|
César Ritz
César Ritz, born Cäsar Ritz (23 February 1850 – 26 October 1918), was a Swiss hotelier and founder of several hotels, most famously the Hôtel Ritz Paris, Hôtel Ritz in Paris and the The Ritz London Hotel, Ritz and Carlton Hotel, London, Carlton Hotels in London (the forerunners of the modern The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company). He was an early hotel chain founder known as "King of Hoteliers, and Hotelier to Kings," and it is from his name and that of his hotels that the term ''list of eponymous adjectives in English#R–U, ritzy'' derives. Early life Ritz was born in the Swiss village of Niederwald, Switzerland, Niederwald, the youngest of 13 children in a poor peasant family. At the age of twelve he was sent as a boarder to the Jesuit college at Sion, Switzerland, Sion, and at fifteen, having shown only vaguely artistic leanings, was apprenticed as a sommelier at a hotel in Brig, Switzerland, Brig. While working there as an apprentice wine waiter he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niederwald, Switzerland
Niederwald is a former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Goms (district), Goms in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2017 the former municipalities of Niederwald, Blitzingen, Grafschaft, Switzerland, Grafschaft, Münster-Geschinen and Reckingen-Gluringen merged into the new municipality of Goms, Valais, Goms. History Niederwald is first mentioned in 1526 as ''Zniderwaldt''. Geography Niederwald has an area, , of . Of this area, 34.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 43.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.0% is settled (buildings or roads) and 18.4% is unproductive land. The municipality is located above the Fiesch valley and along the old highway which ran from Ernen over the Rhone bridge to the right side of the valley. It consists of the ''haufendorf'' village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Niederwald and the former hamlet (plac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacristan
A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents. In ancient times, many duties of the sacrist were performed by the doorkeepers ( ostiarii), and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decretals of Gregory IX speak of the sacristan as if he had an honourable office attached to a certain benefice, and say that his duty was to care for the sacred vessels, vestments, lights, etc. Nowadays the sacristan is elected or appointed. The '' Cæremoniale Episcoporum'' prescribed that in cathedral and collegiate churches the sacristan should be a priest, and describes his duties in regard to the sacristy, the Blessed Eucharist, the baptismal font, the holy oils, the sacred relics, the decoration of the church for the different seasons and feasts, the preparation of what is necessary for the various ceremonies, the pregustation in pontifical Mass, the ringing of the church bells, the preservation of order in the church, and the distribut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephant
Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus''). They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea; extinct relatives include mammoths and mastodons. Distinctive features of elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, pillar-like legs, and tough but sensitive grey skin. The trunk is prehensile, 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 are scatter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the most widely read French authors. Many of his historical novels of adventure were originally published as serial (literature), serials, including ''The Count of Monte Cristo'', ''The Three Musketeers'', ''Twenty Years After'' and ''The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later''. Since the early 20th century, his novels have been adapted into nearly 200 films. Prolific in several genres, Dumas began his career by writing plays, which were successfully produced from the first. He wrote numerous magazine essay, articles and travel books; his published works totalled 100,000 pages. In the 1840s, Dumas founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris. His father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was born in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and remains a point of reference for many subsequent literary traditions such as Parnassian poets, Parnassianism, Symbolism (arts), Symbolism, Decadent movement, Decadence and Modernism. He was widely esteemed by writers as disparate as Honoré de Balzac, Balzac, Charles Baudelaire, Baudelaire, the Goncourt brothers, Gustave Flaubert, Flaubert, Ezra Pound, Pound, T. S. Eliot, Eliot, Henry James, James, Marcel Proust, Proust and Oscar Wilde, Wilde. Life and times Gautier was born on 30 August 1811 in Tarbes, capital of Hautes-Pyrénées département (southwestern France). His father was Jean-Pierre Gautier,See "Cimetières de France et d'ailleurs – La descendance de Théophile Gautier", landrucimetieres.fr/ref> a fairly cultured minor government ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmond De Goncourt
Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt (; 26 May 182216 July 1896) was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt. Biography Goncourt was born in Nancy. His parents, Marc-Pierre Huot de Goncourt and Annette-Cécile de Goncourt (née Guérin), were minor aristocrats who died when he and his brother Jules de Goncourt were young adults. His father was a former cavalry officer and squadron commander in the Grande Armée of Napoleon I, and his grandfather Jean-Antoine Huot de Goncourt had been a deputy in the National Assembly of 1789. Edmond attended the pension Goubaux, the Lycée Henri IV, and the Lycée Condorcet. At the Lycée Condorcet, he studied rhetoric and philosophy from 1840 to 1842, followed by the study of law between 1842 and 1844. After their mother's death in 1848, the brothers inherited an income which enabled them to live independently and pursue their artistic interests. Edmond was able to leave a treas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac in England in the 1830s and 1840s, Sand is recognised as one of the most notable writers of the European Romantic era. She has more than 50 volumes of various works to her credit, including tales, plays and political texts, alongside her 70 novels. Like her great-grandmother, Louise Marie Madeleine Fontaine, Louise Dupin, whom she admired, George Sand advocated for women's rights and passion, criticized the institution of marriage, and fought against the prejudices of a conservative society. She was considered scandalous because of her turbulent love life, her adoption of masculine clothing, and her masculine pseudonym. Personal life Childhood Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, the future George Sand, was born on 1 July 1804 on Meslay Stre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, Alexandre Dumas ''fils'', ''Ruy Blas'' by Victor Hugo, ''Fédora'' and ''La Tosca'' by Victorien Sardou, and ''L'Aiglon'' by Edmond Rostand. She played female and male roles, including Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet, Hamlet. Rostand called her "the queen of the pose and the princess of the gesture", and Hugo praised her "golden voice". She made several theatrical tours worldwide and was one of the early prominent actresses to make sound recordings and act in motion pictures. She is also linked with the success of artist Alphonse Mucha, whose work she helped to publicize. Mucha became one of the more sought-after artists of this period for his Art Nouveau style. Biography Early life Henriette-Rosine Bernard was born at 5 rue de L'École-de- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rue Saint-Honoré
The Rue Saint-Honoré () is a street in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. It is named after the collegial , situated in ancient times within the cloisters of Saint-Honoré. The street, on which are located a number of museums and upscale boutiques, is near the Tuileries Gardens and the Saint-Honoré market. Like many streets in the heart of Paris, the Rue Saint-Honoré, as it is now known, was laid out as early as the Middle Ages or before. The street, at one time, continued beyond the former city walls into what was the ''faubourg'' (from Latin ''foris burgem'', an area "outside the city"). This continuation was eventually named the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. History The Rue Saint-Honoré has been given the following names in its long history: *The section between the Rue de la Lingerie and the Rue de la Tonnellerie was named the Rue de la Chausseterie from 1300 to the 17th century. *The section between the now extinct Rue Tirechappe and the Rue de l'Arbre Sec was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rue Royale
Rue Royale (French for "Royal Street") may refer to several streets: * Rue Royale, Brussels, Belgium * Rue Royale, Lyon, France *Rue Royale, Paris The Rue Royale () is a short street in Paris, France, running between the Place de la Concorde and the Place de la Madeleine (site of the Church of the Madeleine). The Rue Royale is in the city's 8th arrondissement. Among the well-known ad ..., France See also * Royal Street, New Orleans, United States * Royal Road (other) {{road index ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maître D'hôtel
The ; ), head waiter, host, waiter captain, or ''maître d'' ( , ) manages the public part, or "front of the house", of a formal restaurant. The responsibilities of a ''maître d'hôtel'' generally include supervising the waiting staff, welcoming guests and assigning tables to them, taking reservations, and ensuring that guests are satisfied. Other roles include supervising wine selections and helping chefs create menus. In North America, a ''maître d'hôtel'' is known as a dining room manager. In large organizations, such as certain hotels, or cruise ships with multiple restaurants, the ''maître d'hôtel'' is often responsible for the overall dining experience, including room service and buffet services, while head waiters or supervisors are responsible for the specific restaurant or dining room they work in. Food writer Leah Zeldes writes that the role of ''maître d'hôtel'' originated as a kind of combined "host, headwaiter and dining-room manager" and, in the past, pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871, the conflict was caused primarily by France's determination to reassert its dominant position in continental Europe, which appeared in question following the decisive Austro-Prussian War, Prussian victory over Austria in 1866. According to some historians, Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck deliberately provoked the French into declaring war on Prussia in order to induce four independent southern German states—Grand Duchy of Baden, Baden, Kingdom of Württemberg, Württemberg, Kingdom of Bavaria, Bavaria and Grand Duchy of Hesse, Hesse-Darmstadt—to join the North German Confederation. Other historians contend that Bismarck exploited the circumstances as they unfolded. All agree that Bismarck recognized the potential for new ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
