Chapter 3202: Flashing Mosaic (10)

Rome was not built in a day, and the same was true of Constantinople. In order to complete Justinian's dream of Hagia Sophia, the architects worked hard. They not only had to complete the dome with a huge span, but also ensured lighting, so that all Everyone can see the emperor praying.

Sofia means wisdom in Greek. When the psalm starts to be sung, the entire church is a huge resonance tank. It can produce amazing sound effects, but it may also cause other problems.

The fat lady sang a high note and pretended to shake the glass. In 558, the dome of Hagia Sophia collapsed due to the asymmetry of the weight of the mortar and its bonding. It seemed to blame the architects for their unwarranted confidence and their attempt to use the geometry they mastered. Knowledge overcomes the lack of building materials knowledge.

The designer was punished for this, and the dome was rebuilt in 563 and remains standing today. According to a traveler at the time, the daylight from the crescent windows and side windows can penetrate into the nave of the church at night. Many chains hanging from the dome formed a metal ring. The silver disks hung on the ring reflected the light of thousands of lamps and candlesticks. From the knotted chains, silver boats could be seen carrying the flickering flames. Although there are no waves, it is still moving back and forth happily in the flowing air.

When Constantine the Great came to the throne, the collapse of the Western Roman Empire was a foregone conclusion, so Constantine built a Senate in the new capital of Rome. It was almost the twin of the Western Roman Senate. There was a statue on the top of the Senate. The bronze Apollo sculpture was later brought back to Paris by the French during the Fourth Crusade. Now the original has been lost and a copy is stored in the Louvre.

When Georgiana entered the palace from the main entrance of Compiègne Palace, the first thing she saw was a stone statue of Apollo. He was located in a set of symmetrical main staircases, just like the bronze replica of the Louvre.

Going up this staircase, there are the Queen's Suite and the King's Suite on the left and right respectively. The handrails of the stairs were originally decorated with many golden symbols, but they were all removed during the Revolution. They were not actually pure gold, but just painted with a layer of gold paint. .

 The stairs are now decorated with many golden bees.

Actually, now that I think about it, that room decorated with flowers is not so bad. The person who painted those watercolors was Joseph Redoute. He was known as the "Raphael of Flowers" and was once exclusive to Marie Antoinette. Painter.

The last time Georgiana published a pamphlet on edible plants, Redoud was also involved, even during the Jacobin period he was not affected, and he also painted the interior of Malmaison.

 Josephine's taste was "taught" to Georgiana in their house in the rue Chantrayna, where "frogs croaked" and were filled with pink roses, cupids and swans.

As soon as she thought about the Burgundy castle looking like that, she had the urge to burn it down. But remembering that Josephine was also very annoyed now, she endured it and walked up the steps.

  She wore soft-soled silk shoes that did not make crisp footsteps. In fact, just looking at the portrait, Georgiana didn't know that Napoleon, who was wearing a golden crown with laurel leaves, was so out of tune that he couldn't sing correctly in any of the ten tunes.

Not everyone can hear the planetary music discovered by Kepler. At least Copernicus believed that all planetary orbits are concentric circles with the sun as the center.

After Kepler and Newton broke this fixed thinking, Milan astronomer Ognani proposed that the orbit of Uranus is approximately circular rather than parabolic.

This has aroused many people's doubts. According to the observation records she knew in the 20th century, Uranus's orbital eccentricity is indeed not large in the solar system, and Venus is the smallest. However, Uranus almost coincides with the ecliptic plane. It is difficult to observe this. easy.

 “Truth” must stand the test. It needs to be objective rather than subjective.

When Georgiana came to the Apollo sculpture on the second floor and turned around, she looked up and saw Talleyrand, who was with Francis of La Rochefoucauld's house, as if to greet her.

 “What are you doing here?” asked Georgiana.

“I’ll show you around, madam.” Talleyrand said easily, as if the dignified foreign minister had actually taken up the job of a tour guide.

She had heard those German ministers secretly call Talleyrand "His Royal Highness". Sometimes one title is enough to overwhelm a thousand words of flattery.

“How did you know I would come here?” Georgiana asked as she climbed the stairs.

"My theology teacher told me that after I enter the social world through the back door of religion, I will soon become a master." Talleyrand said easily, "It is not relying on a prominent family, but a powerful force, that is, thinking." Agile, yet passionate and brave.”

Georgiana felt that if no one stopped him, he would continue to brag like this, but after all, he answered her question.

"Please, Georgiana," said the son of La Rochefoucauld, leading her to the Queen's apartment.

 “I wouldn’t live there unless I was crazy.” Georgiana didn’t move at all.

“No one said you were staying in that suite, you were just visiting,” Talleyrand said.

She hesitated and followed them.

 The first room they arrived at was the reception room that used to be the queen's suite. Ladies had to wait here before meeting the queen. Now it was so empty that it could almost be used as a ballroom.

There is a relief on the wall. A man and a woman are cuddling together sweetly. The woman is holding a basket full of grapes.

“This is Anacreon.” Francis said. “He is an ancient Greek poet. He is especially good at singing love and drinking songs.”

 “Do you know him?” Talleyrand asked.

 Georgiana did not answer him, but looked at the relief.

She had just come to the realm of "Bacchus" from "Sun God", especially when she thought about the fact that a German queen once lived here, her mood became even more complicated.

This communication room has a large floor-to-ceiling glass window, and you can see the open space outside Compiègne.

"Many years later", a failed art student signed an armistice agreement with the French in a carriage on an open field.

 Faced with failure, some people may think about why they failed, and then work hard to correct it and strive for success next time.

Adolf did not dwell on this problem. He put down his painting brush and became an artist with devilish eloquence.

This is the scary thing about Nietzsche. Not only did he go crazy himself, he also cultivated a madman.

 But she didn’t want to give up Nietzsche, because he also said, don’t lose yourself in love. Shakespeare also said, "Love is a kind of madness."

When Justinian announced that divorce could not be so casual, the church took the opportunity to propose a ban on divorce, but Justinian vetoed it because he felt that doing so would increase the probability of poisoning and murder.

Justinian was right. Even without mentioning the Borgias, who were good at poisoning, Louis XIV's court was full of poisons, and even Madame de Montespan was involved.

 Beautiful gardens are full of various poisons, which do not necessarily require arsenic. The toxicity of some plants can even be retained in honey, such as gallbladder.

This is not knowledge that can be learned in the Herbology class at Hogwarts. After all, there is already a Potions class, and universal antidotes for ordinary poisons are enough.

 “You have not heard of him?” asked Talleyrand.

"Among all intelligent and spiritual creatures, we women are the most unfortunate." Georgiana looked at the relief and said, "A woman who knows nothing must become a prophet when she enters a new habit and custom. , if this thing is successful and our husbands accept the bonds of marriage, then our lives will be enviable, otherwise, it is better for us to die."

 Then she turned to look at Talleyrand and Francis: "Have you heard of this line?"

 “It seems you prefer Euripides,” said Francis.

"I don't like him, but because he wrote Medea." Georgiana looked at the relief again, "She and Jason were so sweet once."

"Don't look so sad, let's go to the next place," said Talleyrand.

Georgiana was so meek that she followed.

Men prefer to use swords and axes. When Henry VIII wanted to divorce Anne Boleyn, he executed her for adultery.

In the church's list of banned books, a notice was issued to readers of "On the Motion of the Celestial Bodies", proposing areas that should be "revised" in the book.

 First, because Copernicus was dead, they could not dig him up and ask him to ban publication.

The second reason is that the theory of celestial motion has practical applications, especially in navigation.

 That’s why such an announcement was made.

The lord demanded that Saint Catherine submit to her as his wife, or else he would have her tortured.

　　The wheel of time and destiny keeps turning, going round and round, as if nothing has changed, just like the earth goes around the sun and returns to the starting point.

The sun also moves. It is the star that has the greatest influence on the earth. The earth actually moves "forward" in an extremely complex spiral trajectory.

 In addition to the law of universal gravitation, artillerymen also need to know calculus, at least Napoleon knew it. Georgiana felt a headache when she saw the formulas he wrote. However, it was his "sword" and he had to maintain it from time to time to ensure that it did not rust.

Copper also rusts. The "bronze" Apollo sculpture was made of brass when it was built, and it looked golden.

Constantine was not Justinian who would use gold to make the altar of Hagia Sophia.

 There is this line in Euripides' "The Bacchae": I will chain them up and put an end to this immoral carnival immediately.

Justinian, however, felt that it was more important than lifting the shackles on the women of the empire to restrain the clergy of the empire more strictly.

 When the "Fire of the Vanities" was ignited in Florence, no one probably thought about which ones were Byzantine and which ones were Florentine.

 The people who confiscated these things were a group of children, and Savnarola himself was in his 20s.

Heraclitus said that aeon is a game of children, playing a game of chess pieces, and the master is the child.

  Aeon has a complex meaning in the Greek word for time, life, the world and even life itself.

He also said that one cannot step into the same river twice, but Nietzsche believed that in the eternal cycle, people always step into the same river.

Before the "wedding", Bonaparte wore a purple cloak. He looked so happy that Georgiana did not tell the truth.

  The saturation of purple is too high and ordinary people cannot handle it. People today are different from Caesar's time. Sculptures at that time had to be painted with paint, but not like now. Even if they are unearthed in color, they have to be washed away with water.

What’s more, the magical thing about Tyrian purple is that it changes color with sunlight, and the luster of silk can enhance this discoloration effect. People believed in the magic between it and the sun, so the senators wore it.

“If you don’t like that relief, would you like to shovel it down?” Francis asked.

 “It’s not annoying anyone, don’t touch it.” Georgiana said helplessly.

She is not Umbridge. She has to "correct" anything she doesn't like.

 Soon they came to the next room.

 (End of this chapter)