1.
United Nations
–
The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
United Nations
–
1943 sketch by Franklin Roosevelt of the United Nations' original three branches: The
Four Policemen, an executive branch, and an international assembly of forty UN member states.
United Nations
–
Flag
United Nations
–
The
Chilean delegation signing the
UN Charter in San Francisco, 1945
United Nations
–
Dag Hammarskjöld was a particularly active Secretary-General from 1953 until his death in 1961.
2.
Roosevelt Island
–
Roosevelt Island is a narrow island in New York Citys East River. It lies between Manhattan Island to its west and the borough of Queens on Long Island to its east, and is part of the borough of Manhattan. Running from the equivalent of East 46th to 85th Streets on Manhattan Island, it is about 2 miles long, with a width of 800 feet. Together with Mill Rock, Roosevelt Island constitutes Manhattans Census Tract 238, which has an area of 0.279 sq mi. It had a population of 11,661 as of the 2010 United States Census, the island was called Minnehanonck by the Lenape and Varkens Eylandt by New Netherlanders, and during the colonial era and later as Blackwells Island. It was known as Welfare Island when it was used principally for hospitals and it was renamed Roosevelt Island in 1971 after Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt Island is owned by the city, but was leased to the state of New Yorks Urban Development Corporation for 99 years in 1969, most of the residential buildings on Roosevelt Island are rental buildings. There is also a cooperative and a condominium building, One rental building has left New York States Mitchell-Lama Housing Program, though current residents are still protected. Three other buildings are now working toward privatization, including the cooperative, in 1637, Dutch Governor Wouter van Twiller purchased the island, then known as Hog Island, from the Canarsie Indians. Through the 19th century, the island housed several hospitals and a prison, by 1839, the New York City Lunatic Asylum opened, including the Octagon Tower, which still stands but as a residential building, it was renovated and reopened in April 2006. The asylum, which was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, at one point held 1,700 inmates, in 1852, a workhouse was built on the island to hold petty violators in 220 cells. In 1861, prisoners completed construction of Renwicks City Hospital, which served both prisoners and New York Citys poorer population, seventeen years later, in 1889, the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, designed by Frederick Clarke Withers, opened. By 1895, inmates from the Asylum were being transferred to Wards Island, the Asylum was renamed Metropolitan Hospital. However, the last convicts were not moved off the island until 1935, the 20th century was a time of change for the island. The Queensboro Bridge started construction in 1900 and opened in 1909, it passed over the island, in 1921, Blackwells Island was renamed Welfare Island after the City Hospital on the island. In 1930, an elevator to transport cars and passengers on Queensboro Bridge started to allow vehicular. In 1939, Goldwater Memorial Hospital, a care facility, opened. As late as August 1973, though, another passenger elevator ran from the Queens end of the bridge to the island, more changes came in the latter half of the century
Roosevelt Island
–
Main Street on Roosevelt Island
Roosevelt Island
–
The 1889
Chapel of the Good Shepherd in modern surroundings
Roosevelt Island
–
Roosevelt Island, in the East River (center, running from left to right), in 1981, with Manhattan behind and Queens in front.
New Jersey is in the background.
Roosevelt Island
–
The Octagon interior, mid 20th century
3.
New York City
–
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
New York City
–
Clockwise, from top:
Midtown Manhattan,
Times Square, the
Unisphere in
Queens, the
Brooklyn Bridge,
Lower Manhattan with
One World Trade Center,
Central Park, the
headquarters of the United Nations, and the
Statue of Liberty
New York City
–
New Amsterdam, centered in the eventual
Lower Manhattan, in 1664, the year
England took control and renamed it "New York".
New York City
–
The
Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the
American Revolution, took place in
Brooklyn in 1776.
New York City
–
Broadway follows the Native American Wickquasgeck Trail through Manhattan.
4.
International Style (architecture)
–
A visually weightless quality engendered by the use of cantilever construction. Glass and steel, in combination with usually less visible reinforced concrete, are the materials of the construction. Commissioned in 1931 by the director of the Museum of Modern Art, Alfred H. Barr Jr. The original exhibition catalogue was then followed up immediately by the book titled The International Style, the aesthetics-based definition of The International Style identified, categorized and expanded upon characteristics said to be common to Modernism across the world and its stylistic aspects. Hitchcock and Johnson identified three principles, the expression of volume rather than mass, the emphasis on rather than preconceived symmetry. The aim of Hitchcock and Johnson was to define a style that would encapsulate this modern architecture, all the works in the 1932 Museum of Modern Art exhibition were carefully selected, only displaying those that strictly followed these rules. Many Modernists disliked the term, believing that they had arrived at an approach to architecture that transcended style, the British architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner commented, To me what had been achieved in 1914 was the style of the century. It never occurred to me to look beyond, here was the one and only style which fitted all those aspects which mattered, aspects of economics and sociology, of materials and function. It seems folly to think anybody would wish to abandon it. The exhibition Modern Architecture, International Exhibition opened on February 9,1932, at the Museum of Modern Art, in the Heckscher Building at Fifth Avenue and 56th Street in New York. In the largest exhibition space, Room C, were works by Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Room B was a section titled Housing, presenting the need for a new domestic environment” as it had been identified by historian and critic Lewis Mumford. In Room D were works by Raymond Hood and Richard Neutra, among these works was shown Alvar Aaltos Turun Sanomat newspaper offices building in Turku, Finland. The exhibition is significant for its approach to the architectural exhibition. Highly curated in nature, the 1932 exhibition was driven by a desire to promote and consolidate the theory of international modernism, as such, the exhibition featured prominently the work of the core of the modernist group. With Van Der Rohe, Corbusier, Oud, and Gropius at the forefront, moMAs then director Alfred H. Barr hired art historians Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock to curate the museums first architectural exhibition. In 1929, Johnson attended the ceremony of his sister in Wellesley College, where he met Barr. In one month, Barr would be interviewed by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller for the position of the director of the MOMA, Barr added Johnson to MOMAs Junior Advisory Committee. Hitchcock graduated in 1924 after having completed his studies in three years and spending his senior year in architecture
International Style (architecture)
–
Cover of "The International Style" (1932) by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson
International Style (architecture)
–
Philip Johnson (pictured in 2002) co-defined the International Style with
Henry-Russell Hitchcock as a young college graduate, and later became one of its practicioners.
International Style (architecture)
–
Villa Savoye, Paris, Le Corbusier
International Style (architecture)
–
Bauhaus, Dessau, Walter Gropius
5.
Extraterritoriality
–
Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to places, such as foreign embassies, military bases of foreign countries. Extraterritoriality is often extended to friendly or allied militaries, particularly for the purposes of allowing military to simply pass through ones territory. It is distinguished from personal jurisdiction in the sense that extraterritoriality operates to the prejudice of local jurisdiction, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Italian sea republics of Genoa and Venice managed to wrestle extraterritoriality for their quarters in the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. They even battled among themselves for control of the weakened empire. The capitulations ceased to have effect in Turkey in 1923, by virtue of the Treaty of Lausanne, the maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital in which Princess Margriet was born was temporarily declared to be extraterritorial by the Canadian government. Making the maternity ward outside of the Canadian domain caused it to be unaffiliated with any jurisdiction, the most well-known cases of historical extraterritoriality concerned European nationals in 19th century China, Japan and Siam under the unequal treaties. Extraterritoriality was first imposed upon China by the British in the Treaty of Nanking, resulting from the First Opium War and it was subsequently imposed upon China by the Americans under the Treaty of Wanghia and the Treaty of Tientsin. Shanghai in particular became a center of foreign activity, as it contained two extraterritorial zones, the Shanghai International Settlement and the Shanghai French Concession. Foreign Nationals of treaty powers were tried by consular courts, the United Kingdom established the British Supreme Court for China in Shanghai in 1865 and the United States the United States Court for China in the early 20th Century. Chinese and non-treaty state nationals in these settlements were subject to Chinese law but were tried by the International Mixed Court which had a Chinese judge, extraterritorial rights were not limited to Western nations, Japan and China granted each other reciprocal extraterritorial rights when both opened to trade. Later, in 1895, under the Treaty of Shimonoseki China gave up its rights in Japan and Japan obtained further rights in China. Japan later claimed extraterritorial privileges elsewhere in Asia, in 1921, an international resolution was signed expressing the willingness of the parties to end extraterritoriality in China once a satisfactory legal system was established by China. As a result of the resolution, a commission was established in 1926 that published a report containing its findings. Extraterritoriality in China for non-diplomatic personnel ended at times in the twentieth century. Most countries exercised extraterritorial jurisdiction through consular courts, Britain established the British Court for Japan in 1879. Japan succeeded in reforming its unequal status with Britain through the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce, similar treaties were signed with other extraterritorial powers at the same time. These treaties all came into effect in 1899, king Mongkut of Siam signed the Bowring Treaty granting extraterritorial rights to Britain in 1855
Extraterritoriality
–
A hearing of the International Mixed Court at Shanghai, c. 1905
6.
Manhattan
–
Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the citys historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, founded on November 1,1683, Manhattan is often described as the cultural and financial capital of the world and hosts the United Nations Headquarters. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough and it is historically documented to have been purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americans in 1626 for 60 guilders which equals US$1062 today. New York County is the United States second-smallest county by land area, on business days, the influx of commuters increases that number to over 3.9 million, or more than 170,000 people per square mile. Manhattan has the third-largest population of New York Citys five boroughs, after Brooklyn and Queens, the City of New York was founded at the southern tip of Manhattan, and the borough houses New York City Hall, the seat of the citys government. The name Manhattan derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, a 1610 map depicts the name as Manna-hata, twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River. The word Manhattan has been translated as island of hills from the Lenape language. The United States Postal Service prefers that mail addressed to Manhattan use New York, NY rather than Manhattan, the area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans. In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano – sailing in service of King Francis I of France – was the first European to visit the area that would become New York City. It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the Dutch East India Company, a permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624 with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on the citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam, the 1625 establishment of Fort Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan Island is recognized as the birth of New York City. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 to US$23, variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars, as Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace remarked in their history of New York. Sixty guilders in 1626 was valued at approximately $1,000 in 2006, based on the price of silver, Straight Dope author Cecil Adams calculated an equivalent of $72 in 1992. In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the last Dutch Director General of the colony, New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1653. In 1664, the English conquered New Netherland and renamed it New York after the English Duke of York and Albany, the Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city New Orange. Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign, a series of battles in the early American Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was forced to abandon Manhattan after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16,1776. The city, greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York during the campaign, became the British political, British occupation lasted until November 25,1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan, as the last British forces left the city
Manhattan
–
View from
Midtown Manhattan, facing south toward
Lower Manhattan
Manhattan
–
Peter Minuit, early 1600s.
Manhattan
–
The
Castello Plan showing the Dutch colonial city of
New Amsterdam in 1660 – then confined to the southern tip of Manhattan Island.
Manhattan
–
J.Q.A. Ward 's statue of
George Washington in front of
Federal Hall (on
Wall Street) where he was inaugurated as the first
U.S. President in 1789.
7.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
8.
Oscar Niemeyer
–
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho —known as Oscar Niemeyer —was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. His exploration of the possibilities of reinforced concrete was highly influential in the late 20th. Both lauded and criticized for being a sculptor of monuments, Niemeyer was hailed as a great artist and he said his architecture was strongly influenced by Le Corbusier, but in an interview, assured that this didnt prevent architecture from going in a different direction. Niemeyer was most famous for his use of forms and curves and wrote in his memoirs, I am not attracted to straight angles or to the straight line, hard and inflexible. I am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves, the curves that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman. Curves make up the entire Universe, the curved Universe of Einstein, in the 1930s, he interned with Lúcio Costa, with the pair collaborating on the design for the Palácio Gustavo Capanema in Rio de Janeiro. Niemeyers first major project was a series of buildings for Pampulha and his work, especially on the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, received critical acclaim and drew international attention. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Niemeyer became one of Brazils most prolific architects and this work led to his appointment as inaugural head of architecture at the University of Brasília, as well as honorary membership of the American Institute of Architects. Due to his largely leftist ideology, and involvement with the Brazilian Communist Party, Niemeyer left the country after the 1964 military coup and he returned to Brazil in 1985, and was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1988. A socialist and atheist from an age, Niemeyer had spent time in both Cuba and the Soviet Union during his exile, and on his return served as the PCBs president from 1992 to 1996. Niemeyer continued working at the end of the 20th and early 21st century, notably designing the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, over a career of 78 years he designed approximately 600 projects. Niemeyer died in Rio de Janeiro on December 5,2012, at the age of 104, Niemeyer was born in the city of Rio de Janeiro on December 15,1907. The great grandfather of Oscar Niemeyer was a Portuguese immigrant who and he spent his youth as a typical young Carioca of the time, bohemian and relatively unconcerned with his future. In 1928, at age 21, Niemeyer left school and married Annita Baldo and he pursued his passion at the National School of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro and graduated with a BA in architecture in 1934. After graduating, he worked in his fathers typography house, even though he was not financially stable, he insisted on working in the architecture studio of Lucio Costa, Gregori Warchavchik and Carlos Leão, even though they could not pay him. Niemeyer joined them as a draftsman, an art that he mastered, the contact with Costa would be extremely important to Niemeyers maturation. Costa, after a flirtation with the Neocolonial movement, realized that the advances of the international style in Europe were the way forward for architecture. In 1936, at 29, Lucio Costa was appointed by Education Minister Gustavo Capanema to design the new headquarters of the Ministry of Education, Costa himself, although open to change, was unsure of how to proceed
Oscar Niemeyer
–
Oscar Niemeyer in 1968
Oscar Niemeyer
–
Ministry of Education and Health, Rio de Janeiro
Oscar Niemeyer
–
The free-form marquee at Casa do Baile
Oscar Niemeyer
–
São Francisco de Assis Church, Belo Horizonte City, Minas Gerais, Brazil
9.
Le Corbusier
–
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930 and his career spanned five decades, he constructed buildings in Europe, Japan, India, and North and South America. Le Corbusier prepared the plan for the city of Chandigarh in India. On July 17,2016, seventeen projects by Le Corbusier in seven countries were inscribed in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites as an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement and it was an industrial town, devoted to the manufacture of watches. His father was an artisan who enameled boxes and watches, while his mother gave piano lessons and his elder brother Albert was an amateur violinist. He attended a kindergarten that used Fröbelian methods, like his contemporaries Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier did not have formal academic training as an architect. He was attracted to the arts and at the age of fifteen he entered the municipal art school in La-Chaux-de-Fonds which taught the applied arts connected with watchmaking. Three years later he attended the course of decoration, founded by the painter Charles LEplattenier. Le Corbusier wrote later that LEplattenier had made him a man of the woods and his father took him frequently into the mountains around the town. He wrote later, we were constantly on mountaintops, we grew accustomed to a vast horizon and his architecture teacher in the Art School was the architect René Chapallaz, who had a large influence on Le Corbusiers earliest house designs. However, he reported later that it was the art teacher LEplattenier who made him choose architecture, I had a horror of architecture and architects, he wrote. I was sixteen, I accepted the verdict and I obeyed. Le Corbusier began teaching himself by going to the library to read about architecture and philosophy, by visiting museums, by sketching buildings, located on the forested hillside near Chaux-de-fonds. It was a chalet with a steep roof in the local alpine style. The success of this led to his construction of two similar houses, the Villas Jacquemet and Stotzer, in the same area. In Florence, he visited the Florence Charterhouse in Galluzzo, which made an impression on him. I would have liked to live in one of what they called their cells and it was the solution for a unique kind of workers housing, or rather for a terrestrial paradise. In 1911, he traveled again for five months, this time he journeyed to the Balkans and visited Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, as well as Pompeii and Rome. Filling nearly 80 sketchbooks with renderings of what he saw—including many sketches of the Parthenon and he spoke of what he saw during this trip in many of his books, and it was the subject of his last book, Le Voyage dOrient
Le Corbusier
–
Le Corbusier in 1933
Le Corbusier
–
Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret), 1920, Nature morte (Still Life), oil on canvas, 80.9 x 99.7 cm,
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Le Corbusier
–
Le Corbusier (Charles Edouard Jeanneret), 1922, Nature morte verticale (Vertical Still Life), oil on canvas, 146.3 x 89.3 cm,
Kunstmuseum Basel
Le Corbusier
–
Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret), 1920, Guitare verticale (2ème version), oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm, Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris
10.
Headquarters
–
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility for managing all business activities, in the UK, the term head office is most commonly used for the HQs of large corporations. The term is also used regarding military organizations, a headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation that takes full responsibility for the overall success of the corporation, and ensures corporate governance. Many companies have an office at a different address to their corporate office. A headquarters normally includes the leader of business unit and his or her staff as well as all functions to manage the business unit, the head of the business unit is responsible for overall result of the business unit. Military headquarters take many forms depending on the size and nature of the unit or formation they command, typically, they are split into the forward, main and rear components, both within NATO nations, and those following the organization and doctrine of the former Soviet Union. The forward or tactical HQs is a group of staff. The main HQs is less mobile and is involved in both the planning and execution of operations, there are a number of staff assembled here from various staff branches to advise the commander, and to control the various aspects of planning and the conduct of discrete operations. A main HQ for a large formation will have a chief of staff who coordinates the staff effort, the rear or logistic HQs is some distance from the battle or front line in conventional operations. The headquarters of the Catholic Church is Vatican City, the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church is in Danilov Monastery, Moscow. The World Council of Churches, including Orthodox Churches, has its headquarters in Geneva, the headquarters of Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is located in Istanbul, Turkey. The headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Anglican Communion Office is in London. In Japanese budō martial arts such as karate, judo, aikido, kendo, there is usually a headquarters for each organization or region. The Japanese word honbu is generally used for that, also outside Japan, sometimes they refer to this headquarters as honbu dojo in which dojo is a facility provided for practicing discipline, the training ground. Sometimes honbu is written as hombu, the way it is pronounced, but according to the Hepburn transcription, weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army Janes, London,516 pp. Wanner, Herbert Global and regional corporate headquarters in, Kählin, Christian, H. Switzerland Business & Investment Handbook, Orell Füssli and Wiley, Wanner, Herbert, LeClef, Xavier, & Shimizu, Hiroshi Global Headquarters on the Move, From Administrators to Facilitators Prims Second Semester 2004, Arthur D. Little
Headquarters
–
The
United Nations Headquarters in
New York City.
Headquarters
–
KBR Tower, the headquarters of
KBR and a part of
Cullen Center, in
Downtown Houston
Headquarters
–
Randall's Food Markets headquarters in
Westchase,
Houston; Randall's is a subsidiary of
Safeway Inc.
11.
Turtle Bay, Manhattan
–
Turtle Bay is a neighborhood in New York City, on the east side of Midtown Manhattan. It extends from either 41st or 43rd Streets to 53rd Street, the neighborhood is the site of the headquarters of the United Nations and the Chrysler Building. The Tudor City apartment complex is considered to be within Turtle Bay. Turtle Bay, a cove of the East River, received its name in the 17th century by its resemblance in shape to that of a knife, deutal being Dutch for knife. The cove, which was filled in after the Civil War, was a shelter from the often harsh weather on the river. The Turtle Bay neighborhood was originally a 40-acre land grant given to two Englishmen by the Dutch colonial governor of New Amsterdam in 1639, and named Turtle Bay Farm. The farm extended roughly from what is now 43rd Street to 48th Street, Turtle Creek, or DeVoors Mill Creek as it was known, emptied into the cove at what is now 47th Street. To the south lay Kips Bay farm, to the north, on a bluff, stood James Beekmans Mount Pleasant, the first of a series of houses and villas with water views stretching away up the shoreline. After the street system was initiated in Manhattan, the hilly landscape of the Turtle Bay Farm was graded to create cross-streets. An army enrollment office was established at Third Avenue and 46th Street, on July 13,1863, an angry mob burned the office to the ground and proceeded to riot through the surrounding neighborhood, destroying entire blocks. The New York Draft Riots continued for three days before troops managed to contain the mob, which had burned and looted much of the city. After the war ended, the formerly pastoral neighborhood was developed with brownstones, by 1868 the bay had been entirely filled in by commercial overdevelopment, packed with breweries, gasworks, slaughterhouses, cattle pens, coal yards, and railroad piers. The numerous plants shower this district with the heaviest sootfall in the city—150 tons to the square mile annually, there were also 18 acres of slaughterhouses along First Avenue. Many tenements were restored in the 1920s, and a communal garden was established. Having married Walton Martin, she sold the houses to friends at cost. Among the first purchasers was Maria Bowen Chapin, founder of the Chapin School, white, who wrote Charlottes Web when living on 48th Street. It was designated the Turtle Bay Gardens Historic District in 1966, an area between First and Second Avenues, and 41st and 43rd Streets was known as Goat Hill – goats and squatters ruled the area – and later renamed Prospect Hill. From 1927 to 1932, the 2, 800-unit Tudor City was built on this site, concurrent with the UN headquarters construction, the Ralph Bunche Park staircase was constructed, connecting Tudor City to the rest of Turtle Bay
Turtle Bay, Manhattan
–
Traditional
townhouses in Turtle Bay
Turtle Bay, Manhattan
–
Turtle Bay in 1853
Turtle Bay, Manhattan
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Tudor City is at Turtle Bay's southern edge.
Turtle Bay, Manhattan
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The United Nations Headquarters is located in Turtle Bay; pictured is the
United Nations Secretariat Building.
12.
East River
–
The East River is a salt water tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name. It separates the borough of Queens on Long Island from the Bronx on the North American mainland, and also divides Manhattan from Queens and Brooklyn, because of its connection to Long Island Sound, it was once also known as the Sound River. The tidal strait changes its direction of flow frequently, and is subject to fluctuations in its current. The waterway is navigable for its length of 16 miles. Technically a drowned valley, like the other waterways around New York City, the distinct change in the shape of the strait between the lower and upper portions is evidence of this glacial activity. The upper portion, running perpendicular to the glacial motion, is wide, meandering. The lower portion runs north-south, parallel to the glacial motion and it is much narrower, with straight banks. The bays that exist, as well as those used to exist before being filled in by human activity, are largely wide. The stretch has since been cleared of rocks and widened, washington Irving wrote of Hell Gate that the current sounded like a bull bellowing for more drink at half tide, whilte at full tide it slept as soundly as an alderman after dinner. He said it was like a peaceable fellow enough when he has no liquor at all, or when he has a skinful, but who, the river is navigable for its entire length of 16 miles. Why the river turns to the east as it approaches the three lower Manhattan bridges is currently geologically unknown, in the stretch of the river between Manhattan Island and the borough of Queens, lies Roosevelt Island, a narrow 2-mile long island consisting of 147 acres. Politically part of Manhattan, it begins at around the level of East 46th Street of that borough and it is connected to Queens by the Roosevelt Island Bridge, to Manhattan by the Roosevelt Island Tramway, and to both by a subway station. The Queensboro Bridge runs across Roosevelt Island, but no longer has an elevator connection to it. The abrupt termination of the island on its end is due to an extension of the 125th Street Fault. The Bronx River drains into the East River in the section of the strait. North of Randalls Island, it is joined by the Bronx Kill. Along the east of Wards Island, at approximately the midpoint, it narrows into a channel called Hell Gate
East River
–
East River and the
headquarters of the United Nations in
Manhattan, as seen from
Roosevelt Island.
East River
–
The East River is shown in red on this satellite photo of New York City.
East River
–
A map from 1781
East River
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Exposition display showing cross-section of East River railroad tunnel to Pennsylvania Station
13.
First Avenue (Manhattan)
–
South of Houston Street, the roadway continues as Allen Street south to Division Street. Traffic on First Avenue runs northbound only, the southern portions of the Avenue were cut and laid out shortly after the plan was adopted. The northern sections of the Avenue would be graded and cut through at various intervals throughout the 19th century as the development of the island demanded. The IRT Second Avenue Line ran above First Avenue from Houston Street to 23rd Street before turning left at 23rd and this elevated line was torn down in 1942. First Avenue has carried traffic since June 4,1951. A protected bike lane was established along the side of the avenue south of 50th Street in 2011. First Avenue passes through a variety of residential neighborhoods. Between 42nd Street and 45th Street, it borders the United Nations headquarters complex and these fill the east side of the avenue from 14th to 23rd Streets. The avenue is very wide in this segment, and is separated by a median, the New York Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, and NYU Medical Center fill the blocks from there to 34th Street. Between 42nd and 47th streets, the avenue runs past United Nations Headquarters, here a local bypass, United Nations Plaza, splits from the main road, which runs through the First Avenue Tunnel, rejoining the local street at 49th Street. Crossing under the Queensboro Bridge and entering the Upper East Side, First Avenue runs through a number of areas of varying character. It serves as one of the shopping streets of the Yorkville neighborhood, historically a German and Hungarian neighborhood. In this district, First Avenue is also known as Bedpan Alley because of the number of hospitals located nearby. Crossing 96th Street, First Avenue runs through Spanish Harlem, a historically Puerto Rican neighborhood, before Puerto Rican migration in the 1950s, much of this district was populated by Italians and known as Italian Harlem. First Avenue in Italian Harlem was the site of a major open-air pushcart market in the late 19th, there is still a small Italian enclave in the Pleasant Valley district of East Harlem, between 114th and 120th Streets. The northern reaches of First Avenue, north of roughly 110th Street have also seen a significant increase in Mexican residents, First Avenue then connects to the Willis Avenue Bridge, which crosses the Harlem River at 125th Street and connects to Willis Avenue in the Bronx. The opening scene of Ghostbusters II was filmed at the intersection of First Avenue, in the Seinfeld TV series, Kramer describes the intersection of First Avenue and 1st Street as the nexus of the universe. This provided the name for a called the Nexus Lounge at that location
First Avenue (Manhattan)
–
First Avenue at Lenox Hill in the Upper East Side, looking north from the
Roosevelt Island Tramway
First Avenue (Manhattan)
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Bike lane on First Avenue
First Avenue (Manhattan)
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Looking south on First Avenue from 13th Street during the demolition of the
Second Avenue El in September 1942
First Avenue (Manhattan)
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United Nations headquarters at First Avenue and 42nd Street
14.
42nd Street (Manhattan)
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42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the district near that intersection. Washingtons attempt put him in danger of being captured, and his officers had to him to leave. The rout eventually subsided into an orderly retreat, john Jacob Astor purchased a 70 acres farm in 1803 that ran from 42nd Street to 46th Street west of Broadway to the Hudson River. The street was designated by the Commissioners Plan of 1811 that established the Manhattan street grid as one of 15 east-west streets that would be 100 feet in width, the Depot, which opened in 1871, was replaced by Grand Central Terminal in 1913. In 1980, it was turned into a successful Broadway musical which ran until 1989, from the late 1950s until the late 1980s, 42nd Street, nicknamed The Deuce, was the cultural center of American grindhouse theaters, which spawned an entire subculture. While the street outside the theatres was populated with, phony drug salesman, unkies alone in their heroin/cocaine dreamworld. Predatory chickenhawks spying on underage trade looking for pickups, ranssexuals, hustlers, and closety gays with a fetishistic homo- or heterosexual itch to scratch. It was common to see porn stars whose films were playing at the adult houses promenade down the block, not when you stepped onto the Deuce. Being a freak there would get you money, attention, entertainment, or maybe a robbery and a beating. For much of the mid and late 20th century, the area of 42nd Street near Times Square was home to activities often considered unsavory, in the early 1990s, city government encouraged a clean-up of the Times Square area. In 1993, the Walt Disney Corporation bought the New Amsterdam Theatre and it is now the flagship for Disneys theatrical productions in New York. This area is now co-signed as New 42nd Street to signify this change, the IRT 42nd Street Shuttle runs under 42nd Street between Broadway/Seventh Avenue and Park Avenue. Each line stops at Times Square and Grand Central, the Flushing Line also stops at Fifth Avenue and its predecessor, the 42nd Street Crosstown Line streetcar, had used 42nd Street. The George M. Cohan song Give My Regards to Broadway includes the lyrics Tell all the gang at Forty-Second Street / That I will soon be there. The Jim Croce song You Dont Mess Around with Jim includes the lyrics 42nd street got Big Jim Walker, the Billy Joel song Miami 2017 includes the lyrics Wed seen it all the time on 42nd Street. Ghosts of 42nd Street, A History of Americas Most Infamous Block, New York, HarperCollins Books, ISBN 0-688-17089-7. A detailed history that focuses primarily on the Times Square Theater District from the beginning of the 20th century through its successful restoration, down 42nd Street, Sex, money, culture and politics at the crossroads of the world
42nd Street (Manhattan)
–
Looking west along 42nd Street from
Seventh Avenue (2004)
42nd Street (Manhattan)
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Grindhouse movie theaters on 42nd Street in 1985 before its renovation; the 200 block of W. 42nd Street; former
Lyric Theatre facade and nearby buildings
42nd Street (Manhattan)
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Grand Central Terminal at night, as seen from the west on 42nd Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
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The
Chrysler Building, with its unique stainless-steel top, is one of the most distinctive buildings on 42nd Street
15.
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’
Switzerland
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Founded in 44 BC by
Lucius Munatius Plancus,
Augusta Raurica was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is now among the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.
Switzerland
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Flag
Switzerland
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The 1291 Bundesbrief (Federal charter)
Switzerland
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The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark green) to the sixteenth century (light green) and its associates (blue). In the other colors are shown the subject territories.
16.
United Nations Office at Vienna
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The United Nations Office in Vienna is one of the four major UN office sites where several different UN agencies have a joint presence. The office complex is located in Vienna, the capital of Austria, and is part of the Vienna International Centre, the UNOV was established on 1 January 1980, and was the third such office established. At the United Nations Office in Vienna there are many works which are placed in the yard or in corridors. Persian Scholar Pavilion In June 2009 Iran donated a pavilion to United Nations Office in Vienna which is placed in the central Memorial Plaza of the Vienna International Center. The Persian Scholars Pavilion at United Nations in Vienna, Austria is featuring the statues of four prominent Persian figures, United Nations headquarters United Nations Office at Geneva United Nations Office at Nairobi United Nations Office in Vienna
United Nations Office at Vienna
–
The UN headquarters at
Vienna, Austria, part of the
Vienna International Centre
United Nations Office at Vienna
–
"Persian Scholars Pavilion" in United Nations Office at Vienna donated by
Iran
17.
Austria
–
Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
Austria
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First appearance of the word "ostarrichi", circled in red. Modern Austria honours this document, dated 996, as the founding of the nation.
Austria
–
Flag
Austria
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Venus of Willendorf, 28,000 to 25,000 BC.
Museum of Natural History Vienna
Austria
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"Heidentor" – Remains of the
Roman military city of
Carnuntum
18.
Kenya
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Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in Africa and a founding member of the East African Community. Its capital and largest city is Nairobi and it is bordered by Tanzania to the south and southwest, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya covers 581,309 km2, and had a population of approximately 48 million people in January 2017, Kenya has a warm and humid tropical climate on its Indian Ocean coastline. The climate is cooler in the grasslands around the capital city, Nairobi, and especially closer to Mount Kenya. Further inland are highlands in Central and Rift Valley regions where tea, in the West are Nyanza and Western regions, there is an equatorial, hot and dry climate which becomes humid around Lake Victoria, the largest tropical fresh-water lake in the world. This gives way to temperate and forested areas in the neighbouring western region. The north-eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes, Kenya is known for its world class athletes in track and field and rugby. The African Great Lakes region, which Kenya is a part of, has been inhabited by humans since the Lower Paleolithic period, by the first millennium AD, the Bantu expansion had reached the area from West-Central Africa. Bantu and Nilotic populations together constitute around 97% of the nations residents, European and Arab presence in coastal Mombasa dates to the Early Modern period, European exploration of the interior began in the 19th century. The British Empire established the East Africa Protectorate in 1895, which starting in 1920 gave way to the Kenya Colony, Kenya obtained independence in December 1963. Following a referendum in August 2010 and adoption of a new constitution, Kenya is now divided into 47 semi-autonomous counties, the capital, Nairobi, is a regional commercial hub. The economy of Kenya is the largest by GDP in East, agriculture is a major employer, the country traditionally exports tea and coffee and has more recently begun to export fresh flowers to Europe. The service industry is also an economic driver. Additionally, Kenya is a member of the East African Community trading bloc, the Republic of Kenya is named after Mount Kenya. The origin of the name Kenya is not clear, but perhaps linked to the Kikuyu, Embu and Kamba words Kirinyaga, Kirenyaa, if so, then the British may not so much have mispronounced it, as misspelled it. In the 19th century, the German explorer Johann Ludwig Krapf was staying with the Bantu Kamba people when he first spotted the mountain. On asking for the name of the mountain, he was told Kĩ-Nyaa or Kĩĩma- Kĩĩnyaa probably because the pattern of black rock, the Agikuyu, who inhabit the slopes of Mt. Kenya, call it Kĩrĩma Kĩrĩnyaga in Kikuyu, which is quite similar to the Kamba name. Ludwig Krapf recorded the name as both Kenia and Kegnia believed by most to be a corruption of the Kamba version, others say that this was—on the contrary—a very precise notation of a correct African pronunciation /ˈkɛnjə/
Kenya
–
A giraffe at
Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Kenya
–
Flag
Kenya
–
The
Turkana boy, a 1.6-million-year-old
hominid fossil belonging to
Homo erectus.
Kenya
–
A traditional
Swahili carved wooden door in
Lamu.
19.
List of specialized agencies of the United Nations
–
At present the UN has in total 15 specialized agencies that carry out various functions on behalf of the UN. The specialized agencies are listed below, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements. FAOs mandate is to raise levels of nutrition, improve productivity, better the lives of rural populations. FAO is the largest of UN agencies and its headquarters is in Rome, the International Civil Aviation Organization was founded in 1947. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of air transport to ensure safe. Its headquarters are located in the Quartier international de Montréal of Montreal and it also solves disputes between two countries. IFAD is dedicated to eradicating poverty in developing countries. Its headquarters are in Rome, Italy, the International Labour Organization deals with labour issues. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland, founded in 1919, it was formed through the negotiations of the Treaty of Versailles and was initially an agency of the League of Nations. It became a member of the UN system after the demise of the League and its Constitution, as amended to date, includes the Declaration of Philadelphia on the aims and purposes of the Organization. Its secretariat is known as the International Labor Office, however the IMO did not enter into full force until 1958. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, the IMO promotes cooperation among government, IMO is governed by an Assembly of members and is financially administered by a Council of members elected from the Assembly. The work of IMO is conducted through five committees and these are supported by technical sub-committees, Member organizations of the UN organizational family may observe the proceedings of the IMO. Observer status may be granted to qualified non-governmental organizations, the IMO is supported by a permanent secretariat of employees who are representative of its members. International Monetary Fund is sometimes considered to be a specialized agency and it is part of the United Nations system and has a formal relationship agreement with the UN, but retains its independence. The IMF provides monetary cooperation and financial stability and acts as a forum for advice, negotiation and it is headquartered in Washington, D. C. The International Telecommunication Union was established to standardize and regulate international radio and it was founded as the International Telegraph Union in Paris on 17 May 1865
List of specialized agencies of the United Nations
–
ICAO flag.
20.
Food and Agriculture Organization
–
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is an agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements. Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates as let there be bread, as of 6 January 2017, FAO has 194 member states, along with the European Union, and the Faroe Islands and Tokelau, which are associate members. The idea of an organization for food and agriculture emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century. In May–June 1905, a conference was held in Rome, Italy. Later in 1943, the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt called a United Nations Conference on Food, representatives from forty four governments gathered at The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia from 18 May to 3 June. The First Session of the FAO Conference was held in the Chateau frontenac at Quebec, Canada, the Second World War effectively ended the International Agricultural Institute, though it was only officially dissolved by resolution of its Permanent Committee on 27 February 1948. Its functions were transferred to the recently established FAO. In 1951, FAOs headquarters were moved from Washington, D. C, the agency is directed by the Conference of Member Nations, which meets every two years to review the work carried out by the organization and to Work and Budget for the next two-year period. The Conference elects a council of 49 member states that acts as a governing body, and the Director-General. Beginning in 1994, FAO underwent the most significant restructuring since its founding, to operations, streamline procedures. As a result, savings of about US$50 million, €35 million a year were realized, FAOs Regular Programme budget is funded by its members, through contributions set at the FAO Conference. The total FAO Budget planned for 2016-17 is USD2.6 billion, the voluntary contributions are expected to reach approximately US$1.6 billion in 2016-17. The world headquarters are located in Rome, in the seat of the Department of Italian East Africa. One of the most notable features of the building was the Axum Obelisk which stood in front of the agency seat and it was taken from Ethiopia by Benito Mussolinis troops in 1937 as a war chest, and returned on 18 April 2005. C. Reduce rural poverty – help the rural poor gain access to the resources and services they need – including rural employment, enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems – help to build safe and efficient food systems that support smallholder agriculture and reduce poverty and hunger in rural areas. Two fundamental areas of work – gender and governance - are fully integrated in the strategic objective action plans. In 1996, FAO organised the World Food Summit, attended by 112 Heads or Deputy Heads of State, the Summit concluded with the signing of the Rome Declaration, which established the goal of halving the number of people who suffer from hunger by the year 2015
Food and Agriculture Organization
–
Lester Bowles Pearson presiding at a plenary session of the founding conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. October 1945
Food and Agriculture Organization
–
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization
–
FAO headquarters in
Rome.
Food and Agriculture Organization
–
José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director General
21.
International Fund for Agricultural Development
–
The International Fund for Agricultural Development is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. It was established as a financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference. Seventy-five percent of the poor live in rural areas in developing countries. The strategic policy of IFAD is detailed in Strategic Framework for IFAD 2011–2015 and its headquarters is in Rome, Italy, and is a member of the United Nations Development Group. The President of the IFAD is Gilbert F. Houngbo from Togo, IFADs goal is to empower poor rural women and men in developing countries to achieve higher incomes and improved food security. As reflected in the framework, IFAD is committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the target to halve the proportion of hungry. Underlying these objectives is IFAD’s belief that poor people must be empowered to lead their own development if poverty is to be eradicated. They must be able to have a say in the decisions and policies that affect their lives, through loans and grants, IFAD works with governments to develop and finance programmes and projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested $12 billion, DM7.5 billion in 860 projects and this represents a total investment of about $19.6 billion. IFAD tackles poverty not only as a lender, but also as an advocate for poor people. IFAD is represented on the Leadership Council of Compact2025 by its president, membership in IFAD is open to all member states of the United Nations or its specialized agencies or the International Atomic Energy Agency. A state becomes a member of IFAD by ratifying the treaty known as the Agreement establishing the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The Governing Council is IFADs highest decision-making authority, with the Member States each represented by a governor, the Executive Board, responsible for overseeing the general operations of IFAD and approving loans and grants, is composed of 18 members and 18 alternate members. The President, who serves for a term, is IFADs chief executive officer. The current, and sixth, President of IFAD is Gilbert F. Houngbo, as of February 2015, IFAD has 176 member states. This includes 174 UN members states along with the Cook Islands, the member states are classified as follows, List A, List B, and List C. List C is further divided into sub-list C1, sub-list C2, the observers are the Holy See and European Union. The Governing Council is IFADs highest decision-making authority, each Member State is represented in the Governing Council by a Governors, Alternate Governors and any other designated advisers
International Fund for Agricultural Development
–
Kanayo F. Nwanze, the current President of IFAD.
International Fund for Agricultural Development
–
International Fund for Agricultural Development
22.
International Civil Aviation Organization
–
The International Civil Aviation Organization, is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of air transport to ensure safe. Its headquarters are located in the Quartier International of Montreal, Quebec, ICAO defines the protocols for air accident investigation followed by transport safety authorities in countries signatory to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The Air Navigation Commission is the body within ICAO. The Commission is composed of 19 Commissioners, nominated by the ICAOs contracting states, Commissioners serve as independent experts, who although nominated by their states, do not serve as state or political representatives. The development of Aviation Standards and Recommended Practices is done under the direction of the ANC through the process of ICAO Panels. Once approved by the Commission, standards are sent to the Council, the forerunner to ICAO was the International Commission for Air Navigation. It held its first convention in 1903 in Berlin, Germany, at the second convention in 1906, also held in Berlin,27 countries attended. The third convention, held in London in 1912 allocated the first radio callsigns for use by aircraft, ICAN continued to operate until 1945. Fifty-two countries signed the Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, in Chicago, Illinois, on 7 December 1944. Under its terms, a Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization was to be established, accordingly, PICAO began operating on 6 June 1945, replacing ICAN. The 26th country ratified the Convention on 5 March 1947 and, consequently PICAO was disestablished on 4 April 1947 and replaced by ICAO, in October 1947, ICAO became an agency of the United Nations linked to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. In April 2013 Qatar offered to serve as the new permanent seat of the Organization, according to the Globe and Mail, Qatars move was at least partly motivated by the pro-Israel foreign policy of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Approximately one month later, Qatar withdrew its bid after a proposal to the ICAOs governing council to move the ICAO triennial conference to Doha was defeated by a vote of 22–14. The 9th edition of the Convention on International Civil Aviation includes modifications from 1948 up to year 2006, ICAO refers to its current edition of the Convention as the Statute, and designates it as ICAO Document 7300/9. The Convention has 19 Annexes that are listed by title in the article Convention on International Civil Aviation, as of March 2016, there are 191 ICAO members, consisting of 190 of the 193 UN members, plus the Cook Islands. Liechtenstein has delegated Switzerland to implement the treaty to make it applicable in the territory of Liechtenstein, Taiwan attended the 38th Session of the ICAO Assembly in 2013, but in 2016 was denied such an invitation, despite expressions of support from the United States for Taiwan to participate. However, the Republic of China under the name of Chinese Taipei is a member of International Air Transport Association, the Council of ICAO is elected by the Assembly every 3 years and consists of 36 members elected in 3 categories
International Civil Aviation Organization
–
ICAO World Headquarters,
Montreal,
Quebec,
Canada
International Civil Aviation Organization
–
International Civil Aviation Organization
23.
International Labour Organization
–
The International Labour Organization is a United Nations agency dealing with labour problems, particularly international labour standards, social protection, and work opportunities for all. The ILO has 187 member states,186 of the 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands are members of the ILO, the ILO registers complaints against entities that are violating international rules, however, it does not impose sanctions on governments. Unlike other United Nations specialized agencies, the International Labour Organization has a governing structure – representing governments, employers. The rationale behind the structure is the creation of free and open debate among governments. The ILO secretariat is referred to as the International Labour Office, juan Somavía was the ILOs director-general from 1999 until October 2012, when Guy Ryder was elected as his replacement. This governing body is composed of 28 government representatives,14 workers representatives, ten of the government seats are held by member states that are nations of chief industrial importance, as first considered by an impartial committee. The nations are Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, the terms of office are three years. The ILO organizes the International Labour Conference in Geneva every year in June, also known as the parliament of labour, the conference also makes decisions about the ILOs general policy, work programme and budget. Each member state has four representatives at the conference, two government delegates, a delegate and a worker delegate. All of them have individual voting rights, and all votes are equal, the employer and worker delegates are normally chosen in agreement with the most representative national organizations of employers and workers. Usually, the workers delegates coordinate their voting, as do the employers delegates, all delegate have the same rights, and are not required to vote in blocs. Through July 2011, the ILO has adopted 189 conventions, if these conventions are ratified by enough governments, they become in force. However, ILO conventions are considered international labour standards regardless of ratification, when a convention comes into force, it creates a legal obligation for ratifying nations to apply its provisions. Every year the International Labour Conferences Committee on the Application of Standards examines a number of alleged breaches of international labour standards, governments are required to submit reports detailing their compliance with the obligations of the conventions they have ratified. Conventions that have not been ratified by member states have the legal force as do recommendations. In 1998, the 86th International Labour Conference adopted the Declaration on Fundamental Principles, the ILO asserts that its members have an obligation to work towards fully respecting these principles, embodied in relevant ILO Conventions. The ILO Conventions which embody the principles have now been ratified by most member states. Recommendations do not have the force of conventions and are not subject to ratification
International Labour Organization
–
ILO headquarters in
Geneva
International Labour Organization
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International Labour Organization
International Labour Organization
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Interpreting booth ready for an ILO meeting
International Labour Organization
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ILO building in Geneva with
Salève in the background
24.
International Telecommunication Union
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ITU, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is a member of the United Nations Development Group. ITU has been an intergovernmental public-private partnership organization since its inception, ITU was formed in 1865, in Paris, at the International Telegraph Convention, this makes it one of the oldest intergovernmental organizations in the world. ITU became a United Nations specialized agency in 1947, the ITU comprises three sectors, each managing a different aspect of the matters handled by the Union, as well as ITU Telecom. The sectors were created during the restructuring of ITU at its 1992 Plenipotentiary Conference, radiocommunication Established in 1927 as the International Radio Consultative Committee or CCIR, this sector manages the international radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbit resources. In 1992, the CCIR became the ITU-R, Standardization Standardization was the original purpose of ITU since its inception. Established in 1956 as the International Telephone and Telegraph Consultative Committee or CCITT, in 1993, the CCITT became the ITU-T. Development Established in 1992, this sector helps spread equitable, sustainable and affordable access to information and communication technologies, ITU Telecom ITU Telecom organizes major events for the worlds ICT community. A permanent General Secretariat, headed by the Secretary General, manages the work of the Union. The basic texts of the ITU are adopted by the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, the ITU is headed by a Secretary-General, who is elected to a four-year term by the member states at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference. On 23 October 2014 Houlin Zhao was elected 19th Secretary-General of the ITU at the Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan and his four-year mandate started on 1 January 2015, and he was formally inaugurated on 15 January 2015. There are 193 Member States of the ITU, which are all UN member states, the most recent member state to join the ITU is South Sudan, which became a member on 14 July 2011. The Republic of China was blocked from membership by the Peoples Republic of China, palestine was admitted as an observer in 2010. The Summit was held as two conferences in 2003 and 2005 in Geneva and Tunis, respectively, with the aim of bridging the digital divide, in December 2012, the ITU facilitated The World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012 in Dubai. WCIT-12 was a conference to address International Telecommunications Regulations, the international rules for telecommunications. The previous conference to update the Regulations was held in Melbourne in 1988, in August 2012, ITU called for a public consultation on a draft document ahead of the conference. Telecommunications ministers from 193 countries attended the conference in Dubai, the current regulatory structure was based on voice telecommunications, when the Internet was still in its infancy. In 1988, telecommunications operated under regulated monopolies in most countries, as the Internet has grown, organizations such as ICANN have come into existence to manage key resources such as Internet addresses and Domain Names. Some outside the United States believe that the United States exerts too much influence over the governance of the Internet, current proposals look to take into account the prevalence of data communications
International Telecommunication Union
International Telecommunication Union
–
International Telecommunication Union
International Telecommunication Union
–
International Telecommunication Union – anniversary 125 years. Post of USSR, 1990.
25.
World Health Organization
–
The World Health Organization is a specialised agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, headquartered in Geneva, the WHO is a member of the United Nations Development Group. Its predecessor, the Health Organization, was an agency of the League of Nations, the constitution of the World Health Organization had been signed by 61 countries on 22 July 1946, with the first meeting of the World Health Assembly finishing on 24 July 1948. It incorporated the Office international dhygiène publique and the League of Nations Health Organization, since its creation, it has played a leading role in the eradication of smallpox. The WHO is responsible for the World Health Report, an international publication on health, the worldwide World Health Survey. The head of WHO is Margaret Chan, the 2014/2015 proposed budget of the WHO is about US$4 billion. About US$930 million are to be provided by member states with a further US$3 billion to be from voluntary contributions, after failing to get a resolution passed on the subject, Alger Hiss, the Secretary General of the conference, recommended using a declaration to establish such an organisation. Dr. Sze and other delegates lobbied and a declaration passed calling for a conference on health. The use of the world, rather than international, emphasised the truly global nature of what the organisation was seeking to achieve. The constitution of the World Health Organization was signed by all 51 countries of the United Nations and it thus became the first specialised agency of the United Nations to which every member subscribed. Its constitution formally came into force on the first World Health Day on 7 April 1948, the first meeting of the World Health Assembly finished on 24 July 1948, having secured a budget of US$5 million for the 1949 year. Andrija Stampar was the Assemblys first president, and G. Brock Chisholm was appointed Director-General of WHO and its first priorities were to control the spread of malaria, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections, and to improve maternal and child health, nutrition and environmental hygiene. Its first legislative act was concerning the compilation of statistics on the spread. The logo of the World Health Organization features the Rod of Asclepius as a symbol for healing, in 1947 the WHO established an epidemiological information service via telex, and by 1950 a mass tuberculosis inoculation drive using the BCG vaccine was under way. In 1955, the eradication programme was launched, although it was later altered in objective. 1965 saw the first report on diabetes mellitus and the creation of the International Agency for Research on Cancer. In 1958, Viktor Zhdanov, Deputy Minister of Health for the USSR, called on the World Health Assembly to undertake an initiative to eradicate smallpox. At this point,2 million people were dying from smallpox every year, in 1966, WHO moved into its headquarters building
World Health Organization
–
Three former directors of the
Global Smallpox Eradication Programme read the news that smallpox had been globally eradicated, 1980
World Health Organization
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World Health Organization
World Health Organization
–
WHO Headquarters in Geneva
World Health Organization
–
Demonstration on
Chernobyl disaster day near WHO in
Geneva
26.
World Intellectual Property Organization
–
The World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of property throughout the world. WIPO currently has 189 member states, administers 26 international treaties, the current Director-General of WIPO is Francis Gurry, who took office on October 1,2008. 186 of the UN Members as well as the Cook Islands, Holy See, non-members are the states of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, South Sudan and East Timor. WIPO was formally created by the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, under Article 3 of this Convention, WIPO seeks to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. WIPO became an agency of the UN in 1974. Unlike other branches of the United Nations, WIPO has significant financial resources independent of the contributions from its Member States and this proposal was well supported by developing countries. A number of civil society bodies have been working on a draft Access to Knowledge treaty which they would like to see introduced. In December 2011, WIPO published its first World Intellectual Property Report on the Changing Face of Innovation, WIPO is also a co-publisher of the Global Innovation Index. WIPO has established WIPOnet, an information network. The project seeks to link over 300 intellectual property offices in all WIPO Member States, in addition to providing a means of secure communication among all connected parties, WIPOnet is the foundation for WIPOs intellectual property services. The Economics and Statistics Division is responsible for collecting statistics on IP activity worldwide, in addition, the Division carries out economic analysis on how IP and innovation policy choices affect economic performance
World Intellectual Property Organization
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WIPO headquarters in
Geneva
World Intellectual Property Organization
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World Intellectual Property Organization
World Intellectual Property Organization
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Francis Gurry in 2011
27.
World Trade Organization
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The World Trade Organization is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round. The WTO is attempting to complete negotiations on the Doha Development Round, as of June 2012, the future of the Doha Round remained uncertain, the work programme lists 21 subjects in which the original deadline of 1 January 2005 was missed, and the round is still incomplete. This impasse has made it impossible to launch new WTO negotiations beyond the Doha Development Round, as a result, there have been an increasing number of bilateral free trade agreements between governments. As of July 2012, there were various groups in the WTO system for the current agricultural trade negotiation which is in the condition of stalemate. The WTOs current Director-General is Roberto Azevêdo, who leads a staff of over 600 people in Geneva, a trade facilitation agreement, part of the Bali Package of decisions, was agreed by all members on 7 December 2013, the first comprehensive agreement in the organizations history. Seven rounds of negotiations occurred under GATT, the first real GATT trade rounds concentrated on further reducing tariffs. Then, the Kennedy Round in the mid-sixties brought about a GATT anti-dumping Agreement, because these plurilateral agreements were not accepted by the full GATT membership, they were often informally called codes. Several of these codes were amended in the Uruguay Round, only four remained plurilateral, but in 1997 WTO members agreed to terminate the bovine meat and dairy agreements, leaving only two. Well before GATTs 40th anniversary, its members concluded that the GATT system was straining to adapt to a new globalizing world economy. In response to the problems identified in the 1982 Ministerial Declaration, the GATT still exists as the WTOs umbrella treaty for trade in goods, updated as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations. GATT1994 is not however the only legally binding agreement included via the Final Act at Marrakesh, the highest decision-making body of the WTO is the Ministerial Conference, which usually meets every two years. It brings together all members of the WTO, all of which are countries or customs unions, the Ministerial Conference can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreements. When agricultural export subsidies were agreed to be phased out and adoption of the European Unions Everything, the WTO launched the current round of negotiations, the Doha Development Round, at the fourth ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. This was to be an effort to make globalization more inclusive and help the worlds poor, particularly by slashing barriers. The initial agenda comprised both further trade liberalization and new rule-making, underpinned by commitments to strengthen substantial assistance to developing countries. Among the various functions of the WTO, these are regarded by analysts as the most important and it provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes. Another priority of the WTO is the assistance of developing, least-developed and low-income countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines through technical cooperation and training
World Trade Organization
–
The economists
Harry White (left) and
John Maynard Keynes at the
Bretton Woods Conference. Both had been strong advocates of a central-controlled international trade environment and recommended the establishment of three institutions: the
IMF (for fiscal and monetary issues); the
World Bank (for financial and structural issues); and the
ITO (for international economic cooperation).
World Trade Organization
–
Members
World Trade Organization
–
During the
Doha Round, the
US government blamed
Brazil and
India for being inflexible and the EU for impeding agricultural imports. The then-
President of Brazil,
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (above right), responded to the criticisms by arguing that progress would only be achieved if the richest countries (especially the US and countries in the EU) made deeper cuts in
agricultural subsidies and further opened their markets for agricultural goods.
World Trade Organization
–
The
World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1998, in the
Palace of Nations (
Geneva,
Switzerland).
28.
World Meteorological Organization
–
The World Meteorological Organization is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 191 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization, which was founded in 1873 and its current Secretary-General is Petteri Taalas and the President of the World Meteorological Congresss, its supreme body, is David Grimes. The Organization is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Meteorological Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations. WMO has a membership of 191 Member States and Territories as of February 2014, the Convention of the World Meteorological Organization was signed 11 October 1947 and established upon ratification on 23 March 1950. WMO became the agency of the United Nations in 1951 for meteorology, operational hydrology. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization, which was founded in 1873, the WMO hierarchy, The World Meteorological Congress, the supreme body of the Organization, determines policy. Each member state and territory is represented by a Permanent Representative with WMO when Congress meets every four years, Congress elects the President and Vice-Presidents of the Organization and members of the Executive Council, and appoints the Secretary-General. The Executive Council implements Congress decisions, the Executive Council normally hold a session at least once a year. Six Regional Associations are responsible for the coordination of meteorological, hydrological and they meet once every four years, and elect a president and vice-president. The president of regional association is an ex officio member of the Executive Council. Eight Technical Commissions are responsible for studying meteorological and hydrological operational systems, applications and they establish methodology and procedures and make recommendations to Executive Council and the World Meteorological Congress. The Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General, who is appointed by the World Meteorological Congress for a term with a maximum tenure of 8 years. The Secretary-General appoints all staff, including the Deputy Secretary-General and the Assistant Secretary-General, the Secretariat currently has around 300 staff. Weather, climate and the water cycle shape almost every aspect of our lives and these powerful natural forces do not recognize national borders, thus global and regional cooperation is essential. Even the accuracy of a weather forecast relies on observations from far beyond national borders. These warnings help to save lives and to protect property. They contribute to economic planning and decision-making, and help minimize the harm that weather, climate, the first step in producing weather forecasts is to gather non-stop observations of the environment from around the world. WMO develops the standards for designing these and other observing instruments and for ensuring that the collected data are quality controlled
World Meteorological Organization
–
WMO seat in
Geneva shared with the
GICHD, the
GCSP and the
Group on Earth Observations
World Meteorological Organization
–
World Meteorological Organization
29.
International Maritime Organization
–
The IMO was established in Geneva in 1948 and came into force ten years later, meeting for the first time in 1959. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, the IMO has 172 Member States, IMO is governed by an assembly of members and is financially administered by a council of members elected from the assembly. The work of IMO is conducted through five committees and these are supported by technical subcommittees, other UN organisations may observe the proceedings of the IMO. Observer status is granted to qualified non-governmental organisations, IMO is supported by a permanent secretariat of employees who are representative of the organisations members. Hitherto such international conventions had been initiated piecemeal, notably the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, the first meetings of the newly formed IMCO were held in London in 1959. More recently SOLAS has been amended to bring a focus on maritime security through the International Ship. The IMO has also increased its focus on air emissions from ships, in January 1959, IMO began to maintain and promote the 1954 OILPOL Convention. Under the guidance of IMO, the convention was amended in 1962,1969, as oil trade and industry developed, many people in the industry began to recognize a need for further improvements in regards to oil pollution prevention at sea. Among other things, the accident forced the industry and public to question the efficacy of standing regulations. This incident prompted a series of new conventions, IMO held an emergency session of its Council to deal with the need to readdress regulations pertaining to maritime pollution. In 1969, the IMO Assembly decided to host a gathering in 1973 dedicated to this issue. The goal at hand was to develop an international agreement for controlling general environmental contamination by ships out at sea. During the next few years IMO brought to the forefront a series of measures designed to prevent large ship accidents and it also detailed how to deal with the environmental threat caused by routine ship duties such as the cleaning of oil cargo tanks or the disposal of engine room wastes. Interestingly enough in terms of tonnage the afore-mentioned was a problem than accidental pollution. The most significant thing to come out of conference was the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships,1973. It covers not only accidental and operational oil pollution but also different types of pollution by chemicals, goods in packaged form, sewage, garbage, the original MARPOL was signed on 17 February 1973, but did not come into force due to lack of ratifications. The current convention is a combination of 1973 Convention and the 1978 Protocol and it entered into force on 2 October 1983. As of May 2013,152 states, representing 99.2 per cent of the worlds shipping tonnage, are involved in the convention, in 1983 the IMO established the World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden
International Maritime Organization
–
IMO headquarters in London
International Maritime Organization
–
International Maritime Organization
30.
International Monetary Fund
–
The International Monetary Fund is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D. C. It now plays a role in the management of balance of payments difficulties. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. As of 2016, the fund had SDR477 billion, the rationale for this is that private international capital markets function imperfectly and many countries have limited access to financial markets. The IMF provides alternate sources of financing and this assistance was meant to prevent the spread of international economic crises. The IMF was also intended to help mend the pieces of the economy after the Great Depression. As well, to provide investments for economic growth and projects such as infrastructure. The IMFs role was altered by the floating exchange rates post-1971. It shifted to examining the economic policies of countries with IMF loan agreements to determine if a shortage of capital was due to economic fluctuations or economic policy, the IMF also researched what types of government policy would ensure economic recovery. Rather than maintaining a position of oversight of only exchange rates and their role became a lot more active because the IMF now manages economic policy rather than just exchange rates. In addition, the IMF negotiates conditions on lending and loans under their policy of conditionality, nonconcessional loans, which include interest rates, are provided mainly through Stand-By Arrangements, the Flexible Credit Line, the Precautionary and Liquidity Line, and the Extended Fund Facility. The IMF provides emergency assistance via the Rapid Financing Instrument to members facing urgent balance-of-payments needs, the IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary and financial system and monitor the economic and financial policies of its member countries. This activity is known as surveillance and facilitates international cooperation, the responsibilities changed from those of guardian to those of overseer of members’ policies. In 1995 the International Monetary Fund began work on data dissemination standards with the view of guiding IMF member countries to disseminate their economic and financial data to the public. The executive board approved the SDDS and GDDS in 1996 and 1997 respectively, the system is aimed primarily at statisticians and aims to improve many aspects of statistical systems in a country. It is also part of the World Bank Millennium Development Goals, some countries initially used the GDDS, but later upgraded to SDDS. The IMF does require collateral from countries for loans but also requires the government seeking assistance to correct its macroeconomic imbalances in the form of policy reform, if the conditions are not met, the funds are withheld. The concept of conditionality was introduced in a 1952 Executive Board decision, conditionality is associated with economic theory as well as an enforcement mechanism for repayment
International Monetary Fund
–
IMF "Headquarters 1" in Washington, D.C.
International Monetary Fund
–
Coat of arms
International Monetary Fund
–
The Gold Room within the
Mount Washington Hotel where the
Bretton Woods Conference attendees signed the agreements creating the IMF and
World Bank
International Monetary Fund
–
First page of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund, 1 March 1946. Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs archives
31.
World Bank Group
–
The World Bank Group is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and most famous development bank in the world and is an observer at the United Nations Development Group. The bank is based in Washington, D. C. and provided around $61 billion in loans and assistance to developing, the banks stated mission is to achieve the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and building shared prosperity. Total lending as of 2015 for the last 10 years through Development Policy Financing was approximately $117 billion, the IBRD and IDA provide loans at preferential rates to member countries, as well as grants to the poorest countries. Loans or grants for projects are often linked to wider policy changes in the sector or the countrys economy as a whole. The World Bank has received various criticisms over the years and was tarnished by a scandal with the banks then President Paul Wolfowitz and his aide, Shaha Riza, in 2007. The WBG came into existence on 27 December 1945 following international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements. It also provided the foundation of the Osiander Committee in 1951, commencing operations on 25 June 1946, it approved its first loan on 9 May 1947. All of the 193 UN members and Kosovo that are WBG members participate at a minimum in the IBRD, as of May 2016, all of them also participate in some of the other 4 organizations, IDA, IFC, MIGA, ICSID. Together with four affiliated agencies created between 1957 and 1988, the IBRD is part of the World Bank Group, the Groups headquarters are in Washington, D. C. It is an organization owned by member governments, although it makes profits. Membership gives certain voting rights that are the same for all countries, the President of the World Bank is nominated by the President of the United States and elected by the Banks Board of Governors. As of 15 November 2009 the United States held 16. 4% of total votes, Japan 7. 9%, Germany 4. 5%, the United Kingdom 4. 3%, and France 4. 3%. As changes to the Banks Charter require an 85% super-majority, the US can block any change in the Banks governing structure. The term World Bank generally refers to just the IBRD and IDA, the World Bank Institute is the capacity development branch of the World Bank, providing learning and other capacity-building programs to member countries. The IBRD has 189 member governments, and the institutions have between 153 and 184 members. The institutions of the World Bank Group are all run by a Board of Governors meeting once a year, each member country appoints a governor, generally its Minister of Finance. On a daily basis the World Bank Group is run by a Board of 25 Executive Directors to whom the governors have delegated certain powers, each Director represents either one country, or a group of countries
World Bank Group
–
The World Bank Group Building in
Washington D.C.
World Bank Group
–
The World Bank Sign on the building
World Bank Group
–
A young World Bank protester in
Jakarta, Indonesia.
World Bank Group
–
World Bank /
IMF protesters smashed the windows of this
PNC Bank branch located in the
Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
32.
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
–
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization, French/Spanish acronym ONUDI, is a specialized agency in the United Nations system, headquartered in Vienna, Austria. It is also a member of the United Nations Development Group, UNIDO believes that competitive and environmentally sustainable industry has a crucial role to play in accelerating economic growth, reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. UNIDO thus works largely in developing countries, with governments, business associations, UNIDO was established as a UN programme in 1966 with headquarters in Vienna, Austria, and became a specialized agency of the United Nations in 1985. In 2004, UNIDO established the UNIDO Goodwill Ambassador programme, in 2009, UNIDO created a new flagship publication, Making It, Industry for Development. As of January 2017,168 States are Members of UNIDO, the estimated total volume of UNIDO operations for the biennium 2012–2013 is €460 million, the value of technical cooperation delivery in 2012 amounted to $189.2 million. UNIDOs services therefore focus on encouraging the creation of decent employment, the technical ability of developing countries to produce competitive exportable products that comply with international standards is key to their successful participation in international trade. Fundamental changes in the way societies produce and consume are indispensable for achieving global sustainable development, UNIDO therefore promotes sustainable patterns of industrial consumption and production to de-link the processes of economic growth and environmental degradation. UNIDO is a provider of services for improved industrial energy efficiency. It also assists developing countries in implementing multilateral environmental agreements and in reaching their economic. UNIDO organizes the Global Renewable Energy Forum in October 2009, the Industry Section of the Secretariat became a branch in 1959, and in 1962 it became the Industrial Development Centre, headed by a Commissioner for Industrial Development. In the aftermath, proposals for further institutionalizing industrial development-related issues within the UN were considered by various advisory groups, subsequently, the United Nations General Assembly created the UNIDO in November 1966 as a special organ of the United Nations. In January 1967, the Organization was formally established with Headquarters in Vienna, compared to the Industrial Development Centre, UNIDOs creation was intended to broaden the work of its predecessor. The setting up of UNIDO as a special organ had nonetheless been a compromise solution, the developing countries had in the first instance promoted the idea of a specialized agency with its own political decision-making governing bodies and autonomy in budgetary matters. The same position was advocated by several high-level expert groups and intergovernmental committees during the following years, an intergovernmental committee prepared a draft constitution, which was adopted in Vienna in 1979. However, the objections and doubts of industrialized countries as to the necessity of a specialized agency contributed to delaying the ratification process. All necessary formal requirements were fulfilled in 1985, and in December of the same year, during the subsequent years, UNIDO continuously expanded particularly its operational activities. As a result, Canada, the United States, and Australia subsequently withdrew from the Organization between 1993 and 1997, in addition, a weak management structure and lack of focus and integration of UNIDOs activities contributed to aggravate the crisis. UNIDOs Member States responded by adopting a stringent Business Plan on the Future Role, activities laid out in the Business Plan are based on the clear comparative advantages of UNIDO, while avoiding overlap and duplication with other multilateral institutions
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
–
ONUDI in French and Spanish
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
–
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
33.
World Tourism Organization
–
The United Nations World Tourism Organization is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. UNWTO’s membership includes 157 countries,6 territories and over 500 affiliate members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and its headquarters are located in Madrid. In pursuing these aims, UNWTO pays particular attention to the interests of developing countries in the field of tourism, the origin of UNWTO stems back to 1920 when the International Congress of Official Tourist Traffic Associations was formed at The Hague. Following the end of the Second World War and with international travel numbers increasing, a technical, non-governmental organization, the IUOTO was made up of a combination of national tourist organizations, industry and consumer groups. Towards the end of the 1960s, the IUOTO realized the need for further transformation to enhance its role on an international level. Throughout the existence of the IUOTO, close ties had been established between the organization and the United Nations and initial suggestions had the IUOTO becoming part of the UN and it was on the recommendations of the UN that the formation of the new intergovernmental tourism organization was based. Resolution 2529 of the XXIVth UN general assembly stated, In 1970, based on statutes of the IUOTO, and after ratification by the prescribed 51 states, the WTO came into operation on November 1,1974. Most recently, at the general assembly in 2003, the WTO general council. The significance of this collaboration, WTO Secretary-General Mr. Francesco Frangialli claimed, would lie in the visibility it gives the WTO. Tourism will be considered on a footing with other major activities of human society. As of 2013, the membership of the UNWTO included 156 states, six associate members, the Netherland Antilles was an associate member before its dissolution. Former members are, Belgium, Canada, Grenada and Latvia, the United Arab Emirates rejoined the Organization in May 2013,26 years after having left UNWTO. The General Assembly is the gathering of the World Tourism Organization. It meets every two years to approve the budget and programme of work and to debate topics of importance to the tourism sector. Every four years it elects a Secretary-General, the General Assembly is composed of full members and associate members. Affiliate members and representatives of other international organizations participate as observers, the World Committee on Tourism Ethics is a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly. The Executive Council is UNWTOs governing board, responsible for ensuring that the Organization carries out its work and it meets at least twice a year and is composed of members elected by the General Assembly in a ratio of one for every five full members. As host country of UNWTOs headquarters, Spain has a permanent seat on the Executive Council, representatives of the associate members and affiliate members participate in Executive Council meetings as observers
World Tourism Organization
–
UNWTO headquarters Madrid
World Tourism Organization
–
World Tourism Organization
34.
William Zeckendorf
–
William Zeckendorf, Sr. was a prominent American real estate developer. Through his development company Webb and Knapp—for which he began working in 1938, architects I. M. Pei and Le Corbusier have worked for Zeckendorf on many of his projects. Zeckendorf was born to a Jewish family in Paris, Illinois and his family moved to New York City when he was three years old. He attended New York University but dropped out to work at the estate company of his uncle. He soon left his uncles firm to work for Webb & Knapp, zeckendorfs most notable property acquisition, and potential development of a dream city to rival Rockefeller Center, was a 17-acre site along the East River between 42nd Street and 48th Street. Zeckendorf also owned New Yorks famous Chrysler Building and the venerable Hotel Astor in Times Square and he purchased Chicagos famous Robie House in 1958 before transferring ownership to the University of Chicago. He developed two of I. M. Peis early skyscrapers—the Mile High Center in downtown Denver, Zeckendorf also partnered with Chicago real estate titan Arthur Rubloff to develop a stretch of Michigan Avenue into what Rubloff dubbed the Magnificent Mile. The Rubloff Company was eventually acquired by Prudential and subsequently has become a division of Berkshire Hathaway, the studio had suffered a string of expensive flops, culminating in the box-office disaster Cleopatra and was in dire need of money. The project, conceived under the direction of Edmund Herrscher, the director of property development, had been announced the first week of 1958. The following March it was announced that construction would begin that month on the new headquarters for architect Welton Becket, Zeckendorf hired New York public relations executive Tex McCrary to lend new life and visibility to the project. McCrary, in turn contracted with Los Angeles publicist Charles A. Pomerantz, well known in the entertainment industry, to come up with a campaign and execute it. Pomerantz turned to a young publicist he had hired, Worley Thorne, Thorne said hed call friends in the press to assess their attitudes. Thorne learned that there was skepticism that the project would ever be built. 20th did not have the money, which is why they brought in Zeckendorf, the California papers had already given a lot of publicity to Century City and, for them, any more coverage would just be re-hash in which they were not interested. Thorne reported to Pomerantz his opinion that the way to restore credibility to the project was to actually begin construction. Thorne called Herrscher and asked if there was some small building they could demolish with a bulldozer, Herrscher said there was a tin shack that was expendable and hed make it available, as well as the bulldozer. McCrary and William Zeckendorf, Jr. vice-president of Webb & Knapp and he and Pomerantz would find a star to launch the project by breaking a bottle of champagne on the shack prior to its being demolished. Later, they secured Mary Pickford for that task and it was all purely symbolic, since construction did not actually begin, but no one stated that openly, it was dramatic, and very successful
William Zeckendorf
–
Zeckendorf in New York, 1952
35.
Nelson Rockefeller
–
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was an American businessman and politician. He served as the 41st Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford from 1974 to 1977 and he also served in the administrations of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower. A member of the wealthy Rockefeller family, he was also an art collector. Rockefeller, a Republican, was considered politically liberal and progressive. He successfully altered the political platform of the Republican Party just before the 1960 Republican Convention in what is termed the Treaty of Fifth Avenue, in his time, liberals in the Republican Party were called Rockefeller Republicans. After unsuccessfully seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 1960,1964, Rockefeller did not join the 1976 Republican national ticket with Ford, marking his retirement from politics. Ford later selected then-Senator Bob Dole from Kansas for his new running mate but ultimately lost the election to Democrat Jimmy Carter and his running mate, Rockefeller remains, as of 2017, the last Vice President who declined to seek re-election. As a businessman he was president and later chairman of Rockefeller Center, Inc. Rockefeller assembled a significant art collection and promoted public access to the arts. He served as trustee, treasurer, and president of the Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller was born in 1908 in Bar Harbor, Maine. He was the son of financier and philanthropist John Davison Rockefeller Jr. and philanthropist. He had a sister, Abby, and four brothers, John III, Laurance, Winthrop and their father John Jr. was the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John Davison Rockefeller Sr. and schoolteacher Laura Celestia Cettie Spelman. Their mother Abby was a daughter of Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich, Rockefeller received his elementary, middle and high school education at the Lincoln School, an experimental school administered by Teachers College of Columbia University. In 1930 he graduated cum laude with an A. B. in economics from Dartmouth College, where he was a member of Casque and Gauntlet, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Zeta chapter of the Psi Upsilon. Following his graduation, he worked in a number of family-related businesses, including Chase National Bank, Rockefeller Center, Inc. From 1932 to 1979 he served as a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, where he served as treasurer, 1935–39. He and his four brothers established the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a philanthropy, in 1940, where he served as trustee, 1940–75 and 1977–79, Rockefeller was a patient of famous psychic Edgar Cayce. Rockefeller served as a member of the Westchester County Board of Health and his service with Creole Petroleum led to his deep, lifelong interest in Latin America. He became fluent in the Spanish language, Rockefeller was charged with overseeing a program of U. S
Nelson Rockefeller
–
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
–
Nelson Rockefeller, Under Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, makes a presentation on a proposed public/private health reinsurance program, 1954.
Nelson Rockefeller
–
Vice President Nelson Rockefeller (on right) with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, January 3, 1975.
Nelson Rockefeller
–
Gov. Rockefeller meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968
36.
Rockefeller family
–
The family is also known for its long association with and control of Chase Manhattan Bank. They are considered to be one of the most powerful families, if not the most powerful family, one of the founding members of the Rockefeller family was businessman William Rockefeller Sr. born in Granger, New York, to a Protestant family. He had six children with his first wife Eliza Davison, the most prominent of which were oil tycoons John Davison Rockefeller and William Rockefeller, Oil baron John D. Rockefeller was a devout Northern Baptist, and he supported many church-based institutions. The family was involved in numerous real estate construction projects in the U. S. during the 20th century. In Manhattan by fourteen major institutions that were based in the area, the result, in 1951, was the six-building apartment complex known as Morningside Gardens. Seniors donations led to the formation of the University of Chicago in 1889, the Central Philippine University in the Philippines and this was one instance of a long family and Rockefeller Foundation tradition of financially supporting Ivy League and other major colleges and universities over the generations—seventy-five in total. John D Jr. established International House at Berkeley, beginning with John Sr. the family has been a major force in land conservation. John Jr. and his son Laurance were particularly prominent in this area, at the event, the societys president, John Flicker, notably stated, Cumulatively, no other family in America has made the contribution to conservation that the Rockefeller family has made. Nelson, John D. III, John D. IV, Peggy Dulany, Rockefeller Foundation, the Trilateral Commission -David, Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The Bilderberg Group - David, John D. IV, the Asia Society - John D. III, John D. IV, Charles, David. The Population Council - John D. III, the Council of the Americas - David. The Group of Thirty - The Rockefeller Foundation, the World Economic Forum - David. The Peterson Institute - David, Monica, the International Executive Service Corps - David. The Institute for Pacific Relations - Junior, the League of Nations - Junior. The United Nations - Junior, John D. III, Nelson, David, Peggy Dulany, the United Nations Association - David. These include, the Commonwealth Fund, Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust, in total, it holds over 70 million pages of documents and contains the collections of forty-two scientific, cultural, educational and philanthropic organizations. Only the expurgated records of deceased family members are available to scholars and researchers. He reports that it will be years before all the papers will be open to the public
Rockefeller family
–
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, NY, U.S.
Rockefeller family
–
Central Philippine University (with the
University Church).
Rockefeller family
–
One Chase Manhattan Plaza
Rockefeller family
–
Rockefeller Center at night, December 1933
37.
Kykuit
–
Kykuit derived from the Dutch word Kijkuit meaning lookout, is situated on the highest point in the hamlet of Pocantico Hills, overlooking the Hudson River at Tappan Zee. Located near Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, it has a view of the New York City skyline twenty-five miles to the south, one of Americas most famous private residences, Kykuit was designed originally as a steep-roofed three-story stone mansion by the architects Chester Holmes Aldrich and William Adams Delano. Aldrich was a distant relative of the younger Rockefellers wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, the elder Rockefeller had purchased land in the area as early as 1893 after his brother William had built a 204-room mansion, Rockwood Hall, in the area. The initial eclectic structure took six years to complete, before being occupied it was substantially rebuilt in its present four-story Classical Revival Georgian form. Completed in 1913, it has two basement levels filled with interconnecting passageways and service tunnels, the homes interiors were designed by Ogden Codman, Jr. and feature collections of Chinese and European ceramics, fine furnishings and 20th-century art. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976, in 1979, its occupant, Nelson Rockefeller, bequeathed upon his death his one-third interest in the estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As a result, Kykuit is now open to the public for tours conducted by Historic Hudson Valley, the imposing structure, of local stone topped with the Rockefeller emblem, is located centrally in a 250 acres inner compound within the larger Rockefeller family estate. This gated compound is guarded at all times, Save family residences, the rest of the estate is open to the public for recreational purposes, as it always has been. Initially, landscaping of the grounds was given to the company of Frederick Law Olmsted, Rockefeller Senior was unhappy with this work however and assumed control of the design himself, transplanting whole mature trees, designing lookouts and the several scenic winding roads. These gardens in the Beaux-Arts style are considered Bosworths best work in the United States and his original gardens still exist, with plantings carefully replaced over time, although his entrance forecourt was extended in 1913. Kykuit was renovated and modernized in 1995 by New Haven architect Herbert S. Newman, shuttle vans run from a visitor center located at the Philipsburg Manor House on Route 9 in Sleepy Hollow, New York. The vast estate, known as Pocantico or Pocantico Hills, occupies an area of 1,380 hectares. During much of the 20th century, the 1,420 hectares estate featured a resident workforce of security guards, gardeners and laborers, and had its own farming, cattle and food supplies. It has a nine-hole, reversible golf course, and at one time had houses and seventy private roads, most designed by Rockefeller Senior. A longstanding witticism about the estate quips, Its what God would have built, in 1901, John D. Rockefeller hired golf course architect Willie Dunn, the designer of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, to build a golf course on the grounds. Family patriarch Junior vetoed the proposals as too isolated from Manhattan and he tasked second son, Nelson, to buy a 6. 9-hectare site along the East River, subsequently donated for the construction of the UN Headquarters. Among guests hosted by Nelson and brother David have been Presidents Lyndon B, Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and their wives. Presently, ten or so Rockefeller families live within the estate, much land has been donated over the decades to New York State, including the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, and is open to the public for horseback riding, biking, and jogging
Kykuit
–
Kykuit (John D. Rockefeller Estate)
Kykuit
–
Southwestern exposure of Kykuit
Kykuit
–
One of several gardens
Kykuit
–
Kykuit Tea House
38.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
–
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. was an American financier and philanthropist who was a prominent member of the Rockefeller family. He was the only son among the five children of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller, in biographies, he is commonly referred to as Junior to distinguish him from his father, Senior. Rockefeller was the fifth and last child of Standard Oil co-founder John Davison Rockefeller Sr. and his four older sisters were Elizabeth, Alice, Alta, and Edith. His father John Sr. and uncle William Avery Rockefeller Jr. co-founded Standard Oil together, nicknamed Johnny Rock by his roommates, he joined both the Glee and the Mandolin Clubs, taught a Bible class and was elected junior class president. Scrupulously careful with money, he stood out as different from other rich mens sons, in 1897 he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, after taking nearly a dozen courses in the social sciences, including a study of Karl Marxs Das Kapital. He joined the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and he later also became a director at J. P. Morgans U. S. Steel company, which had been formed in 1901. In April 1914, after a period of industrial unrest. Junior owned a controlling interest in the company and sat on the board as an absentee director, at least 20 men, women, and children died in the incident, and in January 1915 Junior was called to testify before the Commission on Industrial Relations. Many critics blamed Rockefeller for ordering the massacre, Margaret Sanger wrote an attack piece in her magazine The Woman Rebel declaring, But remember Ludlow. Remember the men and women and children who were sacrificed in order that John D. Rockefeller Jr. might continue his career of charity. He was at the time being advised by William Lyon Mackenzie King, Lee warned that the Rockefellers were losing public support and developed a strategy that Junior followed to repair it. This was novel advice, and attracted media attention, which opened the way to resolve the conflict. The family office, of which he was in charge, shifted from 26 Broadway to the 56th floor of the landmark 30 Rockefeller Plaza upon its completion in 1933, the office formally became Rockefeller Family and Associates. In 1921, Junior received about 10% of the shares of the Equitable Trust Company from his father, subsequently, in 1930, Equitable merged with Chase National Bank, making Chase the largest bank in the world at the time. Although his stockholding was reduced to about 4% following this merger, as late as the 1960s, the family still retained about 1% of the banks shares, by which time his son David had become the banks president. In the late 1920s, Rockefeller founded the Dunbar National Bank in Harlem, the financial institution was located within the Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments at 2824 Eighth Avenue near 150th Street, servicing a primarily African-American clientele. It was unique among New York City financial institutions in that it employed African Americans as tellers, clerks, however, the bank folded after only a few years of operation. This letter became an important event in pushing the nation to repeal Prohibition, Rockefeller was known for his philanthropy, giving over $537 million to myriad causes over his lifetime compared to $240 million to his own family
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
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John D. Rockefeller, Jr., financier
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
–
Rockefeller and his father
John D. Rockefeller in 1915.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
–
Grand Teton Range and Snake River
39.
Wallace Harrison
–
Wallace Kirkman Harrison was an American architect. Harrison started his career with the firm of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray. Harrisons work in the mid-twentieth century comprised large, modernist public projects and he worked for McKim, Mead & White and Bertram Grovesnor Goodhue from 1916 to 1923, and later formed a series of architectural partnerships. Harrison participated with the architectural teams designing the art deco Rockefeller Center complex in New York City, in 1941 Harrison joined with Max Abramowitz to form the firm of Harrison & Abramowitz. In partnership with Abramovitz, Harrison designed scores of university and corporate buildings, including the Time & Life and Socony-Mobil, harrision also developed the design for the Pershing Memorial in Washington, D. C. Harrisons major projects are marked by straightforward planning and sensible functionalism, the home includes a 32-foot circular living room that is rumored to have been the prototype for the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center. Two other circular rooms complete the center of Harrisons design, frequent visitors and guests included Nelson Rockefeller, Robert Moses, Marc Chagall, Le Corbusier, Alexander Calder and Fernand Léger. Harrisons expansive country property also exhibited his relationships with contemporary architects, Léger waited out part of World War II by painting a mural at the bottom of Harrisons swimming pool. Léger also created a mural for the homes circular living room. Calders first show is said to have taken place at the home, Harrisons architectural drawings and archives are held by the Drawings and Archives Department of Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University. Harrison was a member of the U. S, commission of Fine Arts from 1955 to 1959. In 1967, Harrison received the AIA Gold Medal, in 1938, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1948. Harrison was married to Ellen Hunt Milton in 1926 and they had a daughter, Sarah, and lived in Manhattan and Seal Harbor, Maine. The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Worlds to Conquer 1908-1958, the Edifice Complex, How the Rich and Powerful - and Their Architects - Shape the World
Wallace Harrison
–
The
Metropolitan Opera House at
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, seen from Lincoln Center Plaza
Wallace Harrison
–
UN headquarters in
New York City
40.
United Nations Secretariat Building
–
The United Nations Secretariat Building is a 154 m tall skyscraper and the centerpiece of the headquarters of the United Nations, located in the Turtle Bay area of Manhattan, in New York City. The lot where the stands is considered United Nations territory. It is the first skyscraper in New York City to use a curtain wall and it has 39 stories and was completed in 1952. The building was designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier and this building is connected to the Conference Building to the north that houses the General Assembly, the Security Council, among others, and a library building to the south. The building houses the administrative functions of the UN, including day-to-day duties such as finance, as part of the UN complex, the building is subject to an agreement between the United Nations and its host country, the United States. The UN Secretariat Building was renovated, starting in May 2010, on October 29,2012, the basement of the UN complex was flooded due to Hurricane Sandy, leading to a three-day closure and the relocation of several offices. The building style has inspired some notable copies, including the Headquarters of South Lanarkshire Council in Hamilton, Scotland, list of tallest buildings in New York City Dag Hammarskjöld Library Notes Further reading Stichweh, Dirk. United Nations Visitors Centre United Nations Headquarters on Facebook
United Nations Secretariat Building
–
United Nations Secretariat Building
41.
General Assembly of the United Nations
–
The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation. The General Assembly is the deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. It has also established a number of subsidiary organs. It can also reconvene for special and emergency special sessions and its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter. The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, other questions are decided by a straightforward majority. Each member country has one vote, apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace, the one state, one vote power structure potentially allows states comprising just five percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote. During the 1980s, the Assembly became a forum for the North-South dialogue and these issues came to the fore because of the phenomenal growth and changing makeup of the UN membership. In 1945, the UN had 51 members and it now has 193, of which more than two-thirds are developing countries. Because of their numbers, developing countries are able to determine the agenda of the Assembly, the character of its debates. For many developing countries, the UN is the source of much of their diplomatic influence, the Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. The first session of the UN General Assembly was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, the next few annual sessions were held in different cities, the second session in New York, and the third session was in Paris. It moved to the permanent United Nations Headquarters in New York at the start of its seventh regular annual session, on 14 October 1952. In December 1988, in order to hear Yasser Arafat, the General Assembly organised its 29th session in the Palace of Nations, all 193 members states of the United Nations are members of the General Assembly. The agenda for each session is planned up to seven months in advance and this is refined into a provisional agenda 60 days before the opening of the session. Items on the agenda are numbered, the General Assembly votes on many resolutions brought forth by sponsoring states. These are generally statements symbolizing the sense of the community about an array of world issues. Most General Assembly resolutions are not enforceable as a legal or practical matter, the General Assembly has authority to make final decisions in some areas such as the United Nations budget
General Assembly of the United Nations
–
United Nations (UN) General Assembly hall at the
UN Headquarters,
New York City
General Assembly of the United Nations
–
United Nations General Assembly
General Assembly of the United Nations
–
Westminster Central Hall,
London, the location of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in 1946.
General Assembly of the United Nations
–
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev addresses the 64th session of the UN General Assembly on 24 September 2009
42.
Tudor City
–
Tudor City is an apartment complex located on the southern edge of Turtle Bay on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, near Turtle Bays border with Kips Bay. Construction commenced in 1927, becoming the first residential complex in the world. It is bordered by 40th Street to the south, First Avenue to the east, Second Avenue to the west, Tudor City takes its name from Englands Tudor dynasty, which ruled from 1485 to 1603 and included King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. Before Tudor City was constructed, tenements and slums dominated the area, the area was known as Goat Hill and later Prospect Hill. The area eventually developed into a shanty Irish community known as Corcorans Roost, founded by Jimmy Corcoran, in the 1850s. It later became known as a community with a rate of violent crime and as a haven for waterfront thieves. The complex was built to bring in middle-class residents who had begun leaving Manhattan for the other boroughs, a 1994 feature in The New York Times reported, Inspired by East Side reclamation projects like Turtle Bay Gardens and Sutton Place, French. Began construction on the largest single residential project New York had yet seen, by 1932 he had finished nine big apartment houses and a hotel with a total of 2,800 units that soon accommodated 4,500 residents. The historicist architecture of the buildings can be classified as neo-Gothic rather than Tudor or the related English revival styles Tudorbethan and Jacobethan, an earlier 1920s residential development in Manhattan, Hudson View Gardens, also built for suburban appeal, made explicit use of such Tudorbethan features as half-timbering. Originally, two gardens flanked 42nd Street, with the south garden featuring a miniaturized 18-hole golf course, on at least one cold winter, the courts were flooded to create an ice skating rink for the community. In May 1948, Claude Marchant, a dancer and teacher in the Katherine Dunham School of Dance. Marchant, an African American, had refused entry into the passenger elevator of one of the buildings. In the 1960s, the Fred F. French Company sold Tudor City to the Rabinowitz Corporation, in May 1985, Harry Helmsley and Alvin Schwartz sold their remaining properties in Tudor City to Philip Pilevsky of Philips International and Francis J. Greenburger of Time Equities. The new owners set about converting Tudor City into co-op apartments. In April 2008, New York Magazine recalled the 1989 slump, In 1988, preservation efforts leading up to the designation had started 10 years earlier when Harry Helmsley proposed building towers atop two parks within the complex. The natural topography of the features a granite cliff. Nearby East-west streets slope downward from Second Avenue to First Avenue, East 41st and 43rd Streets, however, slope upward to the clifftop and end at Tudor City Place. With the cliff separating Tudor City from First Avenue below, it is accessible to traffic only via Second Avenue
Tudor City
–
Tudor City apartments with the
Chrysler Building in background
Tudor City
–
Looking north from the 42nd Street bridge
Tudor City
–
Western side, with "TUDOR CITY" sign
Tudor City
–
Alphabet City
43.
Rockefeller Center
–
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 high-rise commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in New York City. Commissioned by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. It is famous for its annual Christmas tree lighting, Rockefeller Center was named after John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who leased the space from Columbia University in 1928 and developed it beginning in 1930. Rockefeller stated, It was clear there were only two courses open to me. One was to abandon the entire development, the other to go forward with it in the definite knowledge that I myself would have to build it and finance it alone. The initial cost of acquiring the space, razing some of the existing buildings and it was the largest private building project ever undertaken in modern times. Construction of the 14 buildings in the Art Deco style began on May 17,1930, principal builder and managing agent for the massive project was John R. Todd. The construction of the project employed over 40,000 people and it was the public relations pioneer Ivy Lee, the prominent adviser to the family, who first suggested the name Rockefeller Center for the complex, in 1931. Rockefeller, Jr. initially did not want the Rockefeller family name associated with the commercial project, what could have become a major controversy in the mid-1930s concerned the last of the four European buildings that remained unnamed. Ivy Lee and others attempts to rent the space to German commercial concerns. Rockefeller ruled this out after being advised of Hitlers Nazi march toward World War II and this subsequently became the primary location of the U. S. In 1985, Columbia University sold the land beneath Rockefeller Center to the Rockefeller Group for $400 million, in 1989, Mitsubishi Estate, a real estate company of the Mitsubishi Group, purchased the entire Rockefeller Center complex, and its owner, Rockefeller Group. In 1996, the complex was purchased by a consortium of owners that included Goldman Sachs, Gianni Agnelli, Stavros Niarchos, and David Rockefeller. Tishman Speyer, led by Jerry Speyer, a friend of David Rockefeller. The landmark buildings comprise over 8,000,000 square feet on 22 acres in Midtown, bounded by Fifth and Sixth avenues and these are co-owned by Tishman-Speyer, and open to the public. 1 Rockefeller Plaza – The original Time–Life Building, a tenant was General Dynamics. 10 Rockefeller Plaza – Originally the Holland House, then the Eastern Air Lines Building, currently home of Today Show studios. 30 Rockefeller Plaza – Originally the RCA Building, in 1988 it was renamed the GE Building, headquarters of NBC, the Rainbow Room restaurant is located on the 65th floor
Rockefeller Center
–
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
–
Rockefeller Center's landmark plaque
Rockefeller Center
–
Studio 1A, home of
Today
Rockefeller Center
–
Sheepshearing demonstration in the sunken plaza of McGraw-Hill Building, 1973
44.
Wallace K. Harrison
–
Wallace Kirkman Harrison was an American architect. Harrison started his career with the firm of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray. Harrisons work in the mid-twentieth century comprised large, modernist public projects and he worked for McKim, Mead & White and Bertram Grovesnor Goodhue from 1916 to 1923, and later formed a series of architectural partnerships. Harrison participated with the architectural teams designing the art deco Rockefeller Center complex in New York City, in 1941 Harrison joined with Max Abramowitz to form the firm of Harrison & Abramowitz. In partnership with Abramovitz, Harrison designed scores of university and corporate buildings, including the Time & Life and Socony-Mobil, harrision also developed the design for the Pershing Memorial in Washington, D. C. Harrisons major projects are marked by straightforward planning and sensible functionalism, the home includes a 32-foot circular living room that is rumored to have been the prototype for the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center. Two other circular rooms complete the center of Harrisons design, frequent visitors and guests included Nelson Rockefeller, Robert Moses, Marc Chagall, Le Corbusier, Alexander Calder and Fernand Léger. Harrisons expansive country property also exhibited his relationships with contemporary architects, Léger waited out part of World War II by painting a mural at the bottom of Harrisons swimming pool. Léger also created a mural for the homes circular living room. Calders first show is said to have taken place at the home, Harrisons architectural drawings and archives are held by the Drawings and Archives Department of Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University. Harrison was a member of the U. S, commission of Fine Arts from 1955 to 1959. In 1967, Harrison received the AIA Gold Medal, in 1938, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1948. Harrison was married to Ellen Hunt Milton in 1926 and they had a daughter, Sarah, and lived in Manhattan and Seal Harbor, Maine. The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Worlds to Conquer 1908-1958, the Edifice Complex, How the Rich and Powerful - and Their Architects - Shape the World
Wallace K. Harrison
–
The
Metropolitan Opera House at
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, seen from Lincoln Center Plaza
Wallace K. Harrison
–
UN headquarters in
New York City
45.
Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
Soviet Union
–
Vladimir Lenin addressing a crowd with Trotsky, 1920
Soviet Union
–
Flag
Soviet Union
–
Stalin and
Nikolai Yezhov, head of the
NKVD. After Yezhov was executed, he was
edited out of the image.
Soviet Union
46.
Belgium
–
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
Belgium
–
Charlemagne and
Charles V
Belgium
–
Flaga
Belgium
Belgium
–
Episode of the
Belgian Revolution of 1830 (1834), by
Egide Charles Gustave Wappers
47.
Ernest Cormier
–
He was born in Montreal, the son of a medical doctor, and he studied civil engineering at the École Polytechnique in Montreal. After graduation in 1906, he worked in the department of the Dominion Bridge Company in Montreal. In 1909, he studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the atelier of Jean-Louis Pascal, in 1914, he was the recipient of the Henry Jarvis Scholarship, awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Through its British Prix de Rome, Cormier spent two years in the Eternal City, where he studied the ancient works and he was a professor at the École Polytechnique in Montreal. Cormiers major work is the building of the Université de Montréal on the north slope of Mount Royal. This huge example of the Art Deco style was built between World War I and the middle of World War II and it has kept in a nearly pristine shape over the decades. It is a composition of forms of planes and surfaces in successive relief. The light buff vitrified brick has trimmings of Missisquoi marble, the only major destruction of his designs took place within the interior spaces. These changes occurred in the 1970s when the great hall of the central library was filled up with several smaller, single-storey rooms for the faculty of medicine. Another important example of Cormiers work can be found on another Québec university campus, Cormier also designed two important Roman Catholic Churches for the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, USA. One of them, St. John the Baptist Church of Pawtucket, Cormiers own home, on Montreals avenue des Pins, is one of the finest examples of an Art Deco dwelling in the world. Pierre Trudeau purchased the building and lived there following his retirement until his death in 2000, Cormier is also responsible for the classic chateau-styled Supreme Court of Canada building in Ottawa. He was a consultant for the United Nations building in New York and in Toronto, Cormier designed St. Michaels College School. In addition to showing a balance, in most of his buildings, between the disciplines of engineering and architecture, Cormier also had great skills as a painter. He has left us many stunning renderings of his works, done in the planning stages, in 1974, Cormier was inducted into the Order of Canada by Governor General Jules Léger, and received numerous honours and awards. The Édifice Ernest-Cormier, the Quebec Court of Appeal building in Old Montreal, is named in his honour, Architecture of Quebec Isabelle Gournay, editor, Ernest Cormier and the Université de Montréal. Translation by Terrance Hughes and Nancy Côté, Montréal, Canadian Centre for Architecture,1990. Adrian Tinniswood, The Art Deco House, Avant-Garde Houses of the 1920s, Ernest Cormier archive at the Canadian Centre for Architecture Historic Places in Canada
Ernest Cormier
–
in the 1920's
Ernest Cormier
–
Main building of the Université de Montréal, by Ernest Cormier
Ernest Cormier
–
Supreme Court of Canada building, by Ernest Cormier
Ernest Cormier
–
Maison Cormier
48.
France
–
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
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
49.
Liang Sicheng
–
Liang Sicheng was a Chinese architect and scholar, often known as the father of modern Chinese architecture. His father, Liang Qichao, was one of the most prominent Chinese scholars of the early 20th century and his wife was the architect and poet Lin Huiyin. His younger brother, Liang Siyong, was one of Chinas first archaeologists, Liang authored the first modern history on Chinese architecture, and he was the founder of the Architecture Department of Northeastern University in 1928 and Tsinghua University in 1946. He was the Chinese representative of the Design Board which designed the United Nations headquarters in New York City. He is recognized as the “Father of Modern Chinese Architecture”. ”Liang Sicheng was born on 20 April 1901 in Tokyo, Japan, foreign powers soon divided China into spheres of influence, while the weak and corrupt Qing Dynasty could do little to stop them. In 1898 the Guangxu Emperor, led by his circle of advisers, attempted to introduce reforms to stem the decay. Liang Qichao, a well-educated and energetic man, was a leader of this movement, however, in the face of opposition from conservatives in the Qing court, the movement failed. The Empress Dowager Cixi, the adoptive mother and the power behind the throne, imprisoned the emperor. Liang Qichao took refuge in Japan, where his eldest son was born, after the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911, Liang Qichao, Liang Sichengs father, returned to China from his exile in Japan. He briefly served in the government of the newly established Republic, Liang Qichao quit his government post and initiated a social and literary movement to introduce modern, Western thought to Chinese society. Liang Sicheng was educated by his father in this progressive environment, in 1915, Liang entered Tsinghua College, a preparatory school in Beijing. In 1924, he and Lin went to University of Pennsylvania funded by Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship to study architecture under Paul Cret, three years later, Liang received his masters degree in architecture. He greatly benefited from his education in America, which prepared him for his future career as a scholar. In 1928, Liang married Lin Huiyin, who was a renowned scholar in modern China. She was recognized as an artist, architect and poet, admired by and friend with famous scholars of her time, such as poet Xu Zhimo, philosopher Jin Yuelin. When the couple went back in 1928, they were invited by the Northeastern University in Shenyang, at that time Shenyang was under the control of Japanese troops, which was a big challenge to perform any professional practice. They went anyway, established the second School of Architecture in China and their effort was interrupted by Japan’s occupation in the following year, but after 18 years, in 1946, the Liangs were again able to practice their professorship in Tsinghua University in Beijing. This time a systematic and all-around curriculum was discreetly put forward, consisted of courses of fine arts, theory, history, science
Liang Sicheng
–
Liang at Tsinghua University, 1950
Liang Sicheng
–
Residential building in Lijiang, Yunan province
Liang Sicheng
–
Wenyuan Chamber in the Forbidden City
Liang Sicheng
–
Monk Ganjin memorial Hall, Yangzhou, designed by Liang Sicheng
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