Description.

Especially protected are the Norway spruce–dominated highland forests, mixed mountain forests of European silver fir, European beech and spruce trees and water meadow spruce woods in the valleys. Although a few remnants of ancient forest remain, the National Park area is still heavily influenced by the former forestry industry. Since nature is now left to take its course again, there is no human intervention when there are catastrophic events such as large scale bark beetle infestation. This resulted in the death of a portion of the high elevation forests in the 1990s and triggered controversial discussions amongst the residents of the National Park, which highlighted differing attitudes to the wilderness. As the result of a compromise, bark beetle is now fought in the buffer area.  The most important peaks in the National Park are the Großer Falkenstein (), the Lusen () and the Großer Rachel (). In addition to the forests, there are also ecologically valuable raised bogs with bog lakes such as the Latschensee and former high meadows, the so-called "Schachten", which spread even further on the Czech side of the border in the Bohemian Forest.  With over 700,000 visitors per year, the National Park is an important economic factor in the economically underdeveloped region of the Bavarian Forest.

Geography.

The National Park runs along the main ridge of the Bavarian Forest from the Großer Falkenstein (1,305 m) in the northwest past the Großer Rachel (1,453 m) to the Lusen (1,373 m) in the southeast.  According to the classification of the major natural regions of Germany it is part of the Rear Bavarian Forest ("Hinterer Bayerischer Wald") in the Upper Palatine-Bavarian Forest.  On the other side of the border in the Czech Republic, the Bavarian Forest National Park is bounded by the Šumava National Park which is 68,064 hectares in area.  The national park is located in the eastern part of Bavaria in the counties of Regen and Freyung-Grafenau along the border with the Czech Republic and covers an area of 24,250 hectares of forest covering the low mountain range of the Bavarian Forest. It borders on the municipalities of (from north to south): Bayerisch Eisenstein, Zwiesel, Lindberg, Frauenau, Spiegelau, Sankt Oswald-Riedlhütte, Neuschönau, Hohenau and Mauth. Parts of the National Park are located on the territory of the respective communities and parts also lie in unparished areas.  There are many enclaves in the national park, especially around the edges:  In addition, there are several other enclaves that comprise just one or a few small plots. These numerous enclaves, especially in the "Altgebiet" make the border very long there, and the buffer zone, where bark beetle control is allowed, extends far into the interior of the park (see below for more details).

Ecology.

Mammals.

The park is home to many rare mammals such as the Eurasian lynx ("Lynx lynx"), wildcat ("Felis silvestris"), beaver ("Castor fiber"), Eurasian otter ("Lutra lutra"), western barbastelle ("Barbastella barbastellus"), Bechstein's bat ("Myotis bechsteini") and the greater mouse-eared bat ("Myotis myotis"). Also present are red deer, in which two-thirds of the population overwinter in an enclosure, in order to prevent excessive grazing to the land. Even moose have been recorded in the park, from a population in the Lipno Reservoir, Czech Republic.  Lynx were eradicated from the National Park in around 1850, but in the 1970's five to ten were released into the park, along with another 17 released in the Šumava national park a decade later. This resulted in an initially strong increase in the Lynx population in the region, but between 1995 and 2008, the population decreased significantly. This was possibly due to the illegal killing of the animals on both the Czech and Bavarian sides. Brown bear are not found in the wild in the park.  In 2016, a pair of wolves were discovered in the park.

Birds.

Many rarely seen species of birds are found in the national park. These include capercaillie, hazel grouse, peregrine falcon, European honey-buzzard, black stork and Eurasian pygmy owl.

Insects.

In the national park over 1800 beetle species have currently been identified, including 14 ancient woodland specialist species. Very rare insect species such as "Tragosoma depsarium", a longhorn beetle which can only be found in forests rich in dead wood.

Plants.

Rare and endangered plant species which are found in the national park include Hungarian gentian, Swertia perennis and the mosses Buxbaumia viridis and Dicranum viride.

The Bavarian Forest National Park () is a national park in the Eastern Bavarian Forest immediately on Germany's border with the Czech Republic. It was founded on 7 October 1970 as the first national park in Germany. Since its expansion on 1 August 1997 it has covered an area of 24,250 hectares. Together with the neighbouring Czech Bohemian Forest the Bavarian Forest forms the largest contiguous area of forest in Central Europe.


Applications of theory.

The angle of repose is sometimes used in the design of equipment for the processing of particulate solids. For example, it may be used to design an appropriate hopper or silo to store the material, or to size a conveyor belt for transporting the material. It can also be used in determining whether or not a slope (of a stockpile, or uncompacted gravel bank, for example) will likely collapse; the talus slope is derived from angle of repose and represents the steepest slope a pile of granular material will take. This angle of repose is also crucial in correctly calculating stability in vessels.  It is also commonly used by mountaineers as a factor in analysing avalanche danger in mountainous areas.

Measurement.

There are numerous methods for measuring angle of repose and each produces slightly different results. Results are also sensitive to the exact methodology of the experimenter. As a result, data from different labs are not always comparable. One method is the triaxial shear test, another is the direct shear test.  If the coefficient of static friction is known of a material, then a good approximation of the angle of repose can be made with the following function. This function is somewhat accurate for piles where individual objects in the pile are minuscule and piled in random order.  where, "μ" is the coefficient of static friction, and "θ" is the angle of repose.

Methods in determining the angle of repose.

The measured angle of repose may vary with the method used.

Tilting box method.

This method is appropriate for fine-grained, non-cohesive materials with individual particle size less than 10 mm. The material is placed within a box with a transparent side to observe the granular test material. It should initially be level and parallel to the base of the box. The box is slowly tilted until the material begins to slide in bulk, and the angle of the tilt is measured.

Fixed funnel method.

The material is poured through a funnel to form a cone. The tip of the funnel should be held close to the growing cone and slowly raised as the pile grows, to minimize the impact of falling particles. Stop pouring the material when the pile reaches a predetermined height or the base a predetermined width. Rather than attempt to measure the angle of the resulting cone directly, divide the height by half the width of the base of the cone. The inverse tangent of this ratio is the angle of repose.

Revolving cylinder method.

The material is placed within a cylinder with at least one transparent end. The cylinder is rotated at a fixed speed and the observer watches the material moving within the rotating cylinder. The effect is similar to watching clothes tumble over one another in a slowly rotating clothes dryer. The granular material will assume a certain angle as it flows within the rotating cylinder. This method is recommended for obtaining the dynamic angle of repose, and may vary from the static angle of repose measured by other methods.

Of various materials.

Here is a list of various materials and their angle of repose. All measurements are approximated.

With different supports.

Different supports will modify the shape of the pile, in the illustrations below sand piles, though angles of repose remain the same.

Exploitation by antlion and wormlion (Vermileonidae) larvae.

The larvae of the antlions and the unrelated wormlions Vermileonidae trap small insects such as ants by digging conical pits in loose sand, such that the slope of the walls is effectively at the critical angle of repose for the sand. They achieve this by flinging the loose sand out of the pit and permitting the sand to settle at its critical angle of repose as it falls back. Thus, when a small insect, commonly an ant, blunders into the pit, its weight causes the sand to collapse below it, drawing the victim toward the center where the predator that dug the pit lies in wait under a thin layer of loose sand. The larva assists this process by vigorously flicking sand out from the center of the pit when it detects a disturbance. This undermines the pit walls and causes them to collapse toward the center. The sand that the larva flings also pelts the prey with so much loose, rolling material as to prevent it from getting any foothold on the easier slopes that the initial collapse of the slope has presented. The combined effect is to bring the prey down to within grasp of the larva, which then can inject venom and digestive fluids.

See also.

The angle of repose plays a part in several topics of technology and science, including:

The angle of repose, or critical angle of repose, of a granular material is the steepest angle of descent or dip relative to the horizontal plane to which a material can be piled without slumping. At this angle, the material on the slope face is on the verge of sliding. The angle of repose can range from 0° to 90°. The morphology of the material affects the angle of repose; smooth, rounded sand grains cannot be piled as steeply as can rough, interlocking sands. The angle of repose can also be affected by additions of solvents. If a small amount of water is able to bridge the gaps between particles, electrostatic attraction of the water to mineral surfaces will increase the angle of repose, and related quantities such as the soil strength.


Early life and education.

Klein was born in Feketehalom, Austria-Hungary (now Codlea in central Romania).  Klein was considered a Volksdeutscher, or ethnic German. He studied medicine at the University of Budapest and completed his military service in Romania, finishing his studies in Budapest after World War I. He lived and worked as a doctor in Siebenbürgen (Transylvania), Romania.  In 1939, as a Romanian citizen he was drafted into the Romanian army, where after the outbreak of the war with the Soviet Union in 1941 he served as paramedic on the eastern front. In May 1943, Romanian fascist dictator Marshal Antonescu, on a demand from Hitler to release ethnic Germans in the Romanian Army, drafted them into the German army. Hence Klein became a soldier in the Waffen-SS, was listed in the SS-Personalhauptamt, and was posted to Yugoslavia.

Career.

On 15 December 1943, he arrived in Auschwitz concentration camp, where at first he served as a camp doctor in the women’s camp in Birkenau. Subsequently, he worked as a camp doctor in the Gypsy camp. He also participated in numerous selections ("Selektionen") on the ramp. In December 1944 he was transferred to Neuengamme concentration camp, from where he was sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in January 1945. He remained at the camp with commandant Josef Kramer and assisted in handing it over to British troops. Klein was imprisoned and forced to help bury all unburied corpses in mass graves. The British Army Film and Photographic Unit Number 5 photographed Klein standing in a mass grave, in a well-known 1945 photo (seen on the right).  When asked how he reconciled his actions with his ethical obligations as a physician, Klein famously stated: "My Hippocratic oath tells me to cut a gangrenous appendix out of the human body. The Jews are the gangrenous appendix of mankind. That's why I cut them out."  Klein and 44 other camp staff were tried in the Belsen Trial by a British military court at Lüneburg. The trial lasted several weeks, from September to November 1945. During the trial Anita Lasker testified that he took part in selections for the gas chamber.  He was sentenced to death and hanged at by Albert Pierrepoint on 13 December 1945.

Fritz Klein (24 November 1888 – 13 December 1945) was a German Nazi doctor and war criminal, hanged for his role in atrocities at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the Holocaust.


Biography.

Early career.

Born in Kölln on the Spree, Albert was the younger son of John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg and of Margaret of Thuringia.  After their father's funeral, Albert and his older brother Joachim I Nestor became margraves of Brandenburg in 1499, but only his older brother held the title of an elector of Brandenburg. Albert studied at the University of Frankfurt (Oder), and in 1513 became Archbishop of Magdeburg at the age of 23 and administrator of the Diocese of Halberstadt.  In 1514 he obtained the Electorate of Mainz, and in 1518, at the age of 28, was made a cardinal. The Indulgence issued by Leo X in 1514 for the building of the new St. Peter's in Rome, was entrusted to Albert (1517) for publication in Saxony and Brandenburg. Albert employed Tetzel for the actual preaching of the Indulgence. Later, Martin Luther addressed a letter of protest to Albert concerning the conduct of Tetzel  Largely in reaction to Tetzel's actions, Martin Luther wrote his famous 95 Theses, which led to the Reformation. Luther sent these to Albert on 31 October 1517, and according to a false tradition nailed a copy to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. Albert forwarded the theses to Rome, suspecting Luther of heresy. When the imperial election of 1519 drew near, partisans of the two leading candidates (King Charles I of Spain and Francis I of France) eagerly solicited the vote of the Prince-Archbishop of Mainz, and Albert appears to have received a large amount of money for his vote. The electors eventually chose Charles, who became the Emperor Charles V.  Albert's large and liberal ideas, his friendship with Ulrich von Hutten, and his political ambitions, appear to have raised hopes that he could be won over to Protestantism; but after the German Peasants' War of 1525 he ranged himself definitely among the supporters of Catholicism, and was among the princes who joined the League of Dessau in July 1525.  Cardinal Albert needed a prestigious church building that met his expectations at a central location in his "Residenz" town. Albert feared for his peace of mind in heaven, and collected more than 8,100 relics and 42 holy skeletons which needed to be stored. These precious treasures, known as "Hallesches Heilthum", indirectly related to the sale of indulgences which had triggered the Reformation a few years before. Then the cardinal and the Catholic members of the town council wanted to repress the growing influence of the Reformation by holding far grander masses and services in a new church dedicated solely to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Albert's hostility towards the reformers, however, was not so extreme as that of his brother Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg; and he appears to have exerted himself towards peace, although he was a member of the League of Nuremberg, formed in 1538 as a counterpoise to the League of Schmalkalden. New doctrines nevertheless made considerable progress in his dominions, and he was compelled to grant religious liberty to the inhabitants of Magdeburg in return for 500,000 florins. During his later years showed more intolerance towards the Protestants, and favoured the teaching of the Jesuits in his dominions.

Market Church of Our Lady.

The Market Church of Our Lady in Halle, which had been built to defend against the spread of Reformation sympathies, was the very spot where Justus Jonas officially introduced the Reformation into Halle with his Good Friday sermon in 1541. The service must have been at least partly conducted in the open air, because at that time construction had only been finished at the eastern end of the nave. Jonas began a successful preaching crusade and attracted so many people that the church overflowed. Cardinal Albert left the town permanently after the estates ("Stände") in the city had announced that they would take over his enormous debt at the bank of Jacob Fugger. Halle became Protestant and in 1542 Jonas was appointed as priest to St. Mary's and in 1544 bishop over the city.  Albert adorned the collegiate church ("Stiftskirche") at Halle and the cathedral at Mainz in sumptuous fashion, and took as his motto the words "Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuae" (Latin for: "Lord, I admired the adornment of your house."). A generous patron of art and learning, he counted Erasmus among his friends.

Death.

Albert died at the Martinsburg, Mainz in 1545.

Further reading.

Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (; 28 June 149024 September 1545) was Elector and Archbishop of Mainz from 1514 to 1545, and Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1513 to 1545.


Early life.

During most of his life, John stood little chance of inheriting the Saxon Crown: he was preceded by his father and two older brothers, Frederick Augustus and Clement. However, in 1822 Clement died unmarried in Italy, and John was now only preceded in the line of succession by his older brother Frederick Augustus.  When his uncle Anton succeeded his older brother as king (1827), John became the third in line to the throne, and after his father Maximilian renounced his succession rights in 1830, John became in the second in line. John's older brother became King Frederick Augustus II in 1836; now he was the first in line of succession to the throne. The King, married twice, was childless. John remained as heir presumptive during all the reign of his brother.

King of Saxony.

John became King of Saxony after the death of his brother Frederick Augustus II on 9 August 1854.  The Judiciary Organization of 1855, the extension of the railroad network, the introduction of the freedom of trade are attributed mainly to his suggestion and promotion. Under his government, came the acceptance of the French Commercial Treaty (1862) and the acknowledgment of a contract with Italy. He exerted himself under influence of his minister Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust for the Great Germany Solution (de: "Großdeutsche Lösung") of the imperial arrangement (under inclusion of Austria). In 1866 Saxony fought on the Austrian side in the Austro-Prussian War. Finally, after the defeat of the Battle of Königgrätz, Saxony joined the North German Confederation and in 1871 the German Empire under the hegemony of the Kingdom of Prussia. The King died two years later, aged seventy-one.  Beyond his political work, Johann was busy with literature. Under the pseudonym "Philalethes" he translated to German the Dante's Divine Comedy; some parts of this work were placed in the Schloss Weesenstein. The Dresden district of Johannstadt was named after him.

Marriage and issue.

In Munich on 10 November 1822 (by proxy) and again in Dresden on 21 November 1822 (in person), Johann married with the Princess Amalia of Bavaria (Amalie Auguste), daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. They had nine children:  King John of Saxony died at Pillnitz.

John (; 12 December 1801 – 29 October 1873) was a King of Saxony and a member of the House of Wettin.


Early life.

Albert's education, as usual with German princes, concentrated to a great extent on military matters, but he attended lectures at the University of Bonn. His first experience of warfare came in 1849, when he served as a captain in the First War of Schleswig against Denmark.  When the Austro-Prussian War broke out in 1866, Albert, then Crown Prince (German: "Kronprinz"), took up the command of the Saxon forces opposing the Prussian Army of Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia. No attempt was made to defend Saxony, and the Saxons fell back into Bohemia and effected a junction with the Austrians. They took a prominent part in the battles by which the Prussians forced the line of the Jizera and in the Battle of Jičín. The Crown Prince, however, succeeded in effecting the retreat in good order, and in the decisive Battle of Königgrätz (3 July 1866), he held the extreme left of the Austrian position. The Saxons maintained their post with great tenacity but were involved in the disastrous defeat of their allies.  During the operations, the Crown Prince won the reputation of a thorough soldier. After peace was made and Saxony had entered the North German Confederation, he gained the command of the Saxon army, which had now become the XII army corps of the North German army, and in that position, he carried out the necessary reorganisation. He proved a firm adherent of the Prussian alliance. On the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, he again commanded the Saxons, who were included in the 2nd army under Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, his old opponent. At the Battle of Gravelotte, they formed the extreme left of the German army, and with the Prussian Guard carried out the attack on St Privat, the final and decisive action in the battle.  In the reorganisation of the army which accompanied the march towards Paris the Crown Prince gained a separate command over the 4th army (Army of the Meuse) consisting of the Saxons, the Prussian Guard corps, and the IV (Prussian Saxony) corps. He was succeeded in command of the XII corps by his brother Prince George, who had served under him in Bohemia.  Albert took a leading part in the operations which preceded the battle of Sedan, the 4th army being the pivot on which the whole army wheeled round in pursuit of MacMahon; and the actions of Buzancy and Beaumont on 29 and 30 August 1870 were fought under his direction; in the Battle of Sedan itself (1 September 1870), with the troops under his orders, Albert carried out the envelopment of the French on the east and the north.  Albert's conduct in the engagements won for him the complete confidence of the army, and during the Siege of Paris, his troops formed the north-east section of the investing force. During the siege, he blocked French attempts to break out of the encirclement at Le Bourget and Villiers. After the conclusion of the Treaty of Frankfurt (1871), he was left in command of the German army of occupation, a position which he held till the fall of the Paris Commune. On the conclusion of peace, he was made an inspector-general of the army and a field marshal.

King.

On the death of his father, King John on 29 October 1873, the Crown Prince succeeded to the throne as King Albert. His reign proved uneventful, and he took little public part in politics, devoting himself to military affairs, in which his advice and experience were of the greatest value, not only to the Saxon corps but also to the German army in general. During his reign, the Saxon monarchy became constitutional.  In the 1870s, Albert initiated the construction of a Dresden suburb, the Albertstadt. It was then the largest garrison in Germany. Near the former suburb other buildings and places still bear his name: the Albertbrücke, the Alberthafen, the Albertplatz and the Albertinum.  In 1879, he initiated the reconstruction of the Saint Afra School in Meissen. In 1897, he was appointed arbitrator between the claimants for the Principality of Lippe.

Marriage and succession.

In Dresden on 18 June 1853, Albert married Princess Carola, daughter of Gustav, Prince of Vasa and granddaughter of Gustav IV Adolf, the second to last king of Sweden of the House of Holstein-Gottorp. The marriage was childless although Carola miscarried many times. They included:  Albert died at Sibyllenort on 19 June 1902 and was succeeded by his brother, who became King George. He was buried in Dresden on 23 June, among the mourners present were both the German Emperor Wilhelm II and the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I.

Honours, decorations and awards.

The King of Saxony bird-of-paradise was named in Albert's honour; the Queen Carola's parotia was named for his wife.

Albert (; 23 April 1828 – 19 June 1902) was the King of Saxony and a member of the House of Wettin.


Early life.

William was the son of King Roger II of Sicily, grandson of Roger I of Sicily and great-grandson of Tancred of Hauteville. He grew up with little expectation of ruling. The deaths of his three older brothers Roger, Tancred, and Alfonso between 1138 and 1148 changed matters, though when his father died William was still not well-prepared to take his place.

Kingship.

On assuming power, William kept the administration which had guided his father's rule for his final years. Only the Englishman Thomas Brun was removed, and the chancellor Maio of Bari was promoted. The real power in the kingdom was at first exercised by Maio, a man of low birth, whose title "ammiratus ammiratorum" was the highest in the realm. Maio continued Roger's policy of excluding the nobles from the administration, and sought also to curtail the liberties of the towns. The barons, always chafing against the royal power, were encouraged to revolt by Pope Adrian IV, whose recognition William had not yet sought, by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus, and by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I.  At the end of 1155, Greek troops recovered Bari, Trani, Giovinazzo, Andria, Taranto and began to besiege Brindisi. William and his army landed on the peninsula and destroyed the Greek fleet (4 ships) and army at Brindisi on May 28, 1156 and recovered Bari. Adrian came to terms at Benevento on June 18, 1156 where he and William signed the Treaty of Benevento, abandoning the rebels and confirming William as king. During the summer of 1157, William sent a fleet of 164 ships carrying 10,000 men to sack Euboea and Almira. In 1158 William made peace with the Greeks.  These diplomatic successes were probably due to Maio; on the other hand, the African dominions were lost to the Almohads, and it is possible that he advised their abandonment in face of the dangers threatening the kingdom from the north. In 1156, a revolt began in Sfax and quickly spread and nothing was done to put it down. In 1159, the admiral Peter led a raiding expedition against the Saracen-held Balearic Islands with 160 ships. He tried to relieve besieged Mahdia with the same fleet, but turned around just after engaging in battle. Peter did not fall out of favour, but no further assistance was sent to the Christians holding out in Mahdia and the city surrendered on 11 January 1160, ending the "African empire".  The policy of Maio led to a general conspiracy, and in November 1160 Maio was murdered in Palermo by Matthew Bonello, leader of the Sicilian nobles. The barons, however, had long been plotting to overthrow the king. Desiring a weak power on the throne, they had been eyeing the king's eldest son, Roger IV, Duke of Apulia, as a possible replacement for his father.  After the assassination of Maio, the royal palace was stormed by two of the king's own relatives: his illegitimate half-brother Simon, whom he had dispossessed of Taranto early in his reign and his bastard nephew Tancred, the count of Lecce. The king was captured along with his whole family, his life being barely spared by one Richard of Mandra. Roger was then paraded through the streets and it was announced that he would be crowned in the cathedral three days thence.  For a while the king remained in the hands of the conspirators who purposed murdering or just deposing him, but the people and the army rallied round him; he recovered power, crushed the Sicilian rebels, had Bonello blinded, and in a short campaign reduced the rest of the "Regno", avenging the rebel burning of Butera. During the initial assault on the palace, to release the captive king, the king's son Roger was killed by a wayward arrow (though the historian Falcandus, seemingly ever-ready to impugn the royal character, has the king kicking his "faithless" son dead).

Later years.

Thus freed from feudal revolts, William confided the government to men trained in Maio's school, creating a triumvirate: the grand protonotary, Matthew of Ajello; Count Sylvester of Marsico, who had inherited Maio's property; and the Bishop Palmer of Syracuse, elect, but not consecrated. His latter years were peaceful; he became the champion of the true pope against the Holy Roman Emperor, and Alexander III was installed in the Lateran Palace in November 1165 by a guard of Normans.  William died on May 7, 1166 and was interred in Palermo Cathedral, although he was later moved to Monreale Cathedral by his son and heir William II of Sicily when that building was completed. By his wife, Margaret of Navarre, daughter of García Ramírez of Navarre, he had four sons:

Controversial accounts.

"De Mulieribus Claris" by Boccaccio said the at the birth of Princess Constance daughter of William, a Calabrian abbot named Joachim told William that his daughter would cause the destruction of Sicily. William believed the prediction and shut young Constance up in a monastery and forced her to become a nun to prevent her having husband or children. This apparently contradicted the fact that Constance was indeed the posthumous daughter of Roger II and half-sister of William. Giovanni Villani said William I sought to put her to death due to the prediction until Tancred, a bastard son of Roger I, Count of Sicily, persuaded him to send her to a convent instead.  Joachim Camerarius argued that Constance was simply sent to the convent during the coup against William I for her safety and stayed there until her betrothal without ever being a nun. Hugo Falcandus and Richard of San Germano argued Constance was brought up and educated in royal palace rather than a monastery. François Eudes de Mézeray said Constance had never become a nun.

William I (1120 or 1121 – May 7, 1166), called the Bad or the Wicked (), was the second King of Sicily, ruling from his father's death in 1154 to his own in 1166. He was the fourth son of Roger II and Elvira of Castile.


History.

Dedicated to Saint Blaise, Admont Abbey was founded in 1074 by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg with the legacy of the late Saint Hemma of Gurk, and settled by monks from St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg under abbot Isingrin. The second abbot, Giselbert, is said to have introduced the Cluniac reforms here. Another of the early abbots, Wolfhold, established a convent for the education of girls of noble family, and the educational tradition has remained strong ever since. The monastery prospered during the Middle Ages and possessed a productive scriptorium. Abbot Engelbert of Admont (1297–1327) was a famous scholar and author of many works.  The wars against the Turks and the Reformation (Abbot Valentine was obliged to resign because of his Reformed views) caused a lengthy decline, but with the Counter-Reformation the abbey flourished once again. In addition to the secondary school, which later moved to Judenburg, there were faculties of theology and philosophy. Abbot Albert von Muchar was well known as an historian and taught at the University of Graz.  In the 17th and 18th centuries, the abbey reached a high point of artistic productivity, with the works of the world-famous ecclesiastical embroiderer Brother Benno Haan (1631–1720) and the sculptor Joseph Stammel (1695–1765).  On April 27, 1865, a disastrous fire destroyed almost the entire monastery. While the monastic archives burned, the library could be salvaged. Reconstruction began the following year but was still not complete by 1890.  The economic crises of the 1930s forced the abbey to sell off many of its art treasures, and during the period of the National Socialist government the monastery was dissolved and the monks evicted. They were able to return in 1946 and the abbey today is again a thriving Benedictine community.  From 1641, the abbey was a member of the Salzburg Congregation, which in 1930 was merged into the present Austrian Congregation of the Benedictine Confederation.

Abbey church.

The present church was designed by the architect Wilhelm Bücher to replace the former church after the fire of 1865. It is inspired by Regensburg Cathedral and was the first sacred building in Austria in the neo-Gothic style. It incorporates 12th century Romanesque side doors. The two west towers are 67 metres tall, and the facade contains figures of Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica. The figure of the church's patron, Saint Blaise, tops the pinnacle of the west door.  The interior consists of a central aisle and two side aisles, off each of which are five side chapels and six altars. The picture on the altar of Mary, "Maria Immaculata" by Martino Altomonte (1657–1745), is surrounded by 15 carved medallions of the secrets of the rosary by Joseph Stammel. Both works of art were created in 1726 and survived the fire of 1856.  In a side chapel is located the famous crib of Admont, also by Stammel. It is open to view from 25 December to 2 February. The Gothic crucifix under the triumphal arch dated 1518 is ascribed to Andreas Lackner.  A statue of Saint Blaise stands on top of the high altar of white Carrara marble. The choir is decorated with early 18th century tapestries by. In the Chapel of St. Benedict is a Baroque Corpus Christi from the workshop of.

Present day.

The community at Admont consists of over 27 monks under Abbot Bruno Hubl. The abbey is responsible for 27 parishes, runs a secondary school with about 600 pupils and an old people's home in Frauenberg. Its various businesses and enterprises employ about 500 people, and it also has the management of the museums and collections detailed below.

Library.

The library hall, built in 1776 to designs by the architect Joseph Hueber, is 70 metres long, 14 metres wide and 13 metres high, and is the largest monastery library in the world. It contains c. 70,000 volumes of the monastery's entire holdings of c. 200,000 volumes. The ceiling consists of seven cupolas, decorated with frescoes by Bartolomeo Altomonte showing the stages of human knowledge up to the high point of Divine Revelation. Light is provided by 48 windows and is reflected by the original colour scheme of gold and white. The architecture and design express the ideals of the Enlightenment, against which the sculptures by of "The Four Last Things" make a striking contrast.  The abbey possesses over 1,400 manuscripts, the oldest of which, from St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg, were the gift of the founder, Archbishop Gebhard, and accompanied the first monks to settle here, as well as over 900 incunabulae.

Museums.

Since the Baroque period the abbots had accumulated a collection of "curiosities" and scientific specimens of various sorts, which were entirely destroyed in the fire of 1865. As part of the reconstruction Father Gabriel Strobl determined to replace the lost collections, and so formed the nucleus of the modern museums. Father Strobl was himself a botanist but also worked on building up the insect collection, so much so that he became one of the great entomologists of his day. The Natural History museum now contains over 250,000 insect specimens, including one of the three largest collections of flies, or Diptera, in Europe. Other collections of, for example, minerals and rock, and exotic species, have also been formed.  The abbey also houses two major art collections of Historical and Modern Art. The historical art collection was begun in 1959 by Father Adalbert Krause, and has been significantly augmented since 1980. The present museum was opened in 2003. The collection particularly features ecclesiastical art, and contains for example many works of ecclesiastical embroidery by the famous craftsman Benno Haan and of the abbey sculptor Joseph Stammel.  Since 1997 the abbey has also been building up a collection of contemporary art, largely produced by young Austrian artists and often specially designed for the abbey premises.

Admont Abbey () is a Benedictine monastery located on the Enns River in the town of Admont, Austria. The oldest remaining monastery in Styria, Admont Abbey contains the largest monastic library in the world as well as a long-established scientific collection. It is known for its Baroque architecture, art, and manuscripts.


History.

Cinque Terre is mentioned in documents dating to the 11th century. Monterosso and Vernazza were settled first and the other villages grew later, whilst within the territory of the Republic of Genoa. In the 16th century the inhabitants reinforced existing forts and built new defense towers to defend the area from attacks by the Turks. Cinque Terre experienced economic decline from the 17th to 19th centuries, recovering when an arsenal was built in La Spezia and it gained a railway link to Genoa. The railway led to migration from the area and a decline in traditional industries until the growth of tourism from the 1970s onwards brought some prosperity.  The predominant crops in the area have been grapes and olives. Some fisherman were based in Monterosso, but the area's gaily painted fisherman's cottages were conceived in the late 1970s as a tourist attraction.  On 25 October 2011 torrential rains caused floods and mudslides in Cinque Terre. Nine people were killed and villages were severely damaged, particularly Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare.

Transport and tourism.

Access to Cinque Terre by car is limited. A road to Vernazza is very narrow and ends a kilometre before the town.  Trains run from La Spezia to all five towns within Cinque Terre, as well as to major regional and national destinations.  A passenger ferry runs between the villages except Corniglia. The ferry also runs to Genoa's Old Harbour, La Spezia, Lerici and Porto Venere.  A walking trail, known as ("Azure Trail"), used to connect the five villages but the section from Riomaggiore to Manarola called the Via dell'Amore ("Love Walk") is closed. It is still possible to walk between these villages, although the trail is both steeper and longer than the (closed) path along the waterfront.

Culture.

Literature.

From the poem, “The Lemons”, 1921. This is how the Nobel laureate Eugenio Montale, through his poetry, tells of the beauty of Monterosso and how the Cinque Terre must be discovered.  The Cinque Terre were not only a source of inspiration for Eugenio Montale but for many others.

Cinema.

In 2013 Cinque Terre was one of the shooting locations of the movie The Wolf of Wall Street by Martin Scorsese.

Food and wine.

Given its location on the Mediterranean, seafood is plentiful in the local cuisine. Anchovies of Monterosso are a local specialty designated with a Protected Designation of Origin status from the European Union. The mountainsides of the Cinque Terre are heavily terraced and are used to cultivate grapes and olives. This area, and the region of Liguria, as a whole, is known for pesto, a sauce made from basil leaves, garlic, salt, olive oil, pine nuts and pecorino cheese. Focaccia is a particularly common locally baked bread product. Farinata, a typical snack found in bakeries and pizzerias, is a savoury and crunchy pancake made from a base of chick pea flour. The town of Corniglia is particularly popular for a gelato made from local honey ().  The grapes of the Cinque Terre are used to produce two locally made wines. The eponymous "Cinque Terre" and the "Sciachetrà" are both made using Bosco, Albarola, and Vermentino grapes. Both wines are produced by the, located between Manarola and Volastra. Other DOC producers are Forlini-Capellini, Walter de Batté, Buranco, Arrigoni.  In addition to wines, other popular local drinks include grappa, a brandy made with the pomace left from winemaking, and limoncino, a sweet, creamy liqueur made from lemons. It is served chilled after meals and often used in the preparation of desserts.

Preservation.

In 1998, the Italian Ministry for the Environment set up the Cinque Terre protected natural marine area to protect the natural environment and to promote socio-economic development compatible with the natural landscape of the area. Today, millions of visitors visit it every year. In 1999 the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre was created to conserve the ecological balance, protect the landscape, and safeguard the anthropological values of the location. Nevertheless, dwindling interest in cultivation and maintenance of the terrace walls posed a long-term threat to the site, which was for this reason included in the 2000 and 2002 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund. The organization secured grants from American Express to support a study of the conservation of Cinque Terre. Following the study, a site management plan was created.

The Cinque Terre (;, meaning "Five Lands") is a coastal area within Liguria, in the northwest of Italy. It lies in the west of La Spezia Province, and comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


Early life.

Born in Maastricht, Limburg, he is the son of Cees-Rein van den Hoogenband and Astrid Verver, a former Dutch 800 m freestyle silver medalist at the European Junior Championships. He has a younger brother.  He grew up in Geldrop, where he swam for PSV Eindhoven. His father is a team doctor with the professional football team of the same club.  Russian swimmer and four-time Olympic gold medalist Alexander Popov was his role model.

Swimming career.

Early career.

In 1993, Van den Hoogenband achieved his first successes, performing well on the European Youth Olympic Days. Before the Atlanta Games, Astrid van den Hoogenband, who was coaching the Dutch team, became frustrated with the swimmers representing the Netherlands, feeling they had much potential but would not be able to live up to it due to lack of adequate support. She pleaded with Cees to take action, as he carried much weight from his professional connections. After Astrid threatened to remove Pieter from the sport, Cees created a small foundation and signed up 20 initial sponsors who each paid $2,500 to fund a team trainer. The Dutch swimming team eventually signed contracts with Philips, Nike, and Speedo. Enough funds were raised to open a swim school in Eindhoven, Van den Hoogenband's place of residence. The team eventually grew to ten. Pieter remained the Netherlands' brightest star, and along with fellow Dutch Inge de Bruijn brought the Netherlands many victories in the sport.  Van den Hoogenband is the only swimmer in history who has managed to win both the 100–200 metre freestyle double at the Olympics and also repeat as 100 freestyle champion at the Olympics. His three Olympic Gold are the only three won by a Dutch male pool swimmer.

1996 Olympics.

Van den Hoogenband's international breakthrough came at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Only 18 years old, he exceeded the expectations of many by finishing 4th in both the 100 m and 200 m freestyle. He won the 50 m freestyle B final, and finished 5th in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, 7th in the 4×200 m freestyle relay, and 10th in the 4×100 m medley relay.

Later career.

1998 World championships.

At the 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, Australia, Van den Hoogenband won bronze medal in the 200 metre freestyle and silver in the 4×200 m freestyle relay.

2000 Olympics.

After winning 6 gold medals at the 1999 European Championships, he was one of the favourites at the 2000 Summer Olympics, but his adversaries were formidable. In the 200 m freestyle he faced the world record holder, Australian youngster Ian Thorpe, favourite of the home crowd in Sydney. In the semi-finals, Van den Hoogenband set a new world record, but Thorpe countered with a time only 0.02 s slower. In an exciting final, Van den Hoogenband equalled his time from the semi-finals to win the gold medal. In the 100 m freestyle, Van den Hoogenband again set a world record in the semi-finals and won his second gold medal, defeating the 1992 and 1996 champion, Alexander Popov. His 100 m world record stood until 21 March 2008 and was broken by France's Alain Bernard (47.60). Van den Hoogenband won two more medals, both bronze, in the 50 m freestyle and the 4×200 m freestyle relay, in which he was the final swimmer.  Van den Hoogenband was named Dutch sportsman of the year in 1999, 2000 and 2004, World Swimmer of the Year in 2000, and European Swimmer of the Year in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2004.

2001 World championships.

At the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Van den Hoogenband won four silver medals in the 50 m, 100 m, 200 m freestyle events and 4×100 m freestyle relay.

2003 World Championships.

At the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona he split a 46.70 in the medley relay which stood as the fastest 100 m freestyle split until it was topped in 2008 by the French relay veteran Frédérick Bousquet, at 46.63 seconds. Van den Hoogenbands' 46.70, however, remained as the fastest textile relay split until it was topped in 2015 by Cameron McEvoy of Australia. He had disappointing performances in both the 100 and 200 freestyle events though, finishing runner up to Alexander Popov and Ian Thorpe respectively, with considerably slow times. His times from previous meets in the past year, and earlier rounds of the championships, would have won both events. His winning time in the 200 freestyle at the 2002 European Championships was faster than Ian Thorpe's winning time at these Championships, but Pieter went about 2 whole seconds slower this time around. His time in the semis of the 100 freestyle at these Championships would have won the final of that event as well (won by Alexander Popov), and his 100 free relay split (with nearly a second gain from a rolling start) was 2 whole seconds faster.

2004 Olympics.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he won a gold medal in the 100 m freestyle and two silvers in the 200 m freestyle and the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, swimming the anchor leg in 46.79 which was the 2nd fastest split in history. By finishing ahead of Michael Phelps in both the 200 m freestyle and the 4×100 m freestyle relay, he is the only swimmer to ever beat Phelps twice in Olympic competition. While technically the second was a relay, his split was faster by a large margin, and the margin of beating the U.S team by a far smaller one.

2007 World Championships.

At the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Van den Hoogenband won a silver medal in the 200 m freestyle behind Michael Phelps.  He holds by a large margin the all-time record for most runner up finishes at the World Championships without winning.

2008 Olympics.

He returned to the Olympic Games in 2008 in Beijing and finished fifth in the 100 m freestyle. He retired after the race. In the semifinals he broke his own national record that stood from 2000 Summer Olympics bringing it to 47.68 s.  In making the 100 m freestyle final, Van den Hoogenband became the first swimmer to make the finals in the same event four times.  In December of the same year, he announced his retirement.

Post swimming.

Van den Hoogenband continues swimming as recreation and he remains active in sports industry. He is a commentator of many swimming events, including 2012 Summer Olympics. The swimming arena in the sporting centre of Eindhoven was named "Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion".

Personal life.

Van den Hoogenband was married to his longtime girlfriend Minouche Smit who is also a former swimmer. They have a daughter Daphne (born 23 June 2007) and a son Sander (born 13 September 2009). In September 2012 the couple announced their divorce. Then Van den Hoogenband dated Ranomi Kromowidjojo, also a multiple Olympic gold medalist. Their relationship ended in 2014. On 16 September 2016 Van den Hoogenband married Marie-José Crooijmans.  Despite a fierce rivalry, Van den Hoogenband is a good friend of Australian Ian Thorpe.

Pieter Cornelis Martijn van den Hoogenband (; born 14 March 1978) is a Dutch former swimmer. He is a triple Olympic champion and former world record holder.


Early life.

She was born in the Château de Fontainebleau. She was raised under the supervision of the governor and governess of the royal children, Jean d'Humières and Françoise d'Humières.She was appointed a lady in waiting Claude de Vineulx who accompanied her to Spain and wrote reports of Elisabeth's health to Catherine de Medici. Her childhood was spent in the French royal nursery, where her father insisted she share her bedroom with her future sister-in-law, Mary, Queen of Scots, who was about three years older than Elisabeth. Even though Elisabeth had to give precedence to Mary (since Mary was already a crowned queen), the two would remain close friends for the rest of their lives. While it is acknowledged that her sister Margaret and her future sister-in-law Mary were prettier than she, she was one of Catherine's attractive daughters. Elisabeth was also described as being shy, timid and very much in awe of her formidable mother; although there is also evidence that Catherine was tender and loving toward Elisabeth. This was certainly evident in her letters to Elisabeth.  In 1550, Elisabeth's father, Henry, began negotiations for her marriage to Edward VI of England. This arrangement brought condemnation from Pope Julius III who reportedly stated that he would excommunicate both if they married. Henry, undeterred, agreed to a 200,000 ecus dowry, which became irrelevant upon Edward's death in 1553.

Queen of Spain.

Elisabeth married Philip II of Spain son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Isabella of Portugal in 1559. Originally married via proxy at Notre Dame (with the Duke of Alba standing in for Philip) prior to leaving France, the actual ceremony took place in Guadalajara, Spain, upon her arrival. The marriage was a result of the Peace of Cateau Cambrésis (1559). His second wife, Mary I of England, had recently died, making Elisabeth of Valois Philip's third wife.  At her wedding she met the painter Sofonisba Anguissola, and Ana de Mendoza, who would live with her the rest of her life. Philip II appointed Anguissola to be a lady-in-waiting and court painter for his queen. Under Anguissola's tutelage, Elisabeth improved her amateur painting skills. Anguissola also influenced the artistic works of her children, Isabella Clara Eugenia and Caterina Michaela, during her time at the court.  Philip was completely enchanted by his 14-year-old bride, and by 1564 had given up his infidelities. Despite the significant age difference, Elisabeth was also quite pleased with her husband. (In letters to her mother, she proclaimed herself to be fortunate to have married so charming a prince.) Philip enjoyed hosting chivalric tournaments to entertain his wife. Elisabeth would play liege lady to the three young princes of the Spanish Court: Carlos, Prince of Asturias, John of Austria (illegitimate son of Charles V), and Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (son of Charles V's illegitimate daughter Margaret).  Elisabeth had originally been betrothed to Philip's son, Carlos, Prince of Asturias, but political complications unexpectedly necessitated instead a marriage to Philip. Her relationship with her troubled stepson Carlos was warm and friendly. Despite reports of his progressively bizarre behavior, Carlos was always kind and gentle to Elisabeth. When it eventually became necessary for Philip to lock him away (which shortly led to the Prince's demise), Elisabeth cried for days.  Philip was very attached to Elisabeth, staying close by her side even when she was ill with smallpox. Elisabeth's first pregnancy in 1564 ended with a miscarriage of twin girls. She later gave birth to Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain on 12 August 1566, and then to Isabella's younger sister Catherine Michelle of Spain on 10 October 1567. Phillip and Elisabeth were very close to both of their daughters buying them jams, dolls, toys and more. It is said 'both rejoiced at the birth of Isabella as if it had been the birth of a son'. Elisabeth had another miscarriage on 3 October 1568, and died the same day, along with her newborn infant daughter.  After the death of Elisabeth, Catherine de' Medici offered her younger daughter Margaret as a bride for Philip. Philip declined the offer.

In fiction.

Elisabeth of Valois is a central character in Thomas Otway's play "Don Carlos", in Schiller's play of the same name, in Verdi's opera adapted from Schiller's play, also titled "Don Carlos", and in several other, less well-known operas; Antonio Buzzolla's version of 1850 is actually named "Elisabetta di Valois". All these works imply a tragic romance between Elisabeth and Carlos, suggesting that they were really in love with each other when Elisabeth was forced to break off her engagement to Carlos and marry his father Philip.  In Madame de Lafayette's novella "The Princesse de Cleves", Elisabeth of Valois' marriage to Philip II is the occasion for the wedding games at which her father Henri II dies; her role is brief but it substantially affects the novella's narrative arc.  Elisabeth of Valois is portrayed by Caoimhe O'Malley (in the Pilot) on the CW show, Reign, then later by Anastasia Phillips in the fourth season of the show. Rather than the “plain Jane” of her family the character is portrayed as beautiful and her timid and shy personality is changed to that of one more forceful, cold, insensitive and quite controlling which is driven out of her legitimate desire for her mother's affections. Her name "Elisabeth" is spelled with an S instead of a Z though in the fourth season she is simply called "Leeza" as not to be confused with Queen Elizabeth I. In the first episode, Leeza is married to King Philip of Spain, leaves for Spain with her husband without speaking any lines, and isn't physically seen until fourth season of the show. Though not seen until the fourth season, she is mentioned as a possible option for god-mother to her King Francis' (her brother's) son John in the second season. In the third season, her kingdom is chosen as a safe haven for her younger sisters and brothers after a group calling themselves "The Red Knights" threaten revenge on the Valois family. Making her physical return to the show, she is one of the four Queens (Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth I and her mother, regent Queen Catherine) to be featured during the season. During her appearance, she spends time in French court as an envoy of Spain and voice of her husband's wishes as well rival for her mother.  Elisabeth of Valois is a major character in "The Creation of Eve", a novel by Lynn Cullen based on the history of Sofonisba Anguissola, the first renowned female artist of the Italian Renaissance. In the novel, Sofonisba is the painting tutor and premier lady-in-waiting for young Queen Elisabeth.

Elisabeth of Valois (; ) (2 April 1545 – 3 October 1568) was a Spanish queen consort as the third spouse of Philip II of Spain. She was the eldest daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici.


Geography.

Moulins is located on the banks of the Allier River.

History.

Before the French Revolution, Moulins was the capital of the province of Bourbonnais and the seat of the Dukes of Bourbon. It appears in documented records at least as far back as the year 990. In 1232, Archambaud VIII, Sire de Bourbon granted a franchise to the village's inhabitants.  The town achieved greater prominence in 1327, when Charles IV elevated Louis I de Clermont to Duke of Bourbon. Either Louis or the later Peter II, Duke of Bourbon and of Auvergne moved the capital of the province from Bourbon-l'Archambault to Moulins.  In February 1566 it became eponymous to the Edict of Moulins, an important royal ordinance dealing with many aspects of the administration of justice and feudal and ecclesiastical privilege, including limitations on the appanages held by French princes, abrogation of the levy of rights of tallage claimed by seigneurs over their dependants, and provisions for a system of concessions on rivers.  This was the birthplace of the great 19th-century operatic baritone and art collector Jean-Baptiste Faure. In the 20th century, Coco Chanel went to school in Moulins as an orphan, before moving to Paris, where she became a fashion designer and major innovator in women's clothing.

International relations.

Twin towns.

Moulins is twinned with:

Transport.

Moulins-sur-Allier station, in the centre of the town, has direct trains to Paris Paris-Gare de Lyon, which take about 2 hours 25 minutes.  Montbeugny Airport is a small airport located near Moulins.

Moulins (; ) is a commune in central France, capital of the Allier department. It is located on the Allier River.


Life.

According to the "vita" by Peter Damian, written about fifteen years after Romuald's death, Romuald was born in Ravenna, in northeastern Italy, to the aristocratic Onesti family. His father was Sergius degli Onesti and his mother was Traversara Traversari. As a youth, according to early accounts, Romuald indulged in the pleasures and sins of the world common to a tenth-century nobleman. At the age of twenty he served as second to his father, who killed a relative in a duel over property. Romuald was devastated, and went to the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe to do 40 days of penance. After some indecision, Romuald became a monk there. San Apollinare had recently been reformed by St. Mayeul of Cluny Abbey, but still was not strict enough in its observance to satisfy Romuald. His injudicious correction of the less zealous aroused such enmity against him that he applied for, and was readily granted, permission to retire to Venice, where he placed himself under the direction of a hermit named Marinus and lived a life of extraordinary severity. About 978, Pietro Orseolo I, Doge of Venice, who had obtained his office by acquiescence in the murder of his predecessor, began to suffer remorse for his crime. On the advice of Guarinus, Abbot of San Miguel-de-Cuxa, in Catalonia, and of Marinus and Romuald, he abandoned his office and relations, and fled to Cuxa, where he took the habit of St. Benedict, while Romuald and Marinus erected a hermitage close to the monastery. Romuald lived there for about ten years, taking advantage of the library of Cuxa to refine his ideas regarding monasticism.  After that he spent the next 30 years going about Italy, founding and reforming monasteries and hermitages. His reputation being known to advisors of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Romuald was persuaded by him to take the vacant office of abbot at Sant'Apollinare to help bring about a more dedicated way of life there. The monks, however, resisted his reforms, and after a year, Romuald resigned, hurling his abbot's staff at Otto's feet in total frustration. He then again withdrew to the eremetical life.  In 1012 he arrived at the Diocese of Arezzo. Here, according to the legend, a certain Maldolus, who had seen a vision of monks in white garments ascending into Heaven, gave him some land, afterwards known as the Campus Maldoli, or Camaldoli. St. Romuald built on this land five cells for hermits, which, with the monastery at Fontebuono, built two years later, became the famous mother-house of the Camaldolese Order. Romuald's daunting charisma awed Rainier of Tuscany, who was neither able to face Romuald nor to send him away. Romuald founded several other monasteries, including the monastery of Val di Castro, where he died in 1027.  Romuald's feast day was not included in the Tridentine Calendar. It was added in 1594 for celebration on 19 June, the date of his death, but in the following year it was transferred by Pope Clement VIII to 7 February, the anniversary of the transfer of his relics to Fabriano in 1481, and in 1969 it was moved back to the day of his death.

St. Romuald's Rule.

In his youth Romuald became acquainted with three major schools of western monastic tradition. Sant'Apollinare in Classe was a traditional Benedictine monastery under the influence of the Cluniac reforms. Marinus followed a much harsher, ascetic and solitary lifestyle, which was originally of Irish eremitic origins. The abbot of Sant Miguel de Cuxa, Guarinus, had also begun reforms but mainly built upon a third Christian tradition, that of the Iberian Peninsula. Romuald was able to integrate these different traditions and establish his own monastic order. The admonition in his rule "Empty yourself completely and sit waiting" places him in relation to the long Christian history of intellectual stillness and interior passivity in meditation also reflected in the nearly contemporary Byzantine ascetic practice known as Hesychasm.  "Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it." "If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind. And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more."  Archbishop Cosmo Francesco Ruppi noted that, "Interiorization of the spiritual dimension, the primacy of solitude and contemplation, slow penetration of the Word of God and calm meditation on the Psalms are the pillars of Camaldolese spirituality, which St. Romuald gives as the essential core of his Rule."  Romuald's reforms provided a structural context to accommodate both the eremitic and cenobitic aspects of monastic life.

Romuald (; 951 – traditionally 19 June, c. 1025/27 AD) was the founder of the Camaldolese order and a major figure in the eleventh-century "Renaissance of eremitical asceticism". Romuald spent about 30 years traversing Italy, founding and reforming monasteries and hermitages.


Early life.

Robert Beamon was born in South Jamaica, Queens, New York and grew up in the New York Housing Authority's Jamaica Houses.  When he was attending Jamaica High School he was discovered by Larry Ellis, a renowned track coach. Beamon later became part of the All-American track and field team. Beamon began his college career at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, to be close to his ill grandmother. After her death, he transferred to the University of Texas at El Paso, where he received a track and field scholarship.  In 1965 Beamon set a national high school triple jump record and was second in the nation in the long jump. In 1967 he won the AAU indoor title and earned a silver medal at the Pan American Games, both in the long jump.  Beamon was suspended from the University of Texas at El Paso for participating in a boycott of competition with Brigham Young University because of the Book of Mormon's teachings on race. Fellow Olympian Ralph Boston became his unofficial coach.

1968 Summer Olympics.

Beamon entered the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City as the favorite to win the gold medal, having won 22 of the 23 meets he had competed in that year, including a career best of 8.33 m (equivalent to 27 feet 4 inches) and a world's best of 8.39 m that was ineligible for the record books due to excessive wind assistance. That year he won the AAU and NCAA indoor long jump and triple jump titles, as well as the AAU outdoor long jump title. He came close to missing the Olympic final, overstepping on his first two attempts in qualifying. With only one chance left, Beamon re-measured his approach run from a spot in front of the board and made a fair jump that advanced him to the final. There he faced the two previous gold-medal winners, American Ralph Boston (1960) and Lynn Davies of Great Britain (1964), and twice bronze medallist Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union. On October 18, Beamon set a world record for the long jump with a first jump of 8.90 m, bettering the existing record by 55 cm. When the announcer called out the distance for the jump, Beamon—unfamiliar with metric measurements—still did not realize what he had done. When his teammate and coach Ralph Boston told him that he had broken the world record by nearly two feet, his legs gave way and an astonished and overwhelmed Beamon suffered a brief cataplexy attack brought on by the emotional shock, and collapsed to his knees, his body unable to support itself, placing his hands over his face. The defending Olympic champion Lynn Davies told Beamon, "You have destroyed this event", and in sports jargon, a new adjective – "Beamonesque" – came into use to describe spectacular feats.  Prior to Beamon's jump, the world record had been broken thirteen times since 1901, with an average increase of 6 cm and the largest increase being 15 cm (6 in.). In the years following the jump, the mark was considered unbeatable. It took 12 years for another human being to jump 28 feet, much less 29. His world record stood for 23 years until it was finally broken in 1991 when Mike Powell jumped 8.95 m at the World Championships in Tokyo, but Beamon's jump is still the Olympic record and years later remains the second-longest wind-legal jump in history. One journalist called Beamon "the man who saw lightning". Sports journalist Dick Schaap wrote a book about the leap, "The Perfect Jump".  Beamon landed his jump near the far end of the sand pit, but the optical device which had been installed to measure jump distances was not designed to measure a jump of such length. This forced the officials to measure the jump manually which added to the jump's aura.  Beamon's world-record jump was named by "Sports Illustrated" magazine as one of the five greatest sports moments of the 20th century.

Later life.

Shortly after the Mexico City Olympics, Beamon was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the 15th round of the 1969 NBA draft but never played in an NBA game. In 1972 he graduated from Adelphi University with a degree in sociology.  Beamon has worked in a variety of roles to promote youth athleticism, including collaborations with former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Beamon's work at the athletic programs of several universities. He is a graphic artist with work exhibited by the Art of the Olympians (AOTO), and was the former chief executive of the Art of the Olympians Museum in Fort Myers, Florida.

Honors.

Beamon is in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, and when the United States Olympic Hall of Fame started to induct athletes in 1983, Beamon was one of the first inductees. There is a Bob Beamon Street in El Paso, Texas.

Robert Beamon (born August 29, 1946) is an American former track and field athlete, best known for his world record in the long jump at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968. He broke the existing record by a margin of 55 cm and his world record stood for almost 23 years until it was broken in 1991 by Mike Powell., the jump is still the Olympic record and the second longest wind legal jump in history.


Life.

Jan Łaski was born in Łask, the son of Jaroslaw Łaski, the voivode of Sieradz Voivodship, and Susanna Bąk, the daughter of Zbigniew Bąk of Bąkowa Góra. His uncle, also Jan Łaski, was by turns royal secretary, Archbishop of Gniezno, Primate of Poland and Grand Chancellor of the Crown; he was also the uncle of King Sigismund I the Old. Both Jan Łaskis' coat-of-arms was "Korab".  After his family's fall from political power and prestige, Łaski, a learned priest, went in 1523 to Basel, where he became a close friend of Erasmus and Zwingli. In 1542, he became pastor of a Protestant church at Emden, East Frisia. Shortly after, he went to England, where in 1550 he was superintendent of the Strangers' Church of London and had some influence on ecclesiastical affairs in the reign of Edward VI. On the accession of Roman Catholic Queen Mary in July 1553, he fled to Copenhagen with a shipload of refugees from the Strangers' Church. However they were denied refuge there because they would not accept the Augsburg Confession of Faith. They were resettled in Brandenburg. Łaski also helped Catherine Willoughby and her husband after they too had left England. His support enabled them to obtain an appointment from Sigismund II as administrators of Lithuania. Łaski was a correspondent of John Hooper, whom Łaski supported in the vestments controversy.  In 1556, he was recalled to Poland, where he became secretary to King Sigismund II and was a leader in the Calvinist Reformation.  His contributions to the Reformed churches were the establishment of church government in theory and practice, a denial of any distinction between ministers and elders except in terms of who could teach and administer the sacraments. With fellow Reformed ministers, Martin Micron, and Gellius Faber, John à Lasco wrote long treatises and had an extensive dialogue with Anabaptist Menno Simons, who understood "the Word became flesh" in a literal way and denied the orthodox view that "the Word took on flesh" in the incarnation.  He died in Pińczów, Poland.

Jan Łaski or Johannes à Lasco (1499 – 8 January 1560) was a Polish Reformed reformer. Owing to his influential work in England (c. 1543–1555) during the English Reformation, he is known to the English-speaking world by the Anglicised form John à Lasco (or less commonly, John Laski).


Structure.

Types.

Humans normally have three types of cones. The first responds the most to light of longer wavelengths, peaking at about 560 nm; this type is sometimes designated L for long. The second type responds the most to light of medium-wavelength, peaking at 530 nm, and is abbreviated M for medium. The third type responds the most to short-wavelength light, peaking at 420 nm, and is designated S for short. The three types have peak wavelengths near 564–580 nm, 534–545 nm, and 420–440 nm, respectively, depending on the individual. Such a difference is caused by the different opsins they carry, OPN1LW, OPN1MW, OPN1SW respectively. The CIE 1931 color space is an often-used model of spectral sensitivities of the three cells of an average human being.  While it has been discovered that there exists a mixed type of bipolar cells that bind to both rod and cone cells, bipolar cells still predominantly receive their input from cone cells.

Shape and arrangement.

Cone cells are somewhat shorter than rods, but wider and tapered, and are much less numerous than rods in most parts of the retina, but greatly outnumber rods in the fovea. Structurally, cone cells have a cone-like shape at one end where a pigment filters incoming light, giving them their different response curves. They are typically 40–50 μm long, and their diameter varies from 0.5 to 4.0 μm, being smallest and most tightly packed at the center of the eye at the fovea. The S cone spacing is slightly larger than the others.  Photobleaching can be used to determine cone arrangement. This is done by exposing dark-adapted retina to a certain wavelength of light that paralyzes the particular type of cone sensitive to that wavelength for up to thirty minutes from being able to dark-adapt making it appear white in contrast to the grey dark-adapted cones when a picture of the retina is taken. The results illustrate that S cones are randomly placed and appear much less frequently than the M and L cones. The ratio of M and L cones varies greatly among different people with regular vision (e.g. values of 75.8% L with 20.0% M versus 50.6% L with 44.2% M in two male subjects).  Like rods, each cone cell has a synaptic terminal, an inner segment, and an outer segment as well as an interior nucleus and various mitochondria. The synaptic terminal forms a synapse with a neuron such as a bipolar cell. The inner and outer segments are connected by a cilium. The inner segment contains organelles and the cell's nucleus, while the outer segment, which is pointed toward the back of the eye, contains the light-absorbing materials.  Unlike rods, the outer segments of cones have invaginations of their cell membranes that create stacks of membranous disks. Photopigments exist as transmembrane proteins within these disks, which provide more surface area for light to affect the pigments. In cones, these disks are attached to the outer membrane, whereas they are pinched off and exist separately in rods. Neither rods nor cones divide, but their membranous disks wear out and are worn off at the end of the outer segment, to be consumed and recycled by phagocytic cells.

Function.

The difference in the signals received from the three cone types allows the brain to perceive a continuous range of colors, through the opponent process of color vision. (Rod cells have a peak sensitivity at 498 nm, roughly halfway between the peak sensitivities of the S and M cones.)  All of the receptors contain the protein photopsin, with variations in its conformation causing differences in the optimum wavelengths absorbed.  The color yellow, for example, is perceived when the L cones are stimulated slightly more than the M cones, and the color red is perceived when the L cones are stimulated significantly more than the M cones. Similarly, blue and violet hues are perceived when the S receptor is stimulated more. Cones are most sensitive to light at wavelengths around 420 nm. However, the lens and cornea of the human eye are increasingly absorptive to shorter wavelengths, and this sets the short wavelength limit of human-visible light to approximately 380 nm, which is therefore called 'ultraviolet' light. People with aphakia, a condition where the eye lacks a lens, sometimes report the ability to see into the ultraviolet range. At moderate to bright light levels where the cones function, the eye is more sensitive to yellowish-green light than other colors because this stimulates the two most common (M and L) of the three kinds of cones almost equally. At lower light levels, where only the rod cells function, the sensitivity is greatest at a blueish-green wavelength.  Cones also tend to possess a significantly elevated visual acuity because each cone cell has a lone connection to the optic nerve, therefore, the cones have an easier time telling that two stimuli are isolated. Separate connectivity is established in the inner plexiform layer so that each connection is parallel.  The response of cone cells to light is also directionally nonuniform, peaking at a direction that receives light from the center of the pupil; this effect is known as the Stiles–Crawford effect.

Color afterimage.

Sensitivity to a prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time, leading to neural adaptation. An interesting effect occurs when staring at a particular color for a minute or so. Such action leads to an exhaustion of the cone cells that respond to that color – resulting in the afterimage. This vivid color aftereffect can last for a minute or more.

Clinical significance.

One of the diseases related to cone cells present in retina is retinoblastoma. Retinoblastoma is a rare cancer of the retina, caused by the mutation of both copies of retinoblastoma genes (RB1). Most cases of retinoblastoma occur during early childhood. One or both eyes may be affected. The protein encoded by RB1 regulates a signal transduction pathway while controlling the cell cycle progression as normally. Retinoblastoma seems to originate in cone precursor cells present in the retina that consist of natural signalling networks which restrict cell death and promote cell survival after losing the RB1, or having both the RB1 copies mutated. It has been found that TRβ2 which is a transcription factor specifically affiliated with cones is essential for rapid reproduction and existence of the retinoblastoma cell. A drug that can be useful in the treatment of this disease is MDM2 (murine double minute 2) gene. Knockdown studies have shown that the MDM2 gene silences ARF-induced apoptosis in retinoblastoma cells and that MDM2 is necessary for the survival of cone cells. It is unclear at this point why the retinoblastoma in humans is sensitive to RB1 inactivation.  The pupil may appear white or have white spots. A white glow in the eye is often seen in photographs taken with a flash, instead of the typical "red eye" from the flash, and the pupil may appear white or distorted. Other symptoms can include crossed eyes, double vision, eyes that do not align, eye pain and redness, poor vision or differing iris colors in each eye. If the cancer has spread, bone pain and other symptoms may occur.

Cone cells, or cones, are photoreceptor cells in the retinas of vertebrate eyes including the human eye. They respond differently to light of different wavelengths, and are thus responsible for color vision, and function best in relatively bright light, as opposed to rod cells, which work better in dim light. Cone cells are densely packed in the fovea centralis, a 0.3 mm diameter rod-free area with very thin, densely packed cones which quickly reduce in number towards the periphery of the retina. There are about six to seven million cones in a human eye and are most concentrated towards the macula.


Career.

Born in the small city of Osimo, in the Marche region of central Italy, as a boy Luigi Fagioli was fascinated by the relatively new invention of the automobile and the ensuing racing. Blessed with great natural driving instincts, a young Fagioli spent several years participating in hillclimbing and sports car races before entering Grand Prix racing in 1926. By 1930, his racing success led to an opportunity to join the Maserati team on the Grand Prix motor racing circuit. He immediately made his presence felt, winning the Coppa Ciano and Circuit of Avellino. In April of the following year he went head to head with Louis Chiron and his Bugatti Type 51 at the Monaco Grand Prix. In what is one of racing's most famous battles, Chiron eventually won but Fagioli showed how skilled he was in a car geared for great speed on long stretches, not the tight twists and short runs of Monte Carlo. Fagioli went on to take the victory at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Italy beating Chiron as well as fellow Italian greats, Achille Varzi and Tazio Nuvolari. In 1932, Fagioli won the Grand Prix of Rome driving for Maserati but for the 1933 season he was signed by the Alfa Romeo team of Scuderia Ferrari. Driving an Alfa Romeo P3, he won the Coppa Acerbo, the Grand Prix du Comminges, and the Italian Grand Prix.  A supremely confident Fagioli often displayed a fiery temper and retaliated against other drivers on the track when he felt they had done something wrong. Also, he frequently took chances that others might not and as such he developed a somewhat negative reputation after he had several significant race crashes. Nevertheless, his talents were considerable and for the 1934 season he was lured away by Mercedes to drive one of their Silver Arrows with the brilliant Hermann Lang as his chief mechanic. The move proved successful for Fagioli but his relationship with the German team manager and co-drivers was extremely difficult. In his very first race for Mercedes, one their cars dominated, a furious Fagioli abandoned his vehicle after having been given orders by team manager Alfred Neubauer to stay in second place and allow fellow Mercedes driver Manfred von Brauchitsch to win. Despite the problems, Fagioli remained part of the German team, earning his second consecutive Coppa Acerbo and together with Rudolf Caracciola, drove a Mercedes W25A to claim his second straight Italian Grand Prix title. Following this, Fagioli went on to take first place at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuito Lasarte.  For the 1935 racing season, his factory Mercedes was upgraded to a W25B model with which he captured the Monaco Grand Prix and the AVUS and Penya Rhin Grand Prix races. However, his relationship with his teammates worsened, in particular, Rudolf Caracciola and in some races Fagioli tried to pass Caracciola against team orders. He left Mercedes at the end of the 1936 season and joined Auto Union where his rivalry with Caracciola escalated, culminating at the Tripoli Grand Prix when Fagioli physically attacked his former teammate.  Health problems, including crippling rheumatism, soon began to severely affect Luigi Fagioli's racing ability. At the Coppa Acerbo he needed the aid of a cane just to walk and had no choice but to drop out of the race. With his health somewhat improved, following the end of World War II, 52-year-old Luigi Fagioli joined Alfa-Romeo's 1950 Formula One team driving the 158/159 Alfetta, earning five podium finishes in six races en route to finishing a remarkable third overall in the first ever FIA World Championship. He even entered the final round as one of three drivers in contention for the title, despite not winning a race. His only Grand Prix of 1951 was his last, but he nevertheless won the French Grand Prix with Juan-Manuel Fangio, earning the distinction of being the oldest person to ever win a Formula One race. During the race, the Alfa Romeo team manager ordered him to hand over his healthy car to Fangio while Fagioli would drive Fangio's car, which was plagued with engine problems. Ferrari had done the same, ordering José Froilán González to hand over to the quicker and more experienced Alberto Ascari; this was common practice in Grand Prix racing before 1957. Fangio battled hard with Ascari and took victory while Fagioli finished 11th and last in Fangio's original car, 22 laps down. Fagioli was so incensed by this that he retired from Grand Prix racing after this race. For 1952, Fagioli signed with Lancia to drive sports cars and took great personal delight by finishing in third place in the Mille Miglia ahead of arch rival Rudolf Caracciola. Shortly after, while practising for the Monaco Grand Prix, which was run as a sports car race that year, he had what appeared to be a minor crash: however, his internal injuries were such that he died in hospital three weeks later.  Luigi Fagioli ranks as one of Italy's greatest race car drivers, and has the second-highest percentage of podium finishes in the Formula One World Championship (85.71%), after "one-time wonder" Dorino Serafini.

Racing record.

Complete Formula One World Championship results.

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Two shared drives with Juan Manuel Fangio, resulting in positions 1 and 11, respectively. Each driver scored half points for the win.

Luigi Cristiano Fagioli (; 9 June 1898 – 20 June 1952), nicknamed "the Abruzzo robber", was an Italian motor racing driver. He is currently the oldest driver to win a race in Formula One, also being the only race winner born outside the 20th century.


History.

Leroy Grumman worked for the Loening Aircraft Engineering Corporation beginning in 1920, and when it was bought by Keystone Aircraft Corporation and the operations were moved from New York City to Bristol, Pennsylvania in 1929 Grumman and his partners, all ex-Leoning Aircraft employees, (Edmund Ward Poor, William Schwendler, Jake Swirbul, and Clint Towl) started their own company in an old Cox-Klemin Aircraft Co. factory in Baldwin on Long Island, New York.  The company registered as a business on December 5, 1929, and officially opened on January 2, 1930. While maintaining the business by welding aluminum tubing for truck frames, the company eagerly pursued contracts with the US Navy. Grumman designed the first practical floats with a retractable landing gear for the Navy, and this launched Grumman into the aviation market. The first Grumman aircraft was also for the Navy, the Grumman FF-1, a biplane with retractable landing gear. This was followed by a number of other successful designs.  During World War II, Grumman became known for its "Cats", Navy fighter aircraft, F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat, the less well known Grumman F7F Tigercat and Grumman F8F Bearcat, and for its torpedo bomber TBF Avenger. Grumman ranked 22nd among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. Grumman's first jet aircraft was the F9F Panther; it was followed by the upgraded F9F/F-9 Cougar, and the less well known F-11 Tiger in the 1950s. The company's big postwar successes came in the 1960s with the A-6 Intruder and E-2 Hawkeye and in the 1970s with the Grumman EA-6B Prowler and F-14 Tomcat. Grumman products were prominent in several feature movies including "The Final Countdown" in 1980 and "Top Gun" in 1986. The U.S. Navy still employs the Hawkeye as part of Carrier Air Wings on board aircraft carriers, while the U.S. Marine Corps, the last branch of service to fly the Prowler retired it on March 8, 2019.  Grumman was the chief contractor on the Apollo Lunar Module that landed men on the moon. The firm received the contract on November 7, 1962, and built 13 lunar modules; 6 out of those lunar models landed on the moon. The last lunar module was given permanently to the Smithsonian Institution. As the Apollo program neared its end, Grumman was one of the main competitors for the contract to design and build the Space Shuttle but lost to Rockwell International.  In 1969 the company changed its name to Grumman Aerospace Corporation, and in 1978 it sold the Grumman-American Division to Gulfstream Aerospace. That same year, it acquired the bus manufacturer Flxible. The company built the Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV), a light transport mail truck designed for and used by the United States Postal Service. The mail truck had been built from 1987 until 1994. Originally, it was supposed to stay in usage for 24 years, although, some of them are still in service today. In December 1982, Grumman announced that they will be selling Flxible for $40 million to the General Automotive Corporation of Ann Arbor.  Grumman was responsible for a successful line of business aircraft including the Gulfstream I turboprop (Grumman model G-159) and Gulfstream II business jet (Grumman model G-1159) which were operated by a number of companies and private individuals as well as by government agencies including various military entities and NASA. In addition, the Gulfstream I propjet was operated by several commuters/regional airlines in scheduled passenger services and included a stretched version, being the Gulfstream I-C (Grumman model G-159C) which could transport 37 passengers. Gulfstream business jets continue to be currently manufactured by Gulfstream Aerospace which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Dynamics.

Long Island location.

For much of the Cold War period, Grumman was the largest corporate employer on Long Island. Grumman's products were considered so reliable and ruggedly built that the company was often referred to as the "Grumman Iron Works".  As the company grew, it moved to Valley Stream, New York, then Farmingdale, New York, finally to Bethpage, New York, with the testing and final assembly at the Naval Weapons Station in Calverton, New York, all located on Long Island. At its peak in 1986 it employed 23,000 people on Long Island and occupied in structures on it leased from the U.S. Navy in Bethpage.  The end of the Cold War at the beginning of the 1990s reduced defense spending and led to a wave of mergers as aerospace companies shrank in number; in 1994 Northrop bought Grumman for $2.1 billion to form Northrop Grumman, after Northrop topped a $1.9 billion offer from Martin Marietta.  The new company closed almost all of its facilities on Long Island and converted the Bethpage plant to a residential and office complex, with its headquarters becoming the corporate headquarters for Cablevision and the Calverton plant being turned into a business/industrial complex. Former aircraft hangars have become Grumman Studios, a film and television production center. A portion of the airport property has been used for the Grumman Memorial Park.

The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and partners, it merged in 1994 with Northrop Corporation to form Northrop Grumman.


Biography.

Gennady Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. His parents were the noted conductor and pedagogue Nikolai Anosov and soprano Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya. His given name was Gennady Nikolayevich Anosov, but he adopted his mother’s maiden name in its masculine form for his professional career so as to avoid the appearance of nepotism. His younger brother, the painter P.N. Anosov, retained their father's name.  He studied conducting with his father at the Moscow Conservatory and piano with Lev Oborin. Already known for having conducted Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre at the age of 20, he quickly established his reputation. He premiered many works by Soviet composers, including Edison Denisov's "Le soleil des Incas" ("The Sun of the Incas"; 1964), as well as giving the Russian premiere of Benjamin Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and the Western premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony at the 1962 Edinburgh Festival.  He became general artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre in 2000, and in 2001 conducted the world premiere of the original version of Sergei Prokofiev's opera "The Gambler". Not long afterwards he resigned, citing desertion by singers, production problems and hostile coverage by the Moscow press.  Among the works dedicated to Rozhdestvensky are Sofia Gubaidulina's symphony "Stimmen... Verstummen..." and several of Alfred Schnittke's works, such as Symphony No. 1, Symphony No. 8, and Symphony No. 9. Schnittke wrote of him:

Conducting.

Rozhdestvensky was considered a versatile conductor and a highly cultured musician with a supple stick technique. In moulding his interpretations, he gave a clear idea of the structural outlines and emotional content of a piece, combined with a performing style which melded logic, intuition and spontaneity. In the Soviet Union, he recorded extensively with the big three major contemporary soloists David Oistrakh (violin, Sviatoslav Richter (piano) and Mstislav Rostropovich (cello).  Rozhdestvensky is featured in the documentary "Notes interdites: scènes de la vie musicale en Russie Soviétique" (English title: "The Red Baton"), which examines the hardships faced by musicians in the Soviet Union under Stalinism. In it, he describes the political situation and its impact on his life, as well as those of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Richter and other colleagues. The role of Tikhon Khrennikov, Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers, is discussed extensively.  On a lighter note, the documentary features Rozhdestvensky discussing the art of conducting, and includes footage of masterclasses, rehearsals with students from the Moscow Conservatory and Zürich's "Tonhalle" orchestra, as well as snippets of Rozhdestvensky conducting Shostakovich's 7th Symphony, Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet", and Alfred Schnittke's "Dead Souls".

Shostakovich interpreter.

In 2016, Rozhdestvensky was awarded the 7th International Shostakovich Prize for his contribution to the interpretation of the work of Dmitri Shostakovich. At Edinburgh in 1964, he conducted the first performance outside the Soviet Union of the 4th symphony. His 1983 recording of the 8th symphony is considered a classic. He edited the second volume of the collected works of Shostakovich published in 1984, including the Symphony No. 3 and Symphony No. 4.

Personal life.

In 1969, Rozhdestvensky married the pianist Viktoria Postnikova. Together they recorded Tchaikovsky's piano concertos. Their son, Sasha Rozhdestvensky, is a violinist, with whom Rozhdestvensky senior recorded the Glazunov and Shostakovich violin concertos in 2007.  Gennady Rozhdestvensky died on 16 June 2018.

Orchestra tenures.

With the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra he recorded all the symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich, Alexander Glazunov, Anton Bruckner, Alfred Schnittke, and Arthur Honegger. He also performed all the symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams in Leningrad in the late 1980s. Those have been released, by the Melodiya label, in a complete CD box set in April 2014.  He conducted many of the world's greatest orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky, CBE (; 4 May 1931 – 16 June 2018) was a Soviet and Russian conductor, People's Artist of the USSR (1976), and Hero of Socialist Labour (1990).


Biography.

Trained as a paleographer and archivist, he brought to his works a spirit of objectivity and a scrupulous regard for detail, and because of his concern with documentation and the relationship of social reality to individual development, his fiction has been linked with the realist and naturalist traditions of the 19th century. His sympathy for the humanist socialism and pacifism of Jean Jaurès is evident in his work.  He is best known for "The Thibaults", a multi-volume "roman fleuve" which follows the fortunes of two brothers, Antoine and Jacques Thibault, from their upbringing in a prosperous Catholic bourgeois family to the end of the World War I. Six parts of the novel were published between 1922 and 1929. After abandoning a seventh volume in manuscript, he published two more volumes in 1936 and 1940. Written under the shadow of the darkening international situation in Europe in the 1930s, these last parts, which together are longer than the previous six combined, focus on the political and historical situation leading up to the outbreak of the First World War and bring the story to 1918.  Martin du Gard wrote several other novels, including "Jean Barois", which was set against the historical context of the Dreyfus Affair. During World War II, he resided in Nice, where he prepared a novel "(Souvenirs du lieutenant-colonel de Maumort)" which remained unfinished at his death. It was posthumously published in 1983. His other works include plays and a memoir of André Gide, a longtime friend.  Roger Martin du Gard died in 1958 and was buried in the Cimiez Monastery Cemetery in Cimiez, a suburb of the city of Nice, France.

Roger Martin du Gard (; 23 March 1881 – 22 August 1958) was a French novelist, winner of the 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature.


Works.

Conrad von Soest's main surviving works are influenced by French illuminated manuscripts and certain early Parisian examples of Early Netherlandish painting; his detailed knowledge of Parisian patterns and techniques points towards a sojourn in Paris as a journeyman in the 1380s:

Life.

Sources.

The surviving documents relevant to Conrad von Soest are:

Citizen of Dortmund.

As the name 'Conrad von Soest' does not appear in the list of new citizens and as his marriage contract was written in the form reserved for Dortmund citizens, he was clearly born to a Dortmund family.

Marriage contract.

The marriage contract ("Morgensprache"), made before witnesses, between "Conrad von Soest" and "Gertrude, daughter of Lambertes van Munster", is dated February 11, 1349. The couple was able to dispose of a considerably sum each in this contract. Another unusual aspect of the contract is the number and quality of the witnesses: 6 members of the cosmopolitan, prosperous and well-educated patriciate of Dortmund, among them the second mayor of the current council, Herrmann Klepping, the tertiary council member, Detmar Klepping, and both mayors already elected for the following council year, Arnd Sudermann and Lambert Berswordt. The wealth of the groom and the eminent witnesses may well indicate that this was a second marriage. (A master had to marry before he could open his own workshop and it would then have taken a while to earn such wealth).

Painter of Dortmund.

According to the membership list of the Confraternity of Mary of 1396, Conrad von Soest lived in the Ostenhellweg, Dortmund's principal thoroughfare. The list also refers to two other painters resident in the Ostenhellweg, Lambert and Hermann. It is unclear whether they were his journeymen, living in his house, or masters presiding over their own workshops in the same street.  Since 1954, the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (Landscape Society Westphalia-Lippe) has awarded the Konrad-von-Soest Prize for Visual Arts, endowed with 12,800 euros.

Sources and notes.

Attribution

Conrad von Soest, also "Konrad" in modern texts, or in Middle High German "Conrad van Sost" or "von Soyst", (born around 1370 in Dortmund; died soon after 1422) was the most significant Westphalian artist and painted in the so-called "soft style" of International Gothic. He played a leading role in the introduction of this International Courtly Style to Northern Germany around 1390 and influenced German and Northern European painting into the late 15th century. He was the master of a thriving workshop and was accepted into the social circle of the cosmopolitan patrician elite of Dortmund. Dortmund was then a leading and very prosperous member of the influential Hanseatic League.