1.
Morra (game)
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Morra is a hand game that dates back thousands of years to ancient Roman and Greek times. Each player simultaneously reveals their hand, extending any number of fingers, any player who successfully guesses the total number of fingers revealed by all players combined scores a point. Morra can be played to decide issues, much as two people might toss a coin, or for entertainment, while there are many variations of morra, most forms can be played with a minimum of two players. In the most popular version, all players throw out a hand, each showing zero to five fingers. If one player guesses the sum, that player earns one point, the first player to reach three points wins the game. Some variants of morra involve money, with the winner earning an amount equal to the sum of fingers displayed, Morra was known to the ancient Romans and is popular around the world, especially in Italy. In the Bible, it may have referred to as casting lots. In ancient Rome, it was called micatio, and playing it was referred to as micare digitis, literally, as time passed, the name became morra, a corruption of the verb micare. Micatio became so common that it came to be used to settle disputes over the sale of merchandise in the Roman forum and this practice was eventually banned by Apronius, prefect of the city. Roman colonies were located in Europe, Asia and Africa, today, morra can be found throughout Italy, Greece, the Teruel Province of Spain, Corsica, France, Portugal, Cyprus, Istria, Dalmatia in Croatia and Malta. There is also a variant in Spain called Chinos where coins are used instead of fingers, Morra played in Arab lands is called mukharaja. In southern France it is called la mourre, while in China and Mongolia it is hua quan, which translates as fist quarrel and it is also popular in South and North American communities with large Italian populations, sometimes known as Little Italy in their area. In the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, a tournament is held in February. Money raised during the tournament is given to a charity associated with Helping Hands. The game of morra is described on the images in the Theban tombs of MK, Beni Hassan, the rules for morra can be altered in several ways. In this two-player version one person is designated the odds player while the other is labeled evens, players hold one hand out in front of them and count together to three. On shoot, both players hold out one or two fingers. If the sum of fingers shown by players is an even number then the evens player wins, otherwise the odds player is the winner
2.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
3.
Baroque painting
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Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. Baroque art was meant to evoke emotion and passion instead of the rationality that had been prized during the Renaissance. Among the greatest painters of the Baroque period are Velázquez, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin, Caravaggio is an heir of the humanist painting of the High Renaissance. Baroque painting often dramatizes scenes using light effects, this can be seen in works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Le Nain. The Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck developed a graceful but imposing portrait style that was very influential, technical standards were very high, and Dutch Golden Age painting established a new repertoire of subjects that was very influential until the arrival of Modernism. The term Baroque was initially used with a meaning, to underline the excesses of its emphasis. Others derive it from the mnemonic term Baroco denoting, in logical Scholastica, in particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details, which sharply contrasted the clear and sober rationality of the Renaissance. He did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Writers in French and English did not begin to treat Baroque as a respectable study until Wölfflins influence had made German scholarship pre-eminent. Led by Italy, Mediterranean countries, slowly followed by most of the Holy Roman Empire in Germany and Central Europe, while the Baroque nature of Rembrandts art is clear, the label is less use for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. In France a dignified and graceful classicism gave a distinctive flavour to Baroque painting, likeness and Presence, A History of the Image before the Era of Art. Mark Getlein, Living With Art, 8th edition, the Story of Art, Phaidon,1995. ISBN 0-7148-3355-X Christine Buci-Glucksmann, Baroque Reason, The Aesthetics of Modernity, the Age of Baroque Heinrich Wölfflin,1964. Renaissance and Baroque The classic study
4.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
5.
Oldenburg in Holstein
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Oldenburg in Holstein is a town at the southwestern shore of the Baltic Sea. The town belongs to the region of Holstein, today in the state Schleswig-Holstein of Germany. Oldenburg was the town of the Wagrians, one of the Slavic peoples that migrated as far west as the river Elbe in or after the 6th century, also known as Wends. The Obotrites were allies of Charlemagne, emperor Otto I established the bishopric of Oldenburg under Adaldag, archbishop of Hamburg. To the Northern Germanic Vikings, the city was known as Brandehuse, i. e. the burned houses, the modern town has a partnership with Bergen auf Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Curmsun Disc Media related to Oldenburg in Holstein at Wikimedia Commons
6.
Schleswig-Holstein
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Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig. Its capital city is Kiel, other cities are Lübeck. Also known in more dated English as Sleswick-Holsatia, the Danish name is Slesvig-Holsten, the Low German name is Sleswig-Holsteen, historically, the name can also refer to a larger region, containing both present-day Schleswig-Holstein and the former South Jutland County in Denmark. The term Holstein derives from Old Saxon Holseta Land, originally, it referred to the central of the three Saxon tribes north of the River Elbe, Tedmarsgoi, Holstein and Sturmarii. The area of the tribe of the Holsts was between the Stör River and Hamburg, and after Christianization, their church was in Schenefeld. Saxon Holstein became a part of the Holy Roman Empire after Charlemagnes Saxon campaigns in the eighth century. Since 811, the frontier of Holstein was marked by the River Eider. The term Schleswig comes from the city of Schleswig, around 1100, the Duke of Saxony gave Holstein, as it was his own country, to Count Adolf I of Schauenburg. Schleswig and Holstein have at different times belonged in part or completely to either Denmark or Germany, the exception is that Schleswig had never been part of Germany until the Second Schleswig War in 1864. For many centuries, the King of Denmark was both a Danish Duke of Schleswig and a German Duke of Holstein, essentially, Schleswig was either integrated into Denmark or was a Danish fief, and Holstein was a German fief and once a sovereign state long ago. Both were for centuries ruled by the kings of Denmark. In the church, following the reformation, German was used in the part of Schleswig. This would later prove decisive for shaping national sentiments in the population, the administration of both duchies was conducted in German, despite the fact that they were governed from Copenhagen. The German national awakening that followed the Napoleonic Wars gave rise to a popular movement in Holstein. This development was paralleled by an equally strong Danish national awakening in Denmark and this movement called for the complete reintegration of Schleswig into the Kingdom of Denmark and demanded an end to discrimination against Danes in Schleswig. The ensuing conflict is called the Schleswig-Holstein Question. e. Not only in the Kingdom of Denmark, but also to Danes living in Schleswig, furthermore, they demanded protection for the Danish language in Schleswig. A liberal constitution for Holstein was not seriously considered in Copenhagen and these demands were rejected by the Danish government in 1848, and the Germans of Holstein and southern Schleswig rebelled
7.
Hendrik Goltzius
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Hendrick Goltzius, was a German-born Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter. He was the leading Dutch engraver of the early Baroque period, or Northern Mannerism, noted for his sophisticated technique and the exuberance of his compositions. According to A. Hyatt Mayor, Goltzius was the last professional engraver who drew with the authority of a good painter, in middle age he also began to produce paintings. Goltzius was born near Venlo in Bracht or Millebrecht, a then in the Duchy of Julich. His family moved to Duisburg when he was 3 years old, after studying painting on glass for some years under his father, he learned engraving from the Dutch polymath Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, who then lived in Cleves. In 1577 he moved with Coornhert to Haarlem in the Dutch Republic, in the same town, he was also employed by Philip Galle to engrave a set of prints of the history of Lucretia. He returned to Haarlem in August 1591, considerably improved in health and his portraits, though mostly miniatures, are masterpieces of their kind, both on account of their exquisite finish, and as fine studies of individual character. Of his larger heads, his life-size self-portrait is probably the most striking example, Goltzius brought to an unprecedented level the use of the swelling line, where the burin is manipulated to make lines thicker or thinner to create a tonal effect from a distance. He also was a pioneer of dot and lozenge technique, where dots are placed in the middle of lozenge shaped spaces created by cross-hatching to further refine tonal shading, hollstein credits 388 prints to him, with a further 574 by other printmakers after his designs. In his command of the burin, Goltzius is said to rival Dürer and he made engravings of Bartholomeus Sprangers paintings, thus increasing the fame of the latter – and his own. Goltzius began painting at the age of forty-two, some of his paintings can be found in Vienna and he also executed a few chiaroscuro woodcuts. He was the stepfather of engraver Jacob Matham and he died, aged 58, in Haarlem. A Hyatt Mayor, Prints and People, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton,1971, cohn, An Interpretation of Four Woodcut Landscape by Hendrick Goltzius, Print Quarterly, XXXI, June 2014, pp. 144–155. Liedtke, Walter A. Flemish paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, new York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web Gallery of Art Retrieved 19-08-2008 Works and literature on Hendrick Goltzius Goltzius engravings from the De Verda collection2
8.
Haarlem
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Haarlem is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland and is situated at the edge of the Randstad. Haarlem had a population of 155,758 in 2014 and it is a 15-minute train ride from Amsterdam, and many residents commute to the countrys capital for work. Haarlem was granted city status or stadsrechten in 1245, although the first city walls were not built until 1270, the modern city encompasses the former municipality of Schoten as well as parts that previously belonged to Bloemendaal and Heemstede. Apart from the city, the municipality of Haarlem also includes the part of the village of Spaarndam. Newer sections of Spaarndam lie within the municipality of Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude. The city is located on the river Spaarne, about 20 km west of Amsterdam and it has been the historical centre of the tulip bulb-growing district for centuries and bears the nickname Bloemenstad, for this reason. Haarlem has a history dating back to pre-medieval times, as it lies on a thin strip of land above sea level known as the strandwal. The people on this strip of land struggled against the waters of the North Sea from the west, and the waters of the IJ. Haarlem became wealthy with toll revenues that it collected from ships, however, as shipping became increasingly important economically, the city of Amsterdam became the main Dutch city of North Holland during the Dutch Golden Age. The town of Halfweg became a suburb, and Haarlem became a bedroom community. Nowadays many of them are on the Dutch Heritage register known as Rijksmonuments, the list of Rijksmonuments in Haarlem gives an overview of these per neighbourhood, with the majority in the old city centre. The oldest mentioning of Haarlem dates from the 10th century, the name probably comes from Haarlo-heim. This name is composed of three elements, haar, lo and heim, there is not much dispute about the meaning of lo and heim, in Old Dutch toponyms lo always refers to forest and heim to home or house. Haar, however, has several meanings, one of them corresponding with the location of Haarlem on a sand dune, the name Haarlem or Haarloheim would therefore mean home on a forested dune. There was a stream called De Beek, dug from the peat grounds west of the river Spaarne as a drainage canal, over the centuries the Beek was turned into an underground canal, as the city grew larger and the space was needed for construction. Over time it began to silt up and in the 19th century it was filled in, the location of the village was a good one, by the river Spaarne, and by a major road going south to north. By the 12th century it was a town, and Haarlem became the residence of the Counts of Holland
9.
Amsterdam
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Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its status as the capital is mandated by the Constitution of the Netherlands, although it is not the seat of the government, which is The Hague. Amsterdam has a population of 851,373 within the city proper,1,351,587 in the urban area, the city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. The metropolitan area comprises much of the part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe. Amsterdams name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the citys origin around a dam in the river Amstel, during that time, the city was the leading centre for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were planned, the 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered a world city by the Globalization. The city is also the capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and seven of the worlds 500 largest companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city. In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit and 12th globally on quality of living for environment, the city was ranked 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009. The Amsterdam seaport to this day remains the second in the country, famous Amsterdam residents include the diarist Anne Frank, artists Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh, and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city center. After the floods of 1170 and 1173, locals near the river Amstel built a bridge over the river, the earliest recorded use of that name is in a document dated October 27,1275, which exempted inhabitants of the village from paying bridge tolls to Count Floris V. This allowed the inhabitants of the village of Aemstelredamme to travel freely through the County of Holland, paying no tolls at bridges, locks, the certificate describes the inhabitants as homines manentes apud Amestelledamme. By 1327, the name had developed into Aemsterdam, Amsterdam is much younger than Dutch cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. In October 2008, historical geographer Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the late 10th century. This does not necessarily mean there was already a settlement then, since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat. Amsterdam was granted city rights in either 1300 or 1306, from the 14th century on, Amsterdam flourished, largely from trade with the Hanseatic League
