1.
Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
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It is named in honour of two military saints, St Michael and St George. People are appointed to the Order rather than awarded it, British Ambassadors to foreign nations are regularly appointed as KCMGs or CMGs. It is the award for members of the FCO. The Orders motto is Auspicium melioris ævi and its patron saints, as the name suggests, are St. Michael the Archangel, and St. George, patron saint of England. One of its symbols is that of St Michael trampling over. The third of the aforementioned Orders—which relates to Ireland, no longer fully a part of the United Kingdom—still exists but is in disuse, the last of the Orders on the list, related to India, has also been in disuse since that countrys independence in 1947. In 1864, however, the protectorate ended and the Ionian Islands became a part of Greece, accordingly, numerous Governors-General and Governors feature as recipients of awards in the order. In 1965, the order was open for women, with Evelyn Bark becoming the first CMG, the British Sovereign is the Sovereign of the Order and appoints all other members of the Order. The next-most senior member is the Grand Master, the office was formerly filled by the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, now, however, Grand Masters are chosen by the Sovereign. Members of the Royal Family who are appointed to the Order do not count towards the limit, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, like many other heraldic officers. The Usher of the Order is known as the Gentleman Usher of the Blue Rod, he not, unlike his Order of the Garter equivalent. On the left side is a representation of the star, the mantle is bound with two large tassels. The collar, worn only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross, is made of gold and it consists of depictions of crowned lions, Maltese Crosses, and the cyphers SM and SG, all alternately. In the centre are two winged lions, each holding a book and seven arrows, at less important occasions, simpler insignia are used, The star is an insignia used only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross and Knights and Dames Commanders. It is worn pinned to the left breast, the Knight and Dame Grand Cross star includes seven-armed, silver-rayed Maltese Asterisk, with a gold ray in between each pair of arms. The Knight and Dame Commanders star is a slightly smaller eight-pointed silver figure formed by two Maltese Crosses, it does not include any gold rays, in each case, the star bears a red cross of St George. In the centre of the star is a blue ring bearing the motto of the Order. Within the ring is a representation of St Michael trampling on Satan, the badge is the only insignia used by all members of the Order, it is suspended on a blue-crimson-blue ribbon
Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
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Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
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St George and the Dragon by
Mattia Preti (1678).
Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
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On the Order's insignia, St Michael is often depicted subduing
Satan
Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
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Mantle of the Order.
2.
British Academy
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The British Academy is the United Kingdoms national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It receives a grant from the Department for Business, Innovation. In 2014/15 the British Academys total income was £33,100,000, including £27,000,000 from BIS. £32,900,000 was distributed during the year in grants, awards. The British Academy was established in 1902 and received its Royal Charter in the same year and it is now a fellowship of more than 900 leading scholars spanning all disciplines across the humanities and social sciences. The Academy is a self-governing and independent registered charity, based at 10–11 Carlton House Terrace in London, as a learned society, it seeks to foster and promote the full range of work that makes up the humanities and social sciences, including inter- and multi-disciplinary work. Until 1927–28 the Academy had no premises, then it moved to some rooms in No.6 Burlington Gardens. In 1968 it moved the short distance to Burlington House and it subsequently moved to headquarters near Regents Park. Then in 1998 the Academy moved to its present headquarters in Carlton House Terrace, overlooking St Jamess Park, the Terrace was designed by John Nash and built in the 1820s and 1830s. Number 10 was formerly the London residence of the Ridley family, in March 2010, the Academy embarked on a £2. 75m project to renovate and restore the public rooms in No. 11, following the departure of former tenant the Foreign Press Association, the work was completed in January 2011 and the new spaces include a new 150-seat Wolfson Auditorium are available for public hire. The history, problems and achievements of the Academy have been recorded in works by two of its Secretaries, Sir Frederic Kenyon’s volume of 37 pages covers the years up to 1951, Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s volume covers the years 1949 to 1968. Election as a Fellow of the British Academy recognises high scholarly distinction in the humanities or social sciences, fellows may use the letters FBA after their names. The British Academy channels substantial public funding support for individuals and organisations pursuing humanities and social sciences research and scholarship in the UK. In 2014/15, the Academy received around £30m to support research and researchers across the humanities, funds available to the Academy were invested in the following main areas, research career development, a portfolio of research grant opportunities, and international engagement. The demand and quality of applications submitted for Academy funding remains high and this year the Academy received around 3,600 applications and made 588 awards to scholars based in around 100 different universities across the UK – a success rate of 16%. The Academy also funds and coordinates a network of overseas institutes which provide local expertise, logistical support, as the UKs national voice for the humanities and social sciences, the British Academy seeks to promote and protect the interests and health of these disciplines and their research base. The Centre was established in October 2009 initially funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and it oversees a programme of activity engaging the expertise within the humanities and social sciences to shed light on policy issues. It produces substantive reports making recommendations on policy and practice
British Academy
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The British Academy's premises at 10–11
Carlton House Terrace
British Academy
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The British Academy's royal seal depicts the Greek muse
Clio. She was redrawn by designer and illustrator Debbie Cook in 2008.
British Academy
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Professor
Mary Beard, Fellow of the British Academy, filming in
Rome, Italy
British Academy
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Rowan Williams, Fellow of the British Academy
3.
Royal Historical Society
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The Royal Historical Society is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. The society was founded and received its Royal Charter in 1868, until 1872 it was known as the Historical Society. In 1897, it merged with the Camden Society, founded in 1838 and it is now based at University College London. In its origins, and for years afterwards, the society was effectively a gentlemens club. It now exists to promote historical research worldwide, representing historians engaged in professional research, the society provides a varied programme of lectures and one-day and two-day conferences covering various kinds of historical issues. It convenes in London and from time to time throughout the United Kingdom. The societys membership comprises honorary vice-presidents, fellows, corresponding fellows, members and its archives at Senate House include many records of international as well as British history. The society encourages, promotes and sponsors research, academic or otherwise. The society, in consultation with the Historical Association and with the History at Universities Defence Group, liaises with HM Government, historiography of the United Kingdom Camden Society Taylor Milne, Alexander. A Centenary Guide to the Publications of the Royal Historical Society 1868–1968, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks. Official website List of Presidents Bibliography of British and Irish History
Royal Historical Society
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Royal Historical Society emblem
4.
Bolton
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Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester in North West England. A former mill town, Bolton has been a centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th century, introducing a wool. The urbanisation and development of the town coincided with the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. The British cotton industry declined sharply after the First World War, close to the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is 10 miles northwest of Manchester. It is surrounded by smaller towns and villages that together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton. The town of Bolton has a population of 139,403, historically part of Lancashire, Bolton originated as a small settlement in the moorland known as Bolton le Moors. In the English Civil War, the town was a Parliamentarian outpost in a staunchly Royalist region, in what became known as the Bolton Massacre,1,600 residents were killed and 700 were taken prisoner. Football club Bolton Wanderers play home games at the Macron Stadium, Cultural interests include the Octagon Theatre and the Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, as well as one of the earliest public libraries established after the Public Libraries Act 1850. Bolton is a common Northern English name derived from the Old English bothl-tun, the first recorded use of the name, in the form Boelton, dates from 1185 to describe Bolton le Moors, though this may not be in relation to a dwelling. It was recorded as Bothelton in 1212, Botelton in 1257, Boulton in 1288, later forms of Botheltun were Bodeltown, Botheltun-le-Moors, Bowelton, Boltune, Bolton-super-Moras, Bolton-in-ye-Moors, Bolton-le-Moors. The towns motto of Supera Moras means overcome difficulties, and is a pun on the Bolton-super-Moras version of the meaning literally. A Bronze Age mound was excavated in Victorian times outside Haulgh Hall, the Romans built roads from Manchester to Ribchester to the east and a road along what is now the A6 to the west. It is claimed that Agricola built a fort at Blackrod by clearing land above the forest, evidence of a Saxon settlement exists in the form of religious objects found when the Victorian parish church was built. In 1067 Great Bolton was the property of Roger de Poitou and after 1100 and it became the property of the Pilkingtons who forfeited it in the Civil War and after that the Stanleys who became Earls of Derby. Great Bolton and Little Bolton were part of the Marsey fee, in 1212 Little Bolton was held by Roger de Bolton as plough-land, a charter to hold a market in Churchgate was granted on 14 December 1251 by King Henry III of England. Bolton became a town and borough by a charter from the Earl of Derby, William de Ferrers, on 14 January 1253. Burgage plots were laid out on Churchgate and Deansgate in the centre of the town close to where Ye Olde Man & Scythe public house. In 1337 Flemish weavers settled and introduced the manufacture of woollen cloth, more Flemish weavers, fleeing the Huguenot persecutions, settled here in the 17th century
Bolton
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Bolton Town Hall
Bolton
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Ye Olde Man & Scythe
Bolton
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Swan Lane Mills
Bolton
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A panoramic view of Bolton and environs from the north-west, taken from
Winter Hill.
5.
Lancashire
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Lancashire is a non-metropolitan ceremonial county in north west England. The county town is Lancaster although the administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300, people from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians. The history of Lancashire begins with its founding in the 12th century, in the Domesday Book of 1086, some of its lands were treated as part of Yorkshire. The land that lay between the Ribble and Mersey, Inter Ripam et Mersam, was included in the returns for Cheshire, when its boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. Lancashire emerged as a commercial and industrial region during the Industrial Revolution. Liverpool and Manchester grew into its largest cities, dominating global trade, the county contained several mill towns and the collieries of the Lancashire Coalfield. By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Colne, Darwen, Manchester, Nelson, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale and Wigan were major cotton mill towns during this time. Blackpool was a centre for tourism for the inhabitants of Lancashires mill towns, the detached northern part of Lancashire in the Lake District, including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, was merged with Cumberland and Westmorland to form Cumbria. Lancashire lost 709 square miles of land to other counties, about two fifths of its area, although it did gain some land from the West Riding of Yorkshire. Today the county borders Cumbria to the north, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south and North and West Yorkshire to the east, with a coastline on the Irish Sea to the west. The county palatine boundaries remain the same with the Duke of Lancaster exercising sovereignty rights, including the appointment of lords lieutenant in Greater Manchester, the county was established in 1182, later than many other counties. During Roman times the area was part of the Brigantes tribal area in the zone of Roman Britain. The towns of Manchester, Lancaster, Ribchester, Burrow, Elslack, in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal in 410AD the northern parts of the county probably formed part of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a successor entity to the Brigantes tribe. During the mid-8th century, the area was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, in the Domesday Book, land between the Ribble and Mersey were known as Inter Ripam et Mersam and included in the returns for Cheshire. Although some historians consider this to mean south Lancashire was then part of Cheshire and it is also claimed that the territory to the north formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire, the county was divided into hundreds, Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby. Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, the part north of the sands of Morecambe Bay including Furness and Cartmel
Lancashire
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John Speed 's map of the County Palatine of Lancaster, 1610
Lancashire
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The
Red Rose of Lancaster is the
county flower of Lancashire, and a common symbol for the county.
Lancashire
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Logo
Lancashire
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Lancashire County Hall, Preston
6.
Magdalen College, Oxford
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Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. As of 2014, the college had a financial endowment of £180.8 million. Magdalen stands next to the River Cherwell and has within its grounds a deer park and Addisons Walk. The large, square Magdalen Tower is an Oxford landmark, and it is a tradition, dating to the days of Henry VII, Magdalen College was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor. The founders statutes included provision for a foundation of men and boys. The college received another substantial endowment from the estate of Sir John Fastolf of Caister Castle in Norfolk, another unrelated college named Magdalen Hall adjacent to Magdalen College eventually became part of Hertford College. Magdalens prominence since the mid-20th century owes much to such famous fellows as C. S. Lewis and A. J. P. Taylor, women were first admitted to the college in 1979. In 2015, Magdalen topped Oxfords Norrington Table of college undergraduate examination results, the college has large grounds, close to the city centre. They stretch north and east from the college, and are most of the bounded by Longwall Street, the High Street. This large meadow occupies most of the north west of the grounds, from the New Buildings. During the winter and spring, it is the home of a herd of Fallow Deer and it is possible to view the meadow from the path between New Buildings and Grove Quad, and also from the archway in New Buildings. In the 16th century, long before the introduction of the deer, the grove consisted of gardens, orchards, during the Civil War, it was used to house a regiment of soldiers. At one point in the 19th century it was home to three traction engines belonging to the department of the college. By the 20th century it had become well-wooded with many large trees and this triangular meadow lies to the east of the college, bounded on all sides by the River Cherwell. In the spring, it is filled with the flower Fritillaria meleagris and these flowers grow in very few places, and have been recorded growing in the meadow since around 1785. Once the flowering has finished, the deer are moved in for the summer, in wet winters, some or all of the meadow may flood, as the meadow is lower lying than the surrounding path. All around the edge of the meadow is a tree-lined path and it is a beautiful and tranquil walk, favoured by students, dons, and visitors alike. It also links the college with Holywell Ford, and the Fellows Garden, located to the north east of the Meadow, directly behind the new building of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
Magdalen College, Oxford
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Colleges and
halls of the
University of Oxford Magdalen College
Magdalen College, Oxford
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Location of Magdalen College within central
Oxford Coordinates: 51°45′09″N 1°14′49″W / 51.752374°N 1.247077°W / 51.752374; -1.247077
Magdalen College, Oxford
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The deer in the Grove
Magdalen College, Oxford
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The Fellows' Garden
7.
University of Sussex
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The University of Sussex is a public research university situated in Falmer, near Brighton in Sussex. The university received its Royal Charter in August 1961, and was a member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities promoting excellence in research. Sussex counts three Nobel Prize winners,14 Fellows of the Royal Society, six Fellows of the British Academy, in the latest rankings, the university was placed 62nd in Europe and 140th in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015–16. The Guardian University Guide 2016 placed Sussex 19th in the United Kingdom, the 2015 Academic Ranking of World Universities placed the university within the top 18-21 in the United Kingdom and in the top 151-200 internationally. The University was established as a company in 1959, with a Royal Charter being granted on 16 August 1961, the Universitys organisation broke new ground in seeing the campus divided into Schools of Study, with students able to benefit from a multidisciplinary teaching environment. Sussex came to be identified with student radicalism, in 1973 a mob of students physically prevented United States government adviser Samuel P. Huntington from giving a speech on campus, due to his involvement in the Vietnam War. In an attempt to appeal to an audience, the university chose in 2004 to cease using its coat of arms. The then Vice-Chancellor of the University described the new identity as the starting point for what will be a fresh look. It is based on the vision and values, themselves a statement of what it aspires to be, pioneering, creative, international, excellent. Sussex has been noted to have an attractive location, the university is situated in undulating parkland on the edge of Brighton, and the campus architecture itself has been praised. The campus is surrounded by the South Downs National Park, but relatively close to Brighton, Hove, the campus, designed by Sir Basil Spence, is in the village of Falmer, next to its railway station, and accessed by car from the A27 road. It is situated close to the South Downs, which influenced Spences design of the campus, the campus is self-contained with facilities and shops. Spences designs were appreciated in the community, with many of the buildings on the Universitys campus winning awards. The gatehouse-inspired Falmer House won a medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Another campus building, The Meeting House, won the Civic Trust award in 1969, Sussex laid claim to being the only English university located entirely within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is now surrounded by the newly founded South Downs National Park. The Gardner Arts Centre, another of Basil Spences designs, was opened in 1969 as the first university campus arts centre. It had a 480-seat purpose built theatre, an art gallery and studio space and was regularly used for theatre
University of Sussex
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University of Sussex
University of Sussex
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A picture of Meeting House and Library Square
University of Sussex
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Essex House
University of Sussex
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Falmer House, home to the Students' Union.
8.
Jagiellonian University
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The Jagiellonian University is a research university in Kraków, Poland. Notable alumni include, among others, mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish king John III Sobieski, pope John Paul II, the campus of the Jagiellonian University is centrally located within the city of Kraków. The university consists of fifteen faculties — including the humanities, law, the natural and social sciences, the university employs roughly 4,000 academics, and has more than 40,000 students who study in some 80 disciplines. More than half of the student body are women, the language of instruction is usually Polish, although several degrees are offered in either German or English. The university library is one of Polands largest, and houses several medieval manuscripts, due to its history, the Jagiellonian University is traditionally considered Polands most reputable institution of higher learning — this standing equally being reflected in international rankings. The Jagiellonian University is a member of the Coimbra Group and Europaeum and his efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were rewarded when Pope Urban V granted him permission to set up a university in Kraków. A royal charter of foundation was issued on 12 May 1364, and it is believed that, in all likelihood, the construction of a building to house the Studium Generale began on Plac Wolnica in what is today the district of Kazimierz. After a period of disinterest and lack of funds, the institution was restored in the 1390s by King Władysław II Jagiełło and his wife Saint Hedwig, the Queen donated all of her personal jewelry to the university, allowing it to enroll 203 students. The university was the first university in Europe to establish independent chairs in Mathematics, during the second half of the 15th century, over 40 percent of students came from outside the Kingdom of Poland. The first chancellor of the University was Piotr Wysz, and the first professors were Czechs, Germans and Poles, by 1520 Greek philology was introduced by Constanzo Claretti and Wenzel von Hirschberg, Hebrew was also taught. At this time, the Collegium Maius comprised seven reading rooms, six of which were named for the ancient scholars, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Galen, Ptolemy. The librarys original rooms, in all books were chained to their cases in order to prevent theft, are no longer used as such. However, they are occasionally opened to host visiting lecturers talks. If the lecture halls underwent refurbishment they could be rented out to accommodate a laundry and this period thus represents one of the darkest periods in the universitys history and is almost certainly the one during which the closure of the institution seemed most imminent. After the third partition of Poland in 1795 and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars, Kraków became a city under the protection of the Austrian Empire. In 1846, after the Kraków Uprising, the city and its university became part of the Austrian Empire, however, the threat of closure of the University was ultimately dissipated by Kaiser Ferdinand I of Austrias decree to maintain it. By the 1870s the fortunes of the university had improved so greatly that many scholars had returned, the liquefaction of nitrogen and oxygen was successfully demonstrated by professors Zygmunt Wróblewski and Karol Olszewski in 1883. It was, conversely, from this building that in 1918 a large painting of Kaiser Franz Joseph was removed and destroyed by Polish students advocating the reestablishment of an independent Polish state
Jagiellonian University
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The founding of the University in 1364 AD, painted by
Jan Matejko (1838–1893).
Jagiellonian University
–
Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
–
The Collegium Maius dates from shortly after the university's establishment
Jagiellonian University
–
The main assembly hall of the university's Collegium Maius
9.
Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
–
The Order of the White Eagle is Polands highest decoration awarded to both civilians and the military for their merits. It was officially instituted on 1 November 1705 by Augustus II the Strong and bestowed on eight of his closest, diplomatic and it is awarded to the most distinguished Poles and the highest-ranking representatives of foreign countries. The Order of the White Eagle is attached to a blue ribbon slung over the shoulder to the right side. The star of the Order, once embroidered, is worn on the side of the chest. This was replaced by a Maltese cross in 1709, by 1713 it was worn from the neck, with a blue sash, and a star. Although Augustus the Strong limited the number of knights to seventy-two and his son, Augustus, however, awarded the Order more than three hundred times. Since the Order had no patron saint, Augustus II made 2 August the feast of the Order and his son, Augustus III, however, changed the Orders feast day to 3 August. After the third partitioning of Poland, in 1795, the Order was abolished, though it was renewed by 1807 and became the highest award of the Duchy of Warsaw and it remained in this form until the Russian Revolution of 1917, in which the Russian Empire fell. The Order of the White Eagle officially became Polands highest decoration by act of Parliament of 4 February 1921, after 1948, when the Peoples Republic of Poland came into existence, the Order of the White Eagle was no longer awarded, but it was never officially abolished. It was also used by the Polish Government in Exile, the first person to be awarded the White Eagle after its reinstatement was Pope John Paul II. The President of Poland is always the Grand Master of the Order, a larger longer ray between each arm of the cross and a smaller ray between each of the two points of these arms. In the centre of the cross was a white enamelled eagle in high relief with spread wings and facing left, the arms of this cross pattée bore the motto Pro Fide, Lege et Rege in golden letters. A white enamel crowned eagle with wings, facing left was superimposed on the cross. On its reverse side the double-headed eagle bore in the center of its back a diminutive red-bordered white-enamelled cross pattée with a rosette at its center gold rays between its arms. The black double-headed eagle hung by its two crowned heads from an enamelled Russian imperial crown, which, in turn, hung from a blue silk moire ribbon. The badge of the consists of a gold Maltese cross enamelled in red with white enamel outline. A white enamel crowned eagle with wings, facing left is superimposed on the cross. It is worn on a light blue sash
Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
–
Order of the White Eagle Order Orła Białego
Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
–
For the Serbian medal of the same name, see
Order of the White Eagle (Serbia).
10.
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
–
The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to those who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident abroad, as such it is sometimes referred to as a traditional diplomatic order. The order was established by the act dated April 10,1974 and it was awarded in five classes, Grand Cordon of the Order, Commandery with Star, Commandery, Gold Badge of the Order, and Silver Badge of the Order. It was awarded by the Polish Council of State, after the fall of communism in Poland in 1989, it was decided to retain the order, with necessary changes. Without a formal change of the 1974 act or the name of the order, under the act dated October 16,1992, the order was reestablished under the name Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. Under the 1992 act, the order is awarded to foreigners or Poles resident abroad for distinguished contribution to international cooperation or cooperation between Poland and other countries. It is awarded by the President of Poland. pl Named changed to ORDER OF MERIT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND at geocities. com/polishnobles/merit
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
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The Grand Cross of Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
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Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland ribbon
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
–
Sir
Edmund Hillary wearing the Commander's Cross in 2004
11.
European History
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The history of Europe covers the peoples inhabiting Europe from prehistory to the present. Some of the civilizations of prehistoric Europe were the Minoan and the Mycenaean. The period known as classical antiquity began with the emergence of the city-states of Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire came to dominate the entire Mediterranean basin. By 300 AD the Roman Empire was divided into the Western and Eastern empires, during the 4th and 5th centuries, the Germanic peoples of Northern Europe grew in strength, and repeated attacks led to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. AD476 traditionally marks the end of the period and the start of the Middle Ages. In Western Europe, Germanic peoples became more powerful in the remnants of the former Western Roman Empire and established kingdoms and empires of their own. Of all of the Germanic peoples, the Franks would rise to a position of hegemony over Western Europe, the British Isles were the site of several large-scale migrations. The Viking Age, a period of migrations of Scandinavian peoples, the Normans, a Viking people who settled in Northern France, had a significant impact on many parts of Europe, from the Norman conquest of England to Southern Italy and Sicily. The Rus people founded Kievan Rus, which evolved into Russia, after 1000 the Crusades were a series of religiously motivated military expeditions originally intended to bring the Levant back under Christian rule. The Crusaders opened trade routes which enabled the merchant republics of Genoa, the Reconquista, a related movement, worked to reconquer Iberia for Christendom. Eastern Europe in the High Middle Ages was dominated by the rise, led by Genghis Khan, the Mongols were a group of steppe nomads who established a decentralized empire which, at its height, extended from China in the east to the Black and Baltic Seas in Europe. The Late Middle Ages represented a period of upheaval in Europe, the epidemic known as the Black Death and an associated famine caused demographic catastrophe in Europe as the population plummeted. Dynastic struggles and wars of conquest kept many of the states of Europe at war for much of the period, in Scandinavia, the Kalmar Union dominated the political landscape, while England fought with Scotland in the Wars of Scottish Independence and with France in the Hundred Years War. Russia continued to expand southward and eastward into former Mongol lands, in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire overran Byzantine lands, culminating in the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, which historians mark as the end of the Middle Ages. Beginning in the 14th century in Florence and later spreading through Europe, the rediscovery of classical Greek and Roman knowledge had an enormous liberating effect on intellectuals. Simultaneously, the Protestant Reformation under German Martin Luther questioned Papal authority, henry VIII seized control of the English Church and its lands. The European religious wars between German and Spanish rulers, the Reconquista ended Muslim rule in Iberia. By the 1490s a series of oceanic explorations marked the Age of Discovery, establishing links with Africa, the Americas
European History
–
Europe depicted by
Antwerp cartographer
Abraham Ortelius in 1595
European History
–
A
Watt steam engine. The
steam engine, fuelled primarily by coal, propelled the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and the world.
European History
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Aurochs in
Palaeolithic cave paintings in
Lascaux, France.
European History
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The Treasury of
Atreus, or Tomb of Agamemnon in Mycenae 1250 BCE
12.
University College, London
–
University College London is a public research university in London, England, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the largest postgraduate institution in the UK by enrollment and is regarded as one of the worlds leading research universities. UCL also makes the claims of being the third-oldest university in England. In 1836 UCL became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London, which was granted a charter in the same year. UCL has its campus in the Bloomsbury area of central London, with a number of institutes and teaching hospitals elsewhere in central London. UCL is organised into 11 constituent faculties, within there are over 100 departments, institutes. In 2015/16, UCL had around 38,300 students and 12,000 staff and had an income of £1.36 billion. UCL ranks highly in national and international league tables and its graduates rank among the most employable in the world, UCL academics discovered five of the naturally occurring noble gases, co-discovered hormones, invented the vacuum tube, and made several foundational advances in modern statistics. There are at least 29 Nobel Prize winners and 3 Fields medalists amongst UCLs alumni and current, UCL was founded on 11 February 1826 under the name London University, as an alternative to the Anglican universities of Oxford and Cambridge. London Universitys first Warden was Leonard Horner, who was the first scientist to head a British university and this suggests that while his ideas may have been influential, he himself was less so. In 1827, the Chair of Political Economy at London University was created, with John Ramsay McCulloch as the first incumbent, in 1828 the university became the first in England to offer English as a subject and the teaching of Classics and medicine began. In 1830, London University founded the London University School, which would later become University College School, in 1833, the university appointed Alexander Maconochie, Secretary to the Royal Geographical Society, as the first professor of geography in the UK. In 1834, University College Hospital opened as a hospital for the universitys medical school. In 1836, London University was incorporated by charter under the name University College. The Slade School of Fine Art was founded as part of University College in 1871, in 1878, the University of London gained a supplemental charter making it the first British university to be allowed to award degrees to women. The same year, UCL admitted women to the faculties of Arts and Law and of Science, although women remained barred from the faculties of Engineering and of Medicine. Armstrong College, an institution of Newcastle University, also allowed women to enter from its foundation in 1871. Women were finally admitted to medical studies during the First World War in 1917, in 1898, Sir William Ramsay discovered the elements krypton, neon and xenon whilst professor of chemistry at UCL
University College, London
–
The London University as drawn by
Thomas Hosmer Shepherd and published in 1827–1828 (now the
UCL Main Building)
University College, London
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UCL logo since 2005
University College, London
–
Henry Tonks ' 1923 mural The Four Founders of UCL
University College, London
–
William Ramsay is regarded as the " father of noble gases ".
13.
Wolfson College, Oxford
–
Wolfson College /ˈwʊlfsən/ is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is a college with over sixty governing body fellows. It caters to a range of subjects, from the humanities to the social and natural sciences. The college is also Oxford Universitys most international and interdisciplinary graduate college, with students from 75 nationalities enrolled in masters, the college houses The Isaiah Berlin Literary Trust and the annual Isaiah Berlin Lecture. The current president of Wolfson College is Dame Hermione Lee, to be succeeded in Summer 2018 by Tim Hitchens, as of 2006, the college had a financial endowment of £33.5 million. Wolfsons first president Sir Isaiah Berlin, the political philosopher. The college began its existence with the name Iffley College, which offered a new community for students at Oxford. Twelve other colleges of the university provided grants to make the establishment of Iffley possible, as of 1965, the college had neither a president nor a building. S. Haldane and his family, as well as new buildings built around it, isaac Wolfson generously contributed to the foundation of the college. In recognition of his contribution the colleges name was changed to Wolfson College, but Berlins work as the president of the college was far from over. In Berlins words, the college would be new, untrammelled and unpyramided and they were a formidable team and ensured Berlins ideals were largely achieved. Wolfson is perhaps the most egalitarian college at Oxford, with few barriers between students and fellows, there is no high table, only one common room for all the members of the college, and gowns are worn only on special occasions. Graduate students serve on the governing body and participate in General Meetings. Berlins own prominence in the humanities helped attract many graduate students like Henry Hardy, interested in political philosophy, the college owns land on both sides of the River Cherwell and has a private footbridge bridge across the river. It has one of the most modern buildings of all the Oxford colleges, the construction of the main building of the college was completed in 1974. It was designed by the Powell and Moya Architects, one of the distinctive features of the grounds is the preservation of mature trees around and within the buildings. The main buildings and bridge were grade II listed in June 2011, the college also owns the adjacent house and orchard which is currently occupied by the Bishop of Oxford. The college library, which both the floors of one wing of the colleges main building, is open to members of the college
Wolfson College, Oxford
–
Colleges and
halls of the
University of Oxford Wolfson College
Wolfson College, Oxford
–
Forecourt and entrance.
Wolfson College, Oxford
–
Berlin quad.
Wolfson College, Oxford
–
Tree quad.
14.
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
–
It is named in honour of two military saints, St Michael and St George. People are appointed to the Order rather than awarded it, British Ambassadors to foreign nations are regularly appointed as KCMGs or CMGs. It is the award for members of the FCO. The Orders motto is Auspicium melioris ævi and its patron saints, as the name suggests, are St. Michael the Archangel, and St. George, patron saint of England. One of its symbols is that of St Michael trampling over. The third of the aforementioned Orders—which relates to Ireland, no longer fully a part of the United Kingdom—still exists but is in disuse, the last of the Orders on the list, related to India, has also been in disuse since that countrys independence in 1947. In 1864, however, the protectorate ended and the Ionian Islands became a part of Greece, accordingly, numerous Governors-General and Governors feature as recipients of awards in the order. In 1965, the order was open for women, with Evelyn Bark becoming the first CMG, the British Sovereign is the Sovereign of the Order and appoints all other members of the Order. The next-most senior member is the Grand Master, the office was formerly filled by the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, now, however, Grand Masters are chosen by the Sovereign. Members of the Royal Family who are appointed to the Order do not count towards the limit, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, like many other heraldic officers. The Usher of the Order is known as the Gentleman Usher of the Blue Rod, he not, unlike his Order of the Garter equivalent. On the left side is a representation of the star, the mantle is bound with two large tassels. The collar, worn only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross, is made of gold and it consists of depictions of crowned lions, Maltese Crosses, and the cyphers SM and SG, all alternately. In the centre are two winged lions, each holding a book and seven arrows, at less important occasions, simpler insignia are used, The star is an insignia used only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross and Knights and Dames Commanders. It is worn pinned to the left breast, the Knight and Dame Grand Cross star includes seven-armed, silver-rayed Maltese Asterisk, with a gold ray in between each pair of arms. The Knight and Dame Commanders star is a slightly smaller eight-pointed silver figure formed by two Maltese Crosses, it does not include any gold rays, in each case, the star bears a red cross of St George. In the centre of the star is a blue ring bearing the motto of the Order. Within the ring is a representation of St Michael trampling on Satan, the badge is the only insignia used by all members of the Order, it is suspended on a blue-crimson-blue ribbon
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
–
Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
–
St George and the Dragon by
Mattia Preti (1678).
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
–
On the Order's insignia, St Michael is often depicted subduing
Satan
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
–
Mantle of the Order.
15.
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
–
The Royal Historical Society is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. The society was founded and received its Royal Charter in 1868, until 1872 it was known as the Historical Society. In 1897, it merged with the Camden Society, founded in 1838 and it is now based at University College London. In its origins, and for years afterwards, the society was effectively a gentlemens club. It now exists to promote historical research worldwide, representing historians engaged in professional research, the society provides a varied programme of lectures and one-day and two-day conferences covering various kinds of historical issues. It convenes in London and from time to time throughout the United Kingdom. The societys membership comprises honorary vice-presidents, fellows, corresponding fellows, members and its archives at Senate House include many records of international as well as British history. The society encourages, promotes and sponsors research, academic or otherwise. The society, in consultation with the Historical Association and with the History at Universities Defence Group, liaises with HM Government, historiography of the United Kingdom Camden Society Taylor Milne, Alexander. A Centenary Guide to the Publications of the Royal Historical Society 1868–1968, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks. Official website List of Presidents Bibliography of British and Irish History
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
–
Royal Historical Society emblem
16.
History of Europe
–
The history of Europe covers the peoples inhabiting Europe from prehistory to the present. Some of the civilizations of prehistoric Europe were the Minoan and the Mycenaean. The period known as classical antiquity began with the emergence of the city-states of Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire came to dominate the entire Mediterranean basin. By 300 AD the Roman Empire was divided into the Western and Eastern empires, during the 4th and 5th centuries, the Germanic peoples of Northern Europe grew in strength, and repeated attacks led to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. AD476 traditionally marks the end of the period and the start of the Middle Ages. In Western Europe, Germanic peoples became more powerful in the remnants of the former Western Roman Empire and established kingdoms and empires of their own. Of all of the Germanic peoples, the Franks would rise to a position of hegemony over Western Europe, the British Isles were the site of several large-scale migrations. The Viking Age, a period of migrations of Scandinavian peoples, the Normans, a Viking people who settled in Northern France, had a significant impact on many parts of Europe, from the Norman conquest of England to Southern Italy and Sicily. The Rus people founded Kievan Rus, which evolved into Russia, after 1000 the Crusades were a series of religiously motivated military expeditions originally intended to bring the Levant back under Christian rule. The Crusaders opened trade routes which enabled the merchant republics of Genoa, the Reconquista, a related movement, worked to reconquer Iberia for Christendom. Eastern Europe in the High Middle Ages was dominated by the rise, led by Genghis Khan, the Mongols were a group of steppe nomads who established a decentralized empire which, at its height, extended from China in the east to the Black and Baltic Seas in Europe. The Late Middle Ages represented a period of upheaval in Europe, the epidemic known as the Black Death and an associated famine caused demographic catastrophe in Europe as the population plummeted. Dynastic struggles and wars of conquest kept many of the states of Europe at war for much of the period, in Scandinavia, the Kalmar Union dominated the political landscape, while England fought with Scotland in the Wars of Scottish Independence and with France in the Hundred Years War. Russia continued to expand southward and eastward into former Mongol lands, in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire overran Byzantine lands, culminating in the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, which historians mark as the end of the Middle Ages. Beginning in the 14th century in Florence and later spreading through Europe, the rediscovery of classical Greek and Roman knowledge had an enormous liberating effect on intellectuals. Simultaneously, the Protestant Reformation under German Martin Luther questioned Papal authority, henry VIII seized control of the English Church and its lands. The European religious wars between German and Spanish rulers, the Reconquista ended Muslim rule in Iberia. By the 1490s a series of oceanic explorations marked the Age of Discovery, establishing links with Africa, the Americas
History of Europe
–
Europe depicted by
Antwerp cartographer
Abraham Ortelius in 1595
History of Europe
–
A
Watt steam engine. The
steam engine, fuelled primarily by coal, propelled the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and the world.
History of Europe
–
Aurochs in
Palaeolithic cave paintings in
Lascaux, France.
History of Europe
–
The Treasury of
Atreus, or Tomb of Agamemnon in Mycenae 1250 BCE
17.
History of Poland
–
The history of Poland originates in the migrations of Slavs who established permanent settlements in the Polish lands during the Early Middle Ages. The first ruling dynasty, the Piasts, emerged by the 10th century AD, Duke Mieszko I is considered the de facto creator of the Polish state and is widely recognized for the widespread adoption of Western Christianity that followed his baptism in 966. The duchy of Poland that Mieszko ruled was formally reconstituted as a kingdom in 1025 by his son Bolesław I Chrobry. In its early phases, the Commonwealth was able to sustain the levels of prosperity achieved during the Jagiellonian period through its development of a sophisticated noble democracy. From the mid-17th century, however, the state entered a period of decline caused by devastating wars. From 1795 until 1918, no truly independent Polish state existed, the opportunity to regain independence only materialized after World War I, when the three partitioning imperial powers were fatally weakened in the wake of war and revolution. Millions of Polish citizens perished in the course of the Nazi occupation of Poland between 1939 and 1945 as Germany classified ethnic Poles and other Slavs, Jews and Romani as subhuman. This process resulted in the creation of the modern Polish state, members of the Homo genus have lived in north Central Europe for thousands of years since the last periods of prehistoric glaciation. The Neolithic period ushered in the Linear Pottery culture, whose founders migrated from the Danube River area beginning about 5,500 BC and this culture was distinguished by the establishment of the first settled agricultural communities in modern Polish territory. Later, between about 4,400 and 2,000 BC, the native post-Mesolithic populations would also adopt, Polands Early Bronze Age began around 2300–2400 BC, whereas its Iron Age commenced c. One of the cultures that have been uncovered, the Lusatian culture, spanned the Bronze and Iron Ages. Around 400 BC, Poland was settled by Celts of the La Tène culture and they were soon followed by emerging cultures with a strong Germanic component, influenced first by the Celts and then by the Roman Empire. The Germanic peoples migrated out of the area by about 500 AD during the great Migration Period of the European Dark Ages, wooded regions to the north and east were settled by Balts. According to mainstream archaeological research, Slavs have resided in modern Polish territories for over 1500 years, in the 9th and 10th centuries, these tribes gave rise to developed regions along the upper Vistula, the coast of the Baltic Sea and in Greater Poland. This latest tribal undertaking resulted in the formation of a political structure in the 10th century that became the state of Poland. Poland was established as a state under the Piast dynasty. Historical records of an official Polish state begin with Duke Mieszko I in the half of the 10th century. This event has become known as the baptism of Poland, Mieszko completed a unification of the West Slavic tribal lands that was fundamental to the new countrys existence
History of Poland
–
Reconstructed
Biskupin fortified settlement of the
Lusatian culture, 8th century BC
History of Poland
–
Władysław I the Elbow-high
History of Poland
–
An iconic representation of the
Battle of Grunwald, one of the great military contests of the
Late Middle Ages
History of Poland
–
King
Casimir IV Jagiellon was the central figure of the Jagiellonian period
18.
History of the United Kingdom
–
The history of the United Kingdom as a unified sovereign state began in 1707 with the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, into a united kingdom called Great Britain. Of this new state the historian Simon Schama said What began as a merger would end in a full partnership in the most powerful going concern in the world. It was one of the most astonishing transformations in European history, a further Act of Union in 1800 added the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The first decades were marked by Jacobite risings which ended with defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. In 1763, victory in the Seven Years War led to the dominance of the British Empire, as a result, the culture of the United Kingdom, and its industrial, political, constitutional, educational and linguistic influence, became worldwide. In 1922, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, most of Ireland seceded to become the Irish Free State, a day later, Northern Ireland seceded from the Free State and returned to the United Kingdom. As a result, in 1927 the United Kingdom changed its title to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, usually shortened to Britain. In the Second World War, in which the Soviet Union, Nationalist China, the cost was high and Britain no longer had the wealth to maintain an empire, so it granted independence to most of the Empire. The new states joined the Commonwealth of Nations. The United Kingdom has sought to be a member of the United Nations. Since the 1990s, however, large-scale devolution movements in Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Kingdom of Great Britain came into being on 1 May 1707, as a result of the political union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. The terms of the union had been negotiated the previous year, the parliaments of Scotland and of England then each ratified the treaty via respective Acts of Union. Slightly more than one-hundred years later, the Treaty of Union enabled the two kingdoms to be combined into a kingdom, merging the two parliaments into a single parliament of Great Britain. Queen Anne, who was reigning at the time of the union, had favoured deeper political integration between the two kingdoms and became the first monarch of Great Britain. Although now a single kingdom, certain aspects of the independent kingdoms remained separate. Scottish and English law remained separate, as did the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, England and Scotland also continued to each have its own system of education. The creation of Great Britain happened during the War of the Spanish Succession and his successor, Anne, continued the war. The Duke of Marlborough won a series of brilliant victories over the French, France was nearly brought to its knees by 1709, when King Louis XIV made a desperate appeal to the French people
History of the United Kingdom
–
A published version of the Articles of Union, agreement that led to the creation of the
Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707
History of the United Kingdom
–
George I in 1714, by Godfrey Kneller
History of the United Kingdom
–
Lord Clive meeting with
Mir Jafar after the
Battle of Plassey, by
Francis Hayman (c. 1762).
19.
Central Europe
–
Central Europe lies between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. The concept of Central Europe is based on a historical, social and cultural identity. Central Europe is going through a phase of strategic awakening, with such as the CEI, Centrope. While the regions economy shows high disparities with regard to income, elements of unity for Western and Central Europe were Roman Catholicism and Latin. According to Hungarian historian Jenő Szűcs, foundations of Central European history at the first millennium were in connection with Western European development. The keyword of Western social development after millennium was the spread of liberties and autonomies in Western Europe and these phenomena appeared in the middle of the 13th century in Central European countries. There were self-governments of towns, counties and parliaments, in 1335 under the rule of the King Charles I of Hungary, the castle of Visegrád, the seat of the Hungarian monarchs was the scene of the royal summit of the Kings of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. They agreed to cooperate closely in the field of politics and commerce, in the Middle Ages, countries in Central Europe adopted Magdeburg rights. Before 1870, the industrialization that had developed in Western and Central Europe, even in Eastern Europe, industrialization lagged far behind. Russia, for example, remained rural and agricultural. The concept of Central Europe was already known at the beginning of the 19th century, an example of that-time vision of Central Europe may be seen in J. Partsch’s book of 1903. On 21 January 1904, Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftsverein was established in Berlin with economic integration of Germany, another time, the term Central Europe became connected to the German plans of political, economic and cultural domination. The bible of the concept was Friedrich Naumann’s book Mitteleuropa in which he called for a federation to be established after the war. The concept failed after the German defeat in World War I, the revival of the idea may be observed during the Hitler era. According to Emmanuel de Martonne, in 1927 the Central European countries included, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, italy and Yugoslavia are not considered by the author to be Central European because they are located mostly outside Central Europe. The author use both Human and Physical Geographical features to define Central Europe, the interwar period brought new geopolitical system and economic and political problems, and the concept of Central Europe took a different character. The centre of interest was moved to its eastern part – the countries that have appeared on the map of Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, however, the conflict of interests was too big and neither Little Entente nor Intermarium ideas succeeded. The interwar period brought new elements to the concept of Central Europe, after the war, the Eastern part of Central Europe was placed at the centre of the concept
Central Europe
–
Certain and disputed borders of
Great Moravia under
Svatopluk I (AD 870–894)
Central Europe
–
Central Europe according to
The World Factbook (2009),
Encyclopædia Britannica, and
Brockhaus Enzyklopädie (1998)
Central Europe
–
Kingdom of Hungary in 1190
Central Europe
–
CE countries, Sourcebook of Central European Avant-Gardes 1910–1930 (L.A. County Museum of Art)
20.
Eastern Europe
–
Eastern Europe, also known as East Europe, is the eastern part of the European continent. There is no consensus on the area it covers, partly because the term has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, cultural. There are almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region, a related United Nations paper adds that every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct. One definition describes Eastern Europe as an entity, the region lying in Europe with main characteristics consisting in Byzantine, Orthodox. Another definition was created during the Cold War and used more or less synonymously with the term Eastern Bloc, a similar definition names the formerly communist European states outside the Soviet Union as Eastern Europe. Historians and social scientists generally view such definitions as outdated or relegating, several definitions of Eastern Europe exist today, but they often lack precision or are extremely general. These definitions vary both across cultures and among experts, even scientists, recently becoming more and more imprecise. The Ural Mountains, Ural River, and the Caucasus Mountains are the land border of the eastern edge of Europe. Eurovoc, a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union, provides entries for 23 EU languages, of these, those in italics are classified as Eastern Europe in this source. Other official web-pages of the European Union classify some of the countries as strictly Central European. The East–West Schism is the break of communion and theology between what are now the Eastern and Western churches which began in the 11th century and lasts until this very day and it divided Christianity in Europe, and consequently the world, into Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. Since the Great Schism of 1054, Europe has been divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in the West, and the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches in the east, due to this religious cleavage, Eastern Orthodox countries are often associated with Eastern Europe. A cleavage of this sort is, however, often problematic, for example, Greece is overwhelmingly Orthodox, the fall of the Iron Curtain brought the end of the East–West division in Europe, but this geopolitical concept is sometimes still used for quick reference by the media. The Baltic states have seats in the Nordic Council as observer states and they also are members of the Nordic-Baltic Eight whereas Eastern European countries formed their own alliance called the Visegrád Group. Estonia Latvia Lithuania The Caucasus nations may be included in the definitions of Eastern Europe, the extent of their geographic or political affiliation with Europe varies by country and source. All three states are members of the European Unions Eastern Partnership program and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, on 12 January 2002, the European Parliament noted that Armenia and Georgia may enter the EU in the future. Georgia — in modern geography, Georgia has been classified as part of Eastern Europe. Under the European Union’s geographic criteria, Georgia is viewed as part of Eastern Europe and is the only Caucasus country to be actively seeking EU membership and it is a member of Council of Europe and Eurocontrol
Eastern Europe
–
Division between the Eastern and Western Churches
Eastern Europe
–
Geographic features of Eastern Europe
21.
UNESCO
–
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. It is the heir of the League of Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members. Most of its offices are cluster offices covering three or more countries, national and regional offices also exist. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs, education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, on 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the work of predecessor organizations was largely interrupted by the onset of World War II. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States. This was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944, a prominent figure in the initiative for UNESCO was Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, and 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCOs Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place between 19 November to 10 December 1946, and elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General and this change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the CICI, in how member states would work together in the organizations fields of competence. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO claiming that some of the organizations publications amounted to interference in the racial problems. South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, UNESCOs early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, Haiti, started in 1947. This project was followed by missions to other countries, including, for example. In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory, in 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, Thailand, launched a global movement to provide basic education for all children, youths and adults. Ten years later, the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, UNESCOs early activities in culture included, for example, the Nubia Campaign, launched in 1960. The purpose of the campaign was to move the Great Temple of Abu Simbel to keep it from being swamped by the Nile after construction of the Aswan Dam, during the 20-year campaign,22 monuments and architectural complexes were relocated. This was the first and largest in a series of campaigns including Mohenjo-daro, Fes, Kathmandu, Borobudur, the organizations work on heritage led to the adoption, in 1972, of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The World Heritage Committee was established in 1976 and the first sites inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978, since then important legal instruments on cultural heritage and diversity have been adopted by UNESCO member states in 2003 and 2005
UNESCO
–
UNESCO offices in
Brasília
UNESCO
–
UNESCO
UNESCO
–
UNESCO Institute for Water Education in
Delft
UNESCO
–
The Garden of Peace, UNESCO headquarters, Paris. Donated by the Government of Japan, this garden was designed by American-Japanese sculptor artist Isamu Noguchi in 1958 and installed by Japanese gardener Toemon Sano.
22.
University College London
–
University College London is a public research university in London, England, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the largest postgraduate institution in the UK by enrollment and is regarded as one of the worlds leading research universities. UCL also makes the claims of being the third-oldest university in England. In 1836 UCL became one of the two founding colleges of the University of London, which was granted a charter in the same year. UCL has its campus in the Bloomsbury area of central London, with a number of institutes and teaching hospitals elsewhere in central London. UCL is organised into 11 constituent faculties, within there are over 100 departments, institutes. In 2015/16, UCL had around 38,300 students and 12,000 staff and had an income of £1.36 billion. UCL ranks highly in national and international league tables and its graduates rank among the most employable in the world, UCL academics discovered five of the naturally occurring noble gases, co-discovered hormones, invented the vacuum tube, and made several foundational advances in modern statistics. There are at least 29 Nobel Prize winners and 3 Fields medalists amongst UCLs alumni and current, UCL was founded on 11 February 1826 under the name London University, as an alternative to the Anglican universities of Oxford and Cambridge. London Universitys first Warden was Leonard Horner, who was the first scientist to head a British university and this suggests that while his ideas may have been influential, he himself was less so. In 1827, the Chair of Political Economy at London University was created, with John Ramsay McCulloch as the first incumbent, in 1828 the university became the first in England to offer English as a subject and the teaching of Classics and medicine began. In 1830, London University founded the London University School, which would later become University College School, in 1833, the university appointed Alexander Maconochie, Secretary to the Royal Geographical Society, as the first professor of geography in the UK. In 1834, University College Hospital opened as a hospital for the universitys medical school. In 1836, London University was incorporated by charter under the name University College. The Slade School of Fine Art was founded as part of University College in 1871, in 1878, the University of London gained a supplemental charter making it the first British university to be allowed to award degrees to women. The same year, UCL admitted women to the faculties of Arts and Law and of Science, although women remained barred from the faculties of Engineering and of Medicine. Armstrong College, an institution of Newcastle University, also allowed women to enter from its foundation in 1871. Women were finally admitted to medical studies during the First World War in 1917, in 1898, Sir William Ramsay discovered the elements krypton, neon and xenon whilst professor of chemistry at UCL
University College London
–
The London University as drawn by
Thomas Hosmer Shepherd and published in 1827–1828 (now the
UCL Main Building)
University College London
–
Henry Tonks ' 1923 mural The Four Founders of UCL
University College London
–
William Ramsay is regarded as the " father of noble gases ".
University College London
–
The Wilkins Building in 1956
23.
Wales
–
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
Wales
–
Bryn Celli Ddu, a late Neolithic chambered tomb on Anglesey
Wales
–
Flag
Wales
–
This article is about the country. For other uses, see
Wales (disambiguation).
Wales
–
Coin of
Magnus Maximus
24.
Grenoble
–
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère, the city advertises itself as the Capital of the Alps, due to its size and its proximity to the mountains. Grenobles history goes back more than 2,000 years, to a time when it was a small Gallic village, industrial development increased the prominence of Grenoble, through several periods of economic expansion over the last three centuries. The city has grown to be one of Europes most important research, technology, the population of the city of Grenoble was 160,215 at the 2013 census, while the population of the Grenoble metropolitan area was 664,832. The residents of the city are called Grenoblois, the many communes that make up the metropolitan area include three suburbs with populations exceeding 20,000, Saint-Martin-dHères, Échirolles, and Fontaine. For the ecclesiastical history, see Bishopric of Grenoble, the first references to Grenoble date back to 43 BC. Cularo was at time a little Gallic village founded by the Allobroges tribe near a bridge across the Isère River. Three centuries later and with insecurity rising in the late Roman empire, the Emperor Gratian visited Cularo and, touched by the peoples welcome, made the village a Roman city. In honour of this, Cularo was renamed Gratianopolis in 381, Christianity spread to the region during the 4th century, and the diocese of Grenoble was founded in 377 AD. From that time on, the bishops exercised significant political power over the city, until the French Revolution, they styled themselves the bishops and princes of Grenoble. Arletian rule was interrupted between 942 and 970 due to Arabic rule based in Fraxinet, Grenoble grew significantly in the 11th century when the Counts of Albon chose the city as the capital of their territories. At the time, their possessions were a patchwork of several territories sprawled across the region, the central position of Grenoble allowed the Counts to strengthen their authority. When they later took the title of Dauphins, Grenoble became the capital of the State of Dauphiné, despite their status, the Counts had to share authority over the city with the Bishop of Grenoble. One of the most famous of those was Saint Hugh, under his rule, the citys bridge was rebuilt, and both a regular hospital and a leper one were built. The inhabitants of Grenoble took advantage of the conflicts between the Counts and the bishops and obtained the recognition of a Charter of Customs that guaranteed their rights and that charter was confirmed by Kings Louis XI in 1447 and Francis I in 1541. In 1336 the last Dauphin Humbert II founded a court of justice, the Conseil delphinal and he also established the University of Grenoble in 1339. Aging and heirless, Humbert sold his state to France in 1349, the first one, the future Charles V, spent nine months in Grenoble. The city remained the capital of the Dauphiné, henceforth a province of France, the only Dauphin who really governed his province was Louis XI, whose reign lasted from 1447 to 1456
Grenoble
–
Remnants of the Roman Walls
Grenoble
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From upper left: Panorama of the city,
Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint-André, jardin de ville, banks of the Isère river
Grenoble
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François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières
Grenoble
–
The
day of the Tiles
25.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
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One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
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Flag
France
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The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
26.
A. J. P. Taylor
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Alan John Percivale Taylor was an English historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he well known to millions through his television lectures. His combination of academic rigour and popular appeal led the historian Richard Overy to describe him as the Macaulay of our age, Taylor was born in 1906 in Birkdale near Southport, which was then part of Lancashire. His wealthy parents held left-wing views, which he inherited, both his parents were pacifists who vocally opposed the First World War, and sent their son to Quaker schools as a way of protesting against the war. These schools included The Downs School at Colwall and Bootham School in York, geoffrey Barraclough, a contemporary at Bootham School, remembered Taylor as a most arresting, stimulating, vital personality, violently anti-bourgeois and anti-Christian. In 1924, he went to Oriel College, Oxford, to modern history. In the 1920s, Taylors mother, Constance, was a member of the Comintern while one of his uncles was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Taylor has mentioned in his reminiscences that his mother was domineering, Taylor had a close relationship with his father, and enjoyed his fathers quirkiness. After leaving, he was an ardent supporter of the Labour Party for the rest of his life, despite his break with the Communist Party, he visited the Soviet Union in 1925, and again in 1934. Taylor graduated from Oxford in 1927, after working briefly as a legal clerk, he began his post-graduate work, going to Vienna to study the impact of the Chartist movement on the Revolution of 1848. When this topic turned out not to be feasible, he switched to studying the question of Italian unification over a two-year period and this resulted in his first book, The Italian Problem in European Diplomacy, 1847–49 published in 1934. Taylor lectured in history at the University of Manchester from 1930 to 1938 and he became a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1938, a post he held until 1976. He also lectured in history at Oxford from 1938 to 1963. At Oxford he was such a popular speaker he had to give his lectures at 8,30 a. m. to avoid the room becoming over-crowded. An important step in Taylors rehabilitation was a festschrift organised in his honour by Martin Gilbert in 1965 and he was honoured with two more festschriften, in 1976 and 1986. The festschriften were testaments to his popularity with his students, as receiving even a single festschrift is considered to be an extraordinary. These friendships helped to enhance his understanding of the region and his friendship with Beneš and Károlyi may help explain his friendly portrayal of them, in particular Károlyi, whom Taylor portrayed as a saintly figure. During the same period, Taylor was employed by the Political Warfare Executive as an expert on Central Europe and frequently spoke on the radio, during the war, he lobbied for British recognition of Josip Broz Titos Partisans as the legitimate government of Yugoslavia
A. J. P. Taylor
–
Taylor in 1977
27.
University of Oxford
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The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university located in Oxford, England. It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris, after disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled north-east to Cambridge where they established what became the University of Cambridge. The two ancient universities are frequently referred to as Oxbridge. The university is made up of a variety of institutions, including 38 constituent colleges, All the colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. Being a city university, it not have a main campus, instead, its buildings. Oxford is the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the worlds oldest and most prestigious scholarships, the university operates the worlds oldest university museum, as well as the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system in Britain. Oxford has educated many notable alumni, including 28 Nobel laureates,27 Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, the University of Oxford has no known foundation date. Teaching at Oxford existed in form as early as 1096. It grew quickly in 1167 when English students returned from the University of Paris, the historian Gerald of Wales lectured to such scholars in 1188 and the first known foreign scholar, Emo of Friesland, arrived in 1190. The head of the university had the title of chancellor from at least 1201, the university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of King Henry III. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled from the violence to Cambridge, the students associated together on the basis of geographical origins, into two nations, representing the North and the South. In later centuries, geographical origins continued to many students affiliations when membership of a college or hall became customary in Oxford. At about the time, private benefactors established colleges as self-contained scholarly communities. Among the earliest such founders were William of Durham, who in 1249 endowed University College, thereafter, an increasing number of students lived in colleges rather than in halls and religious houses. In 1333–34, an attempt by some dissatisfied Oxford scholars to found a new university at Stamford, Lincolnshire was blocked by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge petitioning King Edward III. Thereafter, until the 1820s, no new universities were allowed to be founded in England, even in London, thus, Oxford and Cambridge had a duopoly, the new learning of the Renaissance greatly influenced Oxford from the late 15th century onwards. Among university scholars of the period were William Grocyn, who contributed to the revival of Greek language studies, and John Colet, the noted biblical scholar. With the English Reformation and the breaking of communion with the Roman Catholic Church, recusant scholars from Oxford fled to continental Europe, as a centre of learning and scholarship, Oxfords reputation declined in the Age of Enlightenment, enrolments fell and teaching was neglected
University of Oxford
–
Balliol College – one of the university's oldest constituent colleges
University of Oxford
–
University of Oxford
seal
University of Oxford
–
Aerial view of
Merton College 's
Mob Quad, the oldest
quadrangle of the university, constructed in the years from 1288 to 1378
University of Oxford
–
In 1605 Oxford was still a walled city, but several colleges had been built outside the city walls (north is at the bottom on this map)
28.
Perugia
–
Perugia is the capital city of both the region of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the river Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about 164 kilometres north of Rome and 148 km south-east of Florence and it covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. The region of Umbria is bordered by Tuscany, Lazio, the history of Perugia goes back to the Etruscan period, Perugia was one of the main Etruscan cities. Perugia is also a cultural and artistic centre of Italy. The famous painter Pietro Vannucci, nicknamed Perugino, was a native of Città della Pieve and he decorated the local Sala del Cambio with a beautiful series of frescoes, eight of his pictures can also be admired in the National Gallery of Umbria. Perugino was the teacher of Raphael, the great Renaissance artist who produced five paintings in Perugia, another famous painter, Pinturicchio, lived in Perugia. Galeazzo Alessi is the most famous architect from Perugia, the citys symbol is the griffin, which can be seen in the form of plaques and statues on buildings around the city. Perugia was an Umbrian settlement but first appears in history as Perusia, one of the 12 confederate cities of Etruria. Fabius Pictors account, utilized by Livy, of the carried out against the Etruscan League by Fabius Maximus Rullianus in 310 or 309 BC. At that time a thirty-year indutiae was agreed upon, however, in 295 Perusia took part in the Third Samnite War and was reduced, with Volsinii and Arretium, a number of lead bullets used by slingers have been found in and around the city. Negotiations with the besieging forces fell to the bishop, Herculanus. Totila is said to have ordered the bishop to be flayed and beheaded, st. Herculanus later became the citys patron saint. In the Lombard period Perugia is spoken of as one of the cities of Tuscia. Peter, acknowledged the validity of the statement and recognised the established civic practices as having the force of law. However this dominant tendency was rather an anti-Germanic and Italian political strategy, midway through the 14th century Bartholus of Sassoferrato, who was a renowned jurist, asserted that Perugia was dependent upon neither imperial nor papal support. Civic peace was constantly disturbed in the 14th century by struggles between the party representing the people and the nobles. A citadel known as the Rocca Paolina, after the name of Pope Paul III, was built, in 1797, the city was conquered by French troops. On 4 February 1798, the Tiberina Republic was formed, with Perugia as capital, in 1799, the Tiberina Republic merged to the Roman Republic
Perugia
–
Piazza IV Novembre
Perugia
–
View from Perugia, over a valley below.
Perugia
–
View of other hills around Perugia.
29.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
Italy
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering of ancient history.
Italy
–
Flag
Italy
–
The
Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the
Kings of Italy.
Italy
–
Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor
Frederick II,
UNESCO World Heritage site
