Portrait: Charlemagne, the Father of Europe

22 January 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, Portrait Reading Time:  7 minutes

Karlsschrein (Shrine of Charlemagne) in Aachen Cathedral © Beckstet/cc-by-sa-3.0

Karlsschrein (Shrine of Charlemagne) in Aachen Cathedral © Beckstet/cc-by-sa-3.0

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian Empire from 800, holding these titles until his death in 814. He united most of Western and Central Europe, and was the first recognised emperor to rule from the west after the fall of the Western Roman Empire approximately three centuries earlier. Charlemagne’s reign was marked by political and social changes that had lasting influence on Europe throughout the Middle Ages.   read more…

Portrait: Simone Veil, first President of the European Parliament and Holocaust survivor

25 December 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, Portrait Reading Time:  7 minutes

in 1982 © European Union

in 1982 © European Union

Simone Veil was a French magistrate, Holocaust survivor, and politician who served as Health Minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman to hold that office. As health minister, she is best remembered for advancing women’s rights in France, in particular for the 1975 law that legalized abortion, today known as the Veil Act (French: Loi Veil). From 1998 to 2007, she was a member of the Constitutional Council, France’s highest legal authority.   read more…

Portrait: Ramesses II

27 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Great Temple at Abu Simbel © panoramio.com - youssef_alam/cc-by-3.0

Great Temple at Abu Simbel © panoramio.com – youssef_alam/cc-by-3.0

Ramesses II commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of the Eighteenth Dynasty, he is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the New Kingdom, which itself was the most powerful period of ancient Egypt. He is also widely considered one of ancient Egypt’s most successful warrior pharaohs, conducting no fewer than 15 military campaigns, all resulting in victories, excluding the Battle of Kadesh, generally considered a stalemate.   read more…

Portrait: Vitruvius, a Roman architect and engineer

23 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Portrait Reading Time:  12 minutes

Vitruvius - De architectura © Mark Pellegrini/cc-by-sa-2.5

Vitruvius – De architectura © Mark Pellegrini/cc-by-sa-2.5

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.   read more…

Portrait: Saint Valentine

25 September 2024 | Author/Destination: | 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

A relic of Saint Valentine in the church Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome © Dnalor 01/cc-by-sa-3.0-a

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.   read more…

Portrait: Confucius, a Chinese philosopher

28 August 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Confucius - Portrait by Qiu Ying (1494–1552) © chinatimes.com

Confucius – Portrait by Qiu Ying (1494–1552) © chinatimes.com

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.   read more…

Portrait: Robert Oppenheimer, an American theoretical physicist

24 July 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  6 minutes

in 1946 © Ed Westcott - U.S. Government photographer

in 1946 © Ed Westcott – U.S. Government photographer

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.   read more…

Portrait: Richard the Lionheart, King of England

26 June 2024 | Author/Destination: | 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

Richard Coeur de Lion, Carlo Marochetti’s 1856 statue outside the Palace of Westminster, London
© Jonathan Cardy/cc-by-sa-3.0

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.   read more…

Portrait: Caspar David Friedrich, a German Romantic landscape painter

22 May 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  7 minutes

Caspar David Friedrich by Gerhard von Kügelgen

Caspar David Friedrich by Gerhard von Kügelgen

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”.   read more…

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