of his final examination was entitled, Un conservatoire des arts et métiers, avec galerie dexpositions pour les produits de lindustrie. He became a pensioner of the Académie de France à Rome from 17 January to 31 December 1849 and he traveled through Greece which provided him the subject of his fourth year submission, presented at the Paris Salon in 1853. He visited Greece with Edmond About and Constantinople with Théophile Gautier and he worked on the Temple of Aphaea in Aegina where he insisted on polychromy. He was named, in 1874, member of the Institut de France, on 30 December 1860 the Second Empire of Emperor Napoleon III announced a competition for the design of a new, state-funded opera house. The old opera house, located on the rue Le Peletier, applicants were given a month to submit entries. There were two phases to the competition, and Garnier was one of about 170 entrants in the first phase and he was awarded the fifth-place prize and was one of seven finalists selected for the second phase. You have greatly improved your project since the first competition, whereas Ginain has ruined his, soon the thirty-five-year-old and relatively unknown Garnier began work on the building, which eventually would be named for him, the Palais Garnier. Many people had difficulty in deciding exactly what style he was trying to portray, when asked by Empress Eugénie in what style the building was to be done, he is said to have replied, Why Maam, in Napoleon Trois, and you complain. Construction began in the summer of 1861, though setbacks would delay it for fourteen years. During the first week of excavation, a stream was discovered. It required eight months for the water to be pumped out, Garniers double-walled and bitumen-sealed cement and concrete foundation proved strong enough to withstand any possible leakages, and construction continued. The defeat of the French army by the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan in 1870 resulted in the end of the Second Empire. During the Siege of Paris and the Paris Commune in 1871, the opera house was finally inaugurated on 5 January 1875. The people who entered the building, spanning nearly 119,000 square feet, were generally awed by its immense size
27.
Adolphe Bouguereau
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William-Adolphe Bouguereau was a French academic painter and traditionalist. In his realistic genre paintings he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, during his life he enjoyed significant popularity in France and the United States, was given numerous official honors, and received top prices for his work. As the quintessential salon painter of his generation, he was reviled by the Impressionist avant-garde, by the early twentieth century, Bouguereau and his art fell out of favor with the public, due in part to changing tastes. In the 1980s, a revival of interest in figure painting led to a rediscovery of Bouguereau, throughout the course of his life, Bouguereau executed 822 known finished paintings, although the whereabouts of many are still unknown. William-Adolphe Bouguereau was born in La Rochelle, France, on November 30,1825, into a family of wine, the son of Théodore Bouguereau and Marie Bonnin, known as Adeline, William was brought up a Catholic. He had a brother, Alfred, and a younger sister, Marie. The family moved to Saint-Martin-de-Ré in 1832, another sibling was born in 1834, Kitty. At 12 the boy went to Mortagne to stay with his uncle Eugène, a priest, in 1839 he was sent to study the priesthood at a Catholic college in Pons. Here he was taught to draw and paint by Louis Sage who had studied under Ingres, William reluctantly left his studies to return to his family, now residing in Bordeaux. Here the boy met a local artist, Charles Marionneau, William also worked as a shop assistant, hand-colouring lithographs and making small paintings that were reproduced using chromolithography. He was soon the best pupil in his class and decided to become an artist in Paris, to fund the move, he sold portraits -33 oils in three months. All were unsigned and only one has been traced and he arrived in Paris aged 20 in March 1846. Bouguereau became a student at the École des Beaux-Arts, to supplement his formal training in drawing, he attended anatomical dissections and studied historical costumes and archeology. He was admitted to the studio of François-Édouard Picot, where he studied painting in the academic style and he also studied classical literature, which influenced his subject choice for the rest of his career. In April 1848 the young artist entered the Prix de Rome contest, soon after work began there were riots in Paris and Bouguereau enrolled in the National Guard. After an unsuccessful attempt to win the prize, he entered again in 1849, following 106 days of competition he again failed to win. His third attempt commenced in April 1850 and five months later he heard he had won a joint first prize, along with other category winners, William set off for Rome in December and finally arrived at the Villa Medici in January 1851. He explored the city, making sketches and watercolours as he went and he walked to Naples and on to Capri, Amalfi and Pompeii
28.
Guy de Maupassant
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Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, effortless dénouements. He wrote some 300 short stories, six novels, three books, and one volume of verse. His first published story, Boule de Suif, is considered his masterpiece. Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant was born 5 August 1850 at the Château de Miromesnil (Castle Miromesnil and he was the first son of Laure Le Poittevin and Gustave de Maupassant, both from prosperous bourgeois families. When Maupassant was 11 and his brother Hervé was five, his mother, after the separation, Laure Le Poittevin kept her two sons. With the fathers absence, Maupassants mother became the most influential figure in the boys life. She was an exceptionally well-read woman and was fond of classical literature. From his early education he retained a marked hostility to religion, finding the place to be unbearable, he finally got himself expelled in his next-to-last year. In 1867, as he entered high school, Maupassant made acquaintance with Gustave Flaubert at Croisset at the insistence of his mother. Next year, in autumn, he was sent to the Lycée Pierre-Corneille in Rouen where he proved a good scholar indulging in poetry, in October 1868, at the age of 18, he saved the famous poet Algernon Charles Swinburne from drowning off the coast of Étretat. The Franco-Prussian War broke out soon after his graduation from college in 1870, in 1871, he left Normandy and moved to Paris where he spent ten years as a clerk in the Navy Department. During this time his only recreation and relaxation was boating on the Seine on Sundays and holidays, Gustave Flaubert took him under his protection and acted as a kind of literary guardian to him, guiding his debut in journalism and literature. At Flauberts home, he met Émile Zola and the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev and he wrote and played himself in a comedy in 1875, À la feuille de rose, maison turque. In 1878, he was transferred to the Ministry of Public Instruction and became an editor to several leading newspapers such as Le Figaro, Gil Blas, Le Gaulois. He devoted his time to writing novels and short stories. In 1880 he published what is considered his first masterpiece, Boule de Suif, Flaubert characterized it as a masterpiece that will endure. This was Maupassants first piece of fiction set during the Franco-Prussian War, and was followed by short stories such as Deux Amis, Mother Savage. The decade from 1880 to 1891 was the most fertile period of Maupassants life, made famous by his first short story, he worked methodically and produced two or sometimes four volumes annually
29.
Charles Gounod
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Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, best known for his Ave Maria, based on a work by Bach, as well as his opera Faust. Another opera by Gounod occasionally still performed is Roméo et Juliette, although he is known for his Grand Operas, the soprano aria Que ferons-nous avec le ragoût de citrouille. From his first opera Livre de recettes dun enfant is still performed in concert as an encore, Gounod died at Saint-Cloud in 1893, after a final revision of his twelve operas. His funeral took place ten days later at the Church of the Madeleine, with Camille Saint-Saëns playing the organ and Gabriel Fauré conducting. Ironically because of its obscurity today, an arrangement of Que ferons-nous avec le ragoût de citrouille. was performed by Saint-Saens at the funeral, due to its simple and it was later published as a posthumous Op.60. He was buried at the Cimetière dAuteuil in Paris, Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and an artist father. His mother was his first piano teacher, Gounod first showed his musical talents under her tutelage. He then entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied under Fromental Halévy, in 1839 he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Fernand. In so doing he was following his father, François-Louis Gounod had won the second Prix de Rome in painting in 1783. During his stay of four years in Italy, Gounod studied the music of Palestrina and other sacred works of the sixteenth century, around 1846-47 he gave serious consideration to joining the priesthood, but he changed his mind before actually taking holy orders, and went back to composition. During that period he was attached to the Church of Foreign Missions in Paris, in 1854 Gounod completed a Messe Solennelle, also known as the St. Cecilia Mass. This work was first performed in its entirety in the church of St. Eustache in Paris on Saint Cecilias Day,22 November 1855, during 1855 Gounod wrote two symphonies. His Symphony No.1 in D major was the inspiration for the Symphony in C composed later that year by Georges Bizet, fanny Mendelssohn, sister of Felix Mendelssohn, introduced the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach to Gounod, who came to revere him. For him The Well-Tempered Clavier was the law to pianoforte study. the unquestioned textbook of musical composition and it inspired Gounod to devise a melody and superimpose it on the C major Prelude from the collections first book. To this melody in 1859, Gounod fitted the words of the Ave Maria, Gounod wrote his first opera, Sapho, in 1851 at the urging of his friend, the singer Pauline Viardot, it was a commercial failure. He had no theatrical success until Faust, derived from Goethe. The romantic and melodious Roméo et Juliette, premiered in 1867, is revived now, mireille, first performed in 1864, has been admired by connoisseurs rather than by the general public. The other Gounod operas have fallen into oblivion, from 1870 to 1874 Gounod lived in England, at 17 Morden Road, Blackheath
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Jules Massenet
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Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are Manon and Werther and he also composed oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, songs and other music. While still a schoolboy, Massenet was admitted to Frances principal music college, there he studied under Ambroise Thomas, whom he greatly admired. After winning the top musical prize, the Prix de Rome, in 1863, he composed prolifically in many genres. Massenet had a sense of the theatre and of what would succeed with the Parisian public. Despite some miscalculations, he produced a series of successes that made him the composer of opera in France in the late 19th. Like many prominent French composers of the period, Massenet became a professor at the Conservatoire and he taught composition there from 1878 until 1896, when he resigned after the death of the director, Ambroise Thomas. Among his students were Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn, by the time of his death, Massenet was regarded by many critics as old-fashioned and unadventurous although his two best-known operas remained popular in France and abroad. After a few decades of neglect, his works began to be favourably reassessed during the mid-20th century, Massenet was born at Montaud, then an outlying hamlet and now a part of the city of Saint-Étienne, in the Loire. He was the youngest of the four children of Alexis Massenet and his second wife Eléonore-Adelaïde née Royer de Marancour, Massenet senior was a prosperous ironmonger, his wife was a talented amateur musician who gave Jules his first piano lessons. By early 1848 the family had moved to Paris, where settled in a flat in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Massenet was educated at the Lycée Saint-Louis and, from either 1851 or 1853 and his biographer Demar Irvine dates the audition and admission as January 1853. Both sources agree that Massenet continued his education at the lycée in tandem with his musical studies. At the Conservatoire Massenet studied solfège with Augustin Savard and the piano with François Laurent and he pursued his studies, with modest distinction, until the beginning of 1855, when family concerns disrupted his education. Alexis Massenets health was poor, and on advice he moved from Paris to Chambéry in the south of France. On his return he lodged with relations in Montmartre and resumed his studies, the familys finances were no longer comfortable, and to support himself Massenet took private piano students and played as a percussionist in theatre orchestras. His work in the pit gave him a good working knowledge of the operas of Gounod and other composers, classic. He gained some work as a piano accompanist, in the course of which he met Wagner who, in 1861 Massenets music was published for the first time, the Grande Fantasie de Concert sur le Pardon de Ploërmel de Meyerbeer, a virtuoso piano work in nine sections
31.
Jean-Charles Alphand
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Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, born in 1817 and died in 1891, interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery, was a French engineer of the Corps of Bridges and Roads. Under this title, Alphand continued Haussmanns works, Alphand also became the Director of Water Works after the death of Eugène Belgrand in 1878. New York, New York, Princeton Architectural Press, montsouris and Buttes-Chaumont, the art of the faux. Paris, Paris, Journey into the City of Light, life and History of the 19th Arrondissement
32.
Le Temps (Paris)
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Le Temps was one of Pariss most important daily newspapers from 25 April 1861 to 30 November 1942. It was the paper of record. He was succeeded by his sons Émile, and Adrien Jr. soon after Mills death in 1931, Le Temps became a public limited company. Adrien Hébrard and his successors left substantial freedom to the editorial room, Le Temps always remained moderate politically. The early issues of the newspaper reflected Nefftzers liberal philosophy had considerable trouble achieving readership and he had to frequently turn to friends in Alsace who were able to help support Le Temps financially. However, circulation continued to grow, from scarcely 3,000 in 1861, during the interwar period it varied between 50,000 to 80,000. Despite this comparatively modest circulation, Le Temps soon became the most important newspaper of the French Republic particularly among the French political, the political and diplomatic information and commentaries contained in this quality newspaper, serious to the point of boredom, also carried considerable clout elsewhere in Europe. Journalists and correspondents included Georges Bruni, and Adolphe Cohn in the United States, the Paris edition of Le Temps was suspended by the Paris Commune, and as such, lacks issues from 7 May –19 May 1871. The St. Germain edition, however, ran continuously for 81 years, on 28 November 1942, following the German invasion of the Zone Libre, Jacques Chastenet and Émile Mireaux, the two co-directors of Le Temps, jettisoned the newspaper. At Charles de Gaulles request, Le Monde was founded on 19 December 1944 to replace Le Temps as the newspaper of record, borrowing the layout, history of French journalism Le Temps digital archives from 1861 to 1940 in Gallica, the digital library of the BnF
33.
Calligram
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A calligram is a text visually arranged in a way that it forms an image associated with the texts contents. Guillaume Apollinaire was a famous writer and author of a book of poems called Calligrammes. Ambigram Concrete poetry Islamic calligraphy Micrography Visual poetry Sonja A. J, anhand von Paul van Ostaijens De feesten van angst en pijn. Amsterdam, ASCA Press 2000 Deme, Zoltan, Poem-miniatures, in, Chords of Scales, Globe Publish House 1995. Library of Congress No,2003278749 Post-War Japanese Poetry, Penguin Books,1972, a collection of calligrams by Laura Ruggeri
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Guillaume Apollinaire
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Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the early 20th century, as well as one of the most impassioned defenders of Cubism and a forefather of Surrealism. He is credited with coining the term cubism in 1911 to describe the art movement. The term Orphism is also his, Apollinaire wrote one of the earliest Surrealist literary works, the play The Breasts of Tiresias, which became the basis for the 1947 opera Les mamelles de Tirésias. Two years after being wounded in World War I, Apollinaire died in the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki was born in Rome, Italy, and was raised speaking French, Italian, and Polish. He emigrated to France in his teens and adopted the name Guillaume Apollinaire. His mother, born Angelika Kostrowicka, was a Polish noblewoman born near Navahrudak and his maternal grandfather was a general in the Russian Imperial Army who was killed in the Crimean War. Apollinaires father is unknown but may have been Francesco Costantino Camillo Flugi dAspermont, Francesco Flugi von Aspermont was a nephew of Conradin Flugi dAspermont, a poet who wrote in ladin putèr, and perhaps also of the Minnesänger Oswald von Wolkenstein. Apollinaire eventually moved from Rome to Paris and became one of the most popular members of the community of Paris. He became romantically involved with Marie Laurencin, who is identified as his muse. In late 1909 or early 1910, Metzinger painted a Cubist portrait of Apollinaire. In his Vie anecdotique, the poet proudly writes, I am honoured to be the first model of a Cubist painter, Jean Metzinger, in 1911 he joined the Puteaux Group, a branch of the Cubist movement soon to be known as the Section dOr. The opening address of the 1912 Salon de la Section dOr—the most important pre-World War I Cubist exhibition—was given by Apollinaire. On 7 September 1911, police arrested and jailed him on suspicion of aiding and abetting the theft of the Mona Lisa and a number of Egyptian statuettes from the Louvre, but released him a week later. The theft of the statues was committed by a secretary of Apollinaires, Honoré Joseph Géry Pieret. Apollinaire implicated his friend Pablo Picasso, who was brought in for questioning in the theft of the Mona Lisa. The theft of the Mona Lisa was perpetrated by Vincenzo Peruggia, Apollinaire was active as a journalist and art critic for Le Matin, Intransigeant, and Paris Journal. He once called for the Louvre to be burnt down, Apollinaire wrote the preface for the first Cubist exposition outside of Paris, VIII Salon des Indépendants, Brussels,1911
35.
Structural art
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Certain works of structural engineering design are also works of structural art. Such works can be classified as structural art when they attain excellence in the three areas of efficiency, economy, and elegance, as defined by Prof. David P. Billington of Princeton University and these constraints include the safety and serviceability of the structure. While structural artists often collaborate with architects, the discipline of art is based upon engineering rather than architectural design. A theme uniting many of the foundational structural artists is that either were builders themselves or had a builders mentality. Other scholars of structural engineering design have published works that can be considered part of the body of knowledge on structural art, what materials are used, and how much is used. Social, What were the short and long term costs of the structure to society, what role does the structure play in the functioning of society. Symbolic, What feelings does the structure inspire, what meaning does the structure carry for its users. An example of three specific ideas related to the three Ss are the Three Es, economy, Avoidance of excessive monetary cost in the design, construction, operating and decommissioning costs of a structure. Economy should be evaluated in terms of the life-cycle cost of the structure whenever possible, elegance, The structural form should be aesthetically pleasing, but should be defined and driven by engineering considerations. Thus, an elegant design is not simply one that is pleasing, but one that arises from engineering creativity, satisfies the requirements of efficiency and economy, and is also pleasing. Professor Billington has also put forth in his lectures that works of structural art involve imagination, inspiration, structural art is distinct from architecture primarily in that the constraints under which structural artists practice are very different from those under which architects practice. Structural artists, while seeking elegance, must satisfy safety and serviceability, efficiency and economy, architects are somewhat freer in making designs, constrained primarily by usage needs. Eero Saarinens Gateway Arch and the Eiffel Tower provide a contrast that illustrates the difference between art and architecture. The Gateway arch is thought to be a highly successful work of architecture. Both structures must primarily resist wind loads yet have different forms. The Eiffel Tower has been shown to be the optimal form for resisting wind loads. The Gateway Arch succeeds as a work of architecture and does not meet the ideals of efficiency, contemporary scholarly debate regarding the definition of structural art continues to develop and advance the concept. Two areas in which such debate is occurring are the inclusion of an aspect in the evaluation of structural art
36.
Foundation (engineering)
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A foundation is the element of an architectural structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads from the structure to the ground. Foundations are generally considered either shallow or deep, foundation engineering is the application of soil mechanics and rock mechanics in the design of foundation elements of structures. Buildings and structures have a history of being built with wood in contact with the ground. Post in ground construction may technically have no foundation, timber pilings were used on soft or wet ground even below stone or masonry walls. In marine construction and bridge building a crisscross of timbers or steel beams in concrete is called grillage, perhaps the simplest foundation is the padstone, a single stone which both spreads the weight on the ground and raises the timber off the ground. Staddle stones are a type of padstone. Dry stone and stones laid in mortar to build foundations are common in parts of the world. Dry laid stone foundations may have painted with mortar after construction. Sometimes the top, visible course of stone is hewn, quarried stones, besides using mortar, stones can also be put in a gabion. One disadvantage is that if using regular steel rebars, the gabion would last much less long than when using mortar, using weathering steel rebars could reduce this disadvantage somewhat. Rubble trench foundations are a shallow trench filled with rubble or stones and these foundations extend below the frost line and may have a drain pipe which helps groundwater drain away. They are suitable for soils with a capacity of more than 10 tonnes/m², shallow foundations, often called footings, are usually embedded about a metre or so into soil. One common type is the spread footing which consists of strips or pads of concrete which extend below the frost line and transfer the weight from walls and columns to the soil or bedrock. Another common type of foundation is the slab-on-grade foundation where the weight of the building is transferred to the soil through a concrete slab placed at the surface. A deep foundation is used to transfer the load of a structure down through the upper layer of topsoil to the stronger layer of subsoil below. There are different types of deep footings including impact driven piles, drilled shafts, caissons, helical piles, geo-piers, the naming conventions for different types of footings vary between different engineers. Historically, piles were wood, later steel, reinforced concrete, a large number of monopile foundations have been utilized in recent years for economically constructing fixed-bottom offshore wind farms in shallow-water subsea locations. For example, a wind farm off the coast of England went online in 2008 with over 100 turbines
37.
Seine
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The Seine is a 777-kilometre-long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Source-Seine,30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and it is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea. There are 37 bridges within Paris and dozens more spanning the river outside the city, examples in Paris include the Pont Alexandre III and Pont Neuf, the latter of which dates back to 1607. Outside the city, examples include the Pont de Normandie, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, the Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864, a number of closely associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial grotto laid out to highlight and contain a deemed main source. The grotto includes a statue of a nymph, on the same site are the buried remains of a Gallo-Roman temple. Small statues of the dea Sequana Seine goddess and other ex voti found at the place are now exhibited in the Dijon archeological museum. The Seine is dredged and oceangoing vessels can dock at Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea, commercial riverboats can use the river from Bar-sur-Seine,560 kilometres to its mouth. At Paris, there are 37 bridges, the river is only 24 metres above sea level 446 kilometres from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable. The Seine Maritime,105.7 kilometres from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft. The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a section with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Multiple locks at Bougival / Chatou and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, upstream from Paris seven locks ensure navigation to Saint Mammès, where the Loing mouth is situated. Through an eighth lock the river Yonne is reached at Montereau-Fault-Yonne, from the mouth of the Yonne, larger ships can continue upstream to Nogent-sur-Seine. From there on, the river is only by small craft. All navigation ends abruptly at Marcilly-sur-Seine, where the ancient Canal de la Haute-Seine used to allow vessels to continue all the way to Troyes and this canal has been abandoned for many years. The average depth of the Seine today at Paris is about 9.5 metres. Until locks were installed to raise the level in the 1800s, the river was much shallower within the city most of the time, today the depth is tightly controlled and the entire width of the river between the built-up banks on either side is normally filled with water. The average flow of the river is low, only a few cubic metres per second
38.
Deep foundation
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A deep foundation is a type of foundation which transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does, to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile is a structural element of a deep foundation. There are different terms used to different types of deep foundations including the pile, the pier, drilled shafts. Piles are generally driven into the ground in situ, other foundations are typically put in place using excavation. The naming conventions may vary between engineering disciplines and firms, Deep foundations can be made out of timber, steel, reinforced concrete or prestressed concrete. Prefabricated piles are driven into the ground using a pile driver, driven piles are either wood, reinforced concrete, or steel. Wooden piles are made from the trunks of tall trees, concrete piles are available in square, octagonal, and round cross-sections. They are reinforced with rebar and are often prestressed, steel piles are either pipe piles or some sort of beam section. Foundations relying on driven piles often have groups of piles connected by a cap to distribute loads which are larger than one pile can bear. A monopile foundation utilizes a single, generally large-diameter, foundation structural element to all the loads of a large above-surface structure. A transition piece is attached to the now deeply driven pile, an additional layer of even larger stone, up to 0.5 m diameter, is applied to the surface of the seabed for longer-term erosion protection. Rotary boring techniques allow larger diameter piles than any other piling method, Construction methods depend on the geology of the site, in particular, whether boring is to be undertaken in dry ground conditions or through water-saturated strata - i. e. wet boring. Casing is often used when the sides of the borehole are likely to slough off before concrete is poured, for end-bearing piles, drilling continues until the borehole has extended a sufficient depth into a sufficiently strong layer. Depending on site geology, this can be a layer, or hardpan, or other dense. Both the diameter of the pile and the depth of the pile are highly specific to the conditions, loading conditions. Pile depths may vary substantially across a project if the layer is not level. Drilled piles can be tested using a variety of methods to verify the pile integrity during installation, under-reamed piles have mechanically formed enlarged bases that are as much as 6 m in diameter. The form is that of a cone and can only be formed in stable soils
39.
Caisson (engineering)
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These are constructed such that the water can be pumped out, keeping the working environment dry. When piers are to be using an open caisson and it is not practical to reach suitable soil. These piles are connected by a foundation pad upon which the pier is erected. Shallow caissons may be open to the air, whereas pneumatic caissons, an airlock allows access to the chamber. Workers move mud and rock debris from the edge of the workspace to a water-filled pit, a crane at the surface removes the soil with a clamshell bucket. The water pressure in the tube balances the air pressure, with excess air escaping up the muck tube, the pressurized air flow must be constant to ensure regular air changes for the workers and prevent excessive inflow of mud or water at the base of the caisson. To install a caisson in place, it is brought down through soft mud until a foundation material is encountered. While bedrock is preferred, a stable, hard mud is used when bedrock is too deep. Caisson disease has been named since it appeared in construction workers when they left the atmosphere of the caisson. It is caused by the processes as decompression sickness in divers. Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, which was built with the help of caissons, barotrauma of the ears, sinus cavities and lungs and dysbaric osteonecrosis are other risks. Caissons have also used in the installation of hydraulic elevators where a single-stage ram is installed below the ground level. Caissons, codenamed Phoenix, were a part of the Mulberry harbours used during the World war II Allied invasion of Normandy. The four main types of caisson are box caisson, open caisson, compressed-air caisson, a box caisson is a prefabricated concrete box, it is set down on prepared bases. Once in place, it is filled with concrete to become part of the permanent works, hollow concrete structures are usually less dense than water so a box caisson must be ballasted or anchored to keep it from floating until it can be filled with concrete. Sometimes elaborate anchoring systems may be required, such as in tidal zones, adjustable anchoring systems combined with a GPS survey enable engineers to position a box caisson with pinpoint accuracy. An open caisson is similar to a box caisson, except that it not have a bottom face. It is suitable for use in soft clays, but not for where there may be large obstructions in the ground, a caisson is sunk by self-weight, concrete or water ballast placed on top, or by hydraulic jacks
40.
Limestone
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Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate, about 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, most cave systems are through limestone bedrock. The first geologist to distinguish limestone from dolomite was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778, like most other sedimentary rocks, most limestone is composed of grains. Most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts and these organisms secrete shells made of aragonite or calcite, and leave these shells behind when they die. Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or siliceous skeletal fragment, some limestones do not consist of grains at all, and are formed completely by the chemical precipitation of calcite or aragonite, i. e. travertine. Secondary calcite may be deposited by supersaturated meteoric waters and this produces speleothems, such as stalagmites and stalactites. Another form taken by calcite is oolitic limestone, which can be recognized by its granular appearance, the primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. Some of these organisms can construct mounds of rock known as reefs, below about 3,000 meters, water pressure and temperature conditions cause the dissolution of calcite to increase nonlinearly, so limestone typically does not form in deeper waters. Limestones may also form in lacustrine and evaporite depositional environments, calcite can be dissolved or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors, including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Calcite exhibits a characteristic called retrograde solubility, in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. Impurities will cause limestones to exhibit different colors, especially with weathered surfaces, Limestone may be crystalline, clastic, granular, or massive, depending on the method of formation. Crystals of calcite, quartz, dolomite or barite may line small cavities in the rock, when conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together, or it can fill fractures. Travertine is a banded, compact variety of limestone formed along streams, particularly there are waterfalls. Calcium carbonate is deposited where evaporation of the leaves a solution supersaturated with the chemical constituents of calcite. Tufa, a porous or cellular variety of travertine, is found near waterfalls, coquina is a poorly consolidated limestone composed of pieces of coral or shells. During regional metamorphism that occurs during the building process, limestone recrystallizes into marble
41.
Minute and second of arc
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A minute of arc, arcminute, arc minute, or minute arc is a unit of angular measurement equal to 1/60 of one degree. Since one degree is 1/360 of a turn, one minute of arc is 1/21600 of a turn, a second of arc, arcsecond, or arc second is 1/60 of an arcminute, 1/3600 of a degree, 1/1296000 of a turn, and π/648000 of a radian. To express even smaller angles, standard SI prefixes can be employed, the number of square arcminutes in a complete sphere is 4 π2 =466560000 π ≈148510660 square arcminutes. The standard symbol for marking the arcminute is the prime, though a single quote is used where only ASCII characters are permitted. One arcminute is thus written 1′ and it is also abbreviated as arcmin or amin or, less commonly, the prime with a circumflex over it. The standard symbol for the arcsecond is the prime, though a double quote is commonly used where only ASCII characters are permitted. One arcsecond is thus written 1″ and it is also abbreviated as arcsec or asec. In celestial navigation, seconds of arc are used in calculations. This notation has been carried over into marine GPS receivers, which normally display latitude and longitude in the format by default. An arcsecond is approximately the angle subtended by a U. S. dime coin at a distance of 4 kilometres, a milliarcsecond is about the size of a dime atop the Eiffel Tower as seen from New York City. A microarcsecond is about the size of a period at the end of a sentence in the Apollo mission manuals left on the Moon as seen from Earth, since antiquity the arcminute and arcsecond have been used in astronomy. The principal exception is Right ascension in equatorial coordinates, which is measured in units of hours, minutes. These small angles may also be written in milliarcseconds, or thousandths of an arcsecond, the unit of distance, the parsec, named from the parallax of one arcsecond, was developed for such parallax measurements. It is the distance at which the radius of the Earths orbit would subtend an angle of one arcsecond. The ESA astrometric space probe Gaia is hoped to measure star positions to 20 microarcseconds when it begins producing catalog positions sometime after 2016, there are about 1.3 trillion µas in a turn. Currently the best catalog positions of stars actually measured are in terms of milliarcseconds, apart from the Sun, the star with the largest angular diameter from Earth is R Doradus, a red supergiant with a diameter of 0.05 arcsecond. The dwarf planet Pluto has proven difficult to resolve because its angular diameter is about 0.1 arcsecond, space telescopes are not affected by the Earths atmosphere but are diffraction limited. For example, the Hubble space telescope can reach a size of stars down to about 0. 1″
42.
Levallois-Perret
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Levallois-Perret is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.4 km from the centre of Paris and it is the most densely populated town in Europe. The name Levallois-Perret comes from two housing developments, Champerret and Village Levallois, which resulted in the incorporation of the commune, on the territory of what is now Levallois-Perret, before the French Revolution, the village of Villiers and the hamlet of Courcelles were there. They now give their names to two Paris Métro stations, later in 1845, Nicolas-Eugène Levallois started some housing developments for landowner André Noël on his land near La Planchette. The land developed by Nicolas-Eugène Levallois soon became known as Village Levallois, in the 1860s, the village had grown to the point of forming a single builtup area. Several demands were made to the authorities for the incorporation of the area, the Eiffel company had its factory in the city and so the structure of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower were built there. Levallois-Perret became an important centre of the early French automotive industry with the establishment of such as Clément-Bayard, Delage and coachbuilders Chapron. Citroën purchased the Clément-Bayard factory and the famous Citroën 2CV was produced in Levallois for nearly forty years, Levallois-Perret was also an important centre of cosmetics industry in the early 20th century. It is also home to the large European commercial real estate company Atisreal, the northern part of the famous Île de la Jatte in the river Seine, where French impressionist painters created many of their masterpieces, is part of the commune of Levallois-Perret. Part of the healthy Ouest Parisien, Levallois-Perret is the most densely-populated commune of France, patrick Balkany has been mayor of the city for almost 20 years in a row, his wife, Isabelle Balkany Smadja, works for the municipality. Speed Rabbit Pizza also has its headquarters in the commune, EVA Air has its Paris office in Levallois-Perret. According to le journal du net, the debt per inhabitant of Levallois is 9,030 euros, previously Carrefour had its head office in Levallois-Perret. Levallois-Perret is served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 3, Louise Michel, Anatole France, and Pont de Levallois – Bécon and it is also served by Clichy – Levallois station on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line. The municipality of Levallois-Perret operates two bus lines circulating the town. Levallois Sporting Club is one of the most important sports club in France with 14500 members, among them you can find notable sportsperson like Teddy Riner, Gauthier Grumier and Gevrise Emane. During his youth Didier Drogba played for the section, as Joakim Noah did for basket. The traditional coat of arms for the municipality puts emphasis on the importance of industry in the its history. The centre of the consists of a shield with red background, a yellow gearwheel in the bottom left
43.
Cantilever
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A cantilever is a rigid structural element, such as a beam or a plate, anchored at only one end to a support from which it is protruding. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs, when subjected to a structural load, the cantilever carries the load to the support where it is forced against by a moment and shear stress. Cantilevers are widely found in construction, notably in cantilever bridges and balconies, in cantilever bridges the cantilevers are usually built as pairs, with each cantilever used to support one end of a central section. The Forth Bridge in Scotland is an example of a truss bridge. A cantilever in a timber framed building is called a jetty or forebay. In the southern United States a historic barn type is the barn of log construction. Temporary cantilevers are used in construction. The partially constructed structure creates a cantilever, but the structure does not act as a cantilever. This is very helpful when temporary supports, or falsework, cannot be used to support the structure while it is being built. So some truss arch bridges are built each side as cantilevers until the spans reach each other and are then jacked apart to stress them in compression before final joining. Nearly all cable-stayed bridges are built using cantilevers as this is one of their chief advantages, many box girder bridges are built segmentally, or in short pieces. This type of construction lends itself well to balanced cantilever construction where the bridge is built in both directions from a single support and these structures are highly based on torque and rotational equilibrium. In an architectural application, Frank Lloyd Wrights Fallingwater used cantilevers to project large balconies, the East Stand at Elland Road Stadium in Leeds was, when completed, the largest cantilever stand in the world holding 17,000 spectators. The roof built over the stands at Old Trafford Football Ground uses a cantilever so that no supports will block views of the field, the old, now demolished Miami Stadium had a similar roof over the spectator area. The largest cantilever in Europe is located at St James Park in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, less obvious examples of cantilevers are free-standing radio towers without guy-wires, and chimneys, which resist being blown over by the wind through cantilever action at their base. Another use of the cantilever is in fixed-wing aircraft design, pioneered by Hugo Junkers in 1915, early aircraft wings typically bore their loads by using two wings in a biplane configuration braced with wires and struts. They were similar to bridges, having been developed by Octave Chanute. The wings were braced with crossed wires so they would stay parallel, the cables and struts generated considerable drag, and there was constant experimentation for ways to eliminate them
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listen)) is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.
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