8,163 results in English
Antietam, Maryland. Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and Major General John A. McClernand: Another View
At the outset of the U.S. Civil War, Mathew Brady dispatched a team of photographers to document the conflict. Among them was a Scottish-born immigrant named Alexander Gardner, the photographer who took this photo of Lincoln at Antietam as well as other famous wartime shots. The man to Lincoln's right is Allan Pinkerton, founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, whom Lincoln had as head of a personal security detail during the war. Gardner titled another shot of Pinkerton and his brother William at Antietam “The Secret Service ...
Contributed by Library of Congress
An Actor in the Role of Sato Norikiyo who Becomes Saigyo: An Actor in the Role of Yoshinaka
The Japanese art of Ukiyo-e (“Pictures of the floating [or sorrowful] world”) developed in the city of Edo (now Tokyo) during the Tokugawa or Edo Period (1600-1868), a relatively peaceful era during which the Tokugawa shoguns ruled Japan and made Edo the seat of power. The Ukiyo-e tradition of woodblock printing and painting continued into the 20th century. This diptych print of between 1849 and 1852 shows Saigyō surrounded by men trying to prevent him from leaving his house to become a priest. The poet Saigyō (1118-90) was born into ...
Contributed by Library of Congress
Great Trading Routes of the Sahara
This 1889 map of trans-Saharan trading routes by French explorer Edouard Blanc reflects the growing priority that Europeans gave to land-based trade during the late 19th-century imperial “scramble for Africa.” In articles about his work, Blanc stressed the importance of identifying “natural” geographic routes that would connect French colonial possessions in west Africa, such as Senegal, to Algeria in north Africa, and link the Mediterranean coast to Sudan and central Africa. Blanc based his maps not only on his own travels but also on nearly a century of reports from ...
Contributed by Library of Congress
Al-Zaura, No. 422, February 28, 1874
Al-Zaura was the brainchild of the pro-Western, progressive Ottoman wali (governor) of Iraq, Midhat Pasha (reigned 1869–72). He established the newspaper when he brought with him from Paris a printing press, the first in Iraq, upon his assignment to Baghdad in 1869. Al-Zaura’s name was taken from a nickname for Baghdad, literally meaning a bend or curve, as the city sits within a wide bend of the Tigris River. The paper is arguably the most important source on Iraq’s history during the last 50 years of the ...
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The Ash Wednesday Supper
La cena de le Ceneri (The Ash Wednesday supper), the first of Giordano Bruno’s six Italian philosophical dialogues, was first published in London in 1584. The title page indicates neither the place of publication nor the publisher, but scholars agree that the book was printed at the London shop of John Charlewood. The work is dedicated to the French ambassador to the English court, Michel de Castelnau, sieur de la Mauvissière, who assisted Bruno after his arrival in London in 1583. The book is divided into five dialogues and ...
Report on the Different Masses of Iron, Found in the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes
Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustáriz (1798–1857) was a Peruvian scientist, geologist, mineralogist, chemist, archaeologist, politician, and diplomat. After schooling in Arequipa, he was sent in 1810 at age 12 to London to study mathematics, physics, and languages. In 1817 he traveled to France to the École royale des mines de Paris to study mineralogy and chemistry. In France he met Joseph Louis Proust, Gay-Lussac, and Alexander von Humboldt. The latter became his mentor and, during the course of his travels in Europe, Rivero discovered a new iron-oxalate that ...
Album of Religious Artifacts from the Church Archaeological Museum of Kiev Theological Academy
This book, the first in a series of albums dedicated to the Church Archaeological Museum of Kiev Theological Academy, is about the collection of icons from Mount Sinai and Mount Athos assembled by Bishop Porfiry Uspensky (1804–85). Bishop Porfiry was born in Russia, studied at the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, and was ordained as a priest in 1829. In 1842 he was sent by the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to Jerusalem to strengthen relations with the Orthodox Christians of Syria and Palestine. In 1845–46 he made ...
The First Russian Book Printer, 1583
This book, published in Kiev in 1895, is a short biography of Ivan Fyodorov (circa 1510–83), intended for the general reader. Along with Schweipolt Fiol and Francysk Skaryna, Fyodorov was one of the fathers of printing in the East Slavic region. He graduated from Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, and later worked in Moscow, where he published liturgical works using movable type, the first books printed in Russia. He was driven from Moscow by scribes who feared competition from his innovation and fled to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
Album of the Coats of Arms of Ukraine
This collection of prints depicts the historic coats of arms and flags of Ukraine. The work is by Mykola Bytynsʹkyĭ (1893–1972), a Ukrainian painter and expert on heraldry. Bytynsʹkyĭ fought in the Ukrainian War for Independence at the end of World War I and later immigrated to Prague where he studied arts and produced several works on heraldry. After World War II, he lived in a displaced persons camp in Germany, before immigrating to Canada. The coat of arms of Ukraine, a trident on a blue shield, was officially ...
Art of Ancient Rus’-Ukraine
This book is a short history of the art of Ancient Rus’, the medieval polity centered on Kiev, which flourished from the 9th to the 13th centuries, and which formed the basis for much of later Russian and Ukrainian culture. Topics covered include the influences of the Varangians and of Eastern Orthodoxy, the importance of Christianity, wooden architecture, churches and monasteries in Kiev, art and architecture in the historic city of Chernigov, and the arts of enamel and icon painting. Particular attention is paid to Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev ...
Kiev Caves and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
This book, published in Kiev in 1864, is a history and description of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, also called the Monastery of the Kiev Caves (pechera means cave; lavra indicates a monastery of status), a large complex founded in 1051 by a monk named Anthony in caves dug out of the hillside. The monastery soon became the center of Christianity in Russia and played an important part in local cultural development, housing the first printing press in Kiev and famous chroniclers, writers, physicians, scientists, and artists. Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is the most important ...
Kiev-Mezhyhirya Earthenware Factory
This book is a compilation of articles about the famed Kiev-Mezhyhirya Earthenware Factory, which was part of the 10th-century Mezhyhirya Monastery. The factory was founded at the end of the 18th century and produced such quantities of faience that by the mid-19th century it was the largest industrial enterprise in Kiev. The first part of the book is dedicated to the history of the factory, and includes details and illustrations of the wide range of its products, both decorative pieces and more practical ones. The factory hallmarks (seals) are shown ...
The Baptistery of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev
This book is about the baptistery of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. The name of the cathedral comes from the sixth-century Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) and means “Holy Wisdom,” rather than dedication to a particular saint. Designed as “the new Constantinople” to represent Eastern Christianity, Saint Sophia in Kiev was first constructed in the 11th century. The baptistery was built into the cloister a few years later and its walls still bear frescoes from the 11th–12th centuries. By the early 20th century, the baptistery was in a ...
The Cultural and National Movement in Ukraine in the 16th and 17th Centuries
Mykhailo Hrushevs’kyi (1866–1934) was a professor of history and a leading political figure in Ukraine, who served as chairman of the Ukrainian Central Council at the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917. This work, published in 1912, is devoted to the national and cultural movement of Ukraine in the 16th and 17th centuries and the formation of a Ukrainian national consciousness. Much of the book deals with relations between Ukraine and Poland and their effect on the formation of a Ukrainian state. The author describes a decline ...
A Description of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra
This book, published in 1826 at the press of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Monastery, is a comprehensive account of the monastery and its establishment. Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, also called the Monastery of the Kiev Caves (pechera means cave; lavra indicates a monastery of status), is a large complex founded in 1051 by a monk named Anthony in caves dug out of the hillside. The monastery soon became central to Christianity in Russia and to local cultural development, supporting writers, physicians, scientists, and artists. After a fire in 1718, most of the lavra ...
Monuments of Ukrainian Art of the 18th Century
This booklet is by Nikolai Makarenko, a specialist in architecture, art history, and archaeology and later director of the Kiev Museum of Arts. He begins by reflecting on the beneficial effects of Cossack culture on southern Russia and its significant impact on Ukrainian culture. He praises 17th- and 18th-century style and describes Pokrovskaia Church as an example of beautiful and pure architecture. The church was built in 1764 by Pyotr Kalishevski in Romny, Poltavskaia Province, and later moved to the city of Poltava. A new church was built in Romny ...
Peresopnytsia Gospel, a Monument of the 16th Century Renaissance Art from South Russia
This work is devoted to one of the most important and beautifully decorated East Slavic manuscripts, the Peresopnytsia Gospel created in the mid-16th century, partly at the Monastery of the Mother of God in Peresopnytsia, Volyn, and partly at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity near L’viv, both in present-day Ukraine. The present book, by Alexander Gruzinskii, covers the history of the gospel, its ornamentation, and graphics. The first part focuses on the origin of the Peresopnytsia manuscript, which was rediscovered in 1830s by Slavist scholar Osip Bodjanskij. The ...
Carpathian Ruthenia
This album, probably published in about 1920, contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. The photographs depict the wooden churches that were central to the practice of Uniate Christianity (combining Roman Catholicism with the Eastern Rite), to which most Ruthenians converted from Eastern Orthodoxy ...
Portraits of N. V. Gogol: 1809–1909
This collection of portraits of Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (1809–52) was published under the auspices of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature for the centenary of the birth of Gogolʹ, a Ukrainian-born Russian playwright, novelist, and writer of short stories. The book is divided into two parts: an annotated list of the known portraits of the writer on pages 3–15, followed by reproductions of each portrait. The portraits trace Gogol’s life in chronological order, from 1827 before he was well known, until his death in Moscow in ...
Guide to Kiev and Its Environs, Including an Address Section, Map and Phototype Views of Kiev
This 1890 guidebook provides comprehensive information for visitors to Kiev. It includes a history of the city and details of places of interest, such as Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the cathedrals and other churches, historical monuments, public gardens and wooded areas, public and administrative buildings, and bridges over the Dnieper River. Included is useful information for travelers, such as timetables for trains, steamships, and other passenger transport and a directory for hotels, restaurants, doctors, banks, stores, baths, libraries, clubs, and city and church authorities. The guide anticipates by 24 years Baedeker’s ...
Compilation of Images of Ancient Objects from Private Collections in Kiev
This collection of images was put together by the Kiev amateur archaeologist Nikolaj Leopardov and numismatist Nikolaj Černev, who also collaborated in writing the introduction and explanatory texts. The images of crosses, icons, and other religious items and brief descriptions of them are included in Part I of the book. Part II contains the images of objects from the Bronze Age, mostly axes and knives, and Jewish Cabalistic amulets and coins. Part III contains the images and description of some of the thousands of medieval lead commercial seals from Drohiczyn ...
Saint Vladimir’s Cathedral, Kiev
Saint Vladimir’s Cathedral in Kiev was constructed in 1862–96 to mark the 900th anniversary of the conversion to Christianity of Kievan Rus by Prince Vladimir (or Volodymyr) Sviatoslavich, later known as Saint Vladimir the Great (circa 956–1015). A note from the publisher of this book states that publications describing Saint Vladimir’s Cathedral had mostly received rapturous reviews from readers, but that some readers were critical of the cathedral’s design and decorations. The purpose of this book, according to the note, was to provide readers with ...
Ukrainian Culture: A Short History of the Cultural Life of the Ukrainian People
In the summer of 1918, Ivan Ogienko (1882–1972), a Ukrainian scientist and political, public, and ecclesiastical figure, became a founder and the first president of Kam'ianets'-Podil's'kyi state university (subsequently renamed after him). He later gave a course of lectures on Ukrainian culture at the university, on which this book is based. Part I concerns the history of the culture until the 17th century. It describes the territory of Ukraine, along with song, epic (Cossack) poems and other major literary works, the language, and architecture. Also ...
Uzhhorod
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. Uzhhorod, in present-day western Ukraine, was the main administrative, commercial, and cultural center of Carpathian Ruthenia. The city, also previously known as Ungvar, was ...
Nevitskoe. Ruins of the Castle
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. Construction of Nevitskoe or Nevitsky Castle, 12 kilometers north of Uzhhorod, began in the 15th century. A powerful Hungarian family, the Drugeths, built the ...
Kostrina. Wooden Church
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. The wooden Pokrovska Church was built in Syanky in 1645 and moved to Kostrina in 1761. Its three-tiered towers sit pagoda-like above the wood-shingled ...
Uzhok. Wooden Church
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. Saint Michael’s Church in Uzhok dates from 1745. Like many of the region’s churches, it was later covered with a dark oil ...
Iska. Wooden Church
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. Shown here is the bell tower and part of the Church of Saint Nicholas the Miracle Worker at Iska (present-day Izky), which dates from ...
Torun'. Wooden Church
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. Shown here is the bell tower of the Church of Our Lady at Torun` built in 1809. The town is in Mizhhiria District, in ...
Torun'. Village
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. This village scene shows the town of Torun` in Mizhhiria District, in eastern Carpathian Ruthenia. Both houses and churches have steeply pitched roofs with ...
Doleshnaia Apsha. Village
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. This pastoral scene shows Dolní Apša (Lower Apsha), with villagers meeting on the road through the village and the church on a hill in ...
Doleshnaia Apsha. Wooden Church
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. Shown here is the wooden church in Dolní Apša (Lower Apsha), which rises on a hill above the village. The elegant spire above the ...
Repenie. Wooden Church
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. Shown here is the wooden church in Repenie (also seen as Repinne), in Mizhhiria District, eastern Carpathian Ruthenia. The tall tower with a double-tented ...
Maidanka. Wooden Church
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. The wooden church in Majdanka village has a steeply pitched roof with an overhang, like most churches in the Carpathian Mountains, which both protects ...
Uzhchora. Village
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. Shown here is the village of Uzhchora (present-day Ust-Chorna), hugging the sides of a valley in the mountains and shrouded in clouds. The village ...
Saldobosh'. Hut
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. This image is from the village of Saldobosh (present-day Steblivka) in the Khust region of south-central Zakarpattia Oblast. The roof of the thatched hut ...
Iska. Village
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. Shown here is a pastoral scene of the cultivated fields and mountains around the village of Iska (present-day Izky) in Mizhhiria District. The baroque ...
Yasinya. Wooden Churches
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. On the right in this picture is the Church of the Ascension of Our Lord in Yasinya, built in 1824 and typical of the ...
Yasinya. Wooden Church
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. Shown here is the Church of Saints Peter and Paul and its bell tower in the Plytovate area of Yasinya, across the Tisza River ...
Yasinya
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. This image shows part of the village of Yasinya, which spreads out from the banks of the Tisza River surrounded by fields and mountains ...
Hutsul Women
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. This image shows a group of Hutsul women with a child. The Hutsuls are an ethnic and cultural group who speak a dialect of ...
Hutsul Men
This image is part of an album probably published in about 1920 that contains 20 photographs of scenes in Carpathian Ruthenia, a mountainous region, most of which was part of the Austria-Hungary before World War I, but which became part of the new Czechoslovak state in 1919. Today the largest portion of it forms Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, with smaller parts in Slovakia and Poland. This image shows a group of Hutsul men. The Hutsuls are an ethnic and cultural group who speak a dialect of Ukrainian, influenced by ...