November 19, 1479: a dynastic alliance, two noble scions, a regal wedding, short-lived and with an unhappy ending. These pages reconstruct the story of the magnificent bas relief in the Acton Collection (Villa La Pietra, Florence), commissioned to celebrate the marriage between Antonio Basso Della Rovere, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, and Caterina Marzano d'Aragona, the niece of King Ferdinand I of Naples. The heraldic symbols of the three coats of arms leave no doubt about the identities of the characters and events surrounding its creation, and lead us to the original location of the work, born as the overdoor to the main portal of the Basso Della Rovere Palace in piazza della Maddalena in Savona. Through close examination of the Della Rovere in Rome, this study highlights some previously unknown facts about the family's origins and returns to Savona and its role as a political, cultural, and artistic protagonist in late 15th-century Italy.

The works in this book have been selected because of their historical value, uniqueness, character and state of preservation. The result is 100 treasures that reflect the diversity of Brussels' museums, and the permanent collections that reside within them. For each of the 100 artworks the authors give a description, a context and an anecdote. Themes range widely, from modern and contemporary art, ancient art, history and archeaology, to science, nature, and architecture. This book is a multifaceted aesthetic and scientific experience, and contains something everyone will enjoy.

This up-to-date detailed A-Z street map includes more than 900 streets in and around Salisbury. This street map includes the following: Postcode districts, one-way streets and car parks Places of interest On the reverse side there is a handy index to streets, places of interest, place and area names, park and ride sites, national rail stations, hospitals and hospices Detailed coverage of an area extending from Stratford sub Castle in the north to Salisbury District Hospital in the south, and from Laverstock in the east to Wilton Park in the west. The perfect reference map for finding your way around Salisbury.

Cathedrals and great churches are among the most iconic sights of the world's towns and cities. Visible from miles around, the cathedrals of Canterbury, St Paul's, Chartres and St Stephen's in Vienna dominate their skylines. Others surprise by their statistics: Salisbury has Britain's tallest spire, Wells the largest display of medieval sculptures in the world, while King's College Chapel in Cambridge boasts the largest fan vaulting in existence. Not all are ancient: Dresden's reconstructed Frauenkirche opened in 2005 and Gaudi's masterpiece in Barcelona is still under construction. Award-winning travel writer Sue Dobson gives us a highly personal tour of their highlights.

Welcome to Iceland, a very small nation with a very large number (two hundred and sixty five) of (mostly) very small museums. Founded in the backyards of houses, begun as jokes or bets or memorials to lost friends, these museums tell the story of an enchanted island where bridges arrived only at the beginning of the 20th century, and waterproof shoes only with the second world war. A nation formerly dirt poor, then staggeringly rich, and now building its way to affluence once again. A nation where, in the remote and wild places, you might encounter still a shore laddie, a sorcerer or a ghost. From Reykjavik's renowned Phallological Museum to a house of stones on the eastern coast; from the curious monsters which roam the remote shores of Bildudalur to a museum of whales which proves impossible to find, here is an enchanted story of obsession, curation, and the peculiar magic of this isolated island.

The mosaics in the Rotunda in Thessaloniki are the most significant decorations that remain from the early Byzantine period. Th is richly illustrated book invites the reader to enter the building and experience the splendid golden and silver mosaics that cover the cupola and vaults. It includes a timeline and a list of recent publications. Colour photographs, many specially taken for this publication, document the spectacular qualities of these magnificent mosaics. After an introduction to the architecture of the Rotunda, the authors focus on the mosaics, discussing such issues as imperial patronage, the martyr portraits, the pictorial programme, as well as mosaic technique and the aesthetic qualities of the multi-coloured images. The succinct text provides an up-to-date introduction to the mosaics.

At Gettysburg, PA, during three days of July 1863, 160,000 men fought one of the most fierce and storied battles of the US Civil War. Nearly one in three of those men ended up a casualty of that battle, and when the two armies departed a few days later, 21,000 wounded remained. This book is the story of how those soldiers were cared for in a town of 2,500 people. Historian and author of several other guides to Gettysburg, James Gindlesperger provides a context for the medical and organizational constraints of the era and then provides details about the aid stations and field hospitals created in the aftermath of the battle. Filled with historical and contemporary photos, as well as stories about the soldiers and their healers, this book is a detailed guide for visitors to the site as well as others interested in American Civil War history.

Red beans and rice, trad jazz, and second lines are the Big Easy's calling cards, but beyond where the carriage rides take you is a city brimming with genre-defying music, transnational cuisine, and pockets of wild, artistic locals that challenge preconceived notions of what it means to be New Orleans.

With a respectful nod to the traditional and a full embrace of the obscure, New Orleans: The Underground Guide is a resource for discovering the city as it really is -- as much brass bands and boas as it is bounce and bicycle tours. From a speakeasy in the Bywater neighborhood to the delightfully sketchy vibe of St. Roch Tavern, lead author Michael Patrick Welch uncovers an unexpected tableau of musicians, venues, and novel ways to pass the bon temps.

Contents include but are not limited to: where to get naked, how to make the most of Mardi Gras according to banjo player Geoff Douville, what to order from the delicious Slavic menu at Siberia, where to find the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival, how to catch a performance by the New Movement comedy troupe, where to rent a kayak, and how to get in on the "bed and beverage" experience at the Royal Street Inn.

A visit to Paris can often seen like a highlight reel -- the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Eiffel Tower. But Paris isn't only about the big attractions; in fact, some might say it's the off-beat destinations that hold the greatest treasures. The Little(r) Museums of Paris takes a whimsical journey through these smaller destinations, from the fantastical to the bizarre, offering both a guide to the city and inspiration for armchair travelers. Rather than traveling by neighborhood, this charming guide explores the different types of institutions nestled within Paris, from time capsules like the Musee Nissim de Camondo to explorations of the world beyond the city limits, including the Institute of the Arab World. Readers will peek behind the curtains of artists' apartments and into the microscopes of collections of scientific oddities. Each entry opens up a new world of adventure, with a description of the museum's collection, as well as a short history, watercolor illustrations, and a miniature map. For residents and visitors alike, the captivating illustrations and deeply-researched yet approachable writing will encourage greater appreciation of the cultural diversity, history, and colorful characters that give Paris that je ne sai quois.

This fascinating lexicon examines the quixotic architectural expressions found on select mid-20th-century modern commercial buildings in South Florida. Showcasing the work of 13 noted architects from Miami Beach to Fort Lauderdale, it highlights the playful decorative details and gestures-swooping overhangs, brise-soleil, cheese holes and arches, and screening-that expressed the era's shiny optimism and the region's carefree resort culture. With brief bios of the architects and street maps pinpointing the location of each building, this book offers tourists, architects, history buffs, and preservationists a new context and appreciation for these works of art, many of which are endangered.

This first-person account of a legendary necropolis will delight Francophiles, tourists and armchair travelers, while enriching the experience of taphophiles (cemetery lovers) and aficionados of art and architecture, mystery and romance. Carolyn Campbell's evocative images are complemented by those of renowned landscape photographer Joe Cornish. City of Immortals celebrates the novelty and eccentricity of Pere-Lachaise Cemetery through the engrossing story of the history of the site established by Napoleonic decree along with portraits of the last moments of the cultural icons buried within its walls. In addition to several 'conversations' with some of the high-profile residents, three guided tours are provided along with an illustrated pull-out map featuring the grave sites of eighty-four architects, artists, writers, musicians, dancers, filmmakers and actors, including Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison of the Doors. Frederic Chopin, Georges Bizet, Edith Piaf, Maria Callas, Isadora Duncan, Eugene Delacroix, Gertrude Stein, Amedeo Modigliani, Sarah Bernhardt, Simone Signoret, Colette and Marcel Proust.

Soaring obelisks, graceful arches, and soldiers standing tall atop pedestals recall the memory of the Civil War in Mississippi, a former Confederate state that boasts more Civil War monuments than any other. In Mississippi Civil War Monuments: An Illustrated Field Guide, Timothy S. Sedore combs through the Mississippi landscape, exploring monuments commemorating important military figures and battles and remembering common soldiers, from rugged veterans to mournful youths. Sedore's insightful commentary captures a character portrait of Mississippi, a state that was ensnared between Northern and Southern ideologies and that paid a high price for seceding from the Union. Sedore's close examinations of these monuments broadens the narrative of Mississippi's heritage and helps illuminate the impacts of the Civil War. With intriguing details and vivid descriptions, Mississippi Civil War Monuments offers a comprehensive guide to the monuments that make up Mississippi's physical and historical landscape.

Tells the story of the building of the American Museum of Natural History and Hayden Planetarium, a story of history, politics, science, and exploration, including the roles of American presidents, New York power brokers, museum presidents, planetarium directors, polar and African explorers, and German rocket scientists. The American Museum of Natural History is one of New York City's most beloved institutions, and one of the largest, most celebrated museums in the world. Since 1869, generations of New Yorkers and tourists of all ages have been educated and entertained here. Located across from Central Park, the sprawling structure, spanning four city blocks, is a fascinating conglomeration of many buildings of diverse architectural styles built over a period of 150 years. The first book to tell the history of the museum from the point of view of these buildings, including the planned Gilder Center, The American Museum of Natural History and How It Got That Way contextualizes them within New York and American history and the history of science. Part II, "The Heavens in the Attic," is the first detailed history of the Hayden Planetarium, from the museum's earliest astronomy exhibits, to Clyde Fisher and the original planetarium, to Neil deGrasse Tyson and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and it features a photographic tour through the original Hayden Planetarium. Author Colin Davey spent much of his childhood literally and figuratively lost in the museum's labyrinthine hallways. The museum grew in fits and starts according to the vicissitudes of backroom deals, personal agendas, two world wars, the Great Depression, and the Cold War. Chronicling its evolution from the selection of a desolate, rocky, hilly, swampy site, known as Manhattan Square to the present day the book includes some of the most important and colorful characters in the city's history, including the notoriously corrupt and powerful "Boss" Tweed, "Father of New York City" Andrew Haswell Green, and twentieth-century powerbroker and master builder Robert Moses; museum presidents Morris K. Jesup, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and Ellen Futter; and American presidents, polar and African explorers, dinosaur hunters, and German rocket scientists. Richly illustrated with period photos, The American Museum of Natural History and How It Got That Way is based on deep archival research and interviews.

This completely reconceived and rewritten guide to the Metropolitan's encyclopedic holdings--the first new edition of the guidebook in nearly thirty years--provides the ideal introduction to almost 600 essential masterpieces from one of the world's most popular and beloved museums. It features a compelling and accessible design, beautiful color reproductions, and up-to-date descriptions written by the Museum's own experts. More than a simple souvenir book, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide provides a comprehensive view of art history spanning more than five millennia and the entire globe, beginning with the Ancient World and ending in contemporary times. It includes media as varied as painting, photography, costume, sculpture, decorative arts, musical instruments, arms and armor, works on paper, and many more. Presenting works ranging from the ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendur to Canova's Perseus with the Head of Medusa to Sargent's Madame X, this is an indispensable volume for lovers of art and art history, and for anyone who has ever dreamed of lingering over the most iconic works in the Metropolitan Museum's unparalleled collection.

This book provides an in-depth account of the protests that shook France in 1968 and which served as a catalyst to a radical reconsideration of artistic practice that has shaped both art and museum exhibitions up to the present. Rebecca DeRoo examines how issues of historical and personal memory, the separation of public and private domains, and the ordinary objects of everyday life emerged as central concerns for museums and for artists, as both struggled to respond to the protests. She argues that the responses of the museums were only partially faithful to the aims of the activist movements. Museums, in fact, often misunderstood and misrepresented the work of artists that was exhibited as a means of addressing these concerns. Analyzing how museums and critics did and did not address the aims of the protests, DeRoo highlights the issues relevant to the politics of the public display of art that have been central to artistic representation, in France as well as in North America.

A compendium of 28 beautiful, historical Scottish Castles for local and visitor alikeScotland: A land with rich history, wild landscapes and some of the most beautiful castles on Earth. There have been over 2000 castles in scottish history; some have been preserved in superb condition, some lie in picturesque ruin and others have been resigned to historical records.Discover the story of the well-trodden fortress of Edinburgh Castle, uncover the beautiful remoteness of Eileen Donan and learn all about Castle Urquhart, on the banks of Loch Ness. These are the sites of feuds, the homes of royalty and the locations of great battles.This Pitkin guide takes the reader on a tour of 28 of Scotland's most magnificent castles. Revised for 2019, it makes a perfect addition to the literature for any visitor to the country.

Aspects of Georgia's unique history can only be told through its extant rural churches. As the Georgia backcountry rapidly expanded in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the churches erected on this newly parceled land became the center of community life. These early structures ranged from primitive outbuildings to those with more elaborate designs and were often constructed with local, hand-hewn materials to serve the residents who lived nearby. From these rural communities sprang the villages, towns, counties, and cities that informed the way Georgia was organized and governed and that continue to influence the way we live today. Historic Rural Churches of Georgia presents forty-seven early houses of worship from all areas of the state. Nearly three hundred stunning color photographs capture the simple elegance of these sanctuaries and their surrounding grounds and cemeteries. Of the historic churches that have survived, many are now in various states of distress and neglect and require restoration to ensure that they will continue to stand. This book is a project of the Historic Rural Churches of Georgia organization, whose mission is the preservation of historic rural churches across the state and the documentation of their history since their founding. If proper care is taken, these endangered and important landmarks can continue to represent the state's earliest examples of rural sacred architecture and the communities and traditions they housed.

When Greyfriars Graveyard opened in Edinburgh in the sixteenth century, built on the site of a Franciscan monastery on the edge of the Old Town below the castle, it became Edinburgh's most important burial site. Over the centuries many of Edinburgh's leading figures have been buried at Greyfriars, alongside many more ordinary folk, and it is home to a spectacular collection of post-Reformation monuments. In this book local historian Charlotte Golledge takes the reader on a tour around Greyfriars Graveyard to reveal the history of the cemetery, from when James I granted the land as a monastery to the present day. She explores the huge variety of its monuments and gravestones and explains the symbolism behind the stones and carvings and how the styles changed over the years. Through this she paints a remarkable picture of life and death in Edinburgh over the centuries, which will appeal to both residents and visitors to the Scottish capital.

Central Bristol History Tour is a fascinating insight into the history of this famous old port city and shows just how much it has changed during the course of the centuries. Readers are invited to follow local author and historian Anthony Beeson as he guides them through its streets and alleyways, pointing out the well-known and lesser-known landmarks along the way.

What to do with the fragments of a love affair? A postcard from a childhood sweetheart. A wedding dress in a jar. Barbed wire. Silicone breast implants. Red stilettos, never worn. These objects and many others make up the inspiring, whimsical, sometimes bizarre, and always unforgettable population of the real-life Museum of Broken Relationships. A decade ago, two lovers were struggling through their own painful breakup, desperate to heal their heartbreak without destroying the memory of the love they had shared. Then, an idea struck: they would create a communal space, a kind of refuge for - and cathartic celebration of - the everyday objects that had outlasted love. These items, along with the anonymous, intimate stories each piece represented, quickly captured hearts and imaginations across the globe. As word spread, the tiny museum became a worldwide sensation. Collected here are 203 of the best, funniest, most heartwarming and thought-provoking pieces that offer an irresistible experience of human connection. The Museum of Broken Relationships is a poignant celebration of modern love - and a must-read for anyone who has ever loved and lost.

The appeal of the Beatles is everlasting. Millions of fans from all over the world continue to revel in the band's eternal hits and their music stands out as one of Britain's greatest cultural successes. This book takes the reader on a journey to the Fab Four's home town of Liverpool and explores the significant sites and locations associated with the band's unparalleled rise to stardom. We delve into the archives and uncover nostalgic images of Mathew Street, Strawberry Field and Penny Lane, as well as many other familiar landmarks and witness the changes that have taken place in the city through time. This book will appeal to any true Beatles fan who wishes to discover that little bit extra about the world's most famous boy band.