title: Gyumri

text: The population of Gyumri has gradually grown since 1840 after gaining the status of town. A huge decline of the population was due to the disastrous earthquake of 1988. The residents here have a distinct look and style, and a boundless pride in their city. The dialect of Gyumri is a variant of Karin dialect, closely related to Western Armenian.


title: Gyumri

text: The majority of the population in Gyumri belongs to the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God of Gyumri -also known as the Cathedral of the Seven Wounds of the Holy Mother of God- is the seat of the Diocese of Shirak of the Armenian Church.


title: Gyumri

text: The Armenian Catholic Church is a minority in Armenia and is under the jurisdiction of the Ordinariate of Armenia, Georgia, Russia, and Eastern Europe, based in Gyumri. There are around 16,000 Armenian Catholics in the Shirak Province. The seat of the Ordinariate for Armenia, Georgia, Russia, and Eastern Europe for the Armenian Catholic Church is the Cathedral of the Holy Martyrs in Gyumri.


title: Gyumri

text: The presence of the small Russian Orthodox community along with the Russian military base personnel is marked with the Saint Alexandra the Martyr's Church (within the Russian base), the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel and the Church of Saint Arsenije.


title: Gyumri

text: Gyumri is home to many prominent museums of Armenia, including the House-Museums of sculptor Sergey Merkurov, poets Avetik Isahakyan and Hovhannes Shiraz, and actor Mher Mkrtchyan. The Aslamazyan Sisters Gallery, built in the 1880s, is home to more than 700 drawings, paintings and other works of the Aslamazyan sisters who were the Soviet-era artists. The Dzitoghtsyan Museum of Social Life and National Architecture of Gyumri is an old mansion, housing collections related to both history and the everyday-life of Gyumri, as well as paintings and other works of art.


title: Gyumri

text: Throughout centuries, Kumayri-Gyumri was labelled as the "city of crafts and arts", being famous for its schools, theaters and gusans.


title: Gyumri

text: In 1865, an amateur theatre group in Gyumri performed H. Karinyan's "Shushanik". In 1912, Gyumri was home to the first opera show ever staged in Armenia, when composer Armen Tigranian presented Anoush to the public in Alexandropol. In 1923, the first Armenian opera theatre was opened in Gyumri (where the first ballet performance in Armenia took place in 1924), while the Vardan Ajemian State Drama Theatre was founded in 1928. Prominent directors Ruben Simonov and Vardan Ajemian, actors Mher Mkrtchyan, Azat Sherents and Varduhi Varderesyan worked in theatre. The theatre's new building was opened in 1972. The artistic director is Nikolay Tsaturyan. Gyumri is known for its 19th-century architecture and urban constructions.


title: Gyumri

text: The first printing house of Gyumri was founded in 1876 by G. Sanoyan and operated until 1918. It published literary works (including Avetik Isahakyan's first book), calendars, textbooks. Another printing house, Ayg (founded 1892), published historical books and the first periodical of Gyumri, "Akhuryan".


title: Gyumri

text: Gyumri is home to the Gyumri Biennial, organized by the artist Azat Sargsyan and the Gyumri Center of Contemporary Art (GCCA). Gyumri was officially declared Commonwealth of Independent States cultural capital in 2013.


title: Gyumri

text: The city of Gyumri has a great contribution in Armenian folk music. Throughout the 19th century, Alexandrapol was considered the center of folk and traditional Armenian music. The musical culture of Alexandrapol has greatly influenced the art of Jivani, who is considered the founder of modern Armenian folk music during the 19th century. Another 19th-century ashik Sheram who was born in Alexandropol, is one of the earliest gusans of traditional Armenian music in the modern history of Armenia. He is one of the most celebrated Armenian composers of folk music.


title: Gyumri

text: The mystic philosopher of Alexandropol George Gurdjieff has produced many influential works of music during the 20th century.


title: Gyumri

text: Different genres of music became popular in the city during the 2nd half of the 20th century. Rock, folk rock and ethnic rock are widely popular through the local famous rock band Bambir, active since 1978.


title: Gyumri

text: In 1986, the Gyumri State Orchestra of Folk Instruments was founded, followed by the Gyumri State Symphonic Orchestra founded in 1993. In 1997, the KOHAR Symphony Orchestra and Choir was founded in Gyumri through the efforts of the Lebanese-Armenian philanthropist Harout Khatchadourian. Soon after, KOHAR became one of the most celebrated choirs in Armenia as well as throughout the Armenian diaspora.


title: Gyumri

text: Influenced by Gurdjieff, the Armenian musician Levon Eskenian founded The Gurdjieff Ensemble in 2008. The award-winning ensemble gathers many of Armenia's leading practitioners of traditional music, performing on duduk, sring, kamancha, oud, kanōn, santur, tar, saz, daf, dhol, and tombak.


title: Gyumri

text: In 2011 WhoCares, a supergroup formed by Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi with the participation of a great number of rock artists, raised money to build the "Octet" music school in Gyumri (opened two years later).


title: Gyumri

text: The restoration process of the damaged buildings of Gyumri has been spearheaded by Earthwatch to preserve the city's unique architecture.


title: Gyumri

text: In spite of suffering severe damages during the disastrous earthquake in December 1988, Gyumri is still preserving its own architectural characteristics.


title: Gyumri

text: The residents are Gyumri are widely known as conservative people. Traditions and local customs are widely preserved by the local citizens. It is very common among Armenians to refer to the "dignity of Gyumri" ( "Gyumrva tasib").


title: Gyumri

text: Gyumri is considered to be the "laughter and humor capital" of Armenia. The jokes and anecdotes of local humorists like "Jgher Khachik" and "Poloz Mukuch" are widely known by the local citizens. Many works have been published to narrate about the legacy and heritage of the humor in Gyumri.


title: Gyumri

text: The city celebrates the "Gyumri Day" annually on the first Sunday of October. It is marked with many cultural and entertainment activities.


title: Gyumri

text: Gyumri is served by the international Shirak Airport, about to the southeast of the city center. It was inaugurated in 1961 and is the second largest airport in Armenia. At the beginning of 2006, the government of Armenia felt the importance of having a second international airport, when adverse weather conditions meant that many flights had to be diverted from Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport into Gyumri's Shirak Airport. New air traffic control equipment allowed airport workers to identify planes in a radius.


title: Gyumri

text: Following moderate use in 2005 and 2006 during which annual passenger traffic was at about 46,000 and several hundred aircraft movements took place each year, the airport's activity quickly declined again to the point where in 2016 passenger traffic amounted to only 12,421 and a mere 54 aircraft movements took place. However, in the beginning of 2017, as part of new efforts to develop Gyumri and its tourism industry, the government focused on revitalizing the airport. Multiple new airlines began operating flights to the airport, including Taron Avia, a new Armenian airline based in Gyumri. In order attract more customers, the Ministry of Nature Protection made meteorological services free for all airlines flying to Gyumri, lowering ticket costs. The Gyumri Technology Center also participated in helping revitalize the airport by adding interior design details to improve the airport's look.


title: Gyumri

text: The railway junction of Gyumri is the oldest and the largest one in Armenia. It was formed in 1897 and the first railway link to Alexandropol that connected the city with Tiflis was completed in 1899. The rail line was then extended from Alexandropol to Yerevan (in 1902), Kars (in 1902), Jolfa (in 1906), and Tabriz. As a result, Alexandropol became an important rail hub.


title: Gyumri

text: , the Gyumri Railway Station operates regular trips to Yerevan and Batumi. The South Caucasus Railway CJSC, is the current operator of the railway sector in Armenia.


title: Gyumri

text: Public transport is dominated by the private sector in Gyumri. Public transit is mainly served by public vans, locally-known as "marshrutka". Most of the "marshrutkas" Russian-made GAZelle vans with 13 seats that operate with certain routes and stops. As of 2017, the one-way trip fee is AMD 100 (around US$0.21). Passengers need to pay the money directly to the driver when getting out of the vehicle, with no established ticketing system.


title: Gyumri

text: The central station of the city serves as bus terminal for inter-city transport, serving outbound routes towards other major cities and towns in Armenia, as well as cities in Georgia. The M-7 Motorway passes across the Shirak Province from east to west, connecting the city of Gyumri with the rest of Armenia.


title: Gyumri

text: Armenia is among the top 10 safest countries where one can wander around and go home alone safely at night. Taxis are available in the city at any time of the day or night.


title: Gyumri

text: During the pre-Soviet era, Alexandropol was considered the third-largest trade and cultural center in Transcaucasia after Tiflis and Baku (Yerevan would not rise to prominence until being proclaimed as the capital of independent Armenia in 1918 and Armenian SSR in 1920). At the end of the 19th century, the population of Alexandropol had grown to 32,100 inhabitants, with a majority of Armenians.


title: Gyumri

text: The economy of Gyumri is mainly based on industry and construction. However, tourism and banking services are also among the developed sectors in the city.


title: Gyumri

text: The industrial sector in the provincial center Gyumri includes the production of building materials (tufa and basalt), hosiery and textile manufacturing, food processing and dairy products, alcoholic drinks, electronic machines, etc. The largest industrial plant in Gyumri is the "Gyumri-Beer" Brewery opened in 1972. The factory produces a variety of lager beer under the brands "Gyumri", "Ararat" and "Aleksandrapol". The city is also home to the "Factory of Bending Machinses" opened in 1912, the "Arshaluys" hosiery manufacturing enterprise established in 1926, the "Karhat" machine tools plant opened in 1959, the "Chap Chemical LLC" since 1999, the "Armtex Group" clothing factory since 2000, and the "Lentex" hosiery manufacturing plant is operating since 2001. Other industrial firms of the city include the "Aleqpol" factory for dairy products, the "Anusharan" confectionery plant, and the "Gold Plast" plant for building materials.


title: Gyumri

text: The nearby village of Akhuryan is home to the "Lusastgh-Sugar" factory (opened in 2010), the largest sugar producers in the Southern Caucasus region.


title: Gyumri

text: Gyumri has a large number of educational institutions, following the capital Yerevan in the number of educational institutions. It is considered the cultural and educational center of northern Armenia.


title: Gyumri

text: In 2014, the Gyumri Technology Center was opened in the city, in an attempt to turn Gyumri into a regional and international center of information and high technologies.


title: Gyumri

text: The Gyumri branch of Tumo Center for Creative Technologies was opened in May 2015, following a fundraising initiative by Shant TV. It will move to the old theatre building of Gyumri upon the completion of the reconstruction process, expected in June 2019.


title: Gyumri

text: , the city is home to 47 public education schools, 23 pre-school kindergartens, as well as 7 special schools for music.


title: Gyumri

text: Gyumri is home to the Armenian football club FC Shirak. They play their home games at the Gyumri City Stadium, the oldest football stadium in Armenia dating back to 1924. Shirak are one of the most popular football teams in Armenia, having won the championship of the Armenian Premier League four times, with the most recent one in the 2012–13 season. Shirak have also won the Armenian Independence Cup once. The native of Gyumri and former Shirak player Artur Petrosyan was the all-time leading scorer for the Armenia national football team until his record was surpassed by Henrikh Mkhitaryan in 2013.


title: Gyumri

text: Aragats FC was the second football club that represented the city. However, the club was dissolved in 2002 due to financial difficulties.


title: Gyumri

text: The Gyumri Football Academy of the Football Federation of Armenia was opened on 13 September 2014. It is home to four natural-grass and two artificial turf regular-sized football training pitches.


title: Gyumri

text: Futsal is also very popular in Gyumri. Being one of the most successful Futsal teams in Armenia, FC Gyumri played at the Armenian Futsal Premier League. Starting from 2017–18 season, FC Gyumri became known as "Shirak Futsal", representing the futsal branch of FC Shirak. The newly founded "Sh.S.U. Futsal" -representing the Shirak State University- will also participate in the domestic league competition. The futsal teams of Gyumri regularly play their home games at the Armen Sargsyan Sports Hall, located in the Ani district at the northwest of the city.


title: Gyumri

text: Gyumri has made a major contribution to the sporting life of Armenia. Many Olympic and world champion wrestlers, weightlifters and boxers are from Gyumri. The city is notable for its worldwide champions in individual sports, such as Robert Emmiyan in long jump, Yurik Vardanyan and Nazik Avdalyan in weightlifting and Artur Aleksanyan in Greco-Roman wrestling.


title: Gyumri

text: Many special sport schools are serving the young generation of Gyumri such as the Robert Emmiyan school of athletics, Levon Ishtoyan football school, Tigran Petrosian school of chess, Ludvig Mnatsakanyan school of winter sports, Artur Aleksanyan school of wrestling, Yurik Vardanyan school of weightlifting, Aleksan Haobyan school of tennis and table tennis, as well as other special schools for boxing, artistic gymnastics, sambo-judo, fencing, and chess. The city is also home to the Gyumri Swimming Complex. The National Federation of Black Belts of Aikido (NFBBA) is based in Gyumri since its establishment in 2012.


title: Gyumri

text: The Gyumri State Sports College of Olympic Reserve and Gyumri School of Sport Masters are among the prominent sport schools in Armenia that produced many champions in several individual sports.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Nonpartisan democracy (also no-party democracy) is a system of representative government or organization such that universal and periodic elections take place without reference to political parties. Sometimes electioneering and even speaking about candidates may be discouraged, so as not to prejudice others' decisions or create a contentious atmosphere.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: In many nations, the head of state is nonpartisan, even if the prime minister and parliament are chosen in partisan elections. Such heads of state are expected to remain neutral with regards to partisan politics. In a number of parliamentary or semi-presidential countries, some presidents are non-partisan, or receive cross-party support.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Nonpartisan systems may be de jure, meaning political parties are either outlawed entirely or legally prevented from participating in elections at certain levels of government, or de facto if no such laws exist and yet there are no political parties.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: "De facto" nonpartisan systems are mostly situated in states and regions with small populations, such as in Micronesia, Tuvalu, and Palau, where organizing political parties is seen as unnecessary or impractical.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: "De jure" nonpartisan systems exist in several Persian Gulf states, including Oman and Kuwait; the legislatures in these governments typically have advisory capacity only, as they may comment on laws proposed by the executive branch but are unable to create laws themselves. De jure nonpartisan national governments sometimes resemble one-party states, but governments of the latter type explicitly recognize a single political party of which all officials are required to be a member.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Unless there are legal restrictions on political parties, factions within nonpartisan governments may evolve into political parties. The United States initially did not have enfranchised political parties, but these evolved soon after independence.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: A nonpartisan system differs from a one-party system in that the governing faction in a one-party system identifies itself as a party, where membership might provide benefits not available to non-members. A single-party government often requires government officials to be members of the party, features a complex party hierarchy as a key institution of government, forces citizens to agree to a partisan ideology, and may enforce its control over the government by making all other parties illegal. Members of a nonpartisan government may represent many different ideologies. Various communist nations such as China or Cuba are single-party nations although the Members of Parliament are not elected as party candidates.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: A direct democracy can be considered nonpartisan since citizens vote on laws themselves rather than electing representatives. Direct democracy can be partisan, however, if factions are given rights or prerogatives that non-members do not have.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: In nonpartisan elections, each candidate for office is eligible based on her or his own merits rather than as a member of a political party. No political affiliation (if one exists) is shown on the ballot next to a candidate. Generally, the winner is chosen from a runoff election where the candidates are the top two vote-getters from a primary election. In some elections the candidates might be members of a national party but do not run as party members for local office.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Nonpartisan democracies may possess indirect elections whereby an electorate are chosen who in turn vote for the representative(s). (This is sometimes known as a 2-tier election, such as an electoral college.) The system can work with a first past the post electoral system but is incompatible with (partisan) proportional representation systems other than single transferable vote or reweighted cardinal voting systems, or semi proportional systems such as cumulative voting and single non transferable vote.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Nonpartisan elections are generally held for municipal and county offices, especially school boards, and are also common in the election of judges. In some nonpartisan elections it is common knowledge which candidates are members of and backed by which parties; in others, parties are almost wholly uninvolved and voters make choices with little or no regard to partisan considerations.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: While nonpartisan democracies can allow for a wide selection of candidates (especially within a no-nomination system whereby voters can choose any non-restricted person in their area), such systems are not incompatible with indirect elections (such as for large geographical areas), whereby delegates may be chosen who in turn elect the representatives.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Even if a government's executive officer or legislature is partisan, appointments of cabinet members, judges, or directors of government agencies, may be nonpartisan. The intent of appointing government officials in a nonpartisan manner is to insure the officers can perform their duties free from partisan politics, and are chosen in a fair manner that does not adversely affect a political party. Twelve US states use the Missouri Plan, and two use a variation of it, to choose judges in a nonpartisan manner. Several countries with partisan parliaments use nonpartisan appointments to choose presidents.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: In nonpartisan legislatures, there are no typically formal party alignments within the legislature; even if there are caucuses for specific issues. Alliances and causes with a nonpartisan body are often temporary and fluid since legislators who oppose each other on some issues may agree on other issues. Despite being nonpartisan, legislators typically have consistent and identifiable voting patterns. Decisions to investigate and enforce ethics violations by government officials are generally done on the basis of evidence instead of party affiliation. Committee chairs and other leaders within the legislature are often chosen for seniority and expertise, unlike the leaders in a partisan legislature who are often chosen because of loyalty to a party.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Democracy in ancient Athens was nonpartisan, as eligible citizens voted on laws themselves rather than electing representatives.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Elections to offices in the Roman Republic were all nonpartisan, though the informal factions of the Populares and Optimates did emerge within the Roman Senate.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Historians have frequently interpreted Federalist No. 10 to imply that the Founding Fathers of the United States intended the government to be nonpartisan. James Madison defined a faction as "a number of citizens, whether amounting to a minority or majority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." As political parties had interests which were adverse to the rights of citizens and to the general welfare of the nation, several Founding Fathers preferred a nonpartisan form of government.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The administration of George Washington and the first few sessions of the US Congress were nonpartisan. Factions within the early US government coalesced into the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties. The Era of Good Feelings, when the Federalist party collapsed (leaving the Democratic-Republican party as the sole political faction) was the United States' only experience with a one-party system.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The Confederate States of America had no political parties during its entire existence from 1861 to 1865. Despite political differences within the Confederacy, no national political parties were formed because they were seen as illegitimate. "Anti-partyism became an article of political faith." Without a two-party system building alternative sets of national leaders, electoral protests tended to be narrowly state-based, "negative, carping and petty". The 1863 mid-term elections became mere expressions of futile and frustrated dissatisfaction. According to historian David M. Potter, this lack of a functioning two-party system caused "real and direct damage" to the Confederate war effort, since it prevented the formulation of any effective alternatives to the conduct of the war by the Davis administration.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Legislative elections in the Confederacy were decided without political parties. Key candidate identification related to adopting secession before or after Lincoln's call for volunteers to retake Federal property. Previous party affiliation played a part in voter selection, predominantly secessionist Democrat or unionist Whig. There were no organized political parties, but elective offices were exempted from military duty. Virtually every position was contested with as many as twenty candidates for each office. The absence of political parties made individual roll call voting all the more important, as the Confederate "freedom of roll-call voting [was] unprecedented in American legislative history.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The Republic of Texas was a nonpartisan democracy before it was annexed by the United States; all four presidents of the Republic of Texas, and the members of the Texian Congress, were officially non-partisan.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: From 1853 to 1890, within the Self-governing colony of New Zealand, Members of Parliament were not organised into any formal political parties. Prime Ministers made individual agreements with Members of Parliament in order to form and maintain government, lest MP's 'cross the floor' and joined the opposition.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The Non-Partisan League was an influential socialist political movement during the 1910s and 1920s in the United States, especially in the Upper Midwest, which also eventually bled over into the prairie provinces of Canada.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The League contributed much to the ideology of the former Progressive Party of Canada. It went into decline and merged with the Democratic Party of North Dakota in 1956. The Progressive Party of Canada and the United Farmers movement (which formed governments in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario) also acted on a similar philosophy. In the case of the United Farmers of Ontario, while in power (1919–1923), the administration of Ernest Drury suffered much infighting as the result of conflicting views.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Because of their nonpartisan ideology, the Progressive Party of Canada refused to take the position of the official opposition after the election of 1921 when they came in second place. Four years later, they lost that position and their rural supporters began to move to the Liberal Party and CCF. Eventually the Progressive Party of Canada and the United Farmers movement faded into obscurity, with most of their members joining the Liberal Party of Canada and the democratic socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF, or present day New Democratic Party).


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Very few national governments are completely nonpartisan, but nonpartisan political systems at the national level are not unheard of, especially in states with small populations. Many national governments have nonpartisan offices even if their legislative branches are partisan. Constitutional monarchies have nonpartisan monarchs as their head of state. Parliamentary republics generally have nonpartisan, figurehead presidents.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Nonpartisan governments are much more likely in countries with small populations. Nauru, for example, has no political parties; its Parliament consists entirely of independent members of parliament or MPs, who form governing coalitions and opposition blocs through alliances of individuals.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: In Niue, political parties have never played an important role. There is, at present, no political party, and candidates to elections therefore run as independents. The only party ever to have existed, the Niue People's Party, disbanded in 2003.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: In Tuvalu, where no political parties exist, "MPs have very close links with their island constituencies and effort is directed towards balancing island representation in Cabinet".


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Other nonpartisan island nations are the Pitcairn Islands, Micronesia, and Palau. These nations have small, highly dispersed populations.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Some states are "de facto" nonpartisan because while no law forbids the formation of political parties, the populations are small enough that they are considered impractical. Political allegiances depend mainly on family and island-related factors.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: In Indonesia, all members of the Regional Representative Council, the upper house of the nation's bicameral legislature, are barred to come from any elements of political parties.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The United Arab Emirates is a de jure nonpartisan authoritarian state since all political parties were outlawed. The Federal National Council (al-Majlis al-Watani al-Ittihadi) is the UAE's parliamentary body and consists of 40 members, representing the Emirates, half appointed by the rulers of the constituent states and the other half elected to serve two-year terms, with only advisory tasks.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Political parties are also formally illegal in the Gulf state of Kuwait, as they have not been legalized since independence in 1961. Nonetheless, the constitution itself does not explicitly prohibit parties. Candidates for election to the National Assembly of Kuwait stand in a personal capacity. Nevertheless, several politically-focused organizations such as the National Democratic Alliance exist and function as "de facto" political parties.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Libya's unicameral legislature, the General National Congress reserved 120 out of its 200 seats for independent politicians in multiple-member districts. The other 80 were elected through a party list system of proportional representation.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Oman does not allow political parties, and only holds elections with expanding suffrage for a consultative assembly. Though Oman is developing into a constitutional monarchy, political parties are presently forbidden in Oman. The previously influential opposition movement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman, is dormant today.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: In Saudi Arabia, there are neither national elections or legal political parties. Despite this, some opposition movements exist, with varying degrees of presence in Saudi Arabia and abroad


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The Vatican State is a nonpartisan theocracy, though it does not have a native population and in essence exists as a sort of extraterritorial headquarters for the Catholic Church.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: A nonpartisan democracy might take root in other sovereign nations, such as occurred in Uganda in 1986, whereby political parties were restricted by a constitutional referendum endorsed by the people of the country (this system did not have all of the features described above). During a subsequent referendum in 2005, over 92% of Ugandan citizens voted for the return of a multiple party system.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Until the mid-20th century, a Canadian politician's political affiliation was not shown on ballots at any level of government. The expectation was that citizens would vote according to the merit of the candidate, but in practice, party allegiance played an important role. Beginning in 1974, the name of the candidate's political party was shown on the ballot. In elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, political affiliation was not shown on ballots until 2004. For elections for the eighteen districts in the dependency, political affiliation was not shown until 2007.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: There are several examples of nonpartisan state or provincial governments. The nonpartisan system is also used in many US states for the election of judges, district attorneys and other officials. Twelve US states use the Missouri Plan, and two use a variation of it, to choose judges in a nonpartisan manner.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The state of Nebraska in the United States has nonpartisan elections for its legislature because candidates are neither endorsed nor supported by political parties. However, its executive branch is elected on a partisan basis. It is the only state in the United States with a nonpartisan legislature.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Louisiana uses a nonpartisan blanket primary, also called a "jungle primary", for state and local offices. In this system, all candidates run against each other regardless of party affiliation during the primary, and then the two most popular candidates run against each other even if they are members of the same party. This form of runoff election weakens political parties and transforms a partisan election into a partly nonpartisan election.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The Swiss Cantons of Glarus and Appenzell Innerrhoden are also nonpartisan, direct democracies; while they have a partisan parliament, all laws have to be passed by "Landsgemeinde", an assembly of all citizens eligible to vote.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The territorial government of American Samoa is completely nonpartisan. It has 21 nonpartisan members elected by consensus to its Territorial House and 18 nonpartisan members elected to the Territorial Senate. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are both nonpartisan offices. However, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and its nonvoting member of the U.S. House are Democrats.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The British territory of Falkland Islands has a completely nonpartisan government in that no political parties operate on the islands. All eight members of the Legislative Assembly are nonpartisan, as is the Chief Executive and the Governor.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Guernsey has a nonpartisan legislature. The States of Guernsey, officially called the States of Deliberation, consists of 45 People's Deputies, elected from multi- or single-member districts every four years.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Political parties played no official role in the Isle of Man before the 2006 elections and played a minor role in the 2006 elections. At the 2001 election for the House of Keys, the Manx Labour Party polled 17.3% of the vote and only 2 seats. The vast majority of seats at every election are won by independent candidates with no allegiance to any parties. However, several parties such as the Manx Labour Party and Liberal Vannin operate and hold a small number of elected officers.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Saint Helena, along with both Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, does not have any active political parties, but no law forbids the formation of political parties; hence, the territory is a de facto non-partisan democracy. The Saint Helena Labour Party and Saint Helena Progressive Party existed until 1976.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The head of the territory and head of government of Hong Kong, the Chief Executive, is required by law not to be member of any political party. There are numerous political parties, but there is no legislation for political parties. Civil society organizations and trade unions also nominate candidates for election in Hong Kong under the system of functional constituencies.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The Canadian territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have nonpartisan legislatures. The populace votes for individuals to represent it in the territorial assembly without reference to political parties. After the election, the assembly selects one of its number to form a government and act as premier. This system is in deference to the system of consensus government that predominates among the indigenous Inuit and other peoples of northern Canada.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Unique among democratic nations with partisan elections at the federal level, almost all Canadian cities and counties (and similar levels of supralocal government) have governments elected on a nonpartisan basis. The municipal government of the City of Toronto, Ontario (Canada) is the fifth largest government in the country, governing a population of more than 2.7 million. It consists of a nonpartisan, directly elected council. The public may have a general idea of the candidates' political affiliations, but their parties have no official recognition or privilege in the functioning of City Council. Councilors are free to vote on each motion individually, not bound by party discipline.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: Many municipalities in Switzerland also have a nonpartisan legislative assembly consisting of all citizens eligible to vote.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The Village of Scarsdale, New York selects its Board of Trustees using a nonpartisan system that dates back to 1911. Candidates for office are privately interviewed by a diversely composed committee and then nominated for office. New York State law mandates that these nominees must be democratically elected, however, nominated candidates are rarely contested in the general election. The coordinating Scarsdale Citizens' Non-Partisan Party motto is "Performance, Not Politics"


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: The Baháʼí Faith states that the partisan apparatus is not a necessary or beneficial aspect of democracy.


title: Non-partisan democracy

text: In French parliament non-partisans are known as "non-inscrits" (unrecorded ones), and in some parliamentary talks they are given less time to speak.


title: A. K. Antony

text: Arackaparambil Kurien Antony (born 28 December 1940) is an Indian politician and attorney who was the 23rd Defence Minister of India. He was Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, from Kerala from 1985 to 1995 and again from 2005 to 2022. He also currently serves as the Chairman of the Disciplinary Action Committee of the All India Congress Committee, Congress Working Committee, and member of the Congress Core Group and Central Election Committee.


title: A. K. Antony

text: Antony previously served as Defence Minister for almost 8 years, making him the longest serving Defence Minister in India. He has thrice been the 8th Chief Minister of Kerala and Leader of Opposition once in Kerala Legislative Assembly.


title: A. K. Antony

text: A. K. Antony was born to a Suriyani Nasrani family at Cherthala, near Alleppey in Travancore as the son of Arackaparambil Kurien Pillai and Aleykutty Kurian. His father died in 1959 and Antony self-financed part of his education through odd jobs.


title: A. K. Antony

text: Antony completed his primary education at Holy Family Boys High school (Lower primary) and Government Boys High school (Upper primary), Cherthala and completed his Bachelor of Arts from Maharaja's College, Ernakulam and Bachelor of Law from Government Law College, Ernakulam.


title: A. K. Antony

text: Antony entered politics as a student leader in Cherthala Taluk (Alleppey District) as an activist of the Kerala Students Union under the guidance of M. A. John. He has been an active leader of many strikes like "Oru Ana Samaram" (Single Penny Strike). He became the youngest president of Kerala Students Union in 1966 and also served in the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) before becoming an All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary in 1984. When he became KPCC president in 1972, he was the youngest person to hold that post. He was elected again as KPCC president in 1987, and was defeated by Vayalar Ravi in the KPCC presidential elections in 1991.


title: A. K. Antony

text: Antony founded the Congress (A) political party when he split from the Indian National Congress (Urs), a splinter group of the Indian National Congress The party was primarily active in Kerala and joined the LDF ministry headed by E. K. Nayanar during 1980–1982. After the fall of the Nayanar ministry, the party merged with the Congress in 1982, but Antony was not given any office until the death of Indira Gandhi. The members of the party have continued as a faction in the local congress afterwards.


title: A. K. Antony

text: On accusations in the Rajan case, K. Karunakaran resigned and Antony was made the 8th Chief Minister of Kerala, becoming the youngest Chief Minister of the state at the age of 36 serving from years 27 April 1977 to 27 October 1978.


title: A. K. Antony

text: Again, when Karunakaran resigned in connection with the ISRO case Antony was made the 16th Chief Minister of Kerala, serving from 22 March 1995 to 9 May 1996. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly between 1996 and 2001. Antony was elected and served a third term from 17 May 2001 to 29 August 2004. He failed to retain power on the first two occasions as Chief minister. In 2004, immediately after the Congress in Kerala suffered a total rout in the Lok Sabha elections amid factional politics and in-fighting within the Congress Party, Antony resigned as Chief Minister. He was succeeded by Oommen Chandy.


title: A. K. Antony

text: It was at Antony's behest that the decision to construct the new Legislature Complex was taken in 1977. During his tenure, he introduced the Unemployment Allowance, Festival Allowance for the State Employees, Prohibition of Arrack and the steps initiated to revive the economy of Kerala. Several initiatives were taken in the fields of Higher education, science & technology, Biotechnology (including the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology at Thiruvananthapuram), and Information technology, under his ministries. It was also under his rule that the Kannur University was inaugurated by bifurcating the University of Calicut. The University of Sanskrit was founded in 1994. The Indian Institute of Management and the National Institute of Technology at Kozhikode were established in the years 1996 and 2002 respectively. The Akshaya project was implemented in 2002 by providing E-literacy to the people those who haven't it and opening "Akshaya" centres in the remote rural areas of the state, thus ensuring Internet availability all over the state, aiming to make Kerala the first complete E-literate state of India. Several initiatives were taken in the fields of Higher education, science & technology, Biotechnology, and Information technology, under his ministries. The Infopark at Kochi was established in the year 2004. The IT@school project and introduction of Information Technology in school level were initiated in 2001 by Third Antony ministry, making Kerala the first Indian state to do so.


title: A. K. Antony

text: Antony carried out Asian Development Bank aided "Modernization of Government Plan". He also liberalised education by allowing several private engineering and medical colleges to open in Kerala and championed the state as an investment destination. He also ordered the closure of the Kerala Coca-Cola plant in 2004 citing drought and the non-availability of drinking water.


title: A. K. Antony

text: Antony was a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha between 1993 and 1995 and was the Minister for Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution for a year in 1994 during the tenure of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. He resigned on moral grounds as food minister in 1994 when his ministry was involved in a sugar import scandal, despite there being no allegations against him.


title: A. K. Antony

text: In 2005, Antony entered the Rajya Sabha and was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers as Defence Minister following Natwar Singh's expulsion from the Congress and Pranab Mukherjee's transfer to the Ministry of External Affairs. After the Congress again won the elections in 2009 and formed the government once again under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Antony retained the portfolio of Defence for the second term becoming the longest-serving Defence Minister of India in a continuous stint for 8 years. His "Buy and Make Indian" campaign saw the cancellation of billion of dollars in purchases of foreign arms, while at the same time stunting domestic production by restricting investments.


title: A. K. Antony

text: He held the post of Chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata (2012 to 2014), President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and Chancellor of Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (2006 to 2014).


title: A. K. Antony

text: In the Manmohan Singh Cabinet, Antony was the senior member of the Cabinet Committees on Accommodation, Economic Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, and Security.


title: A. K. Antony

text: Antony's political skills and long experience in government have also led him to heading a large number of committees of Ministers in the government, a device that has been employed to obtain consensus within the members of the governing coalition on contentious issues.


title: A. K. Antony

text: In order to professionalize the Civil Services, Antony led in decision on creation of a Central Civil Services Authority (CCSA) to oversee the higher bureaucracy.


title: A. K. Antony

text: In 2018, Antony is one of the signatories to impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.


title: A. K. Antony

text: Antony is known for his incorruptible record and simple personal life and his intolerance towards corruption in public life. He was ranked among top 10 Most Powerful Indians for the year 2012 by the Indian Express.


title: A. K. Antony

text: 10th Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee admired Antony for his simplicity, gentleness and his zeal for reforms and change as a way to ensure acceleration of Kerala's all-round development.


title: A. K. Antony

text: After Pranab Mukherjee was nominated for the 2012 President of India election, Antony was placed as the second-in-command after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Cabinet of India.


title: A. K. Antony

text: WikiLeaks cables claimed that Antony was the one of the only two leaders, the other being PR Dasmunsi, who criticised Sanjay Gandhi during the 1976 AICC session in Guwahati during Emergency when the latter's political standing was on the rise, asking "what sacrifices he has made for the party or the country".


title: A. K. Antony

text: Antony is a self-proclaimed atheist and is married to Elizabeth who is a Kerala High Court lawyer and is the founder of the Navoothan Charitable Foundation. They have two sons.


title: Listicle

text: In journalism and blogging, a listicle is an article that is structured as a list, which is often fleshed out with additional text relating to each item. A typical listicle will prominently feature a cardinal number in its title, with subsequent subheadings within the text itself reflecting this schema. The word is a portmanteau derived from "list" and "article". It has also been suggested that the word evokes "popsicle", emphasising the fun but "not too nutritious" nature of the listicle.


title: Listicle

text: A ranked listicle (such as "Rolling Stone"s "The 100 Best Albums of the Last 20 Years") implies a qualitative judgement, conveyed by the order of the topics within the text. These are often presented in countdown order, and the "Number One" item is the last in the sequence. Other listicles impart no overt rank, instead presenting the topics in an "ad hoc", associative, or thematic order.


title: Listicle

text: While conventional reportage and essay-writing often require the careful crafting of narrative flow, the building-block nature of the listicle lends itself to more rapid production. It can also be a means of "recycling" information, as often it is the context, not the content, that is original. For example, one can construct a listicle by adding captions to YouTube clips. For these reasons, the form has come under criticism as a "kind of cheap content-creation".


title: Listicle

text: It's so easy you wonder why everyone doesn't do it until you realize that now it's all they do: Come up with an idea ("Top 10 Worst [X]") on the L train ride to the office that morning, [and] slap together 10 (or 25, or 100) cultural artifacts ripe for the kind of snarky working over that won't actually tax you at all as a writer/thinker.


title: Listicle

text: The blogger and technologist Anil Dash has disparaged the proliferation of listicles, particularly within the blogosphere, characterizing them in 2006 as the "geek equivalents of Cosmo coverlines".


title: Listicle

text: Nevertheless, the form remains a mainstay of the newsstand and of the web. The covers of magazines such as "Cosmopolitan" and "Men's Journal" regularly sport at least one, if not several listicles. Some websites, such as BuzzFeed, generate hundreds of listicles daily.


title: Listicle

text: Alex Johnson, writing for "The Independent", suggested that an 1886 speech by Sir John Lubbock which gave a list of around 100 books "which on the whole are perhaps best worth reading" was an early form of listicle, and that Lubbock should be considered the 'godfather' of the format.


title: Listicle

text: Steven Poole suggested that listicles have literary precursors like Jorge Luis Borges's "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins". He also compares it to more high-art versions like Umberto Eco's "The Infinity of Lists", a book composed entirely of lists.


title: Listicle

text: In 2009, posts in the format "25 Random Things About Me" became an Internet meme, starting on Facebook but spreading to the broader web, and attracting considerable media coverage in the process.


title: Letgo

text: Letgo (stylized letgo) was a company that provided a website and app that allows users to buy from, sell to and chat with others locally. The products launched in 2015.


title: Letgo

text: Launched in January 2015 by Alec Oxenford, former CEO of OLX, the app initially targeted the U.S. market, competing against eBay and Craigslist, the online marketplace leaders since the 1990s.


title: Letgo

text: In May 2016, the company merged with Wallapop, another mobile classifieds startup. Letgo remained the majority owner of the company and the brand remained Letgo. At the time, there were about 10 million monthly active users between the two apps, according to SurveyMonkey data published by TechCrunch.


title: Letgo

text: From its launch, the company did not charge for its services, earning no revenue, as part of its strategy to grow quickly. As of June 2018, the listing service remained free, but the app added a paid beta feature allowing users to place their sales item above organic search results.


title: Letgo

text: Three quarters of the first round investment of $100 million was slated for marketing. The ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky Miami created a television ad campaign for the app, directed by filmmaker Craig Gillespie. Each advertisement is premised on an extreme situation, such as a person dangling over a cliff who might plunge down because he's holding on to a bowling ball, where the sensible thing to do is to let go of the item. CP+B Miami also created a series of four ads allowing customers to incorporate images and descriptions of their items for sale directly into a satirical video ad, such as one featuring action film star Dolph Lundgren as a mercenary.


title: Letgo

text: By September 2015, the company said its app had two million downloads and half a million product listings. Comscore said it was the second-fastest growing app in the U.S., in 2017. As of January 2018, the app had about 75 million downloads, compared to 30 million in August 2016. It had 200 million listings for secondhand goods and about three billion messages were exchanged between users. The company said it had monthly repeated visitors in the "tens of millions". In August 2018, the company reported the app had more than 100 million downloads and 400 million. Listings were up about 65% during the first eight months of 2018.


title: Letgo

text: The company raised US$100 million in 2015, one of the five largest first rounds of venture capital financing since 2008. Following a merger in May 2016 with Wallapop, a competitor with a reported valuation of about $570 million, the company raised an additional $100 million. As of September 2017 the company valuation was more than $1 billion. By that time, it had raised $375 million in total capital. In August 2018, it raised $500 million from Naspers.


title: Letgo

text: The app and website facilitates buying and selling used goods. The marketplace, optimized primarily for smartphones, features large photos of products for sale. No log-in is required. Goods are displayed based on the geolocation closest to the buyer. The app is integrated with instant chat functionality.


title: Letgo

text: In 2018, the company added video listings and image recognition that includes pricing suggestions. A housing section was also added.


title: Art of Europe

text: The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleolithic and the Iron Age. Written histories of European art often begin with the art of Ancient Israel and the Ancient Aegean civilizations, dating from the 3rd millennium BC. Parallel with these significant cultures, art of one form or another existed all over Europe, wherever there were people, leaving signs such as carvings, decorated artifacts and huge standing stones. However a consistent pattern of artistic development within Europe becomes clear only with the art of Ancient Greece, adopted and transformed by Rome and carried; with the Roman Empire, across much of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.


title: Art of Europe

text: The influence of the art of the Classical period waxed and waned throughout the next two thousand years, seeming to slip into a distant memory in parts of the Medieval period, to re-emerge in the Renaissance, suffer a period of what some early art historians viewed as "decay" during the Baroque period, to reappear in a refined form in Neo-Classicism and to be reborn in Post-Modernism.


title: Art of Europe

text: Before the 1800s, the Christian church was a major influence upon European art, the commissions of the Church, architectural, painterly and sculptural, providing the major source of work for artists. The history of the Church was very much reflected in the history of art, during this period. In the same period of time there was renewed interest in heroes and heroines, tales of mythological gods and goddesses, great wars, and bizarre creatures which were not connected to religion. Most art of the last 200 years has been produced without reference to religion and often with no particular ideology at all, but art has often been influenced by political issues, whether reflecting the concerns of patrons or the artist.


title: Art of Europe

text: European art is arranged into a number of stylistic periods, which, historically, overlap each other as different styles flourished in different areas. Broadly the periods are, Classical, Byzantine, Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, Modern, Postmodern and New European Painting.


title: Art of Europe

text: European prehistoric art is an important part of the European cultural heritage. Prehistoric art history is usually divided into four main periods: Stone Age, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. Most of the remaining artifacts of this period are small sculptures and cave paintings.


title: Art of Europe

text: Much surviving prehistoric art is small portable sculptures, with a small group of female Venus figurines such as the Venus of Willendorf (24,000–22,000 BC) found across central Europe; the 30 cm tall Löwenmensch figurine of about 30,000 BCE has hardly any pieces that can be related to it. The Swimming Reindeer of about 11,000 BCE is one of the finest of a number of Magdalenian carvings in bone or antler of animals in the art of the Upper Paleolithic, though they are outnumbered by engraved pieces, which are sometimes classified as sculpture. With the beginning of the Mesolithic in Europe figurative sculpture greatly reduced, and remained a less common element in art than relief decoration of practical objects until the Roman period, despite some works such as the Gundestrup cauldron from the European Iron Age and the Bronze Age Trundholm sun chariot.


title: Art of Europe

text: The oldest European cave art dates back 40,800, and can be found in the El Castillo Cave in Spain. Other cave painting sites include Lascaux, Cave of Altamira, Grotte de Cussac, Pech Merle, Cave of Niaux, Chauvet Cave, Font-de-Gaume, Creswell Crags, Nottinghamshire, England, (Cave etchings and bas-reliefs discovered in 2003), Coliboaia cave from Romania (considered the oldest cave painting in central Europe) and Magura, Belogradchik, Bulgaria. Rock painting was also performed on cliff faces, but fewer of those have survived because of erosion. One well-known example is the rock paintings of Astuvansalmi in the Saimaa area of Finland. When Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola first encountered the Magdalenian paintings of the Altamira cave, Cantabria, Spain in 1879, the academics of the time considered them hoaxes. Recent reappraisals and numerous additional discoveries have since demonstrated their authenticity, while at the same time stimulating interest in the artistry of Upper Palaeolithic peoples. Cave paintings, undertaken with only the most rudimentary tools, can also furnish valuable insight into the culture and beliefs of that era.


title: Art of Europe

text: The Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin represents a very different style, with the human figure the main focus, often seen in large groups, with battles, dancing and hunting all represented, as well as other activities and details such as clothing. The figures are generally rather sketchily depicted in thin paint, with the relationships between the groups of humans and animals more carefully depicted than individual figures. Other less numerous groups of rock art, many engraved rather than painted, show similar characteristics. The Iberian examples are believed to date from a long period perhaps covering the Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and early Neolithic.


title: Art of Europe

text: Prehistoric Celtic art comes from much of Iron Age Europe and survives mainly in the form of high-status metalwork skillfully decorated with complex, elegant and mostly abstract designs, often using curving and spiral forms. There are human heads and some fully represented animals, but full-length human figures at any size are so rare that their absence may represent a religious taboo. As the Romans conquered Celtic territories, it almost entirely vanishes, but the style continued in limited use in the British Isles, and with the coming of Christianity revived there in the Insular style of the Early Middle Ages.


title: Art of Europe

text: The Minoan civilization of Crete is regarded as the oldest civilization in Europe. Minoan art is marked by imaginative images and exceptional workmanship. Sinclair Hood described an "essential quality of the finest Minoan art, the ability to create an atmosphere of movement and life although following a set of highly formal conventions". It forms part of the wider grouping of Aegean art, and in later periods came for a time to have a dominant influence over Cycladic art. Wood and textiles have decomposed, so most surviving examples of Minoan art are pottery, intricately-carved Minoan seals, .palace frescos which include landscapes), small sculptures in various materials, jewellery, and metalwork.


title: Art of Europe

text: The relationship of Minoan art to that of other contemporary cultures and later Ancient Greek art has been much discussed. It clearly dominated Mycenaean art and Cycladic art of the same periods, even after Crete was occupied by the Mycenaeans, but only some aspects of the tradition survived the Greek Dark Ages after the collapse of Mycenaean Greece.


title: Art of Europe

text: Minoan art has a variety of subject-matter, much of it appearing across different media, although only some styles of pottery include figurative scenes. Bull-leaping appears in painting and several types of sculpture, and is thought to have had a religious significance; bull's heads are also a popular subject in terracotta and other sculptural materials. There are no figures that appear to be portraits of individuals, or are clearly royal, and the identities of religious figures is often tentative, with scholars uncertain whether they are deities, clergy or devotees. Equally, whether painted rooms were "shrines" or secular is far from clear; one room in Akrotiri has been argued to be a bedroom, with remains of a bed, or a shrine.


title: Art of Europe

text: Animals, including an unusual variety of marine fauna, are often depicted; the "Marine Style" is a type of painted palace pottery from MM III and LM IA that paints sea creatures including octopus spreading all over the vessel, and probably originated from similar frescoed scenes; sometimes these appear in other media. Scenes of hunting and warfare, and horses and riders, are mostly found in later periods, in works perhaps made by Cretans for a Mycenaean market, or Mycenaean overlords of Crete.


title: Art of Europe

text: While Minoan figures, whether human or animal, have a great sense of life and movement, they are often not very accurate, and the species is sometimes impossible to identify; by comparison with Ancient Egyptian art they are often more vivid, but less naturalistic. In comparison with the art of other ancient cultures there is a high proportion of female figures, though the idea that Minoans had only goddesses and no gods is now discounted. Most human figures are in profile or in a version of the Egyptian convention with the head and legs in profile, and the torso seen frontally; but the Minoan figures exaggerate features such as slim male waists and large female breasts.


title: Art of Europe

text: Ancient Greece had great painters, great sculptors, and great architects. The Parthenon is an example of their architecture that has lasted to modern days. Greek marble sculpture is often described as the highest form of Classical art. Painting on the pottery of Ancient Greece and ceramics gives a particularly informative glimpse into the way society in Ancient Greece functioned. Black-figure vase painting and Red-figure vase painting gives many surviving examples of what Greek painting was. Some famous Greek painters on wooden panels who are mentioned in texts are Apelles, Zeuxis and Parrhasius, however no examples of Ancient Greek panel painting survive, only written descriptions by their contemporaries or by later Romans. Zeuxis lived in 5–6 BC and was said to be the first to use sfumato. According to Pliny the Elder, the realism of his paintings was such that birds tried to eat the painted grapes. Apelles is described as the greatest painter of Antiquity for perfect technique in drawing, brilliant color and modeling.


title: Art of Europe

text: Roman art was influenced by Greece and can in part be taken as a descendant of ancient Greek painting and sculpture, but was also strongly influenced by the more local Etruscan art of Italy. Roman sculpture, is primarily portraiture derived from the upper classes of society as well as depictions of the gods. However, Roman painting does have important unique characteristics. Among surviving Roman paintings are wall paintings, many from villas in Campania, in Southern Italy, especially at Pompeii and Herculaneum. Such painting can be grouped into four main "styles" or periods and may contain the first examples of trompe-l'œil, pseudo-perspective, and pure landscape.


title: Art of Europe

text: Almost all of the surviving painted portraits from the Ancient world are a large number of coffin-portraits of bust form found in the Late Antique cemetery of Al-Fayum. They give an idea of the quality that the finest ancient work must have had. A very small number of miniatures from Late Antique illustrated books also survive, and a rather larger number of copies of them from the Early Medieval period. Early Christian art grew out of Roman popular, and later Imperial, art and adapted its iconography from these sources.


title: Art of Europe

text: Most surviving art from the Medieval period was religious in focus, often funded by the Church, powerful ecclesiastical individuals such as bishops, communal groups such as abbeys, or wealthy secular patrons. Many had specific liturgical functions—processional crosses and altarpieces, for example.


title: Art of Europe

text: One of the central questions about Medieval art concerns its lack of realism. A great deal of knowledge of perspective in art and understanding of the human figure was lost with the fall of Rome. But realism was not the primary concern of Medieval artists. They were simply trying to send a religious message, a task which demands clear iconic images instead of precisely rendered ones.


title: Art of Europe

text: Migration period art is a general term for the art of the "barbarian" peoples who moved into formerly Roman territories. Celtic art in the 7th and 8th centuries saw a fusion with Germanic traditions through contact with the Anglo-Saxons creating what is called the Hiberno-Saxon style or Insular art, which was to be highly influential on the rest of the Middle Ages. Merovingian art describes the art of the Franks before about 800, when Carolingian art combined insular influences with a self-conscious classical revival, developing into Ottonian art. Anglo-Saxon art is the art of England after the Insular period. Illuminated manuscripts contain nearly all the surviving painting of the period, but architecture, metalwork and small carved work in wood or ivory were also important media.


title: Art of Europe

text: Byzantine art overlaps with or merges with what we call Early Christian art until the iconoclasm period of 730-843 when the vast majority of artwork with figures was destroyed; so little remains that today any discovery sheds new understanding. After 843 until 1453 there is a clear Byzantine art tradition. It is often the finest art of the Middle Ages in terms of quality of material and workmanship, with production centered on Constantinople. Byzantine art's crowning achievement were the monumental frescos and mosaics inside domed churches, most of which have not survived due to natural disasters and the appropriation of churches to mosques.


title: Art of Europe

text: Romanesque art refers to the period from about 1000 to the rise of Gothic art in the 12th century. This was a period of increasing prosperity, and the first to see a coherent style used across Europe, from Scandinavia to Sicily. Romanesque art is vigorous and direct, was originally brightly coloured, and is often very sophisticated. Stained glass and enamel on metalwork became important media, and larger sculptures in the round developed, although high relief was the principal technique. Its architecture is dominated by thick walls, and round-headed windows and arches, with much carved decoration.


title: Art of Europe

text: Gothic art is a variable term depending on the craft, place and time. The term originated with Gothic architecture in 1140, but Gothic painting did not appear until around 1200 (this date has many qualifications), when it diverged from Romanesque style. Gothic sculpture was born in France in 1144 with the renovation of the Abbey Church of S. Denis and spread throughout Europe, by the 13th century it had become the international style, replacing Romanesque. International Gothic describes Gothic art from about 1360 to 1430, after which Gothic art merges into Renaissance art at different times in different places. During this period forms such as painting, in fresco and on panel, become newly important, and the end of the period includes new media such as prints.


title: Art of Europe

text: The Renaissance is characterized by a focus on the arts of Ancient Greece and Rome, which led to many changes in both the technical aspects of painting and sculpture, as well as to their subject matter. It began in Italy, a country rich in Roman heritage as well as material prosperity to fund artists. During the Renaissance, painters began to enhance the realism of their work by using new techniques in perspective, thus representing three dimensions more authentically. Artists also began to use new techniques in the manipulation of light and darkness, such as the tone contrast evident in many of Titian's portraits and the development of sfumato and chiaroscuro by Leonardo da Vinci. Sculptors, too, began to rediscover many ancient techniques such as contrapposto. Following with the humanist spirit of the age, art became more secular in subject matter, depicting ancient mythology in addition to Christian themes. This genre of art is often referred to as Renaissance Classicism. In the North, the most important Renaissance innovation was the widespread use of oil paints, which allowed for greater colour and intensity.


title: Art of Europe

text: During the late 13th century and early 14th century, much of the painting in Italy was Byzantine in character, notably that of Duccio of Siena and Cimabue of Florence, while Pietro Cavallini in Rome was more Gothic in style. During the 13th century, Italian sculptors began to draw inspiration not only from medieval prototypes, but also from ancient works.


title: Art of Europe

text: In 1290, Giotto began painting in a manner that was less traditional and more based upon observation of nature. His famous cycle at the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, is seen as the beginnings of a Renaissance style.


title: Art of Europe

text: Other painters of the 14th century were carried the Gothic style to great elaboration and detail. Notable among these painters are Simone Martini and Gentile da Fabriano.


title: Art of Europe

text: In the Netherlands, the technique of painting in oils rather than tempera, led itself to a form of elaboration that was not dependent upon the application of gold leaf and embossing, but upon the minute depiction of the natural world. The art of painting textures with great realism evolved at this time. Dutch painters such as Jan van Eyck and Hugo van der Goes were to have great influence on Late Gothic and Early Renaissance painting.


title: Art of Europe

text: The ideas of the Renaissance first emerged in the city-state of Florence, Italy. The sculptor Donatello returned to classical techniques such as contrapposto and classical subjects like the unsupported nude—his second sculpture of "David" was the first free-standing bronze nude created in Europe since the Roman Empire. The sculptor and architect Brunelleschi studied the architectural ideas of ancient Roman buildings for inspiration. Masaccio perfected elements like composition, individual expression, and human form to paint frescoes, especially those in the Brancacci Chapel, of surprising elegance, drama, and emotion.


title: Art of Europe

text: A remarkable number of these major artists worked on different portions of the Florence Cathedral. Brunelleschi's dome for the cathedral was one of the first truly revolutionary architectural innovations since the Gothic flying buttress. Donatello created many of its sculptures. Giotto and Lorenzo Ghiberti also contributed to the cathedral.


title: Art of Europe

text: High Renaissance artists include such figures as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, and Raffaello Sanzio.


title: Art of Europe

text: The 15th-century artistic developments in Italy (for example, the interest in perspectival systems, in depicting anatomy, and in classical cultures) matured during the 16th century, accounting for the designations "Early Renaissance" for the 15th century and "High Renaissance" for the 16th century. Although no singular style characterizes the High Renaissance, the art of those most closely associated with this period—Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian—exhibits an astounding mastery, both technical and aesthetic. High Renaissance artists created works of such authority that generations of later artists relied on these artworks for instruction.


title: Art of Europe

text: These exemplary artistic creations further elevated the prestige of artists. Artists could claim divine inspiration, thereby raising visual art to a status formerly given only to poetry. Thus, painters, sculptors, and architects came into their own, successfully claiming for their work a high position among the fine arts. In a sense, 16th- century masters created a new profession with its own rights of expression and its own venerable character.


title: Art of Europe

text: Early Netherlandish painting developed (but did not strictly invent) the technique of oil painting to allow greater control in painting minute detail with realism—Jan van Eyck (1366–1441) was a figure in the movement from illuminated manuscripts to panel paintings.


title: Art of Europe

text: Hieronymus Bosch (1450?–1516), a Dutch painter, is another important figure in the Northern Renaissance. In his paintings, he used religious themes, but combined them with grotesque fantasies, colorful imagery, and peasant folk legends. His paintings often reflect the confusion and anguish associated with the end of the Middle Ages.


title: Art of Europe

text: Albrecht Dürer introduced Italian Renaissance style to Germany at the end of the 15th century, and dominated German Renaissance art.


title: Art of Europe

text: In European art, Renaissance Classicism spawned two different movements—Mannerism and the Baroque. Mannerism, a reaction against the idealist perfection of Classicism, employed distortion of light and spatial frameworks in order to emphasize the emotional content of a painting and the emotions of the painter. The work of El Greco is a particularly clear example of Mannerism in painting during the late 16th, early 17th centuries. Northern Mannerism took longer to develop, and was largely a movement of the last half of the 16th century. Baroque art took the representationalism of the Renaissance to new heights, emphasizing detail, movement, lighting, and drama in their search for beauty. Perhaps the best known Baroque painters are Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, and Diego Velázquez.


title: Art of Europe

text: A rather different art developed out of northern realist traditions in 17th-century Dutch Golden Age painting, which had very little religious art, and little history painting, instead playing a crucial part in developing secular genres such as still life, genre paintings of everyday scenes, and landscape painting. While the Baroque nature of Rembrandt's art is clear, the label is less use for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while also continuing to produce the traditional categories.


title: Art of Europe

text: Baroque art is often seen as part of the Counter-Reformation—the artistic element of the revival of spiritual life in the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, the emphasis that Baroque art placed on grandeur is seen as Absolutist in nature. Religious and political themes were widely explored within the Baroque artistic context, and both paintings and sculptures were characterised by a strong element of drama, emotion and theatricality. Famous Baroque artists include Caravaggio or Rubens. Artemisia Gentileschi was another noteworthy artist, who was inspired by Caravaggio's style. Baroque art was particularly ornate and elaborate in nature, often using rich, warm colours with dark undertones. Pomp and grandeur were important elements of the Baroque artistic movement in general, as can be seen when Louis XIV said, "I am grandeur incarnate"; many Baroque artists served kings who tried to realize this goal. Baroque art in many ways was similar to Renaissance art; as a matter of fact, the term was initially used in a derogative manner to describe post-Renaissance art and architecture which was over-elaborate. Baroque art can be seen as a more elaborate and dramatic re-adaptation of late Renaissance art.


title: Art of Europe

text: By the 18th century, however, Baroque art was falling out of fashion as many deemed it too melodramatic and also gloomy, and it developed into the Rococo, which emerged in France. Rococo art was even more elaborate than the Baroque, but it was less serious and more playful. Whilst the Baroque used rich, strong colours, Rococo used pale, creamier shades. The artistic movement no longer placed an emphasis on politics and religion, focusing instead on lighter themes such as romance, celebration, and appreciation of nature. Rococo art also contrasted the Baroque as it often refused symmetry in favor of asymmetrical designs. Furthermore, it sought inspiration from the artistic forms and ornamentation of Far Eastern Asia, resulting in the rise in favour of porcelain figurines and chinoiserie in general. The 18th-century style flourished for a short while; nevertheless, the Rococo style soon fell out of favor, being seen by many as a gaudy and superficial movement emphasizing aesthetics over meaning. Neoclassicism in many ways developed as a counter movement of the Rococo, the impetus being a sense of disgust directed towards the latter's florid qualities.


title: Art of Europe

text: Throughout the 18th century, a counter movement opposing the Rococo sprang up in different parts of Europe, commonly known as Neoclassicism. It despised the perceived superficiality and frivolity of Rococo art, and desired for a return to the simplicity, order and 'purism' of classical antiquity, especially ancient Greece and Rome. The movement was in part also influenced by the Renaissance, which itself was strongly influenced by classical art. Neoclassicism was the artistic component of the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment; the Enlightenment was idealistic, and put its emphasis on objectivity, reason and empirical truth. Neoclassicism had become widespread in Europe throughout the 18th century, especially in the United Kingdom, which saw great works of Neoclassical architecture spring up during this period; Neoclassicism's fascination with classical antiquity can be seen in the popularity of the Grand Tour during this decade, where wealthy aristocrats travelled to the ancient ruins of Italy and Greece. Nevertheless, a defining moment for Neoclassicism came during the French Revolution in the late 18th century; in France, Rococo art was replaced with the preferred Neoclassical art, which was seen as more serious than the former movement. In many ways, Neoclassicism can be seen as a political movement as well as an artistic and cultural one. Neoclassical art places an emphasis on order, symmetry and classical simplicity; common themes in Neoclassical art include courage and war, as were commonly explored in ancient Greek and Roman art. Ingres, Canova, and Jacques-Louis David are among the best-known neoclassicists.


title: Art of Europe

text: Just as Mannerism rejected Classicism, so did Romanticism reject the ideas of the Enlightenment and the aesthetic of the Neoclassicists. Romanticism rejected the highly objective and ordered nature of Neoclassicism, and opted for a more individual and emotional approach to the arts. Romanticism placed an emphasis on nature, especially when aiming to portray the power and beauty of the natural world, and emotions, and sought a highly personal approach to art. Romantic art was about individual feelings, not common themes, such as in Neoclassicism; in such a way, Romantic art often used colours in order to express feelings and emotion. Similarly to Neoclassicism, Romantic art took much of its inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman art and mythology, yet, unlike Neoclassical, this inspiration was primarily used as a way to create symbolism and imagery. Romantic art also takes much of its aesthetic qualities from medievalism and Gothicism, as well as mythology and folklore. Among the greatest Romantic artists were Eugène Delacroix, Francisco Goya, J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, Caspar David Friedrich, Thomas Cole, and William Blake.


title: Art of Europe

text: Most artists attempted to take a centrist approach which adopted different features of Neoclassicist and Romanticist styles, in order to synthesize them. The different attempts took place within the French Academy, and collectively are called Academic art. Adolphe William Bouguereau is considered a chief example of this stream of art.


title: Art of Europe

text: In the early 19th century the face of Europe, however, became radically altered by industrialization. Poverty, squalor, and desperation were to be the fate of the new working class created by the "revolution". In response to these changes going on in society, the movement of Realism emerged. Realism sought to accurately portray the conditions and hardships of the poor in the hopes of changing society. In contrast with Romanticism, which was essentially optimistic about mankind, Realism offered a stark vision of poverty and despair. Similarly, while Romanticism glorified nature, Realism portrayed life in the depths of an urban wasteland. Like Romanticism, Realism was a literary as well as an artistic movement. The great Realist painters include Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet, Camille Corot, Honoré Daumier, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas (both considered as Impressionists), and Thomas Eakins, among others.


title: Art of Europe

text: The response of architecture to industrialisation, in stark contrast to the other arts, was to veer towards historicism. Although the railway stations built during this period are often considered the truest reflections of its spirit – they are sometimes called "the cathedrals of the age" – the main movements in architecture during the Industrial Age were revivals of styles from the distant past, such as the Gothic Revival. Related movements were the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who attempted to return art to its state of "purity" prior to Raphael, and the Arts and Crafts Movement, which reacted against the impersonality of mass-produced goods and advocated a return to medieval craftsmanship.


title: Art of Europe

text: Out of the naturalist ethic of Realism grew a major artistic movement, Impressionism. The Impressionists pioneered the use of light in painting as they attempted to capture light as seen from the human eye. Edgar Degas,


title: Art of Europe

text: Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, were all involved in the Impressionist movement. As a direct outgrowth of Impressionism came the development of Post-Impressionism. Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat are the best known Post-Impressionists.


title: Art of Europe

text: Following the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists came Fauvism, often considered the first "modern" genre of art. Just as the Impressionists revolutionized light, so did the fauvists rethink color, painting their canvases in bright, wild hues. After the Fauvists, modern art began to develop in all its forms, ranging from Expressionism, concerned with evoking emotion through objective works of art, to Cubism, the art of transposing a four-dimensional reality onto a flat canvas, to Abstract art. These new art forms pushed the limits of traditional notions of "art" and corresponded to the similar rapid changes that were taking place in human society, technology, and thought.


title: Art of Europe

text: Surrealism is often classified as a form of Modern Art. However, the Surrealists themselves have objected to the study of surrealism as an era in art history, claiming that it oversimplifies the complexity of the movement (which they say is not an artistic movement), misrepresents the relationship of surrealism to aesthetics, and falsely characterizes ongoing surrealism as a finished, historically encapsulated era. Other forms of Modern art (some of which border on Contemporary art) include:


title: Art of Europe

text: Modern art foreshadowed several characteristics of what would later be defined as postmodern art; as a matter of fact, several modern art movements can often be classified as both modern and postmodern, such as pop art. Postmodern art, for instance, places a strong emphasis on irony, parody and humour in general; modern art started to develop a more ironic approach to art which would later advance in a postmodern context. Postmodern art sees the blurring between the high and fine arts with low-end and commercial art; modern art started to experiment with this blurring.


title: Art of Europe

text: Recent developments in art have been characterised by a significant expansion of what can now deemed to be art, in terms of materials, media, activity and concept. Conceptual art in particular has had a wide influence. This started literally as the replacement of concept for a made object, one of the intentions of which was to refute the commodification of art. However, it now usually refers to an artwork where there is an object, but the main claim for the work is made for the thought process that has informed it. The aspect of commercialism has returned to the work.


title: Art of Europe

text: There has also been an increase in art referring to previous movements and artists, and gaining validity from that reference.


title: Art of Europe

text: Postmodernism in art, which has grown since the 1960s, differs from Modernism in as much as Modern art movements were primarily focused on their own activities and values, while Postmodernism uses the whole range of previous movements as a reference point. This has by definition generated a relativistic outlook, accompanied by irony and a certain disbelief in values, as each can be seen to be replaced by another. Another result of this has been the growth of commercialism and celebrity. Postmodern art has questioned common rules and guidelines of what is regarded as 'fine art', merging low art with the fine arts until none is fully distinguishable. Before the advent of postmodernism, the fine arts were characterised by a form of aesthetic quality, elegance, craftsmanship, finesse and intellectual stimulation which was intended to appeal to the upper or educated classes; this distinguished high art from low art, which, in turn, was seen as tacky, kitsch, easily made and lacking in much or any intellectual stimulation, art which was intended to appeal to the masses. Postmodern art blurred these distinctions, bringing a strong element of kitsch, commercialism and campness into contemporary fine art; what is nowadays seen as fine art may have been seen as low art before postmodernism revolutionised the concept of what high or fine art truly is. In addition, the postmodern nature of contemporary art leaves a lot of space for individualism within the art scene; for instance, postmodern art often takes inspiration from past artistic movements, such as Gothic or Baroque art, and both juxtaposes and recycles styles from these past periods in a different context.


title: Art of Europe

text: Some surrealists in particular Joan Miró, who called for the "murder of painting" (In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods and his desire to "kill", "murder", or "rape" them in favor of more contemporary means of expression). have denounced or attempted to "supersede" painting, and there have also been other anti-painting trends among artistic movements, such as that of Dada and conceptual art. The trend away from painting in the late 20th century has been countered by various movements, for example the continuation of Minimal Art, Lyrical Abstraction, Pop Art, Op Art, New Realism, Photorealism, Neo Geo, Neo-expressionism, New European Painting, Stuckism, Excessivism and various other important and influential painterly directions.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice (AOO) is an open-source office productivity software suite. It is one of the successor projects of OpenOffice.org and the designated successor of IBM Lotus Symphony. It is a close cousin of LibreOffice, Collabora Online and NeoOffice. It contains a word processor (Writer), a spreadsheet (Calc), a presentation application (Impress), a drawing application (Draw), a formula editor (Math), and a database management application (Base).


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice's default file format is the OpenDocument Format (ODF), an ISO/IEC standard. It can also read and write a wide variety of other file formats, with particular attention to those from Microsoft Office although, unlike LibreOffice, it cannot save documents in Microsoft's post-2007 Office Open XML formats, but only import them.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice is developed for Linux, macOS and Windows, with ports to other operating systems. It is distributed under the Apache-2.0 license. The first release was version 3.4.0, on 8 May 2012. The most recent significant feature release was version 4.1, which was made available in 2014. The project has continued to release minor updates that fix bugs, update dictionaries and sometimes include feature enhancements. The most recent maintenance release was 4.1.13 on July 22, 2022.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Difficulties maintaining a sufficient number of contributors to keep the project viable have persisted for several years. In January 2015 the project reported a lack of active developers and code contributions. There have been continual problems providing timely fixes to security vulnerabilities since 2015. Downloads of the software peaked in 2013 with an average of just under 148,000 per day, compared to about 50,000 in 2019 and 2020.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: After acquiring Sun Microsystems in January 2010, Oracle Corporation continued developing OpenOffice.org and StarOffice, which it renamed Oracle Open Office. In September 2010, the majority of outside OpenOffice.org developers left the project due to concerns over Sun's, and then Oracle's, management of the project, to form The Document Foundation (TDF). TDF released the fork LibreOffice in January 2011, which most Linux distributions soon moved to, including Oracle Linux in 2012.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: In April 2011, Oracle stopped development of OpenOffice.org and laid off the remaining development team. Its reasons for doing so were not disclosed; some speculate that it was due to the loss of mindshare with much of the community moving to LibreOffice while others suggest it was a commercial decision. In June 2011 Oracle contributed the OpenOffice.org trademarks and source code to the Apache Software Foundation, which Apache re-licensed under the Apache License. IBM, to whom Oracle had contractual obligations concerning the code, appears to have preferred that OpenOffice.org be spun out to the Apache Software Foundation above other options or being abandoned by Oracle. Additionally, in March 2012, in the context of donating IBM Lotus Symphony to the Apache OpenOffice project, IBM expressed a preference for permissive licenses, such as the Apache license, over copyleft license. The developer pool for the Apache project was seeded by IBM employees, who, from project inception through to 2015, did the majority of the development.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: The project was accepted to the Apache Incubator on 13 June 2011, the Oracle code drop was imported on 29 August 2011, Apache OpenOffice 3.4 was released 8 May 2012 and Apache OpenOffice graduated as a top-level Apache project on 18 October 2012.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: IBM donated the Lotus Symphony codebase to the Apache Software Foundation in 2012, and Symphony was deprecated in favour of Apache OpenOffice. Many features and bug fixes, including a reworked sidebar, were merged. The IAccessible2 screen reader support from Symphony was ported and included in the AOO 4.1 release (April 2014), although its first appearance in an open source software release was as part of LibreOffice 4.2 in January 2014. IBM ceased official participation by the release of AOO 4.1.1.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: In September 2016, OpenOffice's project management committee chair Dennis Hamilton began a discussion of possibly discontinuing the project, after the Apache board had put them on monthly reporting due to the project's ongoing problems handling security issues.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: By December 2011, the project was being called Apache OpenOffice.org (Incubating); in 2012, the project chose the name Apache OpenOffice, a name used in the 3.4 press release.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice includes OpenSymbol, DejaVu, the Gentium fonts, and the Apache-licensed ChromeOS fonts Arimo (sans serif), Tinos (serif) and Cousine (monospace).


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice includes OpenOffice Basic, a programming language similar to Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Apache OpenOffice has some Microsoft VBA macro support. OpenOffice Basic is available in Writer, Calc, Draw, Impress and Base.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice obtains its handling of file formats from OpenOffice.org, excluding some which were supported only by copyleft libraries, such as WordPerfect support. There is no definitive list of what formats the program supports other than the program's behaviour. Notable claimed improvements in file format handling in 4.0 include improved interoperability with Microsoft's 2007 format Office Open XML (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX) — although it cannot write OOXML, only read it to some degree.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice does not bundle a Java virtual machine with the installer, as OpenOffice.org did, although the suite still requires Java for "full functionality".


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice 4.1.0 was released for x86 versions of Microsoft Windows XP or later, Linux (32-bit and 64-bit), and Mac OS X 10.7 or later.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Other operating systems are supported by community ports; completed ports for 3.4.1 included various other Linux platforms, FreeBSD, OS/2 and Solaris SPARC, and ports of 3.4.0 for Mac OS X v10.4–v10.5 PowerPC and Solaris x86. OpenOffice has also been ported to OS/2, and derivatives such as ArcaOS.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice does not "release early, release often"; it eschews time-based release schedules, releasing only "when it is ready".


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice has lost its initial developer participation. During March 2014 March 2015 it had only sixteen developers; the top four (by changesets) were IBM employees, and IBM had ceased official participation by the release of 4.1.1.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: In January 2015, the project reported that it was struggling to attract new volunteers because of a lack of mentoring and badly in need of contributions from experienced developers. Industry analysts noted the project's inactivity, describing it as "all but stalled" and "dying" and noting its inability to maintain OpenOffice infrastructure or security. Red Hat developer Christian Schaller sent an open letter to the Apache Software Foundation in August 2015 asking them to direct Apache OpenOffice users towards LibreOffice "for the sake of open source and free software", which was widely covered and echoed by others.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: The project produced two minor updates in 2017, although there was concern about the potential bugginess of the first of these releases. Patricia Shanahan, the release manager for the previous year's update, noted: "I don't like the idea of changes going out to millions of users having only been seriously examined by one programmer — even if I'm that programmer." Brett Porter, then Apache Software Foundation chairman, asked if the project should "discourage downloads". The next update, released in November 2018, included fixes for regressions introduced in previous releases.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: "The Register" published an article in October 2018 entitled "Apache OpenOffice, the Schrodinger's app: No one knows if it's dead or alive, no one really wants to look inside", which found there were 141 code committers at the time of publication, compared to 140 in 2014; this was a change from the sustained growth experienced prior to 2014. The article concluded: "Reports of AOO's death appear to have been greatly exaggerated; the project just looks that way because it's moving slowly."


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Between October 2014 and July 2015 the project had no release manager. During this period, in April 2015, a known remote code execution security vulnerability in Apache OpenOffice 4.1.1 was announced (), but the project did not have the developers available to release the software fix. Instead, the Apache project published a workaround for users, leaving the vulnerability in the download. Former PMC chair Andrea Pescetti volunteered as release manager in July 2015 and version 4.1.2 was released in October 2015.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: It was revealed in October 2016 that 4.1.2 had been distributed with a known security hole () for nearly a year as the project had not had the development resources to fix it.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: 4.1.3 was known to have security issues since at least January 2017, but fixes to them were delayed by an absent release manager for 4.1.4. The Apache Software Foundation January 2017 Board minutes were edited after publication to remove mention of the security issue, which Jim Jagielski of the ASF board claimed would be fixed by May 2017. Fixes were finally released in October 2017. Further unfixed problems showed up in February 2019, with "The Register" unable to get a response from the developers, although the existing proof-of-concept exploit doesn't work with OpenOffice out-of-the-box.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Version 4.1.11 was released in October 2021 with a fix for a remote code execution security vulnerability () that was publicly revealed the previous month. The project had been notified in early May 2021. The security hole had been fixed in LibreOffice since 2014.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Oracle had improved Draw (adding SVG), Writer (adding ODF 1.2) and Calc in the OpenOffice.org 3.4 beta release (12 April 2011), though it cancelled the project only a few days later.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Apache OpenOffice 3.4 was released on 8 May 2012. It differed from the thirteen-month-older OpenOffice.org 3.4 beta mainly in license-related details. Notably, the project removed both code and fonts which were under licenses unacceptable to Apache. Language support was considerably reduced, to 15 languages from 121 in OpenOffice.org 3.3. Java, required for the database application, was no longer bundled with the software. 3.4.1, released 23 August 2012, added five languages back, with a further eight added 30 January 2013.


title: Apache OpenOffice

text: Version 4.0 was released 23 July 2013. Features include merging the Symphony code drop, reimplementing the sidebar-style interface from Symphony, improved install, MS Office interoperability enhancements, and performance improvements. 4.0.1 added nine new languages.