Today, it is a monument to California’s multi-cultural history, embracing its Native American, Spanish, Mexican and European heritage. Originally built as a self sufficient community by Spanish Padres and Native Americans, the Mission was a center for agriculture, industry, education and religion. Famous for the Annual Return of the Swallows, Mission San Juan Capistrano is the “Jewel of the California Missions” and welcomes over 300,000 visitors each year.
Šibenik was founded by Croats.Between the 11th and 12th centuries, Šibenik was tossed back and forth among Venice, Byzantium, and Hungary. The city, like the rest of Dalmatia, initially resisted the Venetian Republic, but it was taken over after a three-year war in 1412. The fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 brought Sebenico under the authority of the Habsburg monarchy. The Italian name Sebenico only was used until around 1871. After the WW1 Šibenik was occupied by the Kingdom of Italy until 12 June 1921. As a result of the Treaty of Rapallo, the Italians gave up their claim to the city and it became a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
During World War II, Šibenik was annexed by Italy and was part of the Italian Governorate of Dalmatia from 1941 to 1943 being part of the province of Zara. Communist partisans liberated Šibenik on 3 November 1944. After World War II it became a part of the SFR Yugoslavia until Croatia declared independence in 1991. The central church in Šibenik, the Šibenik Cathedral of St James, is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. In the city of Šibenik there are four fortresses, each of which has views of the city, sea and nearby islands. The fortresses are now tourist sightseeing destinations.
Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (German, active 1710 – present), Model by Johann Gottlieb Kirchner (German, 1706 – 1768)
Johann Gottlieb Kirchner produced the model for this life-size porcelain sculpture of a fox-looking a little guiltily around the chicken it is about to devour-as part of an extraordinary commission from Augustus the Strong, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, who envisioned a life-size porcelain menagerie for his Japanese Palace in Dresden. The Meissen Porcelain Manufactory had been operating for only twenty years when Augustus commissioned this series of porcelain animals to be rendered “in their natural sizes and colors.” The production of porcelain models of this size had never been attempted before in Europe.
Boasting some well-preserved heritage, Grimaud contains a plethora of pretty little cobbled streets in bloom, village squares, archways and restored period homes. In the old village, you can also see the beautiful Church of St. Michael, built in the late 12th century in the Provençal Romanesque style. It houses a fresco from 1850 depicting St. Michael, St. Peter and St. Bartholomew, as well as contemporary stained glass windows made in 1975 by the jeweller Jacques Gautier.
Video timeline: Intro 01:01 How to get there and when is the best time? 01:34 How they built it 02:21 Dangerous surrounding 03:08 The architecture of Mont-Saint-Michel 04:39 Inhabitants: monks and nuns 05:19 The darkest secret of the abbey 06:07 A deeply mysterious place
Surrounded by water at high tide, at low tide you can walk across the tidal flats to visit it. Mont-Saint-Michel is one of France’s most visited locations, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Have you ever been there?
The Essential Homes Research Project is a housing concept designed to sustainably provide rapidly assembled housing for people displaced by natural and manmade disasters. The prototype was designed by the Norman Foster Foundation and realised by Holcim using its materials. The homes have been designed to offer a durable alternative to tent shelters in order to withstand the elements.
They can be built on-site in order to expedite construction during emergencies. The project responds to the fact that displaced people often end up living in temporary accommodation for more than a decade, and require homes that offer safety and dignity. “Disasters lead to the need for instant accommodation and camps – mostly tented – offering scant protection from the elements,” Foster said in an exclusive video interview with Dezeen.
“What if there would be something that would be more permanent, more durable, offering greater protection from the elements, but which could be realised very quickly?”
Read more on Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/tag/holcim/
Leipzig is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig’s population of 624,689 inhabitants as of 2022 places the city as Germany’s eighth most populous, as well as the second most populous city in the area of the former East Germany after Berlin.
An exquisite example of Gauguin’s unbound creative spirit, Nature morte avec pivoines de chine et mandoline is filled with the sort of rich, jewel-like hues and striking tonal and textural contrasts that characterize the artist’s greatest works. The present painting was executed in 1885 at a watershed moment in Gauguin’s career, during which time he began to move away from the Impressionist aesthetic that had previously influenced his painting toward a new and more expressive stylistic idiom.
Expanding upon the bold coloration and defiant brushwork pioneered in works like Nature morte avec pivoines de chine et mandoline, Gauguin soon became a leading figure in the Post-Impressionist movement.
Chapters: 1:35 Intro 1:41 The Vision 4:48 Progress 8:17 Setbacks and challenges
At the time, it was estimated the project would be complete by 2020 and cost $33 billion. But 15 years later, there is not a single mile of track laid, and there isn’t enough money to finish the project. The latest estimates show it will cost $88 billion to $128 billion to complete the entire system from LA to San Francisco. Inflation and higher construction costs have contributed to the high price tag. Despite the funding challenges, progress has been made on the project.
119 miles are under construction in California’s Central Valley. The project recently celebrated its 10,000th worker on the job. The infrastructure design work is complete, and 422 out of 500 miles have been environmentally cleared. CNBC visited California’s Central Valley, where construction is underway, to find out what it will take to complete what would be the nation’s largest infrastructure project.
Boomers Daily 