1.
National Museum of Serbia
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The National Museum of Serbia is the largest and oldest museum in Serbia and former Yugoslavia. It is located in the zone of Belgrade on a square area between the Republic Square, former Theatre Square, and three streets Čika Ljubina, Vasina and Laze Pačua. Its main facade is on the Republic Square, the museum was established on May 10,1844. Since it was founded, its collection has grown to over 400,000 objects, currently, the museum is closed for renovation. The National Museum of Serbia building was declared a Monument of Culture of Great Importance in 1979, before erection of the building of the National Museum on this place was famous tavern called Dardanelles, meeting point of cultural and artistic elite of the time. Demolition of the old tavern signified the beginning of the transformation of The Republic Square, building has constructed according to design of architects Andra Stevanović and Nikola Nestorović after a competition on which they received the first prize. It was one of the first building in which was used some form of reinforced concrete for the foundation, actually during the digging foundation trenches, the various pits, wells and basements were encountered because of the proximity of the former Istanbul Gate. Newly built two-storeyed building was a palace of its time. The greatest attention was given to the staircase and the hall with bank windows which as the basic premises of a bank was given a secondary importance. Almost three decades later, a development of Mortgage Bank, influenced a need for a reconstruction of the building. The extension was made without competition by architect Vojin Petrović, who designed the added wing, during World War II Mortgage Bank building was bombed and the central part with the dome was destroyed. After the war, the building got a new purpose when one of the most important national cultural institution moved in. Since its establishing during the Constitutionalist, until the end of the Second World War the National Museum changed location for several times. At a beginning, it was placed in Captain Miša’s building, at the same time the museum art collections were seized and looted by the invaders. During the interwar period the Museum didn’t get its own building, the museum was located in a rented private house in Knez Milos Street 58. In 1935 the New Royal Palacе became the residence of the museum, subsequently it was renamed into the Museum of Prince Paul which consisted of Historical Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art. In 1948 the New Palace was restored and became seat of the Republic. For that purpose the Museum was transferred into a building of the former Stock Exchange on the Student Square, the first architectural competition for the proper National Museum building, planned to be on Tašmajdan was announced the following year
2.
Serbian language
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Serbian is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the language of Serbia and one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, it is a minority language in Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia. Standard Serbian is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian, Shtokavian, which is also the basis of Standard Croatian, Bosnian, the other dialect spoken by Serbs is Torlakian in southeastern Serbia, which is transitional to Macedonian and Bulgarian. Serbian is practically the only European standard language with complete synchronic digraphia, the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet was devised in 1814 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić, who created the alphabet on phonemic principles. The Latin alphabet was designed by Croatian linguist Ljudevit Gaj in 1830, Serbian is a standardized variety of Serbo-Croatian, a Slavic language, of the South Slavic subgroup. Other standardized forms of Serbo-Croatian are Bosnian, Croatian, and Montenegrin and it has lower intelligibility with the Eastern South Slavic languages Bulgarian and Macedonian, than with Slovene. The 2011 census show that 42. 88% still declare Serbian to be their native language, Standard Serbian language uses both Cyrillic and Latin script. Even in official government documents this constitutional requirement is rarely enforced, Serbian is a rare example of synchronic digraphia, a situation where all literate members of a society have two interchangeable writing systems available to them. Media and publishers typically select one alphabet or another, for example, the public broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia, predominantly uses the Cyrillic script whereas the privately run broadcasters, like RTV Pink, predominantly use the Latin script. A survey from 2014 showed that 47% of the Serbian population favors the Latin alphabet whereas 36% favors the Cyrillic one and these are the tenses of the indicative mood. Apart from the mood, there is also the imperative mood. The conditional mood has two more tenses, the first conditional and the second conditional, Serbian has active and passive voice. As for the verb forms, Serbian has one infinitive. Most Serbian words are of native Slavic lexical stock, tracing back to the Proto-Slavic language, there are many loanwords from different languages, reflecting cultural interaction throughout history. Notable loanwords were borrowed from Greek, Latin, Italian, Turkish, Hungarian, Russian, Serbian literature emerged in the Middle Ages, and included such works as Miroslavljevo jevanđelje in 1192 and Dušanov zakonik in 1349. In the mid-15th century, Serbia was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, however, some of the greatest literary works in Serbian come from this time, in the form of oral literature, the most notable form being Serbian epic poetry. The epic poems were written down in the 19th century, and preserved in oral tradition up to the 1950s
3.
Skopje
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Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia. It is the political, cultural, economic, and academic center. It was known in the Roman period under the name Scupi, the territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC, remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre. On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans, when the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose capital it was between 972 and 992. From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire, in 1392, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks who called the town Üsküp. The town stayed under Turkish control for over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküb, at that time the city was famous for its oriental architecture. In 1912, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars and after the First World War the city part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats. In the Second World War the city was conquered by the Bulgarian Army, in 1944, it became the capital city of Democratic Macedonia, which was a federal state, part of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. The city developed rapidly after World War II, but this trend was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake, in 1991, it became the capital city of an independent Macedonia. Skopje is located on the course of the Vardar River. It is a center for metal-processing, chemical, timber, textile, leather, industrial development of the city has been accompanied by development of the trade, logistics, and banking sectors, as well as an emphasis on the fields of transportation, culture and sport. Skopje is located in the north of the Republic of Macedonia, in the center of the Balkan peninsula, the city is built in the Skopje valley, oriented on a west-east axis, along the course of the Vardar river, which flows into the Aegean Sea in Greece. The valley is approximately 20 kilometres wide and it is limited by several mountain ranges to the North and South and these ranges limit the urban expansion of Skopje, which spreads along the Vardar and the Serava, a small river which comes from the North. In its administrative boundaries, the City of Skopje stretches for more than 33 kilometres, Skopje is approximately 245m above sea level and covers 571.46 km2. The urbanised area only covers 337 km2, with a density of 65 inhabitants per hectare, Skopje, in its administrative limits, encompasses many villages and other settlements, including Dračevo, Gorno Nerezi and Bardovci. According to the 2002 census, the City of Skopje comprised 506,926 inhabitants, the City of Skopje reaches the Kosovo border to the North-East. Clockwise, it is bordered by the Macedonian municipalities of Čučer-Sandevo, Lipkovo, Aračinovo, Ilinden, Studeničani, Sopište, Želino
4.
Serbian dinar
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The dinar is the currency of Serbia. The earliest use of the dates back to 1214. The first mention of a Serbian dinar dates back to the reign of Stefan Nemanjić in 1214, until the fall of Despot Stjepan Tomašević in 1459, most of the Serbian rulers minted silver dinar coins. The first Serbian dinars, like many other south-European coins, replicated Venetian grosso, for many years it was one of the main export articles of medieval Serbia, considering the relative abundance of silver coming from Serbian mines. The Ottomans operated coin mints in Novo Brdo, Kučajna and Belgrade, the subdivision of the dinar, the para, is named after the Turkish silver coins of the same name. After the Principality of Serbia was formally established there were many different foreign coins in circulation, eventually, Prince Miloš Obrenović decided to introduce some order by establishing exchange rates based on the groat as money of account. In 1819 Miloš published a table rating 43 different foreign coins,10 gold,28 silver, after the last Ottoman garrisons were withdrawn in 1867, Serbia was faced with multiple currencies in circulation. Thus, prince Mihailo Obrenović ordered a national currency be minted, the first bronze coins were introduced in 1868, followed by silver in 1875 and gold in 1879. The first banknotes were issued in 1876, between 1873 and 1894, the dinar was pegged at par to the French franc. The Kingdom of Serbia also joined the Latin Monetary Union, in 1920, the Serbian dinar was replaced at par by the Yugoslav dinar, with the Yugoslav krone also circulating together. In 1868, bronze coins were introduced in denominations of 1,5 and 10 paras, the obverses featured the portrait of Prince Mihailo Obrenović III. Silver coins were introduced in 1875, in denominations of 50 paras,1 and 2 dinars, the first gold coins were also issued in 1879, for 20 dinars, with 10 dinars introduced in 1882. The gold coins issued for the coronation of Milan I coronation in 1882 were popularly called milandor, in 1883, cupro-nickel 5,10 and 20 para coins were introduced, followed by bronze 2 paras coins in 1904. In 1876, state notes were introduced in denominations of 1,5,10,50 and 100 dinars and these were followed by notes of the Chartered National Bank from 1884, with notes for 10 dinars backed by silver and gold notes for 50 and 100 dinars. Gold notes for 20 dinars and silver notes for 100 dinars were introduced in 1905, during World War I, silver notes for 50 and 5 dinars were introduced in 1914 and 1916, respectively. In 1915, stamps were authorized for circulation as currency in denominations of 5,10,15,20,25,30 and 50 paras. In 1941, the Yugoslav dinar was replaced, at par, the dinar was pegged to the German reichsmark at a rate of 250 dinars =1 Reichsmark. This dinar circulated until 1944, when the Yugoslav dinar was reintroduced by the Yugoslav Partisans, in 1942, zinc coins were introduced in denominations of 50 paras,1 and 2 dinars, with 10 dinar coins following in 1943
5.
Exposition Universelle (1900)
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The style that was universally present in the Exposition was Art Nouveau. The staging of the first International Exhibition in 1855 was motivated by a desire to re-establish pride, the succession of exhibitions followed the same theme, the regeneration of nationality after war. Eight years before the launch of the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, countries from around the world were invited by France to showcase their achievements and lifestyles, the Exposition Universelle was a uniting and learning experience. It presented the opportunity for foreigners to realize the similarities between nations as well as their unique differences, new cultures were experienced and an overall better understanding of the values each country had to offer was gained. The learning atmosphere aided in attempts to increase cultural tolerance, deemed necessary after a period of war, the early announcement and the massively positive response disenchanted the interest that had been circling around the first German International Exposition. It is suspected that the Exposition Universelle did not do as well financially as expected because the public did not have the funds to participate in the fair. The 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle was so expensive to organize and run that the cost per visitor ended up being about six hundred more than the price of admission. The exhibition lost a total of 82,000 francs after six months in operation. Many Parisians had invested money in shares sold to raise money for the event, with a much larger expected turnout the exhibit sites had gone up in value. Continuing to pay rent for the sites became increasingly hard for concessionaires as they were receiving fewer customers than anticipated, the concessionaires went on strike, which ultimately resulted in the closure of a large part of the exposition. To resolve the matter, the concessionaires were given a refund of the rent they had paid. The financial consequences of the 1900 Exposition Universelle were devastating for many Parisians, the Exposition Universelle was where talking films and escalators were first publicized, and where Campbells Soup was awarded a gold medal. At the exposition Rudolf Diesel exhibited his engine, running on peanut oil. Brief films of excerpts from opera and ballet were apparently the first films exhibited publicly with projection of both image and recorded sound, the exposition also featured many panoramic paintings and extensions of the panorama technique, such as the Cinéorama, Mareorama, and Trans-Siberian Railway Panorama. The centrepiece of the Palais de lOptique was the 1. 25-metre-diameter Great Exposition Refractor and this telescope was the largest refracting telescope at that time. The optical tube assembly was 60 meters long and 1.5 meters in diameter, light from the sky was sent into the tube by a movable 2-meter mirror. Partly organized by Booker Washington and W. E. B, du Bois, this exhibition aimed at showing African Americans positive contributions to American society. Many of the buildings constructed for the Exposition Universelle were demolished after the conclusion of the exposition, many of the buildings were built on a framework of wood, and covered with staff, which was formed into columns, statuary, walls, stairs, etc
6.
World's fair
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A worlds fair, world fair, world exposition, or universal exposition is a large international exhibition designed to showcase achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in varying parts of the world, the next world Expo is Expo 2020 and is to be held in Dubai, UAE. Since the 1928 Convention Relating to International Exhibitions came into force, bIE-approved fairs are of three types, universal, specialized and horticultural. They usually last from three weeks to six months, Worlds fairs originated in the French tradition of national exhibitions, a tradition that culminated with the French Industrial Exposition of 1844 held in Paris. This fair was followed by other exhibitions in continental Europe. The best-known first World Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. The Great Exhibition, as it is called, was an idea of Prince Albert, Queen Victorias husband. It influenced the development of aspects of society, including art-and-design education, international trade and relations. This expo was the most obvious precedent for the international exhibitions, later called worlds fairs. Since their inception in 1851, the character of world expositions has evolved, three eras can be distinguished, the era of industrialization, the era of cultural exchange, and the era of nation branding. The first era could be called the era of industrialization and covered, roughly, in these days, world expositions were especially focused on trade, and were famous for the display of technological inventions and advancements. World expositions were the platforms where the state-of-the-art in science and technology from around the world were brought together, inventions such as the telephone were first presented during this era. An important part of the image of worlds fairs stems from this first era, the 1939–40 New York Worlds Fair diverged from the original focus of the worlds fair expositions. From then on, worlds fairs adopted specific cultural themes, they forecasted a future for society. Technological innovations were no longer the primary exhibits at fairs, the fairs encouraged effective intercultural communication for the exchange of innovation. The 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal was promoted under the name Expo 67, event organizers retired the term worlds fair in favor of expo. From Expo 88 in Brisbane onwards, countries started to use world expositions more widely, finland, Japan, Canada, France and Spain are cases in point. A large study by Tjaco Walvis called Expo 2000 Hanover in Numbers showed that improving national image was the primary goal for 73% of the countries at Expo 2000
7.
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
8.
Emperor of the Serbs
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Between 1345 and 1371, the Serbian monarch was titled emperor, the full title being Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks in Serbian and basileus and autokrator of Serbia and Romania in Greek. The Serbian Empire was ruled by two monarchs, Stefan Dušan and Stefan Uroš V. Two other claimants of the ruled in Thessaly, Central Greece. Following his conquest of Serres, which crowned his conquest of Macedonia, in November or December 1345 Stefan Dušan proclaimed himself emperor, laying claim on the Byzantine imperial inheritance. On 16 April 1346 hewas crowned emperor at Skopje in an assembly attended by the elevated Serbian Patriarch, and also the Bulgarian Patriarch and his imperial title was recognised by Bulgaria and various other neighbors and trading partners but not by the Byzantine Empire. Mount Athos addressed him as Emperor, though rather as Emperor of Serbs than Emperor of Serbs, in Serbian charters, ethnic terms are used – Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks. In Greek, the title was basileus and autokratōr of Serbia, notably, when the Byzantines came around to recognizing Dušans imperial title, it was only for Serbia proper, much as they had done with the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon 400 years earlier. After his coronation, the title of king was dropped, when Stefan Dušan died in 1355, his son Stefan Uroš V succeeded him. Uroš Vs uncle Simeon Uroš in Thessaly claimed the title in rivalry, with the extinction of the main line of the Nemanjić dynasty with the death of heirless Stefan Uroš V in 1371, the imperial title became obsolete. The fall of the Serbian Empire saw the state fragmenting into provinces ruled by magnates, holding various titles, in 1527, a renegade Hungarian-Serbian commander, Jovan Nenad, styled himself Emperor. Stefan Dušan Emperor of Serbs and Greeks, in 1349. in 1349, Emperor of Serbs and Greeks and the Western Provinces, in 1349. Emperor of Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians, Emperor of Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians and Albanians. Emperor of the Serbs, by the Athonite community, Emperor and Autocrat of Serbia and Romania, from a chrysobull to Iveron Monastery. Emperor of all Serb and Greek lands, the Maritime Region, Arbania, Emperor of Greece and King of All Serb Lands and the Maritime, between 1347–56. Emperor of Serbia and the Maritime Region, between 1347–56, Emperor of Rascia and Romania, Despot of Arta and Count of Vlachia in 1348, after the Serb conquest of Epirus and Thessaly. Stefan Uroš V Emperor of Serbs and Greeks, in 1357. in 1358. in 1357,1360, twice in 1357,1362,1365, and between 1356–67. Dušans Code List of Serbian monarchs Fine, John Van Antwerp, the Late Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, — La Serbie, pouvoir et administration sociale
9.
Serbian Orthodox Church
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The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. It is the second oldest Slavic Orthodox Church in the world, the Serbian Orthodox Church comprises the majority of population in Serbia, Montenegro, and the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is organized into metropolises and eparchies located primarily in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia, the Serbian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, member of the Orthodox communion. Serbian Patriarch serves as first among equals in his church, the current patriarch is Irinej, the Church achieved autocephalous status in 1219 under the leadership of St. Sava, becoming independent Archbishopric of Žiča. Its status was elevated to that of a patriarchate in 1346 and this patriarchate was abolished by the Ottoman Turks in 1766. The modern Serbian Orthodox Church was re-established in 1920 after the unification of the Patriarchate of Karlovci, the Metropolitanate of Belgrade, Christianity spread to the Balkans beginning in the 1st century. Florus and Laurus are venerated as Christian martyrs of the 2nd century, Constantine the Great, born in Niš, was the first Christian Roman Emperor. Several bishops seated in what is today Serbia participated in the First Council of Nicaea, in 380, Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius decreed that his subjects would be Christians according to the Council of Nicea formula. Greek was used in the Byzantine church, while the Roman church used Latin, with the definite split in 395, the line in Europe ran south along the Drina river. Tim Judah says that the Roman split resulted in that Serbs are Orthodox, among old Christian heritage is the Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima, established in 535, which had jurisdiction over the whole of present-day Serbia. However, the Archbishopric did not last, as the Slavs and Avars destroyed the region sometime after 602, in 731 Leo III attached Illyricum and Southern Italy to Patriarch Anastasius of Constantinople, transferring the papal authority to the Eastern Church. Slavs invaded and settled the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries, the history of the early medieval Serbian Principality is recorded in the work De Administrando Imperio, compiled by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. The DAI drew information on the Serbs from, among others, the Serbs were said to have received the protection of Emperor Heraclius, and Porphyrogenitus stressed that the Serbs had always been under Imperial rule. The Christianization was due partly to Byzantine and subsequent Bulgarian influence, at least during the rule of Kocel in Pannonia, communications between Serbia and Great Moravia, where Methodius was active, must have been possible. This fact, the pope was presumably aware of, when planning Methodius diocese as well as that of the Dalmatian coast, there is a possibility that some Cyrillomethodian pupils reached Serbia in the 870s, perhaps even sent by Methodius himself. Serbia was accounted Christian as of about 870, the first Serbian bishopric was founded at Ras, near modern Novi Pazar on the Ibar river. According to Vlasto, the affiliation is uncertain, it may have been under the subordination of either Split or Durazzo. The early Ras church can be dated to the 9th–10th century, the names of Serbian rulers through Mutimir are Slavic dithematic names, per the Old Slavic tradition
10.
Art history
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Art history is the study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i. e. genre, design, format, and style. This includes the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture as well as the minor arts of ceramics, furniture. As a term, art history encompasses several methods of studying the arts, in common usage referring to works of art. One branch of this area of study is aesthetics, which includes investigating the enigma of the sublime, technically, art history is not these things, because the art historian uses historical method to answer the questions, How did the artist come to create the work. Who were his or her teachers, who were his or her disciples. What historical forces shaped the artists oeuvre, and How did he or she and the creation, in turn, affect the course of artistic, political, and social events. It is, however, questionable whether many questions of this kind can be answered satisfactorily without also considering basic questions about the nature of art, unfortunately the current disciplinary gap between art history and the philosophy of art often hinders this inquiry. Art history is not only a biographical endeavor, Art historians often root their studies in the scrutiny of individual objects. They thus attempt to answer in historically specific ways, questions such as, what meaning did this object convey. Did the artist meet their goals well, the historical backbone of the discipline is a celebratory chronology of beautiful creations commissioned by public or religious bodies or wealthy individuals in western Europe. Such a canon remains prominent, as indicated by the selection of objects present in art history textbooks, nonetheless, since the 20th century there has been an effort to re-define the discipline to be more inclusive of non-Western art, art made by women, and vernacular creativity. Art history as we know it in the 21st century began in the 19th century but has precedents that date to the ancient world, advances in photographic reproduction and printing techniques after World War II increased the ability of reproductions of artworks. Such technologies have helped to advance the discipline in profound ways, the study of visual art thus described, can be a practice that involves understanding context, form, and social significance. Art historians employ a number of methods in their research into the ontology, Art historians often examine work in the context of its time. In short, this approach examines the work of art in the context of the world within which it was created, Art historians also often examine work through an analysis of form, that is, the creators use of line, shape, color, texture, and composition. This approach examines how the artist uses a picture plane or the three dimensions of sculptural or architectural space to create his or her art. The way these individual elements are employed results in representational or non-representational art, is the artist imitating an object or image found in nature. The closer the art hews to perfect imitation, the more the art is realistic, is the artist not imitating, but instead relying on symbolism, or in an important way striving to capture natures essence, rather than copy it directly
11.
Serbs
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The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group that formed in the Balkans. The majority of Serbs inhabit the state of Serbia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. They form significant minorities in Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia, there is a large Serb diaspora in Western Europe, and outside Europe there are significant communities in North America and Australia. The Serbs share many traits with the rest of the peoples of Southeast Europe. They are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians by religion, the Serbian language is official in Serbia, co-official in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is spoken by the majority in Montenegro. The modern identity of Serbs is rooted in Eastern Orthodoxy and traditions, in the 19th century, the Serbian national identity was manifested, with awareness of history and tradition, medieval heritage, cultural unity, despite living under different empires. When the Principality of Serbia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, Orthodoxy became crucial in defining the national identity, instead of language which was shared by other South Slavs. The tradition of slava, the family saint feast day, is an important ethnic marker of Serb identity, the origin of the ethnonym is unclear. Serbia has among the tallest people in the world, after Montenegro and Netherlands, Slavs invaded and settled the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. Up until the late 560s their activity was raiding, crossing from the Danube, the Danube and Sava frontier was overwhelmed by large-scale Slavic settlement in the late 6th and early 7th century. What is today central Serbia was an important geo-strategical province, through which the Via Militaris crossed and this area was frequently intruded by barbarians in the 5th and 6th centuries. The numerous Slavs mixed with and assimilated the descendants of the indigenous population, numerous small Serbian states were created, located in modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. With the decline of the Serbian state of Duklja in the late 11th century, Raška separated from it, prince Stefan Nemanja conquered the neighbouring territories of Kosovo, Duklja and Zachlumia. The Nemanjić dynasty ruled over Serbia until the 14th century, over the next 140 years, Serbia expanded its borders. Its cultural model remained Byzantine, despite political ambitions directed against the empire, the medieval power and influence of Serbia culminated in the reign of Stefan Dušan, who ruled the state from 1331 until his death in 1355. Ruling as Emperor from 1346, his territory included Macedonia, northern Greece, Montenegro, when Dušan died, his son Stephen Uroš V became Emperor. With the death of two important Serb leaders in the battle, and with the death of Stephen Uroš that same year, hrebeljanović was subsequently accepted as the titular leader of the Serbs because he was married to a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. In 1389, the Serbs faced the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo on the plain of Kosovo Polje, both Lazar and Sultan Murad I were killed in the fighting
12.
Danube
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The Danube is Europes second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe, the Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries, the Latin name Dānuvius is one of a number of Old European river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European *dānu. Other river names from the root include the Dunajec, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, dānu means fluid, drop, in Avestan, in the Rigveda, Dānu once appears as the mother of Vrtra. Known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning strong, in Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius or as Ister. The Dacian/Thracian name was Donaris for the upper Danube and Istros for the lower Danube, the Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, the bringer of luck. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, the German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe wetland. Classified as a waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach. The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,800 km, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and its drainage basin extends into nine more. The highest point of the basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border. The land drained by the Danube extends into other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges, from its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are, The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Danube remains a mountain river until Passau, with average bottom gradient 0. 0012%. Middle Section, From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania, the riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0. 00006%. Lower Section, From Iron Gate to Sulina, with average gradient as little as 0. 00003%, about 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central, the amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War
13.
Code of law
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Though the process and motivations for codification are similar in different common law and civil law systems, their usage is different. In a civil law country, a code of law typically exhaustively covers the system of law. A code entirely replaces the law in a particular area, leaving the common law inoperative unless. The legal code was a feature of the legal systems of the ancient Middle East. The Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu, then the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, are among the earliest and best preserved legal codes, originating in the Fertile Crescent. In the Roman empire, a number of codifications were developed, such as the Twelve Tables of Roman law, however, these law codes did not exhaustively describe the Roman legal system. The Twelve Tables were limited in scope, and most legal doctrines were developed by the pontifices, the Justinian Code collected together existing legal material at the time. The Hebrew Written Torah and Oral Torah constitute the earliest and best preserved ethical code at the same time, halakha is the oldest collective body of religious laws, laws and jurisdictions still in use. In ancient China, the first comprehensive criminal code was the Tang Code and this, and subsequent imperial codes, formed the basis for the penal system of both China and other East Asian states under its cultural influence. The last and best preserved imperial code is the Great Qing Legal Code and this code was the exclusive and exhaustive statement of Chinese law between 1644 and 1912. Though it was in form a code, large parts of the code dealt with civil law matters. In Europe, Roman law, especially the Corpus Juris Civilis, Roman law was either adopted by legislation, or through processing by jurists. The accepted Roman law is usually then codified and forms part of the central Code, the codification movement gathered pace after the rise of nation-states after the Treaty of Westphalia. Prominent national civil codes include the Napoleonic Code of 1804, the German civil code of 1900, the Continental civil law tradition spread around the world along with European cultural and military dominance in recent centuries. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan adopted a new Civil Code, based primarily on the French civil code and this new tradition has been largely maintained in the legal system of the Peoples Republic of China since 1949. Meanwhile, codifications also became common in common law systems. For example, a code is found in a number of common law jurisdictions in Australia and the Americas. In the Americas, the influence of Continental legal codes has manifest itself in two ways, in civil law jurisdictions, legal codes in the Continental tradition are common
14.
Albanians
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Albanians are an ethnic group, native to Albania, Kosovo and neighboring countries. The term is used to refer to the citizens of the Republic of Albania. Ethnic Albanians speak the Albanian language and more than half of ethnic Albanians live in Albania, a large Albanian population lives in the Republic of Macedonia and Italy, with smaller Albanian populations located in Serbia and Montenegro. The majority of Albanians are nominally Muslims, and a minority are nominally Christians, during the 17th and 18th century Albanians in large numbers converted to Islam, often to escape higher taxes levied on Christian subjects. As Muslims, some Albanians attained important political and military positions within the Ottoman Empire, Albania gained its independence in 1912 and between 1945–1992, Albanians lived under a repressive communist regime. Between the 11th and 18th centuries, sizable numbers of Albanians migrated from the area of contemporary Albania to escape either various socio-political difficulties and/or the Ottoman conquest. Another population, who became the Arbëreshë settled in southern Italy and form the oldest continuous Albanian diaspora producing influential, smaller populations dating to migrations during the 18th century are located on Croatias Dalmatian coast and scattered communities across southern Ukraine. The Albanian diaspora also exists in a number of other countries, one of these is located in Turkey. Due to the Ottoman legacy, smaller populations of Albanians also exist in Egypt, in Western countries, a large and influential Albanian population exists in the United States formed from continuous emigration dating back to the 19th century. The Albanians and their country Albania have been identified by many ethnonyms, from these ethnonyms, names for Albanians were also derived in other languages that were or still are in use. The term for a people located in the area of contemporary Albania is first encountered in the works of Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates. He referred to them as Albanoi having taken part in a revolt against the Byzantine Empire in 1043 and these references have been disputed as to whether they refer to Albanians in an ethnic sense. A later reference to Albanians from the same Attaliates regarding the participation of Albanians in a rebellion around 1078 is undisputed. In later Byzantine usage, the terms Arbanitai and Albanoi with a range of variants were used interchangeably, the first reference to the Albanian language dates to the latter 13th century. The ethnonym Albanian has been hypothesized to be connected to and stem from the Albanoi, linguists believe that the alb part in the root word originates from an Indo-European term for a type of mountainous topography, of which other words such as alps is derived from. Through the root word alban and its rhotacized equivalents arban, albar, and arbar, the Albanian language was referred to as Arbnisht and Arbërisht. Two etymologies have been proposed for this ethnonym, one, derived from the etymology from the Albanian word for eagle, in Albanian folk etymology, this word denotes a bird totem, dating from the times of Skanderbeg as displayed on the Albanian flag. The other is within scholarship that connects it to the verb to speak from the Latin excipere, in this instance the Albanian endonym like Slav and others would originally have been a term connoting those who speak
15.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
16.
Tsar
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Tsar /zɑːr/ or /tsɑːr/, also spelled tzar, csar, or czar, is a title used to designate certain Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, occasionally, the word could be used to designate other secular supreme rulers. Simeon II, the last Tsar of Bulgaria, is the last person to have borne the title Tsar, the title Tsar is derived from the Latin title for the Roman emperors, Caesar. In the history of the Greek language, basileus had originally meant something like potentate and it gradually approached the meaning of king in the Hellenistic Period, and it came to designate emperor after the inception in the Roman Empire. Thus, tsar was not only used as an equivalent of Latin imperator but was used to refer to Biblical rulers. From this ambiguity, the development has moved in different directions in the different Slavic languages, thus, the Bulgarian language and Russian language no longer use tsar as an equivalent of the term emperor/imperator as it exists in the West European tradition. Currently, the term refers to native sovereigns, ancient and Biblical rulers, as well as monarchs in fairy tales. The title of king is sometimes perceived as alien and is by some Russian-speakers reserved for European royalty, foreign monarchs of imperial status, both inside and outside of Europe, ancient as well as modern, are generally called imperator, rather than tsar. Biblical rulers in Serbian are called цар and in Croatian kralj, in the Polish language however tsar is always used as imperator, never as king. The term tsar is very used to refer to the Russian rulers after Peter the Great. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named Tervel of Bulgaria Caesar, the first foreigner to receive this title, the sainted Boris I is sometimes retrospectively referred to as tsar, because at his time Bulgaria was converted to Christianity. However, the tsar was actually adopted and used for the first time by his son Simeon I. Since in Byzantine political theory there was place for two emperors, Eastern and Western, the Bulgarian ruler was crowned basileus as a spiritual son of the Byzantian basileus. In Latin sources the Emperor of Bulgaria is sometimes designated Emperor of Zagora, various additional epithets and descriptions apart, the official style read Emperor and autocrat of all Bulgarians and Greeks. During the five-century period of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria, the sultan was referred to as tsar. This may be related to the fact that he had claimed the legacy of the Byzantine Empire or to the fact that the sultan was called Basileus in medieval Greek, after Bulgarias liberation from the Ottomans in 1878, its new monarchs were at first autonomous prince. With the declaration of independence, Ferdinand I of Bulgaria adopted the traditional title tsar in 1908. However, these titles were not generally perceived as equivalents of emperor any longer, in the Bulgarian as in the Greek vernacular, the meaning of the title had shifted
17.
Easter
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It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the fiftieth day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the season of Pascha begins on Pascha and ends with the coming of the fortieth day, the Feast of the Ascension. The First Council of Nicaea established two rules, independence of the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity, which were the rules for Easter explicitly laid down by the council. No details for the computation were specified, these were worked out in practice and it has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March, but calculations vary. Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, in many languages, the words for Easter and Passover are identical or very similar. Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include services, exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church. The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection, traditionally decorates the area of churches on this day. Additional customs that have associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades. There are also various traditional Easter foods that vary regionally, however, it is possible that Bede was only speculating about the origin of the term since there is no firm evidence that such a goddess actually existed. In Greek and Latin, the Christian celebration was, and still is, called Πάσχα, Pascha, the word originally denoted the Jewish festival known in English as Passover, commemorating the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt. In most of the non-English speaking world, the feast is known by names derived from Greek, Pascha is also a name by which Jesus himself is remembered in the Orthodox Church, especially in connection with his resurrection and with the season of its celebration. The New Testament states that the resurrection of Jesus, which Easter celebrates, is a foundation of the Christian faith, the resurrection established Jesus as the powerful Son of God and is cited as proof that God will judge the world in righteousness. For those who trust in Jesus death and resurrection, death is swallowed up in victory, any person who chooses to follow Jesus receives a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Through faith in the working of God those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with him so that they may walk in a new way of life and receive eternal salvation. Easter is linked to the Passover and Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament through the Last Supper, sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus that preceded the resurrection. According to the New Testament, Jesus gave the Passover meal a new meaning, as in the room during the Last Supper he prepared himself. He identified the matzah and cup of wine as his soon to be sacrificed
18.
Joanikije II
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Joanikije II was the Serbian Archbishop and first Serbian Patriarch. He was elected Serbian Archbishop on January 3,1338, prior to his election, he served as a logotet, royal chancellor, to the Kingdom of Serbia. Joanikije continued a tradition of building, and built, among others, two churches in the Holy Land, the Church of St. Elias on Mount Carmel. Joanikije died on September 3,1354, which is his feast day and he was buried in the Monastery of the Patriarchate of Peć. Joanikije was born in the vicinity of Prizren, an important town in the Kingdom of Serbia, Joanikije served as a logotet, royal chancellor, to the Serbian King Stefan Uroš IV Dušan. Archbishop Danilo II died on December 19,1337, Joanikije was elected Serbian Archbishop on January 3,1338. King Dušan had expanded his territory into the deep Greek south in the 1340s. Joanikije II continued a tradition of building, and built, among others, two churches in the Holy Land, the Church of St. Elias on Mount Carmel. Joanikije II died on September 3,1354, which is his feast day and he was buried in the Monastery of Peć. His patronymic or surname is unknown and this article incorporates text from Joanikije II at OrthodoxWiki which is licensed under the CC-BY-SA and GFDL. Архиепископ Данило, Животи краљева и архиепископа Српских
19.
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
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It was recognized as independent Church by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 927 AD. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church considers itself a member of the one, holy, synodal. The dioceses of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church are divided into 58 church counties, Church life in the parishes is guided by the parish priests, numbering some 1,500. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church also has some 120 monasteries in Bulgaria, with about 2,000 monks and nearly as many nuns. Christianity was brought to the Bulgarian lands and the rest of the Balkans by the apostles Paul and Andrew in the 1st century AD, by the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity had become the dominant religion in the region. Towns such as Serdica, Philipopolis, Odessus and Adrianople were significant centres of Christianity in the Roman Empire, Christianity started to pave its way from the surviving Christian communities to the surrounding Slavic mass. By the middle of the 9th century, the majority of the Bulgarian Slavs, especially those living in Thrace, the process of conversion also enjoyed some success among the Bulgar nobility. It was not until the adoption of Christianity by Prince Boris I in 865 that an independent Bulgarian ecclesiastical entity was established. Boris I believed that cultural advancement and the sovereignty and prestige of a Christian Bulgaria could be achieved through an enlightened clergy governed by an autocephalous church, the archbishopric had its seat in the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and its diocese covered the whole territory of the Bulgarian state. Although the archbishopric enjoyed full autonomy, the goals of Boris I were scarcely fulfilled. Thus, Boris I greeted the arrival of the disciples of the recently deceased Saints Cyril, Boris I gave them the task to instruct the future Bulgarian clergy in the Glagolitic alphabet and the Slavonic liturgy prepared by Cyril. The liturgy was based on the vernacular of the Slavs from the region of Thessaloniki, in 893, Boris I expelled the Greek clergy from the country and ordered the replacement of the Greek language with the Slav-Bulgarian vernacular. It was the sixth Patriarchate after Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria, the seat of the Patriarchate was the new Bulgarian capital of Preslav. The Patriarch was likely to have resided in the town of Drastar, on April 5,972, Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimisces conquered and burned down Preslav, and captured Bulgarian Tsar Boris II. Patriarch Damyan managed to escape, initially to Sredetz in western Bulgaria, Patriarch German resided consecutively in Medieval Bulgarian cities of Maglen and Voden, and Prespa. Around 990, the patriarch, Philip, moved to Ohrid. After the fall of Bulgaria under Byzantine domination in 1018, Emperor Basil II Bulgaroktonos acknowledged the autocephalous status of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, by special charters, his government set up its boundaries, dioceses, property and other privileges. The church was deprived of its Patriarchal title and reduced to the rank of an archbishopric, although the first appointed archbishop was a Bulgarian, his successors, as well as the whole higher clergy, were invariably Byzantine
20.
Mount Athos
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Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in northeastern Greece and an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism. It is governed as an autonomous polity within the Greek Republic under the official name Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain, Mount Athos is home to 20 monasteries under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Mount Athos is commonly referred to in Greek as the Holy Mountain, other languages of orthodox tradition also use names translating to Holy Mountain. In the classical era, while the mountain was called Athos, the free movement of people and goods in its territory is prohibited, unless formal permission is granted by the Monastic States authorities, and only males are allowed to enter.6 square kilometres. The actual Mount Athos has steep, densely forested slopes reaching up to 2,033 metres, the surrounding seas, especially at the end of the peninsula, can be dangerous. In ancient Greek history two fleet disasters in the area are recorded, In 492 BC Darius, the king of Persia, in 411 BC the Spartans lost a fleet of 50 ships under admiral Epicleas. Though land-linked, Mount Athos is practically only by ferry. The Agios Panteleimon and Axion Estin travel daily between Ouranoupolis and Dafni, with stops at some monasteries on the western coast, there is also a smaller speed boat, the Agia Anna, which travels the same route, but with no intermediate stops. It is possible to travel by ferry to and from Ierissos for direct access to monasteries along the eastern coast, the number of daily visitors to Mount Athos is restricted, and all are required to obtain a special entrance permit valid for a limited period. Only males are permitted to visit the territory, which is called the Garden of Virgin Mary by the monks, residents on the peninsula must be males aged 18 and over who are members of the Eastern Orthodox Church and also either monks or workers. Athos in Greek mythology is the name of one of the Gigantes that challenged the Greek gods during the Gigantomachia, Athos threw a massive rock against Poseidon which fell in the Aegean sea and became Mount Athos. According to another version of the story, Poseidon used the mountain to bury the defeated giant, homer mentions the mountain Athos in the Iliad. Herodotus mentions the peninsula, then called Acte, telling us that Pelasgians from the island of Lemnos populated it and naming five cities thereon, Sane, Cleonae, Thyssos, Olophyxos, Strabo also mentions the cities of Dion and Acrothoï. Eretria also established colonies on Acte, at least one other city was established in the Classical period, Acanthus. Some of these cities minted their own coins, the peninsula was on the invasion route of Xerxes I, who spent three years excavating a channel across the isthmus to allow the passage of his invasion fleet in 483 BC. After the death of Alexander the Great, the architect Dinocrates proposed carvingg the entire mountain into a statue of Alexander, the history of the peninsula during latter ages is shrouded by the lack of historical accounts. Archaeologists have not been able to determine the location of the cities reported by Strabo. It is believed that they must have been deserted when Athos new inhabitants, according to the Athonite tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary was sailing accompanied by St John the Evangelist from Joppa to Cyprus to visit Lazarus
21.
Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
22.
South Slavs
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The South Slavs are a subgroup of Slavic peoples who speak the South Slavic languages. The South Slavs include the Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and they are the main population of the Southeastern European countries of Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. In the 20th century, the country of Yugoslavia united the regions inhabited by South Slavic nations – with the key exception of Bulgaria – into a single state. The concept of Yugoslavia, a state for all South Slavic peoples, emerged in the late 17th century. Little is known about the Slavs before the 5th century and their history prior to this can only be tentatively hypothesized via archeological and linguistic studies. Much of what we know about their history after the 6th century is from the works of Byzantine historians, in his work De Bellis, Procopius portrays the Sclavini as unusually tall and strong, with a tan complexion and reddish-blonde hair, living a rugged and primitive life. They lived in huts, often distant from one another and often changed their place of abode and they were not ruled by a single leader, but for a long time lived in a democracy. John of Ephesus, in his Ecclesiastical History portrays the Slavs as extremely violent people and they probably believed in many Gods, but Procopius suggests they believed in one, perhaps supreme god. He has often been identified as Perun, the creator of lightning, the Slavs went into battle on foot, charging straight at their enemy, armed with spears and small shields, but they did not wear armour. The lack of understanding may be attributed to matrilineal succession practiced among Southern Slavs and they made their homes in forests, by rivers and wetlands. Jordanes states that the Slavs have their homelands on the Danube, scholars have traditionally placed the Slavic Urheimat in the Pripet marshes of Ukraine, or alternatively between the Bug and the Dniepr. In the 5th century Slavs are mentioned as living north of the Danube in the sources from that era. From the 5th century, they supposedly spread outward in all directions, the Balkans was one of the regions which lay in the path of the expanding Slavs. Regarding the Slavs mentioned by 6th-century Byzantine chroniclers, Florin Curta states that their homeland was north of the Danube and he clarifies that their itinerant form of agriculture may have encouraged mobility on a micro regional scale. Material culture from the Danube suggests that there was an evolution of Slavic society between the early 7th century and the 8th century, as the Byzantines re-asserted the Danubian defences in the mid 6th century, the Slavs yield of pillaged goods dropped. As a reaction to this isolation, and external threats, political. As community elites rose to prominence, they came to embody a collective interest, if that group identity can be called ethnicity, and if that ethnicity can be called Slavic, then it certainly formed in the shadow of Justinians forts, not in the Pripet marshes. The Byzantines broadly grouped the numerous Slav tribes into two groups, the Sclaveni and Antes and they are both first encountered in the lower Danube region
23.
Corpus Juris Civilis
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This article is about the Roman law codification of Justinian I. For the canon law codification of a name, see Corpus Juris Canonici. The Corpus Juris Civilis is the name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I. It is also referred to as the Code of Justinian. All three parts, even the textbook, were given force of law and they were intended to be, together, the sole source of law, reference to any other source, including the original texts from which the Code and the Digest had been taken, was forbidden. Nonetheless, Justinian found himself having to enact laws and today these are counted as a fourth part of the Corpus. The work was directed by Tribonian, an official in Justinians court and his team was authorized to edit what they included. How far they made amendments is not recorded and, in the main, by the early 7th century, the official government language had become Greek during the lengthy reign of Heraclius. How far the Corpus Juris Civilis or any of its parts was effective, however, it was not in general use during the Early Middle Ages. After the Early Middle Ages, interest in it revived and it was received or imitated as private law and its public law content was quarried for arguments by both secular and ecclesiastical authorities. This revived Roman law, in turn, became the foundation of law in all civil law jurisdictions. The provisions of the Corpus Juris Civilis also influenced the law of the Roman Catholic Church. The Corpus continues to have an influence on public international law. Its four parts thus constitute the foundation documents of the Western legal tradition, the Codex was the first part to be finished, on 7 April 529. It contained in Latin most of the existing imperial constitutiones, back to the time of Hadrian and these works had developed authoritative standing. This first edition is now lost, an edition was issued in 534 and is the text that has survived. At least the second edition contained some of Justinians own legislation and it is not known whether he intended there to be further editions, although he did envisage translation of Latin enactments into Greek. Laws against heresy The very first law in the Codex requires all persons under the jurisdiction of the Empire to hold the Christian faith and this was primarily aimed against heresies such as Nestorianism
24.
Grand Palais
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The structure was built in the style of Beaux-Arts architecture as taught by the École des Beaux-Arts of Paris. One of its pediments calls it a “monument dedicated by the Republic to the glory of French art”, reflecting its original purpose, a monumental bronze quadriga by Georges Récipon tops each wing of the main façade. The one on the Champs-Élysées side depicts Immortality prevailing over Time, the grand inauguration took place 1 May 1900, and from the very beginning the palace was the site of different kinds of shows in addition to the intended art exhibitions. These included a competition that took place annually from 1901 to 1957, but were mainly dedicated to innovation and modernity, the automobile, aviation, household appliances. The golden age of the art exhibitions as such lasted for thirty years. The builders attempted to compensate for this subsidence, and for a tendency of the ground to shift, by sinking supporting posts down to firmer soil and these measures were only partially successful. Further damage occurred once the building was in use, additional problems due to the construction of the building itself revealed themselves over the course of time. Differential rates of expansion and contraction between cast iron and steel members, for example, allowed for water to enter, leading to corrosion and further weakening. When finally one of the ceiling panels fell in 1993, the main space had to be closed for restoration work. The Palais served as a hospital during World War I. The Nazis put the Palais to use during the Occupation of France in World War II, first used as a truck depot, the Palais then housed two Nazi propaganda exhibitions. The Parisian resistance used the Grand Palais as a headquarters during the Liberation of Paris, on 23 August 1944 an advancing German column was fired upon from a window on the Avenue de Sèlves, and the Germans responded with a tank attack upon the Palais. The attack ignited hay that was set up for a circus show, by 26 August, American jeeps were parked in the nave, followed by tanks from the French 2nd Armored Division, completing the liberation of the building. The buildings west wing contains a science museum, the Palais de la Découverte. The couture fashion house Chanel annually hosts many of its fashion shows here, setting up elaborate and expensive surroundings for its models and it was the host venue of the 2010 World Fencing Championships. This article contains material abridged and translated from the French and Spanish Wikipedia, official Grand Palais website The Grand Palais, current photographs, and photographs from the 1900s. New recent pictures and great information on the Grand Palais Paris Félix Charpentier, photos from the rooftops of the Grand Palais
25.
Realism (art movement)
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Realism was an artistic movement that began in France in the 1850s, after the 1848 Revolution. Realists rejected Romanticism, which had dominated French literature and art since the late 18th century, Realism revolted against the exotic subject matter and exaggerated emotionalism and drama of the Romantic movement. Instead it sought to portray real and typical contemporary people and situations with truth and accuracy, Realist works depicted people of all classes in situations that arise in ordinary life, and often reflected the changes brought by the Industrial and Commercial Revolutions. The popularity of realistic works grew with the introduction of photography—a new visual source that created a desire for people to produce representations which look objectively real. The Realists depicted everyday subjects and situations in contemporary settings, classical idealism and Romantic emotionalism and drama were avoided equally, and often sordid or untidy elements of subjects were not smoothed over or omitted. Treatments of subjects in a heroic or sentimental manner were equally rejected, Realism as an art movement was led by Gustave Courbet in France. The Realist movement began in the century as a reaction to Romanticism. In favor of depictions of life, the Realist painters used common laborers. The chief exponents of Realism were Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet, Honoré Daumier, jules Bastien-Lepage is closely associated with the beginning of Naturalism, an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement and heralded the arrival of Impressionism. Realists used unprettified detail depicting the existence of contemporary life, coinciding in the contemporaneous naturalist literature of Émile Zola, Honoré de Balzac. Courbet was the proponent of Realism and he challenged the popular history painting that was favored at the state-sponsored art academy. His groundbreaking paintings A Burial at Ornans and The Stonebreakers depicted ordinary people from his native region, the paintings were done on huge canvases that would typically be used for history paintings. The French Realist movement had stylistic and ideological equivalents in all other Western countries, the Ashcan School, an art movement largely based in New York City, included such artists as George Bellows and Robert Henri. It helped to define American realism in its tendency to depict the life of poorer members of society. 19th Century French Realism, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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History painting
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History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than artistic style. History paintings usually depict a moment in a story, rather than a specific and static subject. The term is derived from the senses of the word historia in Latin and Italian, meaning story or narrative. Most history paintings are not of scenes from history, especially paintings from before about 1850, History paintings almost always contain a number of figures, often a large number, and normally show some type of action that is a moment in a narrative. The genre includes depictions of moments in religious narratives, above all the Life of Christ, as well as scenes from mythology. These groups were for long the most frequently painted, works such as Michelangelos Sistine Chapel ceiling are therefore history paintings, History painting may be used interchangeably with historical painting, and was especially so used before the 20th century. Where a distinction is made historical painting is the painting of scenes from secular history, in the 19th century historical painting in this sense became a distinct genre. In phrases such as historical painting materials, historical means in use before about 1900 and he placed emphasis on the ability to depict the interactions between the figures by gesture and expression. This view remained general until the 19th century, when artistic movements began to struggle against the establishment institutions of academic art, which continued to adhere to it. Scenes from ancient history had been popular in the early Renaissance, and once again became common in the Baroque and Rococo periods, and still more so with the rise of Neoclassicism. In some 19th or 20th century contexts, the term may refer specifically to paintings of scenes from history, rather than those from religious narratives. Scenes from ancient history and mythology were also popular, artists continued for centuries to strive to make their reputation by producing such works, often neglecting genres to which their talents were better suited. The large works of Raphael were long considered, with those of Michelangelo, un Peintre qui ne fait que des portraits, na pas encore cette haute perfection de lArt, & ne peut prétendre à lhonneur que reçoivent les plus sçavans. He who produces perfect landscapes is above another who only produces fruit, a painter who only does portraits still does not have the highest perfection of his art, and cannot expect the honour due to the most skilled. By the late 18th century, with religious and mytholological painting in decline, there was an increased demand for paintings of scenes from history. Classical history remained popular, but scenes from national histories were often the best-received, the unheroic nature of modern dress was regarded as a serious difficulty. When, in 1770, Benjamin West proposed to paint The Death of General Wolfe in contemporary dress and he ignored these comments and showed the scene in modern dress. Although George III refused to purchase the work, West succeeded both in overcoming his critics objections and inaugurating a more historically accurate style in such paintings. M. W, conveniently their clothes had been worn away to classical-seeming rags by the point the painting depicts
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Macedonia (region)
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Macedonia /ˌmæsᵻˈdoʊniə/ is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, however it came to be defined as the geographical region by the mid 19th century. Nowadays the region is considered to include parts of six Balkan countries, Greece and it covers approximately 67,000 square kilometres and has a population of 4.76 million. Its oldest known settlements date back approximately 9,000 years, from the middle of the 4th century BC, the Kingdom of Macedon became the dominant power on the Balkan peninsula, since then Macedonia has had a diverse history. The definition of Macedonia has changed several times throughout history, expansion of Kingdom of Macedon,1. Kingdom of Perdiccas I, Macedonian Kingdom of Emathia consisting of six provinces Emathia, Pieria, Bottiaea, Mygdonia, Eordea, Kingdom of Alexander I, All the above provinces plus the eastern annexations Crestonia, Bisaltia and the western annexations Elimiotis, Orestis and Lynkestis. Kingdom of Philip II, All the above plus the appendages of Pelagonia and Macedonian Paeonia to the north, Sintike, Odomantis and Edonis to the east. In the 2nd century, Macedonia covered approximately the area where it is considered to be today, for reasons that are still unclear, over the next eleven centuries Macedonias location was changed significantly. The Roman province of Macedonia consisted of what is today Northern and Central Greece, much of the area of the present-day Republic of Macedonia. Simply put, the Romans created a larger administrative area under that name than the original ancient Macedon. In the Byzantine Empire, a province under the name of Macedonia was carved out of the original Theme of Thrace and this thema variously included parts of Thrace and gave its name to the Macedonian dynasty. Hence, Byzantine documents of this era that mention Macedonia are most probably referring to the Macedonian thema, during medieval and modern times, Macedonia has been known as a Balkan region inhabited by ethnic Greeks, Albanians, Vlachs, Serbs, Bulgarians, Jews, and Turks. Today, as a region where several very different cultures meet. Macedonian Greeks self-identify culturally and regionally as Macedonians and they form the majority of the regions population. They number approximately 2,500,000 and, today, smaller Greek minorities exist in Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, although their numbers are difficult to ascertain. Ethnic Macedonians self-identify as Macedonians in a sense as well as in the regional sense. They are the second largest ethnic group in the region, because of their primarily Slavic origin they are also known as Macedonian Slavs and Slav Macedonians. They form the majority of the population in the Republic of Macedonia where according to the 2002 census, according to the latest Bulgarian census held in 2001, there are 3,117 people declaring themselves ethnic Macedonians in the Blagoevgrad Province of Bulgaria
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Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
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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
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Illuminated manuscript
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An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented with such decoration as initials, borders and miniature illustrations. Comparable Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are described as painted, islamic manuscripts may be referred to as illuminated, illustrated or painted, though using essentially the same techniques as Western works. This article covers the technical, social and economic history of the subject, for an art-historical account, the earliest surviving substantive illuminated manuscripts are from the period 400 to 600, produced in the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire. The significance of these works lies not only in their inherent artistic and historical value, had it not been for the monastic scribes of Late Antiquity, most literature of Greece and Rome would have perished in Europe. As it was, the patterns of textual survivals were shaped by their usefulness to the severely constricted literate group of Christians, the majority of surviving manuscripts are from the Middle Ages, although many survive from the Renaissance, along with a very limited number from Late Antiquity. The majority of manuscripts are of a religious nature. However, especially from the 13th century onward, a number of secular texts were illuminated. Most illuminated manuscripts were created as codices, which had superseded scrolls, a very few illuminated manuscript fragments survive on papyrus, which does not last nearly as long as vellum or parchment. Most medieval manuscripts, illuminated or not, were written on parchment, beginning in the late Middle Ages manuscripts began to be produced on paper. Illuminated manuscripts continued to be produced in the early 16th century, Manuscripts are among the most common items to survive from the Middle Ages, many thousands survive. They are also the best surviving specimens of medieval painting, indeed, for many areas and time periods, they are the only surviving examples of painting. There are a few examples from later periods, the type of book that was most often heavily and richly illuminated, sometimes known as a display book, varied between periods. In the first millennium, these were most likely to be Gospel Books, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Romanesque period saw the creation of many huge illuminated complete Bibles – one in Sweden requires three librarians to lift it. Many Psalters were also illuminated in both this and the Gothic period. Finally, the Book of Hours, very commonly the personal book of a wealthy layperson, was often richly illuminated in the Gothic period. Other books, both liturgical and not, continued to be illuminated at all periods, the Byzantine world also continued to produce manuscripts in its own style, versions of which spread to other Orthodox and Eastern Christian areas. See Medieval art for other regions, periods and types, reusing parchments by scraping the surface and reusing them was a common practice, the traces often left behind of the original text are known as palimpsests. The Gothic period, which saw an increase in the production of these beautiful artifacts, also saw more secular works such as chronicles
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Lesnovo monastery
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Lesnovo monastery, officially called Monastery of St Archangel Michael and St Hermit Gabriel of Lesnovo, is one of the most important medieval monuments of Macedonia. It is perhaps the best preserved endowment of a Serbian noble of the 14th century, with superb and its historical importance, above all as a literary center, is of equal importance. The monastery is located on the south-west slopes of Mt Osogovo and it lies at the beginning of Lesnovo village, at the height of 870 meters. The closest townlet is Zletovo which together with Lesnovo belongs to the municipality of Probištip, the monastery is located in a secluded region which was popular with hermits of the 11th century. One of them, St Gabriel of Lesnovo, lived in the local caves and it remains still unsolved whether Gabriel founded a monastery or was it founded on the spot close to his hermitage. The new monastic complex today was founded in 1341 by Despotes Jovan Oliver Grčinić. Jovan Oliver built a dedicated to St Michael as well as new dwellings. The monastery became very rich, attracting a large and well educated fraternity. Next year Oliver gave the monastery with all its belongings to Chilandar, in the Serbian state assembly held in Skopje in 1347 Emperor Dušan pronounced Lesnovo monastery as the seat of the newly established Zletovo bishopric. The new bishopric was intended to fill in the gap of the old, Lesnovo received a new charter by which it was released from the power of Chilandar, got new villages and freed the peasants in them from state duties. As its founder, Jovan Oliver retained the right to appoint the abbot, most importantly, as the new seat of the bishopric the monastery church was enlarged with a narthex. From this period it is known that a number of hermitages operated in the caves around the monastery, many from the numerous fraternity were also living as hermits, including the first bishop, Arsenije I, who was buried in one of them. We know little of what happened with Lesnovo in the years after Dušan’s and his son. In 1381, the local lord Konstantin Dejanović issued a charter giving Lesnovo back to Chilandar and placing it under the supervision of the bishop of Velbužd. During the Ottoman onslaught the monastery was not destroyed but it is possible that late in 15th century its fraternity was dispersed for some time, the fist renovation of a neglected monastery came in 1558, just one year after the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć was restored. The reconstruction undertaken by its abbot Neofit in that year opened a series of works by the people from the nearby mining town of Kratovo that at the time flourished itself. In 1581 duke Nikola Bojčić recovered the monastery with lead and in 1588 duke Nikola Pepić built the outer narthex, Monastery also got new dwellings, books as well as new possessions. In this period the monastery became once more the seat of the bishopric
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Kosovo Polje
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Kosovo Polje or Fushë Kosovë is a town and municipality in the Pristina district of central Kosovo. In 2014 the municipality had a population of 37,735. The town is situated in central Kosovo, some 8 km south-west of Pristina, itis served by Fushë Kosovë railway station. Kosovo Polje was named after the Kosovo Field of the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, the settlement of Kosovo Polje was established in 1921 during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. 6% Albanian,23. 7% Serb and 19. 6% from other communities. Kosovo Polje saw considerable violence before, during and after the Kosovo War, in December 1998, Serbian deputy mayor of Kosovo Polje Zvonko Bojanić was executed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, despite taking a moderate line on Serb-Albanian relations. At the wars end in June 1999, most of the Albanian population returned while many of the towns Serbs were expelled, the remaining Serb population found themselves in an enclave in an Albanian-dominated region. Thousands of Serbs and Roma from other parts of Kosovo, who had fled their homes, took refuge in Kosovo Polje, ethnic tension flared repeatedly in the years after the war and a number of Serbs were killed by Albanian nationalists. Under this continuing pressure, the Serb population of Kosovo Polje shrank steadily until, by July 2002, the town was seriously affected by the March 2004 unrest in Kosovo, which saw almost all Serb inhabitants expelled and their homes burned down. A number are reported to have returned since then and at least some of the properties have been rebuilt by UNMIK. District of Pristina Republic of Kosovo municipality of Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje
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Prizren
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Prizren is a historic city located in Kosovo. It is the center of the eponymous municipality and district. The city has a population of around 178,000, making it the second largest city in Kosovo, the residents of Prizren are mostly ethnic Albanians. Prizren is located on the banks of a river, the Prizren Bistrica, the municipality has a border with Albania and the Republic of Macedonia. By road the city is 99 kilometres northwest of Skopje,85 kilometres south of Pristina and 175 kilometres northeast of Tirana, the Roman town of Theranda in Ptolemys Geography is mentioned in the 2nd century AD. In the 5th century, it is mentioned as being restored in Dardania with the name of Petrizên by Procopius of Caesarea in De aedificiis, sometimes it is mentioned even in relation to the Justiniana Prima. It is thought that its name comes from old Serbian Призрѣнь, from при-зрѣти, indicating fortress which could be seen from afar. Konstantin Jireček concluded, from the correspondence of bishop Demetrios Chomatenos of Ohrid, Bulgarian rulers controlled the Prizren area from the 850s, and Slav migrants arriving in the area were subsequently influenced by the Bulgarian-organized Archbishopric of Ohrid. Bulgarian rule was replaced by Byzantine rule in the eleventh century. The revolt was suppressed by 1073, the area was raided by Serbian ruler Vukan in the 1090s. In 1180–90, the Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja conquered the district of Prizren this may refer to the Prizren diocese rather than the city itself, Stefan Nemanja regained control of Prizren some time between 1208 and 1216. In 1220, the Byzantine Greek Orthodox bishop of the city was expelled as the Serbian rulers imposed their own ecclesiastical jurisdiction, Stefan Dušan used Prizren as capital of Serbian Empire. In the next centuries before the Ottoman conquest the city would pass to the Mrnjavčević and Balsić families, the Catholic church retained some influence in the area, 14th-century documents refer to a catholic church in Prizren, which was the seat of a bishopric between the 1330s and 1380s. Catholic parishes served Ragusan merchants and Saxon miners, after several years of attack and counterattack, the Ottomans made a major invasion of Kosovo in 1454, Đurađ Branković retreated to the north and asked for help from John Hunyadi. On 21 June 1455, Prizren surrendered to the Ottoman army, Prizren was the capital of the Sanjak of Prizren, and under new administrative organization of Ottoman Empire it became capital of the Vilayet. This included the city of Tetovo, later it became a part of the Ottoman province of Rumelia. It was a trade city, benefiting from its position on the north-south. Prizren became one of the cities of the Ottomans Kosovo Province
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Heraldry
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The beauty and pageantry of heraldic designs allowed them to survive the gradual abandonment of armour on the battlefield during the seventeenth century. Heraldry has been described poetically as the handmaid of history, the shorthand of history, in modern times, heraldry is used by individuals, public and private organizations, corporations, cities, towns, and regions to symbolize their heritage, achievements, and aspirations. Various symbols have been used to represent individuals or groups for thousands of years, similar emblems and devices are found in ancient Mesopotamian art of the same period, and the precursors of heraldic beasts such as the griffin can also be found. In the Bible, the Book of Numbers refers to the standards and ensigns of the children of Israel, the Greek and Latin writers frequently describe the shields and symbols of various heroes, and units of the Roman army were sometimes identified by distinctive markings on their shields. The Book of Saint Albans, compiled in 1486, declares that Christ himself was a gentleman of coat armour, the medieval heralds also devised arms for various knights and lords from history and literature. Notable examples include the toads attributed to Pharamond, the cross and martlets of Edward the Confessor, and the arms attributed to the Nine Worthies. These too are now regarded as an invention, rather than evidence of the antiquity of heraldry. The development of the modern heraldic language cannot be attributed to an individual, time. Yet no individual is depicted twice bearing the arms, nor are any of the descendants of the various persons depicted known to have borne devices resembling those in the tapestry. A Spanish manuscript from 1109 describes both plain and decorated shields, none of which appears to have been heraldic, in England, from the time of the Norman conquest, official documents had to be sealed. A notable example of an armorial seal is attached to a charter granted by Philip I, Count of Flanders. Seals from the part of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries show no evidence of heraldic symbolism. One of the earliest known examples of armory as it came to be practiced can be seen on the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. An enamel, probably commissioned by Geoffreys widow between 1155 and 1160, depicts him carrying a shield decorated with six golden lions rampant. He wears a helmet adorned with another lion, and his cloak is lined in vair. A medieval chronicle states that Geoffrey was given a shield of this description when he was knighted by his father-in-law, Henry I, in 1128, but this account probably dates to about 1175. Since Henry was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, it seems reasonable to suppose that the adoption of lions as an emblem by Henry or his sons might have been inspired by Geoffreys shield. Richard is also credited with having originated the English crest of a lion statant and it is from this garment that the phrase coat of arms is derived
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Fresco
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Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly-laid, or wet lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian Renaissance painting. Buon fresco pigment mixed with water of temperature on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster. Because of the makeup of the plaster, a binder is not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink into the intonaco. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours, many artists sketched their compositions on this underlayer, which would never be seen, in a red pigment called sinopia, a name also used to refer to these under-paintings. Later, new techniques for transferring paper drawings to the wall were developed. The main lines of a drawing made on paper were pricked over with a point, the paper held against the wall, if the painting was to be done over an existing fresco, the surface would be roughened to provide better adhesion. This area is called the giornata, and the different day stages can usually be seen in a large fresco, buon frescoes are difficult to create because of the deadline associated with the drying plaster. Once a giornata is dried, no more buon fresco can be done, if mistakes have been made, it may also be necessary to remove the whole intonaco for that area—or to change them later, a secco. An indispensable component of this process is the carbonatation of the lime, the eyes of the people of the School of Athens are sunken-in using this technique which causes the eyes to seem deeper and more pensive. Michelangelo used this technique as part of his trademark outlining of his central figures within his frescoes, in a wall-sized fresco, there may be ten to twenty or even more giornate, or separate areas of plaster. After five centuries, the giornate, which were nearly invisible, have sometimes become visible, and in many large-scale frescoes. Additionally, the border between giornate was often covered by an a secco painting, which has fallen off. One of the first painters in the period to use this technique was the Isaac Master in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. A person who creates fresco is called a frescoist, a secco or fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster. The pigments thus require a medium, such as egg. Blue was a problem, and skies and blue robes were often added a secco, because neither azurite blue nor lapis lazuli. By the end of the century this had largely displaced buon fresco
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Vienna State Opera
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The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria and it was originally called the Vienna Court Opera. In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian Republic, the members of the Vienna Philharmonic are recruited from its orchestra. The opera house was the first major building on the Vienna Ringstrasse commissioned by the Viennese city expansion fund, work commenced on the house in 1861 and was completed in 1869, following plans drawn up by architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll. It was built in the Neo-Renaissance style by the renowned Czech architect, the somewhat coarser-grained Kelheimerstein was intended as the main stone to be used in the building of the opera house, but the necessary quantity was not deliverable. Breitenbrunner stone was suggested as a substitute for the Kelheimer stone, the staircases were constructed from polished Kaiserstein, while most of the rest of the interior was decorated with varieties of marble. The decision was made to use dimension stone for the exterior of the building, due to the monumental demand for stone, stone from Sóskút, widely used in Budapest, was also used. Three Viennese masonry companies were employed to supply enough masonry labour, Eduard Hauser, Anton Wasserburger, the foundation stone was laid on 20 May 1863. The building was, however, not very popular with the public, on the one hand, it did not seem as grand as the Heinrichshof, a private residence which was destroyed in World War II. Eduard van der Nüll committed suicide, and barely ten weeks later Sicardsburg died from tuberculosis so neither architect saw the completion of the building, the opening premiere was Don Giovanni, by Mozart, on May 25,1869. Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elisabeth were present, towards the end of World War II, on March 12,1945, the opera was set alight by an American bombardment. The front section, which had been walled off as a precaution, remained intact including the foyer, with frescoes by Moritz von Schwind, the stairways, the vestibule. The auditorium and stage were, however, destroyed by flames as well as almost the entire décor, the State Opera was temporarily housed at the Theater an der Wien and at the Vienna Volksoper. Eventually the decision was made to rebuild the house as it had been. The Austrian Federal Chancellor Leopold Figl made the decision in 1946 to have an opera house again by 1949. An architectural competition was announced, which was won by Erich Boltenstern, in order to achieve a good acoustic, wood was the favoured building material, at the advice of, among others, Arturo Toscanini. In addition, the number of seats in the parterre was reduced, and the fourth gallery, the façade, entrance hall and the Schwind foyer were restored and remain in their original style. In 1947, the company went on tour to London, due to the appalling conditions at Theater an der Wien, the opera company leadership tried to raise significant quantities of money to speed up reconstruction of the original opera house
