title: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

text: Demographically, Cilician Armenia was heterogeneous with a population of Armenians who constituted the ruling class, and also Greeks, Jews, Muslims, and various Europeans. The multi-ethnic population, as well as commercial and political links with Europeans, particularly France, brought important new influences on Armenian culture. The Cilician nobility adopted many aspects of Western European life, including chivalry, fashion, and the use of French Christian names. The structure of Cilician society became more synonymous with Western feudalism than to the traditional "nakharar" system of Armenia. In fact, during the Cilician period, Western titles such as "baron" and "constable" replaced their Armenian equivalents "nakharar" and "sparapet". European tradition was adopted for the knighting of Armenian nobles, while jousts and tournaments similar to those in Europe had become popular in Cilician Armenia. The extent of Western influence over Cilician Armenia is also reflected by the incorporation of two new letters (Ֆ ֆ = "f" and Օ օ = "o") and various Latin-based words into the Armenian language.


title: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

text: In other areas, there was more hostility to the new Western trends. Above all, most ordinary Armenians frowned on conversion to Roman Catholicism or Greek Orthodoxy. Cultural influence was not merely one-way, however; Cilician Armenians had an important impact on Crusaders returning to the West, most notably with their architectural traditions. Europeans incorporated elements of Armenian castle-building, learned from Armenian masons in the Crusader states, as well as some elements of church architecture. Most Armenian castles made atypical usage of rocky heights, and featured curved walls and round towers, similar to those of the Hospitaller castles Krak des Chevaliers and Marqab. The Cilician period also produced some important examples of Armenian art, notably the illuminated manuscripts of Toros Roslin, who was at work in Hromkla in the thirteenth century.


title: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

text: Cilician Armenia had become a prosperous state due to its strategic position on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. It was located at the juncture of many trade routes linking Central Asia and the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. The kingdom was thus important in the spice trade, as well as livestock, hides, wool, and cotton. In addition, important products such as timber, grain, wine, raisins, and raw silk were also exported from the country and finished cloth and metal products from the West were made available.


title: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

text: During the reign of King Levon, the economy of Cilician Armenia progressed greatly and became heavily integrated with Western Europe. He secured agreements with Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, as well as the French and the Catalans, and granted them certain privileges such as tax exemptions in return for their business. The three primary harbours of the Armenian Kingdom, which were vital to its economy and defense, were the fortified coastal sites at Ayas and Korikos, and the river emporium of Mopsuestia. The latter, situated on two strategic caravan routes, was the last fully navigable port to the Mediterranean on the Pyramus River and the location of warehouses licensed by the Armenians to the Genoese. Important European merchant communities and colonies came into existence, with their own churches, courts of law, and trading houses. As French became the secondary language of Cilician nobility, the secondary language for Cilician commerce had become Italian due to the three Italian city-states' extensive involvement in the Cilician economy. Marco Polo, for example, set out on his journey to China from Ayas in 1271.


title: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

text: In the thirteenth century, under the rule of Toros, Cilician Armenia already struck its own coins. Gold and silver coins, called "dram" and "tagvorin", were struck at the royal mints of Sis and Tarsus. Foreign coins such as the Italian "ducat", "florin", and "zecchino", the Greek "besant", the Arab "dirham", and the French "livre" were also accepted by merchants.


title: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

text: The Catholicosate of the Armenian Apostolic Church followed its people in taking refuge outside the Armenian highlands, which had turned into a battleground of Byzantine and Seljuk contenders. Its seat was first transferred to Sebasteia in 1058 in Cappadocia, where had existed a significant Armenian population. Later, it moved to various locations in Cilicia; Tavbloor in 1062; Dzamendav in 1066; Dzovk in 1116; and Hromkla in 1149. During King Levon I's rule, the Catholicos was located in distant Hromkla. He was assisted by fourteen bishops in administering the Armenian Church in the kingdom, a number which grew in later years. The archbishops' seats were located in Tarsus, Sis, Anazarba, Lambron, and Mamistra. There existed up to sixty monastic houses in Cilicia, although the exact locations of the majority of them remain unclear.


title: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

text: In 1198, the Catholicos of Sis, Grigor VI Apirat, proclaimed a union between the Armenian Church and the Roman Catholic Church; however, this had no notable effect, as the local clergy and populace was strongly opposed to such a union. The Western Church sent numerous missions to Cilician Armenia to help with rapprochement, but had limited results. The Franciscans were put in charge of this activity. John of Monte Corvino himself arrived in Cilician Armenia in 1288.


title: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

text: Het'um II became a Franciscan friar after his abdication. The Armenian historian Nerses Balients was a Franciscan and an advocate of union with the Latin Church. The papal claim of primacy did not contribute positively to the efforts for unity between the Churches. Mkhitar Skewratsi, the Armenian delegate at the council in Acre in 1261, summed the Armenian frustration in these words:


title: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia

text: After the sacking of Hromkla by the Mamluks in 1293, the Catholicosate was transferred to Sis, the capital of the Cilician Kingdom. Again, in 1441, long after the fall of the kingdom, the Armenian Catholicos of Sis, Grigor IX Musabekiants, proclaimed the union of the Armenian and Latin churches at the Council of Florence; this was countered by an Armenian schism under Kirakos I Virapetsi, who moved the See of the Catholicos to Echmiadzin, and marginalized Sis.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: Aniello John "Neil" Dellacroce (March 15, 1914 – December 2, 1985) was an American mobster and underboss of the Gambino crime family. He rose to the position of underboss when Carlo Gambino moved Joseph Biondo aside. Dellacroce was a mentor to future Gambino boss John Gotti.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: Dellacroce was born on March 15, 1914, in New York City to Francesco and Antoinette Dellacroce, first generation immigrants from Italy. He grew up in the Little Italy section of Manhattan. His nickname "Neil" was an Americanization of "Aniello". Dellacroce had one brother, Carmine. Aniello was married to Lucille Riccardi. They had four children.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: As a teenager, Dellacroce became a butcher's assistant, but work was scarce and he took to crime. He was jailed once for petty theft. Dellacroce sometimes walked around Manhattan dressed as a priest and called himself "Father O'Neil" to confuse both the police and rival mobsters. Dellacroce allegedly committed a murder dressed as a priest. He also allegedly used a body double for some public events.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: Aniello Dellacroce, which in Italian means "little lamb of the cross", took pleasure in killing people. "He likes to peer into a victim's face, like some kind of dark angel, at the moment of death", according to a federal agent familiar with Dellacroce.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: In the late 1930s, Dellacroce joined the Mangano crime family, forerunner of the Gambino family, and soon became involved with underboss Albert Anastasia. After the disappearance of longtime boss Vincent Mangano, Anastasia became family boss and promoted Dellacroce to capo. Due to his square-shaped face, some Gambino members nicknamed him "the Polack", a nickname never used within his earshot.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: Dellacroce later became mentor to John Gotti. Dellacroce bought the Ravenite Social Club in Little Italy, which soon became a popular Gambino social club and Dellacroce's headquarters. On October 25, 1957, gunmen murdered Anastasia in a Manhattan hotel barbershop. Carlo Gambino took over the family.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: In 1965, Gambino removed the aging Joseph Biondo from his underboss position and appointed Dellacroce to replace him.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: According to records from the Knapp Commission, which investigated police corruption in a number of industries beginning in 1970, Dellacroce and other mobsters were involved in after-hours bars that catered to homosexuals in the West Village, Manhattan.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: In 1971, Dellacroce was sentenced to one year in state prison on contempt charges for refusing to answer grand jury questions about organized crime. On May 2, 1972, Dellacroce was indicted on federal tax evasion charges. In return for labor peace, the Yankee Plastics Company of New York gave Dellacroce 22,500 stock shares worth $112,500. He was indicted on a failure to pay federal income tax on these stocks. In March 1973, Dellacroce was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to five years in prison and fined $15,000.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: On October 15, 1976, Carlo Gambino died at home of natural causes. Against expectations, he had appointed Paul Castellano to succeed him over his underboss Dellacroce. Gambino appeared to believe that his crime family would benefit from Castellano's focus on white collar businesses. Dellacroce, at the time, was imprisoned for tax evasion and was unable to contest Castellano's succession.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: Castellano's succession was confirmed at a meeting on November 24, with Dellacroce present. Castellano arranged for Dellacroce to remain as underboss while directly running traditional Cosa Nostra activities such as extortion, robbery, and loansharking. While Dellacroce accepted Castellano's succession, the deal effectively split the Gambino family into two rival factions.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: In 1979, he along with Anthony Plate, were arrested for the 1974 murder of a New York City bookmaker named Charles Calise. The FBI believed Dellacroce had ordered Plate to murder Calise because he was an informant. While on trial, Plate disappeared. The case ended in a mistrial.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: On February 25, 1985, Dellacroce was indicted along with the leaders of the other New York Five Families as part of the Mafia Commission Trial. On March 28, 1985, Dellacroce, along with his son Armand and eight others, was indicted on federal racketeering charges regarding the activities of two crews in New York and Long Island. In June, 1985, a Doonesbury comic featuring Frank Sinatra and Dellacroce together, and saying that Dellacroce was charged with the murder of Calise resulted in many papers not running the comic strip. On July 1, 1985, Dellacroce and the other New York Mafia leaders, pleaded not guilty to a second set of racketeering charges as part of the trial.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: On December 2, 1985, Dellacroce died of cancer, aged 71, at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens. He was buried in Saint John's Cemetery, Queens.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: After Dellacroce's death in 1985, Castellano revised his succession plan, appointing Thomas Bilotti as underboss and making plans to break up Gotti's crew. Infuriated by both this and Castellano's failure to attend Dellacroce's wake, Gotti resolved to kill his boss.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: When Frank DeCicco tipped Gotti off that he, DeCicco, would be having a meeting with Castellano and several other Gambino mobsters at Sparks Steak House on December 16, 1985, Gotti chose to take the opportunity. The evening of the meeting, when the boss and underboss arrived, they were ambushed and shot dead by assassins under Gotti's command. Gotti watched the hit from his car with Sammy Gravano.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: In April 1988, Dellacroce's son, Armond, died while hiding in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He had been convicted of racketeering and had failed to appear for sentencing in March. The cause of death was listed as cirrhosis and a cocaine overdose.


title: Aniello Dellacroce

text: In the TV movie "Getting Gotti" (1994), Dellacroce is portrayed by Peter Boretski. In the TV movie "Gotti" (1996), Dellacroce is portrayed by Anthony Quinn. In the TV movie "Boss of Bosses" (2001), he is portrayed by Dayton Callie. Stacy Keach portrays Dellacroce in the John Gotti biopic "Gotti" (2018), directed by Kevin Connolly and starring John Travolta as Gotti. In the 2018 television series "Kingpin" (2018), he is portrayed by Ralph Bracco.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created in 1938. The show was the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California on RKO-Pathé stages and the RKO Forty Acres back lot. Cereal manufacturer Kellogg's sponsored the show. The first and last airdates of the show, which was produced for first-run syndication rather than for a network, are disputed, but they are generally accepted as September 19, 1952, and April 28, 1958. The show's first two seasons (episodes 1–52, 26 titles per season) were filmed in black and white; seasons three through six (episodes 53–104, 13 titles per season) were filmed in color.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: George Reeves played Clark Kent/Superman, with Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen, John Hamilton as Perry White, and Robert Shayne as Inspector Henderson. Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane in the first season, with Noel Neill, who previously played Lois Lane in the film serials "Superman" (1948) and "Atom Man vs. Superman" (1950), stepping into the role in the later seasons. Superman battles crooks, gangsters, and other villains in the fictional city of Metropolis while masquerading "off duty" as "Daily Planet" reporter Clark Kent. For nearly all of the series' episodes, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, Clark's colleagues at the office, found themselves in dangerous situations that only Superman's timely intervention can resolve.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: The opening theme is known as "The Superman March". In 1987, selected episodes of the show were released on VHS. In 2006, the series became available in its entirety on DVD to coincide with the DVD release of "Superman Returns", the first Superman feature film to emerge after almost two decades without such a movie. The feature film "Hollywoodland", released in 2006, dramatized the show's production and the death of its star, George Reeves.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: In November 1951, California exhibitor and B-movie producer Robert L. Lippert released a 58-minute black-and-white film starring George Reeves and Phyllis Coates called "Superman and the Mole Men", with a script by Robert Maxwell (as Richard Fielding) and direction by Lee Sholem. The film, shot that July, served as a pilot for "Adventures of Superman" and prompted the start of production of the first season in August/September of the same year. The series discontinued production, however, and remained unaired until September 1952, when cereal manufacturer Kellogg's agreed to sponsor the show (as the company had previously done with the Superman radio series). The success of the series came as a complete surprise to the cast. Looking back many years later, Jack Larson remembered that he was in New York City, and his newfound fame totally caught him off guard. The initial feature film, "Superman and the Mole Men", was subsequently edited into a two-part story called "The Unknown People" and was to be broadcast mid season, but went unaired until it was added to the syndication package of some stations in 1960 after the sponsor left. It was the only multi-part story of the series and is sometimes broadcast as the "unofficial" season one finale.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: After the first season's filming was completed, actress Phyllis Coates made other commitments and did not return as Lois Lane. Noel Neill, who had played the character in both Columbia theatrical serials, stepped into the role and remained until the series' cancellation. The core cast thereafter remained intact, with Phillips Tead occasionally joining the regulars in the last seasons as the eccentric recurring character Professor Pepperwinkle. To promote and advertise the show, cast members Reeves, Hamilton, and Larson were able to earn extra money by appearing in Kellogg's commercials during the second season. Noel Neill was never approached for these because sponsors worried that scenes of Clark Kent having breakfast with Lois Lane would be too suggestive.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: From the beginning, the series was filmed like a movie serial, with principals wearing the same costumes throughout the show to expedite out-of-sequence shooting schedules and save budgetary costs. For instance, all scenes that took place in the "Perry White Office" set would be filmed back to back for future placement in various episodes. This was often confusing to the actors. Money was further saved by using a simple change of wall hangings to change Clark's office into Lois's office, thus dispensing with additional set construction. Other scenic shortcuts were employed. In the last seasons, for example, there were fewer exterior location shoots, and episodes were filmed almost entirely in the studio.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: The budget for the series was relatively low, with a complete episode averaging $15,000. The series' actors were paid $200 per episode; the show's historians and Jack Larson stated that the cast had to make repeated requests to producers and threaten to quit production before they were given a $50 raise. By the end of the run, star Reeves was making at least $2500 per episode, but the rest of the cast still made considerably less. The stars were signed to a "run of the show contract", meaning that the producers could demand their services to shoot a new season with thirty days' notice. This clause also prohibited them from doing any long-term commitments such as movies or plays.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Reeves's red, blue, and yellow Superman costume was originally brown, gray, and white so that it would come through in appropriate gray tones on black-and-white film. After two seasons, the producers began filming the show in color, a rarity for the time. Filming of the color episodes began in late 1954. Because of the added cost of filming in color, the producers cut the number of episodes per season in half. Each 26-week season would feature 13 new episodes and 13 reruns of the older black-and-white shows.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Throughout the last 50 episodes, a lackadaisical attitude toward flubbed lines prevailed, ascribed to deterioration of morale among cast and crew, the added expense of color filming and salary disputes. Producer Whitney Ellsworth later admitted: "Sometimes there was just garbage in the rushes, but we were often forced to use what we had, rather than relight the set and go again".


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Phyllis Coates, like George Reeves, was a popular lead in B features of the period. For the TV series, Reeves asked that Coates receive equal star billing. Coates created a sharp, strong-willed Lois Lane, an enterprising reporter who tries to outscoop Clark Kent. Jack Larson's Jimmy Olsen is a "Daily Planet" intern, often investigating some wrongdoing. Usually the villains catch him, and Superman usually helps him in the nick of time. In the film noir-like early episodes, Superman himself is seen as a semi-mysterious presence, unknown to many of the crooks; in "The Riddle of the Chinese Jade", a villain says, "Who's the guy in the circus suit?" Eventually, all the crooks know exactly who he is, often with the bug-eyed exclamation "SOOPAH-man!" when he first appears. The first season's episodes usually featured action-packed, dark, gritty, and often violent story lines in which Superman fought gangsters and crime lords. Many characters met their deaths in these episodes. The deaths of some of them were actually shown.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: When it came time to reassemble the cast and crew for filming the second season, Phyllis Coates was no longer available, having committed herself to another project. The producers then hired Noel Neill and gave her secondary billing with Larson, Hamilton, and Shayne. Neill's portrayal was sweeter and more sympathetic than the efficient, hard-as-nails Coates characterization. Bob Maxwell, whose episodes in the first season verged on the macabre, left the show, going on to produce "Lassie" in 1954. Whitney Ellsworth, already working on "Adventures of Superman" as an uncredited associate producer and story editor during the initial season, became the show's executive producer in 1953 and would remain so for the duration of the series. The second-season shows were still fairly serious in nature, retaining the film-noir/crime drama qualities while steering more in a science fiction direction, with Ellsworth tempering the violence significantly. With most of the villains becoming comic bunglers less likely to frighten the show's juvenile viewers and with only some occasional deaths, usually off screen, Kellogg's gave its full approval to Ellsworth's approach and the show remained a success. Sentimental or humorous stories were more evident than they had been during the first season. A large portion of the stories, however, dealt with Superman's personal issues, such as his memory loss in "Panic in the Sky".


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: With the color seasons, the show began to take on the lighthearted, whimsical tone of the Superman comic books of the decade. The villains were often caricatured, Runyonesque gangsters played in a tongue-in-cheek style. Violence on the show was toned down even further. The only gunfire that occurred was aimed at Superman, and, of course, the bullets bounced off him. Superman was less likely to engage in fisticuffs with the villains. On occasions when Superman did use physical force, he would take crooks out in a single karate-style chop or, if he happened to have two criminals in hand, by banging their heads together. More often than not, the villains were likely to knock themselves out fleeing Superman. At this point, Jimmy, who was very popular with viewers, was being played as the show's comic foil to Superman. Most of these plots had Jimmy and Lois being captured, only to have Superman rescue them at the last minute.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Scripts for the sixth and final season reestablished a bit of the seriousness of the show, often utilizing science fiction features like a kryptonite-powered robot, atomic explosions, and impregnable metal cubes. In one of the last episodes, "The Perils of Superman" (a takeoff on "The Perils of Pauline"), there was indeed deadly peril straight out of the movie serials: Lois was tied to a set of railroad tracks with a speeding train bearing down on her, Perry White was nearly sawed in half while tied to a log, Jimmy was in a runaway car headed for a cliff, and Clark Kent was immersed in a vat of acid. This was one of three episodes George Reeves directed himself. Noel Neill's hair was dyed a bright red for this season. ABC-TV aired episodes in its "Fun At Five" series during the 1957-58 season.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Reeves appeared as Superman in "Lucy and Superman", an episode of "I Love Lucy" that aired on January 14, 1957. In the episode, Reeves appears as himself playing TV's Superman, though no mention of George Reeves is ever made until the credits roll. The announcement "Our guest star tonight was George Reeves, star of the "Superman" series" was deleted from the episode after its first network broadcast. The episode was colorized and re-broadcast as part of an hour-long "Lucy" special on the CBS network on May 17, 2015.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: At the request of the US Treasury Department, the production company made a special truncated film, with a run time of 17 minutes and 32 seconds, to promote school savings-stamp plans to children. Shown in grade schools during the 1950s, the decade of "Adventures of Superman", this is the only "episode" of the series that has entered the public domain. It features Clark Kent/Superman, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane and plays like a normal black-and-white episode of the second season, with series semi-regulars Tristram Coffin, as a government spokesman, and Billy Nelson, as a criminal. Thomas Carr directed this film. This film was released on the Season Two DVD box set of "The Adventures of Superman".


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: "Adventures of Superman" began filming at the RKO-Pathé studios (later Desilu Studios) in Culver City, California, in August–September 1951. A low-budget program by the standards of its day, episodes cost roughly $15,000 apiece. In 1953–54, the show was filmed at California Studios and, in 1955, at Charlie Chaplin Studios. In 1956–57, the show was filmed at Ziv Studios.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: The establishing shot of "The Daily Planet" building in the first season was the E. Clem Wilson Building in Los Angeles, California, on Wilshire Boulevard, for decades famous as the headquarters of Mutual of Omaha, its brilliant white globe atop a tall pillar a familiar landmark to local residents. The Carnation Milk Company Building a few blocks east on Wilshire served as "The Daily Planet"s front door. From the second season onward, stock shots of the 32-story Los Angeles City Hall were used as the Planet building, and the sidewalk entrance to the Planet was a studio-bound "exterior".


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Many exteriors in the first season were shot at the RKO Pictures backlot, called "Forty Acres", a facility later used for Mayberry, North Carolina, on "The Andy Griffith Show". Hillsides in Culver City, city streets of downtown Los Angeles, or residential areas of the San Fernando Valley were sometimes used as exteriors during all six seasons. In later seasons, filming occurred on sound stages, with exterior shots, such as cars driving along roadways, shot as second-unit material, often with doubles at the wheel. Establishing shots of Queen of Angels Hospital in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles were often used in episodes (such as "The Face and the Voice") during the second season, although the hospital was identified as "Mercy General". Another Los Angeles stock footage landmark was the Griffith Observatory, which had several different "cameos" in the series, first serving as Jor-El's home/laboratory. Aside from a few clips of New York City in "Superman on Earth", most, if not all, of the stock clips used to depict Metropolis are of the Los Angeles area.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: The show's title card (see infobox above right) imitated the three-dimensional lettering of the comic book covers. Occasional confusion arises about the article "the", since it was spoken by narrators in voice-overs. Some references title the show ""The" Adventures of Superman"; other books, as well as "TV Guide" listings, simply label the show ""Superman"". The onscreen title of the show is "Adventures of Superman", with no article preceding "Adventures".


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Bill Kennedy, framed by the show's theme music, voiced the opening narration of the show, expanded from that of the 1940s radio show and the 1940s Superman cartoons. The opening narration of the show set the stage for each program:


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: From the second season onward, the final sentence ("and now, another exciting episode in the "Adventures of Superman"!") was dropped. In later syndication, when Kellogg's was no longer the sponsor, the episode openings were re-edited to remove the opening line relating to the cereal company.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: The score for the series was taken from stock music libraries, often adaptations of music from B-movies. For example, one cue used in the episode "Peril by Sea" also appears in "Plan 9 from Outer Space". Another cue, used in the second season episodes "The Machine that Could Plot Crimes", "Jungle Devil", The Clown Who Cried", and "The Golden Vulture", came from the seventh variation of Miklos Rozsa's "Theme, Variations & Finale. Op. 13, from 1933. Apparently the only original music written for the series was the March heard primarily during the credits. The theme is ascribed to studio music arranger Leon Klatzkin, although it may have been adapted from an earlier unrelated, and now lost, theme. The main theme, based on a triad, matched the three syllables in the character's name, as has been the case with nearly all Superman music. With the exception of the title theme, musical cues ranged from the serious to the lighthearted and were different for each of the seasons, except for the third season, wherein some cues from the previous season would be reused in a number of episodes. Each season's cues tended to be used repeatedly from episode to episode, in similarly appropriate "mood" moments such as apprehension, humor or fast action. The opening credits theme, Superman's "leitmotif", was often (though not always) used whenever Superman was depicted flying or taking action.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: The show's sponsor was Kellogg's, maker of corn flakes and other breakfast cereals. The characters from the TV series, except Lois Lane and Superman himself, made a number of TV commercials promoting their cereal products. These commercials were usually shown as "integrated commercials" at the end of the program. Some of these commercials are preserved in the DVD series as special features. Some versions of the show contained a vocal introduction, "Kellogg's, 'The Greatest Name In Cereals', presents ... "The Adventures of Superman"". The sponsor originally requested to have this line placed, at the intro's start, on every single episode of the series, as well as—from second season onward—the company's logo on the intro and on the end of the closing credits. When Kellogg's ceased being the show's sponsor, the logo and the intro line were removed from some prints, especially when Warner Bros. Television received distribution rights.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: While considered simple by today's standards, the "flying" effects on "Adventures of Superman" were advanced for the period, although during season one it was apparent that, for distance flight shots, Superman was lying on a flat surface, his torso and thighs noticeably flattened between elbows and knees. Throughout the series, Superman's "flying" involved three phases: take-off, flight, and landing. Cables and wires were used for Superman's take-offs early in filming. During filming of the 'Superman and the Mole Men' feature, the wires supporting Reeves snapped, and he fell to the studio floor. For the entirety of season one episodes, stuntmen took Reeves' place whenever cables and wires were used for take offs. At the end of season one, cables and wires were discarded for take offs (and later dropped all together by season two's end) and special effects head Daniel "Danny" Hays left the series. By this time, a springboard was brought in for take off scenes, designed by the series other SFX supervisor, Thol "Si" Simonson, who remained with the series until its end. Reeves would run into frame and hit the out-of-frame springboard, which would boost him out of frame, sometimes over the camera, and onto padding. The springboard had enough force, along with subtle camera manipulation, to make it look as though he was actually taking off. A relatively few number of repeated shots became the flying scenes. The typical technique had footage of Reeves stretched out on a spatula-like device formed to his torso and leg, operated on a counterweight like a boom microphone, allowing him to bank as if in flight. In a couple of later episodes, such as "The Atomic Secret", Reeves simulated flying, opting to lie on the device without the molded form to support his legs, which are seen to hang from the waist in those episodes in marked contrast to the stock footage of Superman in flight.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: In the two monochrome seasons, Reeves was occasionally filmed in front of aerial footage on a back-projection screen or against a neutral background which would provide a matte which would be optically combined with a swish-pan or aerial shot. That footage was matted onto various backgrounds depending on the needs of the episode: clouds, buildings, the ocean, mountain forests, etc., by which he would appear to fly. For the color episodes, the simpler and cheaper technique of a neutral cyclorama backing was used, usually sky-blue, or black for night shots. Techniques for landings involved Reeves jumping off a ladder or holding an off-camera horizontal bar and swinging down into frame.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Tris Coffin; Herb Vigran; John Eldredge, best known as Harry Archer on "Meet Corliss Archer" (1954); Philip Van Zandt; and Ben Welden made multiple appearances over the course of the show, always as different villains.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Other veteran film and television actors making appearances on the show included Dona Drake, George E. Stone, James Craven, Dan Seymour, Victor Sen Yung, Maudie Prickett, John Doucette, Norma Varden, Roy Barcroft, Elizabeth Patterson, and George Chandler.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Director Tommy Carr's brother Steve appeared as an unbilled extra in nearly every one of the first 26 shows and frequently in more substantial character roles. He was also the show's dialogue director and was the man pointing "up in the sky" in the introductions of the black-and-white shows.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Episodes follow Superman as he battles gangsters, thugs, mad scientists and non-human dangers like asteroids, robots, and malfunctioning radioactive machines. In the first episode—the "origin" episode—Superman's infant life on the planet Krypton, his arrival on Earth, and a family couple nurturing and raising him are dramatized. In succeeding episodes, he conceals his super-identity by posing as mild-mannered "Daily Planet" reporter Clark Kent who, in times of crisis, dashes into the "Daily Planet"s storeroom, or an alley, sheds his street clothes, and reappears in superhero tights and trunks, all at super-speed, to rescue hapless folks from the clutches of evildoers.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Superman arrived on television in 1952 with a mythology established through comic books, a novel, a radio series, two theatrical serials, and seventeen Max Fleischer animated shorts. None of Superman's established foes like Lex Luthor appeared in the TV series, and the most potent element incorporated into the show from the established mythology was green kryptonite; the other versions (red, white, blue, gold, etc.) didn't appear. Several episodes featured the substance as a plot device. Another element appropriated from the mythology for the television series was Lois Lane's suspicions regarding Clark Kent's true identity and her romantic infatuation with Superman.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: In 1958, producer Whitney Ellsworth created "Superpup", a never-aired spin-off pilot that placed the Superman mythos in a fictional world populated by dogs. Featuring live-action actors in dog-suits portraying canine versions of Superman and other characters, the pilot was filmed on "Adventures of Superman" sets and was intended to capitalize on the success of its parent series.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Producers planned to continue "Adventures of Superman" in 1959 with two more years' worth of episodes, to begin airing in the 1960 season. The death of actor John Hamilton threw the plan into disarray. Actor Pierre Watkin was hired to replace Hamilton as "Perry White's brother". Watkin had played Perry White himself in the two Columbia serials and had guested on the series before.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: The sudden death of the show's star George Reeves in June 1959 was not the end of the series either, in the producers' eyes. When Jack Larson returned from Europe after the death of Reeves, producers suggested the series could continue as "Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen", with more focus on Larson's character, playing opposite a "Superman" who would be a composite of stock shots of George Reeves and a stunt double to be filmed from behind. Larson rejected the idea.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Another spin-off idea was a pilot Whitney Ellsworth produced in 1961: "The Adventures of Superboy". Johnny Rockwell starred as a young Clark Kent in Smallville. As Superboy, he wore a suit similar in design to George Reeves' suit. Although thirteen scripts had been written, only the pilot was filmed.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Neill and her original 1948 "Superman" serial co-star, Kirk Alyn, enjoyed cameos in the 1978 film "Superman" as Lois Lane's parents. Their dialogue scene was cut for theatrical release, but played in its entirety when the film was broadcast on TV, and later in the 2001 director's cut restoration. Neill and Jack Larson both made guest appearances on the TV series "Superboy" in the episode "Paranoia" during the show's fourth season.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Larson was cast as a man-on-the-street in an American Express ad called "The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman". Larson also had a guest appearance on "", playing an elder Jimmy Olsen. Like Neill, Larson participated in various conventions connected with "Superman". He also provided commentaries for some of the episodes on the DVD releases during 2005 and 2006 and the 2006 documentary history of the Superman character, "Look, Up in the Sky".


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Robert Shayne received a recurring role as "Reggie", the blind newspaper vendor, in "The Flash" in 1990–91 because the producers were aware of his Superman connection. Shayne was, in fact, legally blind by that time.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Phyllis Coates played the part of Lois Lane's mother in a 1993 episode of "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" at the suggestion of "Lois & Clark" guest star (and George Reeves biographer) Jim Beaver. The Coates Orphanage in Metropolis, which appears in the "Lois and Clark" episode "Season's Greedings", is named for her.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Both Noel Neill and Jack Larson had minor roles in the 2006 movie "Superman Returns". Neill played the multimillionaire wife of Lex Luthor, played by Kevin Spacey, who dies at the beginning of the film, leaving her entire inheritance to Luthor, while Larson played a bartender.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Episode copyright dates are confusing. When the series went into syndicated reruns, Kellogg's ceased being the show's sponsor and its name had to be removed from the opening titles. During the first decade of reruns, when all episodes were still shown in black and white, each episode's opening had the Kellogg's reference edited out, sometimes incompletely, leaving portions of "the greatest name in cereals, presents" in the finished product.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: In every print since the network run (including the video and DVD releases), the 52 black-and-white shows appear to have been made in 1951, and the 52 color shows all seem to be from 1957. This is because the opening credits were standardized for syndication: a vintage-1951 opening was spliced onto the black-and-white shows, and a vintage-1957 opening was added to the color shows. The closing credits have the correct, unchanged copyright dates.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: In 1987 and 1988, coinciding with the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Superman comic book character that year, Warner Home Video released selected episodes of the series to VHS and LaserDisc, under the "TV's Best Adventures of Superman" title, with four volumes released in total. Each volume contained one black-and-white episode and one color episode, plus a Max Fleischer Superman animated short. These videos were later re-released during the mid-1990s under new packaging artwork. Columbia House released 20 VHS volumes of the series under their "Adventures of Superman: The Collector's Edition" series, with each videotape containing three episodes, which was only available through mail order subscriptions during the 1990s. In 2003, "Truth, Justice, & The American Way: The Life And Times Of Noel Neill, The Original Lois Lane" was published, and, in 2007, the film "Hollywoodland" was released to DVD.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: Warner Home Video has released all 6 seasons of "The Adventures of Superman" on DVD in Region 1. Warner has also released Seasons 1–4 in Region 2 & 4.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: On April 8, 1953, "Variety" reviewed the April 1 New York premiere: "It's to National Comics credit that its television version is restrained on the scripting side and well done technically ... Filming is top-notch, with no expense spared to get those special effects. George Reeves, who acts Superman, doesn't have too much of a role in the initial pix, since most of it deals with boyhood of the hero, but he registered nicely as the meek reporter and as the hero. Phyllis Coates was okay as Lois Lane, the girl reporter, while John Hamilton fits the fictitious concept of the editor. Other roles were well handled".


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: The show received a proclamation in July 2001 on its 50th Anniversary from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in a ceremony that Jack Larson; Noel Neill; Robert Rockwell, who played Jor-El in "Superman on Earth"; Jeff Corey, from the pilot "Superman and the Mole Men"; Mrs. Robert Shayne; and Mrs. Jerome Siegel attended. DC Comics Vice President Paul Levitz accepted the proclamation scroll.


title: Adventures of Superman (TV series)

text: In 2006, the show's first season received a Saturn Award nomination from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films for "Best Retro Television Release on DVD". In 2007, the show's complete six seasons received a Saturn Award for "Best Retro Television Series Release on DVD".


title: Lexus LC

text: The is a grand tourer manufactured by Lexus, Toyota's luxury division. Based on the 2012 LF-LC Concept, it was revealed at the 2016 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It replaced the SC, which was produced from 1991 to 2010. It is the first Lexus model to utilize the GA-L platform, which, along with other components, is shared with the full-size XF50 series LS sedan. According to Lexus, the name "LC" stands for "Luxury Coupe".


title: Lexus LC

text: The LC was developed under the program codename "950A" from 2011 to 2016. It was previewed by the LF-LC Concept, which was designed at Calty Design Research in Newport Beach, California. The concept vehicle was revealed at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Design work was later transferred from Calty to Toyota Technical Centre in Aichi, Japan in January 2013, with a final production design freeze in the first half of 2014.


title: Lexus LC

text: Four years after the concept's debut, the production model, dubbed LC 500, was introduced in January 2016 at the same venue. It shares the same 5.0-litre "2UR-GSE" V8 engine with the RC F and GS F with power slightly increased to . It is paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission.


title: Lexus LC

text: A hybrid-electric model, dubbed LC 500h, was revealed in Geneva in February 2016. It is powered by a 3.5-litre "8GR-FXS" V6 engine, a hybrid transmission, and a lithium-ion battery pack with a combined output at 6,600 rpm, and an estimated of combined torque at 3000 rpm. The battery has 44 kW and 1.1 kWh and can power the car for .


title: Lexus LC

text: In February 2021, the Japanese publication "" reported that the LC F performance coupe is scheduled for release in November 2021 with a 4.0L twin-turbo V8 engine producing and torque, along with a double-wishbone suspension and 21-inch wheels.


title: Lexus LC

text: The LC is built at Toyota's Motomachi facility, the same plant that produced the LFA. The factory was reconfigured for LC production, which included finishing the entire facility's interior in white. Many of the "Takumi" master craftsmen who built the LFA continue their work on different areas of the LC, including carbon fibre parts, leatherwork and paint. Series production commenced in March 2017, with the first example completed on April 23, 2017.


title: Lexus LC

text: The LC Convertible Concept is based on the LC. It has 22-inch wheels and white leather trim with gold accent stitching. Tadao Mori was the Chief Designer. It weighed more than the LC coupé, therefore the top speed and acceleration times dropped slightly.


title: Lexus LC

text: The LC 500 Convertible, based on the concept car, was unveiled at the LA Auto Show on November 20, 2019. Its four-layer soft top roof can be operated at speeds of up to . Its features include a transparent polycarbonate wind deflector, neck heaters, and Active Noise Control (ANC) technology.


title: Lexus LC

text: The LC retained the overall design of the concept model. It has a variant of Lexus' corporate "spindle" grille with a gradient pattern; a tightly compressed mesh at the top transitions to a wider diamond at the bottom. However, unlike other vehicles in the lineup, the top of the spindle grille does not have a chrome surround. The compact LED triple-projector headlight is in the small overhang between the bumper and wheels.


title: Lexus LC

text: The LC is the first vehicle to use Lexus' front-engine, rear-wheel drive platform, dubbed "Global Architecture – Luxury" (GA-L). It consists of various materials, including high-strength steel, aluminium, and carbon fibre. The GA-L platform would underpin future rear-wheel drive models, including the LS 500, which was introduced in January 2017. The platform is designed to provide lower overall mass, improved front/rear weight distribution, and a low center of gravity. Run-flat tires are also used to avoid the need for a spare, and the vehicle battery has been relocated to the trunk to improve weight distribution.


title: Lexus LC

text: The suspension is a double-joint multi-link suspension with a forged aluminium upper arm is secured at two points, which ensures all movements are mirrored from the lower arm. The double-joint design reduces the necessary height of the suspension system, as placement is lower than a traditional single-joint setup.


title: Lexus LC

text: The LC 500 is powered by a "2UR-GSE" 5.0-litre V8 engine which is an updated version of the engine found in the RC F and GS F. It uses D-4S direct and port fuel injection, Atkinson cycle operation and VVT-i. The engine produces at 7,100 rpm and of torque at 4,800 rpm and is mated to a 10-speed "Direct Shift" automatic transmission.


title: Lexus LC

text: The LC 500h employs a hybrid powertrain, known as the "Lexus Multi Stage Hybrid" system. It consists of a 3.5-litre "8GR-FXS" V6 engine which produces at 6,600 rpm and of torque at 5,100 rpm, in addition to two electric motors whose total output is and of torque. Combined power output over the entire system is and of torque.


title: Lexus LC

text: The engine and motors are coupled to a unique transmission, which consists of a four-speed automatic transmission embedded inside a continuously variable transmission. This “dual” transmission provides stepped access to the torque generated by the electric motor, and functions similarly to a 10-speed automatic transmission.


title: Lexus LC

text: The LC500 GT500 is a GT500 GT race car derived from the road-going LC500 for use in the Super GT from 2017 onwards. The car is the direct replacement to the Lexus RC F GT500, which competed in the 2014 to 2016 Super GT seasons. The LC500 GT500 car made its début at the 2017 Okayama GT 300km, and claimed 14 race wins of the 24 overall entered races from 2017 until 2019 (26 with the Super GT/DTM crossover events). In 2020, with the introduction of the new Class One and the revival of the Supra nameplate, the Toyota GR Supra would take its place in the GT500 category.


title: Lexus LC

text: For Marvel Studios' Black Panther Lexus provided LC500's for filming in South Korea during the car chase sequence. Lexus also produced two specific LC Models named "Black Panther Editions" with a large Black Panther mask decal on the hood, blue underbody lighting, 24-inch wheels and blue paint with subtle striping.


title: Lexus LC

text: European statistics include sales from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.


title: Alice Deejay

text: Alice Deejay is a Dutch Eurodance-pop project founded and produced by Wessel van Diepen, Dennis van den Driesschen, Sebastiaan Molijn and Eelke Kalberg (Pronti & Kalmani), fronted by singer Judith Anna Pronk. They are best known for their 1999 single "Better Off Alone", which was a worldwide success, selling over one million albums and 5 million singles worldwide.


title: Alice Deejay

text: Formed in 1998, Alice Deejay launched their career in July 1999 with their debut single, "Better Off Alone", credited as "DJ Jurgen presents Alice Deejay". The song reached the top 10 in many European countries and also charted in North America. In the UK, the song went platinum and reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, and number 3 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play, also reaching number 27 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. Their second single, "Back in My Life", was released in November 1999 and reached number-one in Norway, and the top 10 in Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.


title: Alice Deejay

text: The project's only album was "Who Needs Guitars Anyway?", and was released in March 2000. It entered the top ten of the UK Albums Chart. They released three more singles from the album, "Will I Ever", "The Lonely One" and "Celebrate Our Love", and all reached the top 20 in the United Kingdom. Pronk, together with backing-singers, toured dance-themed venues to perform live. In 2002, this line-up made their final appearance together.


title: Alice Deejay

text: After more than a decade of inactivity, in 2014 the producers who originally launched Alice Deejay revived the group, with new vocalist Ilona, a Dutch singer and DJ. The new lineup changed its name slightly to "Alice DJ" and began touring.


title: Alice Deejay

text: 20 years after her last performance as Alice Deejay, in October 2021 the group announced that Pronk would be returning to the group, with several tour dates announced across Europe for the remainder of the year.


title: Alice Deejay

text: On 16 October 2021, Pronk returned as Alice Deejay again live on stage after 20 years at the Ethias Arena in Belgium. She also appeared in the 3 arena in Dublin on 23 October 2021.


title: Alice Deejay

text: The project was founded and produced by Danski (Dennis van den Driesschen) Delmundo (Wessel van Diepen) and their protégés Pronti (Sebastiaan Molijn) and Kalmani (Eelke Kalberg).


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (, or "Cathédrale de Strasbourg", or "Straßburger Münster"), also known as Strasbourg Minster, is a Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. Although considerable parts of it are still in Romanesque architecture, it is widely considered to be among the finest examples of Rayonnant Gothic architecture. Architect Erwin von Steinbach is credited for major contributions from 1277 to his death in 1318, and beyond through his son Johannes von Steinbach, and his grandson Gerlach von Steinbach, who succeeded him as chief architects. The Steinbachs's plans for the completion of the cathedral were not followed through by the chief architects who took over after them, and instead of the originally envisioned two spires, a single, octagonal tower with an elongated, octagonal crowning was built on the northern side of the west facade by master Ulrich von Ensingen and his successor, Johannes Hültz. The construction of the cathedral, which had started in the year 1015 and had been relaunched in 1190, was finished in 1439.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: At 142 metres (466 feet), Strasbourg Cathedral was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874 (227 years), when it was surpassed by St. Nikolai's Church, Hamburg. Today it is the sixth-tallest church in the world and the highest still standing extant structure built entirely in the Middle Ages.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Described by Victor Hugo as a "gigantic and delicate marvel", and by Goethe as a "sublimely towering, wide-spreading tree of God", the cathedral is visible far across the plains of Alsace and can be seen from as far off as the Vosges Mountains or the Black Forest on the other side of the Rhine. The reddish-brown sandstone from the Vosges mountains gives the cathedral its distinctive colour.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The construction, and later maintenance, of the cathedral is supervised by the "Fondation de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame" ("Foundation of Our Lady") since at least 1224. The Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame, a municipal museum located in the Foundation's buildings, displays original works of art from the cathedral, such as sculptures and stained-glass, but also the surviving original medieval buildings plans.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In 1988, the Strasbourg Cathedral was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with the historic centre of the city (called the "Grande Île") because of its outstanding Gothic architecture.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The history of Strasbourg's cathedral is well documented thanks to the archives of the Notre-Dame Foundation, the city of Strasbourg, and of the diocese. Archaeological excavations below and around the cathedral have been conducted in 1896–1897, 1907, 1923–1924, 1947–1948, between 1966 and 1972, and finally between 2012 and 2014.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: A Roman settlement called Argentoratum, twenty hectares in size, existed on the site since about 12 B.C., at a strategic point where bridges crossed the Rhine and two of its tributaries. It became a major trading center for wine, grain, and later for textiles and luxury products. Christianity was first imposed in 313 by the Edict of Constantine. The first recorded bishop, Amand, participated in the Councils of Cologne and Sardique in 346 and 347. A paleochristian church or cathedral is believed to have been founded by an edict of Clovis I, but its exact location and appearance is unknown.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The first cathedral built on the present site was erected by the bishop Saint Arbogast in about 550–575. Under Charlemagne, the Bishop Remi consecrated the altar and built a funeral crypt in about 778. This Carolingian church is believed to have had an apse flanked by two chapels and a nave covered with a wooden beamed roof, but no trace remains today.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In 1002, following the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, a battle broke out between his potential successors. When Bishop Werner I supported the winning candidate, Henry II of Germany, one of his Henry's rivals, Hermann of Germany, raided Strasbourg and burned down the cathedral. The Bishop appealed to the new Emperor, who granted one eighth of his revenues in the province toward the construction of a new Cathedral. In 1015, bishop Werner laid the first stone of a new cathedral on the foundations of the Carolingian church.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The new church was exceptionally large, just ten meters shorter than the present cathedral, and just ten meters narrower on its west front. The west front was also exceptional because it was flanked by two towers, the "harmonic" style which became common in Gothic cathedrals during the following century. The chevet, or east end, probably also had a tower, and was flanked by two chapels. The transept of the cathedral was 55 meters long, the same length as the nave and choir. The nave and choir were composed of three vessels, each with two traverses. The central vessel was higher than the two collaterals.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The new building, with its wooden roof beams, was unfortunately prone to fire; it suffered from fires in 1136, 1140,1150, and 1176. The church was repaired after each fire, and reconstructions and modifications made, but it retained its essentially Romanesque form, with thick walls, small windows and massive columns. Work on the church was frequently interrupted by wars and political crises.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Bishop Heinrich I von Hasenburg (1181 – March 25, 1190) decided to construct a new cathedral, to be more beautiful than that of Basel Munster, which was just being finished. Construction of the new cathedral began on the foundations of the preceding structures. The original Romanesque crypt was kept and expanded westwards. The architects of the rebuilding began to include Gothic elements, following the style that had appeared in northern France in the 12th century, while still preserving the existing Romanesque features. Between 1200 and 1228, the Romanesque vaults of the north transept were replaced by the pointed Gothic rib vault, which were stronger and shifted the thrust of the weight outwards, reducing the need for massive pillars in the interior. This was then carried out in the south transept. The next major step toward Gothic took place with the raising of the vaults of the south transept, creating thinner walls and more space for high windows. The Gothic style also appeared in the statuary, particularly the Pillar of the Angels, and in the tympanums over the double portals on the south transept, which showed the influence of the sculpture in French Gothic cathedrals.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The next major step was the reconstruction of the nave into the Gothic style, which took place between 1240 and 1274. Thanks to the installation of rib vaults, the nave was raised in height to 27 meters, and the upper walls were filled with stained glass windows. The first traverses were made in what was known as the Lorraine style, with two levels of quadripartite windows, traversed by a narrow passageway. However, between 1250 and 1255 they decided to become more ambitious, and used what was called the "Parisian style"; this created three levels with a total height of 32 meters from the floor to the vaults. The Gothic pillars of the new section were copied exactly from those of the Basilica of Saint Denis.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The next major project was the rebuilding of the west front, or facade, in the Gothic style. The first stone was placed on May 25, 1277, by Bishop Conrad of Lichtenberg. The new plan was inspired in part by French cathedrals, particularly the Basilica of Saint-Urbain of Troyes. The design called for a west front taller and wider than the nave behind it. By the use of buttresses and a double wall, the outer wall decorative with wide spaces, and the inner wall bearing the weight and having large windows, the interior of the cathedral could have more light. At the same time, the planned two spires on either side of the facade would reach an extraordinary height of 122 meters. Erwin von Steinbach's son Johannes von Steinbach served as "magister operis", or "Werkmeister" (chief architect) from (at least) 1332 until his death in 1341. From 1341 until 1372 (or according to other sources: 1339–1371), the post of chief architect was held by a Master Gerlach (not to be confused with Erwin's other son, Gerlach von Steinbach, architect of the Niederhaslach Church), who has been identified as Erwin's grandson Johannes Gerlach von Steinbach. He completed the installation of the rose window, and above it twelve statues of the apostles. In 1372 the work was taken over a master Conrad, also known as Kuntze, about whom little is known, until 1382. He was followed by a Michael von Freiburg (also known as Michael von Gmünd, or Michael Parler, from the Parler family of architects), recorded as "magister operis" in 1383–1387, who was then succeeded by Claus von Lohre (1388−1399). The three men completed the bell tower over the central part of the façade, in a design that moved away from Gerlach von Steinbach's initial idea of a central tower and whose precise authorship is unknown.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The octagonal north tower was the combined work of architects Ulrich Ensingen (shaft) and Johannes Hültz of Cologne (top). Ensingen worked on the cathedral from 1399 to 1419, taking over from Claus von Lohre, and Hültz from 1419 to 1439, completing the building at last. The building of the second tower was often discussed, and was seriously proposed when Alsace became part of Germany after the 1871 French-German War in 1871, but was coldly received by the population of Strasbourg, who considered it would be a symbol of German occupation.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The north tower was the world's tallest building from 1647 (when the taller spire of St. Mary's Church, Stralsund burnt down) until 1874 (when the tower of St. Nikolai's Church in Hamburg was completed). The planned south tower was never built and as a result, with its characteristic asymmetrical form, the cathedral is now the premier landmark of Alsace. One can see 30 kilometers from the observation level, which provides a view of the Rhine banks from the Vosges all the way to the Black Forest.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In 1505, architect Jakob von Landshut and sculptor Hans von Aachen finished rebuilding the Saint-Lawrence portal (Portail Saint-Laurent) outside the northern transept in a markedly post-Gothic, early-Renaissance style. As with the other portals of the cathedral, most of the statues now to be seen "in situ" are copies, the originals having been moved to the Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Like the city of Strasbourg, the cathedral connects German and French cultural influences, while the eastern structures, e.g. the choir and south portal, still have very Romanesque features, with more emphasis placed on walls than on windows.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The tower is one of the first to rely substantially on craftsmanship, with the final appearance being one with a high degree of linearity captured in stone. While previous façades were certainly drawn prior to construction, Strasbourg has one of the earliest façades whose construction is inconceivable without prior drawing. Strasbourg and Cologne Cathedral together represent some of the earliest uses of architectural drawing. The work of Professor Robert O. Bork of the University of Iowa suggests that the design of the Strasbourg façade, while seeming almost random in its complexity, can be constructed using a series of rotated octagons.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In the late Middle Ages, the city of Strasbourg had managed to liberate itself from the domination of the bishop and to rise to the status of Free Imperial City. The outgoing 15th century was marked by the sermons of Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg and by the emerging Protestant Reformation, represented in Strasbourg by figures such as John Calvin, Martin Bucer and Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck. In 1524, the city council assigned the cathedral to the Protestant faith, while the building suffered some damage from iconoclastic assaults.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: After the annexation of the city by Louis XIV of France, on 30 September 1681, and a mass celebrated in the cathedral on 23 October 1681 in presence of the king and prince-bishop Franz Egon of Fürstenberg, the cathedral was returned to the Catholics and its inside redesigned according to the Catholic liturgy of the Counter-Reformation. In 1682, the choir screen (built in 1252) was broken out to expand the choir towards the nave. Remains of the choir screen are displayed in the Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame and in The Cloisters. The main or high altar, a major work of early Renaissance sculpture, was also demolished that year. Fragments can be seen in the Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: A round, Baroque sacristy of modest proportions was added north-east of the northern transept in 1744 by the city's chief architect Joseph Massol according to plans by Robert de Cotte and between 1772 and 1778 architect Jean-Laurent Goetz surrounded the cathedral by a gallery in early Gothic Revival style in order to reorganise the merchants' shops that used to settle around the building (and would do so until 1843).


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Following the outbreak of the French Revolution, on 2 November 1789, all church property was seized by the French state and was soon vandalised by the most ardent revolutionaries, the Enragés. The Director of public works of Strasbourg, Gérold, quickly took down and protected the statues of the portal, but 215 statues of the voussures over the portals were smashed with hammers, as were the angels atop the gables on the facade, and the crowns and sceptres of the statues of the kings. The sculpture over the central tympanum and over the south portal of the transept was saved because it was covered with wooden planks with the revolutionary motto "Liberté-Egalité-Fraternité,"


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In April 1794, the Enragés started planning to tear the spire down, on the grounds that it hurt the principle of equality. The tower was saved, however, when in May of the same year citizens of Strasbourg crowned it with a giant tin Phrygian cap of the kind the Enragés themselves wore.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: This artifact was later kept in the historical collections of the city until they were all destroyed during the Siege of Strasbourg in a massive fire in August 1870.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Seven church bells were removed and melted down to made into cannon, and gold and other precious objects in the interior confiscated and taken away, and in November 1793 the cathedral was formally proclaimed a "Temple of Reason."


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The cathedral was not returned to church control until July 15, 1801, along with confiscated property that had not been destroyed. The sculpture of the portals was returned to its places or restored between 1811 and 1827. However, the official ownership of the structure was given, and belongs today, to the French state, and it is administered by the Mayor of Strasbourg.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: A series of major reconstructions and restorations were carried out in the second of the century from 1837 to 1888. This included rebuilding the crypt and the addition of new stained-glass windows. The choir was given its multicolour painted decoration, by Édouard Steinlé and Charles Auguste Steinheil, finished in 1879. Construction of the Neo-Romanessque dome over the transept was begun, and new bronze doors were installed in 1879. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, city was under siege. The roof was set afire and the cross at the top of the spire was bent by a German artillery shell. After the French defeat, Alsace was ceded to the new German Empire until 1918. Following the war, Klotz took German nationality so he could continue his work. He reconstructed the dome over the transept in a grander, Romanesque Revival style.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In 1903, the architect Johann Knauth discovered cracks on the first pillar of the northern side of the nave. In 1905 he began taking measures to consolidate and strengthen the north side of the west facade, which supports the spire. After trying several temporary measures, in 1915, during the First World War, he launched a large-scale project to replace the entire foundation of the cathedral with concrete. This project was completed in 1926, after the end of the war. In 1918 Alsace and Strasbourg and Alscace were once again attached to France.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: During World War II, the cathedral was seen as a symbol for both warring parties. Adolf Hitler, who visited it on 28 June 1940, intended to transform the church into a "national sanctuary of the German people", or into a monument to the Unknown German Soldier. On 1 March 1941, General Leclerc made the "Oath of Kufra" ("serment de Koufra"), stating he would "rest the weapons only when our beautiful colours fly again on Strasbourg's cathedral". During that same war, the stained glass was removed in 74 cases. and stored in a salt mine near Heilbronn, Germany. After the war, it was returned to the cathedral by the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section of the United States military.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The cathedral was hit by British and American bombs during air raids on the centre of Strasbourg on 11 August 1944, which also heavily damaged the Palais Rohan and the Sainte-Madeleine Church. In 1956, the Council of Europe donated the famous choir window by Max Ingrand, the "Strasbourg Madonna" (see also Flag of Europe Biblical interpretation).


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In October 1988, when the city celebrated its 2,000th anniversary (as the first official mention of Argentoratum dates from 12 BC), pope John Paul II visited and celebrated mass in the cathedral. The bishopric of Strasbourg had been elevated to the rank of archbishopric a few months before, in June 1988.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In 2000, an Al-Qaeda plot to bomb the adjacent Christmas market was prevented by French and German police.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The restoration of the tower was completed in 2006, and in 2014 a new campaign of restoration was begun on the south transept.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The west front or façade, the main entrance of the cathedral, is a relatively late addition, constructed between 1277 and 1490. The façade is supported and divided vertically by four narrow buttresses, each decorated with sculpture. It rises in three levels; the portals on the ground level; the level of the rose window above them, and the top level, with a balustrade. The rose window, with a rayonnant Gothic design, is fourteen metres in diameter and was finished in 1345. The pointed gable over the central portal, decorated with a sculpture of the Virgin Mary and child, reaches up into the space in front of the rose window. A gallery of statues of the Apostles, each in his own arch, is placed above the rose window.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The west front takes its distinctive appearance and sense of verticality from the dense network of lacelike pointed gables, pinnacles and tall, slender columns that cover it. The columns are purely decorative, and are so thin they are compared to the strings of a harp. The visual effect of the façade is enhanced by its unusual darkish red stone.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The cathedral has three portals, corresponding to the three vessels of the nave. Each has a particular theme of decoration; the left portal is dedicated to the infancy of Christ, the central portal to redemption, and the right portal to the Last Judgement. The portals are set forward from the front of the church by the network of slender columns, spires and arches which form an outer decorative wall. The sculpture largely dates to the late 13th century and is similar in theme and style to that of the sculpture of Reims Cathedral made between 1250 and 1260, though the Strasbourg sculpture shows greater realism.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The arched tympanum over the doors of the central portal is crowded with sculpture, as are the voussures, the stone arches around the door. The central figures depict the entry of Christ into Jerusalem, and the Crucifixion and Passion of Christ, all with exceptional expression and detail.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The portal of the infancy of Christ (left) depicts angels, bishops and saints in the voussures, and figures representing the virtues, carrying spears, prod the figures representing the vices. In the portal of the Last Judgement, (right) Christ sits on his throne sorting the virtuous from the wicked. The wicked attempt, without success, to seduce the noble Virgins, but succeed with the foolish virgins.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Unlike the sculpture of earlier cathedrals, the Strasbourg statues clearly show emotions; the prophets look severe, the Virgins appear serene, the Virtues look noble, and the frivolous Virgins appear foolish. The statues in the portals are all standing upon realistically carved capitals decorated with the signs of the zodiac.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The portal of Saint Lawrence, was added to the north transept between 1495 and 1505 by Jacob von (or Jacques de) Landshut, with sculptures by Hans von Aachen (aka Johan von Ach, or Jean d'Aix-la-Chapelle) and Conrad Sifer. The original statues were replaced by copies in the 20th century and are today kept in the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame. The tympanum was destroyed in the French Revolution and replaced by a work by the sculptor (1765–1833). It presents a virtual theater of late Gothic flamboyant architecture and decoration, including three interlocking arches over the doors, containing a statue of the Saint during his martyrdom. The supporting buttresses on either side also have very expressive sculpture representing the Virgin Mary and the three Magi on one side, and a group of Saints on the other, both sheltered beneath lacelike flamboyant sculpture and pinnacles. A balustrade crosses the face of the transept, and above is a wall of two bays filled with stained glass.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The south portal, or Portal of the Virgin, dates to about the 1220s, the same time as the Pillar of the Angels and the Astronomic clock in the interior. Decrees of the Emperor rendering justice were traditionally read out in front of this doorway. The rounded arches of tympanum over the doorway contain sculpture of the Virgin Mary dying, surrounded by the Twelve Apostles and being crowned by Christ. The original statue-columns of the Apostles from the 1220s which supported the tympanum were smashed in 1793 during the French Revolution.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The mid-level of the transept over the portal, built in about 1230, has lancet windows and a statue of Virgin, flanked by Saint Peter and Saint Lawrence. Above this is a colourful clock with the signs of the zodiac. Above this is a flamboyant Gothic balustrade with an original sundial from about 1493, and above that are two small rose windows from the same period. Following their destruction during the French Revolution, several of the sculptures have been replaced in the 19th century by works by Philippe Grass, Jean-Étienne Malade, and Jean Vallastre.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: As with all the other portals, several of the statues have been replaced by copies "in situ" and are today displayed in the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame. This is also true for Ecclesia and Synagoga, arguably the most famous statues of the cathedral, if not of Strasbourg.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The cathedral was originally intended to have two towers on the west front, but only the north one was built. The octagon tower was begun in 1399 by Ulrich von Ensingen (chief architect until 1419), and crowned with a spire by his successor Johannes Hültz. The work was completed in 1439.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The eight-sided tower is three times higher than wide, more elongated than other Gothic towers of the 14th century. It is surrounded and supported by four more slender towers containing circular stairways. The walls of the tower have tall lancet openings, which show the bells and bring light into the interior, and are decorated on the exterior with interlocking pointed gables. Between the lower tower and spire there is a balustrade, almost hidden by pinnacles and other architectural decoration.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The spire above the tower is composed of eight stages of elaborate octagonal structure, linked together by interlaced arches and pinnacles, which contain a stairway to the lantern at the top. Originally the lantern was topped by a statue of the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of the cathedral, but in 1488 it was replaced by a fleuron, or flower-shaped ornament. This is crowned by the cross, which is surrounded by four smaller crosses and images of the host and chalice, elements of the liturgy of the Eucharist.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The crossing dome is placed over the meeting point of the transept and the choir, and, like the bell tower, has eight sides. It was constructed beginning in about 1330, following the rebuilding of the transept. Its base is topped by a gallery with pointed arches, beneath a level with large arched bays, two on each side, side, divided by clusters of columns. Above this are blind arcades, an ornate cornice, and then a pointed roof with a pair of dormer or skylight windows, a small window above a large one, on each side, which brought light to the choir below. The medieval crossing dome's aspect was altered several times over the centuries. The currently visible, much higher crossing dome was designed in grand Romanesque Revival style by the architect Gustave Klotz, after the original dome had been heavily damaged by Prussian shelling during the Siege of Strasbourg. Klotz's dome was in turn heavily damaged by bombing raids during World War II, and restored between 1988 and 1992.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The chevet, at the northeast end of the cathedral, close to the transept, has vestiges that go back to the Romanesque cathedral, particularly at the lower levels. It looks over the former cloister of the canons of the cathedral. It is the least decorated side of the cathedral. A large arched bay occupies the central portion, just below a balustrade. Above that are three narrow windows and then a triangular gable with a small circular oculus window and blind arches. The face is flanked by two cylindrical towers with narrow lancet windows and pointed roofs. The walls are pierced with narrow slits, like a medieval fortress, giving it a very military appearance.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Two chapels, devoted to Saint Andrew and Saint John the Baptist, were attached to the two sides of the apse. The Chapel of John the Baptist preserves its thick Romanesque walls and two Romanesque windows.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The narthex is the portion of the cathedral just inside the west front, beneath the tower. It is separated from the nave by two massive pillars, 8.5 by 5 meters, which support the tower above. The primary decorative element is the rose window, added between 1320 and 1340, and substantially restored since. Rays of yellow glass radiate outwards like a sun, surrounded mosaic-like pieces of green and blue and by small oculi with red floral designs. The tracery and decoration of the interior are very much like of that exterior, with blind galleries and delicate parallel vertical lines, like the strings of a harp. A pointed arch frames the window, and a row of blind arches at the lower level completes the decoration.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The reverse of the central doors of the portal has a column statue of Saint Peter holding the keys of the kingdom and above it a blind rose, without glass, a miniature version of the large rose window above it.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The lower bay on the south has stained glass windows that depict the Last Judgement, while the north bay windows illustrate twelve episodes from the Book of Genesis, including the creation of Adam and Eve, the original sin, the expulsion from Paradise, and Noah's ark. These windows date to about 1345.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The nave is the section of the cathedral between the narthex and the choir where ordinary parishioners are seated and worship. At Strasbourg it is long and wide, not counting the two collateral aisles, which are each wide. In height to the vaults it is . It takes its reddish-brown color from the sandstone of the Vosges mountains.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The nave is dominated by the two rows of massive pillars. Each pillar bundles sixteen smaller columns, of which five reach upward to support the vaults overhead. The meeting points between the columns and the vault ribs is decorated with vegetal sculpture. The elevation has the traditional High Gothic or Rayonnant Gothic three levels; large arcades below, with windows on the collateral aisles; a narrow triforium, or gallery, also with windows, for passing along the walls; and above that, of equal height with the arcades the upper windows which reach up into the vaults. The upper windows at Strasbourg fill the entire space between the triforium and the vaults. An additional element of decoration is given by the small sculpted, painted, and gilded heads on the keystones of the vaults, where the ribs meet.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The five lower bays on the north side contain some of the oldest stained glass of the cathedral, installed in the old Romanesque cathedral in about 1180. When the nave was rebuilt in Gothic style in the 13th century, the old windows were reinstalled in random locations. In 1877, architect Gustave Klotz reconstituted the windows in their original arrangement. The windows are devoted to nine Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. Each holds a sceptre in his right hand and an orb in the left hand, symbols of their responsibility as both sovereigns and religious figures. Some of the windows were assembled with glass from different periods: in the windows devoted to the Emperors Frederick II and Henry II of Bamberg, the heads were made between 1250 and 1275, but in 1522 were remounted onto the bodies of other kings from earlier windows made in about 1180. The small circular windows above the Emperors depict scenes from the life of Christ.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The upper windows of the nave depict eighty-four saints, added by various artists between 1250 and 1275.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: On the south side of the nave, the upper walls have windows depicting female saints, including local saints from Alsace or Strasbourg. They wear diadems and have flowers in their hair, and carry twigs of the tree of life, or fruit. On the south side, the upper windows depict soldiers, popes, bishops, and other masculine figures.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The windows of the triforium, between the upper and lower window, contain 19th-century reconstitutions of early windows depicting the ancestors of Christ, but little of the original glass remains.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The pulpit, attached to the fourth pillar of the north side of the nave, was sculpted in 1485 following a design by Hans Hammer. It is reached by a stairway with a curling sculpted design called "butterfly wings". The pulpit itself, in the form of a very ornate corbeille or basket, is entirely covered with colonettes, gables, pinnacles, and niches filled with sculpture, including images of Christ on the cross, a crowned Virgin Mary, Apostles, the Crucifixion, and well as Kings and doctors of the Church. A statue on the west side of the pillar represents a famed preacher contemporary with the cathedral; Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg (d. 1510); a small sculpture along the railing of the stairs depicts Geiler's dog, mourning his master on steps of the pulpit where he once preached.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The grand organ, located high on the wall of the north side of the nave, is recorded as existing in 1260. It was rebuilt 1298, in 1324–1327, in 1384, 1430, and 1489 and finally in 1716 by André Silbermann. It was hoisted up to its present position in 1327. The ornate and colourful decoration of pinnacle, spires, and sculpture Sculpture also hangs beneath the organ, including a moving figure of Samson opening the jaws of a lion. Other moving figures include a trumpet player carrying a banner and a pretzel vendor being offered flour, water, and salt by the caryatides on the console.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The Silbermann organ had three keyboards, thirty-nine "jeux", or effects and two thousand, two hundred forty-two pipes. It was electrified after 1807, and was restored and modified several times, most recently in 1934–35 and in 1975–81, giving it the current forty-seven "jeux."


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The transept and the apse were built atop the Romanesque crypt, making them a little higher than the nave; they are reached by a short stairway, giving the impression that the choir and apse are the stage of a theater. The crossing of the transept and the choir is topped by the central cupola or dome, which is supported by four gigantic pillars, each wrapped in eight columns, which reach up to support the vaults under the cupola. The cupola itself rests upon four squinches, a base made of rounded arches, which make the connection between the Gothic and Romanesque elements. The columns are lavishly decorated with sculpted foliage.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Formerly the floor of the crossing was filled with tombs of notable religious figures, but they were moved in later reconstructions. Only the names remain carved on the walls. There are two altars fixed to west pillars of the crossing, both from the 16th century; one devoted to Saint Pancras of Rome and the other to Saint Maurice. The crossing is filled with statues and busts of saints set into niches as well as bas-reliefs of the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi. Other scenes are painted onto the reverse of the bas-reliefs.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The first overhead vault before the cupola features a 19th-century painting of the Last Judgement by Charles Auguste Steinheil, a collaborator of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and other notable cathedral-restorers. It is in a Neo-Byzantine style, with Christ in a red frame in the center. The other vaults in the crossing were also intended to be painted, but funding was insufficient.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The Romanesque north transept has four traverses, which were the first in the cathedral to receive Gothic rib vaults. The vaults are supported by a circular pillar with modest decorative stone rings. The two lower lancet windows were put together in the 19th century out of glass from different centuries. They feature a Tree of Jesse (The Genealogy of Christ) and the judgement of Solomon (right window) and the Virgin Mary with John the Baptist and John the Evangelist) as well as King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba and King David on the left. The two rose windows above are later, from the 14th century, with vegetal designs. On the east wall, the windows depict Christ in Majesty, Saint Lawrence, a Virgin and Child, and John the Baptist. The capitals of the columns are decorated with dragons and other mythical creatures.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The north transept also contains the two baptismal fonts, one circular and one octagonal, in their own architectural settings, They were made by Jost Dotzinger in 1453. The octagonal vault is covered with arches and lacelike interlaced sculpture in the late Gothic Flamboyant style.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The north transept connects with the Chapel of Saint John, entered through a pointed Gothic arch containing a rounded Romanesque arch. The central art work of the North Transept is a large statue of Christ on the cross, over a sculptural landscape depicting the Mount of Olives, crowded with carved figures in dramatic poses. It was originally made in 1498 by Nicolas Roder for the cemetery of Saint-Thomas, and was based on engravings by Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Dürer.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In the south transept, the lancet and oculus windows in the two large bays on the east, built in 1220–1227, are modelled after those in the lower choir of Chartres Cathedral. A pointed arch, a tribune for singers, and a balustrade were added in the 15th century. A sculpture of a head, wearing the hat of an architect or magistrate, gazes from the balustrade at the pillar of angels. Under the balustrade is a large painting on wood illustrating the Nativity, in a sweeping landscape. It also dates from the 15th century.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The South Transept contains the Pillar of Angels, a massive supporting pillar for the ceiling. It is composed of an octagonal pillar surrounded by four engaged columns, which reach upwards to support the vaults, and four slender colonettes. It is decorated with four vertical groups of statue-columns, depicting scenes from Christ and the Last Judgement, as well as four angels carrying the instruments of the Passion, and above that, four more angels sounding trumpets. At the lower level are statues of the four Evangelists. The pillar was created in the middle of the 13th century, most probably by a group of sculptors from France or Burgundy. Other parts of the vaults are upheld by Atlantes, supports in the form of human figures.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The rose windows of the west transept facade were made between 1230 and 1235, Above the rose are smaller round oculi from the same period, depicting Biblical symbols; the Alpha and Omega, the Candelabra of the Ancient Alliance, and others which combine floral and geometric designs.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The astronomical clock, located in the south transept, is one of the most famous features of the cathedral. The first astronomical clock was installed in the cathedral from 1352–54 until 1500. It was called the Dreikönigsuhr ("three-king clock"), and was located at the opposite wall from where today's clock is. At noon, a group of three mechanical kings would prostrate themselves before the infant Jesus, while the chimes of the clock sounded the hour.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In 1547 a new clock was begun by Christian Herlin and others, but the construction was interrupted when the cathedral was handed over to the Roman Catholic Church. Construction was resumed in 1571 by Conrad Dasypodius and the Habrecht brothers, and this clock was given a more ambitious program of mechanical figures. It was decorated with paintings by the Swiss painter Tobias Stimmer. This clock functioned until 1788, and can be seen today in the Strasbourg Museum of Decorative Arts. The present clock was built by Jean-Baptiste Schwilguẻ between 1837 and 1842.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: All the parts of the clock together are high. The clock shows much more than the official time; it also indicates solar time, the day of the week (each represented by a god of mythology), the month, the year, the sign of the zodiac, the phase of the moon and the position of several planets. .The lower part of the massive base of the clock has statues of Apollo and the Goddess Diana presenting a circular calendar of the liturgical year, whose revolving face with a globe points to the dates of major religious festivals and events. This part of the clock is surrounded by painted figures representing the ancient empires – Greece, Assyria, Persia, and Rome.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The level above displays a group of mechanical chariots, with allegorical figures representing the days of the week, which move daily to bring to the front the current day of the week. Figures of two reclining women hold a cadran (clock face) between them which tells the minutes.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Above this level is a celestial globe in a sky of painted stars which makes a complete revolution every 23 hours, fifty-six minutes and four seconds. As it turns, it shows the 1,022 stars identified by Ptolemy, as viewed above the horizon of Strasbourg.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The central tower is composed of three levels. On the bottom, figures of the Four Seasons surround a mechanical astrolabe, which indicates the location of the planets according to Copernicus, and is surrounded by the signs of the zodiac. Above this is a globe, with painted figures of the Church and the Antichrist confronting each other. This mechanism displays the phases of the moon. Above this are two levels of animated mechanical figures, above that a figure of Christ and the four Evangelists, under a dome formed by crossed arches.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: Animated characters launch into movement at different hours of the day. One angel sounds the bell while a second turns over an hourglass. Different characters, representing the ages of life (from a child to an old man) parade in front of Death. On the last level are the Apostles, passing in front of Christ. All these automata are put into operation daily at 12:30 pm except Sundays.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The apse of the cathedral, the hemispherical vault behind the altar on the northeast end, features Romanesque and Gothic architecture overlaid with 19th-century Neo-Romanesque decoration, The paintings on the half-dome and walls were made by Édouard Steinlé in 1877–79, in the style of a Byzantine mosaic. The painted figures on the wall represent fathers of the church and founders of religious orders, depicted in Byzantine style.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In 2004 the apse and choir received some of its historic furnishings; fifteen choir stalls made by Claude Burdy and Claude Bergerat in 1692, as well as a group of busts of the apostles originally placed there in the 18th century.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The stained glass window in the axis of the apse depicts the Virgin of Alscace. The window was a gift to the Cathedral in 1956 from the Council of Europe, which has headquarters in Strasbourg. It replaces the original window which was one of the few windows not put into safe storage before World War II; it was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The main altar, in the form of a tomb, is a recreation of an earlier altar in the rocaille or late baroque style, which had been damaged in a fire in 1759 and then ruined during the French Revolution. The altar was recreated in 1809 by the architect Pierre-Valentin Boudhors, who discovered the old central medallion of the original altar and combined it with white and black marble panels. The sculptor Jacques Zimmer added the heads of cherubs made of bronze.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Saint John the Baptist is located just to the left of the apse, at the northeast end of the cathedral. It is one of the oldest parts of the cathedral, constructed in about 1170 and then rebuilt in Gothic style in 1230, with the same height as the adjoining nave. The sacristy occupies the upper level over the chapel. The chapel contains the tomb of Bishop Conrad de Lichtenberg, made between 1310 and 1320, and now framed by flamboyant tripe arch. It also contains the tomb of Conrad de Bussnang, a prominent member of the chapter, whose image is portrayed in sculpture praying before the Virgin and child. It dates to the end of the 15th century. A door opens from the chapel to an adjoining cloister behind the cathedral.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Saint Andrew is on the southeast side, to the right of the apse. It is also a very early part of the cathedral, built shortly after 1150, with nine crossings and three naves of slightly different sizes, covered by Romanesque groin vaults. The chapel is devoted to memorials to six canons who were entombed there between 1478 and 1681. The central decoration is sculptural work dedicated to the Virgin Mary donated by the de Barby brothers in 1521. A Romanesque portal opens to the cloister outside.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: The cathedral has two Romanesque crypts, the oldest parts of the cathedral. The more recent one is under the transept, from about 1150, and the older one, under the apse, was built in about 1110 to 1120. They are covered with Romanesque groin vaults, formed by the intersection of rounded barrel vaults, and supported by massive cruciform pillars and cylindrical columns with palm leaf decoration on their capitals. Some of the capitals also have sculpted monsters and lions on the corners. The larger crypt has three naves, of equal size, divided by slender columns. There are three stairways down to the crypt, the oldest, from the apse, dates to about 1150. The pilasters between the stairways are older, from 1015. Further modifications were made to the crypts in the 12th century.


title: Strasbourg Cathedral

text: In 1519 Strasbourg Cathedral commissioned Jerg von Speyer to create what was said to be the largest bell in Europe; 2.74 meters in diameter and weighing twenty tons. This enormous bell was installed but cracked shortly afterwards. Its place as the bourdon, or largest and deepest-sounding bell, was taken by an older bell, the "Totenglock", or "Death bell", which was traditionally used for mourning. It weighs 7.5 tons and 2.2 meters in diameter, and was cast in 1447 by Hans Gremp. It is still in place.