Musée des Plans-Reliefs

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The Musée des Plans-Reliefs is a museum of military models located within the Hôtel des Invalides in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is open daily except the first Monday of each month; an admission fee is charged.

The museum dates to 1668 when François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois and minister of war to Louis XIV, began a collection of three-dimensional models of fortified cities for military purposes, known as 'plans-relief'. The models gave particular attention to the city fortifications and topographic features such as hills, harbors, etc. In 1700 Louis XIV installed the collection in the Louvre. Initially the models were constructed in the field, by military engineers, but in 1743 two central workshops were established for their construction in Béthune and Lille. A large number of models were built during and after the War of the Austrian Succession (1741-1748) to represent newly-captured sites. The collection was updated in 1754, but then fell into some disuse; the final models built under the Ancien Régime were those of Saint-Omer (1758) and the fort Saint-Philippe aux Baléares (1759).

In 1774 the collection was nearly destroyed when its Louvre gallery was rededicated to paintings, but was in 1777 moved to the Hôtel des Invalides where it remains to this day. Under Napoleon, a new set of models was built for new conquests, including Luxembourg (1802), La Spezia (1811), Brest (1811), and Cherbourg (1811-1813). Their production then continued until about 1870, when it drew to a close with the disappearance of fortifications bastionnées. The collection was declared a historical monument in 1927, and the museum established in 1943.

All told, some 260 plans-reliefs were created between 1668 and 1870, representing about 150 fortified sites. About 100 models are conserved today by this museum, of which about 15 are kept in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille. At present, the museum displays 28 plans-reliefs of fortifications along the English Channel, the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, and the Pyrenees. It also contains presentations on construction and use of the plans-reliefs.

Source: Wikipedia - Musée des Plans-Reliefs

Yellowknife

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Yellowknife (pronounced /ˈjɛloʊnaɪf/) (2006 population: 18,700[1]) is the capital of the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. It is located on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, approximately 400 km (250 mi) south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of the Yellowknife River. Yellowknife and its surrounding water bodies were named after the local Yellowknives Dene First Nation, who made tools from regional copper deposits. The current population is ethnically mixed. Of the eleven official languages of the Northwest Territories, five are spoken in significant numbers in Yellowknife: Dene Suline, Dogrib, South and North Slavey, English, and French. In the Dogrib language, the city is known as Somba K'e ("where the money is").[2]

Yellowknife was first settled in 1935, after gold had been found in the area; Yellowknife soon became the centre of economic activity in the NWT, and became the capital of the Northwest Territories in 1967. As gold production began to wane, Yellowknife shifted from being a mining town to being a centre of government services in the 1980s. However, with the discovery of diamonds north of Yellowknife in 1991,[3] this shift has begun to reverse.

Tourism is the largest renewable industry in the NWT and Yellowknife is the main entry point for visitors. Many of these tourists are Japanese, and come to experience the Northern climate and traditional lifestyle, as well as to see the Northern Lights. In 2004-05, visitors to the territory spent C$100.5 million.

Source: Wikipedia - Yellowknife

Eyjafjallajökull

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Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced [ˈɛɪjaˌfjatlaˌjœkʏtl̥]) (About this sound listen (help·info)) is one of the smaller glaciers of Iceland. It is situated to the north of Skógar and to the west of the larger glacier Mýrdalsjökull.

The icecap of the glacier covers a volcano (1,666 m in height) which has erupted relatively frequently since the Ice Age. The volcano erupted in March 2010, and the most recent eruption before then was from 1821 to 1823, causing a fatal[citation needed] glacier run. The volcano also erupted on April 14th 2010, causing massive disruption to air traffic across Northern Europe. Scientists claim this eruption was ten to twenty times more powerful than the previous month. A previous eruption was in 1612. The crater of the volcano has a diameter of 3–4 km and the glacier covers an area of about 100 km².

The south end of the mountain was once part of the island's Atlantic coastline. As the sea has since retreated some 5 km, the former coastline has left behind sheer cliffs with a multitude of beautiful waterfalls, the best known of them being Skógafoss. In strong winds, the water of the smaller falls can even be blown up the mountain.

Source: Wikipedia - Eyjafjallajökull

Kremlin Arsenal

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The Arsenal is a large trapezoid two-storey building in the northern corner of the Moscow Kremlin which currently accommodates the Kremlin Regiment.

In the Middle Ages, the spot was occupied by granaries. After they burnt down in the last years of the 17th century, Peter the Great engaged a team of Russian and German architects to construct the Arsenal building on the spot. Construction started in 1702 and lasted until 1736, when it was completed under supervision of Field-Marshal Munnich.

During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, the retreating French soldiers had the central part of the building blown up. It was restored between 1816 and 1828 to a Neoclassical design in order to house a museum dedicated to the Russian victory over Napoleon. Accordingly, some 875 cannons captured from the retreating Grand Army were put on display along the walls of the Arsenal. Of these, 365 are French, 189 are Austrian, 123 are Prussian, 70 are Italian, 40 are Neapolitan, 34 are Bavarian, and 22 are Dutch. Since 1960, Russian cannons of the 16th and 17th centuries have been displayed along the south wall of the building.

Source: Wikipedia - Kremlin Arsenal