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Toltec

(Encyclopedia)Toltec tŏlˈtĕk [key], ancient civilization of Mexico. The name in Nahuatl means “master builders.” The Toltec formed a warrior aristocracy that gained ascendancy in the Valley of Mexico c.a.d. ...

interior decoration

(Encyclopedia)interior decoration, adornment of the interior of a building, public or domestic, comprising interior architecture, finishing, and furnishings. Asian and classical cultures used the decorative arts to...

Wittkower, Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Wittkower, Rudolf wĭtˈkōv-ər, Ger. vĭtˈkōv-ər [key], 1901–71, German-American art historian. After gaining his doctorate in Berlin, Wittkower became a research assistant and later research f...

mastaba

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mastaba mastaba măsˈtəbə [key], in Egyptian architecture, a sepulchral structure built aboveground. The mastabas of the early dynastic period (3200–2680 b.c.), such as those of the I dyn...

Pilgrimage church architecture

(Encyclopedia)Pilgrimage church architecture: see Romanesque architecture and art. ...

Beowulf

(Encyclopedia)Beowulf bāˈəwo͝olf [key], oldest English epic, probably composed in the early 8th cent. by an Anglian bard in the vicinity of Northumbria. It survives in only one manuscript, written c.a.d. 1000 b...

Ewald, Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Ewald, Johannes yōhänˈəs āˈväl [key], 1743–81, Danish poet. Ewald's elegant verse made him the leading poet of his time. He studied for the ministry but soon turned to writing. His lyrical tr...

German Catholics

(Encyclopedia)German Catholics, religious groups founded in 1844 by dissidents from the Roman Catholic Church. They were led by two excommunicated priests, Johann Czerski of Schneidemühl, Posen, and Johann Ronge o...

San Marino, country, Europe

(Encyclopedia)CE5 San Marino sän märēˈnō [key], officially Republic of San Marino, republic (2015 est. pop. 33,000), 24 sq mi (62 sq km), in the Apennines near the Adriatic Sea, SW of Rimini, N central Ital...

Bevis of Hampton

(Encyclopedia)Bevis of Hampton bēˈvĭs [key], English metrical romance of the early 14th cent. that also appears in Anglo-Norman, French, Italian, Scandinavian, Celtic, and Slavonic versions. Although its adventu...