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The St Matthew Passion is a sacred oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, first performed in Leipzig in 1727. The work sets chapters 26 and 27 of the Gospel of Matthew to music, utilizing a double choir, a double orchestra, and vocal soloists. The text intersperses biblical narrative with devotional cho...

Aggressive play and detailed opening preparation are central to Garry Kasparov's chess legacy. He became the youngest undisputed world champion in 1985 and repeatedly defended his title against Anatoly Karpov. His games often combine strategic preparation with direct attacking pressure, making them...

A royal hunting lodge grew into the Château de Versailles through successive building campaigns, with Louis XIV directing a major expansion in the late seventeenth century. The palace became a center of French royal power, and the Hall of Mirrors remains one of its defining interiors. Baroque archit...

Written in the Florentine vernacular, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy made everyday Italian speech the medium for an ambitious literary and philosophical journey. The Italian poet, who lived from 1265 to 1321, follows a pilgrim through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. That journey brings questions of s...

Born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé became a defining figure in Brazilian football through his performances for Santos FC and Brazil's national team. A forward with close control and an inventive approach to attacking play, he could create chances as well as finish them. His reputation rests on b...

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is a skateboarding video game released in 2000 by Activision. Developed by Neversoft, the initial release was for PlayStation with ports following to various platforms including Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, and Xbox. Subsequent versions were created by different developers o...

News coverage becomes the material for comedy in The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, an American television program built around political and media satire. Stewart's segments use clips and commentary to examine the gap between public claims and the evidence presented alongside them. Correspondent piec...

Preserved at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the engrossed Declaration of Independence is the formal parchment copy signed by representatives of the thirteen colonies. Its text, adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1776, announces separation from Great Britain. It states a theory...

The Velvet Underground & Nico is the 1967 debut studio album by the Velvet Underground, with German singer Nico performing lead vocals on several tracks. Produced under Andy Warhol's supervision, it combines rock, avant-garde experimentation, drones, and candid songs about urban life and drug use. I...

The Gutenberg Bible represents a pivotal moment in printing history. Produced circa 1455 by Johannes Gutenberg utilizing movable type, it was one of the earliest examples of this revolutionary technology in Europe. Approximately 180 copies were printed, making it a significant artifact for scholars...

Founded in 1905 as the Institute of Musical Art, the Juilliard School is a performing arts conservatory located at Lincoln Center in New York City. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs in music, dance, and drama, and its pre-college division serves younger students. The school enrolls a rel...

A forbidden attempt to revive their dead mother sets the Elric brothers' journey in motion in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Human transmutation costs Alphonse his body and Edward a leg. Edward then sacrifices an arm to bind his brother's soul to a large suit of armor, leaving both boys to live w...

The Survey Corps return to Shiganshina in Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2, hoping to retake Wall Maria and restore humanity's dwindling confidence. For Eren Yeager, the ruined district is also his former home. The apparent absence of Titans allows the operation to begin without the resistance the so...

Frozen Planet is a 2011 nature documentary series co-produced by multiple international broadcasters, including the BBC Natural History Unit and Discovery Channel. It features David Attenborough as narrator and builds upon previous successful natural history programs like *The Blue Planet* and *Plan...

The Terracotta Army is a large assemblage of ceramic soldiers, horses, chariots, and related figures created for the burial complex of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China. Farmers discovered fragments near Xi'an in 1974, leading archaeologists to excavate several pits east of the emp...

The Mass in B Minor is a Latin mass setting by Johann Sebastian Bach, completed in 1749 near the end of his life. Bach assembled the work by revisiting and expanding upon sacred cantata movements he had composed over the previous two decades. Divided into four major sections corresponding to the Kyr...

Player choice shapes Baldur's Gate 3, Larian Studios' computer role-playing game based on Dungeons & Dragons fifth-edition rules. Conversations and companion relationships can alter the course of its high-fantasy story, while dice rolls introduce uncertainty to important actions. Character creation...

A central figure in French mime, Marcel Marceau built stage stories from precise movement, expressive gestures and carefully controlled stillness. His whiteface makeup made small changes of expression readable, while his recurring character Bip gave audiences a recognizable figure through whom to ex...

Visible in the constellation Orion, the Orion Nebula is a nearby region where stars are forming inside a cloud of gas and dust. Catalogued as Messier 42, it is an emission nebula: radiation from hot young stars ionizes the gas, which then emits light. Stellar winds also shape its surroundings. Its d...

The Dead Sea Scrolls represent a collection of ancient Jewish religious texts discovered in caves near the Dead Sea. These parchment and papyrus scrolls date primarily from the Second Temple period (c. 250 BCE to 100 CE). They include fragments and complete versions of biblical books alongside uniqu...

On the Athenian Acropolis, the Parthenon marks the importance of Athena, the city's patron goddess, in ancient Athens. Built in the fifth century BC, the marble temple is a major example of classical Greek architecture. Its exterior follows the Doric order, while Ionic elements also form part of the...

Abdul Basit Abdus Samad was a renowned Egyptian qari celebrated for his exceptional recitation of the Quran utilizing the Mujawwad Hafs ‘an ‘Asim tradition. This style is distinguished by its elaborate ornamentation and expressive delivery, reflecting a long-standing heritage within Egyptian Islamic...

John Milton's poetry brings religious questions into sustained dialogue with political freedom and human responsibility. A central figure in seventeenth-century English literature, he wrote across several forms, but Paradise Lost remains especially important to his place in literary history. The epi...

Classical proportion and carefully organized space define Andrea Palladio's contribution to Renaissance architecture. The Italian architect studied ancient building traditions, particularly those of Rome, and adapted their principles to the needs of his own period. His villas across the Veneto regio...

Founded in Paris by Charles Frederick Worth around 1858, the House of Worth helped establish the organization and identity of modern haute couture. Its elaborate garments served wealthy clients seeking individually fitted clothing and lavish ornamentation. The house became associated with the design...

Quantum mechanics provides a framework for understanding the physical world at extremely small scales. It explains how particles like electrons behave through concepts such as wave-particle duality and uncertainty. This theory is essential for scientists studying atoms, molecules, and their interact...

Cristiano Ronaldo is a globally recognized athlete primarily known for his exceptional performance in soccer. His sustained dominance over decades has resulted in numerous records and cemented his status as a legendary figure within the sport. He represents Portugal internationally and continues to...

The film centers around a jury’s deliberation on a murder charge, highlighting potential biases and conflicts within the American legal system. A young man stands accused, and twelve men must overcome personal prejudices and differing opinions to reach a verdict based on reasonable doubt. The story...

Directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark follows archaeologist Indiana Jones as he races against Nazi agents to find the Ark of the Covenant. Harrison Ford gives the hero a mix of confidence and fallibility: Jones can improvise his way through danger, but his plans...

Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game, released in 1939, turns romantic entanglements into a satirical examination of French society. An ensemble of aristocrats, guests and servants gathers at a country estate, where attempts to maintain polite appearances collide with jealousy and shifting attachment...