In 1776 the history of the Bolshoi Theatre began when Empress Catherina II allowed Prince Pyotr Urusov to run theatrical performances. That theatre burned down and a new one was built in 1825. That one burnt down too, but it was rebuilt and reopened in 1856. After that, no important repairs were made to the building for 150 years. By the beginning of the 21st century it was in a very bad state and in danger of falling down. Major repairs were started in 2005, and the work should be completed by the end of October 2011. When it is finished the theatre should look just as it did at the time of the tsars, with embroidered silk tapestry and the tsar's sign replacing the communist hammers and sickles. The total cost of the rebuild will be around £400 million which is 16 times what they originally said it would cost.
The theatre is lucky to survive at all. At the time of the Communist Revolution (1917), the Bolsheviks thought the theatre represented the old tsars and everything that had been bad in Russia. They wanted to demolish it. Then they started to use it for their meetings. Lenin and Stalin both gave speeches there. The operas that were performed had to be ones that did not criticize the Soviet Union in any way
Guild
A guild is an association of craftspeople or merchants who control the practice of their craft in a town.
Many groups of people started as guilds, including scholars, and religious guilds. Many modern organisations, like universities, started as guilds. However, the basic idea of a guild was to control the training and practice of a trade or business. In Europe, guilds were given authority by the monarch. New young members had to serve as apprentices to a master for a certain length of time (such as seven years). At the end they became full members of the guild, and could set up on their own, and take apprentices of their own. That is the way the European world worked up to and including the first part of the 20th century.
There were guilds of weavers and dyers in the wool trade, of masons and architects in the building trade. There were guilds of painters, blacksmiths, bakers, butchers, and so on. The Corporation of the City of London includes the "livery companies". These companies were originally guilds. The senior members of the livery companies choose the Lord Mayor of London, the sheriffs and certain other officers.
Guilds were common in the cities of the Middle Ages. After that, around 1700 to 1800 their influence lessened somewhat. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith were much opposed to the idea of guilds. They believed that guilds hindered economic development and free trade.
Delara Darabi
Delara Darabi (; September 29, 1986 - May 1, 2009) was a Iranian girl, who was sentenced to death at age of 17. She was convicted of murder, despite her highly probably innocence and was executed by hanging.
Her case has raised controversy for number a reasons:
Delara's sentence was upheld by Iran's Supreme Court. The only person who could commute the sentence is Iranian Head of Judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.
In January 2007, Delara attempted to commit suicide.
Darabi was kept in Rasht Prison. According to her family and attorney, she was severely beaten by prison guards and fellow prisoners and left with a broken arm. Conditions in prison were extremely poor, leading Delara to repeatedly file requests to be transferred to another prison with better sanitary and overall conditions. Her requests were not answered.
Darabi was also a talented painter, poet and pianist. Her paintings were exhibited in Tehran and, recently, in Amsterdam.
She was executed May 1, 2009.
There was a petition online to save Darabi. A similar petition was started by Miss Canada 2003 Nazanin Afshin-Jam for another Iranian minor, Nazanin Fatehi, who was also sentenced to death. After worldwide attention and over 350,000 signatures Nazanin Fatehi was finally found innocent and freed. Amnesty International has also made many public statements and a letter campaign about Darabi.
She was born in city of Rasht (Province of Gilan), where she was a high-school student before her arrest. She had three sisters: Elaheh (21-year old), Ghazale (19) and Sheida (8). Elaheh and Ghazale are college students.
Her sisters were also born in Rasht.
Freestyle football
Freestyle football is a sport played by one person by kicking a football. Freestyle football is a new sport, which has become more popular in recent years.
To play freestyle football, one needs skill to keep the ball off the ground. This is done by juggling the ball with one's feet. Many people can do this well. At the same time, they can add in more difficult tricks. The most famous trick is called 'around the world'. There are five or more different ways of doing 'around the world'. Freestyle football can be played anywhere, such as in the street or a park.
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in Greater London, southern England in the United Kingdom. It is south of London and is part of the London Borough of Croydon.
The town grew up from Anglo-Saxon times around a palace belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1276 the archbishop allowed a weekly market to take place nearby and this date is taken as the founding of the town. The town grew in the eighteenth century as a stage coach stop on the way to the popular seaside town of Brighton from London. In the nineteenth century railways put the town only 15 minutes from London by fast train and it grew 23 times in terms of the number of people living there between 1801 and 1901.
Croydon is well known for having many places to go shopping, which includes two shopping centres called Centrale and the Whitgift Centre. A third one called Park Place is planned. Croydon has been rated the 20 best shopping area in the UK. It is also well known for holding a lot of offices for companies to let. The council wants to keep Croydon a big town by building more offices and entertainment facilities so a new place called the Croydon Gateway is planned. Purley Way, just west of Croydon, is a large retail park area which has many shops like Comet (which went in admin in 2012), Sainsbury's, McDonald's, IKEA, Argos, M&S, Boots along with a cinema and bowling alley.
Croydon is very easy to get to. There is a large bus station on the edge of Croydon, and three railway stations called East Croydon, West Croydon, and South Croydon.
Croydon is also served by Tramlink, a tram system, the only tram system in all of Greater London. It is the place where all four routes meet. They go to places like Elmers End and Beckenham in Bromley to the east, Wimbledon and Mitcham in Merton to the west, and Addington and Addiscombe to the south.
Addington
Addington is a village in the London Borough of Croydon in south London. Addington is home to many historical sites in Croydon, like Croydon Palace and the Addington Palace. St Mary's Church is also in Addington and is known for the cross commemorating five archbishops in the foreground. Before the tram system was introduced in 2000 connections to the town were very short with only a few buses to Croydon.
New Addington is a town close by to Addington. Once there was only one school in the village and all the children went to it, now that school has been demolished.
Flag of India
The modern Flag of The Republic of India has three colours, which are placed horizontally. At the top is saffron, which signifies sacrifice and patriotism. In the middle is white, which stands for truth in word and actions and purity in our thoughts. At the bottom is green, which stands for life and prosperity. In the middle of the white is a blue wheel, which is called the Ashoka Chakra. It has 24 spokes and it stands for progress.The Chakra or the wheel also symbolizes the Power of the State governed by Dharma. It is also called the tiranga or tricolour. The flag was discovered by Venkayya Pingali.