title: Church architecture

text: With the victory of the Roman emperor Constantine at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 AD, Christianity became a lawful and then the privileged religion of the Roman Empire. The faith, already spread around the Mediterranean, now expressed itself in buildings. Christian architecture was made to correspond to civic and imperial forms, and so the Basilica, a large rectangular meeting hall became general in east and west, as the model for churches, with a nave and aisles and sometimes galleries and clerestories. While civic basilicas had apses at either end, the Christian basilica usually had a single apse where the bishop and presbyters sat in a dais behind the altar. While pagan basilicas had as their focus a statue of the emperor, Christian basilicas focused on the Eucharist as the symbol of the eternal, loving and forgiving God.


title: Church architecture

text: The first very large Christian churches, notably Santa Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterano, and Santa Costanza, were built in Rome in the early 4th century.


title: Church architecture

text: When early Christian communities began to build churches they drew on one particular feature of the houses that preceded them, the "atrium", or courtyard with a colonnade surrounding it. Most of these atriums have disappeared. A fine example remains at the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome and another was built in the Romanesque period at Sant'Ambrogio, Milan. The descendants of these "atria" may be seen in the large square cloisters that can be found beside many cathedrals, and in the huge colonnaded squares or piazza at the Basilicas of St Peter's in Rome and St Mark's in Venice and the Camposanto (Holy Field) at the Cathedral of Pisa.


title: Church architecture

text: Early church architecture did not draw its form from Roman temples, as they did not have large internal spaces where worshipping congregations could meet. It was the Roman basilica, used for meetings, markets and courts of law that provided a model for the large Christian church and that gave its name to the Christian basilica.


title: Church architecture

text: Both Roman basilicas and Roman bath houses had at their core a large vaulted building with a high roof, braced on either side by a series of lower chambers or a wide arcaded passage. An important feature of the Roman basilica was that at either end it had a projecting exedra, or apse, a semicircular space roofed with a half-dome. This was where the magistrates sat to hold court. It passed into the church architecture of the Roman world and was adapted in different ways as a feature of cathedral architecture.


title: Church architecture

text: The earliest large churches, such as the Cathedral of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome, consisted of a single-ended basilica with one apsidal end and a courtyard, or "atrium", at the other end. As Christian liturgy developed, processions became part of the proceedings. The processional door was that which led from the furthest end of the building, while the door most used by the public might be that central to one side of the building, as in a basilica of law. This is the case in many cathedrals and churches.


title: Church architecture

text: As numbers of clergy increased, the small apse which contained the altar, or table upon which the sacramental bread and wine were offered in the rite of Holy Communion, was not sufficient to accommodate them. A raised dais called a" bema" formed part of many large basilican churches. In the case of St. Peter's Basilica and San Paolo Fuori le Mura (St Paul's outside the Walls) in Rome, this bema extended laterally beyond the main meeting hall, forming two arms so that the building took on the shape of a T with a projecting apse. From this beginning, the plan of the church developed into the so-called Latin Cross which is the shape of most Western Cathedrals and large churches. The arms of the cross are called the transept.


title: Church architecture

text: One of the influences on church architecture was the mausoleum. The mausoleum of a noble Roman was a square or circular domed structure which housed a sarcophagus. The Emperor Constantine built for his daughter Costanza a mausoleum which has a circular central space surrounded by a lower ambulatory or passageway separated by a colonnade.


title: Church architecture

text: Santa Costanza's burial place became a place of worship as well as a tomb. It is one of the earliest church buildings that was central, rather than longitudinally planned. Constantine was also responsible for the building of the circular, mausoleum-like Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which in turn influenced the plan of a number of buildings, including that constructed in Rome to house the remains of the proto-martyr Stephen, San Stefano Rotondo and the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna.


title: Church architecture

text: Ancient circular or polygonal churches are comparatively rare. A small number, such as the Temple Church, London were built during the Crusades in imitation of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as isolated examples in England, France, and Spain. In Denmark such churches in the Romanesque style are much more numerous. In parts of Eastern Europe, there are also round tower-like churches of the Romanesque period but they are generally vernacular architecture and of small scale. Others, like St Martin's Rotunda at Visegrad, in the Czech Republic, are finely detailed.


title: Church architecture

text: The circular or polygonal form lent itself to those buildings within church complexes that perform a function in which it is desirable for people to stand, or sit around, with a centralized focus, rather than an axial one. In Italy, the circular or polygonal form was used throughout the medieval period for baptisteries, while in England it was adapted for chapter houses. In France, the aisled polygonal plan was adopted as the eastern terminal and in Spain, the same form is often used as a chapel.


title: Church architecture

text: Other than Santa Costanza and San Stefano, there was another significant place of worship in Rome that was also circular, the vast Ancient Roman Pantheon, with its numerous statue-filled niches. This too was to become a Christian church and lend its style to the development of Cathedral architecture.


title: Church architecture

text: Most cathedrals and great churches have a cruciform groundplan. In churches of Western European tradition, the plan is usually longitudinal, in the form of the so-called Latin Cross, with a long nave crossed by a transept. The transept may be as strongly projecting as at York Minster or not project beyond the aisles as at Amiens Cathedral.


title: Church architecture

text: Many of the earliest churches of Byzantium have a longitudinal plan. At Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, there is a central dome, the frame on one axis by two high semi-domes and on the other by low rectangular transept arms, the overall plan being square. This large church was to influence the building of many later churches, even into the 21st century. A square plan in which the nave, chancel and transept arms are of equal length forming a Greek cross, the crossing generally surmounted by a dome became the common form in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with many churches throughout Eastern Europe and Russia being built in this way. Churches of the Greek Cross form often have a narthex or vestibule which stretches across the front of the church. This type of plan was also to later play a part in the development of church architecture in Western Europe, most notably in Bramante's plan for St. Peter's Basilica.


title: Church architecture

text: The division of the Roman Empire in the fourth century AD, resulted in Christian ritual evolving in distinctly different ways in the eastern and western parts of the empire. The final break was the Great Schism of 1054.


title: Church architecture

text: Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity began to diverge from each other from an early date. Whereas the basilica was the most common form in the west, a more compact centralized style became predominant in the east. These churches were in origin "martyria", constructed as mausoleums housing the tombs of the saints who had died during the persecutions which only fully ended with the conversion of Emperor Constantine. An important surviving example is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, which has retained its mosaic decorations. Dating from the 5th century, it may have been briefly used as an oratory before it became a mausoleum.


title: Church architecture

text: These buildings copied pagan tombs and were square, cruciform with shallow projecting arms or polygonal. They were roofed by domes which came to symbolize heaven. The projecting arms were sometimes roofed with domes or semi-domes that were lower and abutted the central block of the building. Byzantine churches, although centrally planned around a domed space, generally maintained a definite axis towards the apsidal chancel which generally extended further than the other apses. This projection allowed for the erection of an iconostasis, a screen on which icons are hung and which conceals the altar from the worshippers except at those points in the liturgy when its doors are opened.


title: Church architecture

text: The architecture of Constantinople (Istanbul) in the 6th century produced churches that effectively combined centralized and basilica plans, having semi-domes forming the axis, and arcaded galleries on either side. The church of Hagia Sophia (now a mosque) was the most significant example and had an enormous influence on both later Christian and Islamic architecture, such as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Umayyad Great Mosque in Damascus. Many later Eastern Orthodox churches, particularly large ones, combine a centrally planned, domed eastern end with an aisled nave at the west.


title: Church architecture

text: A variant form of the centralized church was developed in Russia and came to prominence in the sixteenth century. Here the dome was replaced by a much thinner and taller hipped or conical roof which perhaps originated from the need to prevent snow from remaining on roofs. One of the finest examples of these tented churches is St. Basil's in Red Square in Moscow.


title: Church architecture

text: Participation in worship, which gave rise to the porch church, began to decline as the church became increasingly clericalized; with the rise of the monasteries church buildings changed as well. The 'two-room' church' became, in Europe, the norm. The first 'room', the nave, was used by the congregation; the second 'room', the sanctuary, was the preserve of the clergy and was where the Mass was celebrated. This could then only be seen from a distance by the congregation through the arch between the rooms (from late mediaeval times closed by a wooden partition, the Rood screen), and the elevation of the host, the bread of the communion, became the focus of the celebration: it was not at that time generally partaken of by the congregation. Given that the liturgy was said in Latin, the people contented themselves with their own private devotions until this point. Because of the difficulty of sight lines, some churches had holes, 'squints', cut strategically in walls and screens, through which the elevation could be seen from the nave. Again, from the twin principles that every priest must say his mass every day and that an altar could only be used once, in religious communities a number of altars were required for which space had to be found, at least within monastic churches.


title: Church architecture

text: Apart from changes in the liturgy, the other major influence on church architecture was in the use of new materials and the development of new techniques. In northern Europe, early churches were often built of wood, for which reason almost none survive. With the wider use of stone by the Benedictine monks, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, larger structures were erected.


title: Church architecture

text: The two-room church, particularly if it were an abbey or a cathedral, might acquire transepts. These were effectively arms of the cross which now made up the ground plan of the building. The buildings became more clearly symbolic of what they were intended for. Sometimes this crossing, now the central focus of the church, would be surmounted by its own tower, in addition to the west end towers, or instead of them. (Such precarious structures were known to collapse – as at Ely – and had to be rebuilt.) Sanctuaries, now providing for the singing of the offices by monks or canons, grew longer and became chancels, separated from the nave by a screen. Practical function and symbolism were both at work in the process of development.


title: Church architecture

text: Across Europe, the process by which church architecture developed and individual churches were designed and built was different in different regions, and sometimes differed from church to church in the same region and within the same historic period.


title: Church architecture

text: Among the factors that determined how a church was designed and built are the nature of the local community, the location in city, town or village, whether the church was an abbey church, whether the church was a collegiate church, whether the church had the patronage of a bishop, whether the church had the ongoing patronage of a wealthy family and whether the church contained relics of a saint or other holy objects that were likely to draw pilgrimage.


title: Church architecture

text: Collegiate churches and abbey churches, even those serving small religious communities, generally demonstrate a greater complexity of form than parochial churches in the same area and of a similar date.


title: Church architecture

text: Churches that have been built under the patronage of a bishop have generally employed a competent church architect and demonstrate in the design refinement of style unlike that of the parochial builder.


title: Church architecture

text: Many parochial churches have had the patronage of wealthy local families. The degree to which this has an effect on the architecture can differ greatly. It may entail the design and construction of the entire building having been financed and influenced by a particular patron. On the other hand, the evidence of patronage may be apparent only in accretion of chantry chapels, tombs, memorials, fittings, stained glass, and other decorations.


title: Church architecture

text: Churches that contain famous relics or objects of veneration and have thus become pilgrimage churches are often very large and have been elevated to the status of basilica. However, many other churches enshrine the bodies or are associated with the lives of particular saints without having attracted continuing pilgrimage and the financial benefit that it brought.


title: Church architecture

text: The popularity of saints, the veneration of their relics, and the size and importance of the church built to honor them are without consistency and can be dependent upon entirely different factors. Two virtually unknown warrior saints, San Giovanni and San Paolo, are honoured by one of the largest churches in Venice, built by the Dominican Friars in competition to the Franciscans who were building the Frari Church at the same time. The much smaller church that contained the body of Saint Lucy, a martyr venerated by Catholics and Protestants across the world and the titular saint of numerous locations, was demolished in the late 19th century to make way for Venice's railway station.


title: Church architecture

text: The first truly baroque façade was built in Rome between 1568 and 1584 for the Church of the Gesù, the mother church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It introduced the baroque style into architecture. Corresponding with the Society's theological task as the spearhead of the Counter-Reformation, the new style soon became a triumphant feature in Catholic church architecture.


title: Church architecture

text: After the second world war, modern materials and techniques such as concrete and metal panels were introduced in Norwegian church construction. Bodø Cathedral for instance was built in reinforced concrete allowing a wide basilica to be built. During the 1960s there was a more pronounced break from tradition as in the Arctic Cathedral built in lightweight concrete and covered in aluminum sidings.


title: Church architecture

text: In Norway, church architecture has been affected by wood as the preferred material, particularly in sparsely populated areas. Churches built until the second world war are about 90% wooden except medieval constructions. During the Middle Ages all wooden churches in Norway (about 1000 in total) were constructed in the stave church technique, but only 271 masonry constructions. After the Protestant reformation when the construction of new (or replacement of old) churches was resumed, wood was still the dominant material but the log technique became dominant. The log construction gave a lower more sturdy style of building compared to the light and often tall stave churches. Log construction became structurally unstable for long and tall walls, particularly if cut through by tall windows. Adding transepts improved the stability of the log technique and is one reason why the cruciform floor plan was widely used during 1600 and 1700s. For instance the Old Olden Church (1759) replaced a building damaged by hurricane, the 1759 church was then constructed in cruciform shape to make it withstand the strongest winds. The length of trees (logs) also determined the length of walls according to Sæther. In Samnanger church for instance, outside corners have been cut to avoid splicing logs, the result is an octagonal floor plan rather than rectangular. The cruciform constructions provided a more rigid structure and larger churches, but view to the pulpit and altar was obstructed by interior corners for seats in the transept. The octagonal floor plan offers good visibility as well as a rigid structure allowing a relatively wide nave to be constructed – Håkon Christie believes that this is a reason why the octagonal church design became popular during the 1700s. Vreim believes that the introduction of log technique after the reformation resulted in a multitude of church designs in Norway.


title: Church architecture

text: In Ukraine, wood church constructions originate from the introduction of Christianity and continued to be widespread, particularly in rural areas, when masonry churches dominated in cities and in Western Europe.


title: Church architecture

text: Church architecture varies depending on both the sect of the faith, as well as the geographical location and the influences acting upon it. Variances from the typical church architecture as well as unique characteristics can be seen in many areas around the globe.


title: Church architecture

text: The style of churches in England has gone through many changes under the influence of geographical, geological, climatic, religious, social and historical factors. One of the earliest style changes is shown in Westminster Abbey, which was built in a foreign style and was a cause for concern for many as it heralded change. A second example is the current St Paul's Cathedral in London. There are many other notable churches that have each had their own influence on the ever-changing style in England, such as Truro, Westminster Cathedral, Liverpool and Guildford. Between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the style of church architecture could be called 'Early English' and 'Decorated'. This time is considered to be when England was in its prime in the category of a church building. It was after the Black Death that the style went through another change, the 'perpendicular style', where ornamentation became more extravagant.


title: Church architecture

text: An architectural element that appeared soon after the Black Death style change and is observed extensively in Medieval English styles is fan vaulting, seen in the Chapel of Henry VII and the King's College Chapel in Cambridge. After this, the prevalent style was Gothic for around 300 years but the style was clearly present for many years before that as well. In these late Gothic times, there was a specific way in which the foundations for the churches were built. First, a stone skeleton would be built, then the spaces between the vertical supports filled with large glass windows, then those windows supported by their own transoms and mullions. On the topic of church windows, the windows are somewhat controversial as some argue that the church should be flooded with light and some argue that they should be dim for an ideal praying environment. Most church plans in England have their roots in one of two styles, Basilican and Celtic and then we see the later emergence of a 'two-cell' plan, consisting of nave and sanctuary.


title: Church architecture

text: In the time before the last war, there was a movement towards a new style of architecture, one that was more functional than embellished. There was an increased use of steel and concrete and a rebellion against the romantic nature of the traditional style. This resulted in a 'battle of the styles' in which one side was leaning towards the modernist, functional way of design, and the other was following traditional Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance styles, as reflected in the architecture of all buildings, not just churches.


title: Church architecture

text: In the early Romanian territory of Wallachia, there were three major influences that can be seen. The first are the western influences of Gothic and Romanesque styles, before later falling to the greater influence of the Byzantine styles. The early western influences can be seen in two places, the first is a church in Câmpulung, that showcases distinctly Romanesque styles, and the second are the remnants of a church in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, which has features of the Gothic style. There are not many remaining examples of those two styles, but the Byzantine influence is much more prominent. A few prime examples of the direct Byzantine influence are the St. Nicoara and Domneasca in Curtea de Arges, and church at Nicopolis in Bulgaria. These all show the characteristic features such as sanctuaries, rectangular naves, circular interiors with non-circular exteriors, and small chapels. The Nicopolis church and the Domneasca both have Greek-inspired plans, but the Domneasca is far more developed than the Nicopolis church. Alongside these are also traces of Serbian, Georgian, and Armenian influences that found their way to Wallachia through Serbia.


title: Church architecture

text: The split between Eastern and Western Church Architecture extended its influence into the churches we see in America today as well. America's churches are an amalgamation of the many styles and cultures that collided here, examples being St. Constantine, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Polish Cathedral style churches, and Russian Orthodox churches, found all across the country. There are remnants of the Byzantine inspired architecture in many of the churches, such as the large domed ceilings, extensive stonework, and a maximizing of space to be used for religious iconography on walls and such. Churches classified as Ukrainian or Catholic also seem to follow the trend of being overall much more elaborately decorated and accentuated than their Protestant counterparts, in which decoration is simple.


title: Church architecture

text: Specifically in Texas, there are remnants of the Anglo-American colonization that are visible in the architecture itself. Texas in itself was a religious hotbed, and so ecclesiastical architecture developed at a faster pace than in other areas. Looking at the Antebellum period, (1835–1861) Church architecture shows the values and personal beliefs of the architects who created them, while also showcasing Texan cultural history. Both the Catholic and Protestant buildings showed things such as the architectural traditions, economic circumstances, religious ordinances, and aesthetic tastes of those involved. The movement to keep ethnicities segregated during this time was also present in the very foundations of this architecture. Their physical appearances vary wildly from area to area though, as each served its own local purpose, and as mentioned before, due to the multitude of religious groups, each held a different set of beliefs.


title: Church architecture

text: Similarly, many Catholic churches in the southwestern United States – especially in the coastal portions of California – are built with exterior elements in the Mission Revival architecture style, as a tribute to the Spanish missions in California, though often with stained glass windows added and more modern interior elements.


title: Church architecture

text: Although having its roots in the traditions of Eastern Christianity – especially the Syrian church – as well as later being exposed to European influences – the traditional architectural style of Orthodox Tewahedo (Ethiopian Orthodox-Eritrean Orthodox) churches has followed a path all its own. The earliest known churches show the familiar basilican layout. For example, the church of Debre Damo is organized around a nave of four bays separated by re-used monolithic columns; at the western end is a low-roofed narthex, while on the eastern is the "maqdas", or Holy of Holies, separated by the only arch in the building.


title: Church architecture

text: The next period, beginning in the second half of the first millennium AD and lasting into the 16th century, includes both structures built of conventional materials, and those hewn from rock. Although most surviving examples of the first are now found in caves, Thomas Pakenham discovered an example in Wollo, protected inside the circular walls of later construction. An example of these built-up churches would be the church of Yemrehana Krestos, which has many resemblances to the church of Debre Damo both in plan and construction.


title: Church architecture

text: The other style of this period, perhaps the most famous architectural tradition of Ethiopia, are the numerous monolithic churches. This includes houses of worship carved out of the side of mountains, such as Abreha we Atsbeha, which although approximately square the nave and transepts combine to form a cruciform outline – leading experts to categorize Abreha we Atsbeha as an example of cross-in-square churches. Then there are the churches of Lalibela, which were created by excavating into "a hillside of soft, reddish tuff, variable in hardness and composition". Some of the churches, such as Biete Amanuel and the cross-shaped Bete Giyorgis, are entirely free-standing with the volcanic tuff removed from all sides, while other churches, such as Biete Gabriel-Rufael and Biete Abba Libanos, are only detached from the living rock on one or two sides. All of the churches are accessed through a labyrinth of tunnels.


title: Church architecture

text: The final period of Ethiopian church architecture, which extends to the present day, is characterized by round churches with conical roofs – quite similar to the ordinary houses the inhabitants of the Ethiopian highlands live in. Despite this resemblance, the interiors are quite different in how their rooms are laid out, based on a three-part division of:


title: Church architecture

text: Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese architectures have been integrated into church building design. Hundreds of timber-framed churches in Northern Vietnam are constructed with traditional methods, exhibiting great cultural and historical values.


title: Church architecture

text: Some churches across Southeast Asia have also incorporated traditional architecture, such as the Church of the Sacred Heart, Ganjuran, Java, Indonesia, and the Holy Redeemer Church, Bangkok, Thailand.


title: Church architecture

text: In East Asia, Taiwan is one of several countries famous for its church architecture. The Spanish Fort San Domingo in the 17th century had an adjacent church. The Dutch Fort Zeelandia in Tainan also included a chapel. In modern architecture several churches have been inspired to use traditional designs. These include the Church of the Good Shepherd in Shihlin (Taipei), which was designed by Su Hsi Tsung and built in the traditional siheyuan style. The chapel of Taiwan Theological College and Seminary includes a pagoda shape and traditional tile-style roof. Zhongshan and Jinan Presbyterian churches were built during the Japanese era (1895–1945) and reflect a Japanese aesthetic. Tunghai University's Luce Memorial Chapel, designed by IM Pei's firm, is often held up as an example of a modern, contextualized style.


title: Church architecture

text: Spanish, Austronesian, and Chinese construction ideas merged during the Spanish era of the Philippines (late 15th to late 19th century), which is the only Christian-majority nation in the Far East together with East Timor, specifically Catholic. These traditions had to adapt to the tropical climate and earthquake-prone environment, which resulted in a new types of "arquitectura mestiza" unique to the archipelago developed over three centuries.


title: Church architecture

text: Convents and monasteries were primarily built in the "bahay na bato" tradition, which had the architectural principle of native Austronesian framework, stone masonry introduced by Spaniards, and ornaments incorporated by both as well as from Chinese architects. Most early churches, though illiterate, with limited knowledge from the cooperation between Spanish friars and Chinese architects with native manpower, drew from Renaissance and Baroque traditions while complying with the tropical climate and earthquake-prone environment of the islands, resulting in an architectural style known as Filipino Baroque or Earthquake Baroque, characterized by fortress-like thick walls and contrafuetes (buttresses); squat cylindrical, rectangular or octagonal belfries also serving as watch towers; local motifs; and in some extent, asian guardian lions as grotesques. Though still retaining its unique local characteristics, the styles became more literate as more architects arrived from the other parts of the Spanish Empire, and even started incorporating newer styles such as Neoclassical, Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romanesque.


title: Church architecture

text: Gothic-era architecture, originating in 12th-century France, is a style where curves, arches, and complex geometry are highly emphasized. These intricate structures, often of immense size, required great amounts of planning, effort and resources; involved large numbers of engineers and laborers; and often took hundreds of years to complete—all of which was considered a tribute to God.


title: Church architecture

text: The characteristics of a Gothic-style church are largely in congruence with the ideology that the more breathtaking a church is, the better it reflects the majesty of God. This was accomplished through clever math and engineering in a time period where complex shapes, especially in huge cathedrals, were not typically found in structures. Through this newly implemented skill of being able to design complex shapes churches consisted of namely pointed arches, curved lights and windows, and rib vaults. Since these newly popular designs were implemented with respect to the width of the church rather than height, width was much more desired rather than height.


title: Church architecture

text: Gothic architecture in churches had a heavy emphasis on art. Just like the structure of the building, there was an emphasis on complex geometric shapes. An example of this is stained glass windows, which can still be found in modern churches. Stained glass windows were both artistic and functional in the way that they allowed colored light to enter the church and create a heavenly atmosphere. Other popular art styles in the Gothic era were sculptures. Creating lifelike depictions of figures, again with the use of complex curves and shapes. Artists would include a high level of detail to best preserve and represent their subject.


title: Church architecture

text: The Gothic era, first referred to by historiographer Giorgio Vasari, began in northeastern France and slowly spread throughout Europe. It was perhaps most characteristically expressed in the Rayonnant style, originating in the 13th century, known for its exaggerated geometrical features that made everything as astounding and eye-catching as possible. Gothic churches were often highly decorated, with geometrical features applied to already complex structural forms. By the time the Gothic period neared its close, its influence had spread to residences, guild halls, and public and government buildings.


title: Church architecture

text: In the early 16th century, the Reformation brought a period of radical change to church design. On Christmas Day 1521, Andreas Karlstadt performed the first "reformed" communion service. In early January 1522, the Wittenberg city council authorized the removal of imagery from churches and affirmed the changes introduced by Karlstadt on Christmas. According to the ideals of the Protestant Reformation, the spoken word, the sermon, should be central act in the church service. This implied that the pulpit became the focal point of the church interior and that churches should be designed to allow all to hear and see the minister. Pulpits had always been a feature of Western churches. The birth of Protestantism led to extensive changes in the way that Christianity was practiced (and hence the design of churches).


title: Church architecture

text: During the Reformation period, there was an emphasis on "full and active participation". The focus of Protestant churches was on the preaching of the Word, rather than a sacerdotal emphasis. Holy Communion tables became wood to emphasise that Christ's sacrifice was made once for all and were made more immediate to the congregation to emphasise man's direct access to God through Christ. Therefore, catholic churches were redecorated when they became reformed: Paintings and statues of saints were removed and sometimes the altar table was placed in front of the pulpit, as in Strasbourg Cathedral in 1524. The pews were turned towards the pulpit. Wooden galleries were built to allow more worshippers to follow the sermon.


title: Church architecture

text: The first newly built Protestant church was the court chapel of Neuburg Castle in 1543, followed by the court chapel of Hartenfels Castle in Torgau, consecrated by Martin Luther on 5 October 1544.


title: Church architecture

text: Images and statues were sometimes removed in disorderly attacks and unofficial mob actions (in the Netherlands called the Beeldenstorm). Medieval churches were stripped of their decorations, such as the Grossmünster in Zürich in 1524, a stance enhanced by the Calvinist reformation, beginning with its main church, St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva, in 1535. At the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, which ended a period of armed conflict between Roman Catholic and Protestant forces within the Holy Roman Empire, the rulers of the German-speaking states and Charles V, the Habsburg Emperor, agreed to accept the principle "Cuius regio, eius religio", meaning that the religion of the ruler was to dictate the religion of those ruled.


title: Church architecture

text: In the Netherlands the Reformed church in Willemstad, North Brabant was built in 1607 as the first Protestant church building in the Netherlands, a domed church with an octagonal shape, according to Calvinism's focus on the sermon. The Westerkerk of Amsterdam was built between 1620 and 1631 in Renaissance style and remains the largest church in the Netherlands that was built for Protestants.


title: Church architecture

text: By the beginning of the 17th century, in spite of the "cuius regio" principle, the majority of the peoples in the Habsburg monarchy had become Protestant, sparking the Counter-Reformation by the Habsburg emperors which resulted in the Thirty Years' War in 1618. In the Peace of Westphalia treaties of 1648 which ended the war, the Habsburgs were obliged to tolerate three Protestant churches in their province of Silesia, where the counter-reformation had not been completely successful, as in Austria, Bohemia and Hungary, and about half of the population still remained Protestant. However, the government ordered these three churches to be located outside the towns, not to be recognisable as churches, they had to be wooden structures, to look like barns or residential houses, and they were not allowed to have towers or bells. The construction had to be accomplished within a year. Accordingly, the Protestants built their three Churches of Peace, huge enough to give space for more than 5,000 people each. Two of them are still existing and have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. When Protestant troops under Swedish leadership again threatened to invade the Habsburg territories during the Great Northern War, the Habsburgs were forced to allow more Protestant churches within their empire with the Treaty of Altranstädt (1707), however limiting these with similar requirements, the so-called "Gnadenkirchen" (Churches of Grace). They were mostly smaller wooden structures like the one in Hronsek (Slovakia) of 1726.


title: Church architecture

text: In Britain during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it became usual for Anglican churches to display the Royal Arms inside, either as a painting or as a relief, to symbolise the monarch's role as head of the church.


title: Church architecture

text: During the 17th and 18th centuries, Protestant churches were built in the baroque style that originated in Italy, however consciously more simply decorated. Some could still become fairly grand, for instance, the Katarina Church, Stockholm, St. Michael's Church, Hamburg or the Dresden Frauenkirche, built between 1726 and 1743 as a sign of the will of the citizen to remain Protestant after their ruler had converted to Catholicism.


title: Church architecture

text: Some churches were built with a new and genuinely Protestant alignment: the transept became the main church while the nave was omitted, for instance at the Ludwigskirche in Saarbrücken; this building scheme was also quite popular in Switzerland, with the largest being the churches of Wädenswil (1767) and Horgen (1782). A new Protestant interior design scheme was established in many German Lutheran churches during the 18th century, following the example of the court chapel of Wilhelmsburg Castle of 1590: The connection of altar with baptismal font, pulpit and organ in a vertical axis. The central painting above the altar was replaced with the pulpit.


title: Church architecture

text: Neo-Lutheranism in the early 19th century criticized this scheme as being too profane. The German Evangelical Church Conference, therefore, recommended the Gothic language of forms for church building in 1861. Gothic Revival architecture began its triumphal march. With regard to Protestant churches, it was not only an expression of historism, but also of a new theological programme which put the Lord's supper above the sermon again. Two decades later liberal Lutherans and Calvinists expressed their wish for a new genuinely Protestant church architecture, conceived on the basis of liturgical requirements. The spaces for altar and worshippers should no longer be separated from each other. Accordingly, churches should not only give space for service, but also for social activities of the parish. Churches were to be seen as meeting houses for the celebrating faithful. The Ringkirche in Wiesbaden was the first church realised according to this ideology in 1892–94. The unity of the parish was expressed by an architecture that united the pulpit and the altar in its circle, following early Calvinist tradition.


title: Church architecture

text: The idea that worship was a corporate activity and that the congregation should be in no way excluded from sight or participation derives from the Liturgical Movement. Simple one-room plans are almost of the essence of modernity in architecture. In France and Germany between the first and second World Wars, some of the major developments took place. The church at Le Raincy near Paris by Auguste Perret is cited as the starting point of process, not only for its plan but also for the materials used, reinforced concrete. More central to the development of the process was Schloss Rothenfels-am-Main in Germany which was remodelled in 1928. Rudolf Schwartz, its architect, was hugely influential on later church building, not only on the continent of Europe but also in the United States of America. Schloss Rothenfels was a large rectangular space, with solid white walls, deep windows and a stone pavement. It had no decoration. The only furniture consisted of a hundred little black cuboid moveable stools. For worship, an altar was set up and the faithful surrounded it on three sides.


title: Church architecture

text: Corpus Christi in Aachen was Schwartz's first parish church and adheres to the same principles, very much reminiscent of the Bauhaus movement of art. Externally it is a plan cube; the interior has white walls and colourless windows, a "langbau" i.e. a narrow rectangle at the end of which is the altar. It was to be, said Schwartz not 'christocentric' but 'theocentric'. In front of the altar were simple benches. Behind the altar was a great white void of a back wall, signifying the region of the invisible Father. The influence of this simplicity spread to Switzerland with such architects as Fritz Metzger and Dominikus Böhm.


title: Church architecture

text: After the Second World War, Metzger continued to develop his ideas, notably with the church of St. Franscus at Basel-Richen. Another notable building is Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp by Le Corbusier (1954). Similar principles of simplicity and continuity of style throughout can be found in the United States, in particular at the Roman Catholic Abbey church of St. Procopius, in Lisle, near Chicago (1971).


title: Church architecture

text: A theological principle which resulted in change was the decree Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council issued in December 1963. This encouraged 'active participation' (in Latin: "participatio actuosa") by the faithful in the celebration of the liturgy by the people and required that new churches should be built with this in mind (para 124) Subsequently, rubrics and instructions encouraged the use of a freestanding altar allowing the priest to face the people. The effect of these changes can be seen in such churches as the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedrals of Liverpool and the Brasília, both circular buildings with a free-standing altar.


title: Church architecture

text: Different principles and practical pressures produced other changes. Parish churches were inevitably built more modestly. Often shortage of finances, as well as a 'market place' theology suggested the building of multi-purpose churches, in which secular and sacred events might take place in the same space at different times. Again, the emphasis on the unity of the liturgical action, was countered by a return to the idea of movement. Three spaces, one for the baptism, one for the liturgy of the word and one for the celebration of the Eucharist with a congregation standing around an altar, were promoted by Richard Giles in England and the United States. The congregation were to process from one place to another. Such arrangements were less appropriate for large congregations than for small; for the former, proscenium arch arrangements with huge amphitheatres such as at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago in the United States have been one answer.


title: Church architecture

text: As with other Postmodern movements, the Postmodern movement in architecture formed in reaction to the ideals of modernism as a response to the perceived blandness, hostility, and utopianism of the Modern movement. While rare in designs of church architecture, there are nonetheless some notable for recover and renew historical styles and "cultural memory" of Christian architecture. Notable practitioners include Dr. Steven Schloeder, Duncan Stroik, and Thomas Gordon Smith.


title: Church architecture

text: The functional and formalized shapes and spaces of the modernist movement are replaced by unapologetically diverse aesthetics: styles collide, form is adopted for its own sake, and new ways of viewing familiar styles and space abound. Perhaps most obviously, architects rediscovered the expressive and symbolic value of architectural elements and forms that had evolved through centuries of building—often maintaining meaning in literature, poetry and art—but which had been abandoned by the modern movement. Church buildings in Nigeria evolved from its foreign monument look of old to the contemporary design which makes it look like a factory.


title: London broil

text: London broil, also known as the “Dawson” in parts of the Southern United States, is a beef dish made by broiling marinated beef, then cutting it across the grain into thin strips. Despite its name, the dish and the terminology are North American, not British.


title: London broil

text: "London broil" originally referred to broiled flank steak, although modern butchers may label top round, coulotte, or other cuts as "London broil", and the term has come to refer more to a method of preparation and cookery than to a specific cut of meat.


title: London broil

text: The preparation of London broil typically involves marinating the meat for several hours followed by high heat searing in an oven broiler or outdoor grill. It is then served in thin slices, cut across the grain.


title: London broil

text: In parts of central Canada, a ground meat patty wrapped in flank or round steak is known as a London broil. Some butchers will wrap the flank steak around a concoction of seasoned and ground or tenderized flank steak. Others sell a pork sausage patty wrapped in flank or top round steak labeled as London broil. Another variant, popular in Southern Ontario, is a London broil "loaf", wherein the tenderized flank steak exterior is wrapped around minced and spiced veal as the filler. In some regions, bacon will be added between the flank steak and the veal grind.


title: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons

text: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons is the 23rd season of the MTV reality game show, "The Challenge". Although sharing the same name as the show's 5th season, "", unlike other sequel seasons is not distinguished as part "II" as the Season has a completely different format. The season took place in Bodrum, Turkey and Swakopmund & Windhoek, Namibia.


title: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons

text: Former casts from select seasons of MTV's "The Real World" and "The Challenge" competed with the hopes of winning a piece of the $250,000 grand prize. This is the first season since that does not include any cast members from "".


title: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons

text: The season premiered with a special 90 minutes episode on September 19, 2012, and concluded its run on December 19, 2012, with the reunion episode.


title: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons

text: 8 teams of 4 competed in this season of "The Challenge". Most teams were formed from Housemates from the same season of "The Real World". In a minor twist, the Las Vegas team was composed of two Housemates each from the two Las Vegas-based seasons of "The Real World". Additionally (due to the pre-production disqualification of a "Real World: Sydney" team), an 8th team consisted solely of "Fresh Meat" (contestants who debuted on "The Challenge") was introduced at the First Challenge.


title: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons

text: During each Challenge, teams will compete in order to become the Power Team, who will have the ability to place one team of their decision into the Arena. The other couple going into the Arena will be that day's Challenge losers. Once in the Arena, a team must decide one male-female pair to compete, and have the potential to go home with no money. The losing pair in the Arena will go home, and leave their team short two players. Teams can compete with only two players, and have potential to make a greater share of the final's $250,000.


title: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons

text: Three seasons will be represented in the final challenge. First place wins $250,000, second-place wins $50,000 and third-place wins $40,000.


title: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons

text: There are four games in the Arena: Physical, Mental, Strategy, and Endurance. This game is selected by the Power Team after they reveal their choice to go into the Arena. However, the same game cannot be used more than once until each of the other games have been used.


title: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons

text: The first phase of the final challenge begins with players from each team parachuting from a plane to ground level on the Namibian desert. Each team then sprints through the desert to their first checkpoint, "Mind Field," in which each team has a 20-minute time limit to align nine numbers on a 3x3 grid to where each number equals 15 in each direction. After a team has correctly aligned the numbers, they can push a red button, which will detonate the designated "mine field" and enable a team to hop aboard a helicopter, which will take them over the mountains to the next checkpoint, "Rung Out." Players from each team must swing a ring roped to a hook toward a pole until one player successfully hooks the ring to the pole. If a player misses, he/she has to take a drink of warm camel milk.


title: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons

text: The next checkpoint is "Get Tired," in which each team must use multiple poles and ropes in order to carry a series of tires through the desert — for the four-player teams, it is eight tires; for the only two-player team, it is four tires. A helicopter takes each team to the last checkpoint of the first phase, "Camel Nap," in which all but one player from each team must stand within a small designated rectangle in the sand, and supervise a camel overnight in a tent, while one team member gets to sleep by a nearby campfire. A team is assessed a one-minute penalty to begin the second phase of the final challenge if one team member steps out of the rectangle for any reason while supervising the camel. The first team to arrive the "Camel Nap" checkpoint earns a 10-minute headstart, the second-place team earns a five-minute headstart, while the third-place team does not earn a headstart. After racing through numerous sand dunes, the first checkpoint of the second phase is "Hallucination Station," in which each team must locate words from a large chart from a distance of 15 feet in order to match an answer key needed to unlock wooden crates that each team will use at the "Sand Shift" checkpoint, in which each team must use the crates to transfer sand into their designated containers several feet away. Once the containers have been filled with sand, the final section is a race to the top of a sand dune, with a flag at the end, in which the first-place team wins $250,000, the second-place team wins $50,000, and the third-place team wins $40,000.


title: The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons

text: "The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons Reunion" was aired on December 19, 2012, after the season finale. The episode featured Jonny Moseley, one of previous sporadic presenters of the series, who had not previously appeared on "The Challenge" since its . The cast members who attended the reunion were: Ashley, Frank, Sam, Zach, Alton, Dustin, Nany, Trishelle, Chet, Devyn, JD, Sarah, Derek, Jonna, Marie & Robb.


title: 2001 Ballon d'Or

text: The 2001 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was awarded to Michael Owen on 18 December 2001.


title: 2001 Ballon d'Or

text: Owen was the fourth English national to win the award after Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (1978, 1979).


title: 2022 Michigan Wolverines football team

text: The 2022 Michigan Wolverines football team is an American football team that represents the University of Michigan in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference during the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by eighth-year head Jim Harbaugh, the Wolverines compiled an overall record of 12–0 in the regular season with a mark of 9–0 in conference play, winning the Big Ten East Division title for the second consecutive season. Michigan beat Purdue in the Big Ten Championship Game to repeat as conference champions. The Wolverines advanced to the College Football Playoff (CFP) for the second straight year. They will meet TCU in the Fiesta Bowl for the CFP Semifinal on December 31.


title: 2022 Michigan Wolverines football team

text: Junior running back Blake Corum won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football, awarded to the best player from the Big Ten, and the Ameche–Dayne Running Back of the Year as the Big Ten's best running back. Graduate center Olusegun Oluwatimi, a transfer from the University of Virginia prior to the season, won the Outland Trophy as the nation's best interior lineman and the Rimington Trophy as the nation's best center. Senior defensive end Mike Morris was named the Smith–Brown Defensive Lineman of the Year as the Big Ten's top defensive lineman. Harbaugh was recognized as the Hayes–Schembechler Coach of the Year by the Big Ten. Corum and Oluwatimi were consensus selections to the 2022 College Football All-America Team. Michigan's offensive line was honored with the Joe Moore Award for second straight season.


title: 2022 Michigan Wolverines football team

text: Through 13 games, the team's statistical leaders are McCarthy with 2,376 passing yards, 20 touchdown passes, 3 interceptions, and a 64.8% completion percentage; Corum with 1,463 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns on 247 carries; and Ronnie Bell with 56 catches for 754 receiving yards. Moody has converted 26 of 32 field goal attempts and 58 of 58 kicks for point after touchdown and leads the team with 136 points scored. Morris has a team-high seven quarterback sacks. Sophomore linebacker Junior Colson paces the team with 95 tackles. Edward has rushed for 872 yards and 7 touchdowns on 117 carries, averaging 7.5 yards per rush, and has 17 receptions for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns through the air. Senior wide receiver Cornelius Johnson has a team-high six touchdown receptions.


title: 2022 Michigan Wolverines football team

text: The 2021 Michigan Wolverines football team compiled an 11–1 record in the regular season. This resulted in Michigan's first trip to the Big Ten Football Championship Game, where they beat the Iowa Hawkeyes by a score of 42–3. With this victory, Michigan secured its first Big Ten championship since 2004. The team earned a berth in the Orange Bowl and College Football Playoff, where they were defeated by the eventual national champion Georgia Bulldogs. The Wolverines ended the season ranked no. 3 in the country, their highest postseason ranking since 1997.


title: 2022 Michigan Wolverines football team

text: After the game, an incident broke out in the Michigan Stadium tunnel. Several Michigan State players allegedly assaulted Michigan defensive backs Gemon Green and JaDen McBurrows. Chris Solari of the "Detroit Free Press" was present and reported that he saw Michigan State players punching, shoving and kicking McBurrows. McBurrows reportedly sustained a nose injury. Green was struck by a helmet swung by a Michigan State player, reportedly sustained a concussion and facial cuts, and hired attorney Tom Mars to file a lawsuit for assault.


title: 2022 Michigan Wolverines football team

text: Reaction to the incident was swift. In his postgame news conference, Jim Harbaugh described the incident as a "10 on 1, pretty bad," and noted that one of the players sustained a "nasal injury." Bob Wojnowski of "The Detroit News" described it as a "brutal attack" and condemned the actions of the Michigan State players as "profound cowardice."


title: 2022 Michigan Wolverines football team

text: Michigan State coach Mel Tucker tweeted the next morning: "While emotions were very high at the conclusion of our rivalry game at Michigan Stadium, there is no excuse for behavior that puts our team or our opponents at risk." On the Sunday evening after the game, Tucker announced the suspension of four players: Angelo Grose, Zion Young, Itayvion "Tank" Brown, and Khary Crump. On November 1, Michigan State suspended four additional players: Malcolm Jones, Justin White, Jacoby Windmon and Brandon Wright. On November 23, criminal charges for felonious assault, aggravated assault, or assault and battery were filed against seven Michigan State players in connection with the tunnel incident. On November 28, following the Big Ten's investigation, it was announced that the Spartans were fined $100,0000 and Khary Crump was suspended for the first eight games of the 2023 season.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: The Central line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway is a public transit system serving Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It consists of 24 stations from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) to Kalyan Junction. The entire line is at grade. It has section of quadruple track starting from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and ends at Kasara, Roha, Uran and Khopoli in Maharashtra.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: The Central line in Mumbai consists of three major corridors, which bifurcate as they run into suburban satellite towns.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: Two corridors (one local and other through) on Central Railway run from CSMT to Kalyan Junction (55 km), from where it bifurcates into two lines – one running up to Kasara (67 km) in the north-east and the other running up to Khopoli (61 km) in the south-east. These two corridors constitute the 'Main' Line. The Central main line shares one station with the Western line at Dadar. They consist of a fleet of DC as well as dual-powered EMUs.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: The major car sheds on this line are at Kurla and Kalva. There are fast and slow locals here for suburban service. Slow locals halt at every station, while fast locals halts vary between Byculla, Dadar, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Vikhroli, Bhandup, Mulund, Thane, Diva, Dombivli and Kalyan Junction. All services plying beyond this junction run slow. Trains usually start from and terminate at important stations.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: The main line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway runs from CSMT to Kalyan. It then splits into two corridors one going to Khopoli and other to Kasara.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: The Vasai Road–Bhiwandi Road-Diva–Panvel–Roha line connects the Western line station of Vasai Road with the Harbour line station of Panvel. It intersects the main line of the Central line at Diva. MEMUs operate between Dahanu Road and Roha via a branch line from Diva.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: The Nerul/CBD Belapur–Uran rail track of 27 km is currently under construction. The line is being constructed by CIDCO at a cost of 14.12 billion. It is expected to be operational by 2015.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: The first passenger train in India from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai to Thane ran on 16 April 1853 on the track laid by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. The GIPR line was extended to Kalyan in 1854 and then on the north-east side to Igatpuri and the south-east side to Khopoli via Palasdari railway station at the foot of the Western Ghats in 1856.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: Railway electrification in India began with the first electric train, between Bombay Victoria Terminus and Kurla by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) on 3 February 1925, on 1.5 kV DC. The Kalyan–Pune section was electrified with 1.5 kV DC overhead system in 1930.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: The previously used 1.5 kV DC was converted to 25 kV AC on 5 May 2013 from Kalyan to Khopoli and Kalyan to Kasara. Conversion from 1.5 kV DC to 25 kV AC on the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Thane-Kalyan section was completed on 12 January 2014. The CSMT to LTT section was converted from 1.5 kV DC to 25 kV AC on 8 June 2015.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: Since November 2011, all services on the Central line have been running on 12 cars. In preparation for introducing 15 car services, CR extended platforms at Byculla, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Bhandup, Mulund and Dombivli stations, from the current 270 metres to 330 metres, in order to accommodate 15 coach trains. The total cost of the work was estimated at . The first 15-car service, on the Central line, departed from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Kalyan at 7:33 pm on 16 October 2012.


title: Central line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

text: As of March 2014, 75 rakes operate 825 services on the Central line daily, of which 809 are 12-car and 16 are 15-car services.


title: Martin Ferrero

text: Martin Victor Ferrero (born September 29, 1947) is an American actor. His most well known roles are Izzy Moreno in "Miami Vice" (1984-1989) and Donald Gennaro in the 1993 film "Jurassic Park".


title: Martin Ferrero

text: Ferrero was born in Brockport, New York. He joined the California Actors Theater in Los Gatos, California. In 1979, he moved to Los Angeles and began to act in Hollywood. He is widely remembered for his role as the ill-fated lawyer Donald Gennaro in "Jurassic Park" (1993). He appeared as a regular on the 1980s TV series "Miami Vice" playing the comic relief character Izzy Moreno, an informant with a malapropism infused Cuban accent and involved in a variety of outlandish business ventures. He initially appeared in the pilot episode as assassin Trini DeSoto.


title: Martin Ferrero

text: He also guest-starred on an episode of "Cheers" ("Rescue Me", season 3), playing the role of an Italian waiter. In addition, he has appeared in "Get Shorty" (1995), "Gods and Monsters" (1998), and "The Tailor of Panama" (2001). As of 2008, Ferrero is a member of the Antaeus Company, a Los Angeles classical theater ensemble. In 2011, Ferrero reprised the role of Donald Gennaro in a CollegeHumor parody of "Jurassic Park".


title: Grande Arche

text: La Grande Arche de la Défense (; "The Great Arch of the Defense"), originally called La Grande Arche de la Fraternité (; "Fraternity"), is a monument and building in the business district of La Défense and in the commune of Puteaux, to the west of Paris, France. It is usually known as the Arche de la Défense or simply as La Grande Arche. A cube, La Grande Arche is part of the perspective from the Louvre to Arc de Triomphe, and was one of the Grands Projets of François Mitterrand. The distance from La Grande Arche to Arc de Triomphe is .


title: Grande Arche

text: A great national design competition was launched in 1982 as the initiative of French president François Mitterrand. Danish architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen (1929–1987) and Danish engineer Erik Reitzel (1941–2012) designed the winning entry to be a late-20th-century version of the Arc de Triomphe: a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals rather than military victories. The construction of the monument began in 1985, with most of the work being carried out by French civil engineering company Bouygues. Spreckelsen resigned in July 1986 and ratified the transfer of all his architectural responsibilities to his associate, French architect Paul Andreu. Reitzel continued his work until the monument was completed in 1989. The Grande Arche is in the approximate shape of a cube with a width, height, and depth of ; it has been suggested that the structure looks like a hypercube (a tesseract) projected onto the three-dimensional world. It has a prestressed concrete frame covered with glass and is covered in Bethel Granite.


title: Grande Arche

text: "La Grande Arche" was inaugurated in July 1989, with grand military parades that marked the bicentennial of the French Revolution. It completed the line of monuments that forms the Axe historique running through Paris. The Grande Arche is turned at an angle of 6.33° about the vertical axis. The most important reason for this turn was technical: with a Paris Métro station, an RER station, and a motorway all situated directly underneath the "Arche", the angle was the only way to accommodate the structure's giant foundations. In addition, from an architectural point of view, the turn emphasises the depth of the monument and is similar to the turn of the Louvre at the other end of the Axe Historique. In addition, the "Arche" is placed so that it forms a secondary axis with the two of the highest buildings in Paris at the time, the Tour Eiffel and the Tour Montparnasse.


title: Grande Arche

text: The two sides of the "Arche" house government offices. The roof section was closed in 2010 following an accident without injury and the marble tiles which had begun to peel off were replaced with granite ones. It opened again in 2017 after seven years of renovation work. It features panoramic views of Paris, includes a restaurant, and an exhibition area dedicated to photojournalism.


title: Grande Arche

text: The void contains skeletal shafts for panoramic lifts and a PTFE-and-fibreglass tensile-membrane sunshade known as the "Cloud" ("Le nuage").


title: Grande Arche

text: Organizations headquartered in the Grande Arche include the Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer (BEAmer), the French marine accident investigation agency, in the southern portion.


title: Back to December

text: "Back to December" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her third studio album, "Speak Now" (2010). Before the album's release, the track was released for download on October 12, 2010, through the iTunes Store as a promotional single. It was sent to US country radio on November 15, 2010, by Big Machine Records, as the second single from the album. "Back to December" is a power ballad combining country and pop, with orchestrated string instruments. The lyrics are about a remorseful plea for forgiveness from a former lover.


title: Back to December

text: In contemporary reviews, music critics praised "Back to December" for its production and lyrics, with some picking it as an album highlight. The song peaked at number six on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and number three on the Hot Country Songs chart, and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In Canada, the single peaked at number seven on the Canadian Hot 100 and was certified gold by Music Canada (MC). It additionally peaked within the top 40 on singles charts of Australia and New Zealand.


title: Back to December

text: The song's accompanying music video, directed by Yoann Lemoine, depicts the aftermath of a breakup between Swift and her boyfriend. Swift performed "Back to December" on televised events including the Country Music Association Awards and the American Music Awards. On the Speak Now World Tour (2011–12), she performed the song as part of a mashup with OneRepublic's "Apologize" (2007) and her own song "You're Not Sorry" from her second studio album, "Fearless" (2008).


title: Back to December

text: American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift wrote her third studio album, "Speak Now" (2010), entirely by herself. According to Swift, "Speak Now" is a collection of songs about the things she had wanted to say to the people in her life, but never had a chance to. "Back to December" is an apology to a past lover in the form of a song, something that she had never done before. In press interviews leading up to the release of "Speak Now," Swift said that although her past songs usually criticized her ex-boyfriends, she felt the need to apologize to a person who was nice to her, "Guys get what they deserve in my songs, and if they deserve an apology, they should get one. There was someone who was absolutely wonderful to me and I dropped the ball, and I needed to say all that."


title: Back to December

text: "Back to December" was produced by Swift and Nathan Chapman. It was first released as a promotional single from "Speak Now" on October 12, 2010, as a part of the exclusive campaign by the iTunes Store leading up to the album's release. On November 15, 2010, the song was released to US country radio by Big Machine Records, as the second single from "Speak Now". Around the time of its release, the inspiration behind the song was subject to media scrutiny, because of Swift's dating history with other celebrities. In press interviews, Swift refused to reveal the subject of the song, as well as other "Speak Now" tracks, because she wanted to focus on the songwriting aspect of her work. Actor Taylor Lautner, an ex-boyfriend of Swift, told the press in 2016 that he was the inspiration of "Back to December".


title: Back to December

text: "Back to December" has a length of four minutes and 55 seconds. Musically, it is a power ballad. In contemporary reviews, critics categorized the ballad as country and pop. The track is set in common time and has a tempo of 72 beats per minute. It is written in the key of D major, and Swift's vocals span from of F to A. The song incorporates an orchestral arrangement consisting of strings, recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. It is one of the two "Speak Now" tracks to incorporate orchestral strings, the other being "Haunted". Maura Johnston from "Vulture" described the song's texture as "a chilly day when the sun goes down too soon and the mind can only turn to past regrets". "Clash" opined that the production is "wintry" with "soft flourishes of guitar and strings". In the "Los Angeles Times", Martens Todd found the song borderline 1980s rock.


title: Back to December

text: In the lyrics, the narrator apologizes an ex-lover for having hurt him. The lyrics lament a failed relationship that could have been special, "It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you / Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine." The narrator reminisces about the last time she saw the ex-lover, "You gave me roses, and I left them there to die." She wishes to go back in time to change her mind, "I'd go back to December, turn around, and change my own mind / I go back to December all the time." In the bridge, the narrator attempts to fix uncovered memories and change where she went wrong, but ultimately realizes that it is too late.


title: Back to December

text: "Billboard" journalist Lyndsey Havens wrote of the lyrics, "To hear Swift declare and own a previous mistake was both comforting and empowering all at once — and proved that it's OK, and sometimes even necessary, to swallow one’s pride in the name of love." Mandi Bierly from "Entertainment Weekly" describes the song as "a melancholy mea culpa with the kind of driving chorus and age-appropriate yet universal honesty". Leah Greenblatt from the same publication ranked the couplet, "Your guard is up and I know why, because the last time you saw me is still burned in the back of your mind / You gave me roses and I left them there to die," as one of the most outstanding lyrics from "Speak Now".


title: Back to December

text: Rob Sheffield from "Rolling Stone" gave it a positive review commenting, "Swift's voice is unaffected enough to mask how masterful she has become as a singer; she lowers her voice for the payoff lines in the classic mode of a shy girl trying to talk tough." Jonathan Keefe from "Slant Magazine" complimented Swift's ability "to write an indelible melody" and praised the production of the song, writing "[the song] showcase(s) Swift's unique knack for matching the overall tone of a melody to the broader themes of a song". He added that "it isn't easy to make a melancholy song like "Back to December" sound catchy at the same time, but that's what Swift does, and it's an impressive trick."


title: Back to December

text: Rudy Klapper from Sputnikmusic described the song as a "regret-filled apology". In "The Washington Post", Allison Stewart picked it as one of the album's "great" songs. Dan DeLuca writing for "The Philadelphia Inquirer" considered "Back to December" the "Speak Now" track that most showcased Swift's maturing songwriting, thanks to the lyrics depicting her acknowledgements of her own shortcomings without blaming others. Steven Hyden in a review for "The A.V. Club" was less enthusiastic, deeming "Back to December" a generic ballad and saying that it is not as effective as other album tracks where Swift criticizes those who had wronged her, such as "Innocent", "Better than Revenge", or "Mean".


title: Back to December

text: In a retrospective review, Johnston selected "Back to December" as one of the most memorable tracks on the album, deeming it a wistful song and praising the emotional sentiments: "Swift's lyrics slip between in-the-moment narration and getting lost in her head in an utterly relatable way." James Rettig, in a 10-year anniversary review of "Speak Now" for "Stereogum", found it to represent Swift "at her best" for portraying universal feelings about "lost love and youthful regret" despite taking inspiration from her own personal life. "Clash" magazine's editors included the single in their list of the 15 best songs by Swift, with Sahar Ghadirian specifically lauding the bridge. On a less complimentary side, Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" ranked "Back to December" 39th in his 2019 ranking of Swift's 44 singles; while saying that the song is "beautifully produced", he remarked that it "never quite sets your pulse racing".


title: Back to December

text: Upon its digital release, "Back to December" debuted at number six (which later became its peak) on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 with first-week digital sales of 242,000 downloads. On the Hot Country Songs chart, the single peaked at number three. On other airplay charts by "Billboard", "Back to December" peaked at number 11 on Pop Songs, number 11 on Adult Pop Songs, and number 14 on Adult Contemporary. According to the "Billboard" Year-End Charts of 2011, "Back to December" ranked at number 38 on the year-end Hot Country Songs and number 74 on the year-end Hot 100 chart. As of November 2017, "Back to December" had sold two million digital copies in the United States. Elsewhere, the single peaked at number seven on the Canadian Hot 100, number 26 on the Australian ARIA Charts, and number 24 on the Official New Zealand Music Chart.


title: Back to December

text: "Back to December"'s accompanying music video was directed by Yoann Lemoine, who directed the video for Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream", and was filmed in late December 2010 before Christmas Day. In an interview with Country Music Television, Lemoine explained that he developed the idea for the video after being inspired from the film, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial". He also told MTV News that he wanted the video to be simple yet metaphorical. He added, "I wanted to work on the coldness of feelings in a very visual way, playing with the snow, the distance and sadness." He wanted to focus on Swift's look in the video so that she would come off as accessible, saying "I wanted her to perform a very natural way, to make her look very European. This was the main challenge to me. All of Taylor's world is very far away from my culture, but I saw something in her that could be very rough and heartbreaking; far from the princess glittery outfits and glam that she often goes for." Lemoine was allowed to take control of the whole production of the video, although it was Swift's idea to have her character leave the letter for her beloved. Swift's love interest in the video was played by model, Guntars Asmanis. Lemoine commented that Asmanis was the perfect fit for Swift's love interest, saying "I wanted a boy that was fragile and beautiful. I didn't want to go for a hunk or a perfect cheesy boy that would have killed the sincerity of the video." The music video premiered on January 13, 2011, on CMT and Great American Country. Footages of the school and baseball stadium in the video were filmed in MacArthur Park in Binghamton, New York, while scenes with Swift were shot in an old country mansion outside of Nashville.


title: Back to December

text: The video begins with a young man seen walking alone in a small town to the snowy football field in a winter morning. The video cuts to Swift inside a house wearing a comfy sweater draped over one shoulder. She is brooding and singing about her lost love while wandering morosely around her house. She is also seen sitting in the bathtub, missing her boyfriend who she didn't treat well when they were together. About halfway through the video, it starts to snow inside the spacious house. A montage of Swift writing a letter is shown alternately with scenes of her boyfriend strolling around the town. It is then revealed that the whole situation is the aftermath of a break-up between Swift and her boyfriend. It is also shown that Swift slips the letter that she has written in his coat pocket before he leaves. The final scene shows her ex-boyfriend sitting in the bleachers of the snowy football field, reading her apology letter.


title: Back to December

text: Critical receptions towards the music video were positive. Jillian Mapes of "Billboard" believed that the video is "appropriately understated" considering the fact that the song is all about making an apology. "The Improper" noticed that the video has "the look and feel of a Hallmark movie and is almost as maudlin," while Amos Barshad of "New York" magazine felt that the video was "terrible". Tamar Anitai of MTV described the video as "a bummer", writing "[It] isn't just about a girl with her calendar permanently stuck on the twelfth month of the year. It's not just about feeling like a Lady Antebellum song. It's about getting stuck in a place of romantic regret." In a different perspective, Kyle Anderson of MTV argued that the music video puts Swift in a "pantheon of modern classics" with regards to its "almost haunting visual sense" which makes up for the inadequate narrative. Leah Collins of "Dose.ca" called the music video "dreamy and moody". Her points were echoed by Leah Greenblatt of "Entertainment Weekly", who deemed the video as "kind of lovely", which corresponds with the melancholic yet regretful mood of the song. Joycelyn Vena of MTV noticed that the video is "darker" and "somber", something that is not synonymous with Swift. Yet, "The Oxonian Review" considered Swift's "listlessness, the bare trees, and snowy indoors" in the music video attuned to the tenor of the song, achieved by "mixing wide shots, medium close ups, and cut-ins of Ms. Swift and her ex, matching their gazes across frames, and blurring focus tastefully."


title: Back to December

text: Swift first performed "Back to December" in Paris at a showcase at the Salle Wagram theater, on October 18, 2010, to promote her upcoming album, "Speak Now", set for release on the October 25, 2010. Swift also performed the song on "Speak Now: Taylor Swift Live From New York City", a special programme which was streamed live on CMT.com, MTV.com, VH1.com and other MTV Networks websites in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America to celebrate the release of her new album.


title: Back to December

text: Swift also performed "Back to December" on several other occasions. On November 10, 2010, she performed the song live at the 44th annual Country Music Association Awards at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Her performance of the song during that event was graded as a "B+" in the "Los Angeles Times", noting she "kept it simple" and "rose to the occasion". On November 21, 2010, Swift mashed "Back to December" with OneRepublic's "Apologize" at the 38th American Music Awards. Her rendition in that event was graded as a "B−" in the "Los Angeles Times", noting that "a brief end-song breakaway into OneRepublic's "Apologize" seemed unnecessary".


title: Back to December

text: Swift performed "Back to December" and several songs from "Speak Now" on November 24, 2010, during Thanksgiving night, on NBC. She later performed the song on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on December 2, 2010. On January 31, 2011, she sang the song in JetBlue's Terminal 5 in New York as part of JetBlue's Live at Terminal 5 concert series. She also performs the song on her Speak Now World Tour as well as mashing the song with Apologize and her own song "You're Not Sorry", from her album Fearless. The performance was released on Swift's first live album called "".


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia. Law requires citizens to be Muslim, and, public worship by adherents of religions other than Islam is forbidden. Any non-Muslim foreigner attempting to acquire Saudi Arabian nationality must convert to Islam. Furthermore, Hanbali is the official version of Sunni Islam and adherence to other sects is restricted. Saudi Arabia has been criticized for its implementation of Islamic law and its human rights record. According to a 2012 online poll by WIN-Gallup International, 5% of 502 Saudi Arabians surveyed stated they were "convinced atheists".


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia is an Islamic theocracy. Religious minorities do not have the right to practice their religion openly. Conversion from Islam to another religion is punishable by death as apostasy. Proselytizing by non-Muslims, including the distribution of non-Muslim religious materials such as Bibles, Bhagavad Gita, Torah and Ahmedi Books are illegal. In late 2014, a law was promulgated calling for the death penalty for anyone bringing into the country "publications that have a prejudice to any other religious beliefs other than Islam" (thought to include non-Muslim religious books).


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: The annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) tagged Saudi Arabia along with 15 other nations as “countries of particular concern” for engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations [of religious freedom]”.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: The official form of Islam is Sunni of the Hanbali school, in its Salafi version. According to official statistics 75% of Saudi Arabian citizens are Sunni Muslims, 25% are Shia. While as other independent organizations put the figure of Shias to be between 35-45%. More than 30% of the population is made up of foreign workers who are predominantly but not entirely Muslim. The two holiest cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, are in Saudi Arabia. For many reasons, non-Muslims are not permitted to enter the holy cities, although some Western non-Muslims have been able to enter, disguised as Muslims.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: Out of the kingdom's total population of about 35 million, there are about 9 million foreign workers, many of whom are non-Muslim.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: For non-Sunni Muslims, non-Muslims, and non-religious, "freedom of religion is neither recognized nor protected under the law" and Saudi "government policies continued to place severe restrictions on religious freedom", according to the 2013 International Religious Freedom Report of the U.S. State Department.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: According to Human Rights Watch, the Shia Muslim minority face systematic discrimination from the Saudi Arabian government in education, the justice system and especially religious freedom. Shias also face discrimination in employment and restrictions are imposed on the public celebration of Shia festivals such as Ashura and on the Shia taking part in communal public worship.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: As no faith other than Islam is permitted to be practiced openly; no churches, temples, or other non-Muslim houses of worship are permitted in the country although there are nearly a million Christians as well as Hindus and Buddhists—nearly all foreign workers—in Saudi Arabia. Private prayer services are suppressed, and the Saudi Arabian religious police reportedly regularly search the homes of Christians. Foreign workers are not allowed to celebrate Christmas or Easter. In 2007, Human Rights Watch requested that King Abdullah stop a campaign to round up and deport foreign followers of the Ahmadiyya faith.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: Proselytizing by non-Muslims is illegal, and conversion by Muslims to another religion (apostasy) carries the death penalty (though there have been no confirmed reports of executions for apostasy in recent years). Religious inequality extends to compensation awards in court cases. Once fault is determined, a Muslim receives the full amount of compensation determined, a Jew or Christian half, and all others a sixteenth. Saudi Arabia has officially identified atheists as terrorists. Saudi Arabians or foreign residents who call "into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based" may be subject to as much as 20 years in prison.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: According to scholar Bernard Lewis, the Saudi Arabian policy of excluding non-Muslims from permanent residence in the Arabian peninsula is a continuation of an old and widely accepted Muslim policy:


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: [The hadith] was generally accepted as authentic, and Umar put it into effect. Compared with European expulsions, Umar's decree was both limited and compassionate. It did not include southern and southeastern Arabia, which were not seen as part of Islam's holy land. ... the Jews and Christians of Arabia were resettled on lands assigned to them – the Jews in Syria, the Christians in Iraq. The process was also gradual rather than sudden, and there are reports of Jews and Christians remaining in Khaybar and Najran for some time after Umar's edict.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: But the decree was final and irreversible, and from then until now the holy land of the Hijaz has been forbidden territory for non-Muslims. According to the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence, accepted by both the Saudi Arabians and the declaration's signatories, for a non-Muslim even to set foot on the sacred soil is a major offense. In the rest of the kingdom, non-Muslims, while admitted as temporary visitors, were not permitted to establish residence or practice their religion.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: While Saudi Arabia does allow non-Muslims to live in Saudi Arabia to work, they may not practice religion publicly. According to the government of the United Kingdom:


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: The public practice of any form of religion other than Islam is illegal; as is an intention to convert others. However, the Saudi Arabian authorities accept the private practice of religions other than Islam, and you can bring a Bible into the country as long as it is for your personal use. Importing larger quantities than this can carry severe penalties.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: Estimates of the number of Christians in Saudi Arabia range from 1,500,000 to 1,800,000. All Christians in the Kingdom are foreign workers. Christians have complained of religious persecution by authorities. In one case in December 2012, 35 Ethiopian Christians working in Jeddah (six men and 29 women who held a weekly evangelical prayer meeting) were arrested and detained by the kingdom’s religious police for holding a private prayer gathering. While the official charge was “mixing with the opposite sex” — a crime for unrelated people in Saudi Arabia — the offenders complained they were arrested for praying as Christians. A 2006 report in "Asia News" states that there are "at least one million" Roman Catholics in the kingdom. It states that they are being "denied pastoral care ... Catechism for their children – nearly 100,000 – is banned." It reports the arrest of a Catholic priest for saying mass in 2006. "Fr. George [Joshua] had just celebrated mass in a private house when seven religious policemen (muttawa) broke into the house together with two ordinary policemen. The police arrested the priest and another person."


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: According to the Middle East editor of The Economist magazine, Nicolas Pelham, the kingdom contains "perhaps the largest and fastest-growing Christian community in the Middle East" and strict religious laws -- such as banning Christians from Mecca and Medina -- are not always enforced:


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: Though Christians are forbidden from worshiping publicly, congregations at weekly prayer meetings on foreign compounds can be several hundred strong.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: In 2018, it was reported that the religious police had stopped enforcing the ban on Christians religious services anywhere in the Kingdom whether publicly or privately, and for the first time, a "documented Christian service" was openly conducted. Sometime before 1 December 2018, a Coptic Mass was performed in the city of Riyadh by Ava Morkos, Coptic Bishop of Shobra Al-Kheima in Egypt, during his visit to Saudi Arabia (according to Egyptian and other Arab media).


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: As of 2001, there were an estimated 1,500,000 Indian nationals in Saudi Arabia, most of them Muslims, but some Hindus. Like other non-Muslim religions, Hindus are not permitted to worship publicly in Saudi Arabia. There have also been some complaints of destruction of Hindu religious items by Saudi Arabian authorities.


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: Disbelief in God is a capital offense in the kingdom. Traditionally, influential conservative clerics have used the label ‘atheist’ to apply not to those who profess to believe that God does not exist, but to "those who question their strict interpretations of Islamic scriptures or express doubts about the dominant version of Islam known as Wahhabism". Examples of those so condemned (but not executed) include:


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: In February / March 2014, a series of new anti-terrorism laws were decreed. Article 1 of the law also conflated atheism and religious dissent, outlawing "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based".


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: According to "anecdotal, but persistent" evidence, since sometime around 2010, the number of atheists in the kingdom has been growing. News agencies such as Alhurra, Saurress and the American performance-management consulting company Gallup


title: Religion in Saudi Arabia

text: A commission set up by the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice In its report, the commission said that it got over 9,341 complaints about pornographic sites in one year. It also received over 2,734 reports about sites that promoted atheism and misleading information about religion. A government official announced in that same year that 850 websites and social media pages espousing views deemed to be "atheistic" in nature have been blocked in the country over a span of 16 months.


title: Ibis (hotel)

text: Ibis (or Ibis Red; stylised as ibis) is a French brand of economy hotels owned by Accor. Created in 1974, Ibis became Accor's economy megabrand in 2011 with the launch of Ibis Styles and Ibis Budget. As of December 2019, there were 1,218 hotels under the Ibis brand (excluding Styles and Budget hotels), with 155,678 rooms in total across 67 countries.


title: Ibis (hotel)

text: The first Ibis hotel opened in Bordeaux in 1974. It was created by the Accor group (then Novotel-SIEH) to engineer more affordable Novotels. By 1988, Ibis operated 182 hotels in France.


title: Ibis (hotel)

text: In the USA, the first Ibis hotel opened in 1983. The chain spread through the states of Texas, Florida and Georgia. However, by the end of the 1980s, Ibis exited the US market. In the UK, by 1995, Ibis operated 8 hotels.


title: Ibis (hotel)

text: In 1997, Ibis launched its 15-minute guarantee program which consisted in offering the stay if an Ibis hotelier could not fix a customer's issue with a room within 15 minutes.


title: Ibis (hotel)

text: By 2004, Ibis operated 700 hotels in 36 countries. From 2003 to 2005, Ibis opened in South Korea, China and Thailand. In October 2009, Ibis reached the 100,000 rooms milestone and opened its first hotel in Moscow, followed by a 50th hotel in Brazil and a first hotel in Japan. In 2012, Ibis' largest hotel in the Asia-Pacific region opened.


title: Ibis (hotel)

text: In September 2011, Accor rebranded All Seasons into Ibis Styles, and Etap Hôtel into Ibis Budget, turning Ibis into the group's economy megabrand. The mattresses, pillows and digital access were upgraded. Following this restructuring, the Ibis megabrand (including both other chains) became the biggest hotel operator in Europe in 2013, with 1,277 hotels. In January 2014, Ibis itself opened its 1,000th hotel.


title: Ibis (hotel)

text: In September 2012, Ibis tested Sleep Art, a robot that made a painting based on the movements, sounds, and heat variations of the sleeper. Sleep Art was turned into a mobile app for all Ibis customers 6 months later.


title: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

text: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (c. 1531 – 23 January 1570) was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland. A supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent of Scotland for his half-nephew, the infant King James VI, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570. He was the first head of government to be assassinated with a firearm.


title: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

text: Moray was born in about 1531, an illegitimate child of King James V of Scotland and his mistress Lady Margaret Erskine, daughter of John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine, and wife of Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven. On 31 August 1536, he received a royal charter granting the lands of Tantallon and others. James was appointed Prior of St Andrews, Fife, in 1538. This position supplied his income.


title: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

text: In May 1553, the imperial ambassador to England, Jean Scheyfve, heard that Mary of Guise planned to make him regent in place of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault. Mary of Guise was the widow of James V and the mother of his only surviving legitimate child, Mary, Queen of Scots, who was living in France at the time and had not yet reached adulthood. Guise herself became regent in 1554.


title: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

text: On 5 August 1557, Moray, his half-brother Lord Robert, and Lord Home led a raiding party from Edinburgh towards Ford Castle in Northumberland and burnt houses at Fenton before retreating on the approach of an English force led by Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland. In 1558, James attended the wedding in Paris of his legitimate half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Dauphin of France, who became King Francis II of France. To fund this trip, his mother obtained credit from Timothy Cagnioli, an Italian banker in Edinburgh.


title: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

text: James became a supporter of the Scottish Reformation. In June 1559, he plucked down the images in various churches at Perth, Scotland. An English commentator praised James for his virtue, manhood, valour and stoutness as a leader of the Protestant Lords of the Congregation.


title: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

text: Despite their religious differences, Moray became one of the chief advisers to his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, after her return from France in 1561. Her return was occasioned by the death of her first husband, King Francis of France. Although James disturbed her priests celebrating mass at Holyroodhouse in September 1561, she made him Earl of Moray and Earl of Mar (the Mar earldom was soon afterwards withdrawn) the following year, both earldoms being new creations. With the lucrative Moray earldom came Darnaway Castle with its medieval hall, notable even then as "verie fayer and large builded." Moray also had a smaller house called Pitlethie near Leuchars in Fife, which his father had used.


title: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

text: He wrote to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I of England, in January 1562. In October 1562, Moray defeated a rebellion by George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, at the Battle of Corrichie near Aberdeen. The very powerful and wealthy Huntly, who controlled large areas of northeastern Scotland, died immediately after this battle. In 1562, Alistair Gunn son-in-law of John Gordon, 11th Earl of Sutherland, led Gordon's retinue and encountered James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, and his followers on the High Street of Aberdeen. The Earl of Moray was the bastard half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots, as well as the son-in-law of William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal, chief of Clan Keith. It was the custom at the time to yield thoroughfares to the personage of greater rank, and in refusing to yield the middle of the street to Stewart and his train, Alistair publicly insulted the Earl. Stewart soon afterward had him pursued to a place called Delvines, near Nairn. There he was captured by Andrew Munro of Milntown and taken to Inverness, and following a mock trial, he was executed.


title: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

text: Moray went to Castle Campbell for the wedding of James Stewart, 1st Lord Doune, and Margaret Campbell (d. 1572), sister of the Earl of Argyll, on 10 January 1563. There was a masque involving courtiers and musicians dressed in white taffeta as shepherds. However, Moray became ill and withdrew to Stirling Castle. Mary, Queen of Scots, was also ill for a week.


title: James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

text: Moray opposed the marriage of his half-sister Mary, to Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in July 1565, and he embarked upon the unsuccessful Chaseabout Raid, a revolt precipitated by the marriage, together with the Earl of Argyll and Clan Hamilton. He was subsequently declared an outlaw and took refuge in England. Returning to Scotland after the murder of David Rizzio, he was pardoned by the Queen and once more became one of her key advisers. He nonetheless contrived to be away at the time of Darnley's assassination in 1567. He avoided the entanglements of Mary's disastrous marriage to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, which followed the Darnley murder by mere weeks, by removing himself to France.