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Łazienki Palace
The Palace on the Isle (), also known as the Baths Palace (), is a classicist palace in Warsaw's Royal Baths Park, the city's largest park, occupying over 76 hectares of the city center. From 1674 this palace and the nearby Ujazdów Castle belonged to Prince Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski, who commissioned a Baroque bath-house, or "''Łazienka''", named similarly to a number of other European historic sites, including England's city of Bath. The building, erected on a square plan, was richly decorated with stuccos, statues, and paintings; some of the original decorations and architectural details survive. In 1766 King Stanisław August Poniatowski purchased the estate and converted the bathing pavilion into a classicist summer residence with an English garden. During the final stages of World War II, the retreating Germans devastated the interior of the Palace and drilled holes in the structure in preparation for destruction with explosives. However, the plan was never carrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Façade
A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect from a design standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building. From the engineering perspective, the façade is also of great importance due to its impact on Efficient energy use, energy efficiency. For historical façades, many local zoning regulations or other laws greatly restrict or even forbid their alteration. Etymology The word is a loanword from the French , which in turn comes from the Italian language, Italian , from meaning 'face', ultimately from post-classical Latin . The earliest usage recorded by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' is 1656. Façades added to earlier buildings It was quite common in the Georgian architecture, Georgian period for existing houses in English towns to be given a fashionable new f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delftware
Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue () or as delf, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major centre of production, but the term covers wares with other colours, and made elsewhere. It is also used for similar pottery, English delftware. Delftware is one of the types of tin-glazed pottery or faience in which a white glaze is applied, usually decorated with metal oxides, in particular the cobalt oxide that gives the usual blue, and can withstand high firing temperatures, allowing it to be applied under the glaze. Delftware forms part of the worldwide family of blue and white pottery, using variations of the plant-based decoration first developed in 14th-century Chinese porcelain, and in great demand in Europe. Delftware includes pottery objects of all descriptions, such as plates, vases, figurines and other ornamental forms and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overdoor
An "overdoor" (or "Supraporte" as in German, or "sopraporte" as in Italian) is a painting, bas-relief or decorative panel, generally in a horizontal format, that is set, typically within ornamental mouldings, over a door, or was originally intended for this purpose. Description The overdoor is usually architectural in form, but may take the form of a cartouche in Rococo settings, or it may be little more than a moulded shelf for the placement of ceramic vases, busts or curiosities. An overmantel serves a similar function above a fireplace mantel. From the end of the 16th century, at first in interiors such as the Palazzo Sampieri, Bologna, where Annibale Carracci provided overdoor paintings, they developed into a minor genre of their own, in which the ''trompe-l'œil'' representations of stone bas-reliefs, or vases of flowers, in which Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer specialized, were heightened by '' sotto in su'' perspective, in which the light was often painted to reproduce the light, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plafond
A plafond (French for "ceiling"), in a broad sense, is a (flat, vaulted or dome) ceiling. A plafond can be a product of monumental painting or sculpture. Picturesque plafonds can be painted directly on plaster (as a fresco, oil, tempera, synthetic paints), on a canvas attached to a ceiling (panel), or a mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and .... As a decorative feature of churches and staterooms, plafonds were popular from the 17th century until the beginning of the 19th century. Designs of this period typically used illusionistic ceiling painting showing the architectural structure behind, strongly foreshortened figures, architectural details, and/or the open sky. References {{architecturalelement-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fountain
A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were originally purely functional, connected to springs or aqueducts and used to provide drinking water and water for bathing and washing to the residents of cities, towns and villages. Until the late 19th century most fountains operated by gravity, and needed a source of water higher than the fountain, such as a reservoir or aqueduct, to make the water flow or jet into the air. In addition to providing drinking water, fountains were used for decoration and to celebrate their builders. Roman fountains were decorated with bronze or stone masks of animals or heroes. In the Middle Ages, Moorish and Muslim garden designers used fountains to create miniature versions of the gardens of paradise. King Louis XIV of France used fountains in the Gard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nereus
In Greek mythology, Nereus ( ; ) was the eldest son of Pontus (the Sea) and Gaia ( the Earth), with Pontus himself being a son of Gaia. Nereus and Doris became the parents of 50 daughters (the Nereids) and a son ( Nerites), with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. Name The name Nereus is absent from Homer's epics; the god's name in the Iliad is the descriptive , and in the Odyssey the combination of and .; ; Besides Nereus and Proteus, the descriptive "Old Man of the Sea" was used for other water deities in Greek mythology who share several traits, among them Phorcys, Glaucus, and perhaps Triton. It is suggested that the "Old Man of the Sea" had at one time played a cosmogonic role comparable to that of Oceanus and could have received different names in different places. It is not known whether the name Nereus was known to Homer or not, but the name of the Nereids is attested before it and can be found in the Iliad. Since Nereus only has relevance as the father o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Deity
A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Another important focus of worship of water deities has been springs or holy wells. As a form of animal worship, whales and snakes (hence dragons) have been regarded as godly deities throughout the world (as are other animals such as turtles, fish, crabs, and sharks). In Asian lore, whales and dragons sometimes have connections. Serpents are also common as a symbol or as serpentine deities, sharing many similarities with dragons. Africa Akan * Bosompo, primordial embodiment of the oceans * Abena Mansa, sea goddess associated with gold * Ashiakle, goddess of the treasures at the bottom of the ocean *Tano (Ta Kora), god of the Tano river *Bia, god of the Bia river *Birim, goddess of the Birim river *Bosomtwe, antelope god of the Bos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture. Stucco can be applied on construction materials such as metal, expanded metal lath, concrete, cinder block, or clay brick and adobe for decorative and structural purposes. In English, "stucco" sometimes refers to a coating for the outside of a building and " plaster" to a coating for interiors. As described below, however, the materials themselves often have little or no difference. Other European languages, notably Italian, do not have the same distinction: ''stucco'' means ''plaster'' in Italian and serves for both. Composition The basic composition of stucco is lime, water, and sand. The difference in nomenclature between stucco, plaster, and mortar is based more on use than composition. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grotto
A grotto or grot is a natural or artificial cave or covered recess. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high tide. Sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden features. The '' Grotta Azzurra'' at Capri and the grotto at Tiberius' Villa Jovis in the Bay of Naples are examples of popular natural seashore grottoes. Etymology The word ''grotto'' comes from Italian ''grotta'', Vulgar Latin ''grupta'', and Latin ''crypta'' ("a crypt"). It is also related by a historical accident to the word ''grotesque''. In the late 15th century, Romans accidentally unearthed Nero's '' Domus Aurea'' on the Palatine Hill—a series of rooms, decorated with designs of garlands, slender architectural framework, foliage, and animals. The rooms had sunk underground over time. The Romans who discovered this historical monument found it very strange, partly because it was uncovered from an "underworld" source. This led ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frascati
Frascati () is a city and in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with science, being the location of several international scientific laboratories. Frascati produces the white wine with the same name. It is also a historical and artistic centre. History The most important archeological finding in the area, dating back to Ancient Roman times, during the late Republican Age, is a patrician Roman villa probably belonging to Lucullus. In the first century AD its owner was Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus, who married Agrippina the Younger, mother of Nero. His properties were later confiscated by the Flavian imperial dynasty (69–96 AD). Consul Flavius Clemens lived in the villa with his wife Domitilla during the rule of Domitian. According to the ''Liber Pontificalis'', in the 9th century Frascati was a little vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermitage (religious Retreat)
A hermitage most authentically refers to a place where a hermit lives in seclusion from the world, or a building or settlement where a person or a group of people lived religiously, in seclusion. Particularly as a name or part of the name of properties its meaning is often imprecise, harking to a distant period of local history, components of the building material, or recalling any former sanctuary or holy place. Secondary churches or establishments run from a monastery were often called "hermitages". In the 18th century, some owners of English country houses adorned their gardens with a "hermitage", sometimes a Gothic ruin, but sometimes, as at Painshill Park, a romantic hut which a "hermit" was recruited to occupy. The so-called Ermita de San Pelayo y San Isidoro is the ruins of a Romanesque church of Ávila, Spain, that ended up several hundred miles away, to feature in the Buen Retiro Park in Madrid. Western Christian tradition A hermitage is any type of domestic dwelli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
