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The Cultural Tutor

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May 5

Napoleon died 204 years ago today.

He rose from obscurity, joined a revolution, became an emperor, tried to conquer Europe, failed, spent his last days in exile — and changed the world forever.

This is the life of Napoleon, told in 19 paintings:

1. Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole by Antoine-Jean Gros (1796)

Napoleon's life during the French Revolution was complicated, but by the age of 24 he was already a General.

Here, aged just 27, he led the armies of the French Republic to victory in Italy — his star was rising.

2. The Battle of the Pyramids by François-Louis-Joseph Watteau (1799)

Two years later Napoleon oversaw the invasion of Egypt as part of an attempt to undermine British trade.

At the Battle of the Pyramids he led the French to a crushing victory over the Ottomans and Mamluks.

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The Cultural Tutor

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Apr 27

It took 8 architects, 21 popes, and 120 years to build and finish St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

And, four centuries later, it's still the largest church in the world.

So here's a brief introduction to St Peter's...

The first impression anybody has when they see St Peter's Basilica in Rome, in real life or in a photo, is awe.

Because this is an immensely impressive building — it was and remains the world's largest church by volume.

Others are taller, but none are so vast.

The same is true of the inside — a cornucopia of art and architecture, of gold and bronze and marble and mosaic and sculpture.

And, again, it has proportions beyond gargantuan.

The baldachin alone (a kind of ornate canopy, below) is 30 metres tall.

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The Cultural Tutor

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Apr 22

The Sistine Chapel is one of the world's greatest buildings, and it has the most famous ceiling in history.

But what is it, who built it, and what does "Sistine" even mean?

Well, here's the surprisingly controversial history of the Sistine Chapel...

Where did the Sistine Chapel get its name?

It was commissioned in 1473 by Pope Sixtus IV and completed nine years later.

His name in Italian was Sisto and the chapel was named after him, hence "Sistine" Chapel.

Where is the Sistine Chapel?

It's within the Apostolic Palace — the Pope's official residence — in the Vatican City.

But, for such a famous and important building, it isn't very noteworthy or impressive from the outside.

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The Cultural Tutor

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Apr 18

This is Burg Hohenzollern in Germany, one of the world's most beautiful Medieval castles.

Except that it isn't a Medieval castle — trains had been invented before it was built.

And so Hohenzollern is a perfect introduction to Neo-Gothic Architecture...

If you want to understand Neo-Gothic Architecture then the best place to begin is with something like Hohenzollern.

It seems too good to be true — and that's because it is.

What you're looking at here isn't a Medieval castle; it's not even 200 years old.

There has been some kind of fortification on this hill, at the edge of the Swabian Alps, for over one thousand years.

An 11th century castle was destroyed and replaced in the 15th century, but that second castle soon fell into ruin.

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The Cultural Tutor

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Apr 14

This painting has no brush strokes — it is made from over 2,000,000 individual dots of colour.

And although it looks like nothing more than a sunny afternoon in Paris, it has a much darker hidden meaning...

In the 1870s the Impressionists, led by Claude Monet, burst onto the French art scene.

Rather than painting classical themes in studios according to the principles of the Renaissance, as they had been taught in the Academy, the Impressionists took art outside...

And there they painted the world as they actually saw it, with all the changing light, shadow, blur, and movement of real life — rather than how they were "supposed" to see it.

And instead of the grand subjects of Academic art, they painted scenes from ordinary life.

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The Cultural Tutor

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Apr 5

This is the Queen's Stepwell in Gujarat, India, built nearly 1,000 years ago.

It's incredible, but it isn't unique — India is filled with hundreds of stepwells just like it.

Here is the story of the world's most extraordinary underground architecture...

Water management was (and remains) one of the biggest challenges for any society.

When you have a large group of people living in one place you need to provide water for drinking, bathing, washing, irrigation, and more.

The only question is... how?

In India, between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, a very special way of managing water emerged: stepwells, known variously as baoli, bawri, or vav.

They were a solution to the problem of water supply in regions without consistent rainfall.

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