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Silver, Abba Hillel

(Encyclopedia)Silver, Abba Hillel, 1893–1963, American rabbi and Zionist leader, b. Lithuania. He was taken to the United States in 1902. Educated at the Univ. of Cincinnati (B.A., 1915) and Hebrew Union College,...

Frey

(Encyclopedia)Frey frā [key], Norse god. He was a beneficent deity associated with the fertilizing powers of the sun and the rain and, like his sister Freyja, with the return of spring. His worship, which extended...

Bonampak

(Encyclopedia)Bonampak bōnämpäkˈ [key], ruined city of the Late Classic period of the Maya, close to Tuxtla, in Chiapas, S Mexico. Discovered in 1946, it consists of a group of temples, one of which is remarkab...

orientation

(Encyclopedia)orientation, in architecture, the disposition of the parts of a building with reference to the points of the compass. From remote antiquity the traditional belief in the efficacy of religious ceremoni...

Taj Mahal

(Encyclopedia)Taj Mahal täzh məhälˈ, täj məhŭlˈ [key], mausoleum, Agra, Uttar Pradesh state, N India, on the Yamuna River. It is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and the finest ex...

Westminster Abbey

(Encyclopedia)Westminster Abbey, originally the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery (closed in 1539) in London. One of England's most important Gothic structures, it is also a national shrine. The first church ...

Pieria

(Encyclopedia)Pieria pīērˈēə [key], region of ancient Macedonia, W of the Thermaic Gulf (the modern Gulf of Thessaloníki). It included Mt. Pierus, an early seat of the worship of Orpheus and the Muses, and Mt...

Barddhaman

(Encyclopedia)Barddhaman bərdwänˈ [key], city, West Bengal state, E central India. It has industries in ...

Baal-Shem-Tov

(Encyclopedia)Baal-Shem-Tov bäl-shĕm-tôv [key], c.1698–1760, Jewish founder of modern Hasidism, b. Ukraine. His life is the subject of many tales that circulated even before his death. Originally named Israel ...

Ringsted

(Encyclopedia)Ringsted rĭngˈstĕᵺ [key], city (1992 pop. 17,457), Vestsjælland co., E Denmark. It is the commercial and processing center of a rich agricultural region. Ringsted was a place of pagan worship in...