1.
Church (building)
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A church building, often simply called a church, is a building used for Christian religious activities, particularly worship services. The term in its sense is most often used by Christians to refer to their religious buildings. In traditional Christian architecture, the church is arranged in the shape of a Christian cross. When viewed from plan view the longest part of a cross is represented by the aisle, towers or domes are often added with the intention of directing the eye of the viewer towards the heavens and inspiring church visitors. The earliest identified Christian church was a church founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, a cathedral is a church, usually Roman Catholic, Anglican, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox, housing the seat of a bishop. In standard Greek usage, the word ecclesia was retained to signify both a specific edifice of Christian worship, and the overall community of the faithful. This usage was retained in Latin and the languages derived from Latin, as well as in the Celtic languages. In the Germanic and some Slavic languages, the word kyriak-ós/-ē/-ón was adopted instead, in Old English the sequence of derivation started as cirice, then churche, and eventually church in its current pronunciation. German Kirche, Scottish kirk, Russian церковь, etc. are all similarly derived, according to the New Testament, the earliest Christians did not build church buildings. Instead, they gathered in homes or in Jewish worship places like the Second Temple or synagogues, the earliest archeologically identified Christian church is a house church, the Dura-Europos church, founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, in addition to being a place of worship, the cathedral or parish church was used by the community in other ways. It could serve as a place for guilds or a hall for banquets. Mystery plays were performed in cathedrals, and cathedrals might also be used for fairs. The church could be used as a place to thresh and store grain, a common architecture for churches is the shape of a cross. These churches also often have a dome or other large vaulted space in the interior to represent or draw attention to the heavens. Other common shapes for churches include a circle, to represent eternity, or an octagon or similar star shape, another common feature is the spire, a tall tower on the west end of the church or over the crossing. The Latin word basilica was used to describe a Roman public building
2.
Battlement
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These gaps are termed crenels, and the act of adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet is termed crenellation. The solid widths between the crenels are called merlons, a wall with battlements is said to be crenelated or embattled. Battlements on walls have protected walkways behind them, on tower or building tops, the roof is used as the protected fighting platform. The term originated in about the 14th century from the Old French word batailler, the word crenel derives from the ancient French cren, Latin crena, meaning a notch, mortice or other gap cut out often to receive another element or fixing, see also crenation. In medieval England a licence to crenellate granted the permission to fortify their property. The castles in England vastly outnumber the licences to crenellate, royal pardons were obtainable, on the payment of an arbitrarily determined fine, by a person who had fortified without licence. The surviving records of such licences, generally issued by letters patent, there has been academic debate over the purpose of licensing. The view of military-focused historians is that licensing restricted the number of fortifications that could be used against a royal army and they indicated to the observer that the grantee had obtained royal recognition, acknowledgment and compliment. The crown usually did not charge for the granting of such licences, battlements have been used for thousands of years, the earliest known example is in the fortress at Buhen in Egypt. Battlements were used in the walls surrounding Assyrian towns, as shown on bas reliefs from Nimrud, traces of them remain at Mycenae in Greece, and some ancient Greek vases suggest the existence of battlements. The Great Wall of China has battlements, late merlons permitted fire from the first firearms. From the 13th century, the merlons could be connected with wooden shutters that provided added protection when closed, the shutters were designed to be opened to allow shooters to fire against the attackers, and closed during reloading. The Romans used low wooden pinnacles for their first aggeres, in the battlements of Pompeii, additional protection derived from small internal buttresses or spur walls, against which the defender might stand so as to gain complete protection on one side. Loop-holes were frequent in Italian battlements, where the merlon has much greater height, Italian military architects used the so-called Ghibelline or swallowtail battlement, with V-shaped notches in the tops of the merlon, giving a horn-like effect. This would allow the defender to be protected whilst shooting standing fully upright, the normal rectangular merlons were later nicknamed Guelph. In Muslim and African fortifications, the merlons often were rounded, the battlements of the Arabs had a more decorative and varied character, and were continued from the 13th century onwards not so much for defensive purposes as for a crowning feature to the walls. They serve a similar to the cresting found in the Spanish Renaissance. European architects persistently used battlements as a decorative feature throughout the Decorated
3.
Embrasure
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In military architecture, an embrasure is the opening in a crenellation or battlement between the two raised solid portions or merlons, sometimes called a crenel or crenelle. In domestic architecture this refers to the outward splay of a window or arrow slit on the inside, a loophole, arrow loop or arrowslit passes through a solid wall and was originally for use by archers. The purpose of embrasures is to allow weapons to be fired out from the fortification while the remains under cover. The splay of the wall on the inside provides room for the soldier and his equipment, excellent examples of deep embrasures with arrow slits are to be seen at Aigues-Mortes and Château de Coucy, both in France. The etymology of embrasure expresses widening, the invention of the arrowslit is attributed to Archimedes during the siege of Syracuse in 214–212 BC. From Polybiuss The Histories, Archimedes had had the walls pierced with large numbers of loopholes at the height of a man, however, the invention was later forgotten until reintroduced in the 12th century. By the 19th century, a distinction was made between embrasures being used for cannon, and loopholes being used for musketry, in both cases, the opening was normally made wider on the inside of the wall than the outside. A distinction was made between horizontal and vertical embrasures or loopholes, depending on the orientation of the formed in the outside wall. Vertical loopholes—which are much more common—allow the weapon to be raised and lowered in elevation so as to cover a variety of ranges easily. However to sweep from side to side the weapon must bodily move from side to side to pivot around the muzzle, horizontal loopholes, on the other hand, facilitate quick sweeping across the arc in front, but make large adjustments in elevation very difficult. They were usually used in circumstances where the range was very restricted anyway, another variation had both horizontal and vertical slits arranged in the form of a cross, and was called a crosslet loop or an arbalestina since it was principally intended for arbalestiers. A series of perpendicular steps tapering to the gun port ensured that any incoming fire would be stopped by a vertical impact, arrowslit This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed
4.
Muttenz
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Muttenz is a municipality with a population of approximately 17,000 in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It is located in the district of Arlesheim and next to the city of Basle, under the Roman Empire a hamlet called Montetum existed, which the Alamanni invaders referred to as Mittenza since the 3rd century CE. At the beginning of the 9th century CE the settlement came into the possession of the bishopric of Strasbourg, in the following centuries various noble families were invested with the fief. Muttenz is first mentioned around 1225-26 as Muttence, in 1277 it was mentioned as Muttenza. Having fallen on hard times the Münch sold the village and the Wartenberg to the city of Basel in 1517, following the Protestant Reformation in Basel by Johannes Oecolampadius the church of Muttenz was reformed in 1529. In 1628 one-seventh of the population,112 persons, died of the plague. Many of the villagers, still subjects of the city of Basel, were poor and beginning in the middle of the 18th century, in 1790 only were the remaining peasants freed from serfdom by a decision of the Great Council of the city of Basel. Following the French Revolution tithes were abolished, after a short civil war between forces of the city and the countryside in 1833 the canton of Basel was divided into the two half-cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Country. Muttenz became part of Basel-Country and remained a peasant village until the beginning of the 20th century, Muttenz has an area, as of 2009, of 16.64 square kilometers. Of this area,2.67 km2 or 16. 0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.76 km2 or 40. 6% is forested. Of the rest of the land,6.85 km2 or 41. 2% is settled,0.34 km2 or 2. 0% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km2 or 0. 1% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 8. 1% of the area while housing and buildings made up 14. 2%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other developed areas made up 1. 7% of the area while parks. Out of the land,38. 9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1. 7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land,5. 6% is used for growing crops and 8. 0% is pastures, all the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the Arlesheim district, east of Basel, the old village center was between the Rütihard and Wartenberg hills. The modern housing and industrial section is along the Rhine, the blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, issuant a Castle with three Towers Gules windowed Sable from which a Semi-lion rampant issuant double-queued of the second. Muttenz has a population of 17,709, as of 2008,17. 2% of the population are resident foreign nationals
5.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
6.
Fortified tower
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A fortified tower is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fulfil different functions, square or rectangular towers are easy to construct and give a good amount of usable internal space. Their disadvantage is that the corners are vulnerable to mining, despite this vulnerability, rectangular towers continued to be used, and Muslim military architecture generally favoured them. Round towers, also called drum towers, are resistant to siege technology such as sappers. The round front is more resistant than the side of a square tower. This principle was understood in antiquity. The horseshoe-shaped tower is a compromise that gives the best of a round, the semicircular side could resist siege engines, while the rectangular part at the back gives internal space and a large fighting platform on top. The large towers at Krak des Chevaliers and the towers at Harlech are good examples. Armenian castles such as Lampron also favoured this style, a common form is the octagonal tower, used in some bergfrieds and at Castel del Monte in Italy. For instance, the keep at Château Gaillard is round, wall towers, also known as mural towers, provide flanking fire to a straight part of the curtain wall. Corner towers enfilade the two adjoining wall faces, if corner towers are far apart, additional flanking towers may be added between them. Towers in a curtain wall are often open at the back. Particularly large towers are often the strongest point of the castle, as the gate is always a vulnerable point of a castle, towers may be built near it to strengthen the defences at this point. In crusader castles, there is often a gate tower, with the passage leading through the base of the tower itself. In European castles, it is common to have flanking towers on either side of the gatehouse. Flanking tower Gate tower Half tower Martello tower Scottish Broch Tower house Witch tower Kennedy, Hugh
7.
Fortress church
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A fortress church is particular type of church that, in addition to its religious functions is also used by the local population as a retreat and defensive position, similar to a refuge castle. A fortress church usually implies that the church is enclosed by its own fortifications, such as curtain walls, by comparison, a church with simple defensive features, such as battlements and embrasures on the church itself, is usually just referred to as a fortified church. The fortress church is surrounded by defensive walls equipped with wall towers. It is a development of the churches, whose defensive walls were also the actual walls of the church. However, the terms are used interchangeably and there is often no clear distinction. However, generally a fortified church is a building, whereas a fortress church is a building complex. In the Early Middle Ages, former bishops seats, especially in recently Christianised regions like Saxony, were designed as fortress churches, there they were referred to as a Domburg or cathedral castle. Fortress churches are common in Franconia, South France and Transylvania. Particularly in Transylvania, a historic German settlement area in Romania, there are well over a hundred fortress churches and they were built and maintained in order to defend against successive Turkish invasions. The fortress churches surviving today date from the 15th century, unlike the populations of towns and cities, villagers did not have the money to build defences around the whole settlement. They were no less vulnerable, however, to the conflicts of their overlords. Large bands of marauders were also a not to be underestimated. The church was often the only building in the village and was. Fortress churches have not survived in North Germany and this is probably because the stone curtain walls were later dismantled in this area, in which there is a scarcity of stone, in order to be re-used for other purposes. The only well-known fortress church in the region is the Church of St. Dionysius in Bremerhaven-Wulsdorf. Peter and Paul was built inside Roman walls that protected it until the 18th century, echter, Würzburg,1983, ISBN 3-429-00818-2 Wolfram Freiherr von Erfa, Wehrkirchen in Oberfranken. Kulmbach,1956 Dirk Höhne, Bemerkungen zur sogenannten Wehrhaftigkeit mittelalterlicher Landkirchen, in, Burgen und Schlösser in Sachsen-Anhalt 12, pp. 119-149 - kritisch u. a. zu H. Müller Dirk Höhne/Christine Kratzke, Die mittelalterliche Dorfkirche in den Neuen Bundesländern II. Norbert Klaus Fuchs, Das Heldburger Land–ein historischer Reiseführer, Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza,2013, ISBN 978-3-86777-349-2 Hans u. Berta Luschin, carinthia, Klagenfurt,1985, ISBN 3-85378-237-X Karl Kolb, Wehrkirchen und Kirchenburgen in Franken
8.
Dordogne
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Dordogne is a department in southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. The department is located in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, and is named after the great Dordogne river that runs through it and it roughly corresponds with the ancient county of Périgord. The county of Périgord dates back to when the area was inhabited by the Gauls and it was originally home to four tribes, the name for four tribes in the Gaulish language was Petrocore. The area eventually known as the county of Le Périgord. The Petrocores took part in the resistance against Rome, the earliest cluzeaux, artificial caves either above or below ground, can be found throughout the Dordogne. These subterranean refuges and lookout huts were large enough to shelter entire local populations, according to Julius Caesar the Gauls took refuge in these caves during the resistance. After Guienne province was transferred to the English Crown under the Plantagenets following the remarriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, the county had been torn apart and, as a consequence, that modeled its physiognomy. During the calmer periods of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the finest Gothic and Renaissance residences were built in Périgueux, Bergerac and Sarlat. In the countryside, the nobility had the majority of the more than 1200 chateaux, manors, at the time, Bergerac was one of the most powerful Huguenot strongholds, along with La Rochelle. and even Josephine Baker. A number of ruins have retained the memory of the tragedies took place within their walls. Several of the castles and châteaux are open to visitors and some of such as Bourdeilles and Mareuil. Saint-Léon-sur-Vézère, Connezac, Saint-Jean-de-Côle, La Roque-Gageac and many others are real jewels of architecture, as for the old quarters of Périgueux or Bergerac, restored and developed into pedestrian areas, they have regained their former charm. A number of towns, such as Brantôme, Issigeac, Eymet. A special mention should be made in respect to Sarlat. Dordogne is one of the original 83 departments created on 4 March 1790 during the French Revolution and it was included from the former province of Périgord, the county of Périgord. Its borders would continue to change over the subsequent decades, in 1793 the communes of Boisseuilh, Coubjours, Génis, Payzac, Saint-Cyr-les-Champagnes, Saint-Mesmin, Salagnac, Savignac, Saint-Trié and Teillots were transferred from Corrèze to Dordogne. In 1794 Dordogne ceded Cavarc to Lot-et-Garonne, later in 1794 Dordogne gained Parcoul from Charente-Inférieure. Following the restoration, in 1819, the commune of Bonrepos was suppressed and merged with the adjacent commune of Souillac in Lot, but at some stage the victim died, and following a trial four individuals identified as culpable were in turn condemned to die by guillotine
9.
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
10.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
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