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Bern Town Hall
The Bern Town Hall (german: Rathaus Bern) is the building in Bern, Switzerland that houses the Grand Council of Bern (german: Grosser Rat, french: Grand conseil), the Executive Council of Bern (german: Regierungsrat, french: Conseil-éxecutif) and the Grand Council of the City of Bern. The building is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Old City (Bern), Old City of Berne and is a Swiss Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance, heritage site of national significance. Function The Grand Council of the Canton of Bern meets in the town hall five times per year for about two weeks per session. While the Grand Council is in session, the cantonal flag flies above the town hall. The Executive Council of the Canton of Bern meets in the town hall generally weekly. The Grand Council of the City of Bern meets in the town hall every other Thursday. The town hall has regular guided tours of the building. Many of the rooms may also be rented by the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gothic Architecture
Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. It originated in the Île-de-France and Picardy regions of northern France. The style at the time was sometimes known as ''opus Francigenum'' (lit. French work); the term ''Gothic'' was first applied contemptuously during the later Renaissance, by those ambitious to revive the architecture of classical antiquity. The defining design element of Gothic architecture is the pointed or ogival arch. The use of the pointed arch in turn led to the development of the pointed rib vault and flying buttresses, combined with elaborate tracery and stained glass windows. At the Abbey of Saint-Denis, near Paris, the choir was reconstructed between 1140 and 1144, draw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) because they are the most resistant minerals to weathering processes at the Earth's surface. Like uncemented sand, sandstone may be any color due to impurities within the minerals, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, certain colors of sandstone have been strongly identified with certain regions. Rock formations that are primarily composed of sandstone usually allow the percolation of water and other fluids and are porous enough to store large quantities, making them valuable aquifers and petroleum reservoirs. Quartz-bearing sandstone can be changed into quartzite through metamorphism, usually related to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oriel Window
An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found projecting from an upper floor but is also sometimes used on the ground floor. Oriel windows are seen in Arab architecture in the form of mashrabiya and in Turkish are known as ''şahnişin'' or ''cumba''. In Islamic culture, these windows and balconies project from the street-front of a house, providing an area in which women could peer out and see the activities below while remaining invisible. Origins According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the term ''oriel'' is derived from Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman ' and Late Latin ', both meaning "gallery" or "porch", perhaps from Classical Latin ' ("curtain"). * Oriel College, Oxford, took its name from a balcony or oriel window forming a feature of a building which occupied the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baroque Architecture
Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the early 17th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to combat the Reformation and the Protestant church with a new architecture that inspired surprise and awe. It reached its peak in the High Baroque (1625–1675), when it was used in churches and palaces in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Bavaria and Austria. In the Late Baroque period (1675–1750), it reached as far as Russia and the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Latin America. About 1730, an even more elaborately decorative variant called Rococo appeared and flourished in Central Europe. Baroque architects took the basic elements of Renaissance architecture, including domes and colonnades, and made them higher, grander, more decorated, and more dramatic. The interior effects were often achieved with the use of ''quadratura'', or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cross-window
A cross-window is a window whose lights are defined by a mullion and a transom, forming a cross.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture'', 2nd ed., OUP, Oxford and New York, p. 214. . The Late Gothic cross-window is known since the 14th century and replaced the hitherto common Romanesque or Gothic arched window on buildings. Since then the latter have almost exclusively been reserved for church buildings. The two, upper lights were usually somewhat smaller than the two lower ones and could be opened separately. The latter is also true for a transom window, which has a horizontal bar or transom separating the lights. Design Characteristically the rectangular window is divided into four individual lights by a mullion and transom in the form of a Latin cross. The window cross was original made of stone ('stone cross-window'); not until the Renaissance and Baroque periods did the timber cross-window emerge (e. g. on the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amtsbezirke
Amtsbezirk is a German language designation for a country subdivision. It was used in Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ... from 1874 until 1945 and in the canton of Bern before 1 January 2010. Types of administrative division {{Germany-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subdivisions Of The Canton Of Bern
On 1 January 2010, the 26 districts (german: Amtsbezirke, french: districts) were combined into 10 new precincts (german: Verwaltungskreise, french: arrondissement administratif): They are grouped into five regions (german: Verwaltungsregionen). The existence of the 26 districts remains through the laws and Constitution of the Canton of Berne (Art.3 al.2 Cst) and coexists with the new 10 precincts (german: Verwaltungskreise, french: arrondissement administratif). there were 338 municipalities of the canton of Bern. Precincts 2010 Districts The canton of Bern is also subdivided into 26 districts (german: Amtsbezirke; french: districts), which have no more administrative or political significance since the introduction of the new larger administrative subdivisions listed above. The districts are: *Aarberg with capital Aarberg *Aarwangen with capital Aarwangen *Bern with capital Bern *Biel with capital Biel * Büren with capital Büren an der Aare * Burgdorf with capital B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portal (architecture)
A portal is an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, especially a grand entrance to an important structure. Doors, metal gates, or portcullis in the opening can be used to control entry or exit. The surface surrounding the opening may be made of simple building materials or decorated with ornamentation. The elements of a portal can include the voussoir, tympanum, an ornamented mullion or ''trumeau'' between doors, and columns with carvings of saints in the westwork of a church. Examples File:Baroque portal in Brescia.jpg, Baroque portal of a private palace in Brescia File:Dülmen, St.-Viktor-Kirche, Eingangsportal -- 2021 -- 4504-10.jpg, Wooden portal of the Church of St. Victor in Dülmen File:Porto - Sant Martí de Cedofeita - Façana principal.JPG, Romanesque portal of the Church of São Martinho de Cedofeita, with nested arches File:Hronsky Benadik-Hlavny portal klastorneho kostola.jpg, Gothic portal of the church in Hronský Beňadik File:FI-Tampere-20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Eagle
The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Heraldic eagles can be found throughout world history like in the Achaemenid Empire or in the present Republic of Indonesia. The European post-classical symbolism of the heraldic eagle is connected with the Roman Empire on one hand (especially in the case of the double-headed eagle), and with Saint John the Evangelist on the other. History A golden eagle was often used on the banner of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. Eagle (or the related royal bird ''vareghna'') symbolized '' khvarenah'' (the God-given glory), and the Achaemenid family was associated with eagle (according to legend, Achaemenes was raised by an eagle). The local rulers of Persis in the Seleucid and Parthian eras (3rd-2nd centuries BC) sometimes used an eagle as the finial of their banner. Parthians and Armenians used eagle banners, too. European heraldry In Europe the iconography of the heraldic eagle, as with other heraldic be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coat Of Arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full achievement (heraldry), heraldic achievement, which in its whole consists of a shield, supporters, a crest (heraldry), crest, and a motto. A coat of arms is traditionally unique to an individual person, family, state, organization, school or corporation. The term itself of 'coat of arms' describing in modern times just the heraldic design, originates from the description of the entire medieval chainmail 'surcoat' garment used in combat or preparation for the latter. Roll of arms, Rolls of arms are collections of many coats of arms, and since the early Modern Age centuries, they have been a source of information for public showing and tracing the membership of a nobility, noble family, and therefore its genealogy across tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escutcheon (heraldry)
In heraldry, an escutcheon () is a shield that forms the main or focal element in an Achievement (heraldry), achievement of arms. The word can be used in two related senses. In the first sense, an escutcheon is the shield upon which a coat of arms is displayed. In the second sense, an escutcheon can itself be a charge (heraldry), charge within a coat of arms. Escutcheon shapes are derived from actual shields that were used by knights in combat, and thus are varied and developed by region and by era. Since shields have been regarded as military equipment appropriate for men only, British ladies customarily bear their arms upon a Lozenge (heraldry), lozenge, or diamond-shape, while clergymen and ladies in continental Europe bear their arms upon a Cartouche (design), cartouche, or oval. Other shapes are also in use, such as the roundel (heraldry), roundel commonly used for arms granted to Aboriginal Canadians by the Canadian Heraldic Authority, or the Nguni shield used in Coats of ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with relatively warm summers and chilly winters. Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of central Europe, with a rich history and Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architectures. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and residence of several Holy Roman Emperors, most notably Charles IV (r. 1346–1378). It was an important city to the Habsburg monarchy and Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city played major roles in the Bohemian and the Protestant Reformations, the Thirty Years' War and in 20th-century history as the capital of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars and the post-war Communist era. Prague is home to a number of well-known cultural attractions, many of which survived the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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