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History & Mining Culture of the Ore Mountains
The Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) on the border between Germany and the Czech Republic is a region rich in history and culture connected to the mining industry. For centuries the cities on both sides of the mountain range had sustained themselves...

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The Style & Regional Differences of Seljuk Minarets in Persia
Under the Seljuk rule, Persia gained a period of economic and cultural prosperity. The innovative techniques of the Seljuk period and style in architecture and the arts had a strong influence on later artistic developments. Seljuk art is...

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Sebastiano Serlio
Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554 CE) was an Italian Renaissance architect, painter, and scholar. His most successful building design is the classically-inspired Château d'Ancy-le-Franc in France. Serlio's lifetime of scholarship came together...

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Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (c. 90 - c. 20 BCE), better known simply as Vitruvius, was a Roman military engineer and architect who wrote De Architectura (On Architecture), a treatise which combines the history of ancient architecture and engineering...

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Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is located in Berkshire, England, and was built as a motte and bailey castle by William the Conqueror (r. 1066-1087). Converted into stone by Henry II of England (r. 1165-1179), the shell keep tower was rebuilt by Edward III...

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Rib Vaults, Rouen Cathedral
Like most Gothic cathedrals, Rouen Cathedral in Normandy, France was constructed using rib vaults, visible here above the nave of the church. This diagonal framework, a change from the rounded barrel vaults common to Romanesque architecture...

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Filippo Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446 CE) was an Italian Renaissance architect, goldsmith, and sculptor, who is most famous for his work on the cathedral of Florence and its impressive soaring brick dome, completed in 1436 CE. Considered one of...

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Mont-Saint-Michel
Mont-Saint-Michel is the name of a tidal island located off the coasts of Normandy and Brittany, near the mouths of the Couesnon River and the town of Avranches in France. While the island of Mont-Saint-Michel has held cultural, religious...

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Notre-Dame Cathedral (Paris), West Façade
Like most Gothic cathedrals, the west façade of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris is tri-portaled, meaning it has three entranceways. Above each door is an elaborately carved tympanum depicting a story through sculpture, an accessible...

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Ostrogoth
The Ostrogoths were the eastern tribe of the Goths (a Germanic people) who rose in power in the area north of the Black Sea. The designation, Ostrogoth, taken to mean 'Eastern Goth', actually means 'Goths glorified by the rising sun' and...