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St. Olaf's Castle
Olavinlinna (also known as St. Olaf's Castle; sv, Olofsborg; german: Olafsburg; literally ''Olof's Castle'') is a 15th-century three-tower castle located in Savonlinna, Finland. It is built on an island in the Kyrönsalmi strait that connects the lakes Haukivesi and Pihlajavesi. It is the northernmost medieval stone fortress still standing. The castle forms a spectacular stage for the Savonlinna Opera Festival, held for the first time in the summer 1912. History The fortress was founded by Erik Axelsson Tott in 1475 under the name ''Sankt Olofsborg'' in an effort to profit from the political turmoil following Ivan III's conquest of the Novgorod Republic. It was sited in Savonia so as to lay claim to the Russian side of the border established by the Treaty of Nöteborg. One of Tott's letters from 1477 includes a passing mention of foreign builders invited to Olofsborg, probably from Reval, where the city fortifications were being extended. It was the first Swedish castle pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Savonlinna
Savonlinna (, , ; sv, Nyslott, lit=New Castle) is a town and a municipality of inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region, which is why the city is also nicknamed the "Capital of Saimaa". Together with Mikkeli, it is one of the largest towns in the South Savonia region and one of the concentrations in the region's hospital districts. The town is internationally known for its medieval St. Olaf's Castle and the annual Savonlinna Opera Festival. Its surrounding the enclaved municipality of Enonkoski. History The city was founded in 1639, based on Olavinlinna castle (''St. Olaf's Castle''). The castle was founded by Erik Axelsson Tott in 1475 in an effort to protect Savonia and to control the unstable border between the Kingdom of Sweden and its Russian adversary. During the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743), the castle was captured by Field-Marshal Peter Lacy. It was held by Russia between 1743 and 1812, when it was granted back to Finland as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bastion
A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the flanks being able to protect the curtain wall and the adjacent bastions. Compared with the medieval fortified towers they replaced, bastion fortifications offered a greater degree of passive resistance and more scope for ranged defence in the age of gunpowder artillery. As military architecture, the bastion is one element in the style of fortification dominant from the mid 16th to mid 19th centuries. Evolution By the middle of the 15th century, artillery pieces had become powerful enough to make the traditional medieval round tower and curtain wall obsolete. This was exemplified by the campaigns of Charles VII of France who reduced the towns and castles held by the English during the latter stages of the Hundred Years War, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chalcography
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass are engraved, or may provide an Intaglio (printmaking), intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing images on paper as prints or illustrations; these images are also called "engravings". Engraving is one of the oldest and most important techniques in printmaking. Wood engraving is a form of relief printing and is not covered in this article, same with rock engravings like petroglyphs. Engraving was a historically important method of producing images on paper in artistic printmaking, in mapmaking, and also for commercial reproductions and illustrations for books and magazines. It has long been replaced by various photographic processes in its commercial applications and, partly because of the difficulty of learning th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olaus Magnus
Olaus Magnus (October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic ecclesiastic. Biography Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in October 1490. Like his elder brother, Sweden's last Catholic archbishop Johannes Magnus, he obtained several ecclesiastical preferments, among them a canonry at Uppsala and Linköping, and the archdeaconry of Strängnäs. He was furthermore employed on various diplomatic services after his mission to Rome in 1524, on behalf of Gustav I of Sweden (Vasa), to procure the appointment of Olaus Magnus' brother Johannes Magnus as archbishop of Uppsala. He remained abroad dealing with foreign affairs and is known to have sent home a document that contained agreed trade-relations with the Netherlands. With the success of the reformation in Sweden, his attachment to the Catholic church led him to stay abroad for good where he accompanied his brother in Poland. They were both ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the series of Franco-Belgian comics#Formats, comic albums which are considered one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. He was also responsible for two other well-known series, ''Quick & Flupke'' (1930–1940) and ''The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko'' (1936–1957). His works were executed in his distinct ''ligne claire'' drawing style. Born to a lower-middle-class family in Etterbeek, Brussels, Hergé began his career by contributing illustrations to Scouting magazines, developing his first comic series, ''The Adventures of Totor'', for ''Le Boy-Scout Belge'' in 1926. Working for the conservative Catholic newspaper ''Le Vingtième Siècle'', he created ''The Adventures of Tintin'' in 1929 on the advice of its edito ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Ottokar's Sceptre
''King Ottokar's Sceptre'' (french: link=no, Le Sceptre d'Ottokar) is the eighth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper for its children's supplement , it was serialised weekly from August 1938 to August 1939. Hergé intended the story as a satirical criticism of the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, in particular the annexation of Austria in March 1938 (the ''Anschluss''). The story tells of young Belgian reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy, who travel to the fictional Balkan nation of Syldavia, where they combat a plot to overthrow the monarchy of King Muskar XII. ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'' was a commercial success and was published in book form by Casterman shortly after its conclusion. Hergé continued ''The Adventures of Tintin'' with ''Land of Black Gold'' until forced closure in 1940, while the series itself became a defining part of the Franco-Belgian comics trad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bande Dessinée
(singular ; literally 'drawn strips'), abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics (), are comics that are usually originally in French and created for readership in France and Belgium. These countries have a long tradition in comics, separate from that of English-language comics. Belgium is a mostly bilingual country, and comics originally in Dutch (, literally "strip stories", or simply "strips") are culturally a part of the world of ''bandes dessinées''; these are translated to French and concurrently sold to the French-reading audience and vice versa. Among the most popular ''bandes dessinées'' are ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (by Hergé), ''Gaston Lagaffe'' ( Franquin), ''Asterix'' ( Goscinny & Uderzo), ''Lucky Luke'' (Morris & Goscinny), ''The Smurfs'' (Peyo) and ''Spike and Suzy'' (Willy Vandersteen). Some highly-regarded realistically drawn and plotted ''bandes dessinées'' include ''Blueberry'' ( Charlier & Giraud, aka "Moebius"), ''Thorgal'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Suvorov
Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Суво́ров, Aleksándr Vasíl'yevich Suvórov; or 1730) was a Russian general in service of the Russian Empire. He was Count of Rymnik, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Prince of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Prince of the Russian Empire and the last Generalissimo of the Russian Empire. Suvorov is considered one of the greatest military commanders in Russian history and one of the great generals of the early modern period. He was awarded numerous medals, titles, and honors by Russia, as well as by other countries. Suvorov secured Russia's expanded borders and renewed military prestige and left a legacy of theories on warfare. He was the author of several military manuals, the most famous being ''The Science of Victory'', and was noted for several of his sayings. He never lost a single battle he commanded. Several military academies, monuments, villages, museums, and orders in Russia are dedicate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empress Elizabeth
Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, her numerous construction projects, and her strong opposition to Prussian policies. The second-eldest daughter of Tsar Peter the Great (), Elizabeth lived through the confused successions of her father's descendants following her half-brother Alexei's death in 1718. The throne first passed to her mother Catherine I of Russia (), then to her nephew Peter II, who died in 1730 and was succeeded by Elizabeth's first cousin Anna. After the brief rule of Anna's infant great-nephew, Ivan VI, Elizabeth seized the throne with the military's support and declared her own nephew, the future Peter III, her heir. During her reign Elizabeth continued the policies of her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treaty Of Åbo
The Treaty of Åbo or the Treaty of Turku was a peace treaty signed between the Russian Empire and Sweden in Åbo ( fi, Turku) on in the end of the Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743. History By the end of the war, the Imperial Russian Army had occupied most of Finland, prompting Field-Marshal Trubetskoy and Chancellor Aleksey Bestuzhev to demand the application of uti possidetis principle in this case. By acquiring Finland, Russian politicians aspired to move the Swedish border considerably to the north, thus reducing the danger of Swedish attack on the Russian capital, Saint Petersburg. In the hope of gaining independence, the Finnish estates offered the ephemeral throne of their country to Duke Peter of Holsten-Gottorp, the heir apparent to the Russian Crown. Another party at the Russian court, represented by pro-Swedish Count Jean Armand de Lestocq and Peter's Holsteinian relatives, proposed to return Finland to the Swedes in recompense for having his uncle, Adolf Frede ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russo-Swedish War (1554–1557)
The Russo-Swedish War of 1554–1557, considered a prelude to the Livonian War of 1558–1583, arose out of border skirmishes. It ended when the parties agreed on a truce in the Treaty of Novgorod (1557). Prelude Relations between Sweden and Russia were tense. Ivan IV of Russia did not consider Swedish King Gustav I his equal and refused to negotiate with Swedish ambassadors in person. Ivan made the king's ambassadors confer with a governor of Novgorod, rather than receive them in the Moscow Kremlin, as could have been expected between equals. The tsar responded to Gustav's remonstrances: "Ask your merchants and they will tell you that Novgorod's suburbs are larger than your Stockholm and that Novgorod's governors are descended from sovereign rulers of great empires, whereas your parents sold oxen at a market several decades ago". Despite the tense relations between the two regents, a state of peace was the general situation during most of Gustav's reign, as agreed on in the Tre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russo-Swedish War (1495–1497)
The Russo-Swedish War of 1495–1497, known in Sweden as the Stures' Russian War ( sv, Sturarnas ryska krig) was a border war which occurred between the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Kingdom of Sweden. Although the war was relatively short, and did not lead to any territorial changes, it has significance as the first war between Sweden and Moscow, following the Muscovite annexation of the Republic of Novgorod two decades previously. As the Grand Duchy of Moscow would later become the Tsardom of Russia and ultimately the Russian Empire, the 1495-7 war is usually considered to be the first Russo-Swedish War, as opposed to the various Swedish-Novgorodian Wars which had occurred earlier in the Middle Ages. Background The Österland Border During the High Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Sweden had expanded across the Baltic Sea and conquered the entirety of what is now Finland (referred to by the Swedes as Österland), and thereby came into contact with the Republic of Novgorod. The bord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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