23 October 2024 | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union | Rubric: Architecture , Portrait
Reading Time: 12 minutes
Vitruvius – De architectura © Mark Pellegrini/cc-by-sa-2.5
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Vitruvius was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled
De architectura . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissance as the first book on
architectural theory , as well as a major source on the canon of
classical architecture . It is not clear to what extent his contemporaries regarded his book as original or important.
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25 September 2024 | Author/Destination: Editorial / Redaktion | Rubric: Portrait
Reading Time: 6 minutes
A relic of Saint Valentine in the church Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome © Dnalor 01/cc-by-sa-3.0-a
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Saint Valentine (
Italian : San Valentino;
Latin : Valentinus) was a 3rd-century Roman
saint , commemorated in Western
Christianity on February 14 and in
Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the
High Middle Ages ,
his feast day has been associated with a tradition of
courtly love . He is also a
patron saint of
Terni ,
epilepsy and
beekeepers . Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a
bishop – in the
Roman Empire who ministered to
persecuted Christians . He was
martyred and his body buried on the
Via Flaminia on February 14, which has been observed as the
Feast of Saint Valentine (Saint Valentine’s Day) since at least the eighth century.
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28 August 2024 | Author/Destination: Editorial / Redaktion | Rubric: Portrait , UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Confucius – Portrait by Qiu Ying (1494–1552) © chinatimes.com
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Confucius, born Kong Qiu, was a
Chinese philosopher of the
Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages, as well as the first teacher in China to advocate for mass education. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the
Sinosphere originates in the philosophy and teachings of Confucius. His philosophical teachings, called
Confucianism , emphasized personal and governmental morality, harmonious
social relationships , righteousness, kindness, sincerity, and a ruler’s responsibilities to lead by virtue.
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24 July 2024 | Author/Destination: Editorial / Redaktion | Rubric: Portrait
Reading Time: 6 minutes
in 1946 © Ed Westcott – U.S. Government photographer
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J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American
theoretical physicist who served as the director of the
Manhattan Project ‘s
Los Alamos Laboratory during
World War II . He is often called the “father of the
atomic bomb ” for his role in overseeing the development of the first nuclear weapons.
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26 June 2024 | Author/Destination: Editorial / Redaktion | Rubric: Portrait
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Richard Coeur de Lion, Carlo Marochetti’s 1856 statue outside the Palace of Westminster, London © Jonathan Cardy/cc-by-sa-3.0
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Richard I, known as Richard Cœur de Lion (
Norman French : Quor de Lion) or Richard the Lionheart because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was
King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as
Duke of Normandy ,
Aquitaine , and
Gascony ; Lord of
Cyprus ;
Count of Poitiers ,
Anjou ,
Maine , and
Nantes ; and was
overlord of
Brittany at various times during the same period. He was the third of five sons of
Henry II of England and
Eleanor of Aquitaine and was therefore not expected to become king, but his two elder brothers predeceased their father.
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22 May 2024 | Author/Destination: Editorial / Redaktion | Rubric: Portrait
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Caspar David Friedrich by Gerhard von Kügelgen
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Caspar David Friedrich was a
German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his
allegorical landscapes, which typically feature contemplative figures
silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or
Gothic ruins. His primary interest was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti-
classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich’s paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs “the viewer’s gaze towards their metaphysical dimension”.
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24 April 2024 | Author/Destination: Editorial / Redaktion | Rubric: Paris / Île-de-France , Portrait
Reading Time: 17 minutes
Eiffel Tower and La Defense from the Tour Montparnasse, Paris, France © Wladyslaw – Taxiarchos228/cc-by-3.0
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Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (
né : Bonickhausen dit Eiffel) was a French
civil engineer . A graduate of
École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures , he made his name with various bridges for the French railway network, most famously the
Garabit Viaduct . He is best known for the world-famous
Eiffel Tower , designed by his company and built for the
1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, and his contribution to building the
Statue of Liberty in New York. After his retirement from engineering, Eiffel focused on research into
meteorology and
aerodynamics , making significant contributions in both fields.
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27 March 2024 | Author/Destination: Editorial / Redaktion | Rubric: Portrait
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Charles Darwin by Julia Margaret Cameron, c. 1868 © Alfred Steiglitz Collection – Art Institute of Chicago
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Charles Robert Darwin
FRS FRGS FLS FZS JP (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English
naturalist ,
geologist and
biologist , widely known for his contributions to
evolutionary biology . His proposition that all species of life have descended from a
common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science. In a joint publication with
Alfred Russel Wallace , he introduced his scientific theory that this
branching pattern of
evolution resulted from a process he called
natural selection , in which the
struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in
selective breeding . Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in
human history and was honoured by
burial in Westminster Abbey .
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21 February 2024 | Author/Destination: Editorial / Redaktion | Rubric: Portrait
Reading Time: 24 minutes
in 2020 © flickr.com – Michal Siergiejevicz/cc-by-2.0
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Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny was a Russian
opposition leader, lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and
political prisoner . He organised anti-government demonstrations and ran for office to advocate reforms against
corruption in Russia , and against President
Vladimir Putin and his government. Navalny was a
Russian Opposition Coordination Council member. He was the leader of the
Russia of the Future party and founder of the
Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). He was
recognised by
Amnesty International as a
prisoner of conscience , and was awarded the
Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.
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