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Aleksandrs Vanags (architect)
Aleksandrs Vanags (5 March 1873 – 19 March 1919) was a Latvian architect. Vanags studied civil engineering between 1891 and 1899 and then pursued studies in architecture at Riga Technical Institute (today Riga Technical University). He never finished his studies in architecture but secured a permit to run a building practice in 1902. He worked in the office of Konstantīns Pēkšēns between 1895 and 1905 and then established his own firm. Vanags designed a number of churches in Riga and approximately 70 multi-storey apartment buildings in the city before World War I, most of which are in a National romantic style of Art Nouveau architecture. During World War I, he worked for the road construction department of the Imperial Russian army but during the German occupation of Riga he helped organise an exhibition in Berlin about Latvian art (in 1918). He returned to Riga in 1919 and worked with the building department of the city during the Communist occupation. He was a victim o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific Ocean, Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in Genocides in history (World War I through World War II), genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the Spanish flu, 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war. Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente (comprising French Third Republic, France, Russia, and British Empire, Britain) and the Triple A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1919 Deaths
Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the coast of the Hebrides; 201 people, mostly servicemen returning home to Lewis and Harris, are killed. * January 2– 22 – Russian Civil War: The Red Army's Caspian-Caucasian Front begins the Northern Caucasus Operation against the White Army, but fails to make progress. * January 3 – The Faisal–Weizmann Agreement is signed by Emir Faisal (representing the Arab Kingdom of Hejaz) and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, for Arab–Jewish cooperation in the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East. * January 5 – In Germany: ** Spartacist uprising in Berlin: The Marxist Spartacus League, with the newly formed Communist Party of Germany and the Independent Social ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1873 Births
Events January–March * January 1 ** Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar. ** The California Penal Code goes into effect. * January 17 – American Indian Wars: Modoc War: First Battle of the Stronghold – Modoc Indians defeat the United States Army. * February 11 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Amadeus I, and proclaims the First Spanish Republic. * February 12 ** Emilio Castelar, the former foreign minister, becomes prime minister of the new Spanish Republic. ** The Coinage Act of 1873 in the United States is signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant; coming into effect on April 1, it ends bimetallism in the U.S., and places the country on the gold standard. * February 20 ** The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco. ** British naval officer John Moresby discovers the site of Port Moresby, and claims the land for Britain. * March 3 – Censorship: The United States Congress enacts the Coms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Nouveau Architects
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes art, and its interpretation has varied greatly throughout history and across cultures. In the Western tradition, the three classical branches of visual art are painting, sculpture, and architecture. Theatre, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature, music, film and other media such as interactive media, are included in a broader definition of the arts. Until the 17th century, ''art'' referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences. In modern usage after the 17th century, where aesthetic considerations are paramount, the fine arts are separated and distinguished from acquired skills in general, such as the decorative or applied arts. The nature of art and related concepts, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corner House (Riga)
The Corner House ( lv, Stūra māja) is a historic building in the city center of Riga, Latvia. It was known as the headquarters of the Soviet KGB in Latvia from 1940 to 1941 and from 1944 to 1991. The official address is 61 Brīvības iela (Brīvības Street). Designed by architect Aleksandrs Vanags, the construction of the house was started in 1910, and was built in 1912 as apartments and shops. It housed the music school of the Imperial Russian Society of Music, a library and a bookstore, sweets and fruit, dairy products, flower shops, and a pharmacy of the Ministry of National Welfare. During the Latvian War of Independence, the Latvian Revolutionary War Committee used the building briefly in 1919. In 1920, the new government of independent Latvia took over the building for government use, including the Ministry of the Interior and other offices. The Interior Affairs Ministry of Latvia used the building in the 1920s and 1930s. At different times the building was owned by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Firing Squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are usually readily available and a gunshot to a vital organ, such as the brain or heart, most often will kill relatively quickly. A firing squad is normally composed of several soldiers, all of whom are usually instructed to fire simultaneously, thus preventing both disruption of the process by one member and identification of who fired the lethal shot. To avoid disfigurement due to multiple shots to the head, the shooters are typically instructed to aim at the heart, sometimes aided by a paper or cloth target. The prisoner is typically blindfolded or hooded as well as restrained. Media portrayals have frequently shown the condemned being offered a final cigarette as well. Executions can be carried out with the condemned either standing or sitt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, most populous city, as measured by population within city limits having gained this status after the United Kingdom's, and thus London's, Brexit, departure from the European Union. Simultaneously, the city is one of the states of Germany, and is the List of German states by area, third smallest state in the country in terms of area. Berlin is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and Brandenburg's capital Potsdam is nearby. The urban area of Berlin has a population of over 4.5 million and is therefore the most populous urban area in Germany. The Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan reg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Romantic Style
The National Romantic style was a Nordic architectural style that was part of the National Romantic movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is often considered to be a form of Art Nouveau. The National Romantic style spread across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia, as well as Russia, where it also appeared as Russian Revival architecture. Unlike some nostalgic Gothic Revival style architecture in some countries, Romantic architecture often expressed progressive social and political ideals, through reformed domestic architecture.Barbara Miller Lane, ''National Romanticism and Modern Architecture in Germany and the Scandinavian Countries'' (New York: Cambridge University Press), 2000:10. Nordic designers turned to early medieval architecture and even prehistoric precedents to construct a style appropriate to the perceived character of people. The style can be seen as a reaction to industrialism and an expression of the same "Dream of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers and lies above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain. Riga was founded in 1201 and is a former Hanseatic League member. Riga's historical centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, noted for its Art Nouveau/Jugendstil architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. Riga was the European Capital of Culture in 2014, along with Umeå in Sweden. Riga hosted the 2006 NATO Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, the 2006 IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, 2013 World Women's Curling Championship and the 2021 IIHF World Championship. It is home to the European Union's office of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). In 2017, it was named the European Region of Gastronomy. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of neighbouring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Qajar Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and Qing dynasty, Qing China. It also held colonies in North America between 1799 and 1867. Covering an area of approximately , it remains the list of largest empires, third-largest empire in history, surpassed only by the British Empire and the Mongol Empire; it ruled over a population of 125.6 million people per the Russian Empire Census, 1897 Russian census, which was the only census carried out during the entire imperial period. Owing to its geographic extent across three continents at its peak, it featured great ethnic, linguistic, re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riga Technical University
Riga Technical University (RTU) ( lv, Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte) is the oldest technical university in the Baltic countries established on October 14, 1862. It is located in Riga, Latvia and was previously known as 'Riga Polytechnical Institute' and 'Riga Polytechnicum'. History Riga Polytechnical Institute (1862–1918) Riga Polytechnicum was first established in 1862 and was the first poly technical institute in Imperial Russia. It offered degrees in agriculture, chemistry, engineering, mechanics, trade and architecture, with education in German. In addition to four technical faculties (architecture, engineering, mechanical engineering, chemistry), the polytechnic also included an agricultural and a commercial faculty. The first lecturers came from Germany, Switzerland and Austria-Hungary. The language of instruction was German. Between 1863 and 1869, the number of students grew from sixteen to ninety. In 1869 the polytechnic moved into a new building. Since there was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
