1.
Jan Matejko
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Jan Alojzy Matejko was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His works include oil on canvas paintings like Rejtan, Union of Lublin or Battle of Grunwald, numerous portraits, a gallery of Polish kings. He is counted among the most famous Polish painters, Matejko spent most of his life in Kraków. His teachers at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts included Wojciech Korneli Stattler, later, he became a director at this institution, which eventually was renamed the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts. A number of his students became prominent painters themselves, including Maurycy Gottlieb, Jacek Malczewski, Józef Mehoffer, Matejko was born on June 24,1838, in the Free City of Kraków. His father, Franciszek Ksawery Matejko, a Czech from the village of Roudnice, was a graduate of the Hradec Králové school who became a tutor. He first worked for the Wodzicki family in Kościelniki, Poland, then moved to Kraków, Jan was the ninth child of eleven that his parents had. He grew up in a building on Floriańska Street. After the death of his mother in 1845, Jan and his siblings were cared for by his maternal aunt, Anna Zamojska. At a young age he witnessed the Kraków revolution of 1846 and the 1848 siege of Kraków by the Austrians and his two older brothers served in them under General Józef Bem, one died and the other was forced into exile. He attended St. Anns High School, which he dropped out of in 1851 because of poor results, from his earliest days Matejko showed artistic talent, but he had great difficulty with other subjects. He never mastered a foreign language, despite that and because of his exceptional talent he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Kraków from 1852 to 1858. His teachers included Wojciech Korneli Stattler and Władysław Łuszczkiewicz and he selected historical painting as his specialization, and finished his first major work, Tsars Shuyski before Zygmunt III, in 1853. During this time, he began exhibiting paintings at the Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts. His seminal project for his graduation in 1858 was Sigismund I the Old ennobles the professors of the Jagiellonian University, following his graduation, Matejko received a scholarship to study under Hermann Anschütz at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich in 1859. Next year he received a scholarship to study at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, but after a few days. There he opened a studio at his house at Floriańska Street. It would however be years before he would gain success, for a time he was the proverbial starving artist
2.
Oil painting
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Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. Commonly used drying oils include linseed oil, poppy seed oil, walnut oil, the choice of oil imparts a range of properties to the oil paint, such as the amount of yellowing or drying time. Certain differences, depending on the oil, are visible in the sheen of the paints. An artist might use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular consistency depending on the medium, the oil may be boiled with a resin, such as pine resin or frankincense, to create a varnish prized for its body and gloss. Its practice may have migrated westward during the Middle Ages, Oil paint eventually became the principal medium used for creating artworks as its advantages became widely known. In recent years, water miscible oil paint has come to prominence and, to some extent, water-soluble paints contain an emulsifier that allows them to be thinned with water rather than paint thinner, and allows very fast drying times when compared with traditional oils. Traditional oil painting techniques often begin with the artist sketching the subject onto the canvas with charcoal or thinned paint, Oil paint is usually mixed with linseed oil, artist grade mineral spirits, or other solvents to make the paint thinner, faster or slower-drying. A basic rule of oil paint application is fat over lean and this means that each additional layer of paint should contain more oil than the layer below to allow proper drying. If each additional layer contains less oil, the painting will crack. This rule does not ensure permanence, it is the quality and type of oil leads to a strong. There are many media that can be used with the oil, including cold wax, resins. These aspects of the paint are closely related to the capacity of oil paint. Traditionally, paint was transferred to the surface using paintbrushes. Oil paint remains wet longer than other types of artists materials, enabling the artist to change the color. At times, the painter might even remove a layer of paint. This can be done with a rag and some turpentine for a time while the paint is wet, Oil paint dries by oxidation, not evaporation, and is usually dry to the touch within a span of two weeks. It is generally dry enough to be varnished in six months to a year, art conservators do not consider an oil painting completely dry until it is 60 to 80 years old
3.
Sukiennice Museum
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The Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art at Sukiennice, is a division of the National Museum, Kraków, Poland. The Gallery is housed on the floor of the Renaissance Sukiennice Cloth Hall in the center of the Main Market Square in Old Town Kraków. The Gallery holds the largest permanent exhibit of the 19th-century Polish painting and sculpture, the majority of today’s collection at Sukiennice comprises gifts from collectors, artists and their families. The new Museum elected Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts as its first director and it was a major cultural venue from the moment it opened. The collection grew rapidly under the partitions, with spontaneous donations pouring in from local gentry. By the late 1930s, the collections consisted of almost 300,000 items, the list of major benefactors grew exponentially bigger including many noble families. In 1920, the Museum acquired over 15,000 objects donated by a collector, Feliks Manggha Jasieński. The construction of the Museums contemporary New Main Building located at 3 Maja Street, all holdings ranging from antiquity to modern times were moved there. The Gallery was closed to visitors from October 2006 till 2009 for major renovations, the Gallery re-opened in 2010 with new technical equipment, storerooms, service spaces as well as improved thematic layout of the display, providing a broader view of Polish art of the time. The gallerys arrangement resembles that of a 19th-century salon, each of the four large exhibition halls is defined by historical period and the theme usually revolving around the one central painting extending into an entire artistic epoch. Other artists include Henryk Rodakowski, Jan Nepomucen Głowacki – father of Polish school of landscape painting, the exhibit revolves around the art of the late 19th century, mythological and biblical scenes, major historical events, independence themes, landscape, and still-life. Featured artists include Jan Matejko, Wojciech Gerson, Jacek Malczewski, Tadeusz Ajdukiewicz, as well as Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, Henryk Rodakowski, following major 2007 conservation the historical panorama Prussian Homage by Matejko is also prominently featured. Symbolism is represented by the art of Jacek Malczewski, Sukiennice National Museum in Kraków Culture of Kraków Media related to Sukiennice Museum at Wikimedia Commons Sukiennice Museum Home Page
4.
Polish language
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Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
5.
Austria-Hungary
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The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal, Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary was a state and one of the worlds great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as a state religion due to Bosnias Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I and it was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The realms full, official name was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship, one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, however, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government, the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and later in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna. The Hungarian government and Hungarian parliament were suspended after the Hungarian revolution of 1848, despite Austria and Hungary sharing a common currency, they were fiscally sovereign and independent entities. Since the beginnings of the union, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary could preserve its separated. After the revolution of 1848–1849, the Hungarian budget was amalgamated with the Austrian, from 1527 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs controls, which separated her from the other parts of the Habsburg-ruled territories
6.
Prussian Homage
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The Prussian Homage or Prussian Tribute was the formal investment of Albert of Prussia as duke of the Polish fief of Ducal Prussia. In the deal, partially brokered by Luther, the Duchy of Prussia became the first Protestant state, as a symbol of vassalage, Albert received a standard with the Prussian coat of arms from the Polish king. The black Prussian eagle on the flag was augmented with a letter S and had a crown placed around its neck as a symbol of submission to Poland, some Grand Masters refused to do so, claiming that the Teutonic Knights were under Papal sovereignty. Among those who refused were Martin Truchseß von Wetzhausen, Frederick of Saxony, the Duchy of Prussia was created in 1525, and the homage of Duke Albert of Prussia took place on April 10,1525 at Kraków. Last homage took place on October 6,1641 in front of the Warsaws Royal Castle, following the Treaty of Bromberg, Prussian rulers were no longer regarded as vassals of Polish kings. 19 July 1569 at a Sejm in Lublin, Duke Albert Frederick paid homage to King Sigismund II Augustus, studium historyczno-prawne, Kraków 1930, Marian Biskup, Geneza i znaczenie hołdu pruskiego 1525 r. Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie,1975, nr 4, Bogucka M. Hołd Pruski, Warszawa 1982, dwanaście rozdziałów jego historii, wyd. polskie, Warszawa 1998 Bogdan Wachowiak, Andrzej Kamieński Dzieje Brandenburgii-Prus. Na progu czasów nowożytnych ISBN 83-7177-195-9
7.
Renaissance in Poland
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The Renaissance in Poland lasted from the late 15th to the late 16th century and is widely considered to have been the Golden Age of Polish culture. Ruled by the Jagiellonian dynasty, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland actively participated in the broad European Renaissance, the Renaissance movement, whose influence originated in Italy, spread throughout Poland roughly in the 15th and 16th century. Most of them settled in Kraków, the Polish capital until 1611, the Renaissance values of the dignity of man and power of his reason were applauded in Poland. Many works were translated into Polish and Latin from classical Latin, Greek and Hebrew, the period of Polish Renaissance, supportive of intellectual pursuits, produced many outstanding artists and scientists. Among them were Nicolaus Copernicus who in his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium presented the theory of the universe, Maciej of Miechów. Young Poles, especially sons of nobility, who graduated from any one of over 2,500 parish schools, gymnasiums and several academies, often traveled abroad to complete their education. Poland not only partook in the exchange of cultural and scientific ideas and developments of Western Europe. The first four printed Cyrillic books in the world were published in Kraków, in 1491, incentives for development of art and architecture were many. Sigismunds zeal for Renaissance was matched not only by his son, Sigismund II Augustus, two largest contemporary Polish cities - Kraków and Gdańsk - likely gained the most in the era, but many other cities also spotted new Renaissance constructions. Renaissance painting was introduced in Poland by many immigrant artists, like Lucas Cranach, Hans Dürer and Hans von Kulmbach, the works of the portraitists created an impressive gallery, particularly representative of those who could afford to be immortalized in them. The centre of culture was the royal residence at Kraków. In 1540 by Jan of Lublin released the Tablature, in which he collected most known European organ pieces, Nicolaus Cracoviensis composed many masses, motets, songs, dances and preludes. Mikołaj Gomółka was the author of musical rendition of Kochanowskis poems, the most famous Polish composer was Wacław z Szamotuł, recognized as one of the outstanding Renaissance composers. The first printing press was set up in Kraków in 1473 by the German printer Kasper Straube of Bavaria, between 1561 and 1600, seventeen printing houses in Poland published over 120 titles a year, with an average edition of 500 copies. The first complete translation of the Bible into Polish was made in 1561 by Jan Leopolita, about that time, the first Polish orthographic dictionary was published, grammars and dictionaries also proliferated. The Polish Renaissance was bilingual, the speech being a mixture of Polish and Latin, and various authors oscillating among Polish, Latin. Literature has progressed beyond being dominated by religious themes and they were still present, as seen in numerous bible translations, the most famous being the Wujeks Bible by Jakub Wujek, published in 1599. The nobility, however, cared about more than just religious themes, contemporary poetry extolled the virtue of manorial life
8.
Albert, Duke of Prussia
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Albert was the first European ruler to establish Lutheranism, and thus Protestantism, as the official state religion of his lands. He proved instrumental in the spread of Protestantism in its early stage. That arrangement was confirmed by the Treaty of Kraków in 1525, Albert pledged a personal oath to the King and in return was invested with the duchy for himself and his heirs. Alberts rule in Prussia was fairly prosperous, Albert established schools in every town and founded Königsberg University in 1544. He promoted culture and arts, patronising the works of Erasmus Reinhold, during the final years of his rule, Albert was forced to raise taxes instead of further confiscating now-depleted church lands, causing peasant rebellion. The intrigues of the court favourites Johann Funck and Paul Skalić also led to various religious, Albert spent his final years virtually deprived of power and died at Tapiau on 20 March 1568. His son, Albert Frederick, succeeded him as Duke of Prussia, Alberts dissolution of the Teutonic State caused the founding of the Duchy of Prussia, paving the way for the rise of the House of Hohenzollern. He is therefore seen as the father of the Prussian nation. Albert was born in Ansbach in Franconia as the son of Frederick I. His mother was Sophia, daughter of Casimir IV Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, and his wife Elisabeth of Austria. He was raised for a career in the Church and spent some time at the court of Hermann IV of Hesse, Elector of Cologne, who appointed him canon of the Cologne Cathedral. Not only was he quite religious, he was interested in mathematics and science. His career was forwarded by the Church, however, and institutions of the Catholic clerics supported his early advancement, turning to a more active life, Albert accompanied Emperor Maximilian I to Italy in 1508 and after his return spent some time in the Kingdom of Hungary. Duke Frederick of Saxony, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, the new Grand Master, aware of his duties to the empire and to the papacy, refused to submit to the crown of Poland. As war over the orders existence appeared inevitable, Albert made strenuous efforts to secure allies, the ill-feeling, influenced by the ravages of members of the Order in Poland, culminated in a war which began in December 1519 and devastated Prussia. Albert was granted a four-year truce early in 1521, the dispute was referred to Emperor Charles V and other princes, but as no settlement was reached Albert continued his efforts to obtain help in view of a renewal of the war. For this purpose he visited the Diet of Nuremberg in 1522, the Grand Master then journeyed to Wittenberg, where he was advised by Martin Luther to abandon the rules of his order, to marry, and to convert Prussia into a hereditary duchy for himself. The Estates of the land then met at Königsberg and took the oath of allegiance to the new duke and this transition did not, however, take place without protest
9.
Prussia
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Prussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and centred on the region of Prussia. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised, Prussia, with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin, shaped the history of Germany. In 1871, German states united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership, in November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918–19. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, from 1933, Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup, when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state. Prussia existed de jure until its liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No.46 of 25 February 1947. The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights—an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders—conquered the lands inhabited by them. In 1308, the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk and their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The Second Peace of Thorn split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom, and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century it had a say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great. During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a Lesser Germany which excluded the Austrian Empire. At the Congress of Vienna, which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleons defeat, Prussia acquired a section of north western Germany. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became the core of the North German Confederation in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that Junkers and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians. In the Weimar Republic, the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland, the main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. The black and white colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a cross with gold insert
10.
Sigismund I the Old
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Sigismund I of Poland, of the Jagiellon dynasty, reigned as King of Poland and also as the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until 1548. Earlier, Sigismund had been invested as Duke of Silesia, Sigismund I, the fifth son of Casimir IV and Elisabeth of Habsburg, had ruled Głogów, Silesia, since 1499 and became margrave of Lusatia and governor of all Silesia in 1504. In a short time his judicial and administrative reforms transformed those territories into model states and he succeeded his brother Alexander I as grand prince of Lithuania and king of Poland in 1506. Although he established fiscal and monetary reforms, he clashed with the Polish Diet over extensions of royal power. At the Diet’s demand he married Barbara, daughter of Prince Stephen Zápolya of Hungary, in 1512, to secure a defense treaty and she died three years later, however, leaving only daughters. In 1518 Sigismund married the niece of the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian, Bona Sforza of Milan, by whom he had one son, Sigismund II Augustus and his daughter Catherine later married John III of Sweden, from whom the Vasa kings of Poland were descended. In 1521 Sigismund made peace with his nephew Albert, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Sigismund added the duchy of Mazovia to the Polish state after the death, in 1529, of the last of its Piast dynasty rulers. Again under the command of Tarnowski, Sigismund’s army defeated the forces of Moldavia at Obertyn in 1531 and Muscovy in 1535. Sigismund, influenced by his wife, brought Italian artists to Kraków, although a devout Catholic, he accorded religious toleration to Greek Orthodox Christians and royal protection to Jews. At first he vigorously opposed Lutheranism but later resigned himself to its power in Poland. Sigismund I was a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the son of King Casimir IV Jagiellon and Elisabeth of Austria, Sigismund followed his brothers John I of Poland and Alexander I of Poland to the Polish throne. Their elder brother Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary became king of Hungary, Sigismund was christened as the namesake of his mothers maternal grandfather, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, who had died in 1437. After his fathers death, Sigismund was the son who did not hold any land titles. In the years 1495-1496, he addressed his older brother, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander, and demanded the separation of a domain from the Lithuanian Duchy, Queen Dowager Elisabeth Habsburg also tried without success to ensure the succession of her son to the throne of Austria. Also, the disastrous and unsuccessful invasion of Bukovina led by his oldest brother King John I Albert dispelled the plans for placing Sigismund on the Moldavian throne. Eventually Sigismund came under the care of Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia and Hungary, from whom he received the duchy of Głogów and Opava and in 1504 became governor of Silesia and Lower Lusatia. On 8 December 1506, during the session of the Polish Senate in Piotrków and he arrived in Kraków on 20 January 1507 and was crowned four days later in Wawel Cathedral by Primate Andrzej Boryszewski. The internal situation in Poland was characterised by broad authorisation of the Chamber of Deputies, during Alexanders reign, the law of Nihil novi had been instituted, which forbade kings of Poland from enacting laws without the consent of the Sejm
11.
History of Poland
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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
12.
Culture of Poland
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The culture of Poland is closely connected with its intricate thousand-year history. Its unique character developed as a result of its geography at the confluence of various European regions, the people of Poland have traditionally been seen as hospitable to artists from abroad and eager to follow cultural and artistic trends popular in other countries. In the 19th and 20th centuries the Polish focus on cultural advancement often took precedence over political and these factors have contributed to the versatile nature of Polish art, with all its complex nuances. Nowadays, Poland is a developed country that retains its traditions. Cultural history of Poland can be traced back to the Middle Ages, Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which corresponds to the Latin alphabet with several additions, despite the pressure of non-Polish administrations in Poland, who have often attempted to suppress the Polish language, a rich literature has developed over the centuries. The language is currently the largest, in speakers, of the West Slavic group and it is the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian and ahead of Ukrainian. Polish is mainly spoken in Poland, Poland is one of the most linguistically homogeneous European countries, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their mother tongue. The history of philosophy in Poland parallels the evolution of philosophy in Europe in general, Polish philosophy drew upon the broader currents of European philosophy, and in turn contributed to their growth. The period of Messianism, between the November 1830 and January 1863 Uprisings, reflected European Romantic and Idealist trends, as well as a Polish yearning for political resurrection and it was a period of maximalist metaphysical systems. The collapse of the January 1863 Uprising prompted an agonizing reappraisal of Polands situation, Poles gave up their earlier practice of measuring their goals by their aspirations and buckled down to hard work and study. The twentieth century brought a new quickening to Polish philosophy, there was growing interest in western philosophical currents. Rigorously trained Polish philosophers made substantial contributions to specialized fields—to psychology, the history of philosophy, the theory of knowledge, Jan Łukasiewicz gained world fame with his concept of many-valued logic and his Polish notation. Alfred Tarskis work in truth theory won him world renown, the phenomenologist Roman Ingarden did influential work in esthetics and in a Husserl-style metaphysics, his student Karol Wojtyła acquired a unique influence on the world stage as Pope John Paul II. Polish foods include kiełbasa, pierogi, pyzy, kopytka, gołąbki, śledzie, bigos, schabowy, Oscypek and much more. In the Middle Ages, as the cities of Poland grew larger in size and the food markets developed, some regions became well known for the type of sausage they made and many sausages of today still carry those original names. The peasants acknowledged their honorable judgment, allowing them to maintain nourished for longer periods of time, the most important drink is vodka. The worlds first written mention of the drink was in 1405 in Akta Grodzkie, at the time, the word vodka, referred to chemical compounds such as medicines and cosmetics cleansers, while the popular beverage was called gorzałka, which is also the source of Ukrainian horilka
13.
Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
14.
Partitions of Poland
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The First Partition of Poland was decided on August 5,1772. Two decades later, Russian and Prussian troops entered the Commonwealth again, Austria did not participate in the Second Partition. The Third Partition of Poland took place on October 24,1795, with this partition, the Commonwealth ceased to exist. In Polish, there are two words for the two meanings. In Polish historiography, the term Fourth Partition of Poland has also been used, the term Fourth Partition in a temporal sense can also mean the diaspora communities that played important political role in re-establishing the Polish sovereign state after 1918. A single member of parliaments belief that a measure was injurious to his own constituency, even after the act had been approved and it became increasingly difficult to undertake action. The liberum veto also provided openings for foreign diplomats to get their ways and this applies particularly to the last Commonwealth King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who for some time had been a lover of Russian Empress Catherine the Great. Their alliance later became known in Poland as the Alliance of the Three Black Eagles, the Commonwealth could never be liquidated unless its long-time ally, Austria, allowed it, so Catherine had to use diplomacy to win Austria to her side. Frederick II retaliated by ordering enough Polish currency counterfeited to severely affect the Polish economy and this new constitution undid the reforms made in 1764 under Stanisław II. The liberum veto and all the old abuses of the last one, the irregular and poorly commanded Polish forces had little chance in the face of the regular Russian army and suffered a major defeat. In 1769 Austria annexed a small territory of Spisz and in 1770 – Nowy Sącz and these territories had been a bone of contention between Poland and Hungary, which was a part of the Austrian crown lands. In February 1772, the agreement of partition was signed in Vienna, early in August, Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously invaded the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. The partition treaty was ratified by its signatories on September 22,1772, to Austria fell Zator and Auschwitz, part of Lesser Poland embracing parts of the counties of Kraków and Sandomir and the whole of Galicia, less the city of Kraków. Catherine of Russia was also very satisfied, by this diplomatic document Russia came into possession of that section of Livonia that had remained in Commonwealth control, and of Belarus embracing the counties of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl. By this partition, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of its territory and half of its population, by seizing northwestern Poland, Prussia instantly gained control over 80% of the Commonwealths total foreign trade. Through levying enormous customs duties, Prussia accelerated the collapse of the Commonwealth, after having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King Stanisław and the Sejm approve their action. By 1790 the First Polish Republic had been weakened to such a degree that it was forced into an unnatural and terminal alliance with its enemy, the Polish–Prussian Pact of 1790 was signed. The conditions of the Pact contributed to the succeeding and final two partitions of Poland–Lithuania, the May Constitution of 1791 enfranchised the bourgeoisie, established the separation of the three branches of government, and eliminated the abuses of the Repnin Sejm
15.
Christmas Eve
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Christmas Eve is the day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas Day, together, both days are considered one of the most culturally significant celebrations in Christendom and Western society. Many churches still ring their bells and hold prayers in the evening, for example. Since tradition holds that Jesus was born at night, Midnight Mass is celebrated on Christmas Eve, traditionally at midnight, roman Catholics and high church Anglicans traditionally celebrate Midnight Mass, which begins either at or sometime before midnight on Christmas Eve. This ceremony, which is held in churches throughout the world, celebrates the birth of Christ, Midnight Mass is popular in Poland. In recent years churches have scheduled their Midnight Mass as early as 7 pm. In Spanish-speaking areas, the Midnight Mass is sometimes referred to as Misa de Gallo, in the Philippines, the custom has expanded into the nine-day Simbang Gabi, when Filipinos attend dawn Masses from 16 December, continuing daily until Christmas Eve. In 2009 Vatican officials scheduled the Midnight Mass to start at 10 pm so that the 82-year-old Pope Benedict XVI would not have too late a night. Whilst it does not include any kind of Mass, the Church of Scotland has a service beginning just before midnight, the Church of Scotland no longer holds Hogmanay services on New Years Eve, however. The Christmas Eve Services are still very popular, on Christmas Eve, the Christ Candle in the center of the Advent wreath is traditionally lit in many church services. In candlelight services, while singing Silent Night, each member of the congregation receives a candle, lutherans traditionally practice Christmas Eve Eucharistic traditions typical of Germany and Scandinavia. Krippenspiele, special music for organ, vocal and brass choirs. A nativity scene may be erected indoors or outdoors, and is composed of figurines depicting the infant Jesus resting in a manger, Mary, other figures in the scene may include angels, shepherds, and various animals. The figures may be made of any material, and arranged in a stable or grotto, the Magi may also appear, and are sometimes not placed in the scene until the week following Christmas to account for their travel time to Bethlehem. While most home nativity scenes are packed away at Christmas or shortly thereafter, Christmas Vespers are popular in the early evening, and midnight services are also widespread in regions which are predominantly Lutheran. The old Lutheran tradition of a Christmas Vigil in the morning hours of Christmas Day can still be found in some regions. Methodists celebrate the evening in different ways, some, in the early evening, come to their church to celebrate Holy Communion with their families. The mood is very solemn, and the visible light is the Advent Wreath
16.
Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria
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It existed from 1861 until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918. The multi-ethnic nature of the Kingdom resulted in the diet having multiple different names, in German, the lingua franca of Cisleithania, it was called Landtag von Galizien und Lodomerien, meaning Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria. In Polish, it was called either Sejm krajowy, meaning Sejm of the Land, or sejm lwowski, in Ukrainian, it was called Га́лицький крайови́й сейм, transcribed Hálytsʹkyy krayovýy seym, meaning Sejm of Galicia. Landtag is a German word that means regional assembly, or diet, in Polish and Ukrainian, the word used was Sejm. Parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Lesser Poland territories were included in the Austrian partition as early as the First Partition of Poland in 1772. From about 1775 to 1848, with gaps, the crown land of Galicia had a relatively powerless parliamentary body, known originally as the Postulate Sejm. The Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria, which was formed in 1861 following the promulgation of the October Diploma by Emperor Franz Joseph I, had real power than its predecessors. In Polish parliamentary tradition, it is considered to have continued the history of the sejm and regional sejmiks on the lands of Lesser Poland. The Diet was initially dominated by Polish nobles, but in time, another notable change over time included the emergence of a Ruthenian bloc, changing the balance of power within the body. The leader of the Polish peasant movement in the Second Polish Republic, Wincenty Witos, gained his experience in the Diet, similarly, the National Democrats, and the Polish socialists, had their political blocs in the diet around that time. As established by the February Patent of 1861, the Diet was unicameral, all but nine were elected by four different Curiae, or assemblies of the social classes. An electoral system based on curiae was also used in the Imperial Council of Cisleithania and these electors had the right to elect forty-four deputies to the Diet. The Curia of the Chambers of Commerce consisted of thirty-nine electors from the chambers of commerce in Lemberg, Kraków and these electors had the right to elect three deputies, one from each citys chamber of commerce. The Curia of the Cities consisted of 2264 electors from important cities, electors usually were members of the clergy, office workers, doctors, teachers at the high schools, and directors of primary schools. These electors had the right to elect deputies to the Diet. The Curia of Other Municipalities consisted of 8764 electors from amongst small-scale rural landowners, there were two stages of voting for this curia. These voters elected the electors, who then elected seventy-four deputies to the Diet, nine deputies sat ex officio, two chancellors of universities, and seven archbishops and bishops. The initial nine were composed of three Greek Catholic bishops, three Roman Catholic bishops, and one Armenian Catholic bishop, along with representatives of Lemberg University and Kraków University
17.
Lviv
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Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine and the seventh largest city in the country overall, is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine. Named in honor of the Leo, the eldest son of Rus King Daniel of Galicia. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia from 1272 to 1349, from 1434, it was the regional capital of the Ruthenian Voivodeship in the Kingdom of Poland and was known as Lwów. In 1772, after the First partition of Poland, the city became the capital of the Habsburg Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and was renamed to Lemberg, in 1918 in a short time was the capital of the West Ukrainian Peoples Republic. Between the wars, the city was again as Lwów and was the centre of the Lwów Voivodeship in the Second Polish Republic. After World War II, it part of the Soviet Union. Administratively, Lviv serves as the center of Lviv Oblast and has the status of city of oblast significance. Lviv was the centre of the region of Galicia. The historical heart of the city, with its old buildings and cobblestone streets, survived Soviet, the city has many industries and institutions of higher education such as Lviv University and Lviv Polytechnic. Lviv is also the home of many cultural institutions, including a philharmonic orchestra. The historic city centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, Lviv celebrated its 750th anniversary with a son et lumière in the center of the city in September 2006. Lviv is located on the edge of the Roztochia Upland, approximately 70 kilometers from the Polish border and 160 kilometers from the eastern Carpathian Mountains, the average altitude of Lviv is 296 meters above sea level. Its highest point is the Vysokyi Zamok,409 meters above sea level and this castle has a commanding view of the historic city centre with its distinctive green-domed churches and intricate architecture. The old walled city was at the foothills of the High Castle on the banks of the River Poltva, in the 13th century, the river was used to transport goods. Lvivs climate is continental with cold winters and mild summers. The average temperatures are −3.1 °C in January and 18.3 °C in July, the average annual rainfall is 745 mm with the maximum being in summer. Lviv approximately receives 1,804 hours of sunshine annually, archaeologists have demonstrated that the Lviv area was settled by the 5th century. The area between the Castle Hill and the river Poltva was continuously settled since the 9th century, in 1977 it was discovered that the Orthodox church of St. Nicholas had been built on a previously functioning cemetery
18.
Wawel Castle
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The Wawel Castle is a castle residency built at the behest of King Casimir III the Great, who reigned from 1333 to 1370, and consists of a number of structures situated around the central courtyard. In the 14th century it was rebuilt by Jogaila and Jadwiga of Poland and their reign saw the addition of the tower called the Hens Foot and the Danish Tower. The Jadwiga and Jogaila Chamber, in which the sword Szczerbiec, was used in ceremonies, is exhibited today and is another remnant of this period. Other structures were developed on the hill during that time as well, in order to serve as quarters for the clergy, royal clerks. Defensive walls and towers such as Jordanka, Lubranka, Sandomierska, Tęczyńska, Szlachecka, Złodziejska and Panieńska were erected in the same period, the Wawel Royal Castle and the Wawel Hill constitute the most historically and culturally important site in Poland. For centuries the residence of the kings of Poland and the symbol of Polish statehood, the museum’s holdings in oriental art include the largest collection of Ottoman tents in Europe. With seven specialized conservation studios, the museum is also an important center for the conservation of works of art, people have lived on Wawel Hill at the site of the Castle as early as fifty thousand years ago, in the Paleolithic Age. The settlement was apparently bustling with trade, assorted crafts and local farming, when more people began to settle down on the Wawel Hill and when trade became more efficient, the rulers of Poland took up their residence at the Hill as well. It soon became a paragon of stately residence in Central and Eastern Europe, in the fire of 1595, the northeast part of the castle burned down. King Sigismund III Vasa rebuilt it, although of his efforts only the Senator Stairs, in 1609 King Sigismund moved the capital to Warsaw, and tough times for Wawel began. Both the castle and other buildings were neglected despite the concerns of local governors, the Swedish invasions of 1655–1657 and 1702 contributed to the further deterioration of the castle. The Hill was occupied by the Prussian Army in 1794, Royal Insignia were stolen and never retrieved. After the Third Partition of Poland Wawel, as an important defensive point, was mostly demolished, the interior of the castle was changed and some of the buildings pulled down. In the second part of the 19th century the Austrians redesigned the defensive walls making them a part of a stronghold, however, in 1905 the emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria gave an order for Austrian troops to leave Wawel. Restoration works began, with the discovery of the Rotunda of Virgin Mary as well as relics of the past. The renovations of the Wawel Hill were financed by public subscriptions, in 1921 the Polish Parliament passed a resolution which gave Wawel official status as the residence of the President of Poland. Following the ravages of World War II, by the decree of the State National Council, Wawel Castle became a national museum. Located in its own niche over the corner of the main entrance, it is a visual tribute to Chicagos large Polish populace
19.
Warsaw
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Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland, roughly 260 kilometres from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.750 million residents within a metropolitan area of 3.101 million residents. The city limits cover 516.9 square kilometres, while the area covers 6,100.43 square kilometres. Once described as Paris of the East, Warsaw was believed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world until World War II. On 9 November 1939, the city was awarded Polands highest military decoration for heroism, Warsaw is one of Europe’s most dynamic metropolitan cities. In 2012 the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Warsaw as the 32nd most liveable city in the world, in 2017 the city came 4th in the “Business-friendly” category and 8th in the “Human capital and life style”. It was also ranked as one of the most liveable cities in Central, Warsaw is considered an Alpha– global city, a major international tourist destination and a significant cultural, political and economic hub. The city is a significant centre of research and development, BPO, ITO, the Warsaw Stock Exchange is the largest and most important in Central and Eastern Europe. Frontex, the European Union agency for external security, has its headquarters in Warsaw. Together with Frankfurt, London and Paris, Warsaw is also one of the cities with the highest number of skyscrapers in the European Union, the city is the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of Warsaw. The historic city-centre of Warsaw with its picturesque Old Town in 1980 was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, buildings represent examples of nearly every European architectural style and historical period. Warsaw provides many examples of architecture from the gothic, renaissance, baroque, neoclassical and modern periods, furthermore, the city is positioning itself as Europes chic cultural capital with thriving art and club scenes and renowned restaurants. Folk etymology attributes the city name to a fisherman, Wars, according to legend, Sawa was a mermaid living in the Vistula River with whom Wars fell in love. In actuality, Warsz was a 12th/13th-century nobleman who owned a village located at the site of Mariensztat neighbourhood. See also the Vršovci family which had escaped to Poland, the official city name in full is miasto stołeczne Warszawa. A native or resident of Warsaw is known as a Varsovian – in Polish warszawiak, warszawianin, warszawianka, warszawiacy, other names for Warsaw include Varsovia and Varsóvia, Varsovie, Varsavia, Warschau, װאַרשע /Varshe, Варшава /Varšava /Varshava, Varšuva, Varsó. The first fortified settlements on the site of todays Warsaw were located in Bródno, after Jazdów was raided by nearby clans and dukes, a new similar settlement was established on the site of a small fishing village called Warszowa
20.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
21.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
22.
Budapest
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Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary, one of the largest cities in the European Union and sometimes described as the primate city of Hungary. It has an area of 525 square kilometres and a population of about 1.8 million within the limits in 2016. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the Danube river with the unification of Buda and Óbuda on the west bank, the history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia. Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century and their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–1242. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture by the 15th century, following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, the region entered a new age of prosperity, and Budapest became a global city after its unification in 1873. It also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a power that dissolved in 1918. Budapest was the point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Republic of Councils in 1919, the Battle of Budapest in 1945. Budapest is an Alpha- global city, with strengths in arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts the Budapest Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks and it is the highest ranked Central and Eastern European city on Innovation Cities Top 100 index. Budapest attracts 4.4 million international tourists per year, making it the 25th most popular city in the world, further famous landmarks include Andrássy Avenue, St. It has around 80 geothermal springs, the worlds largest thermal water system, second largest synagogue. Budapest is home to the headquarters of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the European Police College, over 40 colleges and universities are located in Budapest, including the Eötvös Loránd University, Central European University and Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Budapest is the combination of the city names Buda and Pest, One of the first documented occurrences of the combined name Buda-Pest was in 1831 in the book Világ, written by Count István Széchenyi. The origins of the names Buda and Pest are obscure, according to chronicles from the Middle Ages, the name Buda comes from the name of its founder, Bleda, brother of the Hunnic ruler Attila. The theory that Buda was named after a person is also supported by modern scholars, an alternative explanation suggests that Buda derives from the Slavic word вода, voda, a translation of the Latin name Aquincum, which was the main Roman settlement in the region. There are also theories about the origin of the name Pest. One of the states that the word Pest comes from the Roman times. According to another theory, Pest originates from the Slavic word for cave, or oven, the first settlement on the territory of Budapest was built by Celts before 1 AD
23.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
24.
Vienna
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Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
25.
Austrian Partition
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The Austrian Partition comprise the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired by the Habsburg Monarchy during the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. The three partitions were conducted jointly by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Habsburg Austria, Austria acquired Polish lands during the First Partition of 1772, and Third Partition of Poland in 1795. In the Third Partition, the lands included Western Galicia. However, the fall of Napoleon, leading to abolition of the Duchy at the Congress of Vienna allowed Austria to regain control, the Congress created the Free City of Kraków protectorate of Austria, Prussia and Russia, which lasted for a decade. It was abolished by Austria, after the crushing of Kraków Uprising in 1846, the formation of the Polish Legions by Piłsudski initially to fight alongside the Austro-Hungarian Army, helped Poland regain its sovereignty in aftermath of World War I. However, by the early 20th century – just before the outbreak of World War I, Austria-Hungary also de facto encouraged Ukrainian organizations as a divide and rule-tactic. This led to accusations by Poles that Austria-Hungary had invented Ukrainians, Ukrainians maintained schools and newspapers in the Ukrainian language. After 1848 Ukrainians also moved into Austrian politics with their own political parties, Austria-Hungary gave Ukrainians more rights than Ukrainians living in the Russian Empire. Decades after it had ceased to exist its former Ukrainian citizens had positive emotions about Austria-Hungary, on the other hand, economically, Galicia was rather backward, and universally regarded as the poorest of the three partitions. There was much corruption during the elections, and the region was seen by the Viennese government as the low priority for investment and development and it was a vast, but constantly struggling region with inefficient agriculture and little industry. In 1900, 60% of the village population couldnt read or write, education was obligatory till the age of 12, but this requirement was often ignored. Between the years 1850 and 1914 it is estimated that about 1 million people from Galicia emigrated to United States, poverty in Austrian Galicia to this day has survived in Polish language as an expression of hopelessness. The Austrian Empire divided the territories of the Commonwealth it obtained into. West Galicia – from 1795 to 1809 Free City of Kraków – from 1815 to 1846 Two important, in the first partition, Austria received the largest share of the formerly Polish population, and the second largest land share. Austria did not participate in the partition, and in the third. Overall, Austria gained about 18 percent of the former Commonwealth territory, from the geographical perspective, much of the Austrian partition corresponded to the Galicia region. History of Poland Norman Davies, Gods Playground, p. 102-119, GALICIA, The Austrian Partition
26.
William I, German Emperor
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William I, or in German Wilhelm I, of the House of Hohenzollern was the King of Prussia and the first German Emperor, as well as the first Head of State of a united Germany. Under the leadership of William and his Minister President Otto von Bismarck, Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the establishment of the German Empire. Contrary to the domineering Bismarck, William was described as polite, gentlemanly and, while a staunch conservative, the future king and emperor was born William Frederick Louis of Prussia in the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin on 22 March 1797. As the second son of Prince Frederick William, himself son of King Frederick William II and his grandfather died the year he was born, at age 53, in 1797, and his father Frederick William III became king. He was educated from 1801 to 1809 by Johann Friedrich Gottlieb Delbrück, who was also in charge of the education of Williams brother, at age twelve, his father appointed him an officer in the Prussian army. William served in the army from 1814 onward, like his father he fought against Napoleon I of France during the part of the Napoleonic Wars known in Germany as the Befreiungskriege, and was reportedly a very brave soldier. He was made a Captain and won the Iron Cross for his actions at Bar-sur-Aube, the war and the fight against France left a lifelong impression on him, and he had a long-standing antipathy towards the French. In 1815, William was promoted to Major and commanded a battalion of the 1 and he fought under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher at the Battles of Ligny and Waterloo. He also became an excellent diplomat by engaging in diplomatic missions after 1815, in 1816, William became the commander of the Stettiner Gardelandwehrbataillon and in 1818 was promoted to Generalmajor. The next year, William was appointed inspector of the VII. and this made him a spokesman of the Prussian Army within the House of Hohenzollern. He argued in favour of a strong, well-trained and well-equipped army, in 1820, William became commander of the 1. Gardedivision and in 1825 was promoted to commanding general of the III, in 1829, William married Princess Augusta von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach after Princess Elisa Radziwill, his cousin whom he had been attracted to, was deemed an inappropriate match by his father. William had been forced to abandon the relationship with Elisa in 1826, Augusta was the daughter of Grand Duke Karl Friedrich von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach. Their marriage was stable, but not a very happy one. In 1840 his older brother became King of Prussia, since he had no children, William was first in line to succeed him to the throne and thus was given the title Prinz von Preußen. Against his convictions but out of loyalty towards his brother, in 1847 William signed the bill setting up a Prussian parliament and took a seat in the upper chamber, the Herrenhaus. During the Revolutions of 1848, William successfully crushed a revolt in Berlin that was aimed at his elder brother, the use of cannon made him unpopular at the time and earned him the nickname Kartätschenprinz. Indeed, he had to flee to England for a while and he returned and helped to put down an uprising in Baden, where he commanded the Prussian army
27.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
28.
Nazism
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National Socialism, more commonly known as Nazism, is the ideology and practice associated with the 20th-century German Nazi Party and Nazi Germany, as well as other far-right groups. Nazism subscribed to theories of racial hierarchy and Social Darwinism, identifying Germans as part of what Nazis regarded as an Aryan or Nordic master race and it aimed to overcome social divisions and create a homogeneous society, unified on the basis of racial purity. The term National Socialism arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of socialism, the Nazi Partys precursor, the Pan-German nationalist and anti-Semitic German Workers Party, was founded on 5 January 1919. By the early 1920s, Adolf Hitler assumed control of the organisation, following the Holocaust and German defeat in World War II, only a few fringe racist groups, usually referred to as neo-Nazis, still describe themselves as following National Socialism. The full name of Adolf Hitlers party was Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the shorthand Nazi was formed from the first two syllables of the German pronunciation of the word national. The term was in use before the rise of the NSDAP as a colloquial and derogatory word for a peasant, characterizing an awkward. It derived from Ignaz, being a version of Ignatius, a common name in Bavaria. Opponents seized on this and shortened the first word of the name, Nationalsozialistische. The NSDAP briefly adopted the Nazi designation, attempting to reappropriate the term, the use of Nazi Germany, Nazi regime, and so on was popularised by German exiles abroad. From them, the spread into other languages and was eventually brought back to Germany after World War II. In English, Nazism is a name for the ideology the party advocated. The majority of scholars identify Nazism in practice as a form of far-right politics, far-right themes in Nazism include the argument that superior people have a right to dominate over other people and purge society of supposed inferior elements. Adolf Hitler and other proponents officially portrayed Nazism as being neither left- nor right-wing, but the politicians of the Right deserve exactly the same reproach. It was through their miserable cowardice that those ruffians of Jews who came into power in 1918 were able to rob the nation of its arms, a major inspiration for the Nazis were the far-right nationalist Freikorps, paramilitary organisations that engaged in political violence after World War I. The Nazis stated the alliance was purely tactical and there remained substantial differences with the DNVP, the Nazis described the DNVP as a bourgeois party and called themselves an anti-bourgeois party. After the elections in 1932, the alliance broke after the DNVP lost many of its seats in the Reichstag, the Nazis denounced them as an insignificant heap of reactionaries. The DNVP responded by denouncing the Nazis for their socialism, their violence. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was pressured to abdicate the throne and flee into exile amidst an attempted communist revolution in Germany, there were factions in the Nazi Party, both conservative and radical
29.
Polish culture during World War II
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Polish culture during World War II was suppressed by the occupying powers of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, both of whom were hostile to Polands people and cultural heritage. Policies aimed at cultural genocide resulted in the deaths of thousands of scholars and artists, the maltreatment of the Poles was one of many ways in which the Nazi and Soviet regimes had grown to resemble one another, wrote British historian Niall Ferguson. The occupiers looted and destroyed much of Polands cultural and historical heritage, most Polish schools were closed, and those that remained open saw their curricula altered significantly. The Catholic Church and wealthy individuals contributed to the survival of some artists, in 1795 Poland ceased to exist as an sovereign nation and throughout the 19th century remained partitioned by degrees between Prussian, Austrian and Russian empires. Not until the end of World War I was independence restored and the nation reunited, although the drawing of lines was, of necessity. Independent Poland lasted for only 21 years before it was attacked and divided among foreign powers. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, initiating World War II in Europe, subsequently, Poland was partitioned again – between these two powers – and remained under occupation for most of the war. On 8 October, Nazi Germany annexed the areas of pre-war Poland and, in the remainder of the occupied area. Over the course of the war, Poland lost over 20% of its pre-war population amid an occupation that marked the end of the Second Polish Republic, germanys policy toward the Polish nation and its culture evolved during the course of the war. Many German officials and military officers were not given any clear guidelines on the treatment of Polish cultural institutions. Immediately following the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Nazi German government implemented the first stages of Generalplan Ost, Goebbels declared that The Polish nation is not worthy to be called a cultured nation. He and Frank agreed that opportunities for the Poles to experience their culture should be restricted, no theaters, cinemas or cabarets, no access to radio or press. Frank suggested that the Poles should periodically be shown films highlighting the achievements of the Third Reich, during the following weeks Polish schools beyond middle vocational levels were closed, as were theaters and many other cultural institutions. The only Polish-language newspaper published in occupied Poland was also closed, further directives issued in the spring and early summer reflected policies that had been outlined by Frank and Goebbels during the previous autumn. One of the Departments earliest decrees prohibited the organization of all, Polish-German cooperation in cultural matters, such as joint public performances, was strictly prohibited. Meanwhile, a registration scheme for writers and artists was introduced in August 1940. Then, in October, the printing of new Polish-language books was prohibited, existing titles were censored, in 1941, German policy evolved further, calling for the complete destruction of the Polish people, whom the Nazis regarded as subhumans. Within ten to twenty years, the Polish territories under German occupation were to be cleared of ethnic Poles
30.
Battle of Grunwald (Matejko)
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The canvas dates to 1878 and is one of the most heroic representations of the history of Poland. It is displayed in the National Museum in Warsaw, the painting has been both hailed and criticized for its complexity. It is one of Matejkos most recognizable works, and has contributed to the popular image of the battle of Grunwald. Matejko began collecting materials for the painting in 1874 and he started painting the canvas some time in 1875 and finished it in 1878. Soon afterwards, he received a scepter from the council of Kraków in a ceremony, in recognition of his work. The painting was sold that year to Dawid Rosenblum, an individual in Warsaw. Displayed in numerous exhibitions, in 1902 the painting was bought from Rosenblums heirs by the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. Like many other works, the Battle of Grunwald was hidden during the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany, the painting survived the war years hidden near Lublin. Restored after World War II, since 1949 this oil painting has been on display in the National Museum in Warsaw. In 1999 the Battle of Grunwald was loaned to Lithuania, where it garnered a positive reception because it prominently features Vytautas, by the 2000s, the painting needed restoration. In 2010, the condition of the painting prevented its inclusion it in a special exhibition at Wawel Castle to mark the 600th anniversary of the battle. The painting was renovated, with the finished in 2012. After restoration the painting is once again on display at the National Museum, in the center of the painting is the Lithuanian duke Vytautas, dressed in red with a raised sword. Vytautas holds a prominent position in the painting than his cousin, Polish king Władysław Jagiełło. While Lithuanian sources claim that Vytautas The Great have got the major role in the battle by actually commanding troops. In the skies above the carnage, Saint Stanislaus, a patron of Poland, another central scene depicts death of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Ulrich von Jungingen. Dressed in white Order garb and riding a horse, von Jungingen is being killed by two anonymous figures, which historian of art Danuta Batorska identifies as savage looking Lithuanian peasants. Next to the spearman is an executioner, who symbolizes the punishment Jungingen receives for the Order raids, near Władysław are also, his relative, Zygmunt Korybut, Deputy Chancellor of the Crown, Mikołaj Trąba, Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia
31.
Battle of Grunwald
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The Battle of Grunwald, First Battle of Tannenberg or Battle of Žalgiris, was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. Most of the Teutonic Knights leadership were killed or taken prisoner, the knights, however, would never recover their former power, and the financial burden of war reparations caused internal conflicts and an economic downturn in the lands under their control. The battle shifted the balance of power in Central and Eastern Europe and marked the rise of the Polish–Lithuanian union as the dominant political and military force in the region. The battle was one of the largest in Medieval Europe and is regarded as the most important victory in the histories of Poland, Belarus and it has been used as a source of romantic legends and national pride, becoming a larger symbol of struggle against foreign invaders. During the 20th century the battle was used in Nazi and Soviet propaganda campaigns, only in recent decades have historians moved towards a dispassionate, scholarly assessment of the battle, reconciling the previous narratives, which differed widely by nation. Władysław II Jagiełło referred to the site in Latin as in loco conflictus nostri, quem cum Cruciferis de Prusia habuimus, later Polish chroniclers interpreted the word Grunenvelt as Grünwald, meaning green forest in German. The Lithuanians followed suit and translated the name as Žalgiris, the Germans named the battle after Tannenberg. Thus there are three commonly used names for the battle, German, Schlacht bei Tannenberg, Polish, Bitwa pod Grunwaldem, Lithuanian, there are few contemporary, reliable sources about the battle, and most were produced by Poles. The most important and trustworthy source is Cronica conflictus Wladislai regis Poloniae cum Cruciferis anno Christi 1410 and its authorship is uncertain, but several candidates have been proposed, Polish deputy chancellor Mikołaj Trąba and Władysław II Jagiełłos secretary Zbigniew Oleśnicki. While the original Cronica conflictus did not survive, a summary from the 16th century has been preserved. Another important source is Historiae Polonicae by Polish historian Jan Długosz and it is a comprehensive and detailed account written several decades after the battle. The reliability of this source not only from the long gap between the events and the chronicle, but also Długoszs biases against the Lithuanians. Banderia Prutenorum is a manuscript with images and Latin descriptions of the Teutonic battle flags captured during the battle and displayed in Wawel Cathedral. Other Polish sources include two letters written by Władysław II Jagiełło to his wife Anne of Cilli and Bishop of Poznań Wojciech Jastrzębiec, German sources include a concise account in the chronicle of Johann von Posilge. A recently discovered letter, written between 1411 and 1413, provided important details on Lithuanian maneuvers. In 1230 the Teutonic Knights, a military order, moved to Chełmno Land. With support from the pope and Holy Roman Emperor, the Teutons conquered and converted the Prussians by the 1280s, for about 100 years the Knights raided Lithuanian lands, particularly Samogitia, as it separated the Knights in Prussia from their branch in Livonia. While the border became an uninhabited wilderness, the Knights gained very little territory
32.
Martin-Gropius-Bau
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Martin-Gropius-Bau, originally a museum of applied arts and a listed historical monument since 1966, is a well-known Berlin exhibition hall located at Niederkirchnerstraße 7 in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The building was erected between 1877 and 1881 by the architects Martin Gropius and Heino Schmieden in the neo-Renaissance style, the building officially opened in 1881. The exhibition rooms surround a grandiose atrium decorated with mosaics and the coats of arms of German states by sculptor Otto Lessing. Originally designed to house Berlins Museum of Applied Arts, after World War I the building housed Berlin’s Museum for Prehistory and Early History and it was severely damaged in 1945 during the last weeks of World War II, and reopened in 1981 after post war reconstruction beginning in 1978. Further renovation took place in 1998/1999 resulting in what is described as one of Germany’s most beautiful historic exhibition buildings. The Martin-Gropius-Bau has exhibited works from Ai WeiWei, Walker Evans, Anish Kapoor, Johannes Itten, until German reunification in 1990, the building stood on the border between East and West Berlin at the boundary of the East Berlin district Mitte. Kapoor in Berlin 2013/2014, Barbara Klemm, Fotografien 1968–20132014, Ai Weiwei 2014, David Bowie 2014/2015, The Vikings 2015/2016, Germaine Krull – Fotografien Gropius Bau exhibits
33.
Lance
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The lance is a pole weapon or spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier. Lances were often equipped with a vamplate – a small circular plate to prevent the hand sliding up the shaft upon impact. The name is derived from the word lancea - the Roman auxiliaries javelin or throwing knife, although according to the OED, also compare λόγχη, a Greek term for spear or lance. A lance in the sense is a light throwing spear. The English verb to launch fling, hurl, throw is derived from the term, the term from the 17th century came to refer specifically to spears not thrown, used for thrusting by heavy cavalry, and especially in jousting. A thrusting spear which is used by infantry is referred to as a pike. The second use of the lance in this sense was made by the Assyrians, long thrusting cavalry spears were especially popular among the Hellenistic armies agema and line cavalry. One of the most effective ancient lanced cavalry units was Alexander the Greats Companion cavalry, the Roman cavalry long thrusting spear was called a contus. It was usually 3 to 4m long, and grasped with both hands and it was employed by equites contariorum and equites cataphractarii, fully armed and armoured cataphracts. The Byzantine cavalry used lances almost exclusively, often in mixed lancer, the Byzantines used lance both overarm and underarm, couched. It is commonly believed that this became the dominant European cavalry tactic in the 11th century after the development of the saddle and stirrups. Cavalry thus outfitted and deployed had a collective force in their charge. Recent evidence has suggested, however, that the charge was effective without the benefit of stirrups. Because of the stopping power of a thrusting spear, it quickly became a popular weapon of infantry in the Late Middle Ages. These eventually led to the rise of the longest type of spears and this adaptation of the cavalry lance to infantry use was largely tasked with stopping lance-armed cavalry charges. In Europe, a lance was a variation of the knights lance which was modified from its original war design. The centre of the shaft of such lances could be designed to be hollow, in order for it to break on impact and they were often at least 4m long, and had hand guards built into the lance, often tapering for a considerable portion of the weapons length. These are the versions that can most often be seen at medieval reenactment festivals, in war, lances were much more like stout spears, long and balanced for one-handed use, and with sharpened tips
34.
Gauntlet (glove)
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Gauntlet /ˈɡɔːntlɪt/ is a name for several different styles of glove, particularly those with an extended cuff covering part of the forearm. Gauntlets exist in forms, ranging from flexible fabric and leather gloves, to mail. Historically, gauntlets were used by soldiers and knights and it was considered an important piece of armour, since the hands and arms were particularly vulnerable in hand-to-hand combat. With the rise of easily reloadable and effective firearms, hand-to-hand combat fell into decline along with personal armour, some medieval gauntlets had a built-in knuckle duster. When the hand was bunched into a fist the backhand protection becomes pronounced from the fist just above the knuckles and this allowed the user to utilize the gauntlet as a melee weapon while still protecting the hand from damage when punching. A Demi-gauntlet is a type of plate armour gauntlet that only protects the back of the hand, the advantages of the demi-gaunt are that it allows better dexterity and is lighter than a full gauntlet, but the disadvantage is that the fingers are not as well protected. Today, gauntlets are mostly used as armour in contact sports, such as fencing, sword fighting reenactments, in industry, gauntlets are commonly used to protect workers from sparks when welding or grinding metal or when handling potentially harmful substances. Protective gauntlets are also worn by automotive technicians and butchers. Furthermore, they are a part of pressure suits and spacesuits, usually made of kevlar or other materials that combine toughness, environmental protection. Gauntlets are also provided on some motorcyclists leather gloves and on snowmobile drivers nylon mittens, marching band and drum corps uniforms often include an item called a gauntlet which includes no glove for the hand, but is just a flared cuff. Some versions are closer to bracers or vambraces in style, in the clothing industry gauntlet can refer to a fashion accessory which is just an extended cuff with little or no hand covering. Very popular with fans of Heavy Metal music, in the Roman Catholic Church the gloves traditionally worn by the pope or other bishops are also known as gauntlets, or episcopal gloves, though their use had largely been relaxed since Paul VI. To throw down the gauntlet is to issue a challenge, a gauntlet-wearing knight would challenge a fellow knight or enemy to a duel by throwing one of his gauntlets on the ground. The opponent would pick up the gauntlet to accept the challenge, running the gauntlet was a military punishment in which a soldier or sailor had to pass between a double row of comrades armed with cudgels. The expression is now generally used metaphorically, gauntlet in this context is unrelated to the protective glove meaning, but is instead derived from the Swedish gatlopp. Because of this difference in the derivation of the word, the expression is sometimes written running the gantlet, supposedly, if the prisoner could successfully navigate the gauntlet, he was allowed to go free. Usually, however, prisoners had to run for their lives, media related to Gauntlets at Wikimedia Commons
35.
History of art
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The history of art is the history of any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview. The subsequent expansion of the list of arts in the 20th century reached to nine, architecture, dance, sculpture, music, painting, poetry, film, photography. The study of the history of art was developed during the Renaissance. Today, art enjoys a network of study, dissemination and preservation of all the artistic legacy of mankind throughout history. The rise of media has been crucial in improving the study, international events and exhibitions like the Whitney Biennial and biennales of Venice and São Paulo or the Documenta of Kassel have helped the development of new styles and trends. Institutions like UNESCO, with the establishment of the World Heritage Site lists, the field of art history was developed in the West, and originally dealt exclusively with European art history, with the High Renaissance as the defining standard. Gradually, over the course of the 20th century, a vision of art history has developed. This expanded version includes societies from across the globe, and it attempts to analyze artifacts in terms of the cultural values in which they were created. Thus, art history is now seen to all visual art. The history of art is often told as a chronology of masterpieces created in each civilization and it can thus be framed as a story of high culture, epitomized by the Wonders of the World. On the other hand, vernacular art expressions can also be integrated into art historical narratives, in the latter cases art objects may be referred to as archeological artifacts. One way to examine how art history is organized is by examining the major survey textbooks, information on canonical art history is also found in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, which is sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The first tangible artifacts of human art that have found are from the Stone Age. During the Paleolithic, humans practiced hunting and gathering and lived in caves, in the Bronze Age, the first protohistoric civilizations arose. The Paleolithic had its first artistic manifestation in 25,000 BCE, the first traces of human-made objects appeared in southern Africa, the Western Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe, Siberia, India and Australia. These first traces are generally worked stone, wood or bone tools, to paint in red, iron oxide was used, in black, manganese oxide and in ochre, clay. Surviving art from this period includes small carvings in stone or bone, cave paintings have been found in the Franco-Cantabrian region. There are pictures with magical-religious character and also pictures with a naturalistic sense, sculpture is represented by the so-called Venus figurines, feminine figures which were probably used in fertility cults, such as the Venus of Willendorf
36.
Tadeusz Kantor
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Tadeusz Kantor was a Polish painter, assemblage artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his theatrical performances in Poland and abroad. Kantor was born to Marian Kantor-Mirski and Helena Berger and his mother was related to composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki, through her German father. Born in Wielopole Skrzyńskie, Galicia, Kantor graduated from the Cracow Academy in 1939, after the war, he became known for his avant-garde work in stage design including designs for Saint Joan and Measure for Measure. Specific examples of changes to standard theatre were stages that extended out into the audience. Disenchanted with the growing institutionalization of avant-garde, in 1955 he with a group of artists formed a new theatre ensemble called Cricot 2. In the 1960s, Cricot 2 gave performances in theatres in Poland and abroad. His interest was mainly with the absurdists and Polish writer and playwright Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, stage productions of Witkacys plays The Cuttlefish and The Water Hen were regarded as his best achievements during this time. A1972 performance of The Water Hen was described as the least-publicised, Dead Class was the most famous of his theatre pieces of the 1970s. A TV-Movie of the production was made in 1977, directed by Andrzej Wajda, in the play, Kantor himself played the role of a teacher who presided over a class of apparently dead characters who are confronted by mannequins which represented their younger selves. He had begun experimenting with the juxtaposition of mannequins and live actors in the 1950s and his later works of the 1980s were very personal reflections. As in Dead Class, he would represent himself on stage. A Journey Through Other Spaces, Essays and Manifestos, 1944-1990, publisher, University of California Press,1993. ISBN 0-07-256257-9 Tadeusz Kantor at culture. pl Cricoteka The Centre For the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor Kantors gallery at malarze
37.
Piwnica pod Baranami
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The Piwnica pod Baranami is a Polish literary cabaret located in Kraków, Poland. For over thirty years, in the Peoples Republic of Poland, Piwnica pod Baranami served as the most renowned political cabaret in the country, until the end of the communist era. Created by Piotr Skrzynecki in 1956, the cabaret continues its activities and it resides at its original location in the medieval Old Town district, at the Main Market Square. At first, the facility was a place for Kraków students. It was a club for youth, part of the Old Town Community Centre in the Palace under the Rams. The stage was formed by artists of many different genres, writers, musicians, visual artists and actors, as well as their friends. After nearly fifty years Piwnica became a legend of local eccentricity, an account of the cabaret performance at Piwnica is given in a 2010 book A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka. Piwnicas influence has reached beyond the art, it has been described thus and it was a breath of freedom and of ironic distance to the reality which surrounded us. Piwnica pod Baranami w dokumentach Służby Bezpieczeństwa, Kraków 2006 Wacław Krupiński, Głowy piwniczne, Wydawnictwo Literackie 2007, ISBN 978-83-08-04103-1 Barbara Nawratowicz, początki i rozwój, Petrus,2010 Janusz R. Kowalczyk, Wracając do moich Baranów, Wydawnictwo Trio, Warsaw 2012, ISBN 978-83-7436-291-7
38.
Renaissance architecture
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Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture. Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the style was carried to France, Germany, England, Russia and other parts of Europe at different dates and with varying degrees of impact. Italy of the 15th century, and the city of Florence in particular, was home to the Renaissance, the scholarly approach to the architecture of the ancient coincided with the general revival of learning. A number of factors were influential in bringing this about, Italian architects had always preferred forms that were clearly defined and structural members that expressed their purpose. Many Tuscan Romanesque buildings demonstrate these characteristics, as seen in the Florence Baptistery, Italy had never fully adopted the Gothic style of architecture. In the 15th century, Florence, Venice and Naples extended their power through much of the area that surrounded them and this enabled Florence to have significant artistic influence in Milan, and through Milan, France. Successive Popes, especially Julius II, 1503–13, sought to extend the Pope’s temporal power throughout Italy, in the early Renaissance, Venice controlled sea trade over goods from the East. Trade brought wool from England to Florence, ideally located on the river for the production of fine cloth, by dominating Pisa, Florence gained a seaport, and also maintained dominance of Genoa. In this commercial climate, one family in particular turned their attention from trade to the business of money-lending. The Medici became the chief bankers to the princes of Europe, becoming virtually princes themselves as they did so, along the trade routes, and thus offered some protection by commercial interest, moved not only goods but also artists, scientists and philosophers. This commenced in the mid 15th century and gained momentum in the 16th century, the construction of the Sistine Chapel with its uniquely important decorations and the entire rebuilding of St Peters, one of Christendoms most significant churches, were part of this process. In wealthy republican Florence, the impetus for church-building was more civic than spiritual, the unfinished state of the enormous cathedral dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary did no honour to the city under her patronage. The dome inspired further religious works in Florence, through Humanism, civic pride and the promotion of civil peace and order were seen as the marks of citizenship. Some major ecclesiastical building works were commissioned, not by the church. During the Renaissance, architecture became not only a question of practice, printing played a large role in the dissemination of ideas. The first treatise on architecture was De re aedificatoria by Leon Battista Alberti in 1450 and it was to some degree dependent on Vitruviuss De architectura, a manuscript of which was discovered in 1414 in a library in Switzerland. De re aedificatoria in 1485 became the first printed book on architecture, Sebastiano Serlio produced the next important text, the first volume of which appeared in Venice in 1537, it was entitled Regole generali darchitettura. It is known as Serlios Fourth Book since it was the fourth in Serlios original plan of a treatise in seven books, in all, five books were published
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Gothic architecture
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Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture and its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the cathedrals, abbeys. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings, for this reason a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, the term Gothic architecture originated as a pejorative description. Hence, François Rabelais, also of the 16th century, imagines an inscription over the door of his utopian Abbey of Thélème, Here enter no hypocrites, slipping in a slighting reference to Gotz and Ostrogotz. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old medieval style, the Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic. Gothic architecture is the architecture of the medieval period, characterised by use of the pointed arch. As an architectural style, Gothic developed primarily in ecclesiastical architecture, the greatest number of surviving Gothic buildings are churches. The Gothic style is most particularly associated with the cathedrals of Northern France. At the end of the 12th century, Europe was divided into a multitude of city states, norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Poland were influenced by trading contacts with the Hanseatic League. Angevin kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to Southern Italy, throughout Europe at this time there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany and the Lowlands had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with other, or united for mutual weal. Civic building was of importance to these towns as a sign of wealth. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic architecture for their kings, dukes and bishops, the Catholic Church prevailed across Europe at this time, influencing not only faith but also wealth and power. Bishops were appointed by the lords and they often ruled as virtual princes over large estates. The early Medieval periods had seen a growth in monasticism, with several different orders being prevalent. Foremost were the Benedictines whose great abbey churches vastly outnumbered any others in France, a part of their influence was that towns developed around them and they became centers of culture, learning and commerce
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Sigismund II Augustus
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Sigismund II Augustus was the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. Married three times, the last of the Jagiellons remained childless, and through the Union of Lublin introduced an elective monarchy. Lord and heir From the outset of his reign, Sigismund came into collision with the countrys nobility, so violent was the agitation at Sigismunds first sejm that the deputies threatened to renounce their allegiance unless the King repudiated his wife Barbara. He refused and won the day, Sigismund soon lost all hope of children by his third bride, he was the last male Jagiellon in the direct line so the dynasty was threatened with extinction. He sought to remedy this by adultery with two of the most beautiful of his countrywomen, Barbara Giżanka and Anna Zajączkowska but was unable to either of them. The sejm was willing to legitimatize, and acknowledge as Sigismunds successor, any male heir who might be born to him, however, the Kings marriage was a matter of great political import to Protestants and Catholics alike. The Polish Protestants hoped that he would divorce and remarry and thus bring about a breach with Rome at the crisis of the religious struggle in Poland. He was not free to remarry until Queen Catherines death on 28 February 1572, Sigismunds reign was a period of internal turmoil and external expansion. A less imposing figure than his father, the elegant and refined Sigismund II Augustus was nevertheless an even more effective statesman than the stern and majestic Sigismund I the Old. Sigismund II possessed to a degree the tenacity and patience that seem to have characterized all the Jagiellons. No other Polish king seems to have so understood the nature of the Polish sejm. Both the Austrian ambassadors and the papal legates testify to the care with which he controlled his nation, everything went as he wished, they said, because he seemed to know everything in advance. Like his father, a pro-Austrian by conviction, he contrived even in respect to carry with him the nation. He avoided serious complications with the powerful Turks, Sigismund II mediated for twenty years between the Catholic Church and the Protestants. His most striking memorial may have been the Union of Lublin, also, German-speaking Royal Prussia and Prussian cities were included. This achievement might well have been impossible without Sigismund, Sigismund died at his beloved Knyszyn on 6 July 1572, aged 51. In 1573, Henry III of Valois was elected King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth for a few months, shortly thereafter, Sigismunds sister Anna of Poland married Stefan Batory, and they ruled as King and Queen of Poland. In addition to his connections, Sigismund II was allied to the Imperial Habsburgs by his pledge as member of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Media related to The Prussian Homage by Jan Matejko at Wikimedia Commons
