1.
Reconstruction (architecture)
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Reconstruction is a term in architectural conservation whose precise meaning varies, depending on the context in which they are used. More broadly, such as under the ICOMOS Burra Charter, reconstruction means returning a damaged building to an earlier state by the introduction of new materials. It is related to the concepts of restoration and preservation. There may be reasons for the construction of a building or creation of a replica building or structure. A specifically well-known example is the rebuilding of the city center of Warsaw after 1945. The Old Town and the Royal Castle had been badly damaged already at the outset of World War II and it was systematically razed to the ground by German troops after the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The reconstruction of Warsaws historic center and, e. g. the replica of the Stari Most built in Mostar have met with approval by UNESCO. Critics of reconstructed and replica buildings see them as a falsification of history, anthony in Fort Manoel Chapel of St. Roche on St. Michaels Counterguard Wignacourt Arch Plans are also being made for reconstructing the Birgu Clock Tower, which was destroyed in 1942
2.
Pergamon Museum
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The Pergamon Museum is situated on the Museum Island in Berlin. The building was designed by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann and was constructed over a period of twenty years, the museum is subdivided into the antiquity collection, the Middle East museum, and the museum of Islamic art. It is visited by approximately 1,135,000 people every year, making it the most visited art museum in Germany, Alfred Messel began a design for the large three-wing building in 1906. After his death in 1909 his friend Ludwig Hoffman took charge of the project and construction began in 1910, continuing during the First World War, the completed building was opened In 1930. The Pergamon Museum was severely damaged during the air attacks on Berlin at the end of the Second World War, many of the display objects had been stored in safe places, and some of the large exhibits were walled in for protection. In 1945, the Red Army collected all of the museum items, either as war booty or, ostensibly, to rescue them from looting. Not until 1958 were most of the returned to East Germany. Significant parts of the remain in Russia. Some are currently stored in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the return of these items has been arranged in a treaty between Germany and Russia but, as of June 2003, is blocked by Russian restitution laws. It first became accessible to the public in 1830, when the Altes Museum was opened, the collection expanded greatly with the excavations in Olympia, Samos, Pergamon, Miletus, Priene, Magnesia, Cyprus and Didyma. This collection is divided between the Pergamon Museum and the Altes Museum, as Germany was divided following the Second World War, so was the collection. The Pergamon Museum was reopened in 1959 in East Berlin, while what remained in West Berlin was displayed in Schloss Charlottenburg, when the Bode Museum was opened in 1904, a section for Islamic art was created and later included in the Pergamon Museum. It was a gift from the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II to Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, parts of the eastern portion of the facade and the ruins of the structure of which it formed a part remain in Jordan. Another unique exhibition is the Aleppo room and this area of the museum features a reception room from a brokers home in Aleppo, Syria, that was commissioned during the Ottoman Period. The Islamic Art Museum also regularly hosts exhibitions of modern art from the Islamic world, such as the 2008 Turkish Delight. In 2008 part of the Keir Collection of Edmund de Unger, formerly housed in his home in Ham, the Middle East Museum exhibition displays objects found by German archeologists and others from the areas of Assyrian, Sumerian and Babylonian culture. Additionally there are buildings, reliefs and lesser cultural objects. The main display is the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way of Babylon together with the throne room facade of Nebuchadnezzar II, the Vorderasiatisches Museum also displays the Meissner fragment from the Epic of Gilgamesh
3.
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
4.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
5.
Babylon
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Babylon was a major city of ancient Mesopotamia in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city was built upon the Euphrates and divided in parts along its left and right banks. Babylon was originally a small Semitic Akkadian city dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c.2300 BC, the town attained independence as part of a small city-state with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BC. Babylon grew and South Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia, the empire quickly dissolved after Hammurabis death and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BC, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, and Sassanid empires. It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c.1770 to 1670 BC and it was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000. Estimates for the extent of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometres south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings, the English Babylon comes from Greek Babylṓn, a transliteration of the Akkadian Babili. The Babylonian name in the early 2nd millennium BC had been Babilli or Babilla, by the 1st millennium BC, it had changed to Babili under the influence of the folk etymology which traced it to bāb-ili. The Gate of God or Gate of El being from the Aramaic Hebrew Bab for Gate and El for God and this being similar to the Hebrew word for confusion Balal. In the Bible, the name appears as Babel, interpreted in the Hebrew Scriptures Book of Genesis to mean confusion, the modern English verb, to babble, or to speak meaningless words, is popularly thought to derive from this name, but there is no direct connection. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris. The site at Babylon consists of a number of mounds covering an area of about 2 by 1 kilometer, oriented north to south, along the Euphrates to the west. Originally, the river roughly bisected the city, but the course of the river has since shifted so that most of the remains of the western part of the city are now inundated. Some portions of the city wall to the west of the river also remain, remains of the city include, Kasr—also called Palace or Castle, it is the location of the Neo-Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki and lies in the center of the site. Amran Ibn Ali—the highest of the mounds at 25 meters, to the south and it is the site of Esagila, a temple of Marduk which also contained shrines to Ea and Nabu. Homera—a reddish colored mound on the west side, most of the Hellenistic remains are here
6.
Nebuchadnezzar II
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Nebuchadnezzar II was a Chaldean king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, who reigned c.605 BCE – c.562 BCE. Both the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the destruction of Jerusalems temple are ascribed to him and he is featured in the Book of Daniel and is mentioned in several other books of the Bible. The Akkadian name,
7.
Ishtar
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Ishtar is the Mesopotamian East Semitic goddess of fertility, love, war, sex, and power. She is the counterpart to the earlier attested Sumerian Inanna, and the cognate for the later attested Northwest Semitic Aramean goddess Astarte, and the Armenian goddess Astghik. Ishtar was an important deity in Mesopotamian religion which was extant from c.3500 BCE, Ishtar symbolizes love, including that between human and animals, its power, and its danger. Ishtar was the daughter of Anu and she was particularly worshipped in the Upper Mesopotamian kingdom of Assyria, particularly at the cities of Nineveh, Ashur and Arbela, and also in the south Mesopotamian city of Uruk. Besides the lions on her gate, her symbol is an eight-pointed star, in the Babylonian pantheon, she was the divine personification of the planet Venus. Ishtar had many lovers, however, as Guirand notes, Woe to him whom Ishtar had honoured, the fickle goddess treated her passing lovers cruelly, and the unhappy wretches usually paid dearly for the favours heaped on them. Animals, enslaved by love, lost their native vigour, they fell into traps laid by men or were domesticated by them, thou has loved the lion, mighty in strength, says the hero Gilgamesh to Ishtar, and thou hast dug for him seven and seven pits. Thou hast loved the steed, proud in battle, and destined him for the halter, the goad, even for the gods Ishtars love was fatal. In her youth the goddess had loved Tammuz, god of the harvest and her cult may have involved sacred prostitution, though this is debatable. Guirand referred to her holy city Uruk as the town of the sacred courtesans, one of the most famous myths about Ishtar describes her descent to the underworld. I will bring up the dead to eat the living, and the dead will outnumber the living. The gatekeeper hurried to tell Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Underworld, Ereshkigal told the gatekeeper to let Ishtar enter, but according to the ancient decree. The gatekeeper let Ishtar into the underworld, opening one gate at a time, at each gate, Ishtar had to shed one article of clothing. When she finally passed the seventh gate, she was naked, in a rage, Ishtar threw herself at Ereshkigal, but Ereshkigal ordered her servant Namtar to imprison Ishtar and unleash sixty diseases against her. After Ishtar descended to the underworld, all activity ceased on earth. The god Papsukal reported the situation to Ea, the king of the gods, Ea created an intersex being called Asu-shu-namir and sent them to Ereshkigal, telling them to invoke the name of the great gods against her and to ask for the bag containing the waters of life. Ereshkigal was enraged when she heard Asu-shu-namirs demand, but she had to them the water of life. Asu-shu-namir sprinkled Ishtar with this water, reviving her, then, Ishtar passed back through the seven gates, getting one article of clothing back at each gate, and was fully clothed as she exited the last gate
8.
Relief
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Relief is a sculptural technique where the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term relief is from the Latin verb relevo, to raise, to create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. What is actually performed when a relief is cut in from a surface of stone or wood is a lowering of the field. The technique involves considerable chiselling away of the background, which is a time-consuming exercise. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mâché the form can be just added to or raised up from the background, and monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting. There are different degrees of relief depending on the degree of projection of the form from the field. There is also sunk relief, which was restricted to Ancient Egypt. However the distinction between high relief and low relief is the clearest and most important, and these two are generally the only used to discuss most work. Hyphens may or may not be used in all these terms, works in the technique are described as in relief, and, especially in monumental sculpture, the work itself is a relief. Reliefs are common throughout the world on the walls of buildings and a variety of settings. Relief is more suitable for depicting complicated subjects with figures and very active poses, such as battles. Most ancient architectural reliefs were painted, which helped to define forms in low relief. Rock reliefs are carved into solid rock in the open air. This type is found in cultures, in particular those of the Ancient Near East and Buddhist countries. A stele is a standing stone, many of these carry reliefs. The distinction between high and low relief is somewhat subjective, and the two are often combined in a single work. In particular, most later high reliefs contain sections in low relief, a low relief or bas-relief is a projecting image with a shallow overall depth, for example used on coins, on which all images are in low relief. Other versions distort depth much less and it is a technique which requires less work, and is therefore cheaper to produce, as less of the background needs to be removed in a carving, or less modelling is required
9.
Dragon
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A dragon is a legendary creature, typically scaled or fire-spewing and with serpentine, reptilian or avian traits, that features in the myths of many cultures around world. The two most well-known cultural traditions of dragon are The European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Balkans, most are depicted as reptilian creatures with animal-level intelligence, and are uniquely six-limbed. The Chinese dragon, with counterparts in Japan, Korea and other East Asian, most are depicted as serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence, and are quadrupeds. The two traditions may have evolved separately, but have influenced each other to a certain extent, the English word dragon and Latin word draco derives from Greek δράκων, dragon, serpent of huge size, water-snake. The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological, a dragon is a mythological representation of a reptile. In antiquity, dragons were mostly envisaged as serpents, but since the Middle Ages, it has become common to them with legs. Dragons are usually shown in modern times with a body like a huge lizard, the European dragon has bat-like wings growing from its back. A dragon-like creature with wings but only a pair of legs is known as a wyvern. The association of the serpent with a monstrous opponent overcome by a deity has its roots in the mythology of the Ancient Near East, including Canaanite, Hittite. Humbaba, the fire-breathing dragon-fanged beast first described in the Epic of Gilgamesh, is described as a dragon with Gilgamesh playing the part of dragon-slayer. The folk-lore motif of the dragon guarding gold may have come from earlier Bronze Age customs of introducing serpents to village granaries to deter rats or mice. Although dragons occur in many legends around the world, different cultures have varying stories about monsters that have been grouped together under the dragon label, some dragons are said to breathe fire or to be poisonous, such as in the Old English poem Beowulf. They are commonly portrayed as serpentine or reptilian, hatching from eggs and they are sometimes portrayed as hoarding treasure. Some myths portray them with a row of dorsal spines, European dragons are more often winged, while Chinese dragons resemble large snakes. Dragons can have a number of legs, none, two, four, or more when it comes to early European literature. Dragons are often held to have spiritual significance in various religions. In many Asian cultures, dragons were, and in some still are, revered as representative of the primal forces of nature, religion. They are associated with wisdom—often said to be wiser than humans—and longevity and they are commonly said to possess some form of magic or other supernatural power, and are often associated with wells, rain, and rivers
10.
Aurochs
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The aurochs, also urus, ure, is an extinct type of large wild cattle that inhabited Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It is the ancestor of domestic cattle, the species survived in Europe until the last recorded aurochs died in the Jaktorów Forest, Poland in 1627. Other species of wild bovines were also domesticated, namely the water buffalo, gaur. In modern cattle, numerous breeds share characteristics of the aurochs, such as a colour in the bulls with a light eel stripe along the back. The aurochs was variously classified as Bos primigenius, Bos taurus, or, in old sources, the words aurochs, urus, and wisent have all been used synonymously in English. However, the extinct aurochs/urus is a separate species from the still-extant wisent. The two were confused, and some 16th-century illustrations of aurochs and wisents have hybrid features. The word urus is a Latin word, but was borrowed into Latin from Germanic, in German, OHG ūr was compounded with ohso ox, giving ūrohso, which became early modern Aurochs. The word aurochs was borrowed from early modern German, replacing archaic urochs, the word is invariable in number in English, though sometimes back-formed singular auroch and innovated plural aurochses occur. The use in English of the plural form aurochsen is nonstandard and it is directly parallel to the German plural Ochsen and recreates by analogy the same distinction as English ox and oxen. During the Pliocene, the colder climate caused an extension of open grassland, Bos acutifrons is an extinct species of cattle that has been suggested as an ancestor for the aurochs. The oldest aurochs remains have been dated to about 2 million years ago, the Indian subspecies was the first to appear. During the Pleistocene, the species migrated west into the Middle East and they reached Europe about 270,000 years ago. The South Asian domestic cattle, or zebu, descended from Indian aurochs at the edge of the Thar Desert, domestic yak, gayal, and banteng do not descend from aurochs. The first complete mitochondrial genome DNA sequence analysis of Bos primigenius from an archaeologically verified, three wild subspecies of aurochs are recognized. Only the Eurasian subspecies survived until recent times, the Eurasian aurochs once ranged across the steppes and taigas of Europe, Siberia and Central Asia, and East Asia. It is noted as part of the Pleistocene megafauna, and declined in numbers along with other species by the end of Pleistocene. The Eurasian aurochs were domesticated into modern taurine cattle breeds around the sixth millennium BC in the Middle East, Aurochs were still widespread in Europe during the time of the Roman Empire, when they were widely popular as a battle beast in Roman arenas
11.
Marduk
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Marduk was a late-generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. In the city of Babylon, he resided in the temple Esagila, Marduk is associated with the divine weapon Imhullu. Marduk is the Babylonian form of his name, according to The Encyclopedia of Religion, the name Marduk was probably pronounced Marutuk. The etymology of the name Marduk is conjectured as derived from amar-Utu, the origin of Marduks name may reflect an earlier genealogy, or have had cultural ties to the ancient city of Sippar, dating back to the third millennium BC. In the perfected system of astrology, Jupiter was associated with Marduk by the Hammurabi period, Marduks original character is obscure but he was later associated with water, vegetation, judgment, and magic. His consort was the goddess Sarpanit, there are particularly two gods—Ea and Enlil—whose powers and attributes pass over to Marduk. In the case of Ea, the transfer proceeded pacifically and without effacing the older god. Marduk took over the identity of Asarluhi, the son of Ea and god of magic, father Ea voluntarily recognized the superiority of the son and hands over to him the control of humanity. Babylon became independent in the early 19th century BC, and was initially a city state, overshadowed by older and more powerful Mesopotamian states such as Isin, Larsa. The only serious rival to Marduk after ca.1750 BC was the god Aššur which was the dominant power in the region between the 14th to the late 7th century BC, in the south, Marduk reigned supreme. When Babylon became the city of southern Mesopotamia during the reign of Hammurabi in the 18th century BC. In order to explain how Marduk seized power, Enûma Elish was written and this can be viewed as a form of Mesopotamian apologetics. Also included in this document are the fifty names of Marduk, in Enûma Elish, a civil war between the gods was growing to a climactic battle. The Anunnaki gods gathered together to one god who could defeat the gods rising against them. Marduk, a young god, answered the call and was promised the position of head god. Then he sets out for battle, mounting his storm-chariot drawn by four horses with poison in their mouths, in his lips he holds a spell and in one hand he grasps a herb to counter poison. Under his reign humans were created to bear the burdens of life so the gods could be at leisure, Marduk was depicted as a human, often with his symbol the snake-dragon which he had taken over from the god Tishpak. Another symbol that stood for Marduk was the spade, Babylonian texts talk of the creation of Eridu by the god Marduk as the first city, the holy city, the dwelling of their delight
12.
Hadad
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Hadad, Adad, Haddad or Iškur was the storm and rain god in the Northwest Semitic and ancient Mesopotamian religions. It was attested in Ebla as Hadda in c.2500 BC, from the Levant, Hadad was introduced to Mesopotamia by the Amorites, where it became known as the Akkadian god Adad. Adad and Iškur are usually written with the logogram dIM, Hadad was also called Pidar, Rapiu, Baal-Zephon, or often simply Baʿal, but this title was also used for other gods. The bull was the animal of Hadad. He appeared bearded, often holding a club and thunderbolt while wearing a bull-horned headdress, Hadad was equated with the Indo-European Nasite Hittite storm-god Teshub, the Egyptian god Set, the Rigvedic god Indra, the Greek god Zeus, the Roman god Jupiter, as Jupiter Dolichenus. In religious texts, Ba‘al/Hadad is the lord of the sky who governs the rain and he is the protector of life and growth to the agricultural people of the region. The absence of Ba‘al causes dry spells, starvation, death, also refers to the mountain of the west wind. The Biblical reference occurs at a time when Yahweh has provided a strong east wind to push back the waters of the Red or Erythrian Sea, so that the sons of Israel might cross over. In the Ugaritic texts El, the god of the pantheon, resides on Mount Lel. That is perhaps the mythical cosmic mountain, the Ba‘al cycle is fragmentary and leaves much unexplained that would have been obvious to a contemporary. In the earliest extant sections there appears to be sort of feud between El and Ba‘al. El makes one of his sons who is called both prince Yamm and judge Nahar king over the gods and changes Yamms name from yw to mdd ’il, El informs Yamm that in order to secure his power, Yamm will have to drive Ba‘al from his throne. In this battle Ba‘al is somehow weakened, but the divine craftsman Kothar-wa-Khasis strikes Yamm with two clubs, Yamm collapses, and Baal finishes the fight. ‘Athtart proclaims Ba‘als victory and salutes Ba‘al/Hadad as lrkb ‘rpt, a phrase applied by editors of modern English Bibles to Yahweh in Psalm 68.4, at ‘Athtarts urging Ba‘al scatters Yamm and proclaims that Yamm is dead and heat is assured. A later passage refers to Ba‘als victory over Lotan, the many-headed sea-dragon, due to gaps in the text it is not known whether Lotan is another name for Yamm or a reference to another similar story. In the Mediterranean area, crops were often threatened by winds, storms, a palace is built for Ba‘al/Hadad with cedars from Mount Lebanon and Sirion and also from silver and from gold. In his new palace Ba‘al hosts a great feast for the other gods, when urged by Kothar-wa-Khasis, Ba’al, somewhat reluctantly, opens a window in his palace and sends forth thunder and lightning. He then invites Mot Death, another son of El, to the feast, the eater of human flesh and blood will not be satisfied with bread and wine
13.
Cedrus
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Cedrus is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae. They are native to the mountains of the western Himalayas and the Mediterranean region, occurring at altitudes of 1, 500–3,200 m in the Himalayas and 1, 000–2,200 m in the Mediterranean. Cedrus trees can grow up to 30–40 m tall with spicy-resinous scented wood, thick ridged or square-cracked bark, the shoots are dimorphic, with long shoots, which form the framework of the branches, and short shoots, which carry most of the leaves. The seed cones are barrel-shaped, 6–12 cm long and 3–8 cm broad, green maturing grey-brown, and, as in Abies, disintegrate at maturity to release the winged seeds. The seeds are 10–15 mm long, with a 20–30 mm wing, as in Abies, cone maturation takes one year, with pollination in autumn and the seeds maturing the same time a year later. The pollen cones are ovoid, 3–8 cm long, produced in late summer. Cedars share a similar cone structure with the firs and were traditionally thought to be most closely related to them. L. libani — Lebanon cedar, mountains of Lebanon, western Syria, cedars are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including pine processionary and turnip moth. Cedars are very popular ornamental trees, widely used in horticulture in temperate climates where temperatures do not fall below about −25°C. The Turkish cedar is slightly hardier, to −30°C or just below, extensive mortality of planted specimens can occur in severe winters where temperatures do drop lower. Cedar wood and cedar oil are known to be a repellent to moths. This specific use of cedar is mentioned in The Iliad, referring to the cedar-roofed or lined storage chamber where Priam goes to fetch treasures to be used as ransom. However, the species used for cedar chests and closets in North America is Juniperus virginiana. Cedar is also used to make shoe trees as it can absorb moisture. Many species of trees are suitable for training as bonsai. They work well with many styles, including formal and informal upright, slanting, while some naturalized species of cedar can be found in the Americas, no species is native. Both the Latin word cedrus and the generic name cedrus are derived from Greek κέδρος kédros, ancient Greek and Latin used the same word, kédros and cedrus, respectively, for different species of plants now classified in the genera Cedrus and Juniperus. The name was applied to citron and the word citrus is derived from the same root
14.
Lapis lazuli
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Lapis lazuli, or lapis for short, is a deep blue, semi-precious stone prized since antiquity for its intense color. As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, in Shortugai, Lapis was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Lapis beads have been found at burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus. It was used in the mask of Tutankhamun. At the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, today, mines in northeast Afghanistan and Pakistan are still the major source of lapis lazuli. Important amounts are produced from mines west of Lake Baikal in Russia. Smaller quantities are mined in Italy, Mongolia, the United States, the name Lapis lazuli came to be associated with its color. The English word azure, French azur, Italian azzurro, Polish lazur, Romanian azur and azuriu, Portuguese and Spanish azul, the most important mineral component of lapis lazuli is lazurite, a feldspathoid silicate mineral with the formula 861-2. Most lapis lazuli also contains calcite, sodalite, and pyrite, some samples of lapis lazuli contain augite, diopside, enstatite, mica, hauynite, hornblende, nosean, and sulfur-rich löllingite geyerite. Lapis lazuli usually occurs in marble as a result of contact metamorphism. The intense blue color is due to the presence of the radical anion in the crystal. An electronic excitation of one electron from the highest doubly filled molecular orbital into the lowest singly occupied orbital results in an intense absorption line at λmax ~617 nm. Lapis lazuli is found in limestone in the Kokcha River valley of Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan, Afghanistan was the source of lapis for the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, as well as the later Greeks and Romans. Ancient Egyptians obtained this material through trade from Afghanistan, during the height of the Indus Valley Civilisation about 2000 BC, the Harappan colony now known as Shortugai was established near the lapis mines. In addition to the Afghan deposits, lapis is also extracted in the Andes and it is mined in smaller amounts in Angola, Argentina, Burma, Pakistan, Canada, Italy, India, and in the United States in California and Colorado. Lapis takes an excellent polish and can be made into jewelry, carvings, boxes, mosaics, ornaments, small statues, during the Renaissance, Lapis was ground and processed to make the pigment ultramarine for use in frescoes and oil painting. Its usage as a pigment in oil paint largely ended in the early 19th century when a chemically identical synthetic variety became available, Lapis lazuli is commercially synthesized or simulated by the Gilson process, which is used to make artificial ultramarine and hydrous zinc phosphates. It may also be substituted by spinel or sodalite, or by dyed jasper or howlite, Lapis lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan and exported to the Mediterranean world and South Asia since the Neolithic age
15.
Lion
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The lion is one of the big cats in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae. The commonly used term African lion collectively denotes the several subspecies in Africa, with some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. Wild lions currently exist in sub-Saharan Africa and in India, in ancient historic times, their range was in most of Africa, including North Africa, and across Eurasia from Greece and southeastern Europe to India. Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks, although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are the greatest causes of concern. Within Africa, the West African lion population is particularly endangered, in the wild, males seldom live longer than 10 to 14 years, as injuries sustained from continual fighting with rival males greatly reduce their longevity. In captivity they can more than 20 years. They typically inhabit savanna and grassland, although they may take to bush, Lions are unusually social compared to other cats. A pride of lions consists of related females and offspring and a number of adult males. Groups of female lions typically hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates, Lions are apex and keystone predators, although they are also expert scavengers obtaining over 50 percent of their food by scavenging as opportunity allows. While lions do not typically hunt humans, some have, sleeping mainly during the day, lions are active primarily at night, although sometimes at twilight. Highly distinctive, the lion is easily recognised by its mane. It has been depicted in sculptures, in paintings, on national flags. Lions have been kept in menageries since the time of the Roman Empire, Zoos are cooperating worldwide in breeding programs for the endangered Asiatic subspecies. The lions name, similar in many Romance languages, is derived from the Latin leo, the Hebrew word לָבִיא may also be related. It was one of the originally described by Linnaeus, who gave it the name Felis leo, in his eighteenth-century work. The lions closest relatives are the species of the genus Panthera, the tiger, the snow leopard, the jaguar. P. leo evolved in Africa between 1 million and 800,000 years ago, before spreading throughout the Holarctic region and it appeared in the fossil record in Europe for the first time 700,000 years ago with the subspecies Panthera leo fossilis at Isernia in Italy. From this lion derived the later cave lion, which appeared about 300,000 years ago, Lions died out in northern Eurasia at the end of the last glaciation, about 10,000 years ago, this may have been secondary to the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna
16.
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
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Although the list, in its current form, did not stabilise until the Renaissance, the first such lists of seven wonders date from the 1st-2nd century BC. The original list inspired innumerable versions through the ages, often listing seven entries, of the original Seven Wonders, only one—the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest of the ancient wonders—remains relatively intact. The Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Temple of Artemis, the location and ultimate fate of the Hanging Gardens are unknown, and there is speculation that they may not have existed at all. The Greek conquest of much of the western world in the 4th century BC gave Hellenistic travellers access to the civilizations of the Egyptians, Persians. Impressed and captivated by the landmarks and marvels of the various lands, instead of wonders, the ancient Greeks spoke of theamata, which means sights, in other words things to be seen. Later, the word for wonder was used, hence, the list was meant to be the Ancient Worlds counterpart of a travel guidebook. The first reference to a list of seven such monuments was given by Diodorus Siculus, — Greek Anthology IX.58 Another 2nd century BC observer, who claimed to be the mathematician Philo of Byzantium, wrote a short account entitled The Seven Sights of the World. However, the surviving manuscript only covered six of the supposedly seven places. Earlier and later lists by the historian Herodotus and the architect Callimachus of Cyrene, housed at the Museum of Alexandria, survived only as references. The Colossus of Rhodes was the last of the seven to be completed, after 280 BC, hence, all seven existed at the same time for a period of less than 60 years. The list covered only the sculptural and architectural monuments of the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions, hence, extant sites beyond this realm were not considered as part of contemporary accounts. The primary accounts, coming from Hellenistic writers, also influenced the places included in the wonders list. Five of the seven entries are a celebration of Greek accomplishments in the arts, the seven wonders on Antipaters list won praises for their notable features, ranging from superlatives of the highest or largest of their types, to the artistry with which they were executed. Their architectural and artistic features were imitated throughout the Hellenistic world, the Greek influence in Roman culture, and the revival of Greco-Roman artistic styles during the Renaissance caught the imagination of European artists and travellers. Paintings and sculptures alluding to Antipaters list were made, while adventurers flocked to the sites to personally witness the wonders. Legends circulated to further complement the superlatives of the wonders, of Antipaters wonders, the only one that has survived to the present day is the Great Pyramid of Giza. Its brilliant white stone facing had survived intact until around 1300 AD, the existence of the Hanging Gardens has not been proven, although theories abound. Records and archaeology confirm the existence of the other five wonders, the Temple of Artemis and the Statue of Zeus were destroyed by fire, while the Lighthouse of Alexandria, Colossus, and tomb of Mausolus were destroyed by earthquakes
17.
Lighthouse of Alexandria
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The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria, was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 280 and 247 BC which was between 120 and 137 m tall. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, for centuries it was one of the tallest man-made structures in the world. Badly damaged by three earthquakes between AD956 and 1323, it became an abandoned ruin. It was the third longest surviving ancient wonder until 1480, when the last of its remnant stones were used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay on the site, in 1994, French archaeologists discovered some remains of the lighthouse on the floor of Alexandrias Eastern Harbour. The Ministry of State of Antiquities in Egypt has planned, as of late 2015, to turn submerged ruins of ancient Alexandria, including those of the Pharos, Pharos was a small island located on the western edge of the Nile Delta. In 332 BC Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria on an isthmus opposite Pharos, Alexandria and Pharos were later connected by a mole spanning more than 1200 metres, which was called the Heptastadion. The east side of the mole became the Great Harbour, now an open bay, on the west side lay the port of Eunostos, the lighthouse was constructed in the 3rd century BC. After Alexander the Great died of a fever at age 32, the first Ptolemy announced himself king in 305 BC, the building was finished during the reign of his son, the second Ptolemy. It took twelve years to complete, at a total cost of 800 talents, the light was produced by a furnace at the top, and the tower was said to have been built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. Strabo reported that Sostratus had a dedication inscribed in letters to the Saviour Gods. Later Pliny the Elder wrote that Sostratus was the architect, which is disputed, in the second century AD the satirist Lucian wrote that Sostratus inscribed his name under plaster bearing the name of Ptolemy. This was so that when the plaster with Ptolemys name fell off, judith McKenzie writes that The Arab descriptions of the lighthouse are remarkably consistent, although it was repaired several times especially after earthquake damage. The height they give varies only fifteen per cent from c.103 to 118 m, the fullest description of the lighthouse comes from Arab traveller Abou Haggag Youssef Ibn Mohammed el-Balawi el-Andaloussi, who visited Alexandria in A. D.1166. At its apex was positioned a mirror which reflected sunlight during the day, extant Roman coins struck by the Alexandrian mint show that a statue of a Triton was positioned on each of the buildings four corners. A statue of Poseidon or Zeus stood atop the lighthouse, the Phaross masonry blocks were interlocked, sealed together using molten lead, to withstand the pounding of the waves. Al-Masudi writes that the eastern side featured an inscription dedicated to Zeus. The lighthouse was damaged in the earthquake of 956. Finally the stubby remnant disappeared in 1480, when the then-Sultan of Egypt, Qaitbay, the search was cunningly made in such a manner that the foundations were undermined, and the Pharos collapsed
18.
Frit
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A frit is a ceramic composition that has been fused in a special fusing oven, quenched to form a glass, and granulated. However, not all glass that is fused and quenched in water is frit, according to the OED, the origin of the word frit dates back to 1662 and is a calcinated mixture of sand and fluxes ready to be melted in a crucible to make glass. Nowadays, the raw materials of glass making are more commonly called glass batch. In antiquity, frit could be crushed to make pigments or shaped to create objects and it may also have served as an intermediate material in the manufacture of raw glass. The definition of frit tends to be variable and has proved an issue for scholars. In recent centuries, frits have taken on a number of roles, such as biomaterials, frit in the form of alumino-silicate can be used in glaze-free continuous casting refractories. Archaeologists have found evidence of frit in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Europe, the definition of frit as a sintered, polycrystalline, unglazed material can be applied to these archaeological contexts. It is typically colored blue or green, Blue frit, also known as Egyptian blue, was made from quartz, lime, a copper compound, and an alkali flux, all heated to a temperature between 850 and 1000°C. Quartz sand may have used to contribute silica to the frit. The copper content must be greater than the content in order to create a blue frit. Ultimately the frit consists of crystals and “partially reacted quartz particles bonded together” by interstitial glass. Despite an argument to the contrary, scientists have found that, regardless of alkali content, high alkali content will yield “a large proportion of glass, ” thereby diluting the cuprorivaite crystals and producing lighter shades of blue. Regrinding and resintering the frit will create finer cuprorivaite crystals, also producing lighter shades, the earliest appearance of blue frit is as a pigment on a tomb painting at Saqqara dated to 2900 BC, though its use became more popular in Egypt around 2600 BC. Blue frit has also uncovered in the royal tombs at Ur from the Early Dynastic III period. Its use in the Mediterranean dates to the Thera frescoes from the Late Middle Bronze Age, while the glass phase is present in blue frits from Egypt, scientists have not detected it in blue frits from the Near East, Europe, and the Aegean. Natural weathering, which is responsible for the corrosion of glasses and glazes from these three regions, is the likely reason for this absence. At Amarna, archaeologists have found blue frit in the form of cakes, powder residues. Analysis of the microstructures and crystal sizes of these frits has allowed Hatton, Shortland, the cakes were produced by heating the raw materials for frit, then they were ground to make powders, and finally, the powders were molded and refired to create vessels
19.
Bitumen
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Asphalt, also known as bitumen is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in deposits or may be a refined product. Until the 20th century, the term asphaltum was also used, the word is derived from the Ancient Greek ἄσφαλτος ásphaltos. The primary use of asphalt/bitumen is in construction, where it is used as the glue or binder mixed with aggregate particles to create asphalt concrete. Its other main uses are for bituminous waterproofing products, including production of roofing felt, the terms asphalt and bitumen are often used interchangeably to mean both natural and manufactured forms of the substance. In American English, asphalt is the carefully refined residue from the process of selected crude oils. Outside the United States, the product is often called bitumen, geologists often prefer the term bitumen. Common usage often refers to forms of asphalt/bitumen as tar. Naturally occurring asphalt/bitumen is sometimes specified by the crude bitumen. Its viscosity is similar to that of cold molasses while the material obtained from the distillation of crude oil boiling at 525 °C is sometimes referred to as refined bitumen. The Canadian province of Alberta has most of the reserves of natural bitumen, covering 142,000 square kilometres. Additionally, most natural bitumens contain organosulfur compounds, resulting in a sulfur content of up to 4%. Nickel and vanadium are found in the <10 ppm level, as is typical of some petroleum, the substance is soluble in carbon disulfide. It is commonly modelled as a colloid, with asphaltenes as the dispersed phase, and it is almost impossible to separate and identify all the different molecules of asphalt, because the number of molecules with different chemical structure is extremely large. Asphalt/bitumen can sometimes be confused with tar, which is a visually similar black. During the early and mid-20th century when town gas was produced, coal tar was a readily available byproduct, the addition of tar to macadam roads led to the word tarmac, which is now used in common parlance to refer to road-making materials. However, since the 1970s, when natural gas succeeded town gas, other examples of this confusion include the La Brea Tar Pits and the Canadian oil sands, both of which actually contain natural bitumen rather than tar. Pitch is another term used at times to refer to asphalt/bitumen
20.
Equinox
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An equinox is the moment in which the plane of Earths equator passes through the center of the Sun, which occurs twice each year, around 20 March and 23 September. On an equinox, day and night are of equal duration all over the planet. They are not exactly equal, however, due to the size of the sun. To avoid this ambiguity, the word equilux is sometimes used to mean a day in which the durations of light, see Length of equinoctial day and night for further discussion. The word is derived from the Latin aequinoctium, aequus and nox, the equinoxes are the only times when the solar terminator is perpendicular to the equator. As a result, the northern and southern hemispheres are equally illuminated, the word comes from Latin equi or equal and nox meaning night. In other words, the equinoxes are the times when the subsolar point is on the equator. The subsolar point crosses the equator moving northward at the March equinox, the equinoxes, along with solstices, are directly related to the seasons of the year. In the southern hemisphere, the equinox occurs in September. When Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar in 45 BC, he set 25 March as the date of the spring equinox. Because the Julian year is longer than the tropical year. By 1500 AD, it had drifted backwards to 11 March and this drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to create a modern Gregorian calendar. However, the leap year intervals in his calendar were not smooth and this causes the equinox to oscillate by about 53 hours around its mean position. This in turn raised the possibility that it could fall on 22 March, the astronomers chose the appropriate number of days to omit so that the equinox would swing from 19 to 21 March but never fall on the 22nd. Vernal equinox and Autumnal equinox, these names are direct derivatives of Latin. The equivalent common language English terms spring equinox and autumn equinox are even more ambiguous, March equinox and September equinox, names referring to the months of the year they occur, with no ambiguity as to which hemisphere is the context. They are still not universal, however, as not all use a solar-based calendar where the equinoxes occur every year in the same month. Northward equinox and southward equinox, names referring to the apparent direction of motion of the Sun
21.
Battlement
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These gaps are termed crenels, and the act of adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet is termed crenellation. The solid widths between the crenels are called merlons, a wall with battlements is said to be crenelated or embattled. Battlements on walls have protected walkways behind them, on tower or building tops, the roof is used as the protected fighting platform. The term originated in about the 14th century from the Old French word batailler, the word crenel derives from the ancient French cren, Latin crena, meaning a notch, mortice or other gap cut out often to receive another element or fixing, see also crenation. In medieval England a licence to crenellate granted the permission to fortify their property. The castles in England vastly outnumber the licences to crenellate, royal pardons were obtainable, on the payment of an arbitrarily determined fine, by a person who had fortified without licence. The surviving records of such licences, generally issued by letters patent, there has been academic debate over the purpose of licensing. The view of military-focused historians is that licensing restricted the number of fortifications that could be used against a royal army and they indicated to the observer that the grantee had obtained royal recognition, acknowledgment and compliment. The crown usually did not charge for the granting of such licences, battlements have been used for thousands of years, the earliest known example is in the fortress at Buhen in Egypt. Battlements were used in the walls surrounding Assyrian towns, as shown on bas reliefs from Nimrud, traces of them remain at Mycenae in Greece, and some ancient Greek vases suggest the existence of battlements. The Great Wall of China has battlements, late merlons permitted fire from the first firearms. From the 13th century, the merlons could be connected with wooden shutters that provided added protection when closed, the shutters were designed to be opened to allow shooters to fire against the attackers, and closed during reloading. The Romans used low wooden pinnacles for their first aggeres, in the battlements of Pompeii, additional protection derived from small internal buttresses or spur walls, against which the defender might stand so as to gain complete protection on one side. Loop-holes were frequent in Italian battlements, where the merlon has much greater height, Italian military architects used the so-called Ghibelline or swallowtail battlement, with V-shaped notches in the tops of the merlon, giving a horn-like effect. This would allow the defender to be protected whilst shooting standing fully upright, the normal rectangular merlons were later nicknamed Guelph. In Muslim and African fortifications, the merlons often were rounded, the battlements of the Arabs had a more decorative and varied character, and were continued from the 13th century onwards not so much for defensive purposes as for a crowning feature to the walls. They serve a similar to the cresting found in the Spanish Renaissance. European architects persistently used battlements as a decorative feature throughout the Decorated
22.
Frieze
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In architecture the frieze /ˈfriːz/ is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on a wall it lies upon the architrave and is capped by the moldings of the cornice. A frieze can be found on many Greek and Roman buildings, the Parthenon Frieze being the most famous and this style is typical for the Persians. In interiors, the frieze of a room is the section of wall above the picture rail, by extension, a frieze is a long stretch of painted, sculpted or even calligraphic decoration in such a position, normally above eye-level. Frieze decorations may depict scenes in a sequence of discrete panels, the material of which the frieze is made of may be plasterwork, carved wood or other decorative medium. In an example of a frieze on the façade of a building. A pulvinated frieze is convex in section, such friezes were features of 17th-century Northern Mannerism, especially in subsidiary friezes, and much employed in interior architecture and in furniture. The concept of a frieze has been generalized in the construction of frieze patterns. Media related to Friezes at Wikimedia Commons Frieze
23.
Robert Koldewey
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Robert Johann Koldewey was a German archaeologist, famous for his in-depth excavation of the ancient city of Babylon in modern-day Iraq. He was born in Blankenburg am Harz in Germany, the duchy of Brunswick and this technique was particularly useful in his excavation of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon which was built using mainly unfired mudbricks. Koldewey was a self-trained archaeological historian of the classical area, although he studied architecture and art history in Berlin and Vienna, he left both those universities without an advanced degree. In 1882 he was signed on as a participant to the excavation of ancient Assus in Turkey, a practicing archaeologist for most of his life, he participated in and led many excavations in, for example, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. After he died, the Koldewey Society was established to record, after attending a gymnasium in Braunschweig, Koldewey moved with his family to Altona in 1869 where he attended the Christianeum, achieving his abitur in 1875. While excavating the Southern Citadel, Robert Koldewey discovered a basement with fourteen large rooms with stone arch ceilings, Ancient texts showed that only two locations in the city had used stone, the north wall of the Northern Citadel, and the Hanging Gardens. The north wall of the Northern Citadel had already been found and this made it seem likely that Koldewey had found the cellar of the gardens. He continued exploring the area and discovered many of the features reported by the ancient Greek historian Diodorus, while Koldewey was convinced that he had found the gardens, some modern archaeologists have called his discovery into question. The complex of arched rooms that Koldewey discovered was most likely a storeroom, as cuneiform tablets with lists of supplies, on the other hand, the river might not have been the source of the water. The use of a chain-pump, postulated by Robert Koldewey who discovered the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis while he was excavating Babylon, amazed the world with such advanced technology. After Sennacherib had totally destroyed both the city and the Tower of Babel in 689 B. C. the city of Babylon was rebuilt beginning in 600 B. C. by Nebuchadnezzar II. As cited above, it is said that the triple-shaft draw-well, unique stone Arches, biblical archaeology List of artifacts significant to the Bible Clayton, Peter A. and Martin J. Price, Ed. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Robert Koldewey Society in Berlin on Koldewey Gesellschaft e. V
24.
Lagash
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Lagash/ˈleɪɡæʃ/ is an ancient city located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about 22 kilometres east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East, the ancient site of Nina is around 10 km away and marks the southern limit of the state. Nearby Girsu, about 25 km northwest of Lagash, was the center of the Lagash state. Lagashs main temple was the E-Ninnu, dedicated to the god Ningirsu, from inscriptions found at Girsu such as the Gudea cylinders, it appears that Lagash was an important Sumerian city in the late 3rd millennium BC. It was at that time ruled by independent kings, Ur-Nanshe and his successors, who were engaged in contests with the Elamites on the east and the kings of Kienĝir and Kish on the north. After the collapse of Sargons state, Lagash again thrived under its independent kings, Ur-Bau and Gudea and his was especially the era of artistic development. We even have a good idea of what Gudea looked like. At the time of Gudea, the capital of Lagash was actually in Girsu, the kingdom covered an area of approximately 1,600 square kilometres. It contained 17 larger cities, eight district capitals, and numerous villages, according to one estimate, Lagash was the largest city in the world from ca.2075 to 2030 BC. Soon after the time of Gudea, Lagash was absorbed into the Ur III state as one of its prime provinces, there is some information about the area during the Old Babylonian period. In ca.2450 BC, Lagash and the city of Umma fell out with each other after a border dispute. As described in Stele of the Vultures the current king of Lagash, Eannatum, inspired by the god of his city, Ningirsu. Initial details of the battle are unclear, but the Stele is able to portray a few details about the event. According to the Steles engravings, when the two met each other in the field, Eannatum dismounted from his chariot and proceeded to lead his men on foot. After lowing their spears, the Lagash army advanced upon the army from Umma in a dense Phalanx, after a brief clash, Eannatum and his army had gained victory over the army of Umma. Despite having been struck in the eye by an arrow, the king of Lagash lived on to enjoy his armys victory and this battle is one of the earliest organised battles known to scholars and historians. These dynasties are not found on the Sumerian King List, although one extremely fragmentary supplement has been found in Sumerian, at the end of the list is the statement Written in the school, suggesting this was a scribal school production. A few of the names from the Lagash rulers listed below may be out, including Ur-Nanshe, Ane-tum, En-entar-zid, Ur-Ningirsu, Ur-Bau
25.
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
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The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection is built around the collection of Carl Jacobsen. However, the museum is noted for its collection of painting that includes an extensive collection of French impressionists and Post-impressionists as well as Danish Golden Age paintings. The museums collection includes all the sculptures of Degas, including the series of dancers. Numerous works by Norwegian-Danish sculptor Stephan Sinding are featured prominently in various sections of the museum, Carl Jacobsen was a dedicated art collector. He was particularly interested in art, but over the years he also acquired a considerable collection of French. When his private villa in 1882 was extended with a winter garden, the same year the collection was opened to the public. In the following years the museum was expanded on a number of occasions to meet the need for space for his steadily growing collections. In spite of the extensions, it was finally clear the existing premises were inadequate. On 8 March 1888 Carl Jacobsen donated his collection to the Danish State, Jacobsen was displeased with the location which he found to be too far from the city centre and he had also reservations about the proximity of Tivoli which he found common. Instead he wanted a building on the new city hall square. It was Carl Jacobsen who chose the name for the museum, with inspiration from Ludwig Is Glyptothek in Munich, the moat around the radan was filled and the new museum opened first on 1 May 1897. At first it only included Jacobsens modern collection with French and Danish works from the 18th century, in January 1899 Carl Jacobsen donated his collection of Antique art to the museum which made an expansion necessary. It was designed by Hack Kampmann while Dahlerup designed a garden which connected the new wing to the old building. In 1996 the museum was again extended, this time with an infill constructed in one of its courtyards to the design of Henning Larsen. In 2006, the building underwent a major renovation programme under the direction of Danish architects Dissing + Weitling. the building is often noted for its elegance in its own right and the synthesis it creates with the works of art. The Dahlerup Wing, the oldest part of the museum, is a lavish historicist building, the façade is in red brick with polished granite columns in a Venetian renaissance style. It houses the French and Danish collections, the Kampmann Wing is a more simple, neo-classical building, built as a series of galleries around a central auditorium used for lectures, small concerts, symposiums and poetry readings
26.
Detroit Institute of Arts
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The Detroit Institute of Arts, located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers 658,000 square feet with a renovation and expansion project completed in 2007 that added 58,000 square feet. The DIA collection is regarded as among the top six museums in the United States with a collection which spans the globe from ancient Egyptian and European works to contemporary art. Its art collection is valued in billions of dollars, up to $8.1 billion according to a 2014 appraisal. The DIA campus is located in Midtown Detroits Cultural Center Historic District, the museum building is highly regarded by architects. The original building, designed by Paul Philippe Cret, is flanked by north and south wings with the marble as the main exterior material for the entire structure. The campus is part of the citys Cultural Center Historic District listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the museums first painting was donated in 1883 and its collection consists of over 65,000 works. With about 677,500 visitors annually for 2015, the DIA is among the most visited art museums in the world, the museum contains 100 galleries of art from around the world. Diego Riveras Detroit Industry cycle of frescoes span the upper and lower levels to surround the central grand marble court of the museum, the armor collection of William Randolph Hearst lines the main hall entry way to the grand court. The collection of American art at the DIA is one of the most impressive, works by American artists began to be collected immediately following the museums founding in 1883. Williams, Anne Wilson, Andrew Wyeth, and James McNeill Whistler, the museum includes works by Vincent van Gogh including a self-portrait. The self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh and The Window by Henri Matisse were purchased in 1922 and were the first paintings by two artists to enter an American public collection. Non-German artists in the Expressionist movement include Oskar Kokoschka, Wassily Kandinsky, Chaim Soutine, the Nut Gatherers by William-Adolphe Bouguereau is, by some accounts, the most popular painting in the collection. In December 2010, the museum debuted a new permanent gallery with collections of hand, shadow. The museum plans to feature puppet related events and rotation of exhibits drawn from its puppet collections, artists’ Take on Detroit, Projects for the Tricentennial This exhibit celebrates Detroit’s 300th year anniversary by creating 10 projects that represent the city. The installations created by 15 artists include video and still photography, text and sound, Degas and the Dance This exhibit includes more than 100 pieces of work created by Edgar Degas. These pieces include model stage sets, costume designs, and photographs of the dancers from the 19th-century Parisian ballet. This exhibit includes work from Joshua Johnson, Robert Scott Duncanson, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Augusta Savage, Benny Andrews, Betye Saar, Richard Hunt, Sam Gilliam, and Lorna Simpson
27.
Louvre
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The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the worlds largest museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the citys 1st arrondissement, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square metres. The Louvre is the second most visited museum after the Palace Museum in China. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II, remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to the expansion of the city, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function and. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace, in 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years, during the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nations masterpieces. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum renamed Musée Napoléon, the collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since the Third Republic, whether this was the first building on that spot is not known, it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower. According to the authoritative Grand Larousse encyclopédique, the name derives from an association with wolf hunting den, in the 7th century, St. Fare, an abbess in Meaux, left part of her Villa called Luvra situated in the region of Paris to a monastery. This territory probably did not correspond exactly to the modern site, the Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvres holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa. After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed, however, on 14 October 1750, Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. Under Louis XVI, the museum idea became policy. The comte dAngiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre – which contained maps – into the French Museum, many proposals were offered for the Louvres renovation into a museum, however, none was agreed on. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution, during the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Assembly declared that the Louvre would be a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences, on 10 August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection in the Louvre became national property
28.
Kunsthistorisches Museum
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The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome, the term Kunsthistorisches Museum applies to both the institution and the main building. It is the largest art museum in the country and it was opened around 1891 at the same time as the Naturhistorisches Museum, by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary. The two museums have similar exteriors and face each other across Maria-Theresien-Platz, both buildings were built between 1871 and 1891 according to plans drawn up by Gottfried Semper and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer. The two Ringstraße museums were commissioned by the Emperor in order to find a shelter for the Habsburgs formidable art collection. The façade was built of sandstone, the building is rectangular in shape, and topped with a dome that is 60 meters high. The inside of the building is decorated with marble, stucco ornamentations, gold-leaf. It was featured in an episode of Museum Secrets on the History Channel and it had been the biggest art theft in Austrian history. Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós Media related to Kunsthistorisches Museum at Wikimedia Commons Official website Spherical panorama of entrance Hofburgs Armory - photo gallery in Flickr
29.
Royal Ontario Museum
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The Royal Ontario Museum is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Canada. The museum is north of Queens Park, in the University of Toronto district, the Museum subway station of the Toronto Transit Commission is named after the ROM, and since 2008, it is decorated to resemble the institutions collection. St. George station is close to the new entrance as well. Established on 16 April 1912 and opened on 19 March 1914, the museum was under the direct control and management of the University of Toronto until 1968, when it became an independent Crown agency of the government of Ontario. Today, the museum is Canadas largest field-research institution, with research, with more than six million items and forty galleries, the museums diverse collections of world culture and natural history contribute to its international reputation. The museum contains collections of dinosaurs, minerals and meteorites, Near Eastern and African art, Art of East Asia, European history. It houses the worlds largest collection of fossils from the Burgess Shale with more than 150,000 specimens, the museum also contains an extensive collection of design and fine arts, including clothing, interior, and product design, especially Art Deco. The Royal Ontario Museum was formally established on 16 April 1912, and was governed by the Government of Ontario. Its first assets were transferred from the University and the provincial Department of Education, coming from its predecessor the Museum of Natural History and Fine Arts at the Toronto Normal School. On 19 March 1914, at 3,00 pm, the Duke of Connaught, also the Governor General of Canada, officially opened the Royal Ontario Museum to the public. The museums location at the edge of Torontos built-up area, far from the central business district, was selected mainly for its proximity to the University of Toronto. This was the first phase of a construction plan that intended on expanding the museum towards Queens Park Crescent. The first expansion to the Royal Ontario Museum publicly opened on 12 October 1933, the renovation saw the construction of the south wing fronting onto Queens Park, and required the demolition of Argyle House, a Victorian mansion once located at 100 Queens Park. As this occurred during the Great Depression, an effort was made to use primarily local building materials, teams of workers alternated weeks of service due to the physically draining nature of the job. In 1947, the ROM was dissolved as a body corporate and this would continue until 1968, when the Museum and the McLaughlin Planetarium were separated from the University to form a new corporation. On 26 October 1968, the ROM opened the McLaughlin Planetarium on the end of the property after receiving a $2 million donation from Colonel R. Samuel McLaughlin. By the 1980s, however, the audiences were dwindling. The space temporarily reopened from 1998 to 2002, after being leased to Childrens Own Museum, in 2009, the ROM sold the building to the University of Toronto for $22 million, and ensured that it would continue to be used for institutional and academic purposes
30.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially the Met, is located in New York City and is the largest art museum in the United States, and is among the most visited art museums in the world. Its permanent collection contains two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the edge of Central Park along Manhattans Museum Mile, is by area one of the worlds largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains a collection of art, architecture. On March 18,2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side, it extends the museums modern, the Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, Indian, and Islamic art. The museum is home to collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, as well as antique weapons. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870. The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day and it opened on February 20,1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, the museum is also home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world. A number of interiors, ranging from 1st century Rome through modern American design, are permanently installed in the Mets galleries. In addition to its permanent exhibitions, the Met organizes and hosts traveling shows throughout the year. The director of the museum is Thomas P. Campbell, a long-time curator and it was announced on February 28th,2017 that Campbell will be stepping down as the Mets director and CEO, effective June. On March 1st,2017 the BBC reported that Daniel Weiss shall be the acting CEO until a replacement is found, Beginning in the late 19th century, the Met started to acquire ancient art and artifacts from the Near East. From a few tablets and seals, the Mets collection of Near Eastern art has grown to more than 7,000 pieces. The highlights of the include a set of monumental stone lamassu, or guardian figures. The Mets Department of Arms and Armor is one of the museums most popular collections. Among the collections 14,000 objects are many pieces made for and used by kings and princes, including armor belonging to Henry VIII of England, Henry II of France, Rockefeller donated his more than 3, 000-piece collection to the museum. The Mets Asian department holds a collection of Asian art, of more than 35,000 pieces, the collection dates back almost to the founding of the museum, many of the philanthropists who made the earliest gifts to the museum included Asian art in their collections
31.
University of Chicago Oriental Institute
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The Oriental Institute, established in 1919, is the University of Chicagos interdisciplinary research center for ancient Near Eastern studies, and archaeology museum. It was founded for the university by professor James Henry Breasted with funds donated by John D. Rockefeller and it conducts research on ancient civilizations throughout the Near East, including at its facility, Chicago House, in Luxor, Egypt. The Institute publicly exhibits a collection of artifacts related to ancient civilizations at its on campus building in the Hyde Park. James Henry Breasted built up the collection of the universitys Haskell Oriental Museum, which he oversaw along with his field work, as World War I wound down, he sensed an opportunity to use his influence in the new political climate. He wrote to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and proposed the foundation of what would become the Oriental Institute. Fundamental to the implementation of his plan was a trip through the Middle East. Breasted received a reply from Rockefeller pledging $50,000 over five years for the Oriental Institute, Rockefeller also assured University of Chicago President Harry Pratt Judson that he would pledge another $50,000 to the cause. The University of Chicago contributed additional support, and in May 1919 the Oriental Institute was founded, the Institute is housed in an unusual Art-Deco/Gothic building at the corner of 58th Street and University Avenue, which was designed by the architectural firm Mayers Murray & Phillip. Construction was completed in 1930, and the building was dedicated in 1931, in the 1990s, Tony Wilkinson, founded the Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes based at the institute. Its role is to investigate the Middle East through landscape archaeology, the Museum of the Oriental Institute has artifacts from digs in Egypt, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. The museum has free admission, although visitors are encouraged to donate US $10.00 for adults, the Oriental Institute is a center of active research on the ancient Near East. The buildings upper floors contain classrooms and faculty offices, and its gift shop, in addition to carrying out many digs in the Fertile Crescent, OI scholars have made contributions to the understanding of the origins of human civilization. The term Fertile Crescent was coined by J. H. Breasted, the OI founder, in 2011, among other projects OI scholars completed publication of the 21-volume Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, a basic cultural reference work. The effort was begun in 1921 by J. H. Breasted, Dr. Erica Reiner as editor-in-charge led the research teams for 44 years. She was succeeded by Dr. Martha T. Roth, dean of humanities at the university, similar dictionaries are under way, including the Chicago Hittite Dictionary and one for Demotic. The Institute oversees the work of Chicago House in Luxor, Egypt, the Egyptian facility, established in 1924, performs the Epigraphic Survey, which documents and researches the historical sites in Luxor. It also manages conservation at various sites, a collection comparable to the Institutes treasures could not be assembled today, since Middle Eastern governments no longer allow foreign archeologists to take home half of what they find. This had been the typical arrangement in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when most of the holdings were excavated, until the 1930s, when new antiquities laws were instituted
32.
Rhode Island School of Design Museum
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Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design is an art museum in Providence affiliated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in the U. S. state of Rhode Island. The museum was founded in 1877 and is the 20th largest art museum in the United States, in September 2008, a new addition to the RISD Museum was opened to the public. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jose Rafael Moneo of Spain, the Chace Center connects the four old buildings of the RISD Museum with a glass bridge. The $34 million center was built on a lot, and named in honor of the late Malcolm. The Chace Center serves as the entrance to the museum and includes an auditorium, a retail shop. The RISD Museums collection of about 100,000 objects contains a range of works from around the world, including ancient Egypt, Asia, Africa, ancient Greece and Rome, Europe. Among the prominent international and American artists represented are Picasso, Monet, Manet, Paul Revere, Chanel, Andy Warhol, a number of objects represent the most outstanding examples in their categories. Among these virtually unique works of art are an Etruscan bronze situla, Greek female head in marble, and a rare Hellenistic bronze Aphrodite. Among the Greek vases are works by some of the major Attic painters, including Nikosthenes, the Brygos Painter, the Providence Painter, and the Pan, Lewis, the cornerstone of the Museums Egyptian collection is the Ptolemaic period coffin and mummy of the priest Nesmin. Among other highlights of the Egyptian collection are a rare New Kingdom ceramic paint box, a fragment from the temple complex at Karnak. The RISD Museums Asian Art collection contains ceramics, costume, prints, painting, sculpture, the Japanese prints are shown, in rotation, in a gallery dedicated to their exhibition. A major attraction is the important 12th-century wooden Buddha Dainich Nyorai, the Buddha is on permanent exhibition in its own gallery. The Japanese textiles are the core and glory of the Asian textile collection, the kesa, or Buddhist priests’ robes, are the most numerous, with 104 examples. The 47 Japanese Noh robes, meticulously documented, form a collection of nearly every type of costume in use in the Noh drama of 18th-. Their spectacular colors and patterns, embellished with gold and silver, express perfectly the splendor of the traditional, the Museums collection of Indian saris and Chinese ceremonial robes is superb. The Islamic and Indian collections include works of art in all media that celebrate the heritage of the Arab, Indian, Persian. Created in 2000, the Department of Contemporary Art oversees a collection of painting, sculpture, video, mixed media. In addition, the department regularly organizes exhibitions that highlight important issues, trends, the collection also includes important sculptural work by Richard Artschwager, Louise Bourgeois, Louise Nevelson, Tom Otterness, Lucas Samaras and Robert Wilson
33.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is the fourth largest museum in the United States. It contains more than 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas, with more than one million visitors a year, it is the 55th most-visited art museum in the world as of 2014. Founded in 1870, the moved to its current location in 1909. The museum is affiliated with the Tufts School of the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1870 and opened in 1876, with most of its initial collection taken from the Boston Athenæum Art Gallery. Francis Davis Millet, a local artist, was instrumental in starting the Art School affiliated with the museum and it was built almost entirely of red brick and terracotta with a small amount of stone in its base. The brick was produced by the Peerless Brick Company of Philadelphia, in 1907, plans were laid to build a new home for the museum on Huntington Avenue in Bostons Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood near the renowned Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Museum trustees decided to hire architect Guy Lowell to create a design for a museum so that could be built in stages as funding was obtained for each phase, two years later, the first section of Lowell’s neoclassical design was completed. It featured a 500-foot façade of granite and a grand rotunda, the museum moved to its new location later that year, the Copley Square Hotel eventually would replace the old building. The second phase of construction built a wing along the The Fens to house paintings galleries and it was funded entirely by Maria Antoinette Evans Hunt, the wife of wealthy business magnate Robert Dawson Evans, and opened in 1915. From 1916 through 1925, the noted artist John Singer Sargent painted the frescoes that adorn the rotunda, numerous additions enlarged the building throughout the years, including the Decorative Arts wing in 1928 and the Norma Jean Calderwood Garden Court and Terrace in 1997. The West Wing, designed by I. M. Pei, opened in 1981 and this wing now houses the museums cafe, restaurant, and gift shop as well as a special exhibition space. In the mid-2000s, the museum launched an effort to renovate. In 2011, Moodys Investors Service calculated that the museum had over $180 million in outstanding debt, however, the agency cited growing attendance, a large endowment, and positive cash flow as reasons to believe that the museums finances would become stable in the near future. The renovation included a new Art of the Americas Wing to feature artwork from North, South, in 2006, the groundbreaking ceremonies took place. The landscape architecture firm Gustafson Guthrie Nichol redesigned the Huntington Avenue and Fenway entrances, gardens, access roads, the wing opened on November 20,2010 with free admission to the public. Mayor Thomas Menino declared it Museum of Fine Arts Day, the 12, 000-square-foot glass-enclosed courtyard features a 42. 5-foot high glass sculpture, titled the Lime Green Icicle Tower, by Dale Chihuly. In 2014, the Art of the Americas Wing was recognized for its architectural achievement by being awarded the Harleston Parker Medal. In 2015, the museum renovated its Japanese garden, Tenshin-en, the garden, which originally opened in 1988, was designed by Japanese professor Kinsaku Nakane
34.
Yale University Art Gallery
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The Yale University Art Gallery houses a significant and encyclopedic collection of art in several buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Although it embraces all cultures and periods, the gallery emphasizes early Italian painting, African sculpture, the Yale University Art Gallery is the oldest university art museum in the western hemisphere. The gallery was founded in 1832, when patriot-artist, John Trumbull, donated more than 100 paintings of the American Revolution to Yale College and this building, on the universitys Old Campus, was razed in 1901. The gallerys main building was built in 1953, and was among the first designed by Louis Kahn, a complete renovation, which returned many spaces to Kahns original vision, was completed in December 2006, by Polshek Partnership Architects. The older Tuscan romanesque portion was built in 1928, and was designed by Egerton Swartwout, the Gallery reopened on December 12,2012, after a 14-year renovation and expansion project at a cost of $135 million. The expanded space totals 69,975 sq ft, the museum is a member of the North American Reciprocal Museums program. On the second floor was a valuable collection of paintings by John Trumbull. Among them were his paintings of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Death of Montgomery before Quebec, Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, Declaration of Independence. Trumbull gave the paintings to Yale in consideration of an annuity of $1,000 and subject to the condition that he, the Gallery’s encyclopedic collections number more than 185,000 objects ranging in date from ancient times to the present day. The permanent collection includes, African Art, over 1000 objects in wood, metal, ivory, American Decorative Arts, about 18,000 objects in silver, glass, wood, porcelain, and textile with an emphasis on the colonial and early federal periods. Ancient Art, over 13,000 objects from the Near East, Egypt, Greece, Etruria, Art of the Ancient Americas, Mayan and Olmec figurines, vessels and sculptures. Prints, Drawings, and Photographs In 2005, the announced that it had acquired 1,465 gelatin silver prints by the influential American landscape photographer. In 2009, the museum mounted an exhibition of its collection of Picasso paintings and drawings. For the first time, portions of the Yale University Librarys, as an affiliate of Yale University, the gallery maintains a robust roster of education programs for university students, New Haven schools, and the general public. One such program is the Gallery Guide program, founded in 1998, the Yale Art Gallery charges no admission
35.
British Museum
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The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally a museum of art objects and antiquities. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish-born British physician, on 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary, the body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost. With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784, in the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1816 these masterpieces of art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815, the Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an extension to the Museum. For the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it, and put forward plans for todays quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the Kings Library Gallery began in 1823, the extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. The Museum became a site as Sir Robert Smirkes grand neo-classical building gradually arose
36.
Saddam Hussein
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Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalized oil and other industries, the state-owned banks were put under his control, leaving the system eventually insolvent mostly due to the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War, and UN sanctions. Through the 1970s, Saddam cemented his authority over the apparatuses of government as oil money helped Iraqs economy to grow at a rapid pace, positions of power in the country were mostly filled with Sunni Arabs, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population. Saddam formally rose to power in 1979, although he had been the de facto head of Iraq for several years prior. He suppressed several movements, particularly Shia and Kurdish movements, seeking to overthrow the government or gain independence, and maintained power during the Iran–Iraq War and the Gulf War. Whereas some in the Arab world lauded Saddam for his opposition to the United States, the total number of Iraqis killed by the security services of Saddams government in various purges and genocides is unknown, but the lowest estimate is 250,000. Saddams Baath party was disbanded and elections were held, following his capture on 13 December 2003, the trial of Saddam took place under the Iraqi Interim Government. On 5 November 2006, Saddam was convicted of charges of crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shiites and his execution was carried out on 30 December 2006. His mother, Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat, named her newborn son Saddam and he is always referred to by this personal name, which may be followed by the patronymic and other elements. He never knew his father, Hussein Abd al-Majid, who disappeared six months before Saddam was born, shortly afterward, Saddams 13-year-old brother died of cancer. The infant Saddam was sent to the family of his maternal uncle Khairallah Talfah until he was three and his mother remarried, and Saddam gained three half-brothers through this marriage. His stepfather, Ibrahim al-Hassan, treated Saddam harshly after his return, at about age 10, Saddam fled the family and returned to live in Baghdad with his uncle Kharaillah Talfah. Later in his relatives from his native Tikrit became some of his closest advisors and supporters. Under the guidance of his uncle he attended a high school in Baghdad. After secondary school Saddam studied at an Iraqi law school for three years, dropping out in 1957 at the age of 20 to join the revolutionary pan-Arab Baath Party, during this time, Saddam apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher. Revolutionary sentiment was characteristic of the era in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, in Iraq progressives and socialists assailed traditional political elites. Moreover, the nationalism of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt profoundly influenced young Baathists like Saddam. The rise of Nasser foreshadowed a wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s, with the collapse of the monarchies of Iraq, Egypt, and Libya
37.
Iraq War
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The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 years of conflict and it became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition, the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion began on 20 March 2003, with the U. S. joined by the United Kingdom and several allies, launching a shock. Iraqi forces were overwhelmed as U. S. forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Baathist government, President Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year, the United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down of U. S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama, the U. S. formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011. Select U. S. officials accused Saddam of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship, after the invasion, no substantial evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs. The rationale and misrepresentation of pre-war intelligence faced heavy criticism within the U. S. in the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014, the al-Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of alienating the countrys Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian, and thousands of military casualties, the majority of casualties occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. A1990 Frontline report on The arming of Iraq said, Officially, most Western nations participated in an arms embargo against Iraq during the 1980s. Western companies, primarily in Germany and Great Britain, but also in the United States, sold Iraq the key technology for its chemical, missile, any Western governments seemed remarkably indifferent, if not enthusiastic, about those deals. N Washington, the government consistently followed a policy which allowed and perhaps encouraged the growth of Saddam Husseins arsenal. The Western arming of Iraq took place in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, prior to September 2002, the CIA was the George W. Bush administrations main provider of intelligence on Iraq. The agency was out to disprove linkage between Iraq and terrorism the Pentagon adviser told me, the U. N. had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons after the Gulf War and required Iraq to permit inspections confirming compliance. This was confirmed by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, during 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with U. N. Security Council Resolution 1441, Iraq agreed to new inspections under United Nations Monitoring, as part of its weapons inspection obligations, Iraq was required to supply a full declaration of its current weapons capabilities and manufacturing
38.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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