Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 December 7b

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Visby Cathedral
Visby Cathedral

There are 92 well-preserved churches from the Middle Ages on the Swedish island of Gotland, more than in any other part of Sweden. Most of these churches were built between the early 12th century and the middle of the 14th century, when the wealth of the island increased thanks to trade between Western and Eastern Europe. The oldest of these churches are Romanesque in style, and while Gothic forms eventually replaced Romanesque, church architecture remained conservative on Gotland. The churches were often decorated with murals, with stained glass, and with decorative sculptures both of wood (such as the Viklau Madonna) and stone (especially decorated baptismal fonts). In the middle of the 14th century, Gotland entered a period of decline and turmoil, and a loss of trade from which the island would never recover. Church-building activity ceased after around 1350. In the main town of Visby, only Visby Cathedral (pictured) was maintained, while other churches were left as ruins. (Full list...)

Today's featured picture

Coat of arms of Delaware

This historical depiction of the coat of arms of Delaware was illustrated by American engraver Henry Mitchell in State Arms of the Union, published in 1876 by Louis Prang. A Mid-Atlantic state, Delaware ratified the Constitution of the United States on December 7, 1787, becoming the first state to do so. The shield depicts a wheat sheaf, a corn cob and an ox, representing the importance of agriculture to the state's economy, with the blue horizontal stripe referring to the Delaware River. The ship in the crest is a symbol of the state's extensive coastal commerce, while the shield's supporters are a farmer with a hoe (again representing the central role of farming to the state) and a militiaman (recognizing the crucial role of the citizen-soldier to the maintenance of American liberties). The motto, Liberty and independence, was provided by the Society of the Cincinnati.

Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by Andrew Shiva

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