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Hansken
__NOTOC__ Hansken (1630 – Florence, 9 November 1655) was a female elephant that became famous in early 17th-century Europe. She toured many countries, demonstrating circus tricks, and influenced many artists including Stefano della Bella, Theodoor van Thulden and notably, Rembrandt. Hansken was born in what was then Ceylon and was brought to Holland in 1637 at the request of Prince Frederick Henry. She was purchased by Cornelis van Groenevelt for 20,000 guilders, who transported her around Europe on tour. Her name is a Dutch diminutive form of the Tamil word ''aanai'', meaning "elephant". Rembrandt saw her in Amsterdam in 1637, and made four sketches of her in chalk. Hansken toured fairs in the Netherlands and Germany. She appeared in Hamburg in 1638, in Bremen in 1640, in Rotterdam in 1641, in Frankfurt in 1646 and 1647, and in Lüneburg in 1650. She was likely in Leipzig in 1649 and 1651. In the 17th century, it was believed that elephants had very advanced intellec ...
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Hansken
__NOTOC__ Hansken (1630 – Florence, 9 November 1655) was a female elephant that became famous in early 17th-century Europe. She toured many countries, demonstrating circus tricks, and influenced many artists including Stefano della Bella, Theodoor van Thulden and notably, Rembrandt. Hansken was born in what was then Ceylon and was brought to Holland in 1637 at the request of Prince Frederick Henry. She was purchased by Cornelis van Groenevelt for 20,000 guilders, who transported her around Europe on tour. Her name is a Dutch diminutive form of the Tamil word ''aanai'', meaning "elephant". Rembrandt saw her in Amsterdam in 1637, and made four sketches of her in chalk. Hansken toured fairs in the Netherlands and Germany. She appeared in Hamburg in 1638, in Bremen in 1640, in Rotterdam in 1641, in Frankfurt in 1646 and 1647, and in Lüneburg in 1650. She was likely in Leipzig in 1649 and 1651. In the 17th century, it was believed that elephants had very advanced intellec ...
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Stefano Della Bella
Stefano della Bella (17 May 1610 – 12 July 1664) was an Italian draughtsman and printmaker known for etchings of a great variety of subjects, including military and court scenes, landscapes, and lively genre scenes. He left 1052 prints, and several thousand drawings, but only one known painting. He was born and died in Florence, Italy. Early life in Florence Della Bella was born at Florence to a family of artists, and was apprenticed to a goldsmith,Chishholm 1911. but became an engraver working briefly under Orazio Vanni and then Cesare Dandini.Massar 1996. He studied etching under Remigio Cantagallina, who had also been the instructor of Jacques Callot.Massar 1968, p. 160. Della Bella's early prints are very similar to those of Callot. When he was seventeen years of age, he presented an etching depicting a banquet in the Palazzo Pitti to the young Giancarlo de' Medici following which della Bella would receive official commissions by the Medici family. In 1630, at the age of ...
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La Specola
The Museum of Zoology and Natural History, best known as La Specola, is an eclectic natural history museum in Florence, central Italy, located next to the Pitti Palace. The name '' Specola'' means observatory, a reference to the astronomical observatory founded there in 1790. It now forms part of the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze. This museum is part of what are now six different collections at four different sites for the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze. History The museum has deep ties with history; parts of the collection can be traced back to the Medici Family. It is known for its collection of wax anatomical models from the 18th century. It is the oldest scientific Museum of Europe. This museum is located in the former Palazzo Torrigani at Via Romana 17, near the Pitti Palace. The Imperial Regio Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale (The Imperial-Royal Museum for Physics and Natural History) was founded in 1771 by Grand Duke Peter Leopold to publicly display the lar ...
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Elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea. The order was formerly much more diverse during the Pleistocene, but most species became extinct during the Late Pleistocene epoch. Distinctive features of elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, pillar-like legs, and tough but sensitive skin. The trunk is used for breathing, bringing food and water to the mouth, and grasping objects. Tusks, which are derived from the incisor teeth, serve both as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. The large ear flaps assist in maintaining a constant body temperature as well as in communication. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears, and convex or level backs. Elephants ...
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Lüneburg
Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called Lunenburg ( ) in English, is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic city, Hamburg, and belongs to that city's wider metropolitan region. The capital of the district which bears its name, it is home to roughly 77,000 people. Lüneburg's urban area, which includes the surrounding communities of Adendorf, Bardowick, Barendorf and Reppenstedt, has a population of around 103,000. Lüneburg has been allowed to use the title " Hansestadt" (''Hanseatic Town'') in its name since 2007, in recognition of its membership in the former Hanseatic League. Lüneburg is also home to Leuphana University. History ImageSize = width:1050 height:100 PlotArea = width:1000 height:50 left:50 bottom ...
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Piazza Della Signoria
Piazza della Signoria () is a w-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is the main point of the origin and history of the Florentine Republic and still maintains its reputation as the political focus of the city. It is the meeting place of Florentines as well as the numerous tourists, located near Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza del Duomo and gateway to Uffizi Gallery. Buildings The impressive 14th-century Palazzo Vecchio is still preeminent with its crenellated tower. The square is also shared with the Loggia della Signoria, the Uffizi Gallery, the Palace of the Tribunale della Mercanzia (1359) (now the Bureau of Agriculture), and the Palazzo Uguccioni (1550, with a facade attributed to Raphael, who however died thirty years before its construction). Located in front of the Palazzo Vecchio is the Palace of the Assicurazioni Generali (1871, built in Renaissance style). Pa ...
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Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico anno 2013, datISTAT/ref> Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered by many academics to have been the birthplace of the Renaissance, becoming a major artistic, cultural, commercial, political, economic and financial center. During this time, Florence rose to a position of enormous influence in Italy, Europe, and beyond. Its turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city served as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy (established in 1861). The Florentine dialect forms the base of Standard Italian and it became the language of culture throughout Ital ...
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Bregenz
Bregenz (; gsw, label= Vorarlbergian, Breagaz ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switzerland in the west and Germany in the northwest. Bregenz is located on a plateau falling in a series of terraces to the lake at the foot of Pfänder mountain. It is a junction of the arterial roads from the Rhine valley to the German Alpine foothills, with cruise ship services on Lake Constance. It is famous for the annual summer music festival ''Bregenzer Festspiele'', as well as the dance festival ''Bregenzer Spring''. History The first settlements date from 1500 BC. The Brigantii are mentioned by Strabo as a Celtic sub-tribe in this region of the Alps. In the 5th century BC, the Celts settled at Brigantion, which became one of their most heavily fortified locations. After a series of battles in 15 BC, the Romans conquered Brigantion ...
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Solothurn
Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the Capital (political), capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains. The town is the only municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of the Solothurn (district), district of the same name. The town got its name from Salodurum, a Roman-era settlement. From 1530 to 1792 it was the seat of the France, French ambassador (diplomacy), ambassador to Switzerland. The pedestrian-only old town was built between 1530 and 1792 and shows an impressive array of Baroque architecture, combining Italian Grandezza, French style, and Swiss ideas. The town has eighteen structures listed as heritage sites. The official language of Solothurn is (the Swiss variety of Standard) Swiss Standard German, German, but the main spoken ...
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Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 434,335 inhabitants, the Urban agglomeration, urban area 1.315 million (2009), and the Zürich metropolitan area 1.83 million (2011). Zürich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and Zürich Hauptbahnhof, Zürich's main railway station are the largest and busiest in the country. Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zürich was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans, who called it '. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years (although this only indicates human presence in the area and not the presence of a town that early). During the Middle Ages, Zürich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519, became a primary centre of the Protestant ...
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Naturalis Historia
The ''Natural History'' ( la, Naturalis historia) is a work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. Despite the work's title, its subject area is not limited to what is today understood by natural history; Pliny himself defines his scope as "the natural world, or life". It is encyclopedic in scope, but its structure is not like that of a modern encyclopedia. It is the only work by Pliny to have survived, and the last that he published. He published the first 10 books in AD 77, but had not made a final revision of the remainder at the time of his death during the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. The rest was published posthumously by Pliny's nephew, Pliny the Younger. The work is divided into 37 books, organised into 10 volumes. These cover topics including astronomy, mathematics, geography, ethnography, anthropology, human physiolog ...
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Greek Alphabet
The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as well as consonants. In Archaic Greece, Archaic and early Classical Greece, Classical times, the Greek alphabet existed in Archaic Greek alphabets, many local variants, but, by the end of the 4th century BCE, the Euclidean alphabet, with 24 letters, ordered from alpha to omega, had become standard and it is this version that is still used for Greek writing today. The letter case, uppercase and lowercase forms of the 24 letters are: : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , /ς, , , , , , . The Greek alphabet is the ancestor of the Latin script, Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Like Latin and Cyrillic, Greek originally had only a single form of each letter; it developed the letter case distinction between uppercase and lowercase in parallel with Latin ...
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