Saturday, May 11, 2019

A Panorama Of Europe

Before moving on to other parts of the world, I would like to help British readers come to a decision about membership in the European Union. For everyone else, the older parts of European cities are always a visual treat. The emphasis is on the places that we have not yet visited in our weekly visits.

Notre Dame is now the world's cathedral. The following views of central Paris begin in Sainte Chapelle. This is on the same island as Notre Dame, the island in the Seine River where Paris began. The original royal palace is on this island, and Sainte Chapelle was the chapel of that palace. The French royal family later built a new palace nearby. When they built a third palace, Versailles, the second palace became the great art museum that is now the Louvre. The original palace, on the island and where Sainte Chapelle is located, included a section, known as the Conciergerie, that became a notorious prison during the French Revolution.

Just look at the awesome windows in Sainte Chapelle. Most are from the Thirteenth Century, although some have been replaced since.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@48.8553968,2.3451418,3a,75y,185.81h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNrGxPamhRvHd4ZLjsT7_qZattK8f5sonoXtUtp!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNrGxPamhRvHd4ZLjsT7_qZattK8f5sonoXtUtp%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya68.82887-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

Europe as a world center of power began with Greece. Mighty Persia was succeeded by an upstart country far to the west. Greece quickly built a vast empire and there are people in India today who show evidence of being descended from the soldiers of Alexander the Great.

The rise of Greece probably wasn't as sudden as it is sometimes portrayed, Greeks had been studying and serving as mercenaries in other countries for centuries. Athens was probably eclipsed by Alexandria, the city that Alexander founded in Egypt, as the center of power in the Hellenistic era. But Athens is where it began and here is a look at it. I am certain that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was influenced by the setup of the Acropolis and also by the large limestone blocks of the pyramids in Egypt.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9720032,23.7287787,3a,75y,255.51h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sKwzqt6PP93x11-miYX-MeQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DKwzqt6PP93x11-miYX-MeQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D251.8525%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The next center of power was Rome, which was further west. The most-visited site in the present city of Rome is St. Peter's Basilica, which is also supposed to be the largest church in the world and is the center of the Catholic Church. Technically, it is in the Vatican which is a separate country. The cylindrical fortress near St. Peter's Square is Castel Sant' Angelo. This is nearly two thousand years old and was originally the mausoleum of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. It was later connected to the Vatican by a special walkway where the pope could go if in danger. This basilica was built in the Seventeenth Century, replacing the previous one on the site, where Charlemagne was crowned. The following scenes begin inside St. Peter's Basilica.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9020941,12.4537224,3a,75y,142.49h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOkW4Lwod1YKZfhzengjfmOEDX0G3kKDQG2f4eK!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOkW4Lwod1YKZfhzengjfmOEDX0G3kKDQG2f4eK%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya263.26263-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

Nowhere was as attached to it's patron saint like Venice was to St. Mark. It even exceeded that of Ireland for St. Patrick. St. Mark, the apostle, founded the church in Egypt. His bones were brought to Venice and are today in Basilica San Marco, and the Republic of Venice was a great power for over a thousand years.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4344351,12.3393064,3a,75y,160.6h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNm32JQHRF_TEyK1GBd4fgBrlGGk2vdUsDKaZE3!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNm32JQHRF_TEyK1GBd4fgBrlGGk2vdUsDKaZE3%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya167.12173-ro0-fo100!7i7143!8i2240

The crown in the glass case, in the first of the following scenes, may be the most valuable single object in the world. It is the Crown of St. Stephen, or the Holy Crown of Hungary. St. Stephen was the first king of Hungary. The crown is close to a thousand years old.

The reason that this crown is so valuable is that, in Hungary, it is the crown that actually rules, not the king who wears the crown. Unlike in other monarchies, where the crown signifies the king or queen that rules, the king of Hungary is just one who is worthy to wear the Holy Crown, but the land is ruled by the crown itself.

The crown is in the Hungarian Parliament Building, in Budapest. If you wish, you can come back and look around this fantastic building by putting the mouse pointer on a spot on the floor up ahead. If you then click, your perspective will move to that point, so that you can "walk" around the building.

If you zoom in on the crown, in the glass case, you can see that it's cross is famously knocked to one side.

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.5069348,19.0457264,2a,75y,270.56h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1s3AZb5ZXNOxT54MqTDENgZA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D3AZb5ZXNOxT54MqTDENgZA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D270.82663%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Gdansk is Poland's major city on the Baltic Sea. It has been an important city since medieval times. The wooden structure on one of the buildings is a very old-style port crane. The shipyard of Gdansk is where the Solidarity movement began that ultimately succeeded in ending Communism in Poland. The following scenes are of the original part of the city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.3494077,18.6566855,3a,75y,83.85h,110.35t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNeU-Mi2EfjYdamt2IjibVCO3apGG-0fsA_Ee6T!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNeU-Mi2EfjYdamt2IjibVCO3apGG-0fsA_Ee6T%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-17.593689-ya174.0441-ro0.62761486-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

In the far south of Poland, the city of Krakow was for a long time the capital of the country. Krakow is where Pope John Paul attended the Jagellonian University and was ordained as a priest. Wawel Cathedral is where he was ordained, and said his first mass. The area in the following views are in the older part of the city, around it's expansive Main Square.

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0615237,19.9379278,3a,75y,80.74h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPmsv6mTQfWee2ZtOWwvFIAtkurhfnN4VIxyKQu!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPmsv6mTQfWee2ZtOWwvFIAtkurhfnN4VIxyKQu%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya71.7535-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

Following is the medieval part of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. This includes the Royal Palace and the parliament building. Sweden was once a great power and it is generally forgotten today that the U.S. state of Delaware started as a Swedish colony.

https://www.google.com/maps/@59.3248064,18.0699243,3a,75y,83.04h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sblEhSOSzRNcU_WTItD6DuA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DblEhSOSzRNcU_WTItD6DuA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D76.55081%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Arles is the city in the south of France that is known for it's Roman ruins. More recently, it is where Vincent Van Gogh did so many of his paintings toward the end of his life.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6756932,4.6223604,3a,75y,111.49h,90t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1s25y6-9nD44Qv7oij9MF51A!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D25y6-9nD44Qv7oij9MF51A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D118.55711%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

Ghent is an early medieval Dutch city in the northern part of Belgium. The northern part of Belgium is known as Flanders and speaks Dutch. The southern part speaks French and is known as Wallonia. Belgium split from the Netherlands over religion, it wanted to remain Catholic. There is some magnificent old architecture in this city.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0537972,3.7225504,3a,75y,113.1h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sTiL07m_oYlX0kMd1QegDXw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DTiL07m_oYlX0kMd1QegDXw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D124.157845%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, was the largest Christian church for a millennium. It was finally surpassed by the cathedral of Seville, in Spain. This city is considered as representing so much of the character of Spain. The southern part of Spain is called Andalusia because Spain was ruled by the Moslems for 700 years and was called Al-Andalus. After the Umayyad Caliphate was succeeded by the Abbasid Caliphate, which replaced the Umayyad capital of Damascus with newly-built Baghdad, the Umayyad Caliphate continued on in Spain. Catholics gradually regained control of Spain but the southern part was under Moslem control for the longest time. This is the old part of Seville.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3885728,-5.9954262,3a,75y,41.88h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sJnpBxCYZhiuKQjX_FI1Uqw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DJnpBxCYZhiuKQjX_FI1Uqw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D35.464283%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

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