Category: Commemorative event

Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi, also known as simply Piranesi, was an Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric “prisons” – Le Carceri d’Invenzione. His father was a stonemason. Giovanni was apprenticed under his uncle, Matteo Lucchesi, who was a leading architect in Magistrato delle Acque, the state organization responsible for engineering and restoring historical buildings. In … Continue reading “300th anniversary of the birth of Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi”

Joan of Arc (1412–1431) was formally canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on 16 May 1920 by Pope Benedict XV in his bull Divina disponente, which concluded the canonization process that the Sacred Congregation of Rites instigated after a petition in 1869 from the French Catholic hierarchy. Although pro-English clergy had Joan … Continue reading “Centenary of the canonization of Joan of Arc, Maid of Orléans”

Florence Nightingale (12 May 1820-13 August 1910) Florence Nightingale was a British social reformer and statistician and the pioneer of modern nursing. She came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers. She became an icon of Victorian culture, especially … Continue reading “Bicentenary of the birth of Florence Nightingale”

HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, one of more than 100 ships of this class. The vessel, constructed at a cost of £7,803, was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames. The ship took part in celebrations of the coronation of King George IV. … Continue reading “Bicentenary of the launch of HMS Beagle”