The Sphere
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The Sphere
''The Sphere'' (officially ''Große Kugelkaryatide N.Y.'', also known as ''Sphere at Plaza Fountain'', ''WTC Sphere'' or ''Koenig Sphere'') is a monumental cast bronze sculpture by German artist Fritz Koenig (1924–2017). The world's largest bronze sculpture of modern times stood between the Twin Towers on the Austin J. Tobin Plaza of the World Trade Center in New York City from 1972 until the September 11 attacks. The work, weighing more than 20 tons, was the only remaining work of art to be recovered largely intact from the ruins of the collapsed Twin Towers. After being dismantled and stored near a hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the sculpture was the subject of the 2001 documentary ''Koenig's Sphere''. Since then, the bronze sphere has become a memorial for the attacks. The sculpture was installed in Battery Park between 2002 and 2017, when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey moved it to Liberty Park, overlooking the September 11 Memorial an ...
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Caryatid
A caryatid ( ; ; ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town on the Peloponnese. Karyai had a temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis in her aspect of Artemis Karyatis: "As Karyatis she rejoiced in the dances of the nut-tree village of Karyai, those Karyatides, who in their ecstatic round-dance carried on their heads baskets of live reeds, as if they were dancing plants". An atlas or atlantid or telamon is a male version of a caryatid, ''i.e.'', a sculpted male statue serving as an architectural support. Etymology The term is first recorded in the Latin form ''caryatides'' by the Roman architect Vitruvius. He stated in his 1st century BC work ''De architectura'' (I.1.5) that certain female figures represented the punishment of the women of Caryae, a town near Sparta in Laconia, who were cond ...
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Minoru Yamasaki
was an American architect, best known for designing the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century. He and fellow architect Edward Durell Stone are generally considered to be the two master practitioners of " New Formalism". During his three-decade career, he and his firm designed over 250 buildings. His firm, Yamasaki & Associates, closed on December 31, 2009. Early life and education Yamasaki was born on December 1, 1912, in Seattle, Washington, the son of John Tsunejiro Yamasaki and Hana Yamasaki, ''issei'' Japanese immigrants. The family later moved to Auburn, Washington, and he graduated from Garfield Senior High School in Seattle. He enrolled in the University of Washington program in architecture in 1929, and graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) in 1934. During his college years, he was strongly encouraged by faculty member Lionel Pries. He ...
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Battery Park
The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. The park is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling Green (New York City), Bowling Green to the northeast, State Street (Manhattan), State Street on the east, New York Harbor to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. The park contains attractions such as an early 19th-century fort named Castle Clinton; multiple monuments; and the SeaGlass Carousel. The surrounding area, known as South Ferry (Manhattan), South Ferry, contains multiple ferry terminals, including the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal; a boat launch to the Statue of Liberty National Monument (which includes Ellis Island and Liberty Island); and a boat launch to Governors Island. The park and surrounding area are named for the artillery battery, artillery batteries that were built in the late 17th century to protec ...
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Ground Zero
A hypocenter or hypocentre (), also called ground zero or surface zero, is the point on the Earth's surface directly below a nuclear explosion, meteor air burst, or other mid-air explosion. In seismology, the hypocenter of an earthquake is its point of origin below ground; a synonym is the focus of an earthquake. Generally, the terms ''ground zero'' and ''surface zero'' are also used in relation to epidemics, and other disasters to mark the point of the most severe damage or destruction. The term is distinguished from the term zero point in that the latter can also be located in the air, underground, or underwater. Trinity, Hiroshima and Nagasaki The term "ground zero" originally referred to the hypocenter of the Trinity (nuclear test), Trinity test in Jornada del Muerto, Jornada del Muerto desert near Socorro, New Mexico, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey of the atomic attacks, released in June 1946, used th ...
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Percy Adlon
Paul Rudolf Parsifal "Percy" Adlon (; 1 June 1935 – 10 March 2024) was a German director, screenwriter, and producer. He is associated with the New German Cinema movement (ca. 1965–1985), and is known for his strong female characters and positive portrayals of lesbian relationships. He is best known for his 1987 film '' Bagdad Cafe'', starring Marianne Sägebrecht, CCH Pounder and Jack Palance and subsequent films such as '' Rosalie Goes Shopping'' (1989), '' Salmonberries'' (1991) and '' Younger and Younger'' (1993). Adlon's films were shown in competition regularly at international film festivals, such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, and others. Early life Adlon was born on June 1, 1935 in Munich, Germany. He grew up in Ammerland, Starnberger See. He studied art, theater history, and German literature at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian University; took acting and singing classes; and was a member of a student theater group. Career Adlo ...
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New York Metropolitan Area
The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropolitan product of over US$2.6 trillion. It is also the List of largest cities by area, largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, encompassing . Among the List of largest cities#Metropolitan area, most populous metro areas in the world, New York is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the only one with more than 20 million residents according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. The core of this vast area, the New York metropolitan statistical area, includes New York City and much of Downstate New York (Long Island as well as the mid- and lower Hudson Valley) and the suburbs of North Jersey, northern and Central Jersey, central New Jersey (including that state's el ...
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Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. With about 577,000 inhabitants, the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city is the List of cities in Germany by population, 11th-largest city of Germany and the second-largest city in Northern Germany after Hamburg. Bremen is the largest city on the River Weser, the longest river flowing entirely in Germany, lying some upstream from its River mouth, mouth into the North Sea at Bremerhaven, and is completely surrounded by the state of Lower Saxony. Bremen is the centre of the Northwest Metropolitan Region, which also includes the cities of Oldenburg (city), Oldenburg and Bremerhaven, and has a population of around 2.8 million people. Bremen is contiguous with the Lower Saxon towns of Delmenhorst, Stuhr, Achim, Wey ...
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Bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloids (such as arsenic or silicon). These additions produce a range of alloys some of which are harder than copper alone or have other useful properties, such as strength, ductility, or machinability. The archaeological period during which bronze was the hardest metal in widespread use is known as the Bronze Age. The beginning of the Bronze Age in western Eurasia is conventionally dated to the mid-4th millennium BCE (~3500 BCE), and to the early 2nd millennium BCE in China; elsewhere it gradually spread across regions. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, which started about 1300 BCE and reaching most of Eurasia by about 500 BCE, although bronze continued to be much more widely used than it is in modern times. Because historica ...
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Landshut
Landshut (; ) is a town in Bavaria, Germany, on the banks of the Isar, River Isar. Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free state (government), Free State of Bavaria, and the seat of the surrounding district. With a population of more than 75,000, Landshut is the largest city in Lower Bavaria, followed by Passau and Straubing. The town, called City of the Three Helmets (), is known for its picturesque Gothic architecture, Gothic old town and the Landshut Wedding, a full-tilt medieval festival. The cityscape is dominated by the St. Martin's Church, Landshut, St. Martin's Basilica and Trausnitz Castle high above the old town. Close to Munich and Franz Josef Strauss International Airport, Landshut is industrialized (BMW, ebm-papst, Schott AG, Schott), has a low unemployment rate and is among the richest towns in Bavaria. Geography Landshut lies in the Alpine foothills. The River Isar runs through the city and splits in two in t ...
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Altdorf, Lower Bavaria
Altdorf () is a market town and municipality in the district of Landshut, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 4 km northwest of Landshut Landshut (; ) is a town in Bavaria, Germany, on the banks of the Isar, River Isar. Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free state (government), Free State of Bavaria, and the seat of the surrou .... References Landshut (district) {{Landshutdistrict-geo-stub ...
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Technical University Of Munich
The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, the university now has additional campuses in Garching, Freising, Heilbronn, Straubing, and Singapore, with the Garching campus being its largest. The university is organized into seven schools, and is supported by numerous research centers. It is one of the largest universities in Germany, with 52,931 students and an annual budget of €1,892.9 million including the university hospital. A ''University of Excellence'' under the German Universities Excellence Initiative, TUM is among the leading universities in the European Union. Its researchers and alumni include 18 Nobel laureates and 24 Leibniz Prize winners. History 19th century In 1868, King Ludwig II of Bavaria founded the ''Polytechnische Schule München'' w ...
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Porphyry (geology)
Porphyry ( ) is any of various granites or igneous rocks with coarse-grained crystals such as feldspar or quartz dispersed in a fine-grained silicate-rich, generally aphanitic matrix or groundmass. In its non-geologic, traditional use, the term ''porphyry'' usually refers to the purple-red form of this stone, valued for its appearance, but other colours of decorative porphyry are also used such as "green", "black" and "grey". The term ''porphyry'' is from the Ancient Greek (), meaning " purple". Purple was the colour of royalty, and the Roman "imperial porphyry" was a deep purple igneous rock with large crystals of plagioclase. Some authors claimed the rock was the hardest known in antiquity. Thus porphyry was prized for monuments and building projects in Imperial Rome and thereafter. Subsequently, the name was given to any igneous rocks with large crystals. The adjective ''porphyritic'' now refers to a certain texture of igneous rock regardless of its chemical and miner ...
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