1.
World Heritage Site
–
A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
World Heritage Site
–
Site #252:
Taj Mahal, an example of cultural heritage site
World Heritage Site
–
Logo of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Heritage Committee
World Heritage Site
–
Site #156:
Serengeti National Park, an example of natural heritage site
World Heritage Site
–
Site #274:
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, an example of mixed heritage site
2.
Vaucluse
–
The Vaucluse is a department in the southeast of France, named after the famous spring, the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. The name Vaucluse derives from the Latin Vallis Clausa as the valley ends in a cliff face from which emanates a spring whose origin is so far in. Vaucluse was created on 12 August 1793 out of parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, the then rural department was, like the nearby city of Lyon, a hotbed of the French Resistance in World War II. Vaucluse is bordered by the Rhône to the west and the River Durance to the south, mountains occupy a significant proportion of the eastern half of the department, with Mont Ventoux, also known as the Giant of Provence, dominating the landscape. Other important mountain ranges include the Dentelles de Montmirail, the Monts de Vaucluse, fruit and vegetables are cultivated in great quantities in the lower-lying parts of the department, on one of the most fertile plains in southern France. The Vaucluse département has a large exclave within the Drôme department. Vaucluse is also known for its karst, including the karst spring Fontaine de Vaucluse after which Vauclusian Risings are named, important urban centres include Avignon, Orange, Carpentras, Cavaillon, and Apt
Vaucluse
–
Prefecture building of the Vaucluse department, in Avignon
Vaucluse
–
Fontaine de Vaucluse, source of the
Sorgues, characterised by an upward movement of water from the depth of over 315 metres (1,033 ft)
Vaucluse
–
Pont Saint-Bénezet and
Palais des Papes in
Avignon
Vaucluse
–
The
Triumphal Arch of Orange
3.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
4.
French language
–
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
French language
–
The
"arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in
Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.
French language
–
Regions where French is the main language
French language
–
Town sign in
Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of
Rechmaya in
Lebanon.
French language
–
An obsolete 100
Lebanese pound note with the French language inscriptions "Banque du Liban" and "Cent livres".
5.
Triumphal arch
–
A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. The main structure is decorated with carvings, sculpted reliefs. More elaborate triumphal arches may have multiple archways, Triumphal arches are one of the most influential and distinctive types of architecture associated with ancient Rome. The survival of great Roman triumphal arches such as the Arch of Titus inspired many states and rulers, up to the present day. Triumphal arch is also the given to the arch above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church where a rood can be placed. The origins of the Roman triumphal arch are unclear, Triumphal arch look similar to Mesopotamian Arch entrances like the Ishtar Gate but there is no evidence to support that the Romans got their influence from there. The development of the arch is often associated with ancient Roman architecture. To fully understand this development however it is important to understand the importance of basic arches in Roman civilization, the Romans had learned how to construct effective arches from the Etruscans, who lived in central Italy. This knowledge had a impact on the architecture of Roman civilization. As a result, the Romans used arches for things such as aqueducts, amphitheaters, bridges and they had effectively used the arch in various aspects of their civilization and city structure. Since the Romans had effectively perfected this architectural structure, one could conclude that the arch symbolized perfection, monumental gateways had already been in use for hundreds of years by civilizations such as the Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians and Myceneans. There were precursors to the arch within the Roman world, in Italy. Surviving examples of Etruscan arches can still be seen at Perugia, the two key elements of the triumphal arch – a round-topped arch and a square entablature – had long been in use as separate architectural elements in ancient Greece. Entablatures were a part of the structural fabric of such buildings. The great innovation of the Romans was to combine a round arch, the first recorded Roman triumphal arches were set up in the time of the Roman Republic. Generals who were granted a triumph were termed triumphators and would erect fornices or honorific arches bearing statues to commemorate their victories, a number of fornices were built in Rome during the Republican era. Lucius Steritinus erected two in 196 BC to commemorate his victories in Hispania, another fornix was built on the Capitoline Hill by Scipio Africanus in 190 BC, and Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus constructed one in the Roman Forum in 121 BC. None of them today and little is known about their appearance
Triumphal arch
–
The
Arch of Constantine,
Rome
Triumphal arch
–
The
Arc de Triomphe,
Paris
Triumphal arch
Triumphal arch
6.
Orange, Vaucluse
–
Orange is a commune in the Vaucluse Department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southeastern France, about 21 km north of Avignon. It has an agricultural economy. The name was unrelated to that of the orange fruit. Arausio covered an area of some 170 acres and was endowed with civic monuments, in addition to the theatre and arch, it had a monumental temple complex. It was the capital of an area of northern Provence. It is found in both the Tabula Peutingeriana and Le cadastre dOrange maps, the town prospered, but was sacked by the Visigoths in 412. It had, by then, become largely Christianized, and from the end of the third century constituted the Ancient Diocese of Orange, no longer a residential bishopric, Arausio, as it is called in Latin, is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. It hosted two important synods, in 441 and 529, the Second Council of Orange was of importance in condemning what later came to be called Semipelagianism. The sovereign Carolingian counts of Orange had their origin in the eighth century, from the 12th century, Orange was raised to a minor principality, the Principality of Orange, as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. During this period, the town and the principality of Orange belonged to the administration and this pitched it into the Protestant side in the Wars of Religion, during which the town was badly damaged. In 1568, the Eighty Years War began with William as stadtholder leading the bid for independence from Spain, William the Silent was assassinated in Delft in 1584. His son, Maurice of Nassau, with the help of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, the United Provinces survived to become the Netherlands, which is still ruled by the House of Orange-Nassau. William, Prince of Orange, ruled England as William III of England, Orange gave its name to other Dutch-influenced parts of the world, such as the Oranges in New Jersey, USA, and the Orange Free State in South Africa. Following the French Revolution of 1789, Orange was absorbed into the French département of Drôme, then Bouches-du-Rhône, however, the title remained with the Dutch princes of Orange. Orange attracted international attention in 1995, when it elected a member of Front National, Jacques Bompard, Bompard left the FN in 2005 and became a member of the conservative Movement for France until 2010. Orange was also home to the French Foreign Legions armored First Foreign Cavalry Regiment, the regiment officially moved to Carpiagne on July 10,2014. The city of Orange is the 3rd largest town of Vaucluse by population after Avignon, in 2013, the municipality had 29,193 residents. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known throughout the population censuses carried out in the town since 1793, the fine Triumphal Arch of Orange is often said to date from the time of Augustus or Tiberius, but is probably much later, perhaps Severan
Orange, Vaucluse
–
Aerial view of downtown Orange
Orange, Vaucluse
–
The
Triumphal Arch of Orange
Orange, Vaucluse
–
Madama Butterfly on 9 July 2007
Orange, Vaucluse
–
The Roman theatre in Orange
7.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
8.
Augustus
–
Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Roman emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD14. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia and his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesars will as his adopted son and heir, then known as Octavianus. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar, following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvate was eventually torn apart by the ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, in reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and it took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis, the resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of peace known as the Pax Romana. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, expanding into Germania, beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. Augustus died in AD14 at the age of 75 and he probably died from natural causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son Tiberius, Augustus was known by many names throughout his life, At birth, he was named Gaius Octavius after his biological father. Historians typically refer to him simply as Octavius between his birth in 63 until his adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, upon his adoption, he took Caesars name and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with Roman adoption naming standards. He quickly dropped Octavianus from his name, and his contemporaries referred to him as Caesar during this period, historians. In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and it is the events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus, which historians use in reference to him from 27 BC until his death in AD14. While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, approximately 40 kilometres from Rome and he was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his fathers victory at Thurii over a band of slaves. Due to the nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his fathers home village at Velletri to be raised. Octavius only mentions his fathers equestrian family briefly in his memoirs and his paternal great-grandfather Gaius Octavius was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War
Augustus
–
The statue known as the
Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century
Augustus
–
The Death of Caesar, by
Jean-Léon Gérôme (1867). On 15 March 44 BC, Octavius's adoptive father Julius Caesar was assassinated by a conspiracy led by
Marcus Junius Brutus and
Gaius Cassius Longinus.
Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.
Augustus
–
A statue of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated ca. 30 BC
Augustus
–
Bust of Augustus in
Musei Capitolini, Rome
9.
Via Agrippa
–
Via Agrippa, is any stretch of the network of Roman roads in Gaul that was built by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, to whom Octavian entrusted the reorganization of the Gauls. In all, the Romans built 21,000 kilometres of roads in Gaul, agrippas network radiated from a hub at the new strategic site of Lugdunum. An ancient salt road passed to the mouths of the Rhône and this route was augmented by the Via Antonina along the right bank of the Rhône. Near Valence, the modern Route nationale 7 follows the track of the via Agrippa, nearby, the toponym Vie Magne records the passage of the via magna, the great road. P P PROCO OR ORB ESTITUIT MILIA I II
Via Agrippa
–
A section of Via Agrippa near Beaumont-Monteux (Drôme)
Via Agrippa
–
Mile stone of the via Agrippa reused in the
Cathedral of Valence, Drôme)
Via Agrippa
–
Via Aemilia
10.
Gallic Wars
–
The Gallic Wars were a series of military campaigns waged by the Roman proconsul Julius Caesar against several Gallic tribes. The wars paved the way for Julius Caesar to become the ruler of the Roman Republic. Still, Gaul was of significant military importance to the Romans, conquering Gaul allowed Rome to secure the natural border of the river Rhine. The Gallic Wars are described by Julius Caesar in his book Commentarii de Bello Gallico, as a result of the financial burdens of his consulship in 59 BC, Caesar incurred significant debt. When the Governor of Transalpine Gaul, Metellus Celer, died unexpectedly, Caesars governorships were extended to a five-year period, a new idea at the time. Caesar had initially four veteran legions under his command, Legio VII, Legio VIII, Legio IX Hispana. As he had been Governor of Hispania Ulterior in 61 BC and had campaigned successfully with them against the Lusitanians, Caesar also had the legal authority to levy additional legions and auxiliary units as he saw fit. His ambition was to conquer and plunder some territories to get out of debt. It is more likely that he was planning a campaign against the Kingdom of Dacia, the countries of Gaul were civilized and wealthy. Most had contact with Roman merchants and some, particularly those that were governed by such as the Aedui. The Romans respected and feared the Gallic tribes, only fifty years before, in 109 BC, Italy had been invaded from the north and saved only after several bloody and costly battles by Gaius Marius. Around 62 BC, when a Roman client state, the Arverni, conspired with the Sequani and the Suebi nations east of the Rhine, to attack the Aedui, the Sequani and Arverni sought Ariovistus’ aid and defeated the Aedui in 63 BC at the Battle of Magetobriga. The Sequani rewarded Ariovistus with land following his victory, Ariovistus settled the land with 120,000 of his people. When 24,000 Harudes joined his cause, Ariovistus demanded that the Sequani give him land to accommodate the Harudes people. This demand concerned Rome because if the Sequani conceded, Ariovistus would be in a position to all of the Sequani land. They did not appear to be concerned about a conflict between non-client, client and allied states, by the end of the campaign, the non-client Suebi under the leadership of the belligerent Ariovistus, stood triumphant over both the Aedui and their coconspirators. Fearing another mass migration akin to the devastating Cimbrian War, Rome, the Helvetii was a confederation of about five related Gallic tribes that lived on the Swiss plateau, hemmed in by the mountains, and the Rhine and Rhone rivers. They began to come under increased pressure from German tribes to the north, by 58 BC, the Helvetii were well on their way in the planning and provisioning for a mass migration under the leadership of Orgetorix
Gallic Wars
–
"Vercingetorix Throws Down His Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar", 1899, by
Lionel Noel Royer
Gallic Wars
–
Roman silver
denarius with the head of captive Gaul 48 BC, following the campaigns of
Caesar.
Gallic Wars
–
Denarius from 48 BCE, thought to depict an allegory of Gaul with a
carnyx on the obverse and
Diana of Ephesus with a stag on the reverse
11.
Legio II Augusta
–
Legio secunda Augusta was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that was founded during the late Roman republic. Its emblems were the Capricornus, Pegasus, Mars, and the banner from the top left. Enlisted to fight against Pompey, they part in the subsequent battle of Munda of 45 BC. Alternatively it could be the Legio II, formed by the consul, Gaio Vibio Pansa in 43 BC and recruited in Sabina and it might have participated in the subsequent battle of Philippi of 42 BC on the side of the triumvirate, Octavian and Marc Antony. With the annihilation of Legio XVII, XVIII and XIX in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, II Augusta moved to Germania, after 17, it was at Argentoratum. The legion participated in the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, future emperor Vespasian was the legions commander at the time, and led the campaign against the Durotriges and Dumnonii tribes. The legion also had connections with the camp at Alchester in Oxfordshire, in 122, II Augusta helped to build Hadrians Wall. In 142, II Augusta helped to build the Antonine Wall and are recorded on The Bridgeness Slab, in 196, II Augusta supported the claim for the purple of the governor of Britannia, Clodius Albinus, who was defeated by Septimius Severus. On the occasion of Severus Scottish campaign, the Second moved to Carpow, in his fantasy novel Grail, the author Stephen R. Lawhead states that the legion was ensnared by the black magic of the witch Morgan le Fay, doomed to perpetually wander the mists of Lyonesse. Lindsey Davis character Marcus Didius Falco and his sidekick Lucius Petronius Longus both served in the legion during the Boudicca uprising in 60/61, while they were more than boys. Marcus or Petronius have only referred to their service in asides, due to the bad memories of the uprising, the scenes of carnage and destruction in Londinium left a deep impression on both of them, with neither keen to return to Roman Britain. Novels that most directly refer to their service in Britain are The Silver Pigs, The Iron Hand of Mars, A Body in the Bath House and The Jupiter Myth. It is also the Legion in which Optio Quintus Licinius Cato, the books also cover Vespasians career as commander of the legion and the invasion of Britain. The story of the role in Boudicas Rebellion and the subsequent suicide of its acting commander features in Imperial Governor. List of Roman legions Roman legion livius. org account Field, N. Dorset, the Origins and Early History of the Second Augustan Legion. Legions and Veterans, Roman Army Papers 1971-2000
Legio II Augusta
–
Emblems were the
Capricornus
Legio II Augusta
–
Map of the Roman empire in AD 125, under emperor
Hadrian, showing the LEGIO II AUGUSTA, stationed at
Isca Silurum (Caerleon, Wales), in
Britannia province, from AD 74 to at least 269
Legio II Augusta
–
Funerary
stele of legionnaire Caius Largennius of the Legio II Augusta, found in
Strasbourg (district of Kœnigshoffen) (
Musée archéologique de Strasbourg)
12.
Tiberius
–
Tiberius was a Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Born Tiberius Claudius Nero, a Claudian, Tiberius was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and his mother divorced Nero and married Octavian, later known as Augustus, in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian. Tiberius would later marry Augustus daughter, Julia the Elder, and even later be adopted by Augustus, by which act he officially became a Julian, bearing the name Tiberius Julius Caesar. The subsequent emperors after Tiberius would continue this blended dynasty of both families for the thirty years, historians have named it the Julio-Claudian dynasty. In relations to the emperors of this dynasty, Tiberius was the stepson of Augustus, grand-uncle of Caligula, paternal uncle of Claudius. Tiberius was one of Romes greatest generals, his conquest of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania, laid the foundations for the northern frontier. But he came to be remembered as a dark, reclusive, and sombre ruler who never really desired to be emperor, Pliny the Elder called him tristissimus hominum, after the death of Tiberius’ son Drusus Julius Caesar in 23 AD, he became more reclusive and aloof. In 26 AD Tiberius removed himself from Rome and left largely in the hands of his unscrupulous Praetorian Prefects Lucius Aelius Sejanus and Quintus Naevius Sutorius Macro. Caligula, Tiberius grand-nephew and adopted grandson, succeeded Tiberius upon his death, Tiberius was born in Rome on 16 November 42 BC to Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. In 39 BC his mother divorced his father and remarried Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus shortly thereafter. In 38 BC his brother, Nero Claudius Drusus, was born, little is recorded of Tiberiuss early life. In 32 BC Tiberius at the age of nine, delivered the eulogy for his father at the rostra. In 29 BC, both he rode in the chariot along with their adoptive father Octavian in celebration of the defeat of Antony. In 23 BC Emperor Augustus became gravely ill and his possible death threatened to plunge the Roman world into chaos again, in response, a series of potential heirs seem to have been selected, among them Tiberius and his brother Drusus. Similar provisions were made for Drusus, shortly thereafter Tiberius began appearing in court as an advocate, and it is presumably here that his interest in Greek rhetoric began. In 20 BC, Tiberius was sent East under Marcus Agrippa, the Parthians had captured the standards of the legions under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Decidius Saxa, and Marc Antony. Augustus was able to reach a compromise whereby the standards were returned, Tiberius married Vipsania Agrippina, the daughter of Augustus’s close friend and greatest general, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. He was appointed to the position of praetor, and sent with his legions to assist his brother Drusus in campaigns in the west
Tiberius
–
Bust of the Emperor Tiberius
Tiberius
–
A bust of
Vipsania Agrippina, Tiberius' first wife, recovered from
Leptis Magna.
Tiberius
–
The campaigns of Tiberius,
Ahenobarbus, and
Saturninus in
Germania between 6 BC and 1 BC.
Tiberius
–
Remnants of Tiberius' villa at
Sperlonga, on the coast midway between Rome and Naples
13.
Germanicus
–
Germanicus, formally Germanicus Julius Caesar, was heir-designate of the Roman Empire under Tiberius and a prominent general known for his campaigns in Germany. He was born at Rome into a prominent branch of the patrician gens Claudia, to Nero Claudius Drusus and his name at birth is uncertain, but was probably Nero Claudius Drusus after his father. The agnomen Germanicus was added to his name in 9 BC when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honour of his victories in Germania. In AD4, he was adopted out of the Claudii and into the Julii and he enjoyed an accelerated political career as a Caesar, entering the office of quaestor five years before the legal age in AD7. He held that office until AD11, and was elected consul for the first time in AD12, the year after, he was made proconsul of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior, and all of Gaul. From there he commanded eight legions, about one-third of the entire Roman army and his successes made him famous after avenging the defeat of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, and retrieving two of the three legionary eagles that had been lost during the battle. In AD17 he returned to Rome to receive a triumph before leaving to reorganize the provinces of Asia, whereby he incorporated the provinces of Cappadocia, while in the eastern provinces, he came into conflict with the governor of Syria, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. During their feud, Germanicus became ill in Antioch, where he died on 10 October AD19 and his death has been attributed to poison by ancient sources, but that was never proven. Beloved by the people, he was considered to be the ideal Roman long after his death. The Roman people have said to consider him as Romes Alexander the Great due to the nature of his death at a young age, his virtuous character, his dashing physique. His praenomen is unknown, but he was probably named Nero Claudius Drusus after his father, in 9 BC, the agnomen Germanicus was added to his full name when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honor of his victories in Germania. Though the name was inherited by his siblings too, the title seems at first to have been used exclusively by him, by AD4 he was adopted as Tiberius son and heir. As a result, Germanicus was adopted out of the Claudii, in accordance with Roman naming conventions, he adopted the name Julius Caesar while retaining his agnomen, becoming Germanicus Julius Caesar. Upon Germanicus adoption into the Julii, his brother Claudius became the legal representative of his father. Germanicus was born at Rome in 15 BC and his parents were the general Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor. Livilla was his sister and the future emperor Claudius was his younger brother. As a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was a relative to all five Julio-Claudian emperors. On his mothers side Germanicus was a great-nephew of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome and he was born the nephew of the second emperor, Tiberius
Germanicus
–
Bust of Germanicus
Germanicus
–
Agrippina and Germanicus, as painted by
Peter Paul Rubens
Germanicus
–
The Death of Germanicus (1627), oil painting by
Nicholas Poussin. Collection
Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Germanicus
–
Germanicus
14.
Rhineland
–
The Rhineland is the name used for a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine River, chiefly its middle section. In the High Middle Ages, numerous Imperial States along the river emerged from the stem duchy of Lotharingia. The term covered the whole occupied zone west of the Rhine including the bridge-heads on the eastern banks, after the collapse of the French dominated West Bank in the early 19th century, the regions of Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg were annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1822 the Prussian administration reorganized the territory as the Rhine Province, following the First World War, the western part of Rhineland was occupied by Entente forces, then demilitarized under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German forces remilitarized the territory in 1936, as part of a diplomatic test of will, stretching down to the North Palatine Uplands in the south, this area, except for the Saarland, more or less corresponds with the modern use of the term. The southern and eastern parts are mainly hill country, cut by valleys, principally the Middle Rhine up to Bingen and its Ahr, Moselle. The border of the North German plain is marked by the lower Ruhr, in the south, the river cuts the Rhenish Massif. The area encompasses the western part of the Ruhr industrial region, toponyms as well as local family names often trace back to the Frankish heritage. The lands on the shore of the Rhine are strongly characterised by Roman influence. In the core territories, large parts of the population are members of the Catholic Church. On the right bank of the Rhine, between the Main and the Lahn, were the settlements of the Mattiaci, a branch of the Germanic Chatti, while farther to the north were the Usipetes and Tencteri. Julius Caesar conquered the tribes on the left bank, and Augustus established numerous fortified posts on the Rhine. The Frankish conquerors of the Rhenish districts were singularly little affected by the culture of the Roman provincials they subdued, by the 8th century the Frankish dominion was firmly established in western Germania and northern Gaul. On the division of the Carolingian Empire at the Treaty of Verdun the part the province to the east of the fell to East Francia. As the central power of the Holy Roman Emperor weakened, the Rhineland split up into small independent principalities, each with its separate vicissitudes. After the Imperial Reform of 1500/12, the territory was part of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian, Upper Rhenish, aachen was the place of coronation of the German emperors, and the ecclesiastical principalities of the Rhine played a large role in German history. At the Peace of Basel in 1795, the whole of the bank of the Rhine was taken by France. The population was about 1.6 million in small states
Rhineland
–
Deutsches Eck, Koblenz
Rhineland
–
Coat of arms of the Rhineland
15.
Architrave
–
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an element in Classical architecture. The term can also be applied to all sides, including the vertical members, in an entablature in classical architecture, it is the lowest part, below the frieze and cornice. The word is derived from the Greek and Latin words arche, the architrave is different in the different orders. In the Tuscan, it consists of a plain face, crowned with a fillet. In the Doric and composite, it has two faces, or fasciae, and three in the Ionic and Corinthian, in which it is 10/12 of a high, though. It means the part of something. The part on which the idea, the reasoning, the thought or the philosophy are based, examples, 1). the Mature Hegel- the Hegel of the Philosophy of Right- who becomes the architrave on which he constructs his social philosophy. Ref. Page, XIV, The Ethics of Democracy, A Contemporary Reading of Hegels Philosophy of Right LINK 2) to become the architrave of his theoretic construction Ref. Pag and it is placed above the bracket of a pillar, which gives it extra support. Dravidian architecture recognizes several distinct types of Architraves, rounded, wavy, flower shaped, bevel and tenon type, voluted, figural
Architrave
–
Architrave of the left-side
portal in the
facade of Sant'Ambrogio
basilica in
Milan,
Italy
Architrave
–
Architrave in the Basilica di San Salvatore, Spoleto, Italy.
16.
Germanics
–
The Germanic peoples are an ethno-linguistic Indo-European group of Northern European origin. They are identified by their use of Germanic languages, which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the term Germanic originated in classical times when groups of tribes living in Lower, Upper, and Greater Germania were referred to using this label by Roman scribes. Tribes referred to as Germanic by Roman authors generally lived to the north, in about 222 BCE, the first use of the Latin term Germani appears in the Fasti Capitolini inscription de Galleis Insvbribvs et Germ. This may simply be referring to Gaul or related people, the term Germani shows up again, allegedly written by Poseidonios, but is merely a quotation inserted by the author Athenaios who wrote much later. Somewhat later, the first surviving detailed discussions of Germani and Germania are those of Julius Caesar, from Caesars perspective, Germania was a geographical area of land on the east bank of the Rhine opposite Gaul, which Caesar left outside direct Roman control. This usage of the word is the origin of the concept of Germanic languages. In other classical authors the concept sometimes included regions of Sarmatia, also, at least in the south there were Celtic peoples still living east of the Rhine and north of the Alps. Caesar, Tacitus and others noted differences of culture which could be found on the east of the Rhine, but the theme of all these cultural references was that this was a wild and dangerous region, less civilised than Gaul, a place that required additional military vigilance. Caesar used the term Germani for a specific tribal grouping in northeastern Belgic Gaul, west of the Rhine. He made clear that he was using the name in the local sense and these are the so-called Germani Cisrhenani, whom Caesar believed to be closely related to the peoples east of the Rhine, and descended from immigrants into Gaul. Caesar described this group of both as Belgic Gauls and as Germani. Gauls are associated with Celtic languages, and the term Germani is associated with Germanic languages, but Caesar did not discuss languages in detail. It has been claimed, for example by Maurits Gysseling, that the names of this region show evidence of an early presence of Germanic languages. The etymology of the word Germani is uncertain, the likeliest theory so far proposed is that it comes from a Gaulish compound of *ger near + *mani men, comparable to Welsh ger near, Old Irish gair neighbor, Irish gar- near, garach neighborly. Another Celtic possibility is that the name meant noisy, cf. Breton/Cornish garm shout, however, here the vowel does not match, nor does the vowel length ). Others have proposed a Germanic etymology *gēr-manni, spear men, cf. Middle Dutch ghere, Old High German Ger, Old Norse geirr. However, the form gēr seems far too advanced phonetically for the 1st century, has a vowel where a short one is expected. The term Germani, therefore, probably applied to a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul who may or may not have spoken a Germanic language
Germanics
–
Germanic
Thing (governing assembly), drawn after the depiction in a relief of the
Column of Marcus Aurelius, 193 CE.
Germanics
–
The gilded side of the
Trundholm sun chariot
Germanics
–
The Dejbjerg wagon, National Museum of Denmark
Germanics
–
2nd century to 5th century simplified migrations
17.
Gauls
–
The Gauls were Celtic peoples inhabiting Gaul in the Iron Age and the Roman period. Their Gaulish language forms the branch of the Continental Celtic languages. The Gauls emerged around the 5th century BC as the bearers of the La Tène culture north of the Alps, Gaul was never united under a single ruler or government, but the Gallic tribes were capable of uniting their forces in large-scale military operations. They reached the peak of their power in the early 3rd century BC, after this, Gaul became a province of the Roman Empire, and the Gauls were culturally assimilated into a Gallo-Roman culture, losing their tribal identities by the end of the 1st century AD. The Gauls of Gallia Celtica according to the testimony of Caesar called themselves Celtae in their own language, the name Gaul itself may be derived from Latin Galli, or it may be derived from the Germanic word Walha. Gaulish culture developed out of the Celtic cultures over the first millennia BC, the Urnfield culture represents the Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-European-speaking people. The spread of iron working led to the Hallstatt culture in the 8th century BC, the Hallstatt culture evolved into the La Tène culture in around the 5th century BC. The Greek and Etruscan civilizations and colonies began to influence the Gauls especially in the Mediterranean area, Gauls under Brennus invaded Rome circa 390 BC. Following the climate deterioration in the late Nordic Bronze Age, Celtic Gaul was invaded in the 5th century BC by tribes later called Gauls originating in the Rhine valley. Gallic invaders settled the Po Valley in the 4th century BC, defeated Roman forces in a battle under Brennus in 390 BC and raided Italy as far as Sicily. A large number of Gauls served in the armies of Carthage during the Punic Wars, in the Aegean world, an invasion of Eastern Gauls appeared in Thrace, north of Greece, in 281 BC. However, according to the Roman legend of the gold of Delphi. One king Cerethrius invaded the Thracians, while another Gallic king Bolgios invaded Macedonia and Illyria where he killed the Macedonian king Ptolemy Keraunos, in 278 BC Gaulish settlers in the Balkans were invited by Nicomedes I of Bithynia to help him in a dynastic struggle against his brother. They numbered about 10,000 fighting men and about the number of women and children. They were eventually defeated by the Seleucid king Antiochus I, in a battle where the Seleucid war elephants shocked the Galatians. While the momentum of the invasion was broken, the Galatians were by no means exterminated and continued to demand tribute from the Hellenistic states of Anatolia to avoid war,4,000 Galatians were hired as mercenaries by the Ptolemaic Egyptian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus in the 270 BC. According to Pausanias, soon after arrival the Celts plotted “to seize Egypt, ”, Galatians also participated at the victorious in 217 BC Battle of Raphia under Ptolemy IV Philopator, and continued to serve as mercenaries for the Ptolemaic Dynasty until its demise in 30 BC. They sided with the renegade Seleucid prince Antiochus Hierax, who reigned in Asia Minor, after the defeat, the Galatians continued to be a serious threat to the states of Asia Minor
Gauls
–
Bronze cuirass, weighing 2.9 kg,
Grenoble, end of 7th century – early 6th century BCE
Gauls
–
A map of
Gaul in the 1st century BC, showing the relative positions of its three tribes: Celtae (Galli), Belgae and Aquitani. The region corresponds to what is now
Belgium,
France,
Switzerland,
Netherlands,
Western Germany and
Northern Italy.
Gauls
–
Celtic sword and
scabbard circa 60 BC
Gauls
–
Agris helmet. Discovered in
Agris,
Charente, France. 350 BC
18.
Middle Ages
–
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
Middle Ages
–
The
Cross of Mathilde, a
crux gemmata made for
Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973–1011), who is shown kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the
enamel plaque. The body of Christ is slightly later. Probably made in
Cologne or
Essen, the cross demonstrates several medieval techniques:
cast figurative sculpture,
filigree, enamelling, gem polishing and setting, and the reuse of Classical
cameos and
engraved gems.
Middle Ages
–
A late Roman statue
depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in
Venice
Middle Ages
–
Coin of
Theodoric
Middle Ages
–
Mosaic showing
Justinian with
the bishop of
Ravenna, bodyguards, and courtiers
19.
Corinthian order
–
The Corinthian order is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order which was the earliest, followed by the Ionic order, when classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order. The Corinthian, with its offshoot the Composite, is the most ornate of the orders, characterized by slender fluted columns and elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and it was employed in southern Gaul at the Maison Carrée, Nîmes and at the comparable podium temple at Vienne. Other prime examples noted by Mark Wilson Jones are the order of the Basilica Ulpia and the arch at Ancona the column of Phocas. The Corinthian order is named for the Greek city-state of Corinth, however, according to the architectural historian Vitruvius, the column was created by the sculptor Callimachus, probably an Athenian, who drew acanthus leaves growing around a votive basket. Its earliest use can be traced back to the Late Classical Period, the earliest Corinthian capital was found in Bassae, dated at 427 BC. In its proportions, the Corinthian column is similar to the Ionic column, though it is more slender, the abacus upon the capital has concave sides to conform to the outscrolling corners of the capital, and it may have a rosette at the center of each side. Corinthian columns were erected on the top level of the Roman Colosseum, holding up the least weight and their height to width ratio is about 10,1. One variant is the Tivoli Order, found at the Temple of Vesta, the Tivoli Orders Corintinan Capital has two rows of Acanthus and its abacus is decorated with oversize fleuron in the form of hibiscus flowers with pronounced spiral pistils. The column flutes have flat tops, the frieze exhibits fruit swag suspended between bucrania. Above each swag is a rosette, the cornice does not have modillions. Indo-Corinthian capitals are capitals crowning columns or pilasters, which can be found in the northwestern Indian subcontinent and these capitals are typically dated to the 1st centuries of our era, and constitute important elements of Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara. The classical design was adapted, usually taking a more elongated form. Indo-Corinthian capitals also incorporated figures of the Buddha or Bodhisattvas, usually as central figures surrounded, the Corinthian architrave is divided in two or three sections, which may be equal, or they may bear interesting proportional relationships, one with another. Above the plain, unadorned architrave lies the frieze, which may be carved with a continuous design or left plain. At the Capitol the proportions of architrave to frieze are exactly 1,1, above that, the profiles of the cornice moldings are like those of the Ionic order. If the cornice is deep, it may be supported by brackets or modillions. The Corinthian column is almost always fluted, if it is not, it is often worth pausing to unravel the reason why
Corinthian order
–
The
Pantheon provided a prominent model for Renaissance and later architects, through the medium of
engravings
Corinthian order
–
Corinthian columns in
Jerash, Jordan
Corinthian order
–
Figure of the Buddha, within a Corinthian capital,
Gandhara, 3–4th century,
Musee Guimet.
Corinthian order
–
Vincenzo Scamozzi offers his version of the Corinthian capital, in a portrait by
Veronese (Denver Art Museum)
20.
Ancient Rome
–
In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
Ancient Rome
–
Senātus Populus que Rōmānus
Ancient Rome
–
Roman Republic
Ancient Rome
–
According to legend,
Rome was founded in 753 BC by
Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf.
Ancient Rome
–
This bust from the
Capitoline Museums is traditionally identified as a portrait of
Lucius Junius Brutus.
21.
Arch of Septimius Severus
–
After the death of Septimius Severus, his sons Caracalla and Geta were initially joint emperors. Caracalla had Geta assassinated in 212, Getas memorials were destroyed and all images or mentions of him were removed from public buildings, accordingly, Getas image and inscriptions referring to him were removed from the arch. The arch was raised on a travertine base originally approached by steps from the Forums ancient level, the central archway, spanned by a richly coffered semicircular vault, has lateral openings to each side archway, a feature copied in many Early Modern triumphal arches. The Arch is about 23 metres in height,25 metres in width and 11.85 metres deep, the three archways rest on piers, in front of which are detached composite columns on pedestals. Winged Victories are carved in relief in the spandrels, a staircase in the south pier leads to the top of the monument, on which were statues of the emperor and his two sons in a four-horse chariot, accompanied by soldiers. The Arch stands close to the foot of the Capitoline Hill, a flight of steps originally led to the central opening, as one still does to the Arch of Trajan at Ancona. By the 4th century erosion had raised the level of the Forum so much that a roadway was put through the Arch for the first time, so much debris and silt eroded from the surrounding hills that the arch was embedded to the base of the columns. The damage wrought by wheeled medieval and early modern traffic can still be seen on the column bases, above the bas-reliefs of the socles. The well-preserved condition of the Arch owes a good deal to its having been incorporated into the structure of a Christian church, half the Arch belonged to the Cimini family, who are also attributed for the preservation of the structure. The stronghold included a tower placed on top of the Arch itself, when the church was refounded elsewhere, the arch remained ecclesiastical property and was not demolished for other construction. The parenthesized section in the middle is text that replaced an original reference to his other son Geta, Arch of Septimius Severus photo gallery and virtual reality movie. Hinterhöller, Monika, Der Triumphbogen des Septimius Severus und die historischen Reliefs der Partherkrieg,2008, GRIN Verlag
Arch of Septimius Severus
–
Arch of Septimius Severus
Arch of Septimius Severus
Arch of Septimius Severus
–
The Arch of Septimius Severus painted by
Canaletto in 1742, before the excavation of the Roman Forum (Royal Collection, UK)
Arch of Septimius Severus
–
The Arch of Septimius Severus
22.
Arch of Constantine
–
The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome, situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. It was erected by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine Is victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312, dedicated in 315, it is the largest Roman triumphal arch. The arch spans the Via triumphalis, the way taken by the emperors when they entered the city in triumph. Though dedicated to Constantine, much of the material incorporated earlier work from the time of the emperors Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius. This earned it the nickname of Cornacchia di Esopo Aesops Crow. The arch is 21 m high,25.9 m wide and 7.4 m deep. It has three archways, the one being 11.5 m high and 6.5 m wide. Above the archways is placed the attic, composed of brickwork reveted with marble, a staircase within the arch is entered from a door at some height from the ground, on the west side, facing the Palatine Hill. The general design with a main part structured by detached columns, not only did the Roman senate give the arch for Constantines victory, they also were celebrating decennia, a series of games that happens every decade for the romans. In this occasion they also said many prayers, however, Constantine had actually entered Rome on 29 October 312, amidst great rejoicing, and the Senate then commissioned the monument. Constantine then left Rome within two months and did not return till 326, the location, between the Palatine Hill and the Caelian Hill, spanned the ancient route of Roman triumphs at its origin, where it diverged from the Via sacra. This route was taken by the emperors when they entered the city in triumph. During the Middle Ages, the Arch of Constantine was incorporated into one of the strongholds of ancient Rome, as shown in the painting by Herman van Swanevelt. Works of restoration were first carried out in the 18th century, the arch served as the finish line for the marathon athletic event for the 1960 Summer Olympics. Another theory holds that it was erected, or at least started, by Maxentius, ), whatever the faults of Maxentius, his reputation in Rome was influenced by his contributions to public building. This factor contributed to his ability to seize power, by contrast Maxentius concentrated on restoring the capital, his epithet being conservator urbis suae. Thus Constantine was perceived amongst other things as the deposer of one of the citys greatest benefactors, much controversy has surrounded the patronage of the public works of this period. The German philosopher, Walter Benjamin observed that history is seen through the eyes of the victor, issuing a damnatio memoriae he set out to systematically erase the memory of Maxentius
Arch of Constantine
–
Arch of Constantine
Arch of Constantine
Arch of Constantine
–
The Arch of Constantine, Rome - painted by
Herman van Swanevelt, 17th century.
Arch of Constantine
–
South side, from Via triumphalis.
Colosseum to right
23.
Wikidata
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Wikidata is a collaboratively edited knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. It is intended to provide a source of data which can be used by Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia. This is similar to the way Wikimedia Commons provides storage for files and access to those files for all Wikimedia projects. Wikidata is powered by the software Wikibase, Wikidata is a document-oriented database, focused on items. Each item represents a topic and is identified by a number, prefixed with the letter Q—for example. This enables the basic information required to identify the topic the item covers to be translated without favouring any language, information is added to items by creating statements. Statements take the form of pairs, with each statement consisting of a property. The creation of the project was funded by donations from the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, at this time, only the first phase was available. Historically, a Wikipedia article would include a list of links, being links to articles on the same topic in other editions of Wikipedia. Initially, Wikidata was a repository of interlanguage links. No Wikipedia language editions were able to access Wikidata, so they needed to continue to maintain their own lists of interlanguage links, on 14 January 2013, the Hungarian Wikipedia became the first to enable the provision of interlanguage links via Wikidata. This functionality was extended to the Hebrew and Italian Wikipedias on 30 January, to the English Wikipedia on 13 February, on 23 September 2013, phase 1 went live on Wikimedia Commons. The first aspects of the second phase were deployed on 4 February 2013, the values were initially limited to two data types, with more data types to follow later. The first new type, string, was deployed on 6 March, the ability of the various language editions of Wikipedia to access data added to Wikidata as part of phase two was rolled out progressively between 27 March and 25 April 2013. On 16 September 2015, Wikidata began allowing so-called arbitrary access, for example, in the past the article about Berlin you could not access data about Germany, but with arbitrary access it could. On 27 April 2016 arbitrary access was activated on Wikimedia Commons, phase 3 will involve database querying and the creation of lists based on data stored on Wikidata. As of October 2016 two tools for querying Wikidata were available, AutoList and PetScan, additionally to a public SPARQL endpoint, there is concern that the project is being influenced by lobbying companies, PR professionals and search engine optimizers. As of December 2015, according to Wikimedia statistics, half of the information in Wikidata is unsourced, another 30% is labeled as having come from Wikipedia, but with no indication as to which article
Wikidata
–
Wikidata
24.
Route nationale 7
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The Route nationale 7, or RN7, is a trunk road in France between Paris and the border with Italy. It was also known as Route des vacances, Route bleue, the Romans under Marcus Agrippa established a network of roads in 20 AD radiating from the then capital of the Gauls at Lugdunum, known collectively as Via Agrippa. In the 15th century, with the creation of the royal post by Louis XI, the routes from Paris to Lyon pass through Moulins or Dijon. In the next century the first regular use of the road is made and elms were planted along the ways for shade, at that time the Le Guide des chemins de France, by the royal printer Robert Estienne, the ancestor of all the modern guidebooks, was published. The RN7 is being upgraded or replaced by the A77 autoroute. As the route runs parallel to autoroutes as a result other sections have been re-numbered the RD7, RD607, RD307, RD907, RD707, RD207, RD 7n, RDN7. Paris-Nemours-Moulins-Lyon-Avignon-Aix-en-Provence-Nice-Italy The road starts at the Porte dItalie in Paris and is called the Avenue de Fontainebleau, the road passes through Southern Parisian suburbs and under the Aéroport of Paris-Orly before reaching the Seine at Évry. It then follows the West bank of the river South, the road enters the Forêt de Fontainebleau and then the town of Fontainebleau with a junction with the RN6. The RN7 then heads South along the Loing valley before reaching Nemours, after Nemours the road continues along the East bank of the Loire past the Rochers de Nemours and parallel to the A77. The road follows a route to Montargis and after the Forêt de Montargis heads down into the Loire Valley at Briare, the road then follows the East bank of the Loire and after Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire the road has been upgraded to the A77. This is prime wine producing territory with Sancerre 6 km to the West, after the town of Nevers the road passes Magny-Cours race track and crosses the river. It follows the Allier valley through rolling countryside to Moulins where the RN9 branches off to the South. The RN7 heads East climbing over hills at Lapalisse and then back into the Loire valley crossing the river again at Roanne at the head of the Gorges de la Loire, the road is then dual carriageway south before turning east over the Col du Pin Bouchain. The road then heads down into Tarare and through a series of ridges to Lyon, the road crosses the Rhône and heads South through the Bois de St Jean. It has a junction with the A46 as it travels South to Vienne, the A7 runs parallel and now takes the bulk of through traffic. The road passes Le Péage-de-Roussillon and follows the East bank of the river to Tain-lHermitage and it then crosses the Isère River to Valence. A bridge over the river Drôme brings the road to Montélimar, the road then sweeps round the Défilé de Donzère before crossing the navigable Canal de Donzère and past the Tricastin nuclear station. After which the crosses the canal and follows the East bank of the Rhône to Orange
Route nationale 7
–
Route 7 near
Orly Airport in Paris
Route nationale 7
–
The RN 7 as Avenue Francis Tonner in
Cannes.
25.
Gallia Narbonensis
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Gallia Narbonensis was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra, from its having been the first Roman province north of the Alps and it became a Roman province in the late 2nd century BC. Its boundaries were defined by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The western region of Gallia Narbonensis was known as Septimania, the province of Gallia Transalpina was later renamed Gallia Narbonensis, after its newly established capital of Colonia Narbo Martius, a Roman colony founded on the coast in 118 BC. The Romans had called it Provincia Nostra or simply Provincia, the term has survived in the modern French and Occitan names of the eastern part of the area, now a région of France. By the mid-2nd century BC, Rome was trading heavily with the Greek colony of Massalia on the southern coast of Gaul, Massalia, founded by colonists from Phocaea, was by this point centuries old and quite prosperous. The Massalians, for their part, cared more for their economic prosperity than they did for territorial integrity, in this strip of land, the Romans founded the town of Narbonne in 118 BC. At the same time, they built the Via Domitia, the first Roman road in Gaul, connecting Gaul to Hispania, and the Via Aquitania, thus the Romans built a crossroads that made Narbonne an optimal trading center, and Narbonne became a major trading competitor to Massalia. From Narbonne, the Romans established the province of Transalpine Gaul, during this period, the Mediterranean settlements on the coast were threatened by the powerful Gallic tribes to the north, especially the tribes known as the Arverni and the Allobroges. In 123 BC, the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus campaigned in the area and defeated the Allobroges and this defeat substantially weakened the Arverni and ensured the further security of Gallia Narbonensis. It was from the capital of Narbonne that Julius Caesar began his Gallic Wars, the area became a Roman province in 121 BC, originally under the name Gallia Transalpina. The name distinguished it from Cisalpine Gaul on the side of the Alps to Rome. In 40 BC, during the Second Triumvirate, Lepidus was given responsibility for Narbonese Gaul, while Mark Antony was given the balance of Gaul. Emperor Diocletians administrative reorganization of the Empire in c. AD314 merged the provinces Gallia Narbonensis, the new dioceses name was later changed to Dioecesis Septem Provinciarum, indicating that Diocletian had demoted the word province to mean a smaller subdivision than in traditional usage. Galla Narbonensis and surrounding areas were incorporated into the Visigothic Kingdom between AD462 and 477, permanently ending Roman political control. After the Gothic takeover, the Visigothic dominions were to be known as Septimania. 210. ]us -- between 210 and 230 Tiberius Claudius Paulinus -- 216-217 Gaius Aemilius Berenicianus Maximus -- between 222 and 235 Iulianus -- between 222 and 235 William Smith, ed. Gallia Transalpina, dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
Gallia Narbonensis
–
The Roman Province of Gallia Narbonensis in 20 BC
Gallia Narbonensis
–
The province of Gallia Narbonensis within the Roman Empire, c. 117 AD
26.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
–
A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
27.
Palace of Versailles
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The Palace of Versailles, Château de Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. Versailles is therefore not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. First built by Louis XIII in 1623, as a lodge of brick and stone. The first phase of the expansion was designed and supervised by the architect Louis Le Vau and it culminated in the addition of three new wings of stone, which surrounded Louis XIIIs original building on the north, south, and west. After Le Vaus death in 1670, the work was taken over and completed by his assistant, charles Le Brun designed and supervised the elaborate interior decoration, and André Le Nôtre landscaped the extensive Gardens of Versailles. Le Brun and Le Nôtre collaborated on the fountains, and Le Brun supervised the design. During the second phase of expansion, two enormous wings north and south of the wings flanking the Cour Royale were added by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. He also replaced Le Vaus large terrace, facing the garden on the west, with became the most famous room of the palace. The Royal Chapel of Versailles, located at the end of the north wing, was begun by Mansart in 1688. One of the most baffling aspects to the study of Versailles is the cost – how much Louis XIV, owing to the nature of the construction of Versailles and the evolution of the role of the palace, construction costs were essentially a private matter. Initially, Versailles was planned to be a residence for Louis XIV and was referred to as the kings house. Once Louis XIV embarked on his campaigns, expenses for Versailles became more of a matter for public record. To counter the costs of Versailles during the years of Louis XIVs personal reign. Accordingly, all materials that went into the construction and decoration of Versailles were manufactured in France, even the mirrors used in the decoration of the Hall of Mirrors were made in France. While Venice in the 17th century had the monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors, to meet the demands for decorating and furnishing Versailles, Colbert nationalised the tapestry factory owned by the Gobelin family, to become the Manufacture royale des Gobelins. In 1667, the name of the enterprise was changed to the Manufacture royale des Meubles de la Couronne, the Comptes meticulously list the expenditures on the silver furniture – disbursements to artists, final payments, delivery – as well as descriptions and weight of items purchased. Entries for 1681 and 1682 concerning the silver used in the salon de Mercure serve as an example. 5 In anticipation, For the silver balustrade for the bedroom,90,000 livres II
Palace of Versailles
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Aerial view of the Palace from above the
Gardens of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
–
Bust of Louis XIV by
Bernini in the
Diana Salon of the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
–
View of the Palace from the garden
Palace of Versailles
–
Marble Court
28.
Palace of Fontainebleau
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The Palace of Fontainebleau or Château de Fontainebleau is located 55 kilometres southeast of the centre of Paris, and is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The medieval castle and later château was the residence of French monarchs from Louis VII through Napoleon III, Napoleon I abdicated his throne there before being exiled to Elba. Today, it is a museum and a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is located in the commune of Fontainebleau. The earliest record of a castle at Fontainebleau dates to 1137. It became a residence and hunting lodge of the Kings of France because of the abundant game. It took its name one of the springs, the fountain de Bliaud, located now in the English garden. He commissioned the architect Gilles le Breton to build a palace in the new Renaissance style and it included monumental Porte Dorée, as its southern entrance. As well as a monumental Renaissance stairway, the portique de Serlio, beginning in about 1528, Francis constructed the Gallery Francis I, which allowed him to pass directly from his apartments to the chapel of the Trinitaires. He brought the architect Sebastiano Serlio from Italy, and the Florentine painter Giovanni Battista di Jacopo, known as Rosso Fiorentino, another Italian painter, Francesco Primaticcio from Bologna, joined later in the decoration of the palace. Together their style of decoration became known as the first School of Fontainebleau and this was the first great decorated gallery built in France. Broadly speaking, at Fontainebleau the Renaissance was introduced to France, in about 1540, Francis began another major addition to the chateau. Using land on the east side of the chateau purchased from the order of the Trinitaires, he began to build a new square of buildings around a large courtyard. It was enclosed on the north by the wing of the Ministers, on the east by the wing of Ferrare, the chateau was surrounded by a new park in the style of the Italian Renaissance garden, with pavilions and the first grotto in France. Primaticcio created more monumental murals for the gallery of Ulysses, following the death of Francis I, King Henry II decided to continue and expand the chateau. The King and his wife chose the architects Philibert Delorme and Jean Bullant to do the work and they extended the east wing of the lower court, and decorated it with the first famous horseshoe-shaped staircase. In the oval court, they transformed the loggia planned by Francois into a Salle des Fétes or grand ballroom with a coffered ceiling. Facing the courtyard of the fountain and the pond, they designed a new building. At Henris orders, the Nymphe de Fontainebleau was installed at the entrance of Château dAnet
Palace of Fontainebleau
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Palace of Fontainebleau
–
The Oval Courtyard, with the Medieval donjon, a vestige of the original castle where the King's apartments were located, in the center.
Palace of Fontainebleau
–
The Gallery of Francis I, connecting the King's apartments with the chapel, decorated between 1533 and 1539. It introduced the Italian Renaissance style to France.
29.
Fontainebleau
–
Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located 55.5 kilometres south-southeast of the centre of Paris, Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau. The commune has the largest land area in the Île-de-France region, Fontainebleau, together with the neighbouring commune of Avon and three other smaller communes, form an urban area of 39,713 inhabitants. This urban area is a satellite of Paris, inhabitants of Fontainebleau are called Bellifontains. Fontainebleau has been recorded in different Latinised forms, such as, Fons Bleaudi, Fons Bliaudi, Fons Blaadi in the 12th and 13th centuries and it became Fons Bellaqueus in the 17th century, which gave rise to the name of the inhabitants as Bellifontains. The name originates as a composite of two words, Fontaine– meaning spring, or fountainhead, followed by a person’s Germanic name Blizwald. This hamlet was endowed with a hunting lodge and a chapel by Louis VII in the middle of the twelfth century. A century later, Louis IX, also called Saint Louis, who held Fontainebleau in high esteem and referred to it as his wilderness, had a country house, philip the Fair was born there in 1268 and died there in 1314. In all, thirty-four sovereigns, from Louis VI, the Fat, to Napoleon III, the connection between the town of Fontainebleau and the French monarchy was reinforced with the transformation of the royal country house into a true royal palace, the Palace of Fontainebleau. On 18 October 1685, Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau there, the result was that a large number of Protestants were forced to convert to the Catholic faith, killed, or forced into exile, mainly in the Low Countries, Prussia and in England. The 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau, an agreement between France and Spain concerning the Louisiana territory in North America, was concluded here. Also, preliminary negotiations, held before the 1763 Treaty of Paris was signed, during the French Revolution, Fontainebleau was temporarily renamed Fontaine-la-Montagne, meaning Fountain by the Mountain. On 20 June 1812, Pope Pius VII arrived at the château of Fontainebleau, after a transfer from Savona, accompanied by his personal physician. In poor health, the Pope was the prisoner of Napoleon, from June 1812 until 23 January 1814, the Pope never left his apartments. According to contemporary sources, the occasion was very moving, the 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau stripped Napoleon of his powers and sent him into exile on Elba. Until the 19th century, Fontainebleau was a village and a suburb of Avon, later, it developed as an independent residential city. For the 1924 Summer Olympics, the town played host to the portion of the modern pentathlon event. This event took place near a golf course, Fontainebleau also hosted the general staff of the Allied Forces in Central Europe and the land forces command, the air forces command was located nearby at Camp Guynemer
Fontainebleau
–
Palace of Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau
–
Fontainebleau palace garden fountain and Grand canal
Fontainebleau
–
Historical reenactment in Fontainebleau of the bicentenary of Napoleon's Farewell to the Old Guard, April 20th of 2014. Napoleon is going down the famous stairs of Fontainebleau castle to meet with the Old Guard.
30.
Seine
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The Seine is a 777-kilometre-long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Source-Seine,30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and it is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea. There are 37 bridges within Paris and dozens more spanning the river outside the city, examples in Paris include the Pont Alexandre III and Pont Neuf, the latter of which dates back to 1607. Outside the city, examples include the Pont de Normandie, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, the Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864, a number of closely associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial grotto laid out to highlight and contain a deemed main source. The grotto includes a statue of a nymph, on the same site are the buried remains of a Gallo-Roman temple. Small statues of the dea Sequana Seine goddess and other ex voti found at the place are now exhibited in the Dijon archeological museum. The Seine is dredged and oceangoing vessels can dock at Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea, commercial riverboats can use the river from Bar-sur-Seine,560 kilometres to its mouth. At Paris, there are 37 bridges, the river is only 24 metres above sea level 446 kilometres from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable. The Seine Maritime,105.7 kilometres from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft. The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a section with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Multiple locks at Bougival / Chatou and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, upstream from Paris seven locks ensure navigation to Saint Mammès, where the Loing mouth is situated. Through an eighth lock the river Yonne is reached at Montereau-Fault-Yonne, from the mouth of the Yonne, larger ships can continue upstream to Nogent-sur-Seine. From there on, the river is only by small craft. All navigation ends abruptly at Marcilly-sur-Seine, where the ancient Canal de la Haute-Seine used to allow vessels to continue all the way to Troyes and this canal has been abandoned for many years. The average depth of the Seine today at Paris is about 9.5 metres. Until locks were installed to raise the level in the 1800s, the river was much shallower within the city most of the time, today the depth is tightly controlled and the entire width of the river between the built-up banks on either side is normally filled with water. The average flow of the river is low, only a few cubic metres per second
Seine
–
The Seine in Paris
Seine
–
Seine source
Seine
–
The
Pont de Normandie over the Seine, between
Le Havre and
Honfleur, on the
Normandy coast
Seine
–
The Seine and Eiffel Tower
31.
Provins
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Provins is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Provins, a town of medieval fairs, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001, Provins is not the largest city in the arrondissement, but it is the seat. The arrondissement has 7 cantons,125 communes and 112,020 residents, the canton of Provins has 15 communes and 21,000 residents. Provins was home to one of the Champagne fairs that were crucial to the medieval European economy, Provins is known for its medieval fortifications, such as the Tour César and well-preserved city walls. The Saint Quiriace Collegiate Church is located here, the Empress Galla Placidia is said to have presented Ancona with the relics of Judas Cyriacus. However, the head was situated at Provins, brought from Jerusalem by Henry I of Champagne. It is still at the Saint Quiriace Collegiate Church, although construction work during the 12th century was never completed due to difficulties during the reign of Philippe le Bel. A dome was added in the 17th century, and the old families of Provins who lived in the town were called Children of the Dome. The police station, a piece of architecture designed by Parisian architects Philippe Ameller. Two sets of caves underlie parts of the town, the first type were likely used to store food in the Middle Ages. The second, deeper, type contains Bronze and Iron Age graffiti
Provins
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Provins
Provins
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UNESCO World Heritage Site
32.
First-level NUTS of the European Union
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The Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics, is a geocode standard for referencing the administrative divisions of countries for statistical purposes. The standard was developed by the European Union, there are three levels of NUTS defined, with two levels of local administrative units below. Not all countries have every level of division, depending on their size, one of the most extreme cases is Luxembourg, which has only LAUs, the three NUTS divisions each correspond to the entire country itself. Below are the first level NUTS regions of the European Union
First-level NUTS of the European Union
–
AT1
33.
Amiens Cathedral
–
The Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Amiens, or simply Amiens Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral and seat of the Bishop of Amiens. It is situated on a ridge overlooking the River Somme in Amiens. It is the 19th largest church in the world, medieval cathedral builders were trying to maximize the internal dimensions in order to reach for the heavens and bring in more light. In that regard, the Amiens cathedral is the tallest complete cathedral in France and it also has the greatest interior volume of any French cathedral, estimated at 200,000 cubic metres. The cathedral was built between 1220 and c.1270 and has listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Bishop Evrard de Fouilly initiated work on the cathedral in 1220, robert de Luzarches was the architect until 1228, and was followed by Thomas de Cormont until 1258. His son, Renaud de Cormont, acted as the architect until 1288, the chronicle of Corbie gives a completion date for the cathedral of 1266. Its floors are covered with a number of designs, such as the bent cross, the labyrinth was installed in 1288. The cathedral contains the head of John the Baptist, a relic brought from Constantinople by Wallon de Sarton as he was returning from the Fourth Crusade. The construction of the cathedral at this period can be seen as resulting from a coming together of necessity and opportunity. The destruction of buildings by fire, and failed attempts at rebuilding forced the fairly rapid construction of a building that. The long and relatively peaceful reign of Louis IX of France brought a prosperity to the region, based on thriving agriculture and a booming cloth trade, the great cathedrals of Reims and Chartres are roughly contemporary. The structure was saved when, centuries later, masons placed a second row of more robust flying buttresses that connected lower down on the outer wall. This fix failed to counteract similar issues with the wall which began to develop large cracks around the late Middle Ages. This was solved by another patch that consisted of an iron bar chain being installed around the mezzanine level to resist the forces pushing the stone columns outward. The chain was installed red hot to act as a cinch, above the rose window there is an open arcade, the galerie des sonneurs. Flanking the nave, the two towers were built without regard to the former design, the south tower being finished in 1366. The western portals of the cathedral are famous for their sculpture, featuring a gallery of locally-important saints
Amiens Cathedral
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Western front of Notre Dame d'Amiens
Amiens Cathedral
–
Transept and north stained glass
Amiens Cathedral
–
Choir and its altar, under the East window
Amiens Cathedral
–
Gargoyle and sculptural details
34.
Belfries of Belgium and France
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UNESCO inscribed 32 towers onto its list of Belfries of Flanders and Wallonia in 1999. In 2005, the belfry of Gembloux in the Walloon Region of Belgium and 23 belfries from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, one notable omission is the Brussels City Hall belfry, as it is already part of the Grand Place World Heritage Site. Most of the structures in this list are towers projecting from broader buildings, however, a few are notably standalone, of which, a handful are rebuilt towers formerly connected to adjacent buildings. ID numbers correspond to the order in the complete list ID 943/943bis from UNESCO, see External links
Belfries of Belgium and France
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Belfry of Bruges
Belfries of Belgium and France
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Belfry locations
Belfries of Belgium and France
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Schepenhuis, Aalst
Belfries of Belgium and France
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Cloth Hall, Ypres
35.
Bourges Cathedral
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Bourges Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church located in Bourges, France. It is dedicated to Saint Stephen, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Bourges, the present Cathedral was built as a replacement for a mid-11th-century structure, traces of which survive in the crypt. The date when construction began is unknown, although a document of 1195 recording expenditure on rebuilding works suggests that construction was underway by that date. The main phase of construction is therefore roughly contemporaneous with Chartres Cathedral, as with most Early- and High-Gothic cathedrals, the identity of the architect or master-mason is unknown. The choir was in use by 1214 and the nave was finished by 1255, the building was finally consecrated in 1324. Most of the west façade was finished by 1270, though work on the towers proceeded more slowly, partly due to the rock strata beneath the site. Structural problems with the South tower led to the building of the adjoining buttress tower in the mid-14th century, the North tower was completed around the end of the 15th century but collapsed in 1506, destroying the Northern portion of the façade in the process. The North tower and its portal were subsequently rebuilt in a contemporary style. Generally the cathedral suffered far less than some of its peers during the French Wars of Religion and its location meant it was also relatively safe from the ravages of both World Wars. The cathedral was added to the list of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1992, Bourges Cathedral covers a surface of 5,900 square meters. The cathedrals nave is 15 m wide by 37m high, its arcade is 20m high, the aisle is 21.3 m. The use of flying buttresses was employed to help the structure of the building, however, since this was a fairly new technique, one can easily see the walls were still made quite thick to take the force. Sexpartite vaults are used to span the nave, the double aisles continue without interruption beyond the position of the screen to form a double ambulatory around the choir. This design, with its distinctive cross section, was subsequently copied at Toledo Cathedral. The flying buttresses surrounding the cathedral are relatively slender and efficient, particularly compared to the contemporary and their steep angle helps to channel the thrust from the nave vaults and the wind loading on the roof to the outer buttress piers more effectively. The west façade is on a grand scale when compared to earlier cathedrals. The four side aisles and central nave each have their own portal reflecting the scale of the spaces beyond, the north portals were destroyed when the tower collapsed but surviving fragments indicate that their sculptural programmes were dedicated to the life and death of the Virgin. Unifying all five portals is a screen of gabled niches which stretches the whole width of the façade
Bourges Cathedral
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Bourges Cathedral
Bourges Cathedral
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Inside of the Cathedral
Bourges Cathedral
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Cathedral during the day
Bourges Cathedral
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Floorplan of the cathedral
36.
Chartres Cathedral
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Chartres Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, is a Gothic Catholic cathedral of the Latin Church located in Chartres, France, about 80 kilometres southwest of Paris. The current cathedral, mostly constructed between 1194 and 1220, is the last of at least five which have occupied the site since the town became a bishopric in the 4th century. It is designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which calls it the point of French Gothic art. The cathedral has been well preserved, the majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century. Equally notable are the three great façades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives, in the Middle Ages, the cathedral functioned as a kind of marketplace, with different commercial activities centred on the different portals, particularly during the regular fairs. Textiles were sold around the transept, while meat, vegetable. Money-changers had their benches, or banques, near the west portals, wine sellers plied their trade in the nave, although occasional 13th-century ordinances survive which record their being temporarily banished to the crypt to minimise disturbances. Workers of various professions gathered in particular locations around the cathedral awaiting offers of work. In 1258, after a series of bloody riots instigated by the counts officials, even before the Gothic cathedral was built, Chartres was a place of pilgrimage, albeit on a much smaller scale. The widespread belief that the cathedral was also the site of a pre-Christian druidical sect who worshipped a Virgin who will give birth is purely a late-medieval invention. This is one view, however scholars have written about the Cult of the Virgin Mary. Before the Christian church was built, the used to be dedicated to a fertility goddess. When the Catholic church took over the site, they made a nod to the cult by depicting the life of Mary on the tympana. However, the Church also reminded the women that, as women and they did this by placing Mary in the far right tympanum, holding the baby Christ on her lap. By doing this, they reminded the women that they existed only to serve Christ, just as, in biblical stories, around 876 the cathedral acquired the Sancta Camisa, believed to be the tunic worn by the Blessed Virgin Mary at the time of Christs birth. According to legend, the relic was given to the cathedral by Charlemagne who received it as a gift from Emperor Constantine VI during a crusade to Jerusalem. This legend, however, was pure fiction – probably invented in the 11th century to authenticate some relics at the Abbey of St Denis. In fact, the relic was a gift to the cathedral from Charles the Bald, by the end of the 12th century, however, the church had become one of the most important popular pilgrimage destinations in Europe
Chartres Cathedral
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Cathedral of Chartres
Chartres Cathedral
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Chartres Cathedral
labyrinth
Chartres Cathedral
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West façade
Chartres Cathedral
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North façade
37.
Reims Cathedral
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Notre-Dame de Reims is a Roman Catholic church in Reims, France. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Reims, where the kings of France were crowned. The cathedral replaced a church, destroyed by fire in 1211. That original structure had itself been erected on the site of some Roman baths, a major tourism destination, the cathedral receives about one million visitors annually. Excavations have shown that the present building occupies roughly the site as the original cathedral. That church was rebuilt during the Carolingian period and further extended in the 12th century, on 19 May 1051, King Henry I of France and Anne of Kiev were married in the cathedral. Whilst conducting the Council of Reims in 1131, Pope Innocent II anointed and crowned the future Louis VII in the cathedral, on May 6,1210 the cathedral was damaged by fire and reconstruction started shortly after, beginning at the eastern end. In 1233 a long-running dispute between the chapter and the townsfolk boiled over into open revolt. Several clerics were killed or injured during the violence and the entire cathedral chapter fled the city. Work on the new cathedral was suspended for three years, only resuming in 1236 after the clergy returned to the city and the interdict was lifted following mediation by the King and the Pope. The area from the crossing eastwards was in use by 1241, work on the west facade took place in several phases, which is reflected in the very different styles of some of the sculptures. The upper parts of the facade were completed in the 14th century, unusually the names of the cathedrals original architects are known. The labyrinth itself was destroyed in 1779 but its details and inscriptions are known from 18th century drawings, the clear association here between a labyrinth and master masons adds weight to the argument that such patterns were an allusion to the emerging status of the architect. The cathedral also contains evidence of the rising status of the architect in the tomb of Hugues Libergier. Not only is he given the honor of a slab, he is shown holding a miniature model of his church. The towers,81 m tall, were designed to rise 120 m. The south tower holds just two great bells, one of them, named “Charlotte” by Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine in 1570, following the death of the infant King John I, his uncle Philip would be hurriedly crowned at Reims,9 January 1317. During the Hundred Years War the cathedral and city were under siege by the English from 1359 to 1360, but the siege failed
Reims Cathedral
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Façade of the Notre-Dame de Reims
Reims Cathedral
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Reims Cathedral, view from north-east
Reims Cathedral
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Coronation of
Charles VII in 1429.
Reims Cathedral
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Exterior view of the
chevet.
38.
Abbey of Saint-Remi
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The Abbey of Saint-Remi is an abbey in Reims, France, founded in the sixth century. The present basilica was the church, it was consecrated by Pope Leo IX in 1049. The eleventh-century nave and transepts, in the Romanesque style, are the oldest, by the ninth century the abbey possessed about seven hundred domains and was perhaps the most richly endowed in France. It seems probable that secular priests were the first guardians of the relics, from 780 to 945 the archbishops of Reims served as its abbots. At the abbey Charlemagne received Pope Leo III, in 1005 the abbot Aviard undertook to rebuild the church of St-Remy, and for twenty years the work went on uninterruptedly before vaulting collapsed, no doubt from insufficient buttressing. Abbot Theodoric erected the magnificent surviving basilica which Pope Leo IX dedicated in 1049, the abbey library and its schools were of such high repute that Pope Alexander III wrote a commendatory letter to the Abbot Peter, which survives. The years of around 1170 to 1180 brought further rebuilding, this time to the choir, the purpose of replacing the short eastern section of the Romanesque church was to create a grander and more spacious interior for the shrine of St Remy. The shrine was detached from its previous location, next to the altar, the archbishops of Reims and several princes, Carloman, brother of Charlemagne, Henri dOrléans, and kings Louis IV of France and Lothair were buried in the monastery. The Abbey of Saint-Remi, together with the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims and Palace of Tau. Louis IV of France Gerberga of Saxony Lothair of France Wilson, the Gothic Cathedral, Thames & Hudson
Abbey of Saint-Remi
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UNESCO World Heritage Site
Abbey of Saint-Remi
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St. Remi, Interior.
Abbey of Saint-Remi
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Nave
39.
Palace of Tau
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The Palace of Tau in Reims, France, was the palace of the Archbishop of Reims. It is associated with the kings of France, whose coronation was held in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims. A large Gallo-Roman villa still occupied the site of the palace in the 6th and 7th centuries, the first documented use of the name dates to 1131, and derives from the plan of the building, which resembles the letter Τ. Most of the building has disappeared, the oldest part remaining is the chapel. The building was rebuilt in Gothic style between 1498 and 1509, and modified to its present Baroque appearance between 1671 and 1710 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Robert de Cotte. It was damaged by a fire on 19 September 1914, the Palace was the residence of the kings of France before their coronation in Notre-Dame de Reims. The king was dressed for the coronation at the palace before proceeding to the cathedral, afterwards, the first recorded coronation banquet was held at the palace in 990, and the most recent in 1825. The Palace of Tau, together with the Cathedral of Notre-Dame and it attracts around 100,000 visitors each year. This article is based on a translation of the equivalent article of the French Wikipedia, dated 2006-06-20 Palais du Tau website UNESCO website World Heritage website Reims tourism
Palace of Tau
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UNESCO World Heritage Site
Palace of Tau
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Hall of the Tau
Palace of Tau
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The Crowning of the
Virgin Mary, original gable of the central portal of the cathedral of Reims.
Palace of Tau
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Tapestry from the
Song of Songs cycle.
40.
Abbey of Fontenay
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The Abbey of Fontenay is a former Cistercian abbey located in the commune of Marmagne, near Montbard, in the département of Côte-dOr in France. It was founded by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in 1118, and it is one of the oldest and most complete Cistercian abbeys in Europe, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. Of the original complex comprising church, dormitory, cloister, chapter house, caldarium, refectory, dovecote and forge, the Abbey of Fontenay, along with other Cistercian abbeys, forms a connecting link between Romanesque and Gothic architectures. Saint Robert thought that Cluny was against the actual Rule of Saint Benedict, as a result, Saint Robert, along with a group of monks who shared this belief, detached from Cluny. Saint Robert established the Order of Cistercians in Citeaux, France, the new order strictly observed the Rule of Saint Benedict. As part of this rule, monks had to be poor, in order not to be distracted from the religious life, Cistercians built self-sufficient monasteries in isolated areas and refused to use servants. They differed from Cluny in that all houses were under the control of the abbot. Each of them was most likely an independent individual society, Bernard of Clairvaux, an abbot and the primary builder of the reformed Cistercian order, shared the same faith with Saint Robert of Molesme. However, Bernard felt that Cîteaux Abbey was not austere enough, thus, in 1118 he founded the Abbey of Fontenay in a Burgundy valley with strictly implemented austerity. The Cistercian monks moved to Fontenay Abbey in 1130, nine years later, the Bishop of Norwich fled to Fontenay to escape persecution, and helped finance the construction of the church with his wealth. The church was consecrated in 1147 by Pope Eugene III, by 1200 the monastic complex was complete and able to serve as many as 300 monks. In 1259, the devout King Louis exempted the Abbey of Fontenay from all taxes, in 1359, the Abbey of Fontenay was pillaged by the armies of King Edward III of England during the Hundred Years War. It suffered further damage during the Wars of Religion in late 16th century, in 1745, the refectory was destroyed. In 1906 Edouard Aynard, a banker from Lyon, bought the abbey. Edouards descendents continued to work on the abbey and it remains in the Aynard family to this day, in 1981 the abbey became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The spirit of Cistercian architecture is simple, conservative, utilitarian, the Abbey of Fontenay is a typical Cistercian monastery built on these fundamental characteristics. Cistercian monasteries including the Abbey of Fontenay are identified as an offshoot of Romanesque art, on the other hand, Gothic architectures evolving from Romanesque architectures was promoted by Cistercians and influenced by Cistercian monasteries. In medieval Europe Cistercians’ motivation of manual labor work became “the main force of technological diffusion” in many fields including metallurgy, the massive use of metal along with metal skills in Gothic architectures is a main element of Gothic art
Abbey of Fontenay
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UNESCO World Heritage Site
Abbey of Fontenay
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The Virgin of Fontenay
Abbey of Fontenay
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View of the dovecote and church
Abbey of Fontenay
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The cloister
41.
Le Havre
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Le Havre is an urban French commune and city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northwestern France. It is situated on the bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux. Modern Le Havre remains deeply influenced by its employment and maritime traditions and its port is the second largest in France, after that of Marseille, for total traffic, and the largest French container port. The name Le Havre means the harbour or the port and its inhabitants are known as Havrais or Havraises. Administratively the commune is located in the Normandy region and, with Dieppe, is one of the two sub-prefectures of the Seine-Maritime department, Le Havre is the capital of the canton and since 1974 has been the see of the diocese of Le Havre. Le Havre is the most populous commune of Upper Normandy, although the population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen. It is also the second largest subprefecture in France, the city and port were founded by the King Francis I of France in 1517. Economic development in the Early modern period was hampered by wars, conflicts with the English, epidemics. It was from the end of the 18th century that Le Havre started growing, after the 1944 bombings the firm of Auguste Perret began to rebuild the city in concrete. Changes in years 1990–2000 were numerous, the right won the municipal elections and committed the city to the path of reconversion, seeking to develop the service sector and new industries. The Port 2000 project increased the capacity to compete with ports of northern Europe, transformed the southern districts of the city. In 2005 UNESCO inscribed the city of Le Havre as a World Heritage Site. The André Malraux Modern Art Museum is the second of France for the number of impressionist paintings, the city has been awarded two flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom. Le Havre is a major French city located some 50 kilometres west of Rouen on the shore of the English Channel, numerous roads link to Le Havre with the main access roads being the A29 autoroute from Amiens and the A13 autoroute from Paris linking to the A131 autoroute. Administratively, Le Havre is a commune in the Haute-Normandie region in the west of the department of Seine-Maritime, the urban area of Le Havre corresponds roughly to the territory of the Agglomeration community of Le Havre which includes 17 communes and 250,000 people. It occupies the tip of the natural region of Pays de Caux where it is the largest city. Le Havre is sandwiched between the coast of the Channel from south-west to north-west and the estuary of the Seine to the south, Le Havre belongs to the MLG community Paris Basin which was formed in the Mesozoic period. The Paris Basin consists of sedimentary rocks, the commune of Le Havre consists of two areas separated by a natural cliff edge, one part in the lower part of the town to the south including the harbour, the city centre and the suburbs
Le Havre
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Le Havre
Le Havre
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UNESCO World Heritage Site
Le Havre
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Map of Le Havre: to the south the Seine estuary; to the west the
English Channel.
Le Havre
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Le Havre under snow
42.
Nord-Pas-de-Calais
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Nord-Pas-de-Calais (French pronunciation, is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Hauts-de-France and it consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Calais borders the English Channel, the North Sea, Belgium, the majority of the region was once part of the historical Netherlands, but gradually became part of France between 1477 and 1678, particularly during the reign of king Louis XIV. The historical French provinces that preceded Nord-Pas-de-Calais are Artois, French Flanders, French Hainaut and these provincial designations are still frequently used by the inhabitants. Its administrative centre and largest city is Lille, other major towns include Valenciennes, Lens, Douai, Béthune, Dunkirk, Maubeuge, Boulogne, Arras, Cambrai and Saint-Omer. Nord-Pas-de-Calais combines the names of the constituent departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, the regional council, however, spells the name Nord-Pas de Calais. The northern part of the region was historically a part of the County of Flanders and those who wish to evidence the historical links the region has with Belgium and the Netherlands prefer to call this region the French Low Countries, which also means French Netherlands in French. Other alternative names are Région Flandre-Artois, Hauts-de-France, and Picardie-du-Nord, see also, History of Nord-Pas-de-Calais Inhabited since prehistoric times, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region has always been a strategic regions in Europe. French President Charles de Gaulle, who was born in Lille, over the centuries, it was conquered in turn by the Celtic Belgae, the Romans, the Germanic Franks, England, the Spanish and Austrian Netherlands, and the Dutch Republic. After the final French annexation in the early 18th century, much of the region was occupied by Germany during the First. By the 9th century, most inhabitants north of Lille spoke a dialect of Middle Dutch and this linguistic border is still evident today in the place names of the region. Beginning in the 9th century, the border began a steady move to north. By the end of the 13th century, the border had shifted to the river Lys in the south. Boulogne, Artois, and Flanders were fiefs of the French crown, while Hainaut, Calais was an English possession from 1347 to 1558, when it was recovered by the French throne. With the death of the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold in 1477, thus, most of the territories of what is now Nord-Pas-de-Calais were reunited to the Burgundian inheritance, which had passed through Maries marriage to the House of Habsburg. During the Italian Wars much of the conflict between France and Spain occurred in the region and it was also a base for Spanish support of French Catholics in the French Wars of Religion. Beginning with the annexation of Artois in 1659, most of the current Nord department territory had been acquired by the time of the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678, the current borders were mostly established by the time of the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. The area, previously divided among the French provinces of Flanders, Artois, under Napoleon, the French boundary was extended to include all of Flanders and present-day Belgium until the Congress of Vienna in 1815 restored the original French boundary
Nord-Pas-de-Calais
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Liane in
Pas-de-Calais
Nord-Pas-de-Calais
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Flag
Nord-Pas-de-Calais
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Winter at
Cap Blanc Nez
Nord-Pas-de-Calais
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Douai
43.
Salins-les-Bains
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Salins-les-Bains is a commune in the Jura department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Salins owes its name to its waters, used for bathing and drinking. There are also works and gypsum deposits. In 2009 the historic saltworks were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites, the saltworks at Salins-Les-Bains are closely associated with another World Heritage site, the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans. Salins is situated in the valley of the Furieuse, between two fortified hills, Fort Belin and Fort Saint-André, while to the north rises Mont Poupet. The territory of Salins, which was enfeoffed in the 10th century by the Abbey of Saint Maurice-en-Valais to the counts of Mâcon, johns descendants, counts and dukes of Burgundy, emperors and kings of the house of Austria all bore the title of sire de Salins. In 1477 Salins was taken by the French and temporarily made the seat of the parliament of Franche-Comté by Louis XI, in 1668 and 1674 it was retaken by the French and thenceforward remained in their power. In 1825 the town was almost destroyed by fire, in 1871 it successfully resisted the German troops in the Franco-Prussian War. The town has a Romanesque church, St-Anatoile, which has been restored. A 17th-century Jesuit chapel contains a library, established in 1593, salins-les-Bains is on the Paris to Lausanne road. The closest railway station is in Mouchard, a few kilometres away, horb am Neckar, Germany, since 1991 Communes of the Jura department This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed
Salins-les-Bains
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View of Salins-les-Bains
44.
Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans
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The Saline Royale is a historical building at Arc-et-Senans in the department of Doubs, eastern France. It is next to the Forest of Chaux and about 35 kilometers from Besançon, the architect was Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, a prominent Parisian architect of the time. The Institut Claude-Nicolas Ledoux has taken on the task of conservator and is managing the site as a monument, UNESCO added the Salines Royales to its List of World Heritage Sites in 1982. Today, the site is open to the public. It includes, in the building the coopers used, displays by the Ledoux Museum of other projects that were never built. Also, the production buildings house temporary exhibitions. The train line from Besançon to Bourg-en-Bresse passes just next to the salt works, the station for Arc-et-Senans is only a few dozen meters from the site. In the 18th century salt was an essential and valuable commodity, at the time, salt was widely used for the preservation of foods such as meat or fish. The ubiquity of salt use caused the French government to impose the gabelle, the government mandated that all people over the age of 8 years buy an amount of salt per year at a price that the government had set. The Ferme Générale was responsible for collecting the gabelle, as a region, Franche-Comté was relatively well-endowed with salt springs due to subterranean seams of halite. Consequently, there were a number of salt works, such as those at Salins-les-Bains and Montmorot. The salt works close to the springs and drew on wood brought from nearby forests. After many years of exploitation, the forests were becoming more and more rapidly denuded, with the result that wood had to be brought from farther and farther away, furthermore, over time the salt content of the brine was dropping. This led the experts of the Ferme Générale to consider exploiting even small springs, part of the problem was that it was impossible to build evaporation buildings because Salins-les-Bains sat in a small valley. The Fermiers Généraux decided to explore a more mechanised and efficient method of extraction. The concept was to construct a factory near the forest of Chaux in the Val dAmour. On September 20,1771, Louis XV appointed Ledoux Commissioner of the Salt Works of Lorraine, as Commissioner, Ledoux was responsible for inspecting the different saltworks in eastern France. This gave him an opportunity to see many different saltworks, including those at Salins-les-Bains and Lons-le-Saunier, two years later, Madame du Barry supported Ledouxs nomination to membership in the Royal Academie of Architecture
Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans
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Main façade of the Royal Saltworks
Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans
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In 1775, the king rejected Ledoux's first design plan
Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans
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Ledoux's second design plan for Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans.
Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans
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Aerial view of the proposed city at the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans by Claude Nicolas Ledoux, published in 1804
45.
Nancy, France
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Nancy is the capital of the north-eastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, and formerly the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, and then the French province of the same name. The metropolitan area of Nancy had a population of 410,509 inhabitants at the 1999 census,103,602 of whom lived in the city of Nancy proper. The motto of the city is Non inultus premor, Latin for Im not touched with impunity—a reference to the thistle, the earliest signs of human settlement in the area date back to 800 BC. Early settlers were attracted by easily mined iron ore and a ford in the Meurthe River. A small fortified town named Nanciacum was built by Gérard, Duke of Lorraine around 1050, Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Nancy in 1477, René II, Duke of Lorraine became the ruler. In 1736 Emperor Charles arranged her marriage to Duke François of Lorraine, exiled Polish king Stanisław Leszczyński, father-in-law of French king Louis XV, was given the vacant duchy instead. Under his nominal rule, Nancy experienced growth and a flowering of Baroque culture and architecture, with his death in 1766, the duchy became a regular French province and Nancy lost its position as a residential capital city with its own princely court and patronage. As unrest surfaced within the French armed forces during the French Revolution, a few reliable units laid siege to the town and shot or imprisoned the mutineers. In 1871, Nancy remained French when Prussia annexed Alsace-Lorraine, the flow of refugees reaching Nancy doubled its population in three decades. Artistic, academic, financial and industrial excellence flourished, establishing what is still the Capital of Lorraines trademark to this day, Nancy was freed from Nazi Germany by the U. S. Third Army in September 1944, during the Lorraine Campaign of World War II at the Battle of Nancy ), in 1988, Pope John Paul II visited Nancy. In 2005, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Nancy is situated on the left bank of the river Meurthe, about 10 km upstream from its confluence with the Moselle. The Marne–Rhine Canal runs through the city, parallel to the Meurthe, Nancy is surrounded by hills that are about 150 m higher than the city center, which is situated at 200 m amsl. The area of Nancy proper is small,15 km2. Its built-up area is continuous with those of its adjacent suburbs, the neighboring communes of Nancy are, Jarville-la-Malgrange, Laxou, Malzéville, Maxéville, Saint-Max, Tomblaine, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy and Villers-lès-Nancy. Adjacent to its south is the quarter Charles III – Centre Ville and this quarter contains the famous Place Stanislas, the Nancy Cathedral, the Opéra national de Lorraine and the main railway station. The old city centers heritage dates from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, the cathedral of Nancy, the Triumphal Arch and the Place de la Carriere are a fine examples of 18th-century architecture. The Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine is the princely residence of the rulers
Nancy, France
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Place Stanislas – Fountain of Amphitrite
Nancy, France
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A panoramic view of
Place Stanislas
Nancy, France
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The emblem of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on Notre-Dame de Bon Secours
Nancy, France
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Cours-Léopold
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