In geomorphology, badlands are areas of bare ground which have been intensely eroded by running water into a maze of miniature canyons and steep slopes. There may be hundreds of tiny stream channels within a single square kilometre or mile, with the channels containing water only after rainstorms. Common on clays and shales in areas where the climate is semi-arid, they occur also on the tip-heaps of mines, especially of china-clay workings, in areas where the climate is wetter. Resistant layers of rock are often left as cappings on pillars of softer rock; these structures are known as hoodoos, or pedestal rocks. Research Badlands
In sculpture, a colossus is a statue of enormous magnitude. The Asiatics, the Egyptians, and in particular the Greeks, have excelled in these works. The most celebrated Egyptian colossus was the vocal statue of Memnon in the plain of Thebes, supposed to be identical with the most northerly of two existing colossi (60 feet high) on the west bank of the Nile.
Among the colossi of Greece the most celebrated was the Colossus of Rhodes, a brass statue of Apollo 70 cubits high, esteemed one of the wonders of the world, erected at the port of Rhodes by Chares, 290 or 288 BC. It was knocked down by an earthquake about 224 BC. The statue was in ruins for nearly nine centuries, when the Saracens, taking Rhodes, sold the metal, weighing 720,900 lbs, to a Jew, about 653. There is no authority for the popularly-received statement that it bestrode the harbour mouth, and that the Rhodian vessels could pass under its legs.
Among the colossi of Phidias were the Olympian Zeus and the Athena of the Parthenon; the former 60 feet high and the latter 40 feet.
The most famous of the Roman colossi were the Jupiter of the Capitol, the Apollo of the Palatine Library, and the statue of Nero, 110 or 120 feet high, and from which the contiguous amphitheatre derived its name of Colosseum.
Among modern works of this nature is the colossus of San Carlo Borromeo, at Arona, in the Milanese territory, 60 feet in height; the 'Bavaria' at Munich, 65 feet high; the statue of Hermann or Arminius near Detmold, erected in 1875, 90 feet in height to the point of the upraised sword, which itself is 24 feet in length; the height of the figure to the point of the helmet being 55 feet;
the statue of Germania, erected in 1883 near Rudesheim, a figure 34 feet high, placed on an elaborately-sculptured pedestal over 81 feet high; and Bartholdi's statue of Liberty presented to the United States by the French nation, and which measures 104 feet or to the extremity of the torch in the hand of the figure 138 feet. It is erected at New York harbour on a pedestal 114 feet, is constructed for a lighthouse with what was at one time was one of the most powerful fixed lights in the world, and stands 317 feet above mean tide. Research Colossus
Antonio Canova was an Italian sculptor. He was born in 1757 at Possagno, in Venetian territory and died in 1822. He was first an apprentice to a statuary in Bassano, from whom he went to the Academy of Venice, where he had a brilliant career. In 1779 he was sent by the senate of Venice to Rome with a salary of 300 ducats, and there produced his Theseus and the Slain Minotaur. In 1783 Antonio Canova undertook the execution of the tomb of Pope Clement XIV in the Church of the Apostles, a work in the Bernini manner, and inferior to his second public monument the tomb of Pope Clement XIII (1792) in St Peter's.
From 1783 his fame rapidly increased. He established a school for the benefit of young Venetians, and amongst other works produced his group of Venus and Adonis, the Psyche and Butterfly, a Repentant Magdalene, the well-known Hebe, the colossalHerculeshurling Lichas into the Sea, the Pugilists, and the group of Cupid and Psyche. In 1796 and 1797 Antonio Canova finished the model of the celebrated tomb of the Archduchess Christina of Austria, and in 1797 made the colossal model of a statue of the King of Naples executed in marble in 1803. He afterwards executed in Rome his Perseus with the Head of Medusa, which, when the BelvidereApollo was carried to France, was thought not unworthy of its place and pedestal.
In 1802 he was invited by Bonaparte to Paris to make the model of his colossal statue. Among the later works of the artist are a colossalGeorge Washington, the tombs of the Cardinal of York and of Pius VII; a Venus Rising from the Bath; the colossal group of Theseus Killing the Minotaur; the tomb of Alfieri; the Graces Rising from the Bath; a Dancing Girl; a colossalHector; a Paris, etc. After the second fall of Napoleon, in 1815, Antonio Canova was commissioned by the pope to demand the restoration of the works of art carried from Rome. He went from Paris to London, and returned to Rome in 1816, where he was made Marquis of Ischia, with a pension of 3000 scudi. Research Antonio Canova
An anti-aircraft gun is a weapon designed for the destruction of aerial craft. They were first developed during the late 19th century for attacking balloons, and were at that time known as balloon guns. The first mobile anti- aircraft gun was produced in Germany in 1906 and consisted of a 5 cm 30- calibre gun mounted on the Erhardt car. It was hand elevated and traversed on a pedestal in the rear of the car so that it could fire through 360 degrees, and had a depression of five degrees and elevation of 70 degrees. Research Anti-Aircraft Gun
The TCM-20 is an Israeli anti-aircraft gun comprising two Hispano-Suiza HS404 20 mm cannons mounted on a pedestal with electric drive elevation and traverse. The
TCM-20 has an effective ceiling of 2000 metres and a muzzle velocity of 844 meters-per-second. Research TCM-20
In architecture an acroterium (or acroterion) is a ornamental small pedestal or block, used for statues or other ornaments, and placed on the apex and at the basal angles of a pediment. Acroteria are also sometimes placed upon the gables in Gothicarchitecture. Research Acroterium
In architecture a cornice is any horizontal, moulded or otherwise decorated projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed; as for example the cornice of an order, pedestal, door, window, or house. Research Cornice
In architecture, a dado is that part of a pedestal included between the base and the cornice (or surbase), and in a wall, that part of the basement included between the base and the base course. In interior decoration, the dado is the lower part of the wall of an apartment when adorned with mouldings, or otherwise specially decorated. Research Dado
The fluted pedestal pot is an ornamental clay chimney pot distinguished by a section of moulded flutes around the body and a distinctive pedestal base. Research Fluted Pedestal Pot
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Badlands
