1.
Jewellery
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Jewellery or jewelry consists of small decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes, for many centuries metal, often combined with gemstones, has been the normal material for jewellery, but other materials such as shells and other plant materials may be used. It is one of the oldest type of archaeological artefact – with 100, historically, the most widespread influence on jewellery in terms of design and style have come from Asia. Jewellery may be made from a range of materials. Gemstones and similar such as amber and coral, precious metals, beads, and shells have been widely used. In most cultures jewellery can be understood as a symbol, for its material properties, its patterns. Jewellery has been made to nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings. The word jewellery itself is derived from the jewel, which was anglicised from the Old French jouel. In British English, Indian English, New Zealand English, Hiberno-English, Australian English, both are used in Canadian English, though jewelry prevails by a two to one margin. Numerous cultures store wedding dowries in the form of jewellery or make jewellery as a means to store or display coins, alternatively, jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good, an example being the use of slave beads. Many items of jewellery, such as brooches and buckles, originated as functional items. Jewellery can also symbolise group membership or status, wearing of amulets and devotional medals to provide protection or ward off evil is common in some cultures. These may take the form of symbols, stones, plants, animals, body parts, in creating jewellery, gemstones, coins, or other precious items are often used, and they are typically set into precious metals. Alloys of nearly every metal known have been encountered in jewellery, bronze, for example, was common in Roman times. Modern fine jewellery usually includes gold, white gold, platinum, palladium, titanium, most contemporary gold jewellery is made of an alloy of gold, the purity of which is stated in karats, indicated by a number followed by the letter K. American gold jewellery must be of at least 10K purity, many whimsical fashions were introduced in the extravagant eighteenth century. Cameos that were used in connection with jewellery were the attractive trinkets along with many of the objects such as brooches, ear-rings. Some of the necklets were made of pieces joined with the gold chains were in and bracelets were also made sometimes to match the necklet
2.
Saint Petersburg
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Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
3.
Imperial Russia
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
4.
Gustav Faberge
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Gustav Fabergé was a Baltic German jeweller and father of the famous Peter Carl Fabergé, maker of Fabergé eggs. He established his own business in Saint Petersburg, which his son inherited, Fabergé, a Baltic German, was born in the city of Pernau in Livonia. His father, the artisan Pierre Favry moved to the Baltic province of Livonia, Pierre had moved there by 1800 from the German city of Schwedt am Oder. His family were Huguenots from Picardy living in Germany, having fled religious persecution in France at the end of the 17th century after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In 1842 Gustav opened the jewellery firm House of Fabergé in Saint Petersburg and got married to Charlotte Jungstedt, Peter Carl Fabergé was initially educated in St Petersburg. In 1860, Gustav Fabergé, together with his wife and son retired to Dresden, leaving the business in the hands of capable, Peter Carl continued his education in Dresden. A second son, Agathon, was born to the two years later. In 1864 Peter Carl Fabergé embarked upon a Grand Tour of Europe and he returned to St Petersburg and married Augusta Julia Jacobs. For the following 10 years, his father’s trusted workmaster Hiskias Pendin acted as his mentor and tutor, upon Pendins death in 1882 Peter Carl took over the business and was joined by his brother Agathon. Gustav Fabergé monument was opened in Pärnu on January 3,2015 in the year of the bicentenary of his birth, the bronze statue is a gift to the city from Alexander Tenzo, the founder of TENZO jewellery house. Composition authors Alexander Tenzo and Vladislav Yakovsky, the statue was mounted with support of the City Government of Pärnu and Pärnu Fabergé Society represented by Tiina Ojaste and Toomas Kuter
5.
Bolsheviks
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The RSDLP was a revolutionary socialist political party formed in 1898 in Minsk in Belarus to unite the various revolutionary organisations of the Russian Empire into one party. In the Second Party Congress vote, the Bolsheviks won on the majority of important issues and they ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks or Reds came to power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, with the Reds defeating the Whites, and others during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, the RSFSR became the chief constituent of the Soviet Union in December 1922. Their beliefs and practices were often referred to as Bolshevism, in the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, held in Brussels and London during August 1903, Lenin and Julius Martov disagreed over the membership rules. Lenin wanted members who recognise the Party Programme and support it by material means, Julius Martov suggested by regular personal assistance under the direction of one of the partys organisations. Lenin advocated limiting party membership to a core of active members. A main source of the factions could be attributed to Lenin’s steadfast opinion. It was obvious at early stages in Lenin’s revolutionary practices that he would not be willing to concede on any party policy that conflicted with his own predetermined ideas and it was the loyalty that he had to his own self-envisioned utopia that caused the party split. He was seen even by fellow party members as being so narrow minded that he believed there were only two types of people, Friend and enemy—those who followed him, and all the rest. Leon Trotsky, one of Lenins fellow revolutionaries, compared Lenin in 1904 to the French revolutionary Robespierre, Lenins view of politics as verbal and ideological warfare and his inability to accept criticism even if it came from his own dedicated followers was the reason behind this accusation. The root of the split was a book titled What is to be Done. that Lenin wrote while serving a sentence of exile, in Germany, the book was published in 1902, in Russia, strict censorship outlawed its publication and distribution. One of the points of Lenin’s writing was that a revolution can only be achieved by the strong leadership of one person over the masses. After the proposed revolution had overthrown the government, this individual leader must release power. Lenin also wrote that revolutionary leaders must dedicate their lives to the cause in order for it to be successful. Lenins view of a socialist intelligentsia showed that he was not a supporter of Marxist theory. For example, Lenin agreed with the Marxist idea of eliminating social classes, most party members considered unequal treatment of workers immoral, and were loyal to the idea of a completely classless society, so Lenin’s variations caused the party internal dissonance. Although the party split of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks would not become official until 1903, as discussed in What is to be Done. Lenin firmly believed that a political structure was needed to effectively initiate a formal revolution
6.
Russian Tsar
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Tsar /zɑːr/ or /tsɑːr/, also spelled tzar, csar, or czar, is a title used to designate certain Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, occasionally, the word could be used to designate other secular supreme rulers. Simeon II, the last Tsar of Bulgaria, is the last person to have borne the title Tsar, the title Tsar is derived from the Latin title for the Roman emperors, Caesar. In the history of the Greek language, basileus had originally meant something like potentate and it gradually approached the meaning of king in the Hellenistic Period, and it came to designate emperor after the inception in the Roman Empire. Thus, tsar was not only used as an equivalent of Latin imperator but was used to refer to Biblical rulers. From this ambiguity, the development has moved in different directions in the different Slavic languages, thus, the Bulgarian language and Russian language no longer use tsar as an equivalent of the term emperor/imperator as it exists in the West European tradition. Currently, the term refers to native sovereigns, ancient and Biblical rulers, as well as monarchs in fairy tales. The title of king is sometimes perceived as alien and is by some Russian-speakers reserved for European royalty, foreign monarchs of imperial status, both inside and outside of Europe, ancient as well as modern, are generally called imperator, rather than tsar. Biblical rulers in Serbian are called цар and in Croatian kralj, in the Polish language however tsar is always used as imperator, never as king. The term tsar is very used to refer to the Russian rulers after Peter the Great. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named Tervel of Bulgaria Caesar, the first foreigner to receive this title, the sainted Boris I is sometimes retrospectively referred to as tsar, because at his time Bulgaria was converted to Christianity. However, the tsar was actually adopted and used for the first time by his son Simeon I. Since in Byzantine political theory there was place for two emperors, Eastern and Western, the Bulgarian ruler was crowned basileus as a spiritual son of the Byzantian basileus. In Latin sources the Emperor of Bulgaria is sometimes designated Emperor of Zagora, various additional epithets and descriptions apart, the official style read Emperor and autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks. During the five-century period of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria, the sultan was referred to as tsar. This may be related to the fact that he had claimed the legacy of the Byzantine Empire or to the fact that the sultan was called Basileus in medieval Greek, after Bulgarias liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its new monarchs were at first autonomous prince. With the declaration of independence, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria adopted the traditional title tsar in 1908. However, these titles were not generally perceived as equivalents of emperor any longer, in the Bulgarian as in the Greek vernacular, the meaning of the title had shifted
7.
Brut (cologne)
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Brut is the brand name for a line of mens grooming and fragrance products first launched in 1964 by Fabergé. The Brut line would grow to include aftershave, balms, packaged in a green glass bottle with a silver-coloured medallion, it is still sold as of 2017. In 1968, a range was marketed as Brut 33 because it contained 33% of the fragrance of the original product. Packaged in cheaper plastic bottles, it was described by the company as a lighter fragrance, Fabergé was taken over by Unilever in 1989, and transferred to the Chesebrough-Ponds division in 1989. There the Brut 33 range took over the name Brut, the Fabergé version became Brut Classic by Fabergé and retained its distinctive packaging. In 2003, the rights to the brand were purchased for some regions by Idelle Laboratories, apart from some regions, Unilever sells Brut around the world with big markets in the United Kingdom, France and Far East. Australia produces its own Brut aftershave which is purported to have a different scent. In Brazil, there is a Brut branded lather shaving cream in tube with the classic Brut fragrance, called The Essence of Man in its advertising, Brut is marketed in the United States as representing traditional masculine strength of character. Sponsorship of the NHRA and of driver Ron Capps highlights fatherhood, teamwork, the star of the 1970s United Kingdom advertising campaign was boxer Henry Cooper who used the slogan splash it all over. Motor Cycle World Champion Barry Sheene, athlete David Hemery, show-jumper Harvey Smith, in Germany the brand was endorsed in the 1970s by famous football player Franz Beckenbauer. The footballer Paul Gascoigne also starred in an advertising campaign although he was dropped amid domestic violence allegations made by his ex-wife. In 1973, Allan Moffat drove a Brut 33 sponsored Ford Mustang in the Australian Touring Car Championship followed by a Brut 33 sponsored XB Ford Falcon GT in 1974, the West Indies Cricket Team in the 1970s also did a commercial for Brut. After receiving Brut as a secret gift, Dean Connaughton is quoted as saying all I want for Christmas is Brut. Elvis Presley was known to have used this cologne, in 2015, Jim Harbaugh was quoted saying Ive been a Brut man since I was 10 years old. In 2006, after acquiring partial ownership of the Brut copyright and patents, Idelle Laboratories launched Brut Revolution, as Different As You Are is the theme of the fragrance, which is housed in a blue and silver bottle, breaking with the traditional green of the original. Apart from Brut original, the range has grown in recent years with new fragrances such as Oceans, Identity, Revolution, Instinct, Musk, the whole range is available in Roll on, spray, after shave, splash on, shower gel, and Eau De Toilette
8.
Picardy
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Picardy is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is now part of the new region of Hauts-de-France and it is located in the northern part of France. The historical province of Picardy stretched from north of Noyon to Calais, via the whole of the Somme department, the province of Artois separated Picardy from French Flanders. From the 5th century the area was part of the Frankish Empire, and in the period it encompassed the six countships of Boulogne, Montreuil, Ponthieu, Amiénois, Vermandois. According to the 843 Treaty of Verdun the region part of West Francia. The name Picardy was not used until the 12th or 13th century, during this time, the name applied to all lands where the Picard language was spoken, which included all the territories from Paris to the Netherlands. In the Latin Quarter of Paris, people identified a Picard Nation of students at Sorbonne University, during the Hundred Years War, Picardy was the centre of the Jacquerie peasant revolt in 1358. From 1419 onwards, the Picardy counties were gradually acquired by the Burgundian duke Philip the Good, in 1477, King Louis XI of France led an army and occupied key towns in Picardy. By the end of 1477, Louis would control all of Picardy, in the 16th century, the government of Picardy was created. This became a new region of France, separate from what was historically defined as Picardy. The new Picardy included the Somme département, the half of the Aisne département. In 1557, Picardy was invaded by Habsburg forces under the command of Emmanuel Philibert, after a seventeen-day siege, St. Quentin would be ransacked, while Noyon would be burned by the Habsburg army. In the 17th century, a disease similar to English sweat originated from the region. It was called Suette des picards or Picardy sweat, the sugar industry has continued to play a prominent role in the economy of the region. One of the most significant historical events to occur in Picardy was the series of battles fought along the Somme during World War I. From September 1914 to August 1918, four major battles, including the Battle of the Somme, were fought by British, French, and German forces in the fields of Northern Picardy. In 2009, the Regional Committee for local government reform proposed to reduce the number of French regions, Picardy would have disappeared, and each department would have joined a nearby region. The Oise would have incorporated in the Île-de-France, the Somme would have been incorporated in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais
9.
Huguenots
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Huguenots are the ethnoreligious group of French Protestants who follow the Reformed tradition. It was used frequently to members of the French Reformed Church until the beginning of the 19th century. The term has its origin in 16th-century France, Huguenot numbers peaked near an estimated two million by 1562, concentrated mainly in the southern and western parts of France. As Huguenots gained influence and more openly displayed their faith, Catholic hostility grew, in spite of political concessions, a series of religious conflicts followed, known as the French Wars of Religion, fought intermittently from 1562 to 1598. The Huguenots were led by Jeanne dAlbret, her son, the future Henry IV, the wars ended with the Edict of Nantes, which granted the Huguenots substantial religious, political, and military autonomy. Huguenot rebellions in the 1620s prompted the abolishment of their political and they retained religious provisions of the Edict of Nantes until the rule of Louis XIV. Nevertheless, a minority of Huguenots remained and faced continued persecution under Louis XV. By the death of Louis XV in 1774, French Calvinism was almost completely wiped out, persecution of Protestants officially ended with the Edict of Versailles, signed by Louis XVI in 1787. Two years later, with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789 and they also spread to the Dutch Cape Colony in South Africa, the Dutch East Indies, the Caribbean, New Netherland, and several of the English colonies in North America. Small contingents of families went to Orthodox Russia and Catholic Quebec, a term used originally in derision, Huguenot has unclear origins. Geneva was John Calvins adopted home and the centre of the Calvinist movement, the label Huguenot was purportedly first applied in France to those conspirators involved in the Amboise plot of 1560, a foiled attempt to wrest power in France from the influential House of Guise. The move would have had the effect of fostering relations with the Swiss. Thus, Hugues plus Eidgenosse by way of Huisgenoten supposedly became Huguenot, a version of this complex hypothesis is promoted by O. I. A. Roche, who writes in his book, The Days of the Upright, A History of the Huguenots, that Huguenot is, a combination of a Dutch and a German word. Gallicised into Huguenot, often used deprecatingly, the word became, Some disagree with such double or triple non-French linguistic origins, arguing that for the word to have spread into common use in France, it must have originated in the French language. The Hugues hypothesis argues that the name was derived by association with Hugues Capet, king of France and he was regarded by the Gallicans and Protestants as a noble man who respected peoples dignity and lives. Janet Gray and other supporters of the hypothesis suggest that the name huguenote would be equivalent to little Hugos. It was in place in Tours that the prétendus réformés habitually gathered at night
10.
Schwedt
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Schwedt is a town in northeastern Brandenburg, Germany. With the official status of a Große kreisangehörige Stadt, it is the largest town of the Uckermark district, most industries were located in the remote area during socialist rule in the 1960s and 1970s. Large residential areas were built for the moving to Schwedt. About 9% of the flats are in prefab concrete buildings dating from the era. As many jobs were lost after German reunification and the return to market economy, in recent decades, Schwedt became a model town for the demolition of Plattenbau housing to combat urban decay. Schwedt is situated in the east of the historic Uckermark region stretching from the Oder to the Havel River. It is situated on an sandur at the edge of the Oder floodplain running along the German-Polish border. Across the river and the border, about 10 km to the southeast, is the Polish town of Chojna, the nearest German towns are Angermünde and Gartz. With 200.12 km2 Schwedt is among the 100 largest German municipalities by area, Gartz, Penkun, Szczecin, Gryfino, Cedynia, Chojna, Mieszkowice, Moryń, Trzcińsko-Zdrój, Myślibórz, Pyrzyce After the Migration Period, the area had been settled by Polabian Slavs. The settlement of Schwedt was first mentioned in a 1265 deed, in the course of the Brandenburg–Pomeranian conflict, the Brandenburg margrave Louis II the Roman ceded it to Duke Barnim III of Pomerania in 1354. It was again besieged by the first Hohenzollern margrave Frederick I in 1434, in 1481 the Thuringian counts of Hohnstein acquired the estates, they granted town privileges to Schwedt as well as to neighbouring Vierraden and introduced the Protestant Reformation. During the Great Northern War, the Treaty of Schwedt was signed in the town, near the end of World War II, over two months of heavy fighting destroyed an estimated 85 percent of the town, including its castle, the Schwedter Schloss. The Soviet Army occupied Schwedt on April 26,1945, two weeks before the defeat of Nazi Germany. During the 1960s, the government of the DDR expanded housing and encouraged people to move to Schwedt, detailed data sources are to be found in the Wikimedia Commons. Julia Brendler, actress Schwedt is twinned with, Koszalin, Poland Chisholm, Hugh, citys official website Official website official website of National Park Unteres Odertal official website of PCK Raffinerie GmbH
11.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
12.
Livonia
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Livonia, a historic region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida. The most prominent ruler of ancient Livonia, Caupo of Turaida, during the Livonian Crusade the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, known as the Livonian Order from 1237, colonized ancient Livonia. The name Livonia came to designate a much broader territory, Terra Mariana on the coasts of the Baltic Sea. It bordered on the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland in the north-west, Lake Peipus and Russia to the east, Livonia was inhabited by various Baltic and Finnic peoples, ruled from the 12th century by an upper class of Baltic Germans. Beginning in the 12th century, Livonia was an area of economic and political expansion by Danes and Germans, particularly by the Hanseatic League and the Cistercian Order. Around 1160, Hanseatic traders from Lübeck established a trading post on the site of the city of Riga. He ordered the construction of a cathedral and became the first Prince-Bishop of Livonia, bishop Albert of Riga founded the military order of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1202, Pope Innocent III sanctioned the establishment in 1204. The membership of the order comprised German warrior monks, alternative names of the order include the Christ Knights, Sword Brethren, and The Militia of Christ of Livonia. Following their defeat by Lithuania in the Battle of Saule in 1236, from its foundation, the undisciplined Order tended to ignore its supposed vassalage to the bishops. In 1218, Albert asked King Valdemar II of Denmark for assistance, the Brotherhood had its headquarters at Fellin in present-day Estonia, where the walls of the Masters castle still stand. Other strongholds included Wenden, Segewold and Ascheraden, the commanders of Fellin, Goldingen, Marienburg, Reval, and the bailiff of Weißenstein belonged to the five-member entourage of the Orders Master. In the Battle of Saule in 1236 the Lithuanians and Semigallians decimated the Order and this disaster led the surviving Brothers to become incorporated into the Order of Teutonic Knights in the following year, and from that point on they became known as the Livonian Order. They continued, however, to function in all respects as a branch of the Teutonic Order. The conquest of Livonia by the Germans is described in the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, the Livonian Order was a largely autonomous branch of the Teutonic Knights and a member of the Livonian Confederation from 1418–1561. After being defeated by Lithuania in the 1236 Battle of Saule, between 1237 and 1290, the Livonian Order conquered all of Courland, Livonia, and Semigallia, but their attack on northern Russia was repelled in the Battle of Rakvere. In 1346, after St. Georges Night Uprising the Order bought the rest of Estonia from King Valdemar IV of Denmark, life within the Orders territory is described in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia and the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. During many years of Livonian War, however, they suffered a defeat by troops of Muscovite Russia in the Battle of Ergeme in 1560. Letters to the Emperor arrived from many European countries, warning, the East Sea (Ostsee-Baltic Sea and the West Sea are equally in danger
13.
Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia, across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea, covering 45,339 km2 of land and water, and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The territory of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, in 1988, during the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Supreme Soviet issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in defiance of Soviet rule, and independence was restored on 20 August 1991. Estonia is a parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties. Its capital and largest city is Tallinn, with a population of 1.3 million, it is one of the least-populous member states of the European Union, Eurozone, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OECD and Schengen Area. Estonia is a country with an advanced, high-income economy that is among the fastest growing in the EU. Its Human Development Index ranks very highly, and it performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom, civil liberties, the 2015 PISA test places Estonian high school students 3rd in the world, behind Singapore and Japan. Citizens of Estonia are provided with health care, free education. Since independence the country has developed its IT sector, becoming one of the worlds most digitally advanced societies. In 2005 Estonia became the first nation to hold elections over the Internet, in the Estonian language, the oldest known endonym of the Estonians was maarahvas, meaning country people or people of the land. The land inhabited by Estonians was called Maavald meaning Country Parish or Land Parish, one hypothesis regarding the modern name of Estonia is that it originated from the Aesti, a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania. The historic Aesti were allegedly Baltic people, whereas the modern Estonians are Finno-Ugric, the geographical areas between Aesti and Estonia do not match, with Aesti being further down south. Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, as the country is called in Icelandic. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the name are Estia and Hestia, esthonia was a common alternative English spelling prior to 1921. Human settlement in Estonia became possible 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, the oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia. According to radiocarbon dating it was settled around 11,000 years ago, the earliest human inhabitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to Kunda culture, which is named after the town of Kunda in northern Estonia. At that time the country was covered with forests, and people lived in communities near bodies of water
14.
Goldsmith
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A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Goldsmiths must be skilled in forming metal through filing, soldering, sawing, forging, casting, the trade has very often included jewellery-making skills, as well as the very similar skills of the silversmith. Many universities and junior colleges also offer goldsmithing, silversmithing, compared to other metals, gold is malleable, ductile, rare, and it is the only solid metallic element with a yellow color. It may easily be melted, fused, and cast without the problems of oxides and gas that are problematic with other such as bronzes. It is fairly easy to weld, wherein similarly to clay two small pieces may be pounded together to make one larger piece. Gold is classified as a noble metal—because it does not react with most elements and it usually is found in its native form, lasting indefinitely without oxidization and tarnishing. Gold has been worked by humans in all cultures where the metal is available, either indigenously or imported, and the history of these activities is extensive. Superbly made objects from the ancient cultures of Africa, Asia, Europe, India, North America, Mesoamerica, some pieces date back thousands of years and were made using many techniques that still are used by modern goldsmiths. Techniques developed by some of those goldsmiths achieved a level that was lost and remained beyond the skills of those who followed. In medieval Europe goldsmiths were organized into guilds and usually were one of the most important, the guild kept records of members and the marks they used on their products. These records, when they survive, are useful to historians. Goldsmiths often acted as bankers, since they dealt in gold and had sufficient security for the storage of valuable items. The Sunar caste is one of the oldest communities in goldsmithing in India, in India, Vishwakarma are the goldsmith caste. The printmaking technique of engraving developed among goldsmiths in Germany around 1430, the notable engravers of the fifteenth century were either goldsmiths, such as Master E. S. or the sons of goldsmiths, such as Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Dürer. A goldsmith might have an array of skills and knowledge at their disposal. Gold, being the most malleable metal of all, offers opportunities for the worker. In todays world a variety of other metals, especially platinum alloys. 24 Carat is pure gold and historically, was known as fine gold, because it is so soft, however,24 Carat gold is rarely used
15.
Tsars
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Tsar /zɑːr/ or /tsɑːr/, also spelled tzar, csar, or czar, is a title used to designate certain Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, occasionally, the word could be used to designate other secular supreme rulers. Simeon II, the last Tsar of Bulgaria, is the last person to have borne the title Tsar, the title Tsar is derived from the Latin title for the Roman emperors, Caesar. In the history of the Greek language, basileus had originally meant something like potentate and it gradually approached the meaning of king in the Hellenistic Period, and it came to designate emperor after the inception in the Roman Empire. Thus, tsar was not only used as an equivalent of Latin imperator but was used to refer to Biblical rulers. From this ambiguity, the development has moved in different directions in the different Slavic languages, thus, the Bulgarian language and Russian language no longer use tsar as an equivalent of the term emperor/imperator as it exists in the West European tradition. Currently, the term refers to native sovereigns, ancient and Biblical rulers, as well as monarchs in fairy tales. The title of king is sometimes perceived as alien and is by some Russian-speakers reserved for European royalty, foreign monarchs of imperial status, both inside and outside of Europe, ancient as well as modern, are generally called imperator, rather than tsar. Biblical rulers in Serbian are called цар and in Croatian kralj, in the Polish language however tsar is always used as imperator, never as king. The term tsar is very used to refer to the Russian rulers after Peter the Great. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named Tervel of Bulgaria Caesar, the first foreigner to receive this title, the sainted Boris I is sometimes retrospectively referred to as tsar, because at his time Bulgaria was converted to Christianity. However, the tsar was actually adopted and used for the first time by his son Simeon I. Since in Byzantine political theory there was place for two emperors, Eastern and Western, the Bulgarian ruler was crowned basileus as a spiritual son of the Byzantian basileus. In Latin sources the Emperor of Bulgaria is sometimes designated Emperor of Zagora, various additional epithets and descriptions apart, the official style read Emperor and autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks. During the five-century period of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria, the sultan was referred to as tsar. This may be related to the fact that he had claimed the legacy of the Byzantine Empire or to the fact that the sultan was called Basileus in medieval Greek, after Bulgarias liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its new monarchs were at first autonomous prince. With the declaration of independence, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria adopted the traditional title tsar in 1908. However, these titles were not generally perceived as equivalents of emperor any longer, in the Bulgarian as in the Greek vernacular, the meaning of the title had shifted
16.
Diacritic
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A diacritic – also diacritical mark, diacritical point, or diacritical sign – is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek διακριτικός, from διακρίνω, diacritic is primarily an adjective, though sometimes used as a noun, whereas diacritical is only ever an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave, are often called accents, diacritical marks may appear above or below a letter, or in some other position such as within the letter or between two letters. The main use of marks in the Latin script is to change the sound-values of the letters to which they are added. In other Latin alphabets, they may distinguish between homonyms, such as the French là versus la that are both pronounced /la/, in Gaelic type, a dot over a consonant indicates lenition of the consonant in question. In other alphabetic systems, diacritical marks may perform other functions, vowel pointing systems, namely the Arabic harakat and the Hebrew niqqud systems, indicate vowels that are not conveyed by the basic alphabet. The Indic virama and the Arabic sukūn mark the absence of a vowel, in the Hanyu Pinyin official romanization system for Chinese, diacritics are used to mark the tones of the syllables in which the marked vowels occur. In orthography and collation, a letter modified by a diacritic may be treated either as a new and this varies from language to language, and may vary from case to case within a language. ◌ː – triangular colon, used in the IPA to mark long vowels, not all diacritics occur adjacent to the letter they modify. In the Wali language of Ghana, for example, an apostrophe indicates a change of vowel quality, because of vowel harmony, all vowels in a word are affected, so the scope of the diacritic is the entire word. In abugida scripts, like those used to write Hindi and Thai, diacritics indicate vowels, the tittle on the letter i of the Latin alphabet originated as a diacritic to clearly distinguish i from the minims of adjacent letters. It first appeared in the 11th century in the sequence ii, then spread to i adjacent to m, n, u, the j, originally a variant of i, inherited the tittle. The shape of the diacritic developed from initially resembling todays acute accent to a flourish by the 15th century. With the advent of Roman type it was reduced to the round dot we have today, tanwīn symbols, Serve a grammatical role in Arabic. The sign ـً is most commonly written in combination with alif, waṣla, Comes most commonly at the beginning of a word. Indicates a type of hamza that is pronounced only when the letter is read at the beginning of the talk, ḥarakāt, fatḥa kasra ḍamma sukūn The ḥarakāt or vowel points serve two purposes, They serve as a phonetic guide. They indicate the presence of short vowels or their absence, at the last letter of a word, the vowel point reflects the inflection case or conjugation mood. For nouns, The ḍamma is for the nominative, fatḥa for the accusative, for verbs, the ḍamma is for the imperfective, fatḥa for the perfective, and the sukūn is for verbs in the imperative or jussive moods
17.
Francophile
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A Francophile is a person who has a strong affinity towards any or all of the French language, French history, French culture or French people. That affinity may include France itself or its history, language, cuisine, literature, the term Francophile can be contrasted with Francophobe, someone who dislikes all that is French. Francophilia often arises in former French colonies, where the elite spoke French, in other European countries such as Romania and Russia, French culture has also long been popular among the upper class. Romania has a long and deeply entrenched tradition of Francophilia beginning after the Enlightenment, No doubt the most famous contemporary Romanian Francophile is Eugen Weber, a prodigious author and lecturer in both English and French on French history. In his book My France, politics, culture, myth, he writes, Social relations, manners, attitudes that others had to learn from books, many Romanians, in my day, dreamed of France, not many got there. For ordinary Romanians, keen on the idea of the Latin roots of their language, an estimated 39% of Romanian vocabulary consists of borrowings from French, with an estimated 20% of everyday Romanian vocabulary. Boia writes, Once launched on the road of Westernization, the Romanian elite threw itself into the arms of France, the great Latin sister in the West. When we speak of the Western model, what is to be understood is first and foremost the French model, bucharest was rebuilt in the style of Paris in the 19th century, giving the city the nickname the Paris of the East. Other notable Romanian Francophiles include Georges Enesco, Constantin Brâncuși, Emil Cioran, Mircea Eliade, Eugène Ionesco, at the time, the language of diplomacy and higher education across much of Europe was French. Russia, recently modernized, or Westernized, by the rule of sovereigns from Peter the Great to Catherine the Great was no exception. The Russian elite, in the early 18th century, were educated in the French tradition, afrancesado was the term used for Spanish and Portuguese partisans of Enlightenment ideas, liberalism or the French Revolution. It also denoted supporters of the French occupation of Iberia and of the First French Empire, in the 18th century, French was the language of German elites. A notable Francophile was King Frederick the Great of Prussia or Frédéric as he preferred to call himself, one source noted, Nor did Frederick have any time for German cultural chauvinism. His preferences in music, art and architecture were overwhelmingly Italian, another German Francophile was King Ludwig II of Bavaria, aka Mad King Ludwig. Ludwig felt a great deal of affinity for King Louis XIV of France, Ludwig loved to collect memorabilia relating to Louis and his Linderhof Palace was modeled after the Palace of Trianon. An even more strikingly example of Ludwigs architectural Francophila was the Palace of Herrenchiemsee, Francophilia or Rattachism is a marginal political ideology in some parts of Belgium. Rattachism would mean the incorporation of French speaking Belgium, Wallonia into France and this movement has existed since the Belgian state came into existence in 1830. The Manifesto for Walloon culture of 1983, relaunched in 2003, the establishment of the Crusader Kingdom of Cyprus, in 1192, was the beginning of intense French influence on the island for the next three centuries
18.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
19.
Court (royal)
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The court of a monarch, or at some periods an important nobleman, is a term for the extended household and all those who regularly attended on the ruler or central figure. It can also refer to the residence of the monarch where the court resides or a series of complexes. In the largest courts, the households, many thousands of individuals comprised the court. Foreign princes and foreign nobility in exile may also seek refuge at a court and this is shown above Near Eastern and Eastern courts often included the harem and concubines as well as eunuchs who fulfilled a variety of functions. At times the harem was walled off and separate from the rest of the residence of the monarch, in Asia concubines were often a more visible part of the court. Lower ranking servants and bodyguards were not properly called courtiers though may be included as part of the court or royal household in the broadest definition, entertainers and others may have been counted as part of the court. A royal household is the highest ranking example of this, a group of individuals dependent on the patronage of a great man, classically in ancient Rome, forms part of the system of clientage that is discussed under vassal. Individual rulers differed greatly in tastes and interests, as well as in political skills, accordingly, some founded elaborate courts based on new palaces, only to have their successors retreat to remote castles or to practical administrative centers. Personal retreats might arise far away from official court centres, etiquette and hierarchy flourish in highly structured court settings, and may leave conservative traces over generations. Most courts featured a strict order of precedence often involving royal and noble ranks, orders of chivalry, some courts even featured court uniforms. One of the markers of a court is ceremony. Most monarchal courts included ceremonies concerning the investiture or coronation of the monarch, some courts had ceremonies around the waking and the sleeping of the monarch called a levée. Orders of chivalry as honorific orders became an important part of court culture starting in the 15th century and they were the right of the monarch to create and grant as the fount of honour. Two of the earliest titles referring to the concept of a courtier were likely the ša rēsi, the imperial court of the Byzantine Empire at Constantinople would eventually contain at least a thousand courtiers. The courts systems became prevalent in other such as those in the Balkan states, the Ottoman Empire. Byzantinism is a term that was coined for this spread of the Byzantine system in the 19th century, however, by the Sui Dynasty the functions of the royal household and the imperial government were clearly divided. During the Heian period, Japanese Emperors and their families developed an exquisitely refined court that played an important role in their culture. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, a court culture can be recognized in the entourage of the Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great
20.
Luxury goods
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Luxury goods are often synonymous with superior goods and Veblen goods. Luxury goods are said to have high income elasticity of demand, as people become wealthier and this also means, however, that should there be a decline in income its demand will drop. Income elasticity of demand is not constant with respect to income, although the technical term luxury good is independent of the goods quality, they are generally considered to be goods at the highest end of the market in terms of quality and price. Classic luxury goods include haute couture clothing, accessories, and luggage, many markets have a luxury segment including, for example, automobile, yacht, wine, bottled water, coffee, tea, foods, watches, clothes, jewelry, and high fidelity. The hiring of full-time or live-in domestic servants is a luxury reflecting disparities of income, some financial services, especially in some brokerage houses, can be considered luxury services by default because persons in lower-income brackets generally do not use them. The three dominant trends in the luxury goods market are globalization, consolidation, and diversification. Globalization is a result of the availability of these goods, additional luxury brands. Consolidation involves the growth of big companies and ownership of brands across many segments of luxury products, examples include LVMH, Richemont, and Kering, which dominate the market in areas ranging from luxury drinks to fashion and cosmetics. Leading global consumer companies, such as Procter & Gamble, are attracted to the industry. The luxury goods market has been on a climb for many years. Apart from the setback caused by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the industry has performed well, particularly in 2000. In that year, the luxury goods market – which includes drinks, fashion, cosmetics, fragrances, watches, jewelry, luggage, handbags – was worth close to $170 billion. The United States has been the largest regional market for goods and is estimated to continue to be the leading personal luxury goods market in 2013. The largest sector in this category was luxury drinks, including premium whisky, Champagne and this sector was the only one that suffered a decline in value. In 2012, China surpassed Japan as the worlds largest luxury market, chinas luxury consumption accounts for over 25% of the global market. The Economist Intelligence Unit published a report on the outlook for luxury goods in Asia which explores the trends and forecasts for the luxury goods market across key markets in Asia. In 2014, the sector is expected to grow over the next 10 years because of 440 million consumers spending a total of 880 billion euros. Secular luxury manuscripts were commissioned by the wealthy and differed in the same ways from cheaper books
21.
Dresden
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Dresden is the capital city and, after Leipzig, the second-largest city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the border with the Czech Republic, Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque, the controversial American and British bombing of Dresden in World War II towards the end of the war killed approximately 25,000, many of whom were civilians, and destroyed the entire city centre. After the war restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Zwinger. Since German reunification in 1990 Dresden is again a cultural, educational and political centre of Germany, the Dresden University of Technology is one of the 10 largest universities in Germany and part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative. The economy of Dresden and its agglomeration is one of the most dynamic in Germany and it is dominated by high-tech branches, often called as “Silicon Saxony”. The city is one of the most visited in Germany with 4,3 million overnight stays per year. The royal buildings are among the most impressive buildings in Europe, main sights are also the nearby National Park of Saxon Switzerland, the Ore Mountains and the countryside around Elbe Valley and Moritzburg Castle. The most prominent building in the city of Dresden is the Frauenkirche, built in the 18th century, the church was destroyed during World War II. The remaining ruins were left for 50 years as a war memorial, the church was rebuilt from 1994 to 2005. Although Dresden is a relatively recent city of Germanic origin followed by settlement of Slavic people, Dresdens founding and early growth is associated with the eastward expansion of Germanic peoples, mining in the nearby Ore Mountains, and the establishment of the Margraviate of Meissen. Its name etymologically derives from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the forest, Dresden later evolved into the capital of Saxony. Around the late 12th century, a Slavic settlement called Drežďany had developed on the southern bank, another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its Slavic name is unknown. It was known as Antiqua Dresdin by 1350, and later as Altendresden, dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chose Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place Civitas Dresdene. After 1270, Dresden became the capital of the margraviate and it was given to Friedrich Clem after death of Henry the Illustrious in 1288. It was taken by the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1316 and was restored to the Wettin dynasty after the death of Valdemar the Great in 1319, from 1485, it was the seat of the dukes of Saxony, and from 1547 the electors as well. The Elector and ruler of Saxony Frederick Augustus I became King Augustus II the Strong of Poland in personal union and he gathered many of the best musicians, architects and painters from all over Europe to the newly named Royal-Polish Residential City of Dresden. His reign marked the beginning of Dresdens emergence as a leading European city for technology, during the reign of Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland the Zwinger Royal Palace, the Hofkirche and the Frauenkirche were built
22.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
23.
Grand Tour
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The custom flourished from about 1660, until the advent of large-scale rail transport in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as a rite of passage. With nearly unlimited funds, aristocratic connections and months to roam, they commissioned paintings, perfected their language skills, in addition, it provided the only opportunity to view specific works of art, and possibly the only chance to hear certain music. A Grand Tour could last from months to several years. It was commonly undertaken in the company of a Cicerone, a guide or tutor. The legacy of the Grand Tour lives on to the day and is still evident in works of travel. In essence, the Grand Tour was neither a scholars pilgrimage nor a one, though a pleasurable stay in Venice. Catholic Grand Tourists followed the routes as Protestant Whigs. Pompeo Batoni made a career of painting English milordi posed with graceful ease among Roman antiquities, many continued on to Naples, where they viewed Herculaneum and Pompeii, but few ventured far into southern Italy or Malta, and fewer still to Greece, still under Turkish rule. Rome for many centuries had been the goal of pilgrims, especially during Jubilee when they visited the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. This is partly because he asked Inigo Jones, not yet established as an architect but already known as a traveller and masque designer. Larger numbers of tourists began their tours after the Peace of Münster in 1648, lasselss introduction listed four areas in which travel furnished an accomplished, consummate Traveller, the intellectual, the social, the ethical, and the political. The idea of travelling for the sake of curiosity and learning was an idea in the 17th century. Thus, one could use up the environment, taking from it all it offers, travel, therefore, was necessary for one to develop the mind and expand knowledge of the world. Consciously adapted for intellectual self-improvement, Gibbon was revisiting the Continent on a larger and more liberal plan, the typical 18th-century sentiment was that of the studious observer travelling through foreign lands reporting his findings on human nature for those unfortunate enough to have stayed home. Recounting ones observations to society at large to increase its welfare was considered an obligation, the Grand Tour offered a liberal education, and the opportunity to acquire things otherwise unavailable at home, lending an air of accomplishment and prestige to the traveller. The trappings of the Grand Tour, especially portraits of the traveller painted in iconic continental settings, became the obligatory emblems of worldliness, gravitas, the less well-off could return with an album of Piranesi etchings. The perhaps in Gibbons opening remark cast a shadow over his resounding statement
24.
Frankfurt
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The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, which has a population of 5.8 million and is Germanys second-largest metropolitan region after Rhine-Ruhr. Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2013, the centre of the EU is about 40 km to the east of Frankfurts CBD. Frankfurt is culturally and ethnically diverse, with half of the population. A quarter of the population are foreign nationals, including many expatriates, Frankfurt is an alpha world city and a global hub for commerce, culture, education, tourism and traffic. Its the site of many global and European headquarters, Frankfurt Airport is among the worlds busiest. Automotive, technology and research, services, consulting, media, Frankfurts DE-CIX is the worlds largest internet exchange point. Messe Frankfurt is one of the worlds largest trade fairs, major fairs include the Frankfurt Motor Show, the worlds largest motor show, the Music Fair, and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the worlds largest book fair. Frankfurt is home to educational institutions, including the Goethe University, the UAS, the FUMPA. Its renowned cultural venues include the concert hall Alte Oper, Europes largest English Theatre and many museums, Frankfurts skyline is shaped by some of Europes tallest skyscrapers. In sports, the city is known as the home of the top football club Eintracht Frankfurt, the basketball club Frankfurt Skyliners, the Frankfurt Marathon. Its the seat of German sport unions for Olympics, football, Frankfurt is the largest financial centre in continental Europe. It is home to the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the worlds largest stock exchanges by market capitalization and accounts for more than 90 percent of the turnover in the German market. Frankfurt is considered a city as listed by the GaWC groups 2012 inventory. Among global cities it was ranked 10th by the Global Power City Index 2011, among financial centres it was ranked 8th by the International Financial Centers Development Index 2013 and 9th by the Global Financial Centres Index 2013. Its central location within Germany and Europe makes Frankfurt a major air, rail, Frankfurt Airport is one of the worlds busiest international airports by passenger traffic and the main hub for Germanys flag carrier Lufthansa. Frankfurter Kreuz, the Autobahn interchange close to the airport, is the most heavily used interchange in the EU, in 2011 human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Frankfurt as seventh in its annual Quality of Living survey of cities around the world. According to The Economist cost-of-living survey, Frankfurt is Germanys most expensive city, Frankfurt has many high-rise buildings in the city centre, forming the Frankfurt skyline. It is one of the few cities in the European Union to have such a skyline and because of it Germans sometimes refer to Frankfurt as Mainhattan, the other well known and obvious nickname is Bankfurt
25.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
26.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
27.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
28.
Hermitage Museum
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The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums in the world, it was founded in 1754 by Catherine the Great and has open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of only a small part is on permanent display. The collections occupy a complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya, the museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a state property. Since July 1992, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky, of the six buildings in the main museum complex, five, namely the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage and Hermitage Theatre, are open to the public. The entrance ticket for foreign tourists more than the fee paid by citizens of Russia. However, entrance is free of charge the first Thursday of every month for all visitors, the museum is closed on Mondays. The entrance for visitors is located in the Winter Palace. A hermitage is the dwelling of a hermit or recluse, the word derives from Old French hermit, ermit hermit, recluse, from Late Latin eremita, from Greek eremites, literally people who live alone, which is in turn derived from ἐρημός, desert. Originally, the building housing the collection was the Small Hermitage. Today, the Hermitage Museum encompasses many buildings on the Palace Embankment, apart from the Small Hermitage, the museum now also includes the Old Hermitage, the New Hermitage, the Hermitage Theatre, and the Winter Palace, the former main residence of the Russian tsars. In recent years, the Hermitage has expanded to the General Staff Building on the Palace Square facing the Winter Palace, the Western European Art collection includes European paintings, sculpture, and applied art from the 13th to the 20th centuries. It is displayed, in about 120 rooms, on the first, drawings and prints are displayed in temporary exhibitions. Since 1940, the Egyptian collection, dating back to 1852 and it serves as a passage to the exhibition of Classical Antiquities. A modest collection of the culture of Ancient Mesopotamia, including a number of Assyrian reliefs from Babylon, Dur-Sharrukin, the collection of Classical Antiquities occupies most of the ground floor of the Old and New Hermitage buildings. Its floor is made of a marble mosaic imitating ancient tradition, while the stucco walls
29.
Alexander III of Russia
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Alexander III was the Emperor of Russia, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death on 1 November 1894. He was highly conservative and reversed some of the reforms of his father, Alexander II. During Alexanders reign Russia fought no wars, for which he was styled The Peacemaker. Although an enthusiastic amateur musician and patron of the ballet, Alexander was seen as lacking refinement, indeed, he rather relished the idea of being of the same rough texture as some of his subjects. His education was not such as to soften these peculiarities, more than six feet tall, he was also noted for his immense physical strength. A sebaceous cyst on the side of his nose caused him to be mocked by some of his contemporaries. I was struck by the size of the man, and although cumbersome and heavy, there was indeed something of the muzhik about him. The look of his eyes made quite an impression on me. As he passed where I was standing, he raised his head for a second and it was a look as cold as steel, in which there was something threatening, even frightening, and it struck me like a blow. The look of a man who stood above all others, but who carried a burden and who every minute had to fear for his life. In later years I came into contact with the Emperor on several occasions, in more ordinary cases Tsar Alexander III could be at once kind, simple, and even almost homely. Great solicitude was devoted to the education of Nicholas as tsesarevich and this included acquaintance with French, English and German, and military drill. Pobedonostsev instilled into the mans mind the belief that zeal for Russian Orthodox thought was an essential factor of Russian patriotism to be cultivated by every right-minded emperor. On his deathbed the previous tsesarevich was said to have expressed the wish that his fiancée, Princess Dagmar of Denmark, the union proved a happy one to the end, unlike his fathers, there was no adultery in his marriage. The couple spent their night at the Tsesarevichs private dacha known as My Property. To the scandal of many at court, including the Tsesarevich himself, on 1 March 1881 Alexanders father, Alexander II, was assassinated by members of the terrorist organization Narodnaya Volya. As a result, he ascended to the Russian imperial throne in Nennal on 13 March 1881 and he and Maria Feodorovna were officially crowned and anointed on 27 May 1883. On the day of his assassination Alexander II had signed an ukaz setting up commissions to advise the monarch
30.
Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark)
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Maria Feodorovna, christened Dagmar, was a Danish princess and Empress of Russia as spouse of Tsar Alexander III. She was the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Cassel, her siblings included Alexandra, King Frederick VIII of Denmark. Her eldest son became the last Russian monarch, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Princess Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar was born at the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen. Her father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a member of a relatively impoverished princely cadet line and her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel. She was baptised into the Lutheran faith and named after her kinswoman Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen Dowager of Denmark as well as the medieval Danish queen, growing up, she was known by the name Dagmar. Most of her life, she was known as Maria Feodorovna and she was known within her family as Minnie. In 1852 Dagmars father became heir-presumptive to the throne of Denmark, in 1853, he was given the title Prince of Denmark and he and his family were given an official summer residence, Bernstorff Palace. Dagmars father became King of Denmark in 1863 upon the death of King Frederick VII, due to the brilliant marital alliances of his children, he became known as the Father-in-law of Europe. Dagmars eldest brother would succeed his father as King Frederick VIII of Denmark and her elder, and favourite, sister, Alexandra married Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales in March 1863. Within months of Alexandras marriage, Dagmars second older brother, Wilhelm, was elected as King George I of the Hellenes and her younger sister was Thyra, Duchess of Cumberland. She also had younger brother, Valdemar. In 1864, Nicholas, or Nixa as he was known in his family, on 22 April 1865 he died from meningitis. His last wish was that Dagmar would marry his younger brother, Dagmar was distraught after her young fiancés death. She was so heartbroken when she returned to her homeland that her relatives were seriously worried about her health and she had already become emotionally attached to Russia and often thought of the huge, remote country that was to have been her home. The disaster had brought her close to Nixas parents. He told Dagmar in very affectionate terms that he hoped she would still consider herself a member of their family, in June 1866, while on a visit to Copenhagen, the Tsarevich Alexander asked Dagmar for her hand. They had been in her room looking over photographs together, Dagmar left Copenhagen on 1 September 1866. Hans Christian Andersen, who had occasionally been invited to tell stories to Dagmar, the writer remarked in his diary, Yesterday, at the quay, while passing me by, she stopped and took me by the hand
31.
First Hen Egg
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The First Hen Egg or Jeweled Hen Egg is a Tsar Imperial Fabergé egg. It became the first in a series of more than 50 such jeweled eggs made under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé for the Russian Imperial family and it was delivered to Tsar Alexander III and given to his wife Maria Feodorovna in 1885. This particular egg is now a part of the permanent collection of the Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, the crafting of the first Imperial egg is instead attributed to Erik Kollin of Fabergés workshop. It is made of gold completely coated with white enamel to look like a real egg. A thin band of gold where the two halves of the shell are joined is visible around the middle of the egg. The two halves of the outer shell fit together in a fitting which opens when twisted to reveal the eggs surprise. This yolk itself opens to reveal a varicolored gold hen set with ruby eyes, in the 19th century, Russian Orthodox Christians held Easter as the most important day of the year. Following a strict fast throughout all of Great Lent, Easter was a day of celebration of Christs resurrection, to celebrate this holiday, Tsar Alexander IIIs brother, the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich ordered Peter Fabergé to create an Easter surprise for the Tsarina. Amid terrorist attempts on the Imperial familys lives, the Tsar wanted to give his wife something that would take her mind off worries for the Easter of 1885, Fabergé created an egg inspired by one the Tsarina knew from her childhood as a princess of Denmarks royal court. The egg, still in the Royal Danish Collection, is made of ivory instead of gold, has a ring instead of a pendant inside, Fabergé undoubtedly chose the design because the Tsarina would have recognized the design from her youth. The Tsarina was impressed and delighted by the Easter gift from her husband, the egg was kept in the Anichkov Palace until the 1917 revolutions. At that time the revolutionaries seized the First Hen Egg along with the rest of the imperial eggs, a London dealer named either Derek or Frederick Berry purchased the egg from Russian officials around 1920, probably in either Berlin or Paris. Christies of London sold the egg as lot 55 of the Berry Collection for £85 to Mr. R. Suenson-Taylor in 1934. Taylor was made Lord Grantchester in 1955, and the egg was the provenance of the Grantchester estate when both Lord and Lady Taylor died within months of one another in 1976. A La Vieille Russie of New York acquired the egg from the estate, viktor Vekselberg purchased the First Hen Egg along with eight others from Forbes before they were to be auctioned and returned the eggs to Moscow where they are now on display. Archived copy of The Hen Egg, Chapter 1 of Treasures of Imperial Russia Mieks Fabergé Eggs
32.
Victor Vekselberg
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Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born Russian businessman. He is the owner and president of Renova Group, a large Russian conglomerate, according to Forbes, his fortune is estimated at $13.6 billion, making him the fourth richest person in Russia, as of August 4,2015. Vekselberg is close to the Moscow Kremlin, overseeing projects to modernize the Russian economy, victor Vekselberg was born in 1957 to a Ukrainian Jewish father and a Russian mother in Drohobych, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1979, he graduated from the Moscow Transportation Engineering Institute, thereafter, he worked as an engineer and research manager at a state-owned pump manufacturer. KomVek owned 67% of Renova and Blavatnik’s company Access Industries owned the remainder and he benefited financially from the privatization of the aluminum industry in Russia under the Yeltsin administration in 1993. In 1996, he co-founded the Siberian-Urals Aluminium Company via a merger of the Ural, using revenues generated from his aluminum business, he purchased a minority interest in Tyumen Oil, one of Russias largest oil and gas companies. In 1997, he secured a controlling interest in Tyumen and was appointed to the Board of Directors, in 1998, later, he integrated those and other assets under the umbrella of Renova Group, delegating operating responsibilities to managers. In the same year, they merged AAR with British Petroleums Russian oil assets in a 50-50 joint venture named TNK-BP, acting as a chairman of the executive board of TNK, Vekselberg was instrumental in negotiating and closing the transaction. In February 2004, Vekselberg purchased nine Fabergé Imperial Easter eggs from the Forbes publishing family in New York City, the collection was transported to Russia and exhibited in the Kremlin and in Dubrovnik in 2007. Vekselberg is the single largest owner of Fabergé eggs in the world, in a 2013 BBC Four documentary, Vekselberg revealed that he had spent just over $100 million purchasing the nine Fabergé Imperial eggs from the Forbes collection. He claims never to have displayed them in his home, saying he bought them because they are important to Russian history and culture, in the same BBC documentary, Vekselberg revealed plans to open a museum to display the eggs in his collection. The result was the Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the historic bells returned to Moscow on September 12,2008, with the assistance of the U. S. director of the organization, Edward Mermelstein. Vekselberg had paid £1.7 million at a Christies auction in 2005 for Odalisque, however, soon after the purchase, experts working for Vekselbergs art fund, Aurora, began to cast doubt on the pictures authenticity. They claimed that Kustodievs signature, dated 1919, was done in aluminium-based pigment not available until after the death in 1927. He is married to Marina and has two children, a daughter and a son and his father is Jewish, and his mother Christian. He identifies himself as multi-national, and does not attend weekly synagogue or church services and he donated $4.5 million to the construction of the $50 million Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, and is the chairman of the museums board of trustees. He finances the restoration and construction of synagogues in Russia, including the construction of the Choral Synagogue in Saratov, in April 2009, Swiss Federal Finance Department initiated a criminal investigation against Vekselberg in connection to alleged violations of securities law. As a result of the investigation, Vekselberg was fined $38m by Swiss authorities, investigation of the paper trail by Alexey Navalny and the Rospil project has found several invalid and backdated documents, thus suggesting a collusion
33.
Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)
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Alexandra Feodorovna was Empress of Russia as the spouse of Nicholas II, the last ruler of the Russian Empire. Originally known as Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, she was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Alexandra was the last Tsarina of Russia and one of the most famous royal carriers of the haemophilia disease that descended from Queen Victoria. During his absence in the First World War in 1915-1917 she was treated by her spouse as Regent of the Empire. Alix was baptized on 1 July 1872 according to the rites of the Lutheran Church and given the names of her mother and each of her mothers four sisters, some of which were transliterated into German. Her godparents were the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Tsesarevich and Tsesarevna of Russia, Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, The Duchess of Cambridge, and Princess Anna of Prussia. Alixs hemophiliac older brother Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine died in May 1873 after a fall when Alix was barely a year old. In November 1878, diphtheria swept through the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, Alix, Elisabeth, Alixs older sister, had been sent to visit her paternal grandmother, and thus escaped the outbreak. Alixs mother Alice tended to the children herself, rather than abandon them to doctors, Alice herself soon fell ill and died on the 17th anniversary of her fathers death,14 December 1878, when Alix was only six years old. Alix, Victoria, Irene, and Ernst survived the epidemic, Alix and her surviving siblings grew close to their British cousins, spending holidays with Queen Victoria. With her sister Princess Irene, Alix was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of her godmother and maternal aunt and she was also present at her grandmothers Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1887. Alix was married late for her rank in her era, having rejected a proposal from her cousin Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale in 1890. Though Queen Victoria had intended for Alix to be Britains future queen, she relented, Nicholas and Alix had first met in 1884 at the wedding of Nicholass Uncle Sergei to Alixs sister Elisabeth in St. Petersburg. When Alix returned to Russia in 1889, they fell in love, Nicholas wrote in his diary, It is my dream to one day marry Alix H. I have loved her for a time, but more deeply and strongly since 1889 when she spent six weeks in Petersburg. For a long time, I have resisted my feeling that my dearest dream will come true, initially Nicholass father, Tsar Alexander III, refused the prospect of marriage. Alexander III and his wife, both vehemently anti-German, had no intention of permitting a match with Princess Alix and the tsesarevich, fortunately for Nicholas, Hélène also resisted, as she was Roman Catholic and her father refused to allow her to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. After appealing to the Pope, who refused to consider the marriage. The tsar, despite his anti-German sentiments, then sent emissaries to Princess Margaret of Prussia, sister of German Emperor Wilhelm II, as long as he was well, Alexander III ignored his sons demands, only relenting when his health began to fail in 1894
34.
Hardstone carvings
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Normally the objects are small, and the category overlaps with both jewellery and sculpture. Hardstone carving is sometimes referred to by the Italian term pietre dure, however, pietre dura is the term used for stone inlay work. Hardstone carving falls under the category of glyptic art, which covers small carvings. These are typically not capable of a finish in very small carvings. In other contexts, such as architecture, hard stone and soft stone have different meanings, referring to actual measured hardness using the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, essentially, any stone that is often used in jewellery is likely to count as a hardstone. Hard organic minerals such as amber and jet are included, as well as the mineraloid obsidian, hardstones normally have to be drilled rather than worked with edged tools to achieve a fine finish. The various materials called jade have been dominant in East Asian and Mesoamerican carving, stones typically used for buildings and large sculpture are not often used for small objects such as vessels, although this does occur. These are found from the Neolithic Liangzhu culture onwards, and blades from the 2nd millennium BCE Shang Dynasty on, traditional Chinese culture attaches strong powers to jade, the jade burial suits in which aristocrats of the Han Dynasty were buried were intended to preserve the body from decay. The English word jade derives from the Aztec belief that the mineral cured ailments of the kidneys, in general whiteish nephrite jade was the most highly regarded in China until about 1800, when the deeper and brighter green of the best jadeite became more highly favoured. There are related Asian traditions of Korean jade carving, in Southeast Asia and, to a lesser extent. Smallish Sassanian carvings are known, mostly for seals or jewellery, Egyptian carving of rock crystal into vessels appears in the late 10th century, and virtually disappears after about 1040. The rock crystal used in Egypt was apparently traded from East Africa, islamic jades and other carvings reached a particular peak in the Mughal Empire, where apart from portable carvings inlaid panels of carved stones were included in buildings such as the Taj Mahal. The great wealth of the Mughal court allowed precious stones like rubies, the court workshops of the Ottoman Empire also produced lavish and elaborate objects, in similar styles but without reaching the artistic peaks of Mughal carving. The jade signet ring of Tutankhamun has been called a specimen of Egyptian jade. From the Hellenistic period elaborate vessels in semi-precious stone begin to appear, mostly carved, the best collection of Byzantine liturgical vessels is in the Treasury of San Marco, Venice, some of them booty from the Fourth Crusade. Byzantine artists maintained a tradition throughout the Middle Ages, often working in rock crystal. By the end of the Middle Ages a wider variety of stones and objects are seen and they also produced vessels and small sculptures from a single piece of stone, often mounted with gold, which was also a speciality of Milanese workshops. Other rulers followed their example, including Peter the Great, whose Peterhof Lapidary Works, founded in 1721, began the passion among Russian royalty and aristocrats for hardstones
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Rock crystal
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Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earths continental crust, behind feldspar. There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are semi-precious gemstones, since antiquity, varieties of quartz have been the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings, especially in Eurasia. The word quartz is derived from the German word Quarz and its Middle High German ancestor twarc, the Ancient Greeks referred to quartz as κρύσταλλος derived from the Ancient Greek κρύος meaning icy cold, because some philosophers apparently believed the mineral to be a form of supercooled ice. Today, the rock crystal is sometimes used as an alternative name for the purest form of quartz. Quartz belongs to the crystal system. The ideal crystal shape is a six-sided prism terminating with six-sided pyramids at each end, well-formed crystals typically form in a bed that has unconstrained growth into a void, usually the crystals are attached at the other end to a matrix and only one termination pyramid is present. However, doubly terminated crystals do occur where they develop freely without attachment, a quartz geode is such a situation where the void is approximately spherical in shape, lined with a bed of crystals pointing inward. α-quartz crystallizes in the crystal system, space group P3121 and P3221 respectively. β-quartz belongs to the system, space group P6222 and P6422. These space groups are truly chiral, both α-quartz and β-quartz are examples of chiral crystal structures composed of achiral building blocks. The transformation between α- and β-quartz only involves a comparatively minor rotation of the tetrahedra with respect to one another, although many of the varietal names historically arose from the color of the mineral, current scientific naming schemes refer primarily to the microstructure of the mineral. Color is an identifier for the cryptocrystalline minerals, although it is a primary identifier for the macrocrystalline varieties. Pure quartz, traditionally called rock crystal or clear quartz, is colorless and transparent or translucent, common colored varieties include citrine, rose quartz, amethyst, smoky quartz, milky quartz, and others. The most important distinction between types of quartz is that of macrocrystalline and the microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline varieties, the cryptocrystalline varieties are either translucent or mostly opaque, while the transparent varieties tend to be macrocrystalline. Chalcedony is a form of silica consisting of fine intergrowths of both quartz, and its monoclinic polymorph moganite. Other opaque gemstone varieties of quartz, or mixed rocks including quartz, often including contrasting bands or patterns of color, are agate, carnelian or sard, onyx, heliotrope, amethyst is a form of quartz that ranges from a bright to dark or dull purple color. The worlds largest deposits of amethysts can be found in Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Russia, France, Namibia, sometimes amethyst and citrine are found growing in the same crystal. It is then referred to as ametrine, an amethyst is formed when there is iron in the area where it was formed
36.
Vitreous enamel
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Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C. The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating on metal, so in technical terms fired enamelware is an integrated layered composite of glass and metal. Enamelling is an old and widely adopted technology, for most of its history mainly used in jewelry, enamelled and enamelling are the preferred spellings in British English, while enameled and enameling are preferred in American English. The term enamel is most often restricted to work on metal, enamelled glass is also called painted, and overglaze decoration to pottery is often called enamelling. The word enamel comes from the Old High German word smelzan via the Old French esmail, or from a Latin word smaltum, used as a noun, an enamel is usually a small decorative object coated with enamel. Since the 19th century the term also to industrial materials and many metal consumer objects, such as some cooking vessels, dishwashers, laundry machines, sinks. The ancient Egyptians applied enamels to stone objects, pottery, and sometimes jewellery, the ancient Greeks, Celts, Georgians, and Chinese also used enamel on metal objects. Enamel powder could be produced in two ways, either by powdering coloured glass, or by mixing colourless glass powder with pigments such as a metallic oxide, designs were either painted freehand or over the top of outline incisions, and the technique probably originated in metalworking. Once painted, enamelled glass vessels needed to be fired at a high enough to melt the applied powder. Ancient Persians used this method for colouring and ornamenting the surface of metals by fusing over it brilliant colours that are decorated in an intricate design and called it Meenakari. Gold has been used traditionally for Meenakari Jewellery as it holds the enamel better, lasts longer, initially, the work of Meenakari often went unnoticed as this art was traditionally used as a backing for the famous kundan or stone-studded jewellery. This also allowed the wearer to reverse the jewellery as also promised a special joy in the secret of the hidden design, the Byzantine enamel style was widely adopted by the barbarian peoples of Migration Period northern Europe. The Byzantines then began to use cloisonné more freely to create images, the champlevé technique was considerably easier and very widely practiced in the Romanesque period. In Gothic art the finest work is in basse-taille and ronde-bosse techniques, from either Byzantium or the Islamic world, the cloisonné technique reached China in the 13-14th centuries. The first written reference to cloisonné is in a book from 1388, cloisonné remained very popular in China until the 19th century and is still produced today. Starting from the century, the Japanese also produced large quantities of very high technical quality. A resurgence in enamel-based art took place near the end of the 20th century in the Soviet Union, led by artists like Alexei Maximov, in Australia, abstract artist Bernard Hesling brought the style into prominence with his variously sized steel plates. Enamel was first applied commercially to sheet iron and steel in Austria, industrialization increased as the purity of raw materials increased and costs decreased
37.
Royal Collection
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The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family and the largest private art collection in the world. The Queen owns some objects in the collection in right of the Crown, the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London was built specially to exhibit pieces from the collection on a rotating basis. There is an art gallery next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The Crown Jewels are on display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. About 3,000 objects are on loan to museums throughout the world, few items from before King Henry VIII survive. The most important additions to the collection were made by Charles I, a collector of Italian paintings. Many works have been given from the collection to museums, especially by George III and Victoria, in particular, most of the then royal library was given by George III to the British Museum, now the British Library, where many books are still catalogued as Royal. The core of this collection was the purchase by James I of the collections of Humphrey Llwyd, Lord Lumley. Throughout the reign of Elizabeth II, there have been significant additions to the collection through purchases, bequests and through gifts from nation states. Numbering over 7,000 works, spread across the Royal Residences, numbering over 300 items, the Royal Collection holds one of the greatest and most important collections of French furniture ever assembled. The collection is noted for its range as well as counting the greatest cabinet-makers of the Ancien Régime. The Royal Collection is privately owned, although some of the works are displayed in areas of palaces, some of the collection is owned by the monarch personally, and everything else is described as being held in trust by the monarch in right of the Crown. All works of art acquired by monarchs up to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 are heirlooms which fall into the latter category. Items the British royal family acquired later, including official gifts, ambiguity surrounds the status of objects that have come into Queen Elizabeth IIs possession during her reign. The Royal Collection Trust has confirmed that all pieces left to the Queen by the Queen Mother belong to her personally, non-personal items are said to be inalienable as they can only be willed to the monarchs successor. The legal accuracy of this claim has never been substantiated in court, in a 2000 television interview, the Duke of Edinburgh said that the Queen was technically, perfectly at liberty to sell them. In 1995, Iain Sproat, then Secretary of State for National Heritage, a registered charity, the Royal Collection Trust was set up in 1993 after the Windsor Castle fire with a mandate to conserve the works and enhance the publics appreciation and understanding of art. It employs around 500 staff and is one of the five departments of the Royal Household, buildings do not come under its remit
38.
Michael Perkhin
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Michael Evlampievich Perchin was born in Okulovskaya in Olonets Governorate and died in St. Petersburg. He was one of the most important Fabergé workmasters along with Henrik Wigström, Perchin became the leading workmaster in the House of Fabergé in 1886 and supervised production of the eggs until his death in 1903. The eggs he was responsible for were marked with his initials and he worked initially as a journeyman in the workshop of Erik August Kollin. In 1884 he qualified as a craftsman and his artistic potential must have been obvious to Fabergé who appointed him head workmaster in 1886. His workshop produced all types of objets de fantasie in gold, enamel, all the important commissions of the time, including some of the Imperial Easter Eggs, the renowned Fabergé eggs, were made in his workshop. His period as head Fabergé workmaster is generally acknowledged to be the most artistically innovative, with a huge range of styles from neo-Rococo to Renaissance
39.
Marjorie Merriweather Post
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Marjorie Merriweather Post was a leading American socialite and the owner of General Foods, Inc. She was the daughter of C. W. Post and Ella Letitia Merriweather, at age 27, when her father died, she became the owner of the rapidly growing Postum Cereal Company, founded in 1895. She was subsequently the wealthiest woman in the United States, with a fortune worth about US $250 million and she attended the Mount Vernon Seminary and College. Post maintained a lifelong relationship with her alma mater and served as the first alumna trustee of Mount Vernon Seminary. Today, a collection of her correspondence with Mount Vernon administrators is maintained by GWUs Special Collections Research Center, Posts complete collection of personal papers, as well as those of her father, are held by the University of Michigans Bentley Historical Library. In addition to Hillwood and other estates, Marjorie Merriweather Posts other lavish home was Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, designed by Marion Sims Wyeth and Joseph Urban, Mar-a-Lago was willed in 1973 to the U. S. Government as a retreat for Presidents and visiting foreign dignitaries. The mansion was not, however, used for this purpose and it was purchased by businessman Donald Trump in 1985. Post and her husband, E. F. Hutton, owned Sea Cloud. Post also owned Camp Topridge on Upper St. Regis Lake in the Adirondacks and it included a fully staffed main lodge and private guest cabins, each staffed with its own butler. The expansive Great Camp, built in 1923 by Ben Muncil, eventually contained nearly 70 buildings, as well as a Russian dacha and it was one of only two Adirondack camps to be featured in LIFE magazine. Another home, which she shared with Joseph Davies in Washington, some of Posts jewelry bequeathed to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, is displayed in the Harry Winston exhibit. She funded a U. S. Army hospital in France during World War I, and, decades later, in 1971, she was among the first three recipients of the Silver Fawn Award, presented by the Boy Scouts of America. The Merriweather Post Pavilion, a concert venue in Columbia. Critics have claimed that these items were expropriated, however, Post, neither she nor Davies was involved with the original seizing of the items. Allegations later surfaced that many works of art from the Tretyakov Gallery and other collections were donated or offered at nominal prices to Post and Davies. Davies is also alleged to have purchased art expropriated from Soviet citizens well after the Russian Revolution, many of the items, which remain under the control of the Post estate or the agents, can be viewed at Hillwood, the former Washington, DC, estate of Post. It has operated as a museum since Posts death and displays her French and Russian art collection, featuring the work of Fabergé, Sèvres porcelain, French furniture, tapestries. In 1905, she married investment banker Edward Bennett Close of Greenwich, Connecticut, via his second marriage, Edward Bennett Close would become the paternal grandfather of actress Glenn Close
40.
Barbara Hutton
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Barbara Woolworth Hutton was an American debutante/socialite, heiress and philanthropist. She was dubbed the Poor Little Rich Girl, first when she was given a lavish and expensive debutante ball in 1930, amid the Great Depression, heiress to the retail tycoon Frank Winfield Woolworth, Hutton was one of the wealthiest women in the world. She endured a childhood marked by the loss of her mother at age five. Married and divorced seven times, she acquired grand foreign titles but was maliciously treated, while publicly she was much envied for her possessions, her beauty and her apparent life of leisure, privately she remained deeply insecure, often taking refuge in drink, drugs, and playboys. Hutton had one child, Lance Reventlow, with her husband, but was an indifferent and insecure parent. She later developed anorexia nervosa and perhaps therefore prevented further childbirth and her son died in a plane crash in 1972 at the age of 36, leaving her devastated. She lived another seven years, dying of an attack at age 66. At her death, the formerly wealthy Hutton was on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of exploitation, as well as her compulsive generosity and spendthrift ways. Born in New York City, Barbara Hutton was the child of Edna Woolworth, a daughter of Frank W. Woolworth. Barbaras father was Franklyn Laws Hutton, a wealthy co-founder of E. F. Hutton & Company, dina Merrill related on A&Es Biography of the Woolworths, that for a time Barbara lived with them following the death of her mother and abandonment by her father. Five year old Barbara discovered her mothers body, after her mothers death, she lived with various relatives, and was raised by a governess. Hutton attended Miss Hewitts Classes, now The Hewitt School in New Yorks Lenox Hill neighborhood and Miss Porters School for Girls in Farmington and she became an introverted child who had limited interaction with other children of her own age. Her closest friend and only confidante was her cousin Jimmy Donahue, Jimmy Donahue inherited a portion of the Woolworth estate with Barbara and also grew up to have notorious, and public, drug, alcohol and relationship problems. In 1924, Barbara Huttons grandmother Jennie Woolworth died, leaving $26.1 million to Barbara in a trust fund, another $2.1 million in stock from Ednas inheritance was placed in a separate trust both of which were administered by Franklyn Hutton. The ball cost $60,000, a fortune in the days of the Depression. Public criticism was so severe that she was sent on a tour of Europe to escape the onslaught of the press. Popular poet Ogden Nash then took note of Huttons public private life in the light verse, Said Aimee McPherson to Barbara Hutton. Youll have to ask some other person and her first husband, Alexis Mdivani, used her great wealth to his advantage
41.
Cartier SA
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Société Cartier is a French luxury goods conglomerate company. The company designs, manufactures, distributes and sells jewellery and watches, founded in Paris, France in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier, the company remained under family control until 1964. The company maintains its headquarters in Paris and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Compagnie Financière Richemont SA. Cartier is well known for its jewellery and wrist watches, including the Bestiary, the diamond necklace created for Bhupinder Singh the Maharaja of Patiala and the Santos wristwatch of 1904. Cartier has a history of sales to royalty and celebrities. For example, Kate Middleton. King Edward VII of England referred to Cartier as the jeweller of kings, for his coronation in 1902, Edward VII ordered 27 tiaras and issued a royal warrant to Cartier in 1904. Similar warrants soon followed from the courts of Spain, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Greece, Serbia, Belgium, Romania, Egypt, Albania, Monaco, Louis-François Cartier founded Cartier in Paris in 1847 when he took over the workshop of his master. In 1874, Louis-François son Alfred Cartier took over the company, but it was Alfreds sons Louis, Pierre and Jacques, in 1904, the Brazilian pioneer aviator, Alberto Santos-Dumont complained to his friend Louis Cartier of the unreliability and impracticality of using pocket watches while flying. Cartier designed a flat wristwatch with a square bezel. This watch was liked by not only Santos-Dumont but also many other customers and this was Cartiers first mens wristwatch. Louis retained responsibility for the Paris branch, moving to the Rue de la Paix in 1899, in 1907, Cartier signed a contract with Edmond Jaeger, who agreed to exclusively supply the movements for Cartier watches. By this time, Cartier had branches in London, New York, the Baignoire and Tortue models were introduced in 1912, followed by the Tank model in 1917. This, designed by Louis Cartier, was inspired from the newly introduced tanks on the Western Front and this line too has survived, with over thirty varieties made since. In the early 1920s, Cartier formed a joint company with Edward Jaeger to produce movements solely for Cartier, thus was the European watch and clock company born, although Cartier continued to use movements from other makers. Cartier watches can be found with movements from Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Movado, Pierre Cartier established the New York City branch in 1909, moving in 1917 to 653 Fifth Avenue, the Neo-Renaissance mansion of Morton Freeman Plant and designed by architect C. P. H. Cartier acquired the mansion from the Plants in exchange for $100 in cash, among the Cartier team was Charles Jacqueau, who joined Louis Cartier in 1909 for the rest of his life, and Jeanne Toussaint, who was Director of Fine Jewellery from 1933. After the death of Pierre in 1964, Jean-Jacques Cartier, Claude Cartier, in 1972, a group of investors led by Joseph Kanoui bought Cartier Paris. President Robert Hocq, who created the phrase Les Must de Cartier with Alain Dominique Perrin, General Director, in 1974 and 1976 respectively, the group repurchased Cartier London and Cartier New York
42.
Moscow
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Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits and 17.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city, Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth and it is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe, the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and the Moscow International Business Center. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, the city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basils Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in the city and it is recognized as one of the citys landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations. In old Russian the word also meant a church administrative district. The demonym for a Moscow resident is москвич for male or москвичка for female, the name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River. There have been proposed several theories of the origin of the name of the river and its cognates include Russian, музга, muzga pool, puddle, Lithuanian, mazgoti and Latvian, mazgāt to wash, Sanskrit, majjati to drown, Latin, mergō to dip, immerse. There exist as well similar place names in Poland like Mozgawa, the original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky, hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. From the latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, in a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy, various other theories, having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists. The surface similarity of the name Russia with Rosh, an obscure biblical tribe or country, the oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic. Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered, on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc. The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi, the Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD1100, a settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a place of Yuri Dolgoruky. At the time it was a town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
43.
Odessa
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Odessa or Odesa is the third most populous city of Ukraine and a major seaport and transportation hub located on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. Odessa is also a center of the Odessa Oblast and a multiethnic cultural center. Odessa is sometimes called the pearl of the Black Sea, the South Capital, the predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement, was founded by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea, in 1440 and originally named after him as Hacıbey. After a period of Lithuanian control, it passed into the domain of the Ottoman Sultan in 1529, in 1794, the city of Odessa was founded by a decree of the Empress Catherine the Great. From 1819 to 1858, Odessa was a free port, during the Soviet period it was the most important port of trade in the Soviet Union and a Soviet naval base. On 1 January 2000, the Quarantine Pier at Odessa Commercial Sea Port was declared a free port, during the 19th century, it was the fourth largest city of Imperial Russia, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. Its historical architecture has a style more Mediterranean than Russian, having heavily influenced by French. Some buildings are built in a mixture of different styles, including Art Nouveau, Renaissance, the city of Odessa hosts both the Port of Odessa and Port Yuzhne, a significant oil terminal situated in the citys suburbs. Another notable port, Chornomorsk, is located in the same oblast, together they represent a major transport hub integrating with railways. Odessas oil and chemical processing facilities are connected to Russian and European networks by strategic pipelines, the city was named in compliance with the Greek Plan of Catherine the Great. It was named after the ancient Greek city of Odessos, which was believed to have been located here. Although Odessa is located in between the ancient Greek cities of Tyras and Olbia, Odessos is believed to be the predecessor of the present day city of Varna, Catherines secretary of state Adrian Gribovsky claimed in his memoirs that the name was his suggestion. Some expressed doubts about this claim, while others noted the reputation of Gribovsky as an honest and modest man, Odessa was the site of a large Greek settlement not later than the middle of the 6th century BC. Some scholars believe it to be a settlement established by Histria. Whether the Bay of Odessa is the ancient Port of the Histrians cannot yet be considered a settled question based on the available evidence, archaeological artifacts confirm extensive links between the Odessa area and the eastern Mediterranean. In the Middle Ages successive rulers of the Odessa region included various nomadic tribes, the Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanate, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Yedisan Crimean Tatars traded there in the 14th century. During the reign of Khan Hacı I Giray of Crimea, the Khanate was endangered by the Golden Horde and the Ottoman Turks and, in search of allies, the site of present-day Odessa was then a fortress known as Khadjibey. It was part of the Dykra region, however, most of the rest of the area remained largely uninhabited in this period
44.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
45.
Petrograd
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Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
46.
Riga
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Riga is the capital and the largest city of Latvia. With 696,593 inhabitants, Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states, the city lies on the Gulf of Riga, at the mouth of the Daugava. Rigas territory covers 307.17 square kilometres and lies one and ten metres above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain. Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member, Rigas historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. Riga was the European Capital of Culture during 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden, Riga hosted the 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, and the 2006 IIHF Mens World Ice Hockey Championships. It is home to the European Unions office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, Riga is served by Riga International Airport, the largest airport in the Baltic states. Riga is a member of Eurocities, the Union of the Baltic Cities, another theory could be that Riga was named after Riege, the German name for the River Rīdzene, a tributary of the Daugava. The river Daugava has been a trade route since antiquity, part of the Vikings Dvina-Dnieper navigation route to Byzantium. A sheltered natural harbour 15 km upriver from the mouth of the Daugava — the site of todays Riga — has been recorded, as Duna Urbs and it was settled by the Livs, an ancient Finnic tribe. Riga began to develop as a centre of Viking trade during the early Middle Ages, Rigas inhabitants occupied themselves mainly with fishing, animal husbandry, and trading, later developing crafts. German traders began visiting Riga, establishing a nearby outpost in 1158, along with German traders also arrived the monk Meinhard of Segeberg to convert the Livonian pagans to Christianity. Catholic and Orthodox Christianity had already arrived in Latvia more than a century earlier, Meinhard settled among the Livs, building a castle and church at Ikšķile, upstream from Riga, and established his bishopric there. The Livs, however, continued to practice paganism and Meinhard died in Ikšķile in 1196, in 1198, the Bishop Berthold arrived with a contingent of crusaders and commenced a campaign of forced Christianization. Berthold was killed soon afterwards and his forces defeated, pope Innocent III issued a bull declaring a crusade against the Livonians. Bishop Albert was proclaimed Bishop of Livonia by his uncle Hartwig of Uthlede, Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, Albert landed in Riga in 1200 with 23 ships and 500 Westphalian crusaders. In 1201, he transferred the seat of the Livonian bishopric from Ikšķile to Riga, the year 1201 also marked the first arrival of German merchants in Novgorod, via the Dvina. To defend territory and trade, Albert established the Order of Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1202, open to nobles, in 1207, Albert started on fortification of the town. Emperor Philip invested Albert with Livonia as a fief and principality of the Holy Roman Empire, until then, it had been customary for crusaders to serve for a year and then return home
47.
Bad Homburg
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Bad Homburg vor der Höhe is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus, bordering among others Frankfurt am Main and Oberursel. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area, the towns formal name is Bad Homburg vor der Höhe to distinguish it from other places of the same name, abbreviated as Bad Homburg v. d. It is best known for its medically used mineral waters and spa, today, Bad Homburg is again one of the wealthiest towns in Germany. As of 2004, the marketing slogan is Champagnerluft und Tradition. Local tradition holds that Bad Homburgs documented history began with the mention of the Villa Tidenheim in the Lorsch codex and this Villa Tidenheim was equated with the Old Town, called Dietigheim. This connection is reflected in street names. Local historian, Rüdiger Kurth, doubted these traditional stories based on his study of written sources, in 2002 Kurth initiated archaeological digs by the University of Frankfurt under the leadership of Professor Joachim Henning. The excavations showed that there was no evidence of settlement between the beginning of the Christian Era and the 13th century, most likely this building stood in connection with Wortwins castle. Quite possibly, though, a cultural layer from an even earlier time lies waiting to be discovered underneath these remains. Investigations using methods from natural science will show whether the dating can be more precise. Homberg acquired market rights about 1330, but the document granting these rights is said to have been lost, the towns name, Homburg, comes from the Hohenberg Castle. The postfix vor der Höhe was probably first recorded in a document in 1399, the Hessen-Homburg noble family of landgraves was founded with Friedrich I of Hessen-Homburg. Friedrich II attained fame as Prince of Homburg, in 1866, as a result of the Austro-Prussian War, Homburg became Prussian territory. With the coming of the spa industry in the century, which profited greatly from the casino built in town. Bad Homburg was particularly favoured by Russian nobility for its baths, the spa industry began with the discovery of the Elisabethenbrunnen in 1834. In 1860, the town was connected with Frankfurt by a railway line and his mother, too, Empress Friedrich, the old emperors widow — and Queen Victorias eldest daughter — lived there for several years. Edward VII was also often a guest and it was he who introduced the Homburg hat and permanent turn-up trousers. He also underwent fasting cures at Homburg 32 times, the Bad Homburger Golf Club 1899 e. V. in the Röderweisen in Dornholzhausen — nowadays part of Bad Homburg — is Germanys oldest golf club
48.
Wiesbaden
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Wiesbaden is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. In July 2016, it had about 288,000 inhabitants, the Wiesbaden urban area is home to approx. The city, together with nearby Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt and Mainz, is part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region, Wiesbaden is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name translates to meadow baths, making reference to the hot springs and it is internationally famous for its architecture, climate, and its hot springs. At one time, Wiesbaden boasted 26 hot springs, fourteen of the springs are still flowing today. In 1970, the hosted the tenth Hessentag state festival. The city is considered the tenth richest in Germany with 113. 3% of gross domestic product, every citizen has an average annual buying power of €24,798. Wiesbaden is situated on the bank of the Rhine River, below the confluence of the Main. The city is across the Rhine from Mainz, the capital of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Frankfurt am Main is located about 38 kilometres east, to the north of the city are the Taunus Mountains, which trend in a northeasterly direction. The city center, the Stadtmitte, is located in the north-easternmost part of the Upper Rhine Valley at the spurs of the Taunus mountains, about 5 kilometres from the Rhine. The downtown is drained only by the valley of the Salzbach. The citys main line and the Mainz road follow this valley. Above the city center, the Salzbach is better known as the Rambach, the highest point of the Wiesbaden municipality is located northwest of the city center near the summit of the Hohe Wurzel, with an elevation of 608 metres above sea level. The lowest point is the entrance of Schierstein at 83 metres above sea level. The central square is at an elevation of 115 metres, Wiesbaden covers an area of 204 km2. It is 17.6 kilometres from north to south and 19.7 kilometres from west to east, in the north are vast forest areas, which cover 27. 4% of the urban area. In the west and east are vineyards and agricultural land, which cover 31. 1% of the area, of the municipalitys 79 kilometres -long border, the Rhine makes up 10.3 kilometres
