|
Hidden Compartment
A hidden compartment or secret compartment is a compartment whose existence or access is not obvious at first glance, and can be used as a hiding place for objects or sometimes even for people. A hidden compartment where people can stay is usually referred to as a hidden room or secret room, and can range from parts of small wardrobes or closets under staircases to entire basements or even large mountain complexes. Hidden rooms are often accessed via a hidden door, which for example can be camouflaged as a bookshelf or a trapdoor in the floor. Hidden rooms can for example be used as a refuge, media room, larder or wine cellar. The term hidden compartment can also refer to smaller storage places for valuables and personal belongings in furniture (such as cabinet compartments), trap compartments in vehicles, false bottoms in containers, and various other concealment devices. History In the 1500s and 1600s, hidden rooms were created in British castles to hide Catholic pries ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antique Lap Desk With Hidden Compartment
An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that is old. An antique is usually an item that is collected or desirable because of its age, beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era or time period in human history. Vintage and collectible are used to describe items that are old, but do not meet the 100-year criterion. Antiques are usually objects of the decorative arts that show some degree of craftsmanship, collectability, or an attention to design, such as a desk or an early automobile. They are bought at antiques shops, estate sales, auction houses, online auctions, and other venues, or estate inherited. Antiques dealers often belong to national trade assoc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prohibition In The United States
In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a Constitution of the United States, nationwide constitutional law prohibition, prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, and finally ended nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on January 16, 1919. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5, 1933. Led by Pietism, pietistic Protestantism in the United States, Protestants, prohibitionists first attempted to end the trade in alcoholic drinks during the 19th century. They aimed to heal what they saw as an ill society beset by alcohol-related problems such as alcoholism, Domestic violence, family violence, and Saloon bar, saloon-based political corruption. Many communities introduced al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tunnels In Popular Culture
Mysterious tunnels or "secret passages" are a common element of the local folklore tradition in Europe. Such tunnels are said to physically link prominent places such as country houses, castles, churches, ancient monuments and other, often medieval, buildings. Legends about the existence of secret tunnels usually involve improbably long subterranean passages, sometimes running under major obstacles such as rivers and lakes to reach their destinations. Religious buildings, monks and the landed gentry are particularly common elements in many tunnel stories. It is unlikely that many of the recorded tunnels exist physically, for this is a characteristic of their very nature; their significance lies in the number of similar legends of tunnels that have arisen and in connection with the more esoteric notions of channels or paths of earth energy, and such. The origins of secret passage myths Underground structures have a fascination due to their being hidden from view and their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secret Passage
Secret passages, also commonly referred to as hidden passages or secret tunnels, are hidden routes used for stealthy travel, escape, or movement of people and goods. They are sometimes inside buildings leading to secret rooms. Others allow people to enter or exit buildings without being seen. Hidden passages and secret rooms have been built in castles and houses owned by heads of state, the wealthy, criminals, and abolitionists associated with the American Underground Railroad. They have helped besieged rulers escape attackers, including Pope Alexander VI in 1494, Pope Clement VII in 1527 and Marie Antoinette in 1789. Passages and tunnels have been used by criminals, armies (notably the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War) and political organizations to smuggle goods and people or conceal their activities. Appearance and construction Entrances to some secret passages appear as architectural features, such as a fireplaces or built-in sliding bookcases. Some entrances are more elaborate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Priest Hole
A priest hole is a hiding place for a priest built into many of the principal Catholic houses of England, Wales and Ireland during the period when Catholics were persecuted by law. When Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558, there were several Catholic plots designed to remove her and severe measures were taken against Catholic priests. Many great houses had a priest hole built so that the presence of a priest could be concealed when searches were made of the building. They were concealed in walls, under floors, behind wainscoting and other locations and were often successful in concealing their occupant. Many priest holes were designed by Jesuit lay brother Nicholas Owen, who spent much of his life building priest holes to protect the lives of persecuted priests. After the Gunpowder Plot, Owen himself was captured, taken to the Tower of London and tortured to death on the rack. He was canonised as a martyr by Pope Paul VI in 1970. Background The measures put in force sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multifunctional Furniture
A multifunctional furniture is a furniture with several functions combined. The functions combined may vary, but a common variant is to incorporate an extra storage function into chair, tables, and so forth, making them so-called storage furniture. Multifunctional furniture can accommodate more efficient use of living spaces. Lack of space can be an important reason for choosing such furniture, but combination furniture is also seen in larger homes for more space-efficient utilization. Examples Some common examples of multifunctional furniture are: * Chair-table, a table where the tabletop can be hinged to form the back of a seat to serve as a chair, if necessary * Chest-chair, a type of chair where the seat doubles as the lid of a chest for storage * Chest-table, a chest used as a table, with storage space underneath a hinged tabletop. Today more commonly seen as coffee tables, since persons' legs are not commonly rested underneath such tables. * Coffee table with extra stora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mezzanine
A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped walls. However, the term is often used loosely for the floor above the ground floor, especially where a very high-ceilinged original ground floor has been split horizontally into two floors. Mezzanines may serve a wide variety of functions. Industrial mezzanines, such as those used in warehouses, may be temporary or semi-permanent structures. In Royal Italian architecture, ''mezzanino'' also means a chamber created by partitioning that does not go up all the way to the arch vaulting or ceiling; these were historically common in Italy and France, for example in the palaces for the nobility at the Quirinal Palace. Definition A mezzanine is an intermediate floor (or floors) in a building which is open to the floor below. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
False Bottom
A false bottom (or false back) is an internal partition in a container, typically at the bottom of a drawer, suitcase or similar item, enabling the concealment of objects from a cursory examination of the item's contents. A false bottom may be present if the internal dimensions of a container do not match its external dimensions after taking into account the thicknesses of constituent materials and structures used to build the object. The term false bottom can also refer to the deep scattering layer in the ocean, a phenomenon where a layer of marine organisms deep in the ocean can be mistaken by sonar for the seabed.Hersey JB and Backus RH (2005"Sound Scattering by Marine Organisms"In: M. N. Hill and A. R. Robinson (Eds)''Physical Oceanography'', Page 499, Harvard University Press. . See also *Concealment device *Drawer (furniture) A drawer is a box-shaped container inside a piece of furniture that can be pulled out horizontally to access its contents. Drawers are built i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concealment Device
Concealment devices or diversion safes are used to hide things for the purpose of secrecy or security. They are made from an ordinary household object such as a book, a soda can, a candle, a can, or something as small as a coin. The idea is that such an inconspicuous object would not be expected to contain anything of worth. Examples in espionage include dead drop spikes for transferring items to other people, and hollowed-out coins or hollowed out teeth for concealing something - such as microfilm or a suicide pill. Examples in smuggling include suitcases with false bottoms for hiding contraband. During World War II MI9 was responsible for creating many concealment devices for "escape aids" to assist prisoners of war to escape. Examples Ammunition Starting in the First World War and still continuing today, military personnel use ammunition casings to hide small amounts of critical information e.g. encryption/recognition codes or navigational grid references etc. The hiding pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Chronicles Of Narnia (film Series)
''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is an American film series and media franchise based on ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a series of novels by C. S. Lewis. The series revolves around the adventures of children in the world of Narnia, guided by Aslan, a wise and powerful lion that can speak and is the true king of Narnia. The children heavily featured in the films are the Pevensie siblings, and a prominent antagonist is the White Witch (also known as Queen Jadis). The franchise also includes short films, digital series, and video games. From the seven books, three were adapted—'' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' (2005), ''Prince Caspian'' (2008), and ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' (2010)—which collectively grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide. The first two films were directed by Andrew Adamson and the third film was directed by Michael Apted. A fourth film was to be directed by Joe Johnston, but it was announced in 2018 that new adaptations would be made for Netflix. there ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stay Behind
In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organizations in its own territory, for use in case an enemy occupies that territory. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement or act as espionage, spies from behind enemy lines. Small-scale operations may cover discrete areas, but larger stay-behind operations envisage reacting to the conquest of whole countries. Stay-behind also refers to a military tactic whereby specially trained soldiers let themselves be overrun by enemy forces in order to conduct intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance tasks often from pre-prepared hides. History Stay-behind operations of significant size existed during World War II. The United Kingdom put in place the Auxiliary Units. Soviet partisans, Partisans in Axis-occupied Soviet territory in the early 1940s operated with a stay-behind element. During the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) coord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implemented the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the perceived threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The organization's motto is ''animus in consulendo liber'' (Latin for "a mind unfettered in deliberation"). NATO's main headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, while NATO ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
