The Parthenon, an icon of Western civilization, is one of the most famous buildings in the world. The temple, built in the 5th century BC, overlooks the city of Athens from its majestic position on top of the sacred Acropolis Hill.

The Parthenon was built in honor of the goddess Athena Parthenos (virgin Athena), patroness of the city of Athens. Initially the temple was known as the Great Temple (Megas Naos), but later became known by the name of Parthenon.

                                                            One of the Metopes 

History

The current Parthenon was not the first built here during the Antiquity. There are traces of two earlier - and slightly smaller - temples, the first in stone, and the second in marble.
Shortly after the Persians destroyed all the buildings on the Acropolis in 480BC, Pericles commissioned the construction of a

new Parthenon and assigned architect and sculptor Pheidias the supervision of the project. The design of the Parthenon is attributed to Kallikrates and Iktinos. Construction started in 447 BC and the temple was completed just 9 years later. Pheidias continued to work on the magnificent sculptures that decorated the temple until 432 BC. 

After the Antiquity the Parthenon was converted into a church and during the Ottoman occupation of Athens it was used as an arsenal. It became a ruin only in 1687 when the Venetians, who besieged the Ottomans, bombarded the Acropolis from the Philopappos Hill. 

The ammunition that was stored in the Parthenon exploded, destroying the roof, the interior and 14 columns.

The Temple

The Parthenon was built as a peripteros - a temple surrounded by columns - in the Doric order. The temple measures 30.86 by 69.51 meters (approx. 101 x 228 ft) and contained two cellas (inner chambers). The east cella housed the Athena Parthenos, a large statue of the goddess Athena. The west cella was exclusively used by priests and contained the treasury of the 

Parthenon

Delian League (an alliance of Greek city-states).

The Parthenon was decorated with numerous sculptures and reliefs. There were some 50 sculptures on the pediments alone; most of the surviving sculptures are on display at the British Museum in London, while some are at the nearby Acropolis Museum. There were two friezes: the inner frieze at the cella and the outer frieze, which consisted of triglyphs (vertical stripes) and metopes (rectangular tablets) with relief sculptures. The inner frieze was designed by Pheidas and depicted the Panathenaea, the festival held in honor of Athena. Many of the metopes and parts of the inner frieze can be seen in the British Museum as well.

To achieve visual perfection, the creators of the Parthenon used optical refinements to seemingly defy the laws of perspective. The columns are slightly slanted inwards and have a curved shape. This results in making the horizontal and vertical lines of the building look perfectly straight to the naked eye.

Most people think that ancient temples always had natural, plain marble colors. But the buildings and statues in the Antiquity were often very colorful. The Parthenon was no exception: sculptures on the friezes and pediment as well as the roof were brightly painted in blue, red and gold colors.

Statue of Athena Parthenos                                               Neoclassical statue of

                                                                                                                                                             Athena Parthenos

The main purpose of the temple was to house the close to 12 meters tall statue of Athena Parthenos, created by Phidias. The statue was chryselephantine - made of gold and ivory - and built around a wooden frame. And like all other Parthenon sculptures, the statue was painted in bright colors, mainly blue and red.

Athena was depicted standing as a helmeted martial goddess. Her left hand rested on a shield and in her right hand she held a statue of a winged Nike. Unfortunately the original statue is lost but a modern full-scale replica of the Athena Parthenos (and the Parthenon) can be seen in Nashville, TN, in the United States.

Explore Madrid

Madrid is the capital of Spain and lies in the center of the Iberian Peninsula 646 meters above sea level. The city has a population of 3 million inhabitants and the climate varies from very warm and dry in the summer to rainy (and sometimes with snow) in the winter. Madrid has traditionally been the connecting point between all parts of Spain and although the town is location in the central part of the peninsula the rest of Spain is within a relatively easy reach by air, train or road.

Madrid is the economical and industrial center of Spain and with its central location it is easy to reach from all over the country and there are flights to Madrid from all over the world as well. The most important sectors in the capital are the production of alimentary products, chemicals, metals and the construction sector as well as the bank, commerce and administration sectors. The tight economical relation between Spain and South America makes Madrid the center of foreign investments in South America and home to many international companies such as Telefonica, Iberia and Repsol YPF.

As capital of Spain, Madrid is also home of the Royal family, the Spanish Government and many other national institutions. The town has a long and fascinating history and all over Madrid there are monuments and museums of great artistically value. Apart from the Capital the province of Madrid is also full of interesting sites to visit such as El Escorial, Arranjuez and Alcala de Henares all named UNESCO World Heritage Cities. 

Madrid is also a very international city with a lot of foreign students and tourist visiting the town. This combined with the "Madrileos" passion for going out at night makes the town a great place to eat out with a numerous variation of national and international restaurants. Apart from the restaurants the town has an interesting and varied nightlife with bars and discotheques open all year and all week around. 

Madrid has been officially declared as one of the "greenest" cities in Europe. However, greenery is not its only pride. There are a lot of interesting facts about the multi-cultural, second to none Madrid. Some of the unknown facts about this beautiful city are:

1. Madrid's official symbol of the bear on its hind legs eating berries from the madroño tree is a metaphor for Madrid's growth and represents possession and ownership of wood which is necessary for constructing buildings.

2. Madrid's Safari Park has a huge range of over 500 animals along with the aviary and reptile house. The most interesting event is the lion taming show which takes place on a daily basis.

3. Madrileños are often called "Gatos" (cats) not because of their late sleeping habits similar to cats, but because of the historical legend where during the Arabic invasion, an adept soldier climbed the outer walls with the agility of a cat; after which, his family assumed the name of Gato.

4. Madrid has a wonderful open-air pool, the Aquasur, with five giant slides and is a favourite hot-spot visited mostly by kids and youngsters in the summers.

5. The Royal Tapestry Factory at Madrid makes intricate, expensive and gorgeous tapestries which are usually based on cartoons by Goya and his brother-in-law Francisco Bayeu. Goya's originals have been displayed at the prestigious Prado.

6. If you have never visited a real flea market, consider the El Rastro which is open on Sundays for a great first-time experience with its array of odd objects right from junk to rare findings and paintings.

7. Madrid celebrates a Carnavale full of fun and frolic, weeks before Lent. Highlights of the Carnavale is the Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday when men in mourning bury a cardboard effigy of a sardine in a mock coffin by the riverside in remembrance of a tragic event that took place in the 18th century.

8. The Bullfighting Museum (Museo Taurino) gives visitors an insight into the art - its history and changing trends in dressing style. What few people know is that it also displays the costume worn by Manolete who was gored to death at a young age in Linares's bullring.

9. Spain's answer to Disneyworld is the Warner Brothers Movie World at Madrid which is open for six months in summer and has five themed parts namely Old West Territory, Hollywood, DC Super Heroes, Cartoon Village, and Warner Bros. Studios.

10. The famed Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Spain's modern art museum which is home to Picasso's masterpiece 'Guernica' and pays tribute to great artists of 20th-century Spain had once been named as "the ugliest building in Spain" by Catalan architect Oriol Bohigas.

If anyone wishes to visit Spain he should never miss out on Madrid.

Wonder Eiffel

Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) is the symbol of Paris, one of the most visited tourist attractions and the best known tower in the world. 

The Eiffel Tower is 300 meters (984 ft) tall and was designed by Gustave Eiffel for the Universal Exibition of 1889 and stirred great controversy among the Paris citizens. After its opening the intellectuals of Paris gathered to protest against the grotesque Eiffel Tower. 

The Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world until 1931 when the Empire States Building in New York was built. Gustave Eiffel also constructed the framework of the Statue Of Liberty in New York City.

The Eiffel Tower is made of iron and has three observation levels, all accessible by elevators. The first level is at 57 meters (187 ft) and has a post office. The second level features a restaurant and is at 115 meters (376 ft) and the third level is at 276 meters (905 ft) and has observation deck that can hold 800 people. During the summer it gets very crowded and the wait can be as much as an hour per level. The Eiffel Tower is painted every seven years using 60 tons of paint.

These are some of the essential statistics:

1.      2.5 million rivets

2.      300 steel workers, and 2 years (1887-1889) to construct it.

3.      Sway of at most 12 cm in high winds.

4.      Height varies up to 15 cm depending on temperature.

5.      15,000 iron pieces (excluding rivets). 40 tons of paint. 1652 steps to the top.

In 1889, Gustave Eiffel began to fit the peak of the tower as an observation station to measure the speed of wind. He also encouraged several scientific experiments including Foucault's giant pendulum, a mercury barometer and the first experiment of radio transmission. In1898, Eugene Ducretet at the Pantheon, received signals from the tower.

The city of Paris issued a permit of 20 years after the expiry of which it was to be demolished.

The tower was almost torn down in 1909, but was saved because of its antenna used both for military and other purposes, and the city let it stand after the permit expired. When the tower played an important role in capturing the infamous spy Mata Hari during World War I, it gained such importance to the French people that there was no more thought of demolishing it.- used for telegraphy at that time.

From 1910 and on the Eiffel Tower became part of the International Time Service. French radio (since 1918), and French television (since 1957) have also made use of its stature.

During its lifetime, the Eiffel Tower has also witnessed a few strange scenes, including being scaled by a mountaineer in1954, and parachuted off of in 1984 by two Englishmen. In1923 a journalist rode a bicycle down from the first level. Some accounts say he rode down the stairs, other accounts suggest the exterior of one of the tower's four legs which slope outward. 

Of the 7.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity used annually, 580 thousand are used exclusively to illuminate the tower. The tower's annual operation also requires the use of 2 tons of paper for tickets, 4 tons of rag or paper wipes, 10,000 applications of detergents, 400 liters of metal cleansers and 25,000 garbage bags. 

On the four facades of the tower, the 72 surnames of leading turn-of-the-century French scientists and engineers are engraved in recognition of their contributions to science. This engraving was over painted at the beginning of the 20th century and restored in1986-1987 by the Societe Nouvelle d' Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, a company contracted to operate business related to the Tower.

The town of Bunol and the famous La Tomatina festival

The beautiful town of bunol:

Bunol is a town in the "valencia", Spain. It has an area of some 112 km, and is situated approximately 38 km west of the provincial and autonomous community capital city, Valencia. It lies along the Bunol River and is surrounded by the mountain ranges La Sierra de Las Cabrillas, la Sierra de Dos Aguas and la Sierra de Malacara y Martes.

Archaeological evidence indicates civilization in Bunol going back 50,000 years. Bunol's population is about 9,000 people but is visited by over 30,000 for La Tomatina a tomato throwing event in the Plaza del Pueblo. On the last Wednesday of every August, thousands of people gather in the Plaza and throw metric tons of over ripe tomatoes at each other.

On August 29, 2007, 40,000 Spaniards gathered in the town to throw 115,000 kilograms of tomatoes at each other in the yearly Tomatina festival. Bare-chested tourists also included hundreds of British, French, and Germans.

La Tomatina Fest:

The sunny Mediterranean city of Valencia in Spain is world-renowned for its tasty and succulent oranges. And just thirty miles away is Bunol, another town just as famous for its produce. But its notoriety comes from the locals' habit of wearing the produce as well as tasting it: every year, Buñol hosts La Tomatina, the world's largest vegetable fight.

It takes place during a week-long celebration filled with on-going festivities and with even greater anticipation for the monstrous tomato battle that serves as the culmination of the week's events.

 

Without question the biggest tomato fight in the world, La Tomatina started with a good laugh. In 1945, in Bunol's main town square, a number of friends started a tomato fight for unknown reasons. It's unclear whether the initial volley was aimed at city officials or simply pedestrians unlucky enough to be in the line of fire. Soon enough, however, with their rowdy hooliganism drawing passers-by into the fray, everyone was having a great time. They had so much fun, in fact, that from that day forward, the fiesta has been celebrated annually and has grown ever bigger each year.

 For a week leading up to the epic battle, the 20,000-strong town of Buñol, is filled with parades, fireworks, food and street parties. The night before La Tomatina, the narrow streets beneath the town's imposing Medieval bell tower are filled with tomatoes, in a much more palatable form than they will be the next day! Cauldrons of delectable paella cooking, simmered traditionally over wood-burning fires line the Concurso des Paellas, near the Plaza del Pueblo, site of the imminent skirmishes. Wine and food flow around the small town until the wee hours, in a fabulous Dickens-like foreshadowing. After all, who can do battle thirsty and on an empty stomach?

Then, early Wednesday morning, shopkeepers and business owners along the Plaza set about covering windows and doors in preparation for the messy onslaught. Large trucks rumble up the cobblestone streets to arrive in the crowd-filled square and, from the back of the huge trucks, official instigators begin ceremoniously pelting the awaiting throng with their precious cargo: sloppy, squishy tomatoes trucked in from the four corners of Spain.

Dressed in clothing doomed for the rubbish bin, more than 20,000 revelers retaliate against the truckers, each other and anything else that strays within range of their hand-crushed veggie blobs. Soon the streets are awash in seeds, pulp and tomato guts - possibly one of the best starts to a great marinara sauce to be found west of Mont Blanc.

The insanity ensues until more than 90,000 pounds of tomatoes have been hurled at anything with a pulse that ducks, runs, stops, turns about, or fights back. For visiting tourists, be aware that anyone with a camera or a baseball cap will be considered a prime target. Like all good battles, the assault is over in less than half an hour. Everyone then reconciles with their former targets and fellow warriors and heads down to the river to remove the saucy mess from hair and body.

A brief introduction about Europe

Political Europe:
The politican boundries of Europe have changed many times, especially during 20th century in the aftermath of two world wars, the break-up of the empires of Austria-Hungary, Nazi Germany and, towards the end of the century, the collapse of communism in the eastern Europe. The fragmentation of Yugoslavia has again altered the political map of Europe, highlighting a trend towards nationalism and devolution. In contrast, economic federalism is growing. In 1958, the formation of the European Economic Community(European Union) started a move towards economic and political union and increasing internal migration.
"There are total 50 countries in Europe(Russia being the biggest and Vatican city being the smallest)"


Population:
Europe is a densely populated, urbanized continent, in Belgium over 90% of people live in the urban areas. The highest population densities are found in an area stretching east from southern Britain and northern France, into Germany. The northern fringes are only sparsely populated.


Languages:
There are three main European language groups: 
1. Germanic languages (predominate in central and northern Europe);
2. Romance languages (western and Mediterranean Europe and Romania);
3. Slavic languages (spoken in eastern Europe and the Russian Federation).
Isolated pockets of local languages, such as Basque and Gaelic, persist and frequently provide a focus for national identity.