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💬🌳🏛🖼️📜 Quotes, nature, architecture, art and history about our homeland, Europe.
“I do what is mine to do; the rest does not disturb me.”
— Marcus Aurelius
"The Defense of the Sampo" — Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1896.
The scene portrayed is taken from the 43rd song of the Kalevala, where the hero Väinämöinen, seen wielding a sword, has stolen the precious artifact Sampo from the evil witch Louhi, and she, having taken the form of a giant bird, is trying to reclaim it.
The battle for the Sampo is also given a deeper connotation as a battle for the soul of Finland.
"Louis IX, dit Saint Louis, Roi de France (1215-1270)", Emile Signol
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"Sverd i fjell" (Swords in the mountain), in Hafrsfjord, Norway
The monument was created by sculptor Fritz Røed from Bryne and was unveiled by King Olav V of Norway in 1983. The three bronze swords stand 10 metres (33 ft) tall and are planted into the rock of a small hill next to the fjord. They commemorate the historic Battle of Hafrsfjord which took place there in the year 872, when King Harald Fairhair gathered all of Norway under one crown.
The largest sword represents the victorious Harald, and the two smaller swords represent the defeated petty kings. The monument also represents peace, since the swords are planted into solid rock, so they may never be removed.
"Finn Mccool Comes to Aid the Fianna"
Finn MacCool, last leader of the Fianna Éireann, in an illustration by Stephen Reid from The High Deeds of Finn, and other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland, by T.W. Rolleston, c. 1910.
"Lemnian Athena", roman copy from the original sculpted by Fidias.
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Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, erected by Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great in 505 AD in Ravenna, Italy
Originally dedicated to the Saviour and consecrated to the Arian cult, after the Byzantine Empire conquered the city (mid 6th century), the church was converted to the Orthodox religion.
It was therefore dedicated to St. Martin, bishop of Tours, who stood out for the fight against the heretics.
According to tradition, in the 9th century the remains of the holy founder of the church of Ravenna, St. Apollinaris, were transferred here from Classe. On this occasion, the church was definitely named after Apollinaris, but with the suffix “Nuovo” (new).
Seen from the outside, the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo is architecturally quite simple, but inside, the basilica boasts one of the most famous Early Christian and Late Antique mosaic cycles in the world.
North side of the Cour Napoléon. Caryatid pair on the top left side of the Pavillon Richelieu, Louvre, Paris
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Franz Stassen, (German 1869-1949), Ex libris Protection of German Intellectual Property, 1915
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Bone Saddle from Bohemia (Central Europe) c.1400-1420 CE.
This is one of about twenty known Medieval saddles decorated with bone plaques. The saddles vary somewhat in decoration, but certain motifs are common throughout. For instance, Saint George, standing over the defeated dragon, appears with elegant couples on most of the saddles. Used in parade, they were probably more ceremonial than utilitarian.
The bone plaques used to create the saddle, probably from the pelvic bones of large animals such as cows, are attached to the core with bone pins and glue. The underside is lined with hide and birch bark.
📸 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
"The kiss of peace", 1869 - by Julia Margaret Cameron, English.
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Viscri fortified church, Transylvania, Romania.
The fortified church dating back to the thirteenth century, was built by the German colonists who settled in these parts of the country at the end of the twelfth century and found here a chapel.
This was partially included in the fortified church.The church was first attested in 1400 as “alba ecclesia” and the document is a register of the taxes paid to the episcopate.
In the 14th century the eastern part of the church was rebuilt and in 1525, the first fortifications with towers were added. Two towers were placed outside the yard, on the Eastern and Southern sides. In the other cardinal points other towers were built: on the North one in a trapezoidal shape, in the East the smallest and most similar to a square. They are all provided with holes through which those inside could protect the fortification with medium or high caliber guns or arches with arrows.
The towers are very well preserved creating a sense of greatness to the entire system of fortifications. In the 18th century the church was surrounded by a second defense wall. The rooms in the tower played various roles in time. Some of them were used to store cereals, while others functioned as school.
Men against tanks: a still from a German anti-tank training film showing the use of a Molotov cocktail.
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Extraordinarily Well-Preserved 3,000-Year-Old Octagonal Sword Unearthed in Närdlingen, Germany.
Found at the site of a former Celtic settlement, the sword was buried with other bronze objects in a grave alongside three people (a man, a woman, and a boy). Although this grouping is suggestive of a family unit, archeologists were keen to stress it remains unclear how, if at all, the three were related.
Although the sword bears little sign of having being used in combat, archeologists say they believe it was a real rather than an ornamental weapon. “The center of gravity in the front part of the blade indicates that it was balanced mainly for slashing,” according to the statement.
Portrait of the king of Pontus Mithridates VI as Heracles. Marble, Roman imperial period (1st century).
📸 Louvre Museum, Paris.
"The Grunwald Monument" in Krakow, Poland.
The Grunwald Monument marks the Polish and Lithuanian victory over the Teutonic Knights at the eponymous battle in 1410. The battle, one of the largest in medieval Europe, marked the the beginning of the decline of the Germanic-Prussian order and the rise of the Polish-Lithuanian union’s dominance in Central and Eastern Europe.
The 79 ft. (24 m.) tall monument features King Władysław Jagiełło on top of the plinth. Below him on the sides are the figures of the Grand Duke of Lithuania with the mortally wounded Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Ulrich von Jungingen. Also on the monument are a Polish knight and squire and a Lithuanian knight with a bound Knight of the Cross.
The 'Lithophone':
Lithophone, originally a prehistoric musical instrument made of stones. Sound stones made of basalt, granite, marble and other minerals were used in many ancient cultures for ceremonial and religious purposes. They exist in various forms around the globe, some for thousands of years. It is one of the oldest musical instruments on earth.
"Ingolf Arnarson takes possession of Iceland", by Johan Peter Raadsig (1850)
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Napoleon and the bees
According to Napoleon, the bee was found on the tomb of Clovis and thus a historic emblem Napoleon could use to make his monarchy seemed more rooted in the history of France than his appointment of Emperor by the Senate would seem to indicate. But Napoleon also loved the bee motif because it fit his vision of France: everyone contributing to the whole in their own roles. So he used it everywhere.
"Dream Idyll A Valkyrie", Edward Robert Hughes, c. 1902.
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Saint Martial festivities in Irun, Basque Country, Spain. 1973.
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"Fight between Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych", by Viktor Mikhailovich (1918)
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To be European today is to bring to life in one's flesh and soul the pagan, Greco-Latin and then Christian past of our history.
Through the glorious figures of the past, let us give our children the spiritual weapons that will make them the heroes of tomorrow.
"The shrine to Saint Helena" in Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican City.
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Franz Stassen in front of one of the four tapestry designs intended for the assembly hall of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. 1936
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