Bretzenheim

Bretzenheim is an "Ortsgemeinde" – a municipality belonging to a "Verbandsgemeinde", a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the "Verbandsgemeinde" Langenlonsheim-Stromberg, whose seat is in Langenlonsheim. Bretzenheim is a state-recognized tourism community and a winegrowing centre. It is also one of the district's ten biggest municipalities.
Geography.
Location.
Bretzenheim lies on the Nahe, 10 km up from its mouth where it empties into the Rhine at Bingen am Rhein to the north. The municipality lies just north of Bad Kreuznach.
Neighbouring municipalities.
Clockwise from the north, Bretzenheim's neighbours are the municipality of Langenlonsheim, the town of Bad Kreuznach and the municipality of Guldental.
History.
It was people of the Linear Pottery culture of the New Stone Age who, about 5000 BC, founded the first settlement of any great size at what is now Bretzenheim. A wealth of archaeological finds establish that even in the later epochs of this level of civilization as well as in the time of the Urnfield culture (Bronze Age) and Hallstatt or La Tène times (Iron Age), this place was prized as a good place for a settlement. Later, the Romans came to settle here, bearing witness to whose presence are remnants of several buildings as well as finds of coins and various other things. The Franks might first have appeared here beginning in the 6th century. They introduced a lasting phase of settlement and gave the place its name, meaning “Brezzo’s Home” or “Brizzo’s Home” (although nobody now knows who he was). About the mid 7th century, as historians have assumed, the Archbishop of Cologne acquired Bretzenheim as a royal donation, which he and his successors kept until 1790, although it remained a Free Imperial Domain. The first authoritative documentary mention of Bretzenheim goes back to 1057, when the village was temporarily awarded to the Polish queen Richeza as a “precaria”. Bretzenheim might have taken on its current village structure sometime about the year 1000, to which time the building of the village fortifications with their wall, moats and three gates can be dated. The lordship over the village was exercised by those whom the Archbishop of Cologne enfeoffed, the Electorate of Cologne having been the landholder in the Free Imperial Domain of Bretzenheim until 1789. The fiefholders were at first the Counts Palatine of the Rhine, followed by the Counts of Falkenstein in various lines before Count Alexander II of Velen bought the lordship in 1642. After his descendant Count Alexander IV of Velen died in 1733 without an heir, the Imperial lordship passed in 1734 to Ambrosius Franz von Virmont, who in 1744 likewise died without an heir, whereupon Baron Ignaz Felix von Roll zu Bernau was enfeoffed with Bretzenheim, selling it in 1772 to Count Karl August von Heydeck. This was the beginning of a special historical epoch in Bretzenheim. Count Karl August was Elector Karl Theodor's illegitimate, and still underage, son, and in 1774, he was raised to Imperial Count ("Reichsgraf") and in 1789 to Imperial Prince ("Reichsfürst"), thus raising Bretzenheim itself from Imperial lordship ("Reichsherrschaft") to Imperial principality ("Reichsfürstentum"). Among other things, this gave the Prince the right to mint his own coins, which were called "Bretzenheimer Taler". Only six years later, though, in 1795, the principality was beaten within the framework of the Napoleonic Wars and occupied by the French along with the rest of the German lands on the Rhine’s left bank. After the Congress of Vienna, Bretzenheim was grouped into Prussia’s Rhine Province. The apportionment of feudal rights in the village had been laid down in 1456 by a "Weistum" (cognate with English "wisdom", this was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages and early modern times), which swept all orally handed-down principles aside. While the holders of the village lordship over Bretzenheim and Winzenheim lived at their castles and palaces outside Bretzenheim and had their rights exercised through an "Amtmann", Emich Count of Falkenstein actually resided in Bretzenheim from 1589 to 1620, and even had a "Schloss" built, although this was largely destroyed in the Thirty Years' War. Later, the Count of Velen built a new "Schloss" wing, and his successor expanded the complex, which nowadays is still mostly preserved in the village centre. Bretzenheim earned itself a measure of infamy after the Second World War. On parts of Bretzenheim’s municipal area from 1945 to 1948 lay a prisoner-of-war camp, the so-called "Feld des Jammers" (“Field of Misery”), one of the "Rheinwiesenlager". A monument at the site nowadays commemorates this camp and its occupants.
"Field of Misery".
Standing today on "Bundesstraße" 48 (Naheweinstraße), between Bretzenheim and Bad Kreuznach, is a memorial at the site where once lay a notorious prison camp from April 1945 to late 1948, one that was known throughout Germany as the “Field of Misery” ("Feld des Jammers"). It was not exactly a prisoner-of-war camp, for it had been decided by SHAEF commander in chief Dwight D. Eisenhower that the Wehrmacht soldiers being kept there were to be treated as “Disarmed Enemy Forces” rather than prisoners of war so that they would not be covered by the Geneva Convention, because of the logistical impossibility of feeding millions of surrendered German soldiers at the levels required by the Geneva Convention during the food crisis of 1945. The broad camp, which spread out behind and to both sides of where the memorial now stands, and all the way to the vineyards, had an area of 210 to 220 ha, divided into 24 “cages”. At times, it contained more than 100,000 prisoners. From late April until 10 July 1945, it was under the command of the United States Army, and then from July 1945 to 31 December 1948, having been reduced to only 32 ha, under French occupational authority, first as a camp for war prisoners, and as of October 1945 as a transit camp ("Dépôt de transit no.1"). Hundreds of thousands of prisoners funnelled through this camp, with some being released to return to their homelands, and others being transported to France for forced labour. A horrifyingly great number of prisoners did not survive the camp, dying of hunger or falling victim to illness. The exact number of deaths cannot be determined. All figures are speculation. Admission today is free, and there are guided tours for those who wish them. Records take the form of documents, reports, journals, drawings, photographs, artefacts, handbills, placards and experiential accounts.
Jewish history.
Bretzenheim had a Jewish community until about 1900. It arose sometime in the 18th century. Even so, as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, there were individual Jews in the village. In 1537, “Jud Salomon” (“Jud” meaning “Jew”) was named, who had leased the former “Falkensteiner Hof” (“Falkenstein Estate”, which stood on a former street called the Nahegasse, now at Große Straße 31, where the narrow sidestreet Winkel meets it), where he is believed to have dealt in wine. Also in the lists of 1550 and 1555/1556 dealing with the Jews who lived in the Electorate of the Palatinate territory, “Salomon von Berzenum” (Berzenum being Bretzenheim) is named. Beginning in 1665, Jews or Jewish families are once again named in the accounts of the Velen comital "Amt" administration. According to those, there were three Jewish households in Bretzenheim, in 1669 two, in 1675 one, in 1680 two, in 1709 three, in 1720 four and in 1730 seven. The records actually name, among others, a woman called Hanna in Bretzenheim, who after an attack by soldiers on Bretzenheim in October 1675 was robbed. The account of this mentions a loss of a great deal of "Krämerware" (“general wares”), suggesting that she ran a general store in the village. In 1698, “Jud Abraham” was named and in 1700 “Jud Eysick” (Isaak). In the 18th century, the village Jewish families’ importance grew. In financial houses, in livestock dealing and commodity trading, Jewish inhabitants played an important role. In 1733, the following Jewish family heads were named: Moyses, Davidt, Hertz, Löser, Mayer and Seeligmann. In the years that followed, several Jewish families from other places moved to Bretzenheim. In 1795, nine Jewish families with all together 49 persons were living in the village: Löw Isaac with wife and four children, Majer Löser with wife and three children, Feist Henz with wife and four children, Joseph Abraham with wife, four children and one servant, Majer Moses (widowed) with five children, David with wife, Affron Raphael with wife and five children, Seeligmann Moses with wife and one child. Bretzenheim's Jewish inhabitants then made up 8.33% of the village's total population. In the 19th century, the Jewish population figures developed as follows: in 1808 some 40 Jewish inhabitants; 41 in 1843 (4.44% of all together 922 inhabitants); 22 in 1858 (2.36% of 931); 15 in 1895 (1.64% of 911). In 1808, Bretzenheim's Jewish inhabitants assumed permanent family names. These were Hirsch, Lui, Maier, Mühlstein, Scheier, Stern, Laub and Blum. Already by then, the Jewish families lived in the midst of Christian and other Jewish families right in the village. In 1853, the following Jewish household heads were named: Moses Löb (fruit broker), Abraham Schweig (wine and fruit dealer), Heinrich Schweig's wife (butcher’s trade) and Emrich Schweig (butcher’s trade). In village life, the Jewish families were most thoroughly integrated. They participated as a matter of course in general club life. Between 1848 and 1875, at least five Jewish men, each for six years, were members of the village “fire-quenching team”. When, in 1900, this grew into the Bretzenheim volunteer fire brigade, Moritz Schweig was the first fire chief. In the way of religious establishments, there were a synagogue, a Jewish school, a mikveh and a . It was in 1774 that a "Judenschule" (“Jews’ school”, that is to say, synagogue) was first mentioned, which was actually more a prayer room than a full synagogue. It is believed to have been housed somewhere about where numbers 4 and 6 on Große Straße are now. The prayer room was forsaken no later than 1895 when the Jewish community in Bretzenheim joined together with those in Langenlonsheim and Laubenheim. Only one member of Bretzenheim's Jewish community fell in the First World War, "Gefreiter" Otto Schweig (b. 19 October 1892 in Bretzenheim, d. 24 October 1918). In 1925, only five Jews were still living in the village. As of 1935, there was only one, Bretzenheim-born Hedwig Graf "née" Schweig, who was married to Heinrich Graf, who was Evangelical, and who managed to survive the Third Reich in the village unmolested. According to the "Gedenkbuch – Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft in Deutschland 1933-1945" (“Memorial Book – Victims of the Persecution of the Jews under National Socialist Tyranny”) and Yad Vashem, of all Jews who either were born in Becherbach or lived there for a long time, none died in the time of the Third Reich.
Population development.
Bretzenheim's population development since Napoleonic times is shown in the table below. The figures for the years from 1871 to 1987 are drawn from census data:
Religion.
As at 31 August 2013, there are 2,559 full-time residents in Bretzenheim, and of those, 905 are Evangelical (35.365%), 976 are Catholic (38.14%), 2 (0.078%) belong to the Old Catholic Church, 3 (0.117%) belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, 158 (6.174%) belong to other religious groups and 515 (20.125%) either have no religion or will not reveal their religious affiliation.
Politics.
Municipal council.
The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
Mayor.
Bretzenheim's mayor is Thomas Gleichmann (CDU), and his deputies are Hardy Hollinka (CDU) and Kurt Freis (BBL).
Coat of arms.
The municipality's arms might be described thus: Gules a pretzel Or, on a chief Or four lozenges conjoined in fess throughout of the first.
The arms are apparently canting, for the main charge is a pretzel, and "Brezel", "Bretzel", "Brezl" and "Breze" are all words meaning “pretzel” in German, each one somewhat approximating the first two syllables in the municipality's name, Bretzenheim.
Culture and sightseeing.
Buildings.
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
"Felseneremitage".
Among the wealth of architectural witnesses to Bretzenheim's history, the "Felseneremitage" (or simply "Eremitage", meaning “Hermitage”; "Felsen" means “cliff”), a place of worship wholly hewn out of a cliff that might even date from antiquity, and that underwent a conversion in early Christian times, is held to be the greatest sightseeing feature, and to be unique north of the Alps. It is believed that its origins lie in a prehistoric place of worship or tribunal site, and that the Romans took over the site in that same function. Its Christian character was supposedly acquired by the 6th or 7th century, even if the first documentary mention of a church there dates from 1043. This and all subsequent churches were partly made of chambers hewn into the cliff, and their remnants can still be seen today. The same is so for the rooms that served as hermits’ cells or a monastic convent, which were wholly hewn out of the stone. The one such dwelling that can still be visited now (90 m²) was for a time home to several hermits or a convent of a cliffside monastery. The last dwellers, between 1716 and 1827, were hermits, who after a long vacancy had once again created here a pilgrimage place known far beyond the borders. The last hermit died in 1827, after 51 “years of service” at the age of 82. The complex can be visited throughout the year without the need of a guided tour.
Jewish graveyard.
The Jewish graveyard in Bretzenheim might have been laid out as long ago as the 17th century. It was supposedly expanded sometime towards the middle of the 18th century. Other information, however, points to the graveyard's beginnings falling in “Prussian times” (after the Congress of Vienna and before Unification, and thus between 1815 and 1871), especially as the graveyard's area is precisely one Prussian "Morgen". The oldest preserved gravestone bears the date 25 November 1863, whereas the newest bears the date 24 September 1932. Still preserved at the graveyard are ten single graves and three double graves. In the time of the Third Reich, the graveyard was not removed: the then mayor, Karl Schmidt, after statements made by Hedwig Graf "née" Schweig, a Jewish woman married to an Evangelical man and who survived the Nazis in Bretzenheim, opposed the authorities’ demands to obliterate the graveyard. Nevertheless, in 1941/1942, the gravestones were overturned, some of them were stolen, and then in the village they were used as flooring or paving stones. In early 1945, 38 concentration camp prisoners were buried at the graveyard, having died as part of a group of some 500 other prisoners who found themselves doing forced labour in the Bad Kreuznach area towards the end of the war. These prisoners were nationals of various European nations, and some were prisoners of war. They had to do their work, commanded by an SS building brigade, under catastrophic living and dietary conditions. Many died of hunger or illnesses, or were murdered. The people who had been buried at the Bretzenheim Jewish graveyard were exhumed and newly buried at a graveyard of honour at the Bad Kreuznach town cemetery in October 1948, and then in August 1952 at their own graveyard of honour, one for the victims of fascism at the French cemetery. The Bretzenheim Jewish graveyard had to be reconstructed in January 1946 – by former Nazi Party members. Overturned gravestones were once again set upright, trees were trimmed, hedges were removed and the path was made passable once more. In 1951, the graveyard was transferred to the Jewish worship community for the districts of Kreuznach and Birkenfeld. In 1959, the makeshift fence that had been standing at the graveyard was replaced with a trelliswork fence and a closeable gate was installed. The graveyard's area is, according to different sources, 2 186 or 2 255 m², the latter being one Prussian "Morgen". The graveyard lies at the municipal limit between Bretzenheim and Bad Kreuznach in the zone known as “Johanneshohl” (in the rural cadastral area called “Auf dem Galgen”).
Economy and infrastructure.
Education.
Bretzenheim has at its disposal a daycare centre, which is certified as a "Bewegungskindergarten" (one that emphasizes physical activity as a paedagogical tool), with four groups, among them a “nest group” for children under three years old. There is also a primary school with more than 100 pupils.
Winegrowing.
Bretzenheim belongs to the “Nahetal” winegrowing area, itself part of the Nahe wine region. Active in the village are 11 winegrowing operations, and the area of planted vineyards is 112 ha. Some 64% of the grapes grown are white wine varieties (as of 2007). In 1979, there were still 36 winegrowing operations, although the vineyard area was only 94 ha.
Established businesses.
Daily needs are ensured by three grocery markets, one clothing discounter, one hairdresser, one florist's shop, two bakeries with cafés, eleven winemakers, one hotel with a restaurant, two inns, many bed and breakfast rooms and flats, four medical practices and one veterinary clinic.
Media.
Located in Bretzenheim is Germany's first "Pfarrradio" (“parish radio station”): Studio Nahe is run by the Catholic parish of Bretzenheim and broadcasts church services and beginning at 10:00 on Saturday a local programme. Domradio Köln (“Cathedral Radio Cologne”) is the standby programme when Studio Nahe has no programme of its own to broadcast. The transmitter lies beneath the churchtower at Nativity of Mary Parish Church and sends its programme on 87.9 MHz with an output of 160 W (vertically polarized), reaching from Bad Kreuznach as far as Bingen am Rhein.
Transport.
At Bretzenheim's disposal is a very favourable transport infrastructure with its railway station on the Regionalbahn line serving Bingen am Rhein, Bad Kreuznach and Kaiserslautern (Nahe Valley Railway), three stops on the RNN regional bus network serving Stromberg and Bad Kreuznach, and the nearby link to the Autobahnen A 61 and A 63. Running through the village is "Bundesstraße" 48. The district seat of Bad Kreuznach borders directly on Bretzenheim's municipal area and can also be reached easily on the "Naheradweg" (cycle path) between Bingen and Nahequelle (“Source of the Nahe”) near Selbach in the Saarland. The state capitals of Mainz and Wiesbaden, too, as well as Frankfurt Airport and Frankfurt-Hahn Airport can be quickly reached by the good Autobahn and highway links.


Karl Felsko

Karl Johann Felsko (; — 1919) was an architect and son of chief architect of Riga Johann Daniel Felsko. He was one of the leading architects during the building boom in Riga in the late 19th and early 20th century. There were more than 115 multi-story apartment and public buildings, factories and other buildings built following his designs. He was a master of Eclecticism style. His work, primarily seen in apartment buildings in Riga, included carefully placed filigree elements of order, cornices, pediments, garlands, cartouches, herms and more. His productivity decreased a great deal at the beginning of the 20th century with the introduction of Art Nouveau.
Education.
The building arts accompanied Felsko from the cradle; his father was the chief architect of Riga Johann Felsko (1844—79). Karl Felsko received an excellent academic education. He attended the Riga Lutheran Congregational School and worked with his father in his private practice for three years, but, from 1863—65 he attended Siegen School of Architecture in Westphalia, Germany, then went on to continue his studies at the Berlin Architectural Academy and supplemented his experience and skills by working in the private practice of the German architects Hermann von der Hude and Julius Hennicke. From 1866—67 he studied at St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he was awarded the title of Free Artist. Upon returning to Riga he worked as a building inspector in Riga municipality and, at the same time, as an art and drawing instructor at Riga Craftsmen's School. From 1875 to 1887, Felsko was an assistant to the professors Johannes Koch and Gustav Hilbig at Riga Polytechnical Institute.
Career.
Karl Felsko was one of the most productive architects during the building boom in Riga of the late 19th century and early 20th century. The only other architects who built more buildings in Riga were Konstantīns Pēkšēns and Jānis Alksnis. More than 115 multi-storey brick apartment and public buildings, factories, and other buildings were constructed following his designs, as well as a still unknown number of wooden houses. Of these, many has disappeared due to the politics of the city leaders in the 1970s and 1980s, an example would be the beautiful wooden building at 175, Brīvības Street (1898, demolished 1988).
Project portfolio.
It was during the 1880s that an astonishingly productive phase began in the life of this architect. He was a true master of the Eclecticism style. The artistic methods of Eclecticism were a part of him, his body and soul. In this style he reached the level of real professional virtuosity. His buildings can be found on virtually every corner of Riga.
It is difficult to find a place in the center of the city from which one cannot see a building that is the work of Karl Felsko. Many of them are located in the ensemble of boulevards — for example, on 3, 4, 6 and 9, J. Alunāna Street (1897, 1897, 1879 and 1885), 4 and 12, Elizabetes Street (1883 and 1897), 10, O. Kalpaka Boulevard (1884), and other locations. In Old Riga his buildings are: 7 and 12, Smilšu Street (1890 and 1897), 28, Grēcinieku Street (1896), 7 and 21, Vaļņu Street (1894 and 1893) and 13, Šķūņu Street (1894). The latter; like many others in Old Riga, were created by reconstruction of an old building. The building at 18, Kaļķu Street (1884), for example, gained two upper floors, while preserving the invaluable Baroque elements and details on the lower part of the building.
From 1889 to 1891 a simple two-storey building next to the famous House of the Blackheads, which belonged to tradesman E. Schmidt, was reconstructed by Felsko. He created a high and very ornate pediment, rich in plasticity, directly facing the Riga City Hall. Its silhouette was similar to that of the Blackheads' House, but with a distinctly different architectural finish. This building was rented out by Schmidt to the Schwabe Co., and thus became the Schwabe House to the people. This building was a most characteristic example of Eclecticism, displaying rhythmically intertwined stylised motives from Antique and Renaissance architecture and accented horizontal cornices, which were in a distinct contrast to the vertical arrangements of the Gothic niches of the Blackheads' House.
Next to the City Hall on former 11, Svērtuves Street, used to be another Felsko masterpiece — the Jaksch trade building (1900—01), designed and built in collaboration with the architect Karl Neuburger; which was, in its day, the only modern department store in the whole city. This building has also been destroyed, but older residents of Riga still remember its ornate ceramic tile mural, designed by the Nuremberg architect Theodor Eyrich. It had a steel structure, and one of the first electric elevators in Riga.
Felsko's work incorporated many innovations in the building arts of his day. For example, the apartment block he designed at 25, Krišjāņa Street or 26, Blaumaņa Street (1896) was one of the first buildings whose plans were very close to the section-type buildings produced still in the 1980s. Mostly though, Felsko designed and constructed apartment buildings. Some of these were the home of the wealthy and elite residents of the city — villas, such as the businessman Dāvis Ezītis' house at 59, Elizabetes Street (1889), 9, Aristīda Briāna Street (1883 and 1889) or the villa at 37, Slokas Street (1892), which belonged to the owner of the "Herminghaus und Woormann" machine factory. A similar architectural approach is to be found in the building that belonged to the businessman Richard Chromse, which is located at 25, Baznīcas Street (1897), and has sculptural ornamentations designed by the popular Riga artist August Volz. This is similar to other buildings designed by Felsko — at 27/29, Krišjāņa Valdemāra Street (1902), 3, Elizabetes Street (1899), 36, Lāčplēša Street (1900), 49, Ģertrūdes Street (1906) and some others. These are all multi-storey brick apartment buildings, which effectively reflect the architectural style and character of the cityscape in the latter half of the 19th century. Another contribution in this sphere by Felsko is the series of apartment buildings at 157, 173, 193 and 195, Brīvības Street ( 1898, 1897, 1898 and 1895), 9, 55, 71, 111, 117 and 123, Dzirnavu Street (1880, 1881, 1883, 1896, 1884 and 1887), 24, 26 and 75, Elizabetes Street (1897, 1897 and 1890), and 1, 4 and 5, Marijas Street (1884, 1896 and 1895). The second half of the 19th century in Riga's architectural history is often referred to as the period of apartment buildings.
Late Eclecticism.
The increase in protruding and voluminous details was a distinguishing symptom in the development of Eclecticism in its later period. The most characteristic works by Felsko in this period are the already mentioned apartment buildings at 25, Baznīcas Street and 27/29, Krišjāņa Valdemāra Street, as well as the buildings at 43, Dzirnavu Street (1898), 3, Elizabetes Street (1899), 22, 39 and 49, Ģertrūdes Street (1897, 1899 and 1906), 1 and 1a, A. Kalniņa Street (both 1895), and 13 and 36, Lāčplēša Street (both 1900). The facades of these buildings are like fantastic paintings with very carefully placed filigree elements of orders, cornices, pediments, garlands, cartouches, herms and many other elements of architectural and decorative finish. The reproduction of older, historical means of expression, on which the Eclecticism style was based, is, for the most part, centered on the free interpretation of the forms of the Renaissance; however, it is also possible to encounter Neo-Gothic and other Neo-styles. Neo-Gothicism, in Felsko's interpretation, can be seen on the apartment buildings at 8, Merķeļa Street (1882), and partly on the former pumping station at 194, Maskavas Street (1897). The latter building can be classified also as an example of a specific sub-style of Eclecticism, the so-called brick style. Another example of it is the Krüger water therapy institution at 18, Baznīcas Street (1884), or a whole series of factory buildings by Felsko — for example, the former Russian-Rhine lead paint factory at 130, Krišjāņa Barona Street (1902—17), the Phoenix carriage and machine factory at 201, Brīvības Street (1895), and others. Felsko had an excellent understanding of various finishing materials. At times, he intertwined bricks with details molded from cement. Such touches are found at the former riding hall at 8, Strēlnieku Street (1895), the city orphan's home at 8, Zeļļu Street (1888; in collaboration with architect Karl Neuburger), the gas holder at 106, Matisa Street (1901), and others. Strict, heavily rustic formal language of the Florentine Renaissance style was employed in the designs of the former Zigra bath-houses at 10, Vaļņu Street (1887), the apartment house at 4, Basteja Boulevard (1898), and several other facades of his buildings.
Art Nouveau.
At the beginning of the 20th century, during the blooming of Art Nouveau, the incredible productivity of Felsko visibly decreased. The creative method of the new style was too far from and foreign to his artistic thinking and approach, even though, already in 1897, the design of the apartment building at 41/43, Tērbatas Street anticipated ornamental elements in the forms of Art Nouveau. These ideas, however, did not materialise or develop further, but in 1903 a very imposing building appeared at 28, Blaumaņa Street. Its Neo-Gothic facade ornamentation was interwoven with a multitude of monsters, birds, chimeras, bears, masks, and other typically Art Nouveau decorations and metalwork. The building successfully accentuates the crossing of Pērses and Blaumaņa Streets, and there is a small forecourt on Krišjāņa Barona Street.
The above-mentioned items constitute only a small portion of what the architect achieved for his city in his very busy and productive life and career. Before World War I, together with Eižens Laube and Wilhelm Bockslaff, he was one of three Riga Building Board official advisers dealing with the questions of architecture.


Charles van Straubenzee

General Sir Charles Thomas van Straubenzee (17 February 1812 – 10 August 1892), was a British Army officer. He served as Commander of British Troops in China and Hong Kong, and Governor of Malta.
Military career.
Van Straubenzee was born at Fort Ricasoli, Malta, in 1812, as the second son of Thomas van Straubenzee (1782–1843), a Royal Artillery major, of Spennithorne, Yorkshire, and his wife Maria, youngest daughter of Major Henry Bowen.
A member of an old and distinguished military family, Van Straubenzee was commissioned into the Ceylon Rifle Regiment in 1828. He transferred to the 39th Regiment of Foot in 1833, and, during the Gwalior campaign, he took part in the Battle of Maharajpore in 1843; he took temporary command of his regiment when its commanding officer was wounded and brought the regiment out of action.
In 1846, he transferred to 3rd Battalion the Buffs of which he became commanding officer in 1851, and fought in the Crimean War commanding the 1st Brigade of the Light Division, and taking part in both assaults on the Redan during the Siege of Sevastopol.
In 1857, Van Straubenzee became Commander British Forces in Hong Kong and led an attack on Canton during the Second Opium War. In 1862, he was made general officer commanding a Division of the Bombay Army at Ahmedabad and subsequent took overall command of the Bombay Army.
He was colonel of the 47th Regiment of Foot from 1865 to 1867, and of the 39th Regiment of Foot from 1867, until they became part of the Dorset Regiment in 1881, after which he continued as colonel of the 2nd Battalion until 1892. Van Straubenzee became Governor of Malta in 1872.
Van Straubenzee is buried at St Mary the Virgin's Churchyard near Bath, Somerset.
Family.
He married Charlotte Louisa Richardson in 1841, daughter of General John Luther Richardson.


Duchy of Rome

The Duchy of Rome () was a state within the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. Like other Byzantine states in Italy, it was ruled by an imperial functionary with the title "dux". The duchy often came into conflict with the Papacy over supremacy within Rome. The duchy was founded by the conquest of Emperor Justinian I in 533 AD. After the founding of the Papal States in 751, the title of Duke of Rome fell into disuse.
History.
The Duchy of Rome was founded by Justinian in approximately 533 AD as part of the Byzantine conquest of Italy. The Duchy was secured in the outcome of the Gothic War. The city of Rome itself was the subject of multiple battles before the campaign ended in Byzantine victory and possession of most of the Italian peninsula.
Within the exarchate, the two chief districts were the country about Ravenna where the exarch was the centre of Byzantine opposition to the Lombards, and the Duchy of Rome, which embraced the lands of Latium north of the Tiber and of Campania to the south as far as the Garigliano. There the Pope led the opposition to the Lombards.
Because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been called the "last Roman" in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the partial recovery of the territories of the defunct western Roman empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, extending Roman control to the Atlantic Ocean in 533. Subsequently, Belisarius, Narses, and other generals conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the empire after more than half a century of rule by the Ostrogoths.
Importance of Rome to Byzantine Italy.
The strategic importance of the Duchy of the Pentapolis (Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia, Ancona) and Perugia were in their ability to retain control of the districts between Ravenna and Rome, and with them communication over the Apennine Mountains. If this strategic connection were broken, it was evident that Rome and Ravenna could not singly maintain themselves for any length of time. This was also recognized by the Lombards. The same narrow strip of land broke the connection between their Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento and the main portion of the king's territories in the north. The Lombards made multiple attacks against this front to wrest control of the peninsula from the Byzantines.
Lombard attacks and increase in papal responsibility.
In 728 the Lombard King Liutprand took the Castle of Sutri, which dominated the highway at Nepi on the road to Perugia. However, Liutprand, softened by the entreaties of Pope Gregory II, restored Sutri "as a gift to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul".
This expression of the "Liber pontificalis" was erroneously interpreted to mean that in this gift the beginning of the States of the Church was to be recognized. This is incorrect inasmuch as the Popes continued to acknowledge the imperial government, and Greek officials appeared in Rome for some time longer. It is true, however, that here for the first time the association of ideas on which the States of the Church were to be constructed is met. The Pope asked the Lombards for the return of Sutri for the sake of the Princes of the Apostles and threatened punishment by these sainted protectors. The pious Liutprand was undoubtedly susceptible to such pleas, but never to any consideration for the Greeks. For this reason he gave Sutri to Peter and Paul, that he might not expose himself to their punishment. What the Pope then did with it would be immaterial to him.
The belief that the Roman territory (at first in the more restricted, but afterwards also in the wider sense) was defended by the Prince of the Apostles became more and more prevalent. In 738 the Lombard duke Transamund II of Spoleto captured the Castle of Gallese, which protected the road to Perugia to the north of Nepi. Pope Gregory III made a large payment to the duke to restore the castle to him. The pope then sought an alliance with Duke Transamund to protect himself against Liutprand. However, Liutprand conquered Spoleto, besieged Rome, laid waste the Duchy of Rome, and seized four important frontier fortresses (Blera, Orte, Bomarzo, and Amelia), thereby cutting off communication with Perugia and Ravenna.
This caused the pope in 739 to turn for the first time to the powerful Frankish kingdom, under the protection of which Boniface had begun his successful labours as a missionary in Germany. He sent to Charles Martel, "the powerful mayor of the palace" of the Frankish monarchy and the commander of the Franks in the famous battle at Tours, undoubtedly with the consent of the Greek dux, and appealed to him to protect the tomb of the Apostle. Charles Martel replied to the embassy and acknowledged the gifts, but was unwilling to offer aid against the Lombards, who were helping him against the Saracens.
Accordingly, the successor of Gregory III, Pope Zachary, changed the policy that had been previously followed toward the Lombards. He formed an alliance with Liutprand against Transamund, and in 741 received in return the four castles as the result of a personal visit to the camp of the king at Terni. Liutprand also restored a number of patrimonies that had been seized by the Lombards, and furthermore concluded a twenty years' peace with the Pope.
The duchy now had a respite from Lombard attacks. The Lombards fell upon Ravenna, which they had already held from 731 to 735. The Exarch Eutychius had no other recourse than to seek the aid of the pope. Liutprand did in fact allow himself to be induced by Zachary to surrender the greater part of his conquests. Nor was it unimportant that these districts too once owed their rescue to the pope. Only a short time after Liutprand's death in 744, Zachary was successful in further postponing the catastrophe.
Fall of the exarchate - Donation of Pepin.
In 751 the Exarchate of Ravenna fell to the Lombards under King Aistulf. Rome, under Pope Stephen II, attempted diplomatic negotiations with Aistulf, and upon the failure of those negotiations, entreated King Pepin the Short of the Franks to intervene on its behalf. Pepin defeated the Lombards by 756 and granted the lands of the Duchy of Rome as well as the former Lombard possessions to the Papacy in what is referred to as the Donation of Pepin, marking the true beginning of the Papal States.
Dukes.
The dukes were initially appointees of the exarch, but by mid-century they were created by the Pope.
The office of Duke of Rome disappeared around 778–81, but there are scattered references to dukes among the Papal officers, who may be successors of the dukes of Rome:


Trilek Castle

Trilek Castle ( or "Graščina Trilek"), also known as Old Castle (), is a small castle or fort in the settlement of Col, in the Municipality of Ajdovščina in southwest Slovenia. Built in the early 16th century, it was first mentioned in the 17th-century historian Johann Weikhard von Valvasor's 1689 survey "The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola".
The castle consists of a small tower and two annexes. Although generally intact, it is in poor condition and unsafe to enter due to instability of the ceilings and walls.
A tower and part of castle's enceinte remain. The castle was owned by the Abramsberg noble family, which lived in Šturje. A stone Roman milestone with a dedication to Julian the Apostate was discovered in the castle in the 19th century; the milestone is now kept at the National Museum of Slovenia in Ljubljana. Roman coins dating to the second century AD were also found at the castle, and it was later used for defensive purposes against Ottoman attacks.


Coat of arms of Baden

The coat of arms of Baden comes from the personal arms of the Margraves and Grand Dukes of Baden, the traditional rulers of the region. Following the revolution and abolition of the Grand Duchy in 1918, the arms and griffin supporters were usurped from the Grand Dukes by the new republic to represent the people and country.
Baden entered as a state of the Weimar Republic the year following the revolution, and subsequently went through several changes and redistricting after World War II. Baden is today part of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, where one can still see the arms of Baden represented in the coat of arms of Baden-Württemberg, as a badge atop the modern federal state's arms.
History.
The House of Baden is a junior branch of the House of Zähringen, which itself is related to the Hohenstaufen family, and was founded by Hermann I of Baden, The Margrave of Verona, son of Berthold I, The Duke of Carinthia, in the eleventh century. The arms of the house of Zähringen share the same tinctures with its junior branch, though they display a red eagle on a yellow shield. The first picture of the coat of arms with the bend dates from the year 1243, but it may have already been in use before this. The Wijnbergen Armorial, compiled from the years 1265 to 1270, lists the arms of ""le margreue de badene" as "d'or à la bande de gueules"." The supporting griffins were later added by margrave Phillip I in 1528.


Arrondissement de Cologne

The Arrondissement de Cologne was an administrative district of the Département de la Roer from 1798 to 1814 which was subdivided into cantons.
History.
Occupation, annexation and incorporation.
The occupation of areas left of the Rhine by French revolutionary troops occurred in late autumn of 1794. This annexation was preemptively recognised by the Peace of Campo Formio (1797) and later finalised in the Peace of Lunéville (1801).
The structural area regulations from within this intermittent period were based largely on the plans and proposals for a reorganization of the conquered territories, which were developed by the Government Commissioner and Judge of the Court of Cassation, François Joseph Rudler. The areas to be incorporated into the Republic of France were then organised into Départements, much like the French provinces had been post-1789, abolishing the present forms of feudal regional administration causing a gradual assimilation of the Rhenish to the French legal system.
The peace treaty of Lunéville in 1801 created a legal basis for the annexation of the new Rhenish départements formally carried out on September 23, 1802.
Governance and reforms.
Among the most significant aspects of the reorganisation was the introduction of the département's constitution in 1789. The conquered territory had been subdivided into four départements whose administration consisted of five members of a specially created directorate. One of these members was elected President on a yearly basis, without the possibility for more than one consecutive term. Below this level of government were the cantons, which, along with their municipalities, formed the next level of administration. The municipal administrations were led by municipal agents, recruited from constituent settlements. Both levels of government, departmental and cantonal administrations, were monitored by government commissioners.
The Napoleonic reform in February of this year, which came into force in May 1800, formed the management structure of a centralized and hierarchically-structured organisation.. Leading the départements, the territories of which remained unchanged, were prefects assisted by prefectural and general councils. The latter were responsible for the judiciary and taxation-related affairs.
The départements were now further subdivided into arrondissements, led by subprefects, who were in turn assisted by arrondissement councils.
Changes also occurred on a local level. Within the cantons, the large number of parishes, often composed of small settlements, experienced a decrease in number as ordered by the prefecture: They were united into "Mairies" . The respective Maire, to whom a municipal council was assigned, was subordinate to the subprefect inasmuch as the latter was subordinate to the prefect.


Latgalian Christian Peasant and Catholic Party

The Latgalian Christian Peasant and Catholic Party () was a Christian centrist political party in Latvia during the inter-war period. It was the largest party in the Latgale region, and was led by the bishop Jāzeps Rancāns.
History.
Created in January 1920, immediately after the end of Latvian War of Independence as Christian Union of Latgale Peasants, the party won six seats in the 1920 Constitutional Assembly elections, becoming the joint fourth-largest party in the Constitutional Assembly. It retained its six seats in the 1st Saeima after the 1922 elections, but after changing its name to the Christian Peasants Party, it was reduced to five seats in the 1925 elections. It returned to six seats following the 1928 elections, and won eight seats in the 4th Saeima after the 1931 elections. In August 1933, it changed name to Christian Peasants and Catholics Party.
Ideology.
Although the party had a similar platform to the Latvian Farmers' Union and the Christian National Union, it was mainly focussed on the needs of the Catholic population of Latgale. It supported providing compensation to dispossessed landlords, and also supported a Baltic Entente, although it was opposed to any Polish involvement.


Krempachy

Krempachy , (, , ) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowy Targ, within Nowy Targ County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately east of Nowy Targ and south of the regional capital Kraków.
The village has a population of 1,200.
It is one of the 14 villages in the Polish part of the historical region of Spiš (Polish: "Spisz"). It was probably established in the 14th century but was first mentioned in a written document in 1439.


Chozhi-Chu

Chozhi-Chu (, ) was a rural locality (a "selo") in Achkhoy-Martanovsky District, Chechnya.
Geography.
Chozhi-Chu was located at the confluence of the Chozh River into the Nitkhi River. It was located to the south of the district center, Achkhoy-Martan.
The nearest settlements to Chozhi-Chu were Bamut in the north-west, Stary Achkhoy in the north, Yandi in the north-east, and Shalazhi in the east.
History.
In 1944, after the genocide and deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people and the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was abolished, the village of Chozhi-Chu was renamed to Vysokogornoye, and settled by people from other ethnic groups. From 1944 to 1957, it was a part of the Novoselsky District of Grozny Oblast.
In 1958, after the Vaynakh people returned and the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was restored, the village regained its old name, Chozhi-Chu.
In 1976, an earthquake occurred, which destroyed more than half of the households in Chozhi-Chu.
Population.
The village of Chozhi-Chu is displayed as a residential settlement on the map from 1988. The village was probably abandoned by residents in the 1990s. Currently, no structures or signs of population are visible on satellite images at the site of the village.
There is no known population data for Chozhi-Chu.


List of wars involving North Macedonia

This is a list of wars involving the Republic of North Macedonia (before 2019: Republic of Macedonia).