The post Tiny Scribble Drawn By Michelangelo Sells for $201K appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The scribble, which is the size of 1.8-inch by 2.6-inch, depicts a marble block and features the inscription “simile”, which is an Italian word for “similar”. It was found attached to the frame of a painting, “A Battle of Giants,” which is attributed to one of Michelangelo’s associates. The scribble was later identified as a work of Michelangelo after being compared to a number of similar diagrams housed in Michelangelo’s museum Casa Buonarroti in Florence, Italy.
Placing the diagram on sale, Christie’s set the estimated price to $8,000. However, the work ended up fetching a much higher price due to the scarcity of Michelangelo’s work.
The diagram is accompanied by a letter written by Cosimo Buonarroti, Michelangelo’s last direct descendant. Buonarroti sent the letter and the scribble to British diplomat John Bowring, who later became a Governor of Hong Kong, in 1836.
The post Tiny Scribble Drawn By Michelangelo Sells for $201K appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post Weird History: Albert Einstein’s Brain Was Stolen appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>Einstein is often considered one of the smartest people to have ever lived. This is why it isn’t surprising that scientists wanted to study his brain. Einstein himself wasn’t very fond of the idea and left instructions to cremate his body after his death. His wish was granted, but not entirely.
Following Einstein’s death on April 18, 1955, at Princeton Hospital, pathologist Thomas Harvey, who was called to perform the autopsy, decided to remove the brain of the legendary scientist. He did so without anyone asking him or having any permission to do so.
Once his actions were discovered, Harvey managed to get approval from Einstein’s son, Hans. Reluctantly agreeing, Hans added a stipulation that any study of his father’s brain has to be done for scientific purposes.
Don’t think it can get weirder than this?
While Harvey got the approval, he was soon fired from Princeton Hospital. He took the brain with him, took detailed photos, and later sliced it up into pieces. The pieces were preserved in a celloidin. At one point, Harvey kept the pieces of Einstein’s brain in his basement.
Years later, Harvey and a team of researchers have published several studies about their findings from examining Einstein’s brain. The studies mainly concluded that Einstein’s brain looked different compared to most other brains, but never got traction in the scientific community.
The pieces of Einstein’s brain were later returned to his heirs, who donated them to Philadelphia’s Mütter Medical Museum.
The post Weird History: Albert Einstein’s Brain Was Stolen appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post WWII Bunker Beneath Benito Mussolini’s Villa is Re-Opened for the Public appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>Visitors can tour the bunker of Villa Torlonia and check out its tunnels and rooms while also taking part in the immersive experience that mimics the attack of Allied forces through the sounds of gunfire and bombs. The tour includes a video showing how it would look like if the bunker was used for its original purpose.
Mussolini’s bunker was originally opened to the public in 2006 and was operating for two years as a tourist attraction. However, the bunker was mostly closed since then, with tours being organized on an occasional basis.
Villa Torlonia was constructed in the early 19th century and belonged to the Italian princely Torlonia family. Mussolini moved into the villa in the 1920s and used it for almost two decades as a residence. It was abandoned and left to ruin after World War II ended before the Municipality of Rome acquired it in 1977.
The post WWII Bunker Beneath Benito Mussolini’s Villa is Re-Opened for the Public appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post 5 Quick Facts About the Leaning Tower of Pisa appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>From the very start of the construction of the tower in the 12th century, it became clear that the soft ground of the area couldn’t properly support the weight of the construction. After being completed in the 14th century, the tower was already leaned, and the issue worsened in the following centuries. But thanks to efforts in the 1990s and 2000s, the tower was significantly stabilized.
The construction of the tower started in 1173, but the various conflicts that the Republic of Pisa engaged in the ensuing decades significantly slowed down its completion. The construction took place in three major phases and concluded 199 years later with the addition of the bell chamber in 1372.
If you look closely, you will notice that the Tower of Pisa is also curved. This was a result of attempts to correct the leaning in the early days of its construction.
You would expect that leaning constructions are not particularly resistant when it comes to seismic events. However, the Tower of Pisa managed to survive several earthquakes and emerge unscathed. This is thanks to the same soft ground that causes its leaning.
The previously mentioned stabilizing efforts managed to straighten out the tower and prevent further leaning. However, experts predict that it will start leaning again in 200 years, at which point another intervention will be necessary.
The post 5 Quick Facts About the Leaning Tower of Pisa appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post 4 Facts About the History of Monopoly You Probably Didn’t Know appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The initial idea of Monopoly wasn’t just for people to have fun. The game was created to also help people understand tax and real estate.
The early versions of Monopoly didn’t come with a token. Instead, the players used any item they could find. It wasn’t until 1935 that six tokens—a battleship, a cannon, a clothes iron, a shoe, a top hat, and a thimble—became part of the game.
When it was first published, Monopoly cost $2, which wasn’t as cheap at the time as it sounds. Nowadays, the original version comes with a price of $20. There is also a $2 million version made out of gold and diamonds.
During World War II, British intelligence used Monopoly to smuggle items that would help Allied prisoners of war. They would hide items like maps and tools in Monopoly boxes and then place them into aid packages that the Red Cross was allowed to distribute in German prison camps.
The post 4 Facts About the History of Monopoly You Probably Didn’t Know appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post Colorized Footage Shows How the World Looked in 1896 appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>Watching Lumière films doesn’t paint a full picture of the period, considering the technology was limited, and their works were shot in black and white. But that is changing thanks to history enthusiasts and modern advancements.
The YouTube channel Lost in Time recently shared a colorized compilation of Lumière films from 1896 that provides us with a much better idea of how the world and life of people looked back on them. It consists of footage recorded from all over the world, including France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Egypt, and even Japan.
The video features a group of people throwing snowballs at a cyclist on the streets of an unnamed French city, a busy day on the streets of New York City, the pyramids and Sphinx in Giza, sword practice in Tokyo, and much more.
According to Lost in Time, the footage was colorized, upscaled, stabilized, and enhanced with the use of AI. The results are simply fantastic, so check them out below.
The post Colorized Footage Shows How the World Looked in 1896 appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post Should William Shakespeare’s Authorship of His Plays and Sonnets Be Questioned? appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The first questions about Shakespeare’s authorship surfaced in the 19th century. At the time, he was already considered the greatest writer of all time, and his works and life became a subject of thorough analysis. Soon, a theory was proposed that claimed Shakespeare couldn’t possibly write the works he was attributed because of his humble origins, lack of details about his personal life, and the fact that he didn’t receive a high education nor had an “aristocratic sensibility” to be able to write in such manner.
The proponents of the theory claim that Shakespeare was just a front face for another author or a group of authors who didn’t want to reveal their identity for some reason. The list of proposed “real authors” includes English philosopher and statesman Sir Francis Bacon and playwriter and poet Christopher Marlowe.
While the theory became popular and persisted to modern times, Shakespeare scholars offered a number of arguments to debunk it. For starters, Shakespeare’s authorship was never questioned during his life of centuries. Also, there have been plenty of historical records that support Shakespeare’s authorship of his works. This includes title pages with his name, official records, and testimonies from historians and his contemporaries.
Additionally, Shakespeare scholars point out that there have been plenty of playwriters who wrote about similar subjects while being from humble origins and having scarce biographies.
Everything points that Shakespeare wrote the works to which he is attributed, and questions about his authorship serve as another proof of his genius.
The post Should William Shakespeare’s Authorship of His Plays and Sonnets Be Questioned? appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post Long-Lost Silent Film Starring Clara Bow Was Discovered in a Box of Old Reels appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The copy of The Pill Pounder was discovered by filmmaker Gary Huggins after he purchased a box of old reels for $20 at an auction. After doing some research, he realized that he owned the only known copy of the movie in existence.
“It’s so rare, it’s so obscure,” Huggins told media outlet WOWT. “It was made by an independent studio. It was made in Queens, N.Y.”
Huggins later sold the reel with The Pill Pounder to television writer and producer David Stenn, who is known for writing Clara Bow’s biography Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild.
The Pill Pounder features one of the early appearances of Bow. The short movie, which premiered in 1923, tells a story about a small-town pharmacist who is attempting to organize a game of poker in the backroom of his store.
Clara Bow is considered one of the biggest movie stars of the late 1920s, and her movies are a huge box office draw. She starred in approximately 46 silent films and 11 sound films before retiring from acting in 1933 at the age of 28.
The post Long-Lost Silent Film Starring Clara Bow Was Discovered in a Box of Old Reels appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post One of the World’s Oldest Books Will Be Offered for Sale at an Auction appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The Crosby-Schøyen Codex is part of The Schøyen Collection, which is one of the largest and most important collections of manuscripts in existence. It was written in a Christian monastery in Egypt over a period of 40 years and contains 52 papyrus leaves, or 104 pages, of two-column text.
The manuscript was written in Coptic using a modified form of the Greek alphabet and contains the earliest-known complete text of the Book of Jonah and the first epistle of Peter. It is kept in the form of single pages, which are protected by plexiglass.
The Crosby-Schøyen Codex was discovered in the 1950s as part of Bodmer Papyri, which contained early Christian texts. It was in the possession of the University of Mississippi until 1981, when it changed hands several times before being acquired by collector Martin Schøyen in 1988.
“It is one of the earliest examples of the book in the form that we still know it today, and as the earliest in private hands, it’s unlikely anything like this will ever come to auction again,” Eugenio Donadoni, senior specialist for books and manuscripts at Christie’s in London, told CNN.
The post One of the World’s Oldest Books Will Be Offered for Sale at an Auction appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post 4 Interesting Facts About the Life of Vincent van Gogh appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>At one point in his life, Van Gogh worked as an art dealer for the company Goupil & Cie. However, he was often dismissive of the artworks that passed through his hands and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind about their shortcomings. Eventually, his employers got tired of his attitude and fired him.
Van Gogh was a deeply religious man in part thanks to the fact that his father and grandfather were ministers. He decided to take a similar path as a 25-year-old and wanted to become a pastor. However, he ended up failing the theology entry exam at the University of Amsterdam due to his dislike of Latin and later abandoned the idea completely.
It is believed that Van Gogh made his first artwork at the age of 27 and proceeded to create more than 2,000 paintings, drawings, and sketches until his death 10 years later. Additionally, most of his 900 oil paintings were created in the final two years of his life.
You probably know that Van Gogh severed his left ear. But do you know why? It turns out that Van Gogh got into a heated discussion with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, and two men engaged in a physical confrontation during which Van Gogh attacked Gauguin with a razor. Angry with himself for crossing the line, Van Gogh took the rage on himself by severing his ear.
The post 4 Interesting Facts About the Life of Vincent van Gogh appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post Tiny Scribble Drawn By Michelangelo Sells for $201K appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The scribble, which is the size of 1.8-inch by 2.6-inch, depicts a marble block and features the inscription “simile”, which is an Italian word for “similar”. It was found attached to the frame of a painting, “A Battle of Giants,” which is attributed to one of Michelangelo’s associates. The scribble was later identified as a work of Michelangelo after being compared to a number of similar diagrams housed in Michelangelo’s museum Casa Buonarroti in Florence, Italy.
Placing the diagram on sale, Christie’s set the estimated price to $8,000. However, the work ended up fetching a much higher price due to the scarcity of Michelangelo’s work.
The diagram is accompanied by a letter written by Cosimo Buonarroti, Michelangelo’s last direct descendant. Buonarroti sent the letter and the scribble to British diplomat John Bowring, who later became a Governor of Hong Kong, in 1836.
The post Tiny Scribble Drawn By Michelangelo Sells for $201K appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post Weird History: Albert Einstein’s Brain Was Stolen appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>Einstein is often considered one of the smartest people to have ever lived. This is why it isn’t surprising that scientists wanted to study his brain. Einstein himself wasn’t very fond of the idea and left instructions to cremate his body after his death. His wish was granted, but not entirely.
Following Einstein’s death on April 18, 1955, at Princeton Hospital, pathologist Thomas Harvey, who was called to perform the autopsy, decided to remove the brain of the legendary scientist. He did so without anyone asking him or having any permission to do so.
Once his actions were discovered, Harvey managed to get approval from Einstein’s son, Hans. Reluctantly agreeing, Hans added a stipulation that any study of his father’s brain has to be done for scientific purposes.
Don’t think it can get weirder than this?
While Harvey got the approval, he was soon fired from Princeton Hospital. He took the brain with him, took detailed photos, and later sliced it up into pieces. The pieces were preserved in a celloidin. At one point, Harvey kept the pieces of Einstein’s brain in his basement.
Years later, Harvey and a team of researchers have published several studies about their findings from examining Einstein’s brain. The studies mainly concluded that Einstein’s brain looked different compared to most other brains, but never got traction in the scientific community.
The pieces of Einstein’s brain were later returned to his heirs, who donated them to Philadelphia’s Mütter Medical Museum.
The post Weird History: Albert Einstein’s Brain Was Stolen appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post WWII Bunker Beneath Benito Mussolini’s Villa is Re-Opened for the Public appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>Visitors can tour the bunker of Villa Torlonia and check out its tunnels and rooms while also taking part in the immersive experience that mimics the attack of Allied forces through the sounds of gunfire and bombs. The tour includes a video showing how it would look like if the bunker was used for its original purpose.
Mussolini’s bunker was originally opened to the public in 2006 and was operating for two years as a tourist attraction. However, the bunker was mostly closed since then, with tours being organized on an occasional basis.
Villa Torlonia was constructed in the early 19th century and belonged to the Italian princely Torlonia family. Mussolini moved into the villa in the 1920s and used it for almost two decades as a residence. It was abandoned and left to ruin after World War II ended before the Municipality of Rome acquired it in 1977.
The post WWII Bunker Beneath Benito Mussolini’s Villa is Re-Opened for the Public appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post 5 Quick Facts About the Leaning Tower of Pisa appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>From the very start of the construction of the tower in the 12th century, it became clear that the soft ground of the area couldn’t properly support the weight of the construction. After being completed in the 14th century, the tower was already leaned, and the issue worsened in the following centuries. But thanks to efforts in the 1990s and 2000s, the tower was significantly stabilized.
The construction of the tower started in 1173, but the various conflicts that the Republic of Pisa engaged in the ensuing decades significantly slowed down its completion. The construction took place in three major phases and concluded 199 years later with the addition of the bell chamber in 1372.
If you look closely, you will notice that the Tower of Pisa is also curved. This was a result of attempts to correct the leaning in the early days of its construction.
You would expect that leaning constructions are not particularly resistant when it comes to seismic events. However, the Tower of Pisa managed to survive several earthquakes and emerge unscathed. This is thanks to the same soft ground that causes its leaning.
The previously mentioned stabilizing efforts managed to straighten out the tower and prevent further leaning. However, experts predict that it will start leaning again in 200 years, at which point another intervention will be necessary.
The post 5 Quick Facts About the Leaning Tower of Pisa appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post 4 Facts About the History of Monopoly You Probably Didn’t Know appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The initial idea of Monopoly wasn’t just for people to have fun. The game was created to also help people understand tax and real estate.
The early versions of Monopoly didn’t come with a token. Instead, the players used any item they could find. It wasn’t until 1935 that six tokens—a battleship, a cannon, a clothes iron, a shoe, a top hat, and a thimble—became part of the game.
When it was first published, Monopoly cost $2, which wasn’t as cheap at the time as it sounds. Nowadays, the original version comes with a price of $20. There is also a $2 million version made out of gold and diamonds.
During World War II, British intelligence used Monopoly to smuggle items that would help Allied prisoners of war. They would hide items like maps and tools in Monopoly boxes and then place them into aid packages that the Red Cross was allowed to distribute in German prison camps.
The post 4 Facts About the History of Monopoly You Probably Didn’t Know appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post Colorized Footage Shows How the World Looked in 1896 appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>Watching Lumière films doesn’t paint a full picture of the period, considering the technology was limited, and their works were shot in black and white. But that is changing thanks to history enthusiasts and modern advancements.
The YouTube channel Lost in Time recently shared a colorized compilation of Lumière films from 1896 that provides us with a much better idea of how the world and life of people looked back on them. It consists of footage recorded from all over the world, including France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Egypt, and even Japan.
The video features a group of people throwing snowballs at a cyclist on the streets of an unnamed French city, a busy day on the streets of New York City, the pyramids and Sphinx in Giza, sword practice in Tokyo, and much more.
According to Lost in Time, the footage was colorized, upscaled, stabilized, and enhanced with the use of AI. The results are simply fantastic, so check them out below.
The post Colorized Footage Shows How the World Looked in 1896 appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post Should William Shakespeare’s Authorship of His Plays and Sonnets Be Questioned? appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The first questions about Shakespeare’s authorship surfaced in the 19th century. At the time, he was already considered the greatest writer of all time, and his works and life became a subject of thorough analysis. Soon, a theory was proposed that claimed Shakespeare couldn’t possibly write the works he was attributed because of his humble origins, lack of details about his personal life, and the fact that he didn’t receive a high education nor had an “aristocratic sensibility” to be able to write in such manner.
The proponents of the theory claim that Shakespeare was just a front face for another author or a group of authors who didn’t want to reveal their identity for some reason. The list of proposed “real authors” includes English philosopher and statesman Sir Francis Bacon and playwriter and poet Christopher Marlowe.
While the theory became popular and persisted to modern times, Shakespeare scholars offered a number of arguments to debunk it. For starters, Shakespeare’s authorship was never questioned during his life of centuries. Also, there have been plenty of historical records that support Shakespeare’s authorship of his works. This includes title pages with his name, official records, and testimonies from historians and his contemporaries.
Additionally, Shakespeare scholars point out that there have been plenty of playwriters who wrote about similar subjects while being from humble origins and having scarce biographies.
Everything points that Shakespeare wrote the works to which he is attributed, and questions about his authorship serve as another proof of his genius.
The post Should William Shakespeare’s Authorship of His Plays and Sonnets Be Questioned? appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post Long-Lost Silent Film Starring Clara Bow Was Discovered in a Box of Old Reels appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The copy of The Pill Pounder was discovered by filmmaker Gary Huggins after he purchased a box of old reels for $20 at an auction. After doing some research, he realized that he owned the only known copy of the movie in existence.
“It’s so rare, it’s so obscure,” Huggins told media outlet WOWT. “It was made by an independent studio. It was made in Queens, N.Y.”
Huggins later sold the reel with The Pill Pounder to television writer and producer David Stenn, who is known for writing Clara Bow’s biography Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild.
The Pill Pounder features one of the early appearances of Bow. The short movie, which premiered in 1923, tells a story about a small-town pharmacist who is attempting to organize a game of poker in the backroom of his store.
Clara Bow is considered one of the biggest movie stars of the late 1920s, and her movies are a huge box office draw. She starred in approximately 46 silent films and 11 sound films before retiring from acting in 1933 at the age of 28.
The post Long-Lost Silent Film Starring Clara Bow Was Discovered in a Box of Old Reels appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post One of the World’s Oldest Books Will Be Offered for Sale at an Auction appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The Crosby-Schøyen Codex is part of The Schøyen Collection, which is one of the largest and most important collections of manuscripts in existence. It was written in a Christian monastery in Egypt over a period of 40 years and contains 52 papyrus leaves, or 104 pages, of two-column text.
The manuscript was written in Coptic using a modified form of the Greek alphabet and contains the earliest-known complete text of the Book of Jonah and the first epistle of Peter. It is kept in the form of single pages, which are protected by plexiglass.
The Crosby-Schøyen Codex was discovered in the 1950s as part of Bodmer Papyri, which contained early Christian texts. It was in the possession of the University of Mississippi until 1981, when it changed hands several times before being acquired by collector Martin Schøyen in 1988.
“It is one of the earliest examples of the book in the form that we still know it today, and as the earliest in private hands, it’s unlikely anything like this will ever come to auction again,” Eugenio Donadoni, senior specialist for books and manuscripts at Christie’s in London, told CNN.
The post One of the World’s Oldest Books Will Be Offered for Sale at an Auction appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>The post 4 Interesting Facts About the Life of Vincent van Gogh appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>At one point in his life, Van Gogh worked as an art dealer for the company Goupil & Cie. However, he was often dismissive of the artworks that passed through his hands and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind about their shortcomings. Eventually, his employers got tired of his attitude and fired him.
Van Gogh was a deeply religious man in part thanks to the fact that his father and grandfather were ministers. He decided to take a similar path as a 25-year-old and wanted to become a pastor. However, he ended up failing the theology entry exam at the University of Amsterdam due to his dislike of Latin and later abandoned the idea completely.
It is believed that Van Gogh made his first artwork at the age of 27 and proceeded to create more than 2,000 paintings, drawings, and sketches until his death 10 years later. Additionally, most of his 900 oil paintings were created in the final two years of his life.
You probably know that Van Gogh severed his left ear. But do you know why? It turns out that Van Gogh got into a heated discussion with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, and two men engaged in a physical confrontation during which Van Gogh attacked Gauguin with a razor. Angry with himself for crossing the line, Van Gogh took the rage on himself by severing his ear.
The post 4 Interesting Facts About the Life of Vincent van Gogh appeared first on History Chronicle.
]]>