Klotz (violin makers)
Klotz is a family of violin makers. Members of the Klotz family have made violins in Mittenwald, Germany from the mid-17th century to the present; the Klotz family taught other families of the village the violin trade, Mittenwald prospered and became well known for its violins. In A Dictionary of Music and Musicians 1900, the contributor Edward John Payne writes: "Nine-tenths of the violins which pass in the world as'Stainers' were made by the Klotz family and their followers." In 1856, the Bavarian government founded a school in Mittenwald to continue the violin trade. Dictionaries of violin makers list more than 25 artisans by this name. Matthias I founded the Mittenwald school of violin making after study with Giovanni Railich in Padua from 1672-1678, Jacob Stainer and Nicolo Amati of Cremona. In Cremona, Matthias was harassed by other jealous assistants, he returned to Mittenwald and coined his hometown with the name "Cremona of Tyrol". He has been criticized for exercising insufficient care in the selection of his wood.
Although he was the maker of several excellent specimens... His two sons and Georg, were makers of violins and surpassed their father in every way... Typical labels: Mattias Klotz Geigenmacher zu Mittenwald an der Iser 1697 Mathias Klotz Lauten und Geigenmacher in Mittenwald an der Iser Anno 1695 Mathias Kloz Lautenmacher. A label of the family in Mittenwalt Anno 1725. Instruments by Sebastian I are the most admired among the many existing examples by this family; some instruments which have been identified as Sebastian's work bear his father's label. Typical labels: Sebastian Klotz in Mittenwald an der Iser 1734 Sebastian Kloz, in Mittenwald, an 1743 Seb. G. Kloz in Mittenwald, 1732 Joseph, son of Sebastian, worked in a manner similar to that of his father; the quality of their instruments varies enormously, many inferior, unauthentic examples have labels bearing the Klotz name. Geigenmacher: violin maker Lautenmacher: lute maker See Luthier "Klotz, Matthias". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920
Viola
The viola is a string instrument, bowed or played with varying techniques. It is larger than a violin and has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello; the strings from low to high are tuned to C3, G3, D4, A4. In the past, the viola varied in style, as did its names; the word viola originates from Italian. The Italians used the term: "viola da braccio" meaning literally:'of the arm'. "Brazzo" was another Italian word for the viola. The French had their own names: cinquiesme was a small viola, haute contre was a large viola, taile was a tenor. Today, the French use the term alto, a reference to its range; the viola was popular in the heyday of five-part harmony, up until the eighteenth century, taking three lines of the harmony and playing the melody line. Music for the viola differs from most other instruments in that it uses the alto clef; when viola music has substantial sections in a higher register, it switches to the treble clef to make it easier to read.
The viola plays the "inner voices" in string quartets and symphonic writing, it is more than the first violin to play accompaniment parts. The viola plays a major, soloistic role in orchestral music. Examples include the symphonic poem Don Quixote by Richard Strauss and the symphony Harold en Italie by Hector Berlioz. In the earlier part of the 20th century, more composers began to write for the viola, encouraged by the emergence of specialized soloists such as Lionel Tertis and William Primrose. English composers Arthur Bliss, York Bowen, Benjamin Dale, Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams all wrote substantial chamber and concert works. Many of these pieces were written for Lionel Tertis. William Walton, Bohuslav Martinů, Toru Takemitsu, Tibor Serly, Alfred Schnittke, Béla Bartók have written well-known viola concertos. Paul Hindemith, a violist, wrote a substantial amount of music for viola, including the concerto Der Schwanendreher; the concerti by Paul Hindemith, Béla Bartók, William Walton are considered the "big three" of viola repertoire.
The viola is similar in construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between 25 mm and 100 mm longer than the body of a full-size violin, with an average length of 41 cm. Small violas made for children start at 30 cm, equivalent to a half-size violin. For a child who needs a smaller size, a fractional-sized violin is strung with the strings of a viola. Unlike the violin, the viola does not have a standard full size; the body of a viola would need to measure about 51 cm long to match the acoustics of a violin, making it impractical to play in the same manner as the violin. For centuries, viola makers have experimented with the size and shape of the viola adjusting proportions or shape to make a lighter instrument with shorter string lengths, but with a large enough sound box to retain the viola sound. Prior to the eighteenth century, violas had no uniform size. Large violas were designed to play the lower register viola lines or second viola in five part harmony depending on instrumentation.
A smaller viola, nearer the size of the violin, was called an alto viola. It was more suited to higher register writing, as in the viola 1 parts, as their sound was richer in the upper register, its size was not as conducive to a full tone in the lower register. Several experiments have intended to increase the size of the viola to improve its sound. Hermann Ritter's viola alta, which measured about 48 cm, was intended for use in Wagner's operas; the Tertis model viola, which has wider bouts and deeper ribs to promote a better tone, is another "nonstandard" shape that allows the player to use a larger instrument. Many experiments with the acoustics of a viola increasing the size of the body, have resulted in a much deeper tone, making it resemble the tone of a cello. Since many composers wrote for a traditional-sized viola in orchestral music, changes in the tone of a viola can have unintended consequences upon the balance in ensembles. One of the most notable makers of violas of the twentieth century was Englishman A. E. Smith, whose violas are sought after and valued.
Many of his violas remain in Australia, his country of residence, where during some decades the violists of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra had a dozen of them in their section. More recent innovations have addressed the ergonomic problems associated with playing the viola by making it shorter and lighter, while finding ways to keep the traditional sound; these include the Otto Erdesz "cutaway" viola, which has one shoulder cut out to make shifting easier. Other experiments that deal with the "ergonomics vs. sound" problem have appeared. The American composer Harry Partch fitted a viola with a cello neck to allow the use of his 43-tone scale. Luthiers have created five-stringed violas, which allow a greater playing range. A person who plays the viola is called a violist or a viola
Cello
The cello or violoncello is a string instrument. It is played by bowing or plucking its four strings, which are tuned in perfect fifths an octave lower than the viola: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 and A3, it is the bass member of the violin family, which includes the violin and the double bass, which doubles the bass line an octave lower than the cello in much of the orchestral repertoire. After the double bass, it is the second-largest and second lowest bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra; the cello is used as a solo instrument, as well as in chamber music ensembles, string orchestras, as a member of the string section of symphony orchestras, most modern Chinese orchestras, some types of rock bands. Music for the cello is written in the bass clef, but both tenor clef and treble clef are used for higher-range parts, both in orchestral/chamber music parts and in solo cello works. A person who plays the cello is called a violoncellist. In a small classical ensemble, such as a string quartet, the cello plays the bass part, the lowest-pitched musical line of the piece.
In an orchestra of the Baroque era and Classical period, the cello plays the bass part doubled an octave lower by the double basses. In Baroque-era music, the cello is used to play the basso continuo bassline along with a keyboard instrument or a fretted, plucked stringed instrument. In such a Baroque performance, the cello player might be joined or replaced by other bass instruments, playing bassoon, double bass, viol or other low-register instruments; the name cello is derived from the ending of the Italian violoncello, which means "little violone". Violone was a large-sized member of the violin family; the term "violone" today refers to the lowest-pitched instrument of the viols, a family of stringed instruments that went out of fashion around the end of the 17th century in most countries except England and France, where they survived another half-century before the louder violin family came into greater favour in that country as well. In modern symphony orchestras, it is the second largest stringed instrument.
Thus, the name "violoncello" contained both the augmentative "-one" and the diminutive "-cello". By the turn of the 20th century, it had become common to shorten the name to'cello, with the apostrophe indicating the missing stem, it is now customary to use "cello" without apostrophe as the full designation. Viol is derived from the root viola, derived from Medieval Latin vitula, meaning stringed instrument. Cellos are tuned in fifths, starting with C2, followed by G2, D3, A3, it is tuned in the same intervals as the viola. Unlike the violin or viola but similar to the double bass, the cello has an endpin that rests on the floor to support the instrument's weight; the cello is most associated with European classical music, has been described as the closest sounding instrument to the human voice. The instrument is a part of the standard orchestra, as part of the string section, is the bass voice of the string quartet, as well as being part of many other chamber groups. Among the most well-known Baroque works for the cello are Johann Sebastian Bach's six unaccompanied Suites.
The cello figures as a member of the basso continuo group in chamber works by Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi with pieces such as Il primo libro di madrigali, per 2–5 voci e basso continuo, op. 1 and Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre who wrote six sonatas for violin and basso continuo. From the Classical era, the two concertos by Joseph Haydn in C major and D major stand out, as do the five sonatas for cello and pianoforte of Ludwig van Beethoven, which span the important three periods of his compositional evolution. A Divertimento for Piano, Clarinet and Cello is among the surviving works by Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. A review of compositions for cello in the Romantic era must include the German composer Fanny Mendelssohn who wrote the Fantasy in G minor for cello and piano and a Capriccio in A-flat for cello. Other well-known works of the era include the Robert Schumann Concerto, the Antonín Dvořák Concerto as well as the two sonatas and the Double Concerto by Johannes Brahms.
Compositions from the late-19th and early 20th century include three cello sonatas by Dame Ethel Smyth, Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Claude Debussy's Sonata for Cello and Piano, unaccompanied cello sonatas by Zoltán Kodály and Paul Hindemith. Pieces including cello were written by American Music Cente founder Marion Bauer and Ruth Crawford Seeger. Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz was writing for cello in the mid 20th century with Concerto No. 1 for Cello and Orchestra, Concerto No. 2 for Cello and Orchestra and in 1964 composed her Quartet for four cellos. The cello's versatility made it popular with many male composers in this era as well, such as Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Benjamin Britten, György Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski and Henri Dutilleux. Well-known cellists include Jacqueline du Pre, Raya Garbousova, Zara Nelsova, Hildur Gudna
National Library of the Czech Republic
The National Library of the Czech Republic is the central library of the Czech Republic. It is directed by the Ministry of Culture; the library's main building is located in the historical Clementinum building in Prague, where half of its books are kept. The other half of the collection is stored in the district of Hostivař; the National Library is the biggest library in the Czech Republic, in its funds there are around 6 million documents. The library has around 60,000 registered readers; as well as Czech texts, the library stores older material from Turkey and India. The library houses books for Charles University in Prague; the library won international recognition in 2005 as it received the inaugural Jikji Prize from UNESCO via the Memory of the World Programme for its efforts in digitising old texts. The project, which commenced in 1992, involved the digitisation of 1,700 documents in its first 13 years; the most precious medieval manuscripts preserved in the National Library are the Codex Vyssegradensis and the Passional of Abbes Kunigunde.
In 2006 the Czech parliament approved funding for the construction of a new library building on Letna plain, between Hradčanská metro station and Sparta Prague's football ground, Letná stadium. In March 2007, following a request for tender, Czech architect Jan Kaplický was selected by a jury to undertake the project, with a projected completion date of 2011. In 2007 the project was delayed following objections regarding its proposed location from government officials including Prague Mayor Pavel Bém and President Václav Klaus. Plans for the building had still not been decided in February 2008, with the matter being referred to the Office for the Protection of Competition in order to determine if the tender had been won fairly. In 2008, Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička announced the end of the project, following a ruling from the European Commission that the tender process had not been carried out legally; the library was affected by the 2002 European floods, with some documents moved to upper levels to avoid the excess water.
Over 4,000 books were removed from the library in July 2011 following flooding in parts of the main building. There was a fire at the library in December 2012. List of national and state libraries Official website
Absam
Absam is a municipality in the Innsbruck-Land District, Tyrol situated at an altitude of 632 m, which had an area of 51.92 km² and 6,776 inhabitants as January 2015. Absam is 15 km from Innsbruck, in the lower Inn Valley, at the slopes of the Zunterkopf Haller group, north of Hall in Tirol to, connected with the regional road L 225, while the L 372 is the road connecting with Innsbruck via Mühlau, Arzl and Thaur, it is possible to reach the village by using bus lines E from Innsbruck. The highest point in the municipality is the summit of Große Bettelwurf at altitude of 2775 m; the neighbour municipalities are: Baumkirchen, Gnadenwald, Hall in Tirol, Mils, Scharnitz, Vomp. The origin of a prehistoric settlement in Absam is not sure, although a disk pommel of a sword and a brooch of copper were found there dating to 1500 BC. Traces of Roman settlements have not been found, a coin dating from the time of Diocletian has been discovered, though the Romans had conquered the Tyrol in 15 AD; the place names were including "Abazanes", which became Absam.
Abazanes was mentioned for the first time in 995, in a document kept in the records of the Diocese of Brixen. The village, in 1282, belonged to the parish of Thaur. In 1288 the name "Abzan" appeared in the register of the lands of Meinhard, Duke of Carinthia, in the fourteenth century Absam was cited 14 times in the documents including a citation, on September 21, 1331, concerning the appointment of church to parish, until affiliated with Thaur. Absam is located in the area, along with Hall in Tirol and Thaur, of a salt mine, a source of income for the sovereign of the time; the documents reported the beginning of the mining in 1232. Between the sixteenth and seventeenth century the production of salt culminated, so that in 1615 were 547 workers employed in the extraction which, benefiting from a good salary, contributed to the development of trade in the village. At the same time there was a decisive step towards the industrialization of Absam, due to the energy produced by the stream Baubach, with the opening of sawmills and mills and the development of coppersmith crafts, so that the firm of Oswald Kofler provided for the production of fifteen thousand sheets of copper for the roof of the church of Schwaz.
In 1809 during the Tyrolean Rebellion 73 shooters of Absam joined the Tyrolean troops under the command of Josef Speckbacher. In 1845, opened his first factory and weaving company Faistenberger, followed by others including a foundry, chocolate and paint factories and a metal carpentry, aiding industrial development while mining, because of new extraction techniques and lower world prices, was in decline; as result mining in Tyrol closed on September 5, 1967. The Swarovski company moved to Absam the Optik department in 1949 in the neighbourhood of Eichat where, during the last war, the Wehrmacht built a barracks; the emblem of Absam is quartered. The first depicts the face of the Virgin Mary, symbolizing the divine appearance in 1797, the remaining part has been a violin on gold background, in memory of the luthier Jakobus Stainer, who lived in Absam; the emblem was adopted on July 20, 1965. The first documented mention of the church of St. Michael the Archangel, as parish of Absam, dates back to September 21, 1331 by decree of the Bishop of Brixen Heinrich von Taufers.
In 1413, with the invasion of the Bavarii, the church was destroyed. Two works of art date from this period: an altarpiece of 1470 in late Gothic style, discovered during the restoration of 1930, depicting the Madonna with four women and a crucifix, said Fiegersche, dating to 1492. During the 1670 earthquake that struck the valley, the bell tower was damaged, it was rebuilt in 1677. In 1871, the church roof was covered with copper plates. In 1776 the church was appointed as a curacy and in 1779 it was renovated internally in the Rococo style with frescoes by Josef Anton Zoller. On 24 June 1797 the image of the Virgin Mary, which appeared on the glass window of the peasant Rosina Buecher’s house on January 17, 1797, was transferred to the church. On June 24, 2000, the day of St. John the Baptist and the village's second patron saint, the church was proclaimed Basilica, although there had been no petition for such a change by the community, it thus became the first sanctuary without a monastery in Tyrol to get this designation.
Josef Feistmantl: luger Franz Fischler: politician Wolfgang Kattnig: athlete Walburga Schindl: author Josef Speckbacher: soldier Jacob Stainer: luthier Ernst Vettori: ski jumper Max Weiler: painter Absam is home to the Swarovski Optik KG founded in 1935 by Wilhelm Swarovski. The first serial product, "Habicht 7 x 42" is still in production and used in the hunting optics. Swarovski Optik manufactures telescopes, rifle scopes, optronic instruments, range finders and image intensifier tubes. Official Website of Absam Region Hall-Wattens: Absam Tiroler Fachberufsschule für Tourismus Absam
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the classical era. Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position, he chose to stay in the capital. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies and operas, portions of the Requiem, unfinished at the time of his early death at the age of 35; the circumstances of his death have been much mythologized. He composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, chamber and choral music, he is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, his influence is profound on subsequent Western art music.
Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, Joseph Haydn wrote: "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years". Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl, at 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg; this was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in what is now Austria part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the youngest of seven children, his elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed "Nannerl". Mozart was baptised the day at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg; the baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He called himself "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as an adult, but his name had many variants. Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as fourth violinist in the musical establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, the ruling Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg.
Four years he married Anna Maria in Salzburg. Leopold became the orchestra's deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his son's birth, Leopold published a violin textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, which achieved success; when Nannerl was 7, she began keyboard lessons with her father, while her three-year-old brother looked on. Years after her brother's death, she reminisced: He spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was striking, his pleasure showed that it sounded good.... In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier.... He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, keeping in time.... At the age of five, he was composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down; these early pieces, K. 1–5, were recorded in the Nannerl Notenbuch. There is some scholarly debate about whether Mozart was four or five years old when he created his first musical compositions, though there is little doubt that Mozart composed his first three pieces of music within a few weeks of each other: K. 1a, 1b, 1c.
In his early years, Wolfgang's father was his only teacher. Along with music, he taught academic subjects. Solomon notes that, while Leopold was a devoted teacher to his children, there is evidence that Mozart was keen to progress beyond what he was taught, his first ink-spattered composition and his precocious efforts with the violin were of his own initiative, came as a surprise to Leopold, who gave up composing when his son's musical talents became evident. While Wolfgang was young, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl performed as child prodigies; these began with an exhibition in 1762 at the court of Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, at the Imperial Courts in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour followed, spanning three and a half years, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Paris, The Hague, again to Paris, back home via Zurich and Munich. During this trip, Wolfgang met a number of musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers.
A important influence was Johann Christian Bach, whom he visited in London in 1764 and 1765. When he was eight years old, Mozart wrote his first symphony, most of, transcribed by his father; the family trips were difficult, travel conditions were primitive. They had to wait for invitations and reimbursement from the nobility, they endured long, near-fatal illnesses far from home: first Leopold both children; the family again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768. After one year in Salzburg and Wolfgang set off for Italy, leaving Anna Maria and Nannerl at home; this tour lasted from December 1769 to March 1771. As with earlier journeys, Leopold wanted to display his son's abilities as a performer and a maturing composer. Wolfgang met Josef Mysliveček and Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna, was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. In Rome, he heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere twice in performance, in the Sistine Chapel, wrote it out from memory, thus producing the first unauthorized copy of this guarded property of the Vatican.
In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto, performed with success. This led to further oper
Germany
Germany the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north and the Czech Republic to the east and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to the west. Germany includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,386 square kilometres, has a temperate seasonal climate. With 83 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia, the most populous state lying in Europe, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is a decentralized country, its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital and has the country's busiest airport. Germany's largest urban area is the Ruhr, with its main centres of Essen; the country's other major cities are Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Dresden, Bremen and Nuremberg. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity.
A region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, the German Confederation was formed in 1815; the German revolutions of 1848–49 resulted in the Frankfurt Parliament establishing major democratic rights. In 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the revolution of 1918–19, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic; the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a dictatorship, the annexation of Austria, World War II, the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, Austria was re-established as an independent country and two new German states were founded: West Germany, formed from the American and French occupation zones, East Germany, formed from the Soviet occupation zone.
Following the Revolutions of 1989 that ended communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, the country was reunified on 3 October 1990. Today, the sovereign state of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic led by a chancellor, it is a great power with a strong economy. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer of goods; as a developed country with a high standard of living, it upholds a social security and universal health care system, environmental protection, a tuition-free university education. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957 and the European Union in 1993, it is part of the Schengen Area and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the G20, the OECD. Known for its rich cultural history, Germany has been continuously the home of influential and successful artists, musicians, film people, entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors.
Germany has a large number of World Heritage sites and is among the top tourism destinations in the world. The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine; the German term Deutschland diutisciu land is derived from deutsch, descended from Old High German diutisc "popular" used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz "popular", derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- "people", from which the word Teutons originates; the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a coal mine in Schöningen between 1994 and 1998 where eight 380,000-year-old wooden javelins of 1.82 to 2.25 m length were unearthed. The Neander Valley was the location where the first non-modern human fossil was discovered.
The Neanderthal 1 fossils are known to be 40,000 years old. Evidence of modern humans dated, has been found in caves in the Swabian Jura near Ulm; the finds included 42,000-year-old bird bone and mammoth ivory flutes which are the oldest musical instruments found, the 40,000-year-old Ice Age Lion Man, the oldest uncontested figurative art discovered, the 35,000-year-old Venus of Hohle Fels, the oldest uncontested human figurative art discovered. The Nebra sky disk is a bronze artefact created during the European Bronze Age attributed to a site near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt, it is part of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme. The Germanic tribes are thought to date from the Pre-Roman Iron Age. From southern Scandinavia and north Germany, they expanded south and west from the 1st century BC, coming into contact with the Celtic tribes of Gaul as well
