Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was Russian poet, writer, dramaturge, painter and officer. Mikhail Lermontov was born on October 15 (October 3 in old style) in 1814 in Moscow. He died on July 25 (July 18) in 1841 in Pyatigorsk.

Life

M. Lermontov was born in the family of a captain Yury Petrovich Lermontov and Mary Mikhailovna Lermontova. There was bad situation in his family: his parents sweared each other.
Lermontov's mother had died very early and his grandmother became a parent for Mikhail without his father.
When Lermontov was a child, he lived on land, which Arseneva held, in the region of Penza. He was studying at home. He knew French and German quite well since he was a child. In the summer of 1825, Lermontov and his grandmother had visited waters of Caucasus. Later, he wrote poems about nature and people of Caucasus like "Caucasus" and "Blue waters of Caucasus, I greet you...". In 1827 his family had moved to Moscow. In 1828 Lermontov had humanitarian education. In 1828-1829 he wrote poems "Corsair", "The criminal", "Oleg" and others. In March of 1830, the Moscow boarding house, where Lermontov studied, became a classical school. In 1830 Lermontov left for a summer classical school. Then he spent time in country Serednikovo near Moscow, held by Stolypins. At the same year poet became a student of a Moscow university. In 1832 he went to Saint Petersburg. He became a student of Nicolay's cavalry college. After he had finished his studying he went to Caucasus. He arrived from Caucasus with lots of poems. Lermontov died in a duel with Martynov Nikolay Solomonovich in Pyatigorsk.

Other websites
 Works by Lermontov at archive.org
 Mikhail Lermontov poetry

1814 births
1841 deaths
Russian military people
Russian writers

Mikhail Lermontov


American Hustle is an American crime drama movie directed by David O. Russell. It is based on the FBI ABSCAM operation of the late 1970s in Camden, New Jersey. It stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., Michael Peña, and Robert De Niro. It was composed by Danny Elfman. It was released on December 18, 2013.

2013 crime drama movies
Adultery in movies
2010s American crime drama movies
BAFTA Award winning movies
2010s English-language movies
Golden Globe Award winning movies
Histrionic personality disorder in fiction
Movies based on real life events
Movies composed by Danny Elfman
Movies directed by David O. Russell
Movies set in New Jersey
Movies set in New York (state)
Movies set in the 1970s
Screen Actors Guild Award winners

American Hustle


In the United Kingdom a baronet is a man who has the title Sir, like a knight, but who is neither
 a senior member of one of the orders of chivalry, sometimes called orders of knighthood, nor
 a Knight Bachelor.

Unlike the members of the orders of chivalry and a knight bachelor a baronet can pass his title to his children.

Baronets rank higher than knights, but below barons.

History

Some baronets were created in the 1300s, but the modern Order of Baronets dates from King James I of England.

On 22 May 1611 King James I set up the present hereditary Order of Baronets in   England. He made 200 gentlemen of good birth baronets.  He did this partly to reward those people with more than a knighthood, without making them as important as a Baron.  The other reason was that the king needed money to keep soldiers in Ireland.  Each of the new baronets had to pay £1095, which was the cost of keeping thirty soldiers for   three years.

In 1619 James I set up the Baronetage of Ireland, to raise more money.

To explore Nova Scotia (New Scotland) in what we now call Canada, King James I of England was going a create  the Baronetage of Nova Scotia in 1624, but he died that year.  His son King Charles I  set up the Baronetage of Scotland and Nova Scotia in 1625.   The new baronets had to pay £2000 or to support six settlers for two years.

Today over a hundred  baronets of Nova Scotia still exist. The Duke of Roxburghe, who is also Baronet of Innes-Ker of Innes is the Premier Baronet of Scotland  because the baronetcy is the oldest one still existing in Scotland.  It was created in 1625.

Insignia

The Baronets of Nova Scotia were allowed to wear a badge from 1629. The design on the badge is the same as the flag of Nova Scotia

Baronets of England, of Ireland, of Great Britain or of the United Kingdom had no badge until 1929.

References

Baronet


An internegative is a motion picture film duplicate. It is the color counterpart to an interpositive, in which a low-contrast color image is used as the positive between an original camera negative and a duplicate negative.

After a film is shot, the original negatives—taken directly from the camera equipment—are edited into correct sequence and printed onto fresh stock as a cohesive film, creating an interpositive print used for color timing. From the interpositive, answer prints, which include the color-corrected imagery and a properly synced sound track, are made. Once approved by the studio, the final answer print is made into an internegative used for striking copies that will be delivered to theaters for viewing.

Overview
Internegatives are the workhorses of the film industry.  They are made on exactly the same stock as interpositives. The film processes usually go from one polarity to another, that is:

 The camera operator shoots a positive image and the film ends up as a negative.
 The original negative is printed onto stock that comes out as an interpositive.  Often, two interpositives were made, one to be archived and one to continue through the process.
 The interpositive is color timed (to balance the scenes) into the internegative.
 The internegative makes the positive release print.

When an internegative wears out during printing, a new internegative is made from the interpositive and release printing resumes. There are some films (reversal film) that can go from positive to positive or negative to negative but are not used very often.

Each time the original camera negative, the only image source, is run through the printing machine, there is a hazard that the film could be damaged.

Printing release prints from the composited camera negative was common until about 1969. Thereafter, most printing was done from internegatives which were made from an interpositive.

Prints are still being made from the composited camera negative. Usually such a print run is limited to a few prints. These are sometimes called "showprints" (a DeLuxe trademark), or, more generally, "EKs" (after Eastman Kodak), and are generally reserved for the producer and for exhibition in first-run engagements.  Other exhibitors will almost always receive conventional prints made from internegatives.

For quality and safety reasons, video transfers are almost always made from an interpositive. An internegative is a less desirable alternative. On rare occasions, the composited camera negative may be used for video transfers, but it will have to be carefully retimed for color/density.

Where a color-reversal intermediate was used, a positive-to-positive color process could be achieved. However, its use was limited, often giving unsatisfactory color reproduction, and restricted to 16mm.

With very few exceptions, 35mm has utilized a negative-to-positive process.

References

External links

 National Film Preservation Board
 The Film Foundation
 Article on CRI and other film decomposition problems

Film and video technology

Internegative


Andrea Ypsilanti ( Dill; born 8 April 1957) is a German politician.

Political career

Ypsilanti was a member of the Hessian Landtag (parliament) and served as chairperson of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Hesse from March 2003 to January 2009.

In the Hesse state elections of 2008, held on 27 January 2008, she was the SPD's candidate for the position of minister-president (Ministerpräsident), or prime minister, of Hesse. In that election, her party received 36.7 per cent of the vote - only 0.1 per cent less than the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of incumbent Roland Koch, which had ruled the state since 1999. Thus, the Hesse SPD came in second, but gained the same number of representatives in the Landtag as the CDU. Overall, the 2008 election led to a deadlock in the state parliament, because neither the CDU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), nor the SPD and the Green Party, had enough seats to constitute a parliamentary majority, thus enabling the formation of a coalition government. The reason for this was that the Die Linke had entered the Landtag for the first time ever with 5.3% of the vote. Hessian constitution allows for continued operation of the previous government in case of a hung parliament.

Before the 2008 election, Ypsilanti had promised on many occasions to never work together with the Left Party. However, after a "grand coalition" with the CDU was ruled out, Ypsilanti ultimately decided to cooperate with the Left Party in order to be elected prime minister and overcome the deadlock. The first attempt was abandoned after Dagmar Metzger, one of her own party's representatives in the Landtag, declared she would not vote for Ypsilanti because of the latter's cooperation with the Left Party.

A second attempt to elect Ypsilanti prime minister was scheduled for 4 November 2008. However, one day prior to the election, three other SPD representatives - Carmen Everts, Silke Tesch, and Jürgen Walter (vice chairman of the Hesse SPD) - also announced that they would vote against her, making it impossible for Ypsilanti to gain the needed majority. This, in turn, forced the dissolution of the Landtag and the scheduling of new elections for 18 January 2009. On 8 November 2008, Ypsilanti withdrew her candidacy in favor of Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, who became the SPD's new lead candidate (Spitzenkandidat).

Preliminary election results on 18 January 2009 indicated that the CDU and the (FDP) together won 64 seats in the parliament - five more than the 59 required - and thus could begin forming a governing coalition. At the same time the SPD lost 13 per cent of the vote compared to the previous election, falling to an historic low in Hesse and one of the worst showings by the party in a German state election. After the preliminary results were published, Ypsilanti announced her resignation as party chairperson.

In February 2010, Ypsilanti, together with Sven Giegold of the Green Party, Katja Kipping of the Left Party, and others, founded the Institut Solidarische Moderne, a left-wing think tank opposed to neoliberalism.

Personal life

Ypsilanti grew up in Rüsselsheim as the daughter of a worker at the local Opel factory. After finishing school she worked as a secretary and then as a flight attendant for Lufthansa. From 1986 until 1992 she studied sociology, political science and education in Frankfurt, graduating with a master's in sociology. She wrote her thesis on the theme "Women and Power". After her divorce in 1992 she kept her Greek husband's last name Ypsilanti. She lives with her partner in Frankfurt.

References

External links

1957 births
Living people
People from Rüsselsheim
Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians
21st-century German women politicians
Goethe University Frankfurt alumni
Lufthansa people

Andrea Ypsilanti


In medicine, an acute disease or condition either happens for a short time, as in acute infection, or doesn't last long. The word acute may often be confused by the general public to mean 'severe'. This is different: something can be acute but not severe.

The word acute is in the name of many diseases, for example, severe acute respiratory syndrome or acute leukemia.

Acute hospitals are hospitals which are meant for short-term medical and/or surgical treatment and care. The related medical speciality is called acute medicine.

Subacute is described as between acute and chronic. An example is subacute fever symptoms or subacute endocarditis.

Related pages
Chronic

medicine

Acute (medicine)


Victor Marie Hugo  (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist,  statesman and human rights activist. He played an important part in the Romantic movement in France.

Hugo first became famous in France because of his poetry, as well as his novels and his plays. Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles are his most famous poetry collections. Outside of France, his novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (known in English also as The Hunchback of Notre Dame) are his most famous works.

When he was young, he was a conservative royalist. As he got older he became more liberal and supported republicanism. His work was about many of the political and social problems as well as the artistic trends of his time. He is buried in the Panthéon, in Paris.

Life
Victor Hugo was the son of Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo (1773–1828) and Sophie Trébuchet (1772-1821). He had two older brothers called Abel Joseph Hugo (1798–1855) and Eugène Hugo (1800–1837). He was born in 1802, in Besançon (in the Doubs department). Hugo lived in France for most of his life. During the reign of Napoleon III he went into exile. In 1851, he lived in Belgium, in Brussels.He moved to Jersey in 1852. He stayed there until 1855 when he went to live in Guernsey until 1870. He lived there again in 1872-1873. From 1859, his exile was by choice.

Some great events marked Hugo's early childhood. A few years before his birth, the Bourbon Dynasty was overthrown during the French Revolution. The First Republic rose and fell and the First French Empire rose under the rule of Napoléon Bonaparte. Napoléon became Emperor two years after Hugo's birth. The Bourbon Monarchy was restored when Hugo was 17. His parents had different political and religious views. Hugo's father was an officer. He ranked very high in Napoléon's army. He was an atheist republican and considered Napoléon a hero. His mother was an extreme Catholic Royalist. As Hugo's father was an officer, the family moved frequently. Victor Hugo learned a lot from these travels. He stayed in Naples and Rome for six months, before going back to Paris. He was only five at the time, but he remembered the trip well.

His mother, Sophie, went to Italy with her husband who was a governor of a province near Naples. They also went to Spain where Joseph governed three Spanish provinces. Sophie separated temporarily from her husband in 1803, as it was a difficult life. She settled in Paris. This meant she dominated Hugo's education. Therefore, Hugo's early work, mainly in poetry, show him praising  monarchism and faith. The 1848 Revolution made Hugo rebel against his Catholic Royalist education. After that revolution, he preferred republicanism and freethought.

When he was young, Victor Hugo fell in love. He became secretly engaged to his childhood friend Adèle Foucher (1803-1868), against his mother's wishes.

He married Adèle in 1822, after his mother's death in 1821. Their first child, Léopold (born in 1823), died in infancy. Hugo had four other children called Léopoldine (28 August 1824), Charles (4 November 1826), François-Victor (28 October 1828) and Adèle (24 August 1830). Hugo published his first novel in 1823 (Han d'Islande). His second came three years later (Bug-Jargal, 1826). He published five more volumes of poetry (Les Orientales, 1829; Les Feuilles d'automne, 1831; Les Chants du crépuscule, 1835; Les Voix intérieures, 1837; and Les Rayons et les ombres, 1840) between 1829 and 1840. This helped his reputation as one of the greatest elegiac and lyric poets of his time.

The death of his oldest and favourite daughter, Léopoldine, made Hugo very sad. She died at the age of 19, in 1843. This was only shortly after her marriage. She drowned in the Seine at Villequier. Her heavy skirts pulled her down, when a boat overturned. Her husband died as he tried to save her. At the time; Victor Hugo was travelling with his mistress in the south of France. He learned about Léopoldine's death from a newspaper when he was sitting in a café. He describes his shock and grief in his poem À Villequier:

Hélas ! vers le passé tournant un oeil d'envie,
Sans que rien ici-bas puisse m'en consoler,
Je regarde toujours ce moment de ma vie
Où je l'ai vue ouvrir son aile et s'envoler !

Je verrai cet instant jusqu'à ce que je meure,
L'instant, pleurs superflus !
Où je criai : L'enfant que j'avais tout à l'heure,
Quoi donc ! je ne l'ai plus !

Alas! turning an envious eye towards the past,
unconsolable by anything on earth,
I keep looking at that moment of my life
when I saw her open her wings and fly away!

I will see that instant until I die,
that instant—too much for tears!
when I cried out: "The child that I had just now--
what! I don't have her any more!"

After this, he wrote many poems about his daughter's life and death. One of his most famous poem is probably Demain, dès l'aube. In this poem, he describes visiting her grave.

Writings
François-René de Chateaubriand, the famous Romantic writer, influenced Hugo during the early 1800s. When Hugo was young, he said he would be Chateaubriand ou rien ("Chateaubriand or nothing"). Many things Chateaubriand did, Hugo copied. First, he defended the cause of Romanticism. Then, he became involved in politics and supported Republicanism. Finally, he was forced into exile because of his political views. Hugo's passion and eloquence in his early work made him successful and famous at an early age. His first collection of poetry (Odes et poésies diverses) was published in 1822. At the time, Hugo was only twenty years old. It earned him a royal pension (money from the king) from Louis XVIII. His poems were admired but it was his next collection, four years later in 1826 (Odes et Ballades) which revealed Hugo to be a great poet.

Victor Hugo's first mature work of fiction appeared in 1829. It reflected his interest for society which appeared more often in his later work. Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man) had a big influence on later writers such as Albert Camus, Charles Dickens, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Claude Gueux appeared in 1834. It is a documentary short story about a real-life murderer who had been executed in France. Hugo himself considered it to be a precursor to his great work on social injustice, Les Misérables. But Hugo's first successful novel Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), which was published in 1831. It was quickly translated into other languages across Europe. One of the effects of the novel was to make the inhabitants of Paris restore the neglected Cathedral of Notre Dame, which was attracting thousands of tourists who had read the popular novel. The book also inspired a renewed appreciation for pre-renaissance buildings, which began to be actively preserved.

Hugo began planning a major novel about social misery and injustice as early as the 1830s, but it would take a full 17 years for Les Misérables, to be realized and finally published in 1862. The author was acutely aware of the quality of the novel and publication of the work went to the highest bidder. The Belgian publishing house Lacroix and Verboeckhoven undertook a marketing campaign unusual for the time, issuing press releases about the work a full six months before the launch. It also initially published only the first part of the novel ("Fantine"), which was launched simultaneously in major cities. Installments of the book sold out within hours, and had enormous impact on French society. The critical establishment was generally hostile to the novel; Taine found it insincere, Barbey d'Aurevilly complained of its vulgarity, Flaubert found within it "neither truth nor greatness," the Goncourts lambasted its artificiality, and Baudelaire - despite giving favorable reviews in newspapers - castigated it in private as "tasteless and inept." Les Misérables proved popular enough with the masses that the issues it highlighted were soon on the agenda of the French National Assembly. Today the novel remains his most enduringly popular work. It is popular worldwide, has been adapted for cinema, television and stage shows.

The shortest correspondence in history is between Hugo and his publisher Hurst & Blackett in 1862. It is said Hugo was on vacation when Les Misérables (which is over 1200 pages) was published. He telegraphed the single-character message '?' to his publisher, who replied with a single '!'.<ref>Walsh, William S: 'Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities, page 600. Philadelphia: J.B. Lipincott Co, 1892.</ref>

Hugo turned away from social or political issues in his next novel, Les Travailleurs de la Mer (Toilers of the Sea), published in 1866. Still, the book was well received, perhaps due to the earlier success of Les Misérables. Dedicated to the channel island of Guernsey, where he spent fifteen years of exile, Hugo's story about Man's battle with the sea and the creatures in its depths, started an unusual trend in Paris: squids. From squid dishes and exhibitions, to squid hats and parties, Parisians became fascinated by these unusual sea creatures.

Hugo returned to political and social issues in his next novel, L'Homme Qui Rit (The Man Who Laughs), which was published in 1869 and painted a critical picture of the aristocracy. However, the novel was not as successful as his previous efforts, and Hugo himself began to comment on the growing distance between himself and literary contemporaries such as Flaubert and Émile Zola, whose realist and naturalist novels were now exceeding the popularity of his own work. His last novel, Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-Three), published in 1874, was about a subject that Hugo had previously avoided: the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.

Political life and exile
After three unsuccessful attempts, Hugo was finally elected to the Académie française in 1841, confirming his position in the world of French arts and letters. A group of French scholars, particularly Etienne de Jouy, were fighting against the "romantic evolution" and had managed to delay Victor Hugo's election.  After that he became increasingly involved in French politics. He was raised to the peerage by King Louis-Philippe in 1841 and entered the Higher Chamber as a pair de France, where he spoke against the death penalty and social injustice, and in favour of freedom of the press and self-government for Poland. However, he was also becoming more supportive of the Republican form of government and, following the 1848 Revolution and the formation of the Second Republic, was elected to the Constitutional Assembly and the Legislative Assembly.

When Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) grabbed complete power in 1851, establishing an anti-parliamentary constitution, Hugo openly declared him a traitor to France. He relocated to Brussels, then Jersey, and finally settled with his family on the channel island of Guernsey at Hauteville House, where he would live in exile until 1870.

While in exile, Hugo published his famous political pamphlets against Napoleon III, Napoléon le Petit and Histoire d'un crime. The pamphlets were banned in France, but nonetheless had a strong impact there. He also composed or published some of his best work during his period in Guernsey, including Les Misérables, and three widely praised collections of poetry (Les Châtiments, 1853; Les Contemplations, 1856; and La Légende des siècles, 1859).

He convinced the government of Queen Victoria to spare the lives of six Irish people convicted of terrorist activities and his influence was credited in the removal of the death penalty from the constitutions of Geneva, Portugal and Colombia.  He had also pleaded for Benito Juarez to spare the recently captured emperor Maximilian I of Mexico but to no avail.

Although Napoleon III granted an amnesty to all political exiles in 1859, Hugo declined, as it meant he would have to curtail his criticisms of the government. It was only after Napoleon III fell from power and the Third Republic was proclaimed that Hugo finally returned to his homeland in 1870, where he was promptly elected to the National Assembly and the Senate.

He was in Paris during the siege by the Prussian army in 1870, famously eating animals given to him by the Paris zoo. As the siege continued, and food became ever more scarce, he wrote in his diary that he was reduced to "eating the unknown".

Because of his concern for the rights of artists and copyright, he was a founding member of the Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale, which led to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.

Religious views

Hugo's religious views changed radically over the course of his life. In his youth, he called himself as a Catholic and professed respect for Church hierarchy and authority. From there he became a non-practicing Catholic, and increasingly expressed anti-catholic views. He had a casual interest in Spiritualism during his exile (where he participated also in seances), and in later years settled into a Rationalist Deism similar to that espoused by Voltaire. A census-taker asked Hugo in 1872 if he was a Catholic, and he replied, "No. A Freethinker".

Hugo never lost his antipathy towards the Roman Catholic Church, due largely to what he saw as the Church's indifference to the plight of the working class under the oppression of the monarchy; and perhaps also due to the frequency with which Hugo's work appeared on the Pope's list of "proscribed books" (Hugo counted 740 attacks on Les Misérables in the Catholic press). On the deaths of his sons Charles and François-Victor, he insisted that they be buried without crucifix or priest, and in his will made the same stipulation about his own death and funeral. However, although Hugo believed Catholic dogma to be outdated and dying, he never directly attacked the institution itself.

Hugo's Rationalism can be found in poems such as Torquemada (1869, about religious fanaticism), The Pope (1878, anti-clerical), Religions and Religion (1880, denying the usefulness of churches) and, published posthumously, The End of Satan and God (1886 and 1891 respectively, in which he represents Christianity as a griffin and Rationalism as an angel).

Victor Hugo and music

Although Hugo's many talents did not include exceptional musical ability, he nevertheless had a great impact on the music world through the endless inspiration that his works provided for composers of the 19th and 20th century. Hugo himself particularly enjoyed the music of Gluck and Weber and greatly admired Beethoven, and rather unusually for his time, he also appreciated works by composers from earlier centuries such as Palestrina and Monteverdi. Two famous musicians of the 19th century were friends of Hugo: Berlioz and Liszt. The latter played Beethoven in Hugo's home, and Hugo joked in a letter to a friend that thanks to Liszt's piano lessons, he learned how to play a favourite song on the piano – even though only with one finger! Hugo also worked with composer Louise Bertin, writing the libretto for her 1836 opera La Esmeralda which was based on the character in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Although for various reasons the opera closed soon after its fifth performance and is little known today, it has been recently enjoying a revival, both in a piano/song concert version by Liszt at the Festival international Victor Hugo et Égaux 2007 and in a full orchestral version to be presented in July 2008 at Le Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon.

Well over one thousand musical compositions have been inspired by Hugo's works from the 1800s until the present day. In particular, Hugo's plays, in which he rejected the rules of classical theatre in favour of romantic drama, attracted the interest of many composers who adapted them into operas. More than one hundred operas are based on Hugo's works and among them are Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia (1833), Verdi's Rigoletto (1851) and Ernani (1844), and Ponchielli's La Gioconda (1876). Hugo's novels as well as his plays have been a great source of inspiration for musicians, stirring them to create not only opera and ballet but musical theatre such as Notre-Dame de Paris and the ever-popular Les Misérables, London West End's longest running musical. Additionally, Hugo's beautiful poems have attracted an exceptional amount of interest from musicians, and numerous melodies have been based on his poetry by composers such as Berlioz, Bizet, Fauré, Franck, Lalo, Liszt, Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Rachmaninov and Wagner.

Today, Hugo's work continues to stimulate musicians to create new compositions. For example, Hugo's novel against capital punishment, The Last Day of a Condemned Man, has recently been adapted into an opera by David  Alagna (libretto by Frédérico Alagna). Their brother, tenor Roberto Alagna, performed in the opera's premiere in Paris in the summer of 2007 and again in February 2008 in Valencia with Erwin Schrott as part of the Festival international Victor Hugo et Égaux 2008. In Guernsey, every two years the Victor Hugo International Music Festival attracts a wide range of musicians and the premiere of songs specially commissioned from Guillaume Connesson and based on Hugo's poetry.

Declining years and death

When Hugo returned to Paris in 1870, the country hailed him as a national hero. Despite his popularity Hugo lost his bid for reelection to the National Assembly in 1872. Within a brief period, he suffered a mild stroke, his daughter Adèle's internment in an insane asylum, and the death of his two sons. (Adèle's biography inspired the movie The Story of Adele H.) His wife Adèle had died in 1868. His faithful mistress, Juliette Drouet, died in 1883, only two years before his own death. Despite his personal loss, Hugo remained committed to the cause of political change. On 30 January 1876 Hugo was elected to the newly created Senate. The last phase of his political career is considered a failure. Hugo took on the role of a maverick and got little done in the Senate.

In February 1881 Hugo celebrated his 79th birthday. To honor the fact that he was entering his eightieth year, one of the greatest tributes to a living writer was held. The celebrations began on the 25th when Hugo was presented with a Sèvres vase, the traditional gift for sovereigns. On the 27th one of the largest parades in French history was held. Marchers stretched from Avenue d'Eylau, down the Champs-Élysées, and all the way to the center of Paris. The paraders marched for six hours to pass Hugo as he sat in the window at his house. Every inch and detail of the event was for Hugo; the official guides even wore cornflowers as an allusion to Cosette's song in Les Misérables.Hugo died on 22 May 1885 in Paris, France from an infection, aged 83. His death generated intense national mourning. He was not only revered as a towering figure in literature, he was a statesman who shaped the Third Republic and democracy in France. More than two million people joined his funeral procession in Paris from the Arc de Triomphe to the Panthéon, where he was buried.  He shares a crypt within the Panthéon with Alexandre Dumas, père and Émile Zola. Most large French towns and cities have a street named for him. The avenue where he died, in Paris, now bears his name.

Drawings
Many are not aware that Hugo was almost as prolific in the visual arts as he was in literature, producing more than 4,000 drawings in his lifetime. Originally pursued as a casual hobby, drawing became more important to Hugo shortly before his exile, when he made the decision to stop writing in order to devote himself to politics. Drawing became his exclusive creative outlet during the period 1848-1851.

Hugo worked only on paper, and on a small scale; usually in dark brown or black pen-and-ink wash, sometimes with touches of white, and rarely with color. The surviving drawings are surprisingly accomplished and "modern" in their style and execution, foreshadowing the experimental techniques of Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.

He would not hesitate to use his children's stencils, ink blots, puddles and stains, lace impressions, "pliage" or folding (i.e. Rorschach blots), "grattage" or rubbing, often using the charcoal from match sticks or his fingers instead of pen or brush. Sometimes he would even toss in coffee or soot to get the effects he wanted. It is reported that Hugo often drew with his left hand or without looking at the page, or during Spiritualist séances, in order to access his unconscious mind, a concept only later popularized by Sigmund Freud.

Hugo kept his artwork out of the public eye, fearing it would overshadow his literary work. However, he enjoyed sharing his drawings with his family and friends, often in the form of ornately handmade calling cards, many of which were given as gifts to visitors when he was in political exile. Some of his work was shown to, and appreciated by, contemporary artists such as Van Gogh and Delacroix; the latter expressed the opinion that if Hugo had decided to become a painter instead of a writer, he would have outshone the artists of their century.

Gallery:

Memorials

The people of Guernsey built a statue in Candie Gardens (St. Peter Port) to commemorate his stay in the islands. The City of Paris has preserved his residences Hauteville House, Guernsey and 6, Place des Vosges as museums. The house where he stayed in Vianden, Luxembourg, in 1871 has also become a museum.

Hugo is venerated as a saint in the Vietnamese religion of Cao Dai.

The Avenue Victor-Hugo in the XVIème arrondissement of Paris bears Hugo's name, and links the Place de l'Étoile to the vicinity of the Bois de Boulogne by way of the Place Victor-Hugo. This square is served by a Paris Métro stop also named in his honor. A number of streets and avenues throughout France are likewise named after him. The school Lycée Victor Hugo was founded in his town of birth, Besançon in France. Avenue Victor-Hugo, in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada, was named to honor him.

In the city of Avellino, Italy, Victor Hugo briefly stayed in what is now known as Il Palazzo Culturale, when reuniting with his father, Leopold Sigisbert Hugo, in 1808. Victor would later write about his brief stay here quoting "C'était un palais de marbre...". In the city of Edinburgh, Scotland there is a delicatessen named Victor Hugo Delicatessen, it was originally run by a French couple but was purchased in 2005. The shop is on Melville Terrace, over looking the meadows and next to University of Edinburgh halls of residence, Sciennes.

Works
Published during Hugo's lifetime
 Odes et poésies diverses (1822)
 Odes (Hugo) (1823)
 Han d'Islande (1823) (Hans of Iceland)
 Nouvelles Odes (1824)
 Bug-Jargal (1826)
 Nils Gunnar Lie's history (1826)
 Odes et Ballades (1826)
 Cromwell (1827)
 Les Orientales (1829)
 Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (1829) (The Last Day of a Condemned Man)
 Hernani (1830)
 Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
 Marion Delorme (1831)
 Les Feuilles d'automne (1831)
 Le roi s'amuse (1832)
 Lucrèce Borgia (1833) (Lucretia Borgia)
 Marie Tudor (1833)
 Littérature et philosophie mêlées (1834)
 Claude Gueux (1834)
 Angelo, tyran de padoue (1835)
 Les Chants du crépuscule (1835)
 La Esmeralda (only libretto of an opera written by Victor Hugo himself) (1836)
 Les Voix intérieures (1837)
 Ruy Blas (1838)
 Les Rayons et les ombres (1840)
 Le Rhin (1842)
 Les Burgraves (1843)
 Napoléon le Petit (1852)
 Les Châtiments (1853)
 Les Contemplations (1856)
 Les TRYNE (1856)
 La Légende des siècles (1859)
 Les Misérables (1862)
 William Shakespeare (1864)
 Les Chansons des rues et des bois (1865)
 Les Travailleurs de la Mer (1866), (Toilers of the Sea)
 La voix de Guernsey (1867)
 L'Homme qui rit (1869), (The Man Who Laughs)
 L'Année terrible (1872)
 Quatrevingt-treize (Ninety-Three) (1874)
 Mes Fils (1874)
 Actes et paroles — Avant l'exil (1875)
 Actes et paroles - Pendant l'exil (1875)
 Actes et paroles - Depuis l'exil (1876)
 La Légende des Siècles 2e série (1877)
 L'Art d'être grand-père (1877)
 Histoire d'un crime  1re partie (1877)
 Histoire d'un crime 2e partie (1878)
 Le Pape (1878)
 La pitié suprême (1879)
 Religions et religion (1880)
 L'Âne (1880)
 Les Quatres vents de l'esprit (1881)
 Torquemada (1882)
 La Légende des siècles Tome III (1883)
 L'Archipel de la Manche (1883)

Poems of Victor Hugo

Published after Hugo's death
 Théâtre en liberté (1886)
 La fin de Satan (1886)
 Choses vues (1887)
 Toute la lyre (1888)
 Amy Robsart (1889)
 Les Jumeaux (1889)
 Actes et Paroles  Depuis l'exil, 1876-1885 (1889)
 Alpes et Pyrénées (1890)
 Dieu (1891)
 France et Belgique (1892)
 Toute la lyre - dernière série (1893)
 Les fromages (1895)
 Correspondences - Tome I (1896)
 Correspondences - Tome II (1898)
 Les années funestes (1898)
 Choses vues - nouvelle série (1900)
 Post-scriptum de ma vie (1901)
 Dernière Gerbe (1902)
 Mille francs de récompense (1934)
 Océan. Tas de pierres (1942)
 L'Intervention (1951)
 Conversations with Eternity

Online texts

 Works by Victor Hugo at Internet Archive
 Works by Victor Hugo at The Online Books Page
 Political speeches by Victor Hugo: Victor Hugo, My Revenge is Fraternity!
 Selected Poetry
 Biography and speech from 1851
  Obituary in The TimesReferences

Online references
 Afran, Charles (1997). "Victor Hugo: French Dramatist". Website: Discover France. (Originally published in Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1997, v.9.0.1.) Retrieved November 2005.
 Bates, Alfred (1906). "Victor Hugo". Website: Theatre History. (Originally published in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 9. ed. Alfred Bates. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906. pp. 11–13.) Retrieved November 2005.
 Bates, Alfred (1906). "Hernani". Website: Theatre History. (Originally published in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 9. ed. Alfred Bates. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906. pp. 20–23.) Retrieved November 2005.
 Bates, Alfred (1906). "Hugo's Cromwell". Website: Theatre History. (Originally published in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 9. ed. Alfred Bates. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906. pp. 18–19.) Retrieved November 2005.
 Bittleston, Misha (uncited date). "Drawings of Victor Hugo". Website: Misha Bittleston. Retrieved November 2005.
 Burnham, I.G. (1896). "Amy Robsart". Website: Theatre History. (Originally published in Victor Hugo: Dramas. Philadelphia: The Rittenhouse Press, 1896. pp. 203–6, 401-2.) Retrieved November 2005.
 Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition (2001-05). "Hugo, Victor Marie, Vicomte" . Website: Bartleby, Great Books Online. Retrieved November 2005. Retrieved November 2005.
 Haine, W. Scott (1997). "Victor Hugo" . Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions. Website: Ohio University. Retrieved November 2005.
 Illi, Peter (2001-2004). "Victor Hugo: Plays". Website: The Victor Hugo Website. Retrieved November 2005.
 Karlins, N.F. (1998). "Octopus With the Initials V.H." Website: ArtNet. Retrieved November 2005.
 Liukkonen, Petri (2000). "Victor Hugo (1802-1885)" . Books and Writers. Website: Pegasos: A Literature Related Resource Site. Retrieved November 2005.
 Meyer, Ronald Bruce (2004). "Victor Hugo". Website: Ronald Bruce Meyer. Retrieved November 2005.
 Robb, Graham (1997). "A Sabre in the Night". Website: New York Times (Books). (Excerpt from Graham, Robb (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.) Retrieved November 2005.
 Roche, Isabel (2005). "Victor Hugo: Biography" . Meet the Writers. Website: Barnes & Noble. (From the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 2005.) Retrieved November 2005.
 Uncited Author. "Victor Hugo" . Website: Spartacus Educational. Retrieved November 2005.
 Uncited Author. "Timeline of Victor Hugo". Website: BBC. Retrieved November 2005.
 Uncited Author. (2000-2005). "Victor Hugo". Website: The Literature Network. Retrieved November 2005.
 Uncited Author. "Hugo Caricature" . Website: Présence de la Littérature a l'école. Retrieved November 2005.

Further reading
 Barbou, Alfred (1882). Victor Hugo and His Times. University Press of the Pacific: 2001 paper back edition. Book sources
 Barnett, Marva A., ed. (2009). Victor Hugo on Things That Matter: A Reader. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Book sources
 Brombert, Victor H. (1984). Victor Hugo and the Visionary Novel. Boston: Harvard University Press. Book sources
 Davidson, A.F. (1912). Victor Hugo: His Life and Work. University Press of the Pacific: 2003 paperback edition. Book sources
 Dow, Leslie Smith (1993). Adele Hugo: La Miserable. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions. Book sources
 Falkayn, David (2001). Guide to the Life, Times, and Works of Victor Hugo. University Press of the Pacific. Book sources
 Feller, Martin, Der Dichter in der Politik. Victor Hugo und der deutsch-französische Krieg von 1870/71. Untersuchungen zum französischen Deutschlandbild und zu Hugos Rezeption in Deutschland. Doctoral Dissertation, Marburg 1988.
 Frey, John Andrew (1999). A Victor Hugo Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press. Book sources
 Grant, Elliot (1946). The Career of Victor Hugo. Harvard University Press. Out of print.
 Halsall, A.W. et al. (1998). Victor Hugo and the Romantic Drama. University of Toronto Press.Book sources
 Hart, Simon Allen (2004). Lady in the Shadows: The Life and Times of Julie Drouet, Mistress, Companion and Muse to Victor Hugo. Publish American. Book sources
 Houston, John Porter (1975). Victor Hugo. New York: Twayne Publishers. Book sources
 Hovasse, Jean-Marc (2001), Victor Hugo: Avant l'exil. Paris: Fayard. Book sources
 Hovasse, Jean-Marc (2008), Victor Hugo: Pendant l'exil I. Paris: Fayard. Book sources
 Ireson, J.C. (1997). Victor Hugo: A Companion to His Poetry. Clarendon Press. Book sources
 Laster, Arnaud (2002). Hugo à l'Opéra. Paris: L'Avant-Scène Opéra, no. 208.
 Maurois, Andre (1956). Olympio: The Life of Victor Hugo. New York: Harper & Brothers.
 Maurois, Andre (1966). Victor Hugo and His World. London: Thames and Hudson. Out of print.
 Pouchain, Gérard and Robert Sabourin (1992). Juliette Drouet, ou, La dépaysée. Paris: Fayard. Book sources
 Robb, Graham (1997). Victor Hugo: A Biography. W.W. Norton & Company: 1999 paperback edition. Book sources, (description/reviews at wwnorton.com)
 Tonazzi, Pascal (2007) Florilège de Notre-Dame de Paris (anthologie)'' Paris, Editions Arléa

Other websites

 France of Victor Hugo
 Guernsey's Official Victor Hugo Website
 Guernsey's Victor Hugo International Music Festival
 Victor Hugo Central
 Victor Hugo's works: text, concordances and frequency lists
 1867 Caricature of Victor Hugo by André Gill
 Victor Hugo le dessinateur
 Translation of Victor Hugo note found in "Hunchback of Notre Dame," french edition
 English translation of Hugo's At Dawn Tomorrow (Demain, dès l'aube)
 Another English translation of Demain, dès l'aube
 English translation of Hugo's A Villequier
 English translation of Hugo's Oh ! je fus comme fou dans le premier moment ('Oh! I was like a crazy man in the first moment') on the death of his daughter Léopoldine
 Official site of the Société des Amis de Victor Hugo
 Official site of the Festival international Victor Hugo et Égaux
 Translation of The legend of Victor Hugo by Paul Lafargue

1802 births
1885 deaths
French deists
French novelists
French playwrights
French poets
Members of the Académie française
People from Besançon
Former Roman Catholics
Politicians from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Victor Hugo


Hati or Saturn XLIII (provisional designation S/2004 S 14) is a moon of Saturn. Its discovery was announced by Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna, and Brian G. Marsden on May 4, 2005, from observations taken between December 12, 2004, and March 11, 2005.

Hati is about 6 kilometers in diameter, and orbits Saturn at an average distance of 20,303,000 km in 1080.099 days, at an inclination of 163° to the ecliptic (165° to Saturn's equator), with an eccentricity of 0.291.

It was named in April 2007 after Hati, a giant wolf from Norse mythology, son of Fenrisulfr and twin brother of Skoll.

References
 Institute for Astronomy Saturn Satellite Data
 Jewitt's New Satellites of Saturn page
 IAUC 8523: New Satellites of Saturn 2005 May 4 (discovery)
 MPEC 2005-J13: Twelve New Satellites of Saturn 2005 May 3 (discovery and ephemeris)
 IAUC 8826: Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn (subscription-only) 2007 April 5 (naming the moon)

Saturn's moons

Hati (moon)


Frobisher Bay is an inlet of the Labrador Sea in Nunavut, Canada. It is in the southeastern corner of Baffin Island. The capital of Nunavut, Iqaluit, is near the bay. Frobisher Bay is 230 kilometers (140 miles) long and is 40 kilometers (25 miles) wide at its widest point. There are many small islands in the bay.

The bay was discovered in 1576 by Martin Frobisher, an English navigator who was looking for the Northwest Passage.

Bays of Canada
Nunavut

Frobisher Bay


Thomas (and Tomas) is a common surname.  It is most often used by the British, French, German, Dutch, Danish, and South Indian.

Some notable people with this surname are:
Ambroise Thomas, French opera composer
Bert Thomas (1883–1966), British cartoonist
Clarence Thomas, United States Supreme Court justice
Dylan Thomas (1914–1953), Welsh poet
Gerald Thomas, English film director
Héctor Thomas, Venezuelan decathlete
Kristin Scott Thomas, English actress
Mansel Thomas Welsh composer and conductor
Petria Thomas (born 1975), Australian swimmer
Rufus Thomas, American R&B singer
Shavar Thomas (born 1981), Jamaican footballer

Surnames

Thomas (surname)


The Proton Tiara wis a Malaysian automobile based on the Citroën AX, built unner licence bi the automobile manufacturer Proton atween 1996 an 2000.

History
The genesis o the Tiara wis the result o an agreement durin the mid-1990s atween Proton's then CEO, Tan Sri Yahaya Ahmad, an PSA Peugeot Citroën, a producer o Citroën an Peugeot vehicles. Yahaya haed expressed wishes that Proton no uise Mitsubishi platforms, an that Proton cooperate wi PSA Peugeot Citroën for access tae its diesel ingines.

Yahaya Ahmad wis killed in a helicopter crash in 1997, an Proton returned tae uisin various Mitsubishi-based platforms an developed in-hoose designed models later. Production o the Tiara ceased in 2000 due tae low sales volume; in 2005, the Proton Savvy wis launched as a successor tae the Proton Tiara.

Design an market
The Tiara wis kent as the cheapest uised caur in its market. Its appearance mimicked that o mair pouerful Citroën AXs, such as the AX GT, but the grille wis restyled tae match the existin Saga an Wira models. Ither cosmetic differences includit different bumpers an taillicht clusters. It wis ae available wi a 1.1-litre 45 kW (60 hp) ingine.

The Proton Tiara wis sauld ae in the Malaysian market, due tae similarities wi the Citroën AX.

Tiara
1990s automobiles
2000s automobiles
Vehicles introduced in 1996

Proton Tiara


The Kawanishi K-7 Transport Seaplane was a Japanese single-engined biplane floatplane of the 1920s. Eleven were built from 1924 to 1927, being used to carry passengers and airmail.

Design and development
In December 1923, Eiji Sekiguchi, chief designer of the aircraft department of Kawanishi Kikai Setsakuho (Kawanishi Machinery Manufacturing Works), started design of a new high speed transport floatplane to equip Nippon Koku KK (Japan Aviation Co. Ltd.), an airline subsidiary of Kawanishi. Sekiguchi designed a single-engined sesquiplane (i.e. a biplane with the lower wing much smaller than the upper wing) of all-wooden construction. Seating for four passengers was provided in an enclosed cabin, while the aircraft's two pilots sat in individual open tandem cockpits aft of the passenger cabin. The aircraft was powered by a single Maybach Mb.IVa water-cooled inline-engine providing 305 hp (228 kW), an engine type usually used to power Zeppelins or Riesenflugzeug like the Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI, received as part of Germany's reparations to Japan after the end of the First World War.

The first example of the new aircraft, the K-7A Transport Seaplane was completed in November 1924, demonstrating both good performance and handling. A further nine K-7As were built by the time production ended in 1927, together with a single example of the K-7B Mail-Carrying Aircraft, a modified version that could be operated either on floats or with a tailwheel undercarriage.

Operational history
The K-7A entered service on Nippon Koku'''s service between Osaka and Fukuoka in January 1925, mainly carrying airmail rather than passengers. The K-7A proved successful in service, one carrying mail from Fukuoka and Shanghai, China, a distance of over  in May 1926, while the K-7B was used together with the Kawanishi K-10 Transport to operate an airmail route between Osaka and the Japanese occupied city of Dalian in September 1926.  The K-7A continued in use until 1929, when Nippon Koku was forced to be disbanded, with its routes transferred to the government owned Nihon Koko Yuso KK'' (Japan Air Transport).

Variants
 K-7A Transport Seaplane
Six-seat airliner/transport floatplane, powered by Maybach MIVa engine. Ten built.
 K-7B Mail-carrying Aircraft
Modified version of K-7A, capable of operating with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage or floats, powered by 440 hp (328 kW) Lorraine 1 V12 engine. One built in 1925.

Operators

 Dai Nippon Kōkū Kabushiki Kaisha The Imperial Japanese Airways, in short Nippon Koku KK.

Specifications (K-7A)

References
Notes

Bibliography

1920s Japanese airliners
Floatplanes
K-7
Sesquiplanes
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1924

Kawanishi K-7 Transport Seaplane


Katedralskolan (Lund Cathedral School) is a school in Lund, Sweden. It was founded in 1085 by the Danish king Canute the Saint. It is the oldest school in Scandinavia and one of the oldest schools in Northern Europe. Despite being a public school, admittance to the Lund Cathedral School requires an application, and it is considered one of the toughest schools to get accepted to in Lund.

History

The school was founded by a donation from the Danish king Canute the Saint. In the beginning, it was most likely a cathedral school, a seminary for the training of priests and other clergy within the church. Its clerical roots are also the origin of the school's name. During the Scanian Wars and the transition to Swedish rule, the school was for a while reduced to an insignificant elementary school with just two classes. For the first 750 years of its existence, the school was located directly adjacent to the Cathedral in Lund. However, in 1837, the school acquired Viffertska gården, which has been considered one of the most prestigious buildings in Lund since the 16th century. For two years at the beginning of the 18th century, the Swedish king Charles XII had his residence there.

Despite many wars and several transitions between Danish and Swedish rule, the school has maintained some form of teaching continuously since it was founded in 1085.

Today

Today, the Cathedral School is an Upper Secondary School, or gymnasium, with about 1400 students attending seven different programmes; the Science Programme (Naturvetenskapsprogrammet), the Social Science Programme (Samhällsvetenskapsprogrammet), the Lingua Programme (Linguaprogrammet), the History Programme (Historieprogrammet), the Humanist Programme (Humanistiska programmet), the Economy Programme (Ekonomiprogrammet) and the IB Diploma Programme.

The History Programme started in 2009 as a part of a government decision to instate special programmes in theoretical subjects in selected schools in the country. It is the only History programme in Sweden.

The Cathedral School currently resides in six buildings; The main building, The Charles XII house, The Brunius house, The Svanegatshouse, Cathedral School West and the Svane School. Several currently well-known people have attended it, among whom are actor Max von Sydow and several high-ranking politicians. Among the famous students are Swedish sport stars Max Salminen and Henrik Stenson.

Student Societies

There are a number of Student Societies in the school, the two most venerable ones being the theatre association Scenia (a word game alluding to 'wikt:scene' and the Latin name of the province of Lund, Scania) and the photographic society Asarna (a similar word game alluding to Norse mythology and to the ASA standard for analogue photography).

Scenia was started in 1945 by a group of students, including the later famous actor Max von Sydow. The drama group arranged and performed a variety of different Swedish plays and it became a tradition that passed on to younger students after graduation. Scenia was active throughout the 1950s but was then laid on ice until it was reborn as Katterevyn in the 1980s, that today is considered a Spex and is arranged every spring. About 150 students are involved in the process each year. In May 2008, "God Afton Vackra Mask" ("Good Evening, Beautiful Mask"), alluding to the murder of king Gustav III, was performed at AF-borgen in Lundagård.

In 2016, a team from the school became the first from Scandinavia to win a title (in the Varsity Bowl Division) in the International History Bee and Bowl European Championships, which were held in Berlin that year.

References

External links

School homepage

Buildings and structures in Lund
1085 establishments in Europe
Gymnasiums (school) in Sweden
International Baccalaureate schools in Sweden
Educational institutions established in the 11th century
11th-century establishments in Skåne County

Katedralskolan, Lund


The Royal Medal is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. It is also known as The King's Medal and The Queen's Medal (depending on the  monarch at the time of the award),

The awards are for work done within the Commonwealth of Nations. The award was created by George IV and awarded first in 1826.

At present, three medals are awarded each year. Two are for fundamental research ("the advancement of natural knowledge") in the physical and biological sciences). One is for applied research ("distinguished contributions in the applied sciences").

References

Royal Society
Science awards

Royal Medal


A naval mine is a bomb placed in water to destroy ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are put in the water and left to wait until they make contact with a ship. Naval mines can be used offensively, to make it harder for enemy ships to sail easily, or trap them into a harbour. They can also be used defensively, to protect friendly ships and create "safe" zones.

Mines can be laid in many ways: by specially built minelayers, refitted ships, submarines, aircraft, or even by dropping them into a harbour by hand. They are a cheap weapon with a basic mine costing as little as US$1000. There are very advanced mines which can cost millions and have several kinds of sensors, and deliver a warhead by rocket or torpedo.

International law says that nations have to say when they put mines in an area. This is to make it easier for civil shipping to avoid the mines. The warnings do not have to be specific; during World War II, Britain said simply that it had mined the English Channel, North Sea, and French coast.

Explosives

Naval mine


A chord in music is when two or more notes are played together (some text books say that it is when three or more notes are played).

A chord which is built up of the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of a scale is called a "tonic triad". If it is made from a major scale, it is a major chord. If it is made from a minor scale it is a minor chord. However, any combination of notes played simultaneously is considered a chord.

When only two notes are played together, it's more often called "double stops" (referring to the different banks of pipes on a pipe organ, controlled by valves called "stops").

Chords can be played on instruments such as piano, keyboard, organ, harp, guitar, harmonica, ukulele and xylophone. Chords with two notes can be played on string instruments by bowing on two strings together. By bowing on two strings and then quickly on the other two strings a violinist can sound as if he is playing a four-part chord. Some players of wind instruments are able to make chords by playing two or more harmonics together.

Related pages
 Harmony
 Interval (music)

Music theory

Chord


Götterdämmerung is an opera by Richard Wagner. It is the fourth and last of the cycle of operas that together tell a story called Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). The story continues from the end of the third opera which was called Siegfried. "Götterdämmerung" is the German name for "Ragnarök".

Götterdämmerung is the longest of the four operas. It takes about five hours to perform. It consists of a prologue and three acts. Wagner finished composing the opera in the autumn of 1874. It was first performed on 17 August 1876 as part of the complete Ring cycle.

The story of the opera

The Prologue
The three Norns, daughters of Erda the Earth Goddess, are spinning the rope of destiny. This rope is a symbol of what has to happen in the end. They take it in turns to tell the story of the past, spinning as they sing and passing on the rope to the next one. The first Norn tells how Wotan went to drink from the Well of Wisdom for which he lost an eye. He then cut a spear from a tree which then died. The second Norn tells how a young hero broke Wotan's spear and how the gods were sent from Valhalla to chop down the World Ash. The third Norn tells how the logs from the ash tree have been piled round Valhalla ready for a fire that will burn everything. The Norns have visions of the future. The rope breaks. The Norns disappear into the earth.

Brünnhilde and Siegfried come out of a cave by the rock where they were left at the end of the third opera. Siegfried has to go off to do heroic deeds. He gives Brünnhilde the ring as a token of his love for her. She gives him her horse which is called Grane (pronounce: GRAH-ne). Siegfried travels down the river Rhine.

Act One
Act One takes place in the Hall of the Gibichung palace. Gunther is the chief of the Gibichungs. His half-brother Hagen tells him he would look more important if he got married. He also says that Gunther's sister Gutrune ought to get married. He tells him about Brünnhilde who, he thinks, is still asleep on the rock surrounded by fire that no one except Siegfried would be able to get through. He says that if they manage to get Siegfried to marry Gutrune, then she could persuade him to go and catch Brünnhilde for Gunther. He says that they could give Siegfried a potion (a special drink) which would make him forget that he loved Brünnhilde.

They hear Siegfried's horn outside and the great hero arrives. Siegfried asks Hagen whether he knows him. Of course, Hagen does. Siegfried is carrying the magic tarn helmet which allows a person to change their shape or become invisible. Siegfried, however, does not know what the tarn helmet can do, and Hagen has to explain it to him. Gutrune appears and offers Siegfried a drink. It is the potion which is going to make him forget any other woman. He drinks to the health of Brünnhilde. As soon as he has drunk it he looks at Gutrune and is in love with her. He agrees to marry her, and he agrees to get a wife for Gunther. Hagen tells him about Brünnhilde on the rock. Siegfried has forgotten about her. He agrees to put on the tarn helmet and disguise himself as Gunther and to go and get Brünnhilde. He goes off, leaving Hagen guarding the palace.

The next scene takes place on the top of the Valkyrie rock. Her sister Waltraute arrives on a flying horse. She says that Wotan (their father, the chief God) returned to Valhalla with his spear broken. She says he told the gods to pile up the logs from the World Ash for a fire which will burn everything. Wotan desperately wants the ring to be given back to the Rhine Maidens (who were guardians of the gold, from which the ring was forged, in the first opera). Brünnhilde refuses to give her the ring that Siegfried had given her as a token of their love. Waltraute disappears.

After the weather calms the flames flicker again. Siegfried arrives, disguised as Gunther. Brünnhilde is horrified to see a person she thinks is a stranger. Siegfried says she is his bride, forces the ring from her finger and drags her into a cave for the night, although placing the sword between them.

Act Two

Back at the palace Alberich tries to persuade his son Hagen to get the ring. Hagen wants to get the ring, but only for himself. Siegfried arrives. He no longer wears the tarn helmet so he looks like himself. Hagen blows his horn to call his vassals (soldiers) for a celebration. Gunther is to marry Brünnhilde and Siegfried is to marry Gutrune. Brünnhilde cannot understand why Siegfried is doing this. She sees the ring on his finger and asks him how he got it, as she thinks Gunther snatched it from her. Siegfried says that he won it by killing a dragon. He tells people how he tricked Brünnhilde and swears that a sword lay between them during the night, although Brünnhilde tries to make people think otherwise.

Brünnhilde is left alone with Gunther and Hagen. She tells them that, although Siegfried is so strong and impossible to kill in battle, he has one weak spot on his back. Gunther does not like the idea of having Siegfried killed, but Hagen promises him that he can then have the ring. They decide to kill Siegfried and to tell Gutrune that he was killed by a wild boar.

Act Three
The last act takes place in a wild forest. Siegfried's hunting horn is heard, and then the hunting horn of the Gibichungs. By the river Siegfried happens to meet the Rhine Maidens and teases them by showing them the ring, but does not let them have it. They tell him about the curse on the ring but Siegfried does not believe them. He meets Hagen. They drink together. Siegfried tells the men all about his life, how he was brought up by Mime, about the sword, the dragon and the bird singing. Then he cannot remember any more. Hagen gives him another drugged drink which makes him start to remember what actually happened. He remembers Brünnhilde and how he found her surrounded by fire. He gradually realizes how he has been tricked and feels unbearable sadness. Two ravens fly overhead and Hagen plunges his spear into Siegfried's back. He dies while speaking the name of Brünnhilde. His body is carried off to a funeral march.

Back at the palace his body is brought in. Gutrune accuses Gunther of murdering him, but Gunther says Hagen did it. Hagen says he did it because Siegfried, when disguised as Gunther, had slept with Brünnhilde. He tries to snatch the ring from the dead Siegfried's finger, Gunther tries to stop him but is murdered by Hagen. He tries again to snatch the ring but to everybody's horror the arm of the dead hero rises in the air.

Brünnhilde enters and tells everyone how she promised Siegfried her love. Gutrune curses Hagen and falls onto her brother's dead body. Brünnhilde orders a funeral pyre (a fire) to be prepared. She sings to Wotan that Siegfried is now at peace in death and that she understands more now. She takes the ring and promises to return it to the Rhine Maidens. She lights the fire which flares up and she rides on her horse Grane into the flames. The whole building catches fire, and the Rhine overflows and puts it out. Hagen jumps into the water trying to get the ring from the Rhine Maidens who drown him and finally take it back. The flood dies down and Valhalla (the gods' palace) is lit up by the fire. The gods and the heroes die in the flames. The Twilight of the Gods has happened and Brünnhilde has redeemed the world with her love.

The music
The music of this long opera is extremely cleverly linked so that musical ideas flow into one another and combine to comment on the drama. Many of the themes have been heard in the other three operas. It is a very exhausting opera to sing, especially for Brünnhilde. There are usually two long intervals during a performance. The orchestra is very large and includes eight harps.

The other operas
 The whole cycle is called Der Ring des Nibelungen.
 The first opera in the cycle is Das Rheingold.
 The second opera in the cycle is Die Walküre.
 The third opera in the cycle is Siegfried.

Operas by Richard Wagner
1870s operas

Götterdämmerung


Philadelphia is the 6th most populous city in the United States and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The city is sometimes called Philly.

The population of the city was 1,603,797 people in 2020. Philadelphia was the capital of the United States from 1790 to 1800. It was replaced by Washington, D.C. in 1800 after the White House was built.

Philadelphia has many tourist attractions. These include the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Christ Church.

History
Before Europeans came to the area, Philadelphia was home to the Lenape people. The first Europeans to come were the Dutch. They built towns and a fort in the area. The English took over the city in 1664. In 1681, Charles II of England gave a large piece of land to William Penn. It was given to him to pay back some money that was owed to Penn's father. Penn had a dream of a land where people would be free to live and work no matter what religion they believed. He built a city in the new land called Philadelphia.

Soon Philadelphia was the largest city in North America. The first library and hospital in the country were built in Philadelphia. Many ships sailed in and out of the port of the city. People came to the city to buy and sell many types of things.

One of the most famous people in Philadelphia was Benjamin Franklin. He started a newspaper and invented many things, such as bifocal glasses. Franklin started a library that was free for everyone to use. He also started a free hospital. He helped to write the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

In 1774, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to talk about their disputes with the United Kingdom. The British were not happy about this and soon the American Revolutionary War began. In 1776, the Americans again met in Philadelphia to sign the Declaration of Independence.

In 1777, George Washington lost the Battle of Germantown and Philadelphia was occupied by British troops. They left in 1778. After the war was won, a Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in 1787 to write the United States Constitution. It lists the most important laws of the United States.

Geography

Philadelphia is in the state of Pennsylvania. It is on the west bank of the Delaware River. New Jersey is on the other side of the river. Another large river, the Schuylkill, flows into the Delaware River at Philadelphia. The city has only a few small hills. Most of it is flat. Philadelphia normally has hot summers and cold winters.

City Landscape
William Penn planned the city in the 17th century. The roads of the city are formed in a grid between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. The roads run north–south and west–east. Streets were spread out to prevent fires.

Parks were a part of the original plan. There were five parks in the center city. They are Centre Square (Penn Square),Northeast Square (Franklin Square), Southeast Square (Washington Square), Southwest Square (Rittenhouse Square), and Northwest Square (Logan Circle/Square).

Sections/Neighborhoods
The city includes six major sections surrounding Center City. They are North, Northeast, Northwest, South, Southwest, and West. The City Planning Commission is in charge of growth and development. The largest landlord is the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). Some boundaries between regions, boroughs and districts are not clear. There are 18 districts in the city.

Center City
This is where the skyscrapers are located. Center City is the second most densely populated downtown area in the United States, after Manhattan, New York. It includes the historic part of town, museums, a theatre district, retailers, office buildings and tourist attractions. Parts of Center City, include Penn's Landing, Old City, Society Hill, South Street, Washington Square West, Market East, Chinatown, Logan Square, the Museum District, Rittenhouse Square, Fitler Square, Jewelers' Row and Avenue of the Arts. Old City is near the Delaware River and includes historic sites like Independence Hall. There were 193,000 inhabitants in 2018.

South Philadelphia
The region holds a diverse working-class population. It is between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers. The large sports stadiums are located here. They are Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field and Wells Fargo Center. They form the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The famous Geno's Steaks and Pat's King of Steaks is here. The FDR Park is just north of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. There is also a vibrant Italian community with an Italian Market. South Philadelphia is also where the movie Rocky (1976) was filmed. The Walt Whitman Bridge connects to New Jersey in the east. The population was 168,782 in 2010.

Southwest Philadelphia
This area is south of West Philadelphia and north of the Delaware River. The Philadelphia International Airport and residential areas are located here. There are various industries and oil refineries here and in South Philadelphia. Iconic places are Bartram's Garden, John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, the National Historic Landmark Fort Mifflin and Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum. The population was 123,829 in 2010.

West Philadelphia
The region is mostly residential. It is between Cobbs Creek and the Schuylkill River. The eastern part is University City. This includes the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. Saint Joseph's University is in the northwest part of the region. Fairmount Park and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are located in West Philadelphia. The Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia Zoo, Memorial Hall and the Mann Center for the Performing Arts are in the Centennial District. The population in 2010 was 216,433.

Northwest Philadelphia
This region includes Germantown, Chestnut Hill, Roxborough and Manayunk. Germantown is an important historical neighborhood with the Colonial Germantown Historic District. It is the birthplace of the American antislavery movement and was an important site during the American Revolution. There are several colonial homes and battle re-enactments. The Wissahickon Valley Park is here. Other sites are the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, Woodmere Art Museum and Awbury Arboretum. In 2010, the population was about 170,000.

North Philadelphia
This region is between the Northwest and Northeast regions. It is south of Cheltenham Township and north of Center City. It is residential with scattered industries. It includes Lower North and Upper North Philadelphia and Olney, Oak Lane. Temple University is found here. A well-known street is Broad Street. It starts in and cuts across North Philadelphia and travels down to Center City. The Eastern State Penitentiary is to the west. There are many historic homes like the Edgar Allen Poe House. Museums are the Wagner Free Institute of Science and the Philadelphia Doll Museum. There are historic churches. Northern Liberties and Fishtown are growing communities and centers for artists. Northern Liberties is home to the annual 2nd Street Festival. The population in 2010 was 240,781.

The Northeast
The region is home to a large working-class population. It includes the Far and Near Northeast, and Kensington. There are several parks, such as Benjamin Rush State Park and Pennypack Park and large malls such as Philadelphia Mills. There are many diverse ethnic groups. There is the Northeast Philadelphia Airport. The Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion is a science museum. The region is highly populated. There were about 528,810 residents in 2010.

Architecture
The architecture of the city is very diverse. It is both modern and historic. It includes Georgian architecture, Federal-style, Palladian structure, Victorian-style, Greek Revival, Gothic, Italianate Second-Empire Style and International Style. The diverse buildings show the rich history of the city. The Philadelphia Historical Commission was formed in 1955. It preserves historical buildings. The Philadelphia Register of Historic Places includes historic buildings. The tallest building is the Comcast Technology Center. For a long time, City Hall was the tallest building. Notable architects who built in Philadelphia include William Strickland, John Haviland, Thomas U. Walter, Frank Furness, Napoleon Leburn, Julian Abele, Rafael Viñoly, César Pelli, Robert A. M. Stern, Louis Kahn and Robert Venturi.

Philadelphia was the first major city in North America to introduce row houses. A row house is made of homes connected with a shared sidewall. In other areas, similar buildings were originally called "Philadelphian rows". Many homes in Philadelphia are row houses.

Parks
There are about  of parks in Philadelphia. Notable parks in the city center are Logan Square, Franklin Square, JFK Plaza, Washington Square and Rittenhouse Square. Surrounding parks are Fairmount Park, Wissahickon Valley Park, Pennypack Park and Cobbs Creek Park. Fairmount is the largest park. Wissahickon the second largest. Fairmount Park is along both sides of the Schuylkill River. It includes the Philadelphia Zoo, Fairmount Water Works, Boathouse Row, Please Touch Museum, Centennial Arboretum and the Shofuso Japanese House and Garden.

Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification, Philadelphia is in a humid subtropical climate zone. Summers are humid and hot. Fall and spring are mild. Winters can range from moderate to cold. Snowfall is very variable. Some years there is only a small amount of snow. In other years there are large snowstorms. The average yearly snowfall is . The annual average precipitation is . There is precipitation throughout the year. Temperatures can range from  to .

A 2017-2019 report showed that Philadelphia is among the top 25 cities with the most air pollution. Philadelphia has significant particulate matter and ozone. This is due to the burning of fossil fuels. Another cause is high concentration of automobiles along I-95.

Demographics
The population of Philadelphia was about 560,000 in 1860 and 1,000,000 in 1890. The highest population in Philadelphia was in 1950, with about 2,071,605 people recorded. The population decreased from 1950 to 2000. The population has been gradually increasing since 2010.  Between 2006 and 2017, there were 92,153 new residents. In 2022, the city had the following racial composition: 41.3% Black (non-Hispanic), 39.33% White (non-Hispanic), 14.1% Hispanic or Latino, 7.1% Asian, 0.4% Native American, 0.05% Pacific Islander, and 2.8% multiracial. The largest European ancestry groups were Irish (13.6%), Italian (9.2%), German (8.1%), Polish (4.3%) and English (2.9%) in 2010.

Education

Primary and Secondary
There are public and private schools in Philadelphia. The School District of Philadelphia is for public schools. There were 218 public schools and 86 charter schools in 2014. More students are going to charter schools. Several public schools have closed. Graduation rates were 65% in 2014. They have been increasing but below average. The city spends about $12,000 per student.

Higher Education
There are many colleges and students in Philadelphia. It is a city with a high concentration of students. There are more than 80 colleges, universities, and trade schools. There are about over 420,000 students in total.

The top schools are The University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Drexel University, and Thomas Jefferson University. The University of Pennsylvania is an Ivy League school and one of the oldest universities. The University City District is west of the Schuylkill River and includes the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. Notable schools around the Philadelphia area are Swarthmore College, Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College and Villanova University. In center city, the Curtis Institute of Music is one of the top music schools in the country.

There are five schools of Medicine: Drexel University College of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, and Thomas Jefferson University's Sidney Kimmel Medical College. Other institutions in Philadelphia include: University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia University, Holy Family University, Moore College of Art and Design, Peirce College, Chestnut Hill College, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The University of the Arts and La Salle University.

Culture
Philadelphia's cultural history goes back to the Lenape Native Americans and later the Quakers and Mennonites. The city is culturally important for its rich history but is notable for many other things. The city has been influential in music, art, television, architecture, and food.

There are many large annual events. The famous Mummers Parade celebrates the New Year. Made in America Festival is a large music festival with dozens of artists on Labour Day weekend. It is along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The week of Independence Day is called the Wawa Welcome America Festival. There are many festivities, concerts, and discounts. It includes Wawa Hoagie Day, POPS on Independence, Party on the Parkway, and Free Museums Day. 6abc Dunkin' Thanksgiving Day Parade is another famous parade. It is the oldest Thanksgiving Parade in the U.S. Other events are the Philadelphia Flower Show, Philadelphia Auto Show, Philly Home Show, The Philadelphia Show, Roots Picnic at the Mann Center, Green Screen: Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival, Longwood Gardens Festival of Fountains, Philly Beer Week, Fringe Festival, DesignPhiladelphia Festival, Philadelphia Film Festival, Army-Navy Game and others.

Philadelphia has diverse people groups that make up the city's communities and many immigrants. Many specific events reflect the rich diversity of the people of the city. These include the Lunar New Year Parade and Celebrations in Chinatown, Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day Parade, Shofuso Cherry Blossom Festival, The South 9th Street Italian Market Festival, Philadelphia Latino Film Festival, Prideday, Odunde Festival, Philadelphia Juneteenth Parade & Festival, OutFest, Ciao Philadelphia and others.

The city includes important places that hold historical documents and records and further learning and research. The Library Company of Philadelphia was established by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin also founded the American Philosophical Society. It is "the oldest learned society in the United States." Parkway Central Library is one of the Free Library of Philadelphia libraries. It has a unique Rare Books Department. There are original items by Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe. Athenaeum of Philadelphia holds American historical documents. It was founded in 1814. The Presbyterian Historical Society is the oldest church denomination historical society. The German Society of Pennsylvania is the oldest German-culture organization in the country. It has a special library collection. College of Physicians of Philadelphia's Historical Medical Library is from 1788. The Philosophical Society building, Athenaeum and College of Physicians are all National Historic Landmarks.

Arts
There are several art museums in Philadelphia. Philadelphia has a large art museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It is located at the end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at Eakins Oval. The Museum district is along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The city also has some smaller art museums, such as the Academy of Fine Arts and the Barnes Foundation. The Rodin Museum has a large collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin.

The Avenue of the Arts is in Center City on Broad Street. It is a center for arts and culture and is a cultural district. The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts and Academy of Music are found there. There are several theaters. Examples include the Merriam Theater, Wilma Theater, Liacouras Center, and Suzanne Roberts Theatre. The Philadelphia Theater Company is at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre.

There are over dozens of other theatres in Philadelphia. The Walnut Street Theater is a National Historic Landmark. It is the oldest theater in the United States. The Lantern Theater Company is at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. Other notable theaters are the Arden Theatre Company, Forrest Theatre, EgoPo Classic Theater, Plays and Players Theater, The Sedgwick Theater, and Pearl Theatre.

Philadelphia is the city in America with the most public art. The Association for Public Art was founded in Philadelphia in 1872. There are many historical statues and monuments. There are also modern pieces of work. The LOVE Sculpture is at the JFK Plaza. The city also has the most murals in America. These are artworks on the walls of buildings. The city has a Mural Arts Program that supports mural artwork. The program hires professionals and educates young people in mural painting.

Music
Philadelphia is famous for classical music. The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the top five orchestras in the country. The orchestra performs at the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts and in the summer at the Mann Center for Performing Arts. The Academy of Music is a historic concert hall and opera house. The academy is also home to the Philadelphia Ballet. It is one of the largest ballet companies in the country. The Curtis Institute of Music is a world-class music school. It has produced many notable musicians. Composer Samuel Barber and violinist Sarah Chang were born in Philadelphia.

The city is also known for R&B, jazz, and soul. Philadelphia is the hometown of notable Jazz musicians. They include Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Dizzie Gillespie, and Ethel Waters. Philly soul music is from the 1960s and 1970s. It influenced disco and R&B. The Philly Pops perform popular jazz, blues, swing, and Broadway.

Philadelphia is influential in other popular music genres. American singers born in Philadelphia include Frankie Avalon, James Darren, Eddie Fisher, Fabian Forte, Bobby Rydell, and Chubby Checker. Notable rock and pop musicians from the Philadelphia area are Bill Haley & His Comets, Todd Rundgren and Nazz, Hall & Oates, The Hooters, Ween, Cinderella, and Pink. Dick Clark hosted the TV program American Bandstand in the 1950s. Hip hop artists include The Roots, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Lil Uzi Vert, Beanie Sigel. Rap artists are State Property, Schoolly D, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Meek Mill.

Historic Sites

Philadelphia has a rich history with many historic sites. The city has a total of 67 National Historic Landmarks Many are located in Center City in the historic part of town. Independence National Historic Park is in the oldest part of Philadelphia. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most of the buildings from the time when American was fighting for its freedom are there. Independence Hall is where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were written. Nearby is a building where the Liberty Bell is kept. In the same neighborhood, many houses are from the days of the American Revolution. Elfreth's Alley is one of the oldest streets in the United States. Christ Church is the church where many famous early Americans worshipped. Other two early government buildings are the First and the Second Bank of the United States.

There are many historic homes in North Philadelphia. John Coltrane House was the home of the jazz performer John Coltrane. The influential 19th-century realist painter Thomas Eakins lived in the Thomas Eakins House. James Logan Home is a colonial house. Charles Wilson Peale House was the home of the American painter, soldier, scientist, and inventor Charles Peale. Edgar Allen Poe House was the residence of the famous writer and poet Edgar Allen Poe. The African American artist Henry O. Tanner lived at the Henry O. Tanner Homesite. All of these sites are National Historic Landmarks.

Germantown in Northwest Philly has a rich history and notable sites. The Colonial Germantown Historic District is in Germantown and Mt. Airy along Germantown Avenue. There are many historical buildings from colonial times and the Revolutionary period. The Cliveden House was the site of the famous Battle of Germantown (1777) during the Revolutionary War. It is a National Historic Landmark along with the Wyck House. This house was used as a field hospital during the Battle of Germantown. Germantown was also important for the antislavery movement. The 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery was the first protest against the enslavement of Africans. The John Johnson House was part of the Underground Railroad to free slaves and is also a Naitonal Historic Landmark.

Museums
The majority of the museums are in Center City. The Franklin Institute is a science museum named after Benjamin Franklin. It contains the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial. The Academy of Natural Sciences has collections of life, rocks and minerals. The Mütter Museum is a medical museum. There is also the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in West Philadelphia . There are several history museums. They are the National Constitution Center, the Museum of the American Revolution, the Philadelphia History Museum, the National Museum of American Jewish History, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania in the Masonic Temple, and the Eastern State Penitentiary.

Food
There are foods particular to Philadelphia. They are cheesesteak, hoagies, stromboli, roast pork sandwich, scrapple, soft pretzels, water ice, Irish potato candy and tastykakes. The cheesesteak was founded in Philadelphia. Many places serve cheesesteaks. Two historical ones are Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks.

The city has historic eating places. McGillin's Olde Ale House is from 1860. The City Tavern serves historical food from the Revolutionary era. It is a replica of a tavern from the 18th century, where many of the Founding Fathers ate. The Reading Terminal Market is a food market from 1893.

Sports
Philadelphia is home to several professional sports teams. The main ones include the Philadelphia Phillies in baseball, the Philadelphia 76ers in basketball, the Philadelphia Eagles in football, the Philadelphia Flyers in ice hockey, and the Philadelphia Union in soccer. The oldest team are the Phillies. For several decades, many of the teams did not win a single championship. The Phillies won the World Series in 2008 and the Eagles only won the Super Bowl in the 2017 season. ESPN has ranked Philadelphia as a city with one of the most "tortured fans".

There are annnual running events in the city. Examples are the Penn Relays (track and field), the Philadelphia Marathon, and the Broad Street Run.

Rowing is important in Philadelphia. The Boathouse Row symbolizes rowing. There are many college and high school competitions on the Schuylkill River. The Philadelphia Big 5 participate in the rowing. They are University of Pennsylvania, La Salle University, Saint Joseph's University, Temple University, and Villanova University. The Dad Vail Regatta is each year in May, Independence Dragon Boat Regatta each year in June and Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival in October.

Along with other cities, Philadelphia will host the FIFA World Cup in 2026.

Transportation
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) serves Philadelphia. It includes buses, trains, subways, and trolleys. The two subway lines are Market-Frankford Line and Broad Street Line. Broad Street line heads north and south, and Market-Frankford Line heads mainly west and east. SEPTA Regional Rail connects the city to the suburbs. The main railway station is 30th Street Station. There were 4.4 million passengers in 2017. It is the third busiest station in the country. The station connects trains from SEPTA, Amtrack, and NJ Transit. The PATCO Speedline connects the city with parts of New Jersey.

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) is a busy airport with domestic and international flights. There are more than 30 million passengers on 25 different airlines each year. Airplanes go to over 120 destinations. The Airport Line of the SEPTA Regional Rail connects the city to the airport. Another airport is the Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE).

An important highway is Interstate-95. It travels along the eastern and southern edges of the cities and connects Philadelphia to Newark, NJ, New York City, Baltimore, and Washington D. C. Interstate 76 runs along the Schuylkill River and intersects with the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The Pennsylvania Turnpike goes west and connects to Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Interstate 676 (the Vine Street Expressway) links I-76 and I-95 through Center City.

There are also regional roads. Roosevelt Boulevard is in North and Northeast Philadelphia and connects those regions with Center City. Broad Street is in North Philadelphia and connects to Center City. Fort Washington Expressway (Route 309) connects North Philadelphia to Montgomery and Bucks counties. U.S. Route 30 (Lancaster Avenue) connects West Philadelphia to Lancaster in the west. Interstate 476 (also known as the Blue Route) goes across Deleware County and is for the western suburbs and goes to the Poconos.  Interstate 276 connects to New Jersey Turnkpike and New York City.

There are four major bridges from Phladelphia to New Jersey. They are runned by the Delaware River Port Authority. They include  Walt Whitman Bridge (I-76), the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (I-676 and U.S. 30) the Betsy Ross Bridge(New Jersey Route 90), and the Commodore Barry Bridge (U.S. 322 in Delaware County).

Philadelphia has bus services for Greyhound Lines, Fullington Trailways, Martz Trailways, Peter Pan Bus Lines, NJ Transit buses. and Megabus.

In popular culture
The steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art are famous because the film Rocky (1976) was shot there. They are called the Rocky Steps. In the movie, Rocky runs up these steps. There is a statue of Rocky next to the museum. The two sites are popular tourist attractions. Rocky II (1979) and parts of Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985) and Rocky V (1990) were also filmed in Philadelphia. The Sixth Sense (1999) by M. Night Shyamalan was filmed in Philadelphia at St. Augustine's Church and other locations. M. Night Shyamalan filmed all his movies in Philadelphia. The movie Silver Linings Playbook (2012) takes place in Philadelphia and stars Bradley Cooper from Philadelphia. High Society (1956) is a remake of The Philadelphia Story (1940) and stars the Philadelphian-born Grace Kelly.

Other films shot in Philadelphia include The Blob (1958), Invincible (1976), Blow Out (1981), Trading Places (1983), Mannequin (1987), The Age of Innocence (1993), Philadelphia (1993), Twelve Monkeys (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), National Treasure (2004), Lady in the Water (2006), In Her Shoes (2005), Baby Mama (2008), The Happening (2008), Marley and Me (2008), Law Abiding Citizen (2009), Transformer 2: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) Creed (2015), Split (2017), Glass (2019), Shazam! (2019), The Upside (2019), Concrete Cowboy (2021).

Several TV shows take place in Philadelphia. Examples are It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-2013), How to Get Away With Murder (2014-2020), The Goldbergs (2013-2021), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-1996), Cold Case (2003-2010) and others. American Bandstand (1952-1989) was a music-performance TV show that was filmed in West Philadelphia.

Several books take place in Philadelphia. A few include Third and Indiana by Steve Lopez, Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Andersen, Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral by Jesse Redmon Fauset, Birdy by William Wharton, and Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman, among others.

Well-known people from Philadelphia
Born in Philadelphia
 Benjamin Rush ( 1813), Founding Father, signer of Declaration of Independence , physician, reformer, humanitarian, educator
 George M. Dallas (d. 1864), 11th Vice President of the United States
 Louisa May Alcott (d. 1888), novelist, poet
 Joseph McKenna (d. 1926), associate justice, U. S. Supreme Court, U.S. Attorney General
 Simon Guggenheim (d. 1941), businessman, politician, philanthropist.
 Billie Holiday (d. 1959), jazz singer
 Larry Fine (d. 1975), actor, comedian
 Samuel Barber (d. 1981), composer, conductor, pianist
 Grace Kelly (d. 1982), princess of Monaco, American actress
 Stan Getz (d. 1991), musician, saxophone player
 Pete Conrad (d. 1999), astronaut
 Lisa Lopes (1971 - 2002), singer
 C. Delores Tucker (d. 2005), civil rights activist, politician
 Arthur Penn (d. 2010), director of film and television
 Sidney Lumet (d. 2011), director of film
 Angelo Dundee (d. 2012), trainer of boxing
 Herbert Scarf (d. 2015), mathematician
 Vera Rubin (d. 2016), astronomer
 Edith Windsor (d. 2017), lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist
 Jimmy Heath (d. 2020), musician, jazzmusician
 Kobe Bryant (1978–2020), basketball player
 Noam Chomsky (1928–), linguist
 Richard T. Schulze (1929–), politician
 Bill Cosby (1937–), comedian
 Joe Biden (1942–), 46th President of the United States
 Patti LaBelle (1944–), singer
 Richard Gere (1949–), actor
 Bob Saget (1956–2022), actor, TV host
 Kevin Bacon (1958–), actor
 Will Smith (1968–), actor
 Tina Fey (1970–), actress, writer, comedian
 Bradley Cooper (1975–), actor
 Rob McElhenny (1977–), actor
 Kevin Hart (1979–), actor, comedian
 Pink (1979–), singer
 Sarah Chang (1980–), violinist
 Tara Lipinski (1982–), figure skater, actress, sports commentator
 Amber Rose (1983–), model, TV personality
 Kat Dennings (1986–), actress
 Victoria Pedretti (1995–), actress

Images

References

Other websites

 Philadelphia around 1770
 https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org

1680s establishments in the Thirteen Colonies
1682 establishments
County seats in Pennsylvania

Former capitals of the United States

Philadelphia