Woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print; the block is cut along the wood grain. The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller, leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas. Multiple colors can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks; the art of carving the woodcut can be called "xylography", but this is used in English for images alone, although that and "xylographic" are used in connection with block books, which are small books containing text and images in the same block. They became popular in Europe during the latter half of the 15th century. A single-sheet woodcut is a woodcut presented as a single image or print, as opposed to a book illustration.
Since it's origins in China, the practice of woodcut has spread across the world from Europe, to other parts of Asia, to Latin America. In both Europe and the Far East, traditionally the artist only designed the woodcut, the block-carving was left to specialist craftsmen, called block-cutters, or Formschneider in Germany, some of whom became well-known in their own right. Among these, the best-known are the 16th-century Hieronymus Andreae, Hans Lützelburger and Jost de Negker, all of whom ran workshops and operated as printers and publishers; the formschneider in turn handed the block on to specialist printers. There were further specialists; this is why woodcuts are sometimes described by museums or books as "designed by" rather than "by" an artist. The division of labour had the advantage that a trained artist could adapt to the medium easily, without needing to learn the use of woodworking tools. There were various methods of transferring the artist's drawn design onto the block for the cutter to follow.
Either the drawing would be made directly onto the block, or a drawing on paper was glued to the block. Either way, the artist's drawing was destroyed during the cutting process. Other methods were used, including tracing. In both Europe and the Far East in the early 20th century, some artists began to do the whole process themselves. In Japan, this movement was called sōsaku-hanga, as opposed to shin-hanga, a movement that retained traditional methods. In the West, many artists used the easier technique of linocut instead. Compared to intaglio techniques like etching and engraving, only low pressure is required to print; as a relief method, it is only necessary to ink the block and bring it into firm and contact with the paper or cloth to achieve an acceptable print. In Europe, a variety of woods including boxwood and several nut and fruit woods like pear or cherry were used. There are three methods of printing to consider: Stamping: Used for many fabrics and most early European woodcuts; these were printed by putting the paper/fabric on a table or other flat surface with the block on top, pressing or hammering the back of the block.
Rubbing: Apparently the most common method for Far Eastern printing on paper at all times. Used for European woodcuts and block-books in the fifteenth century, widely for cloth. Used for many Western woodcuts from about 1910 to the present; the block goes face up with the paper or fabric on top. The back is rubbed with a "hard pad, a flat piece of wood, a burnisher, or a leather frotton". A traditional Japanese tool used for this is called a baren. In Japan, complex wooden mechanisms were used to help hold the woodblock still and to apply proper pressure in the printing process; this was helpful once multiple colors were introduced and had to be applied with precision atop previous ink layers. Printing in a press: presses only seem to have been used in Asia in recent times. Printing-presses were used from about 1480 for European prints and block-books, before that for woodcut book illustrations. Simple weighted presses may have been used in Europe before the print-press, but firm evidence is lacking.
A deceased Abbess of Mechelen in 1465 had "unum instrumentum ad imprintendum scripturas et ymagines... cum 14 aliis lapideis printis"—"an instrument for printing texts and pictures... with 14 stones for printing". This is too early to be a Gutenberg-type printing press in that location. Main articles Old master print for Europe, Woodblock printing in Japan for Japan, Lubok for Russia Woodcut originated in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and on paper; the earliest woodblock printed fragments to survive are from China, from the Han dynasty, are of silk printed with flowers in three colours. "In the 13th century the Chinese technique of blockprinting was transmitted to Europe." Paper arrived in Europe from China via al-Andalus later, was being manufactured in Italy by the end of the thirteenth century, in Burgundy and Germany by the end of the fourteenth. In Europe, woodcut is the oldest technique used for old master prints, developing about 1400, by using, on paper, existing techniques for printing.
One of the more ancient woodcuts on paper that can be seen today is The Fire Madonna, in the Cat
Grave
A grave is a location where a dead body is buried. Graves are located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as graveyards or cemeteries. Certain details of a grave, such as the state of the body found within it and any objects found with the body, may provide information for archaeologists about how the body may have lived before its death, including the time period in which it lived and the culture that it had been a part of. In some religions, it is believed; the formal use of a grave involves several steps with associated terminology. Grave cutThe excavation. Excavations vary from a shallow scraping to removal of topsoil to a depth of 6 feet or more where a vault or burial chamber is to be constructed. However, most modern graves in the United States are only 4 feet deep as the casket is placed into a concrete box to prevent a sinkhole, to ensure the grave is strong enough to be driven over, to prevent floating in the instance of a flood. Excavated soilThe material dug up.
It is piled up close to the grave for backfilling and returned to the grave to cover it. As soil decompresses when excavated and space is occupied by the burial not all the volume of soil fits back in the hole, so evidence is found of remaining soil. In cemeteries this may end up as a thick layer of soil overlying the original ground surface. Burial or intermentThe body may be placed in a coffin or other container, in a wide range of positions, by itself or in a multiple burial, with or without personal possessions of the deceased. Burial vaultA vault is a structure built within the grave to receive the body, it may be used to prevent crushing of the remains, allow for multiple burials such as a family vault, retrieval of remains for transfer to an ossuary, or because it forms a monument. Grave backfillThe soil returned to the grave cut following burial; this material may contain artifacts derived from the original excavation and prior site use, deliberately placed goods or artifacts or material.
The fill may be mounded. Monument or markerHeadstones are best known, but they can be supplemented by decorative edging, foot stones, posts to support items, a solid covering or other options. Graveyards were established at the same time as the building of the relevant place of worship and were used by those families who could not afford to be buried inside or beneath the place of worship itself. In most cultures those who were vastly rich, had important professions, were part of the nobility or were of any other high social status were buried in individual crypts inside or beneath the relevant place of worship with an indication of the name of the deceased, date of death and other biographical data. In Europe this was accompanied with a depiction of their family coat of arms. Graveyards have been replaced by cemeteries. Burial at sea Cenotaph Christian burial Church monuments Cremation Crypt Dolmen Eco-Burial Funeral pyre Funerary art God's Acre Gravedigger Islamic burial Jewish burial Mass grave Mausoleum Monumental inscription Necropolis Premature burial Pyramid Tomb Tophet Tumulus Turn in one's grave War grave Media related to Graves at Wikimedia Commons Quotations related to Grave at Wikiquote The dictionary definition of grave at Wiktionary
Bienno
Bienno is an Italian comune in Val Camonica, province of Brescia, classed as one of the five most beautiful villages of Italy by the Council of Tourism of the Association of Italian Municipalities. The village is located on the northern side of the river Grigna, it is bordered by other towns such as: Bagolino, Berzo Inferiore, Breno, Cividate Camuno, Prestine. In 1295 a dispute occurred with the neighbouring village Bovegno regarding some high pastures. On January 25, 1350 the bishop of Brescia invested iure feuds for a tenth of the rights in the territories of the Municipality of Bienno and men of Bienno; this happened back in 1295, 1336, in 1388, 1423 and 1486. In 1391 the land of Bienno, which sided with the Ghibellines, was the site of extensive cattle raiding by the Guelph Camuni, led by Baroncino Nobili of Lozio; the peace of Breno was signed on 31 December 1397 by the representative of the community of Bienno, Lanini Bertolino di Martino, a Ghibelline. Between 1805 and 1815 the town of Bienno was united to Prestine and called "Bienno with Prestine."
Bienno is part of the club of "The Most Beautiful Villages in Italy" creation of the Council of Tourism of the Association of Italian Municipalities. The parish church, dedicated to Saints Faustino and Giovita, was rebuilt in the early years of 17th Century in accordance with Counter-Reformation rules; the smallest church in the lower part of the old town, the Chiesa di Santa Maria Annunziata. In its single nave, it contains frescoes of great value produced during the 16th century by various artists, including Giovanni Pietro da Cemmo and Romanino; the frescoes include, among various subjects, a danse macabre to the right of the altar. Hermitage of St. Peter and Paul, built in the second half of the 20th century, but originated in the 11th or 12th century, when Cluny monks came to Valcamonica. Church of San Defendente on a hill at the north entrance of Bienno dating back to the 15th century. Church of St Peter ad Vincula of 16th century, it is built onto a Roman altar of Bacchus of which you can see the remains in the back of the building.
Hill of Christ the King: there stands a monument to Christ the King, a golden statue erected in 1931. Chapel of the pools, reworked in the 17th century; the House of Panteghini, built in 1483. The House of Bettoni dated of 1550; the Simoni-Fè Palace, was given in 1932 to the municipality by the Countess Paolina Fè of Ostiani Montholonwhen she left, after a fatal hunting accident caused by her husband, Count Jean Charles Tristan de Montholon, son of Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, suspected to have poisoned the Emperor Napoleon, in Saint Helena, brother of Hélène Napoleone Bonaparte de Montholon, whose father could be Napoleon and who lived 90 years,with the exception of the usufruct of the lower floors, left to Liberata Fostinelli and Battista Panteghini and all their descendants ad vitam eternam, to reward them from their loyalty. This usufruct has been transferred to the municipality of Bienno by their children Battista Panteghini, son of Liberata, Maria Bettoni, whose family was the owner of the Palazzo Bettoni in Bienno, in 1988, because of the difficulties of maintenance and heating the palace, their old age.
It becomes a cultural center. The scütüm are in camunian dialect nicknames, sometimes personal, elsewhere showing the characteristic features of a community; the one which characterize the people of Bienno is Padèle. All buildings and churches are open to the public every year, for a week, until midnight in August, during the village festival called Mostra Mercato former flour mill and forge are returned to service; this week welcomes thousands of visitors. Mostra mercato 2014 Geltrude Comensoli, religious. Luigi Ercoli, Italian partisan. Battistino Bonali, alpinist. Panazza, Gaetano. Arte in Val Camonica - vol 4. Brescia: Industrie grafiche bresciane. Historical photos - Intercam Historical photos - Lombardia Beni Culturali
Michael Wolgemut
Michael Wolgemut was a German painter and printmaker, who ran a workshop in Nuremberg. He is best known as having taught the young Albrecht Dürer; the importance of Wolgemut as an artist rests not only on his own individual works, but on the fact that he was the head of a large workshop, in which many different branches of the fine arts were carried on by a great number of pupil-assistants, including Albrecht Dürer, who completed an apprenticeship with him between 1486-9. In his atelier large altar-pieces and other sacred paintings were executed, elaborate carved painted wood retables, consisting of crowded subjects in high relief, richly decorated with gold and colour. Wolgemut was a leader among the artists reviving the standards of German woodcut at this time; the production of woodcuts was a large part of the work of the workshop, the blocks being cut from Wolgemut's designs. They were made to supply the many publishers in Nuremberg with book illustrations, with the most attractive being sold separately.
Wolgemut's woodcuts followed the advances in engraving, depicting volume and shading to a much greater extent than before. Many are remarkable for their vigour and clever adaptation to the special necessities of the technique of woodcut. Nonetheless, they were often hand-coloured before or after sale, his pupil Dürer was to build on and to so surpass his achievement that it is overlooked. Wolgemut's paintings show Flemish influence, he may have traveled within Flanders. Wolgemut trained with his father Valentin Wolgemut and is thought to have been an assistant to Hans Pleydenwurff in Nuremberg, he worked with Gabriel Malesskircher in Munich early in 1471, leaving the city after unsuccessfully suing Malesskircher's daughter for breach of contract, claiming she had broken off their engagement. He returned to his late father's workshop in Nuremberg, which his mother had maintained since Valentin's death. In 1472 he took over his workshop; some consider Wilhelm a finer artist than Wolgemut, however he died in January 1494, when he was still in his thirties.
Wilhelm's oeuvre remains unclear. Two large and copiously illustrated books have woodcuts supplied by Wolgemut and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff; the first is the Schatzbehalter der wahren Reichthumer des Heils. Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff were first commissioned to provide the illustrations in 1487-1488, a further contract of 29 December 1491 commissioned manuscript layouts of the text and illustrations. A further contact of 1492 stipulated that Koberger should provide a locked room for the blocks to be kept safely. A drawing by Wolgemut for the elaborate frontispiece, dated 1490, is in the British Museum; as with other books of the period, many of the woodcuts, showing towns, battles or kings were used more than once in the book, with the text labels changed. The book is large, with a double-page woodcut measuring about 342x500mm; the earliest known work by Wolgemut is a retable consisting of four panels, dated 1465, now in the Munich gallery, a decorative work of much beauty. In 1479 he painted the retable of the high altar in the church of St Mary at Zwickau, which still exists, receiving for it the large sum of 1400 gulden.
One of his finest and largest works is the great retable painted for the church of the Augustinian friars at Nuremberg, now moved into the museum. In 1501 Wolgemut was employed to decorate the town hall at Goslar with a large series of paintings; as a portrait-painter he enjoyed much repute, some of his works of this class are admirable for their realistic vigour and minute finish. Outside Germany Wolgemut's paintings are scarce: the Royal Institution at Liverpool possesses two good examples--Pilate washing his Hands, The Deposition from the Cross, parts of a large altar-piece. During the last ten years of his life Wohlgemut appears to have produced little by his own hand. One of his latest paintings is the retable at Schwabach, executed in 1508, the contract for which still exists, he died at Nuremberg in 1519. Michael Wolgemut Bartrum, Giulia. Albrecht Dürer and his Legacy. British Museum Press. ISBN 0-7141-2633-0; this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed..
"Wohlgemuth, Michael". Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press
Sedlec Ossuary
The Sedlec Ossuary is a small Roman Catholic chapel, located beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints, part of the former Sedlec Abbey in Sedlec, a suburb of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. The ossuary is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, whose bones have, in many cases, been artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel; the ossuary is among the most visited tourist attractions of the Czech Republic - attracting over 200,000 visitors annually. Four enormous bell-shaped mounds occupy the corners of the chapel. An enormous chandelier of bones, which contains at least one of every bone in the human body, hangs from the center of the nave with garlands of skulls draping the vault. Other works include piers and monstrances flanking the altar, a coat of arms of the House of Schwarzenberg, the signature of František Rint executed in bone, on the wall near the entrance. In 1278, the abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Sedlec, was sent to the Holy Land by King Otakar II of Bohemia.
He returned with a small amount of earth he had removed from Golgotha and sprinkled it over the abbey cemetery. The word of this pious act soon spread and the cemetery in Sedlec became a desirable burial site throughout Central Europe. In the mid 14th century, during the Black Death, after the Hussite Wars in the early 15th century, many thousands were buried in the abbey cemetery, so it had to be enlarged. Around 1400, a Gothic church was built in the center of the cemetery with a vaulted upper level and a lower chapel to be used as an ossuary for the mass graves unearthed during construction, or slated for demolition to make room for new burials. After 1511, the task of exhuming skeletons and stacking their bones in the chapel was given to a half-blind monk of the order. Between 1703 and 1710, a new entrance was constructed to support the front wall, leaning outward, the upper chapel was rebuilt; this work, in the Czech Baroque style, was designed by Jan Santini Aichel. In 1870, František Rint, a woodcarver, was employed by the Schwarzenberg family to put the bone heaps into order, yielding a macabre result.
The signature of Rint executed in bone, appears on the wall near the entrance to the chapel. In 1970, the centenary of Rint's contributions, Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer was commissioned to document the ossuary; the result was a 10-minute-long frantic-cut film of skeletal images overdubbed with an actual tour-guide's neutral voice narration. This version was banned by the Czech Communist authorities for alleged subversion, the soundtrack was replaced by a brief spoken introduction and a jazz arrangement by Zdeněk Liška of the poem "Comment dessiner le portrait d'un oiseau" by Jacques Prévert. Since the Velvet Revolution, the original tour guide soundtrack has been made available. In the documentary Long Way Round, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman stop to see this church. Dan Cruickshank views the church in his Adventures in Architecture; the ossuary is a major plot device in the John Connolly novel The Black Angel. The ossuary is used as the movie Blood & Chocolate; the ossuary was featured in Ripley's Believe it or Not and is described by Cara Seymour in the final scene of the film Adaptation.
The ossuary was the influence for Dr. Satan's lair in the Rob Zombie film House of 1000 Corpses; the Sedlec Ossuary Capela dos Ossos Capuchin Crypt Skull Chapel in Czermna Skull Tower Official website
Skull
The skull is a bony structure that forms the head in vertebrates. It provides a protective cavity for the brain; the skull is composed of two parts: the mandible. In the human, these two parts are the neurocranium and the viscerocranium or facial skeleton that includes the mandible as its largest bone; the skull forms the anterior most portion of the skeleton and is a product of cephalisation—housing the brain, several sensory structures such as the eyes, ears and mouth. In humans these sensory structures are part of the facial skeleton. Functions of the skull include protection of the brain, fixing the distance between the eyes to allow stereoscopic vision, fixing the position of the ears to enable sound localisation of the direction and distance of sounds. In some animals such as horned ungulates, the skull has a defensive function by providing the mount for the horns; the English word "skull" is derived from Old Norse "skulle", while the Latin word cranium comes from the Greek root κρανίον.
The skull is made up of a number of fused flat bones, contains many foramina, fossae and several cavities or sinuses. In zoology there are openings in the skull called fenestrae. For details and the constituent bones, see Neurocranium and Facial skeleton The human skull is the bony structure that forms the head in the human skeleton, it forms a cavity for the brain. Like the skulls of other vertebrates, it protects the brain from injury; the skull consists of two parts, of different embryological origin—the neurocranium and the facial skeleton. The neurocranium forms the protective cranial cavity that surrounds and houses the brain and brainstem; the upper areas of the cranial bones form the calvaria. The membranous viscerocranium includes the mandible; the facial skeleton is formed by the bones supporting the face Except for the mandible, all of the bones of the skull are joined together by sutures—synarthrodial joints formed by bony ossification, with Sharpey's fibres permitting some flexibility.
Sometimes there can be extra bone pieces within the suture known as sutural bones. Most these are found in the course of the lambdoid suture; the human skull is considered to consist of twenty-two bones—eight cranial bones and fourteen facial skeleton bones. In the neurocranium these are the occipital bone, two temporal bones, two parietal bones, the sphenoid and frontal bones; the bones of the facial skeleton are the vomer, two inferior nasal conchae, two nasal bones, two maxilla, the mandible, two palatine bones, two zygomatic bones, two lacrimal bones. Some sources count the maxilla as having two bones; some of these bones—the occipital, frontal, in the neurocranium, the nasal and vomer, in the facial skeleton are flat bones. The skull contains sinuses, air-filled cavities known as paranasal sinuses, numerous foramina; the sinuses are lined with respiratory epithelium. Their known functions are the lessening of the weight of the skull, the aiding of resonance to the voice and the warming and moistening of the air drawn into the nasal cavity.
The foramina are openings in the skull. The largest of these is the foramen magnum that allows the passage of the spinal cord as well as nerves and blood vessels; the many processes of the skull include the zygomatic processes. The skull is a complex structure; the skull roof bones, comprising the bones of the facial skeleton and the sides and roof of the neurocranium, are dermal bones formed by intramembranous ossification, though the temporal bones are formed by endochondral ossification. The endocranium, the bones supporting the brain are formed by endochondral ossification, thus frontal and parietal bones are purely membranous. The geometry of the skull base and its fossae, the anterior and posterior cranial fossae changes rapidly; the anterior cranial fossa changes during the first trimester of pregnancy and skull defects can develop during this time. At birth, the human skull is made up of 44 separate bony elements. During development, many of these bony elements fuse together into solid bone.
The bones of the roof of the skull are separated by regions of dense connective tissue called fontanelles. There are six fontanelles: one anterior, one posterior, two sphenoid, two mastoid. At birth these regions are fibrous and moveable, necessary for birth and growth; this growth can put a large amount of tension on the "obstetrical hinge", where the squamous and lateral parts of the occipital bone meet. A possible complication of this tension is rupture of the great cerebral vein; as growth and ossification progress, the connective tissue of the fontanelles is invaded and replaced by bone creating sutures. The five sutures are the two squamous sutures, one coronal, one lambdoid, one sagittal suture; the posterior fontanelle closes by eight weeks, but the anterior fontanel can remain open up to eighteen months. The anterior fontanelle is located at the junction of the parietal bones. Careful observation will show that you can count a baby's heart
Basel
Basel is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city with about 180,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss and German borders meet, Basel has suburbs in France and Germany; as of 2016, the Swiss Basel agglomeration was the third-largest in Switzerland, with a population of 541,000 in 74 municipalities in Switzerland. The initiative Trinational Eurodistrict Basel of 62 suburban communes including municipalities in neighboring countries, counted 829,000 inhabitants in 2007; the official language of Basel is German, but the main spoken language is the local Basel German dialect. The city is known for its many internationally renowned museums, ranging from the Kunstmuseum, the first collection of art accessible to the public in Europe and the largest museum of art in the whole of Switzerland, to the Fondation Beyeler; the University of Basel, Switzerland's oldest university, the city's centuries-long commitment to humanism, have made Basel a safe haven at times of political unrest in other parts of Europe for such notable people as Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Holbein family, Friedrich Nietzsche and in the 20th century Hermann Hesse and Karl Jaspers.
The city of Basel is Switzerland's second-largest economic centre after the city of Zürich and has the highest GDP per capita in the country, ahead of the cantons of Zug and Geneva. In terms of value, over 94% of Basel City's goods exports are in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors. With production facilities located in the neighboring Schweizerhalle, Basel accounts for 20% of Swiss exports and generates one third of the national product. Basel has been the seat of a Prince-Bishopric since the 11th century, joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1501; the city has been a commercial hub and an important cultural centre since the Renaissance, has emerged as a centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in the 20th century. In 1897, Basel was chosen by Theodor Herzl as the location for the first World Zionist Congress, altogether the congress has been held there ten times over a time span of 50 years, more than in any other location; the city is home to the world headquarters of the Bank for International Settlements.
In 2019 Basel, was ranked among the ten most liveable cities in the world by Mercer together with Zürich and Geneva. There are traces of a settlement at the Rhine knee from the early La Tène period. In the 2nd century BC, there was a village of the Raurici at the site of Basel-Gasfabrik, to the northwest of the Old City identical with the town of Arialbinnum mentioned on the Tabula Peutingeriana; the unfortified settlement was abandoned in the 1st century BC in favour of an oppidum on the site of Basel Minster in reaction to the Roman invasion of Gaul. In Roman Gaul, Augusta Raurica was established some 20 km from Basel as the regional administrative centre, while a castra was built on the site of the Celtic oppidum; the city of Basel grew around the castra. In AD 83, Basel was incorporated into the Roman province of Germania Superior. Roman control over the area deteriorated in the 3rd century, Basel became an outpost of the Provincia Maxima Sequanorum formed by Diocletian; the Germanic confederation of the Alemanni attempted to cross the Rhine several times in the 4th century, but were repelled.
However, in the great invasion of AD 406, the Alemanni appear to have crossed the Rhine river a final time and settling what is today Alsace and a large part of the Swiss Plateau. From that time, Basel has been an Alemannic settlement; the Duchy of Alemannia fell under Frankish rule in the 6th century, by the 7th century, the former bishopric of Augusta Raurica was re-established as the Bishopric of Basel. Based on the evidence of a third solidus with the inscription Basilia fit, Basel seems to have minted its own coins in the 7th century. Under bishop Haito, the first cathedral was built on the site of the Roman castle replaced by a Romanesque structure consecrated in 1019. At the partition of the Carolingian Empire, Basel was first given to West Francia, but it passed to East Francia with the treaty of Meerssen of 870; the city was plundered and destroyed by a Magyar invasion in 917. The rebuilt city became part of Upper Burgundy, as such was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in 1032.
From the donation by Rudolph III of Burgundy of the Moutier-Grandval Abbey and all its possessions to Bishop Adalbero II of Metz in 999 until the Reformation, Basel was ruled by prince-bishops. In 1019, the construction of the cathedral of Basel began under Holy Roman Emperor. In 1225–1226, a bridge, now known as the Middle Bridge, was constructed by Bishop Heinrich von Thun and Lesser Basel founded as a bridgehead to protect the bridge; the bridge was funded by Basel's Jewish community who had settled there a century earlier. For many centuries to come Basel possessed the only permanent bridge over the river "between Lake Constance and the sea"; the Bishop allowed the furriers to establish a guild in 1226. About 15 guilds were established in the 13th century, they increased the town's, hence the bishop's, reputation and income from the taxes and duties on goods in Basel's expanding market. The plague came to Europe in 1347, but did not reach Basel until June 1349. The
.jpg)
.jpg)
