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Piscina Mirabilis
The Piscina Mirabilis (Latin for "wondrous pool") is an Ancient Roman cistern on the Bacoli hill at the western end of the Gulf of Naples, southern Italy. It ranks as one of the largest ancient cisterns built by the ancient Romans, compared to the largest Roman reservoir, the Yerebatan Sarayi (''aka'' Basilica Cistern) in Istanbul. The adjective ''Mirabilis'' was given by the 14th c. Tuscan poet Francesco Petrarca on one of his visits. History The Piscina Mirabilis was built under Augustus possibly to provide water to the '' Classis Misenensis'' in the nearby port of Misenum, which needed large quantities of fresh water for the base itself and for the ships. As it lies 1 km away from the residential and military quarters at Misenum which lay beside each other and which were fed directly by the Aqua Augusta, it is also possible that the cistern belonged instead to one of the many luxurious villas built in this area, like the smaller Grotta della Dragonara and Cento Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piscina Mirabilis 2010-by-RaBoe-17
A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Catholics and Lutherans, a sacrarium is "special sink used for the reverent disposal of sacred substances. This sink has a cover, a basin, and a special pipe and drain that empty directly into the earth, rather than into the sewer system" (USCCB, Built of Living Stones, 236). Precious or sacred items are disposed of, when possible, by returning them to the ground. They are in some cases used to dispose of materials used in the sacraments and water from liturgical ablutions. They are found in Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches, and a similar vessel is used in Eastern Orthodox churches. History The ''piscina'' is a Latin word originally applied to a fish pond, and later used for natural or artificial pools for bathing, and als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of Naples, province-level municipality is the third most populous Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in Italy with a population of 2,958,410 residents, and the List of urban areas in the European Union, eighth most populous in the European Union. Naples metropolitan area, Its metropolitan area stretches beyond the boundaries of the city wall for approximately . Naples also plays a key role in international diplomacy, since it is home to NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean. Founded by Greeks in the 1st millennium BC, first millennium BC, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in the world. In the eighth century BC, a colony known as Parthenope () was e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opus Caementicium
Roman concrete, also called , was used in construction in ancient Rome. Like its modern equivalent, Roman concrete was based on a hydraulic-setting cement added to an aggregate. Many buildings and structures still standing today, such as bridges, reservoirs and aqueducts, were built with this material, which attests to both its versatility and its durability. Its strength was sometimes enhanced by the incorporation of pozzolanic ash where available (particularly in the Bay of Naples). The addition of ash prevented cracks from spreading. Recent research has shown that the incorporation of mixtures of different types of lime, forming conglomerate "clasts" allowed the concrete to self-repair cracks. Roman concrete was in widespread use from about 150 BC; some scholars believe it was developed a century before that. It was often used in combination with facings and other supports, and interiors were further decorated by stucco, fresco paintings, or coloured marble. Further inn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barrel Vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design. The barrel vault is the simplest form of a vault: effectively a series of arches placed side by side (i.e., one after another). It is a form of barrel roof. As with all arch-based constructions, there is an outward thrust generated against the walls underneath a barrel vault. There are several mechanisms for absorbing this thrust. One is to make the walls exceedingly thick and strong – this is a primitive and sometimes unacceptable method. A more elegant method is to build two or more vaults parallel to each other; the forces of their outward thrusts will thus negate each other. This method was most often used in construction of churches, where sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cathedral
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Catholic Church, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicanism, Anglican, and some Lutheranism, Lutheran churches.''New Standard Encyclopedia'', 1998 by Standard Educational Corporation, Chicago, Illinois; page B-262c. Church buildings embodying the functions of a cathedral first appeared in Italy, Gaul, Spain, and North Africa in the 4th century, but cathedrals did not become universal within the Western Catholic Church until the 12th century, by which time they had developed architectural forms, institutional structures, and legal identities distinct from parish churches, monastery, monastic churches, and episcopal residences. The cathedra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IWA Publishing
The International Water Association (IWA) is a self-governing nonprofit organization and knowledge hub for the water sector, connecting water professionals and companies to find solutions to the world's water challenges. It has permanent staff housed in its headquarters and global secretariat in central London, the United Kingdom, to support the activities, and has a regional office in Chennai, India. The aim of the IWA is to function as an international network for water experts and promote standards and optimal approaches in sustainable water management. Its membership is a global mosaic comprising 313 technology companies, water and wastewater utilities, 54 universities, and wider stakeholders in the fields of water services, infrastructure engineering and consulting as well as 7,791 individuals including scientists and researchers, with 53 governing members (2021). IWA is an affiliated member of the International Science Council (ISC). IWA features regional associations, ap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypostyle Hall
In architecture, a hypostyle () hall has a roof which is supported by columns. Etymology The term ''hypostyle'' comes from the ancient Greek ὑπόστυλος ''hypóstȳlos'' meaning "under columns" (where ὑπό ''hypó'' means below or underneath and στῦλος ''stŷlos'' means column). Technical options The roof may be constructed with bridging lintels of stone, wood or other rigid material such as cast iron, steel or reinforced concrete. There may be a ceiling. The columns may be all the same height or, as in the case of the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak, the columns flanking the central space may be of greater height rather than those of the side aisles, allowing openings in the wall above the smaller columns, through which light is admitted over the aisle roof, through clerestory windows. Applications The architectural form has many applications, occurring in the ''cella'' of ancient Greek temples and in many Asian buildings, particularly of wood construction. Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olympic-size Swimming Pool
An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Championships. Different size regulations apply for other pool-based events, such as diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo. Less onerous breadth and depth regulations exist for lesser swimming competitions, but any "long course" event requires a course length of , as distinct from " short course" which applies to competitions in pools that are in length (or in the United States). If touch pads are used in competition, then the distance is relative to the touch pads at either end of the course, so that the pool itself is generally oversized to allow for the width of the pads. An Olympic-size swimming pool is used as a colloquial unit of volume, to make approximate comparisons to similarly sized objects or volumes. It is not a specific d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
US Gallons
The gallon is a unit of volume in British imperial units and United States customary units. The imperial gallon (imp gal) is defined as , and is or was used in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, including Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Malaysia and some Caribbean countries, while the US gallon (US gal) is defined as , and is used in the United States and some Latin American and Caribbean countries. There are four gills in a pint, two pints in a quart, and four quarts (''quarter'' gallons) in a gallon, with the imperial gill being divided into five imperial fluid ounces and the US gill being divided into four US fluid ounces: this, and a slight difference in the sizes of the imperial fluid ounce and the US fluid ounce, give different sizes for the imperial gallon and US gallon. The IEEE standard symbol for both the imperial and US gallons is gal, not to be confused with the gal (symbol: Gal), a CGS unit of acceleration. Definitions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Litre
The litre ( Commonwealth spelling) or liter ( American spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metres (m3). A cubic decimetre (or litre) occupies a volume of (see figure) and is thus equal to one-thousandth of a cubic metre. The original French metric system used the litre as a base unit. The word ''litre'' is derived from an older French unit, the '' litron'', whose name came from Byzantine Greek—where it was a unit of weight, not volume—via Late Medieval Latin, and which equalled approximately 0.831 litres. The litre was also used in several subsequent versions of the metric system and is accepted for use with the SI, despite it not being an SI unit The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI (from French ), is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polychrome
Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and architecture from antiquity and the European Middle Ages, people tend to believe that they were monochrome. In reality, the pre-Renaissance past was full of colour, and Greco-Roman sculptures and Gothic cathedrals, that are now white, beige, or grey, were initially painted in a variety of colours. As André Malraux stated: "Athens was never white but her statues, bereft of color, have conditioned the artistic sensibilities of Europe ..the whole past has reached us colorless." Polychrome was and is a practice not limited only to the Western world. Non-Western artworks, like Chinese temples, Oceanian Uli figures, or Maya ceramic vases, were also decorated with colours. Ancient Near East Similarly to the ancient art of other regions, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tessera
A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus. Historical tesserae In early antiquity, mosaics were formed from naturally formed colored pebbles. By roughly 200 BC cut stone tesserae were being used in Hellenistic- Greek mosaics. For instance, a large body of surviving material from the Hellenistic period can be found in the mosaics of Delos, Greece, dating to the late 2nd century BC. Ancient Roman decorative mosaic panels and floor mosaics were also produced during the 2nd century BC, particularly at sites such as Antioch and Pompeii. Marble or limestone were cut into small cubes and arranged into representational designs and geometric patterns. Later, tesserae were made from colored glass, or clear glass backed with metal foils. The Byzantines used tesserae with gold leaf, in which case the glass pieces were flatter, wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
