It has meant different things to different people at different times, which is part of its genius. Abolition In 1886, The Statue of Liberty was a symbol of democratic government and Enlightenment ideals as well as a celebration of the Union’s victory in the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Edouard de Laboulaye,[…]
French artisans and craftsmen began constructing the Statue in France under Auguste Bartholdi’s direction. The Early Stages In 1865, a French political intellectual and anti-slavery activist named Edouard de Laboulaye proposed that a statue representing liberty be built for the United States. This monument would honor the United States’ centennial of independence and the friendship[…]
New research demonstrates that a sculpture is associated with a harrowing episode of anti-Semitic violence in late-1400s Italy. March 21 marks the anniversary of the horrific murder of a two-year-old toddler that took place in 1475 in Trent, a city in North Italy—an event that led to one of the most brutal and infamous anti-Semitic[…]
The Renaissance period (c. 1300-1600 CE) in European countries is renowned for path-breaking and rapid developments and inventions. The Renaissance period (c. 1300-1600 CE) in European countries is renowned for path-breaking and rapid developments and inventions that took place in fields like arts, philosophy, and science. It’s deemed that Florencia, Italy, was its epicenter. A[…]
Versailles was the location of two seismic shifts in political culture. Ten million tourists flock to Versailles annually to imagine courtly life in such sumptuous surroundings. Versailles was about awesome royal power, intense rivalries, brilliant craftsmanship and engineering, and – for those who did the manual labour – drudgery and deference. Above all, Versailles embodied[…]
By sanctifying the royal body, the act of anointing has often been believed to confer healing powers. The climax of the royal coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London is the act of anointing: the monarch is consecrated with holy oil applied to the hands, breast and head, while the Archbishop of Canterbury declares: ‘As[…]