The Influence of the Norman Conquest on Anglo-Saxon Gardens

The Influence of the Norman Conquest on Anglo-Saxon Gardens Anglo-Saxons felt incredible modifications to their day-to-day lives in the latter half of the eleventh century due to the accession of the Normans. The Normans were much better than the Anglo-Saxons at architecture and horticulture when they came into power. But yet there was no time for home life, domestic design, and decoration until the Normans had conquered the whole region. Most often designed upon windy summits, castles were fundamental structures that permitted their inhabitants to spend time and space to offensive and defensive strategies, while monasteries were rambling stone buildings commonly installed in only the most fecund, broad valleys. Gardening, a quiet occupation, was unfeasible in these fruitless fortifications. The best specimen of the early Anglo-Norman style of architecture existent in modern times is Berkeley Castle. The keep is rumored to have been invented during the time of William the Conqueror. As a method of deterring assailants from tunneling under the walls, an immense terrace surrounds the building. One of these terraces, a charming bowling green, is covered grass and flanked by an aged yew hedge trimmed into the form of crude battlements.

Archaic Greek Art: Outdoor Statuary

Archaic Greek Art: Outdoor Statuary The primitive Greeks built the very first freestanding statuary, an awesome achievement as most sculptures up until then had been reliefs cut into walls and pillars. Youthful, appealing male or female (kore) Greeks were the subject matter of most of the sculptures, or kouros figures. The kouroi, viewed by the Greeks to symbolize beauty, had one foot extended out of a strict forward-facing pose and the male statues were always unclothed, with a powerful, strong physique. The kouroi became life-sized beginning in 650 BC. A substantial period of transformation for the Greeks, the Archaic period introduced about more forms of state, expressions of art, and a higher comprehension of people and customs outside of Greece. The Arcadian battles, the Spartan penetration of Samos, and other wars between city-states are good examples of the kinds of battles that emerged commonly, which is consistent with other times of historical change.

A Chronicle of Outdoor Water Fountains

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A Chronicle of Outdoor Water Fountains Pope Nicholas V, himself a learned man, governed the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of ancient classic Greek documents into Latin. In order to make Rome worthy of being the capital of the Christian world, the Pope resolved to enhance the beauty of the city. In 1453 the Pope instigated the reconstruction of the Aqua Vergine, an ancient Roman aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into the city from eight miles away. The historical Roman tradition of marking the entry point of an aqueduct with an magnificent celebratory fountain, also known as a mostra, was restored by Nicholas V. The present-day site of the Trevi Fountain was formerly occupied by a wall fountain commissioned by the Pope and constructed by the architect Leon Battista Alberti. The Trevi Fountain as well as the renowned baroque fountains located in the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Navona were eventually supplied with water from the modified aqueduct he had reconstructed.