Gothic Nuts 4: Angers Castle & Apocalypse Tapestry
For the explanation of 'Angevin domical vault' please see Gothic Nuts 3: Angers Cathedral. The gallery of Apocalypse Tapestry was rather dark and it was a bit difficult to enjoy it enough with my naked eyes. I took both pictures and videos there. Coming back home and editing this video, I noticed that video was far better than my poor pictures to show details of the tapestry.
Stunning Renaissance Chateau for sale set near Toulouse - Ref 97007AEA32
A remarkable Renaissance Chateau in the heart of the Gers countryside. It comes with 4 bedrooms, 2 medieval tower rooms, living and dining rooms with large decorative open fireplaces and ornate stonework. In addition, a spacious 3 bedroom stone cottage plus grand pool surrounded by stunning scenery.
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Anthony Caro
Sir Anthony Alfred Caro, OM, CBE (8 March 1924 -- 23 October 2013) was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using 'found' industrial objects.
His style was of the modernist school, having worked with Henry Moore early in his career. He was lauded as the greatest British sculptor of his generation. Caro was born in New Malden, England to a Jewish family and was the youngest of three children.
When Caro was 3, his father, a stockbroker, moved the family to a farm in Churt, Surrey. Caro was educated at Charterhouse School where his housemaster introduced him to Charles Wheeler. In the holidays he worked in Wheeler's studio. He later earned a degree in engineering at Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1946, after time in the Royal Navy, he studied sculpture at the Regent Street Polytechnic before pursuing further studies at the Royal Academy Schools from 1947 until 1952.
Anthony Caro encountered modernism when working as an assistant to Henry Moore in the 1950s. After being introduced to the American sculptor David Smith in the early 1960s, he abandoned his earlier figurative work and started constructing sculptures by welding or bolting together collections of prefabricated metal, such as I-beams, steel plates and meshes. Often the finished piece is then painted in a bold flat colour.
Caro found international success in the late 1950s and for a time was popular in the US. He is often credited with the significant innovation of removing the sculpture from its plinth, although Smith and Brâncuși had both previously taken steps in the same direction. Caro's sculptures are usually self-supporting and sit directly on the floor. In doing so, they remove a barrier between the work and the viewer, who is invited to approach and interact with the sculpture from all sides.
In 1982, Caro was trying to organise an exhibition of British abstract art in South African townships when he met Robert Loder. In 1981, when staying in New York State, the pair developed the idea of running workshops for professional artists, which became the Triangle Arts Trust. They held the first Triangle workshop in 1982 for thirty sculptors and painters from the US, the UK and Canada at Pine Plains, New York.
In the 1980s, Caro's work changed direction by introducing more literal elements with a series of figures drawn from classical Greece. After visiting Greece in 1985, and closely studying classical friezes, he embarked on a series of large-scale narrative works, including After Olympia, a panorama more than 23 metres (75 ft) long, inspired by the temple to Zeus at Olympia. Latterly he has attempted large scale installation pieces, one of which, Sea Music, stands on the quay at Poole, Dorset.
In the early 2000s, his work featured nearly life-size equestrian figures built from fragments of wood and terra cotta on gymnasts vaulting horses. In 2008, Caro opened his Chapel of Light installation in the Saint Jean-Baptiste Church of Bourbourg (France), and exhibited four figurative head sculptures at the National Portrait Gallery, London. In 2011, the Metropolitan Museum of Art installed five works by Caro on their rooftop. As of 2012, Caro was working on an immense, multipart sculpture that would occupy three blocks of Midtown Park Avenue.
Music: Jody Fisher--Moonlight
Places to see in ( Strasbourg - France ) Eglise Saint Thomas
Places to see in ( Strasbourg - France ) Eglise Saint Thomas
St Thomas' Church is a historical building in Strasbourg, eastern France. It is the main Lutheran church of the city since its Cathedral became Catholic again after the annexation of the town by France in 1681. It is nicknamed the Protestant Cathedral (la cathédrale du Protestantisme alsacien, Kathedrale der Protestanten) or the Old Lady (Die alte Dame), and the only example of a hall church in the Alsace region. The building is located on the Route Romane d'Alsace. It is classified as a Monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1862. Its congregation forms part of the Protestant Church of Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine.
The site on which the current church stands was used as a place of worship under the patronage of Thomas the Apostle as early as the sixth century. In the ninth century, Bishop Adelochus established a magnificent church with adjoining school, however both burned down in 1007, and again in 1144. In 1196, construction began on the façade of a new, fortress-like building with an imposing steeple, built in the Roman style. Interrupted several times, the building work was completed in 1521, in the style of the late Gothic. Around 1450, the church commissioned a set of oil on panel paintings dedicated to the Passion of Jesus. Most of the surviving panels of this once scattered set are now kept in the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, which is why the anonymous master who painted them earned the notname of ″Master of the Karlsruhe Passion″. It is assumed that he is identical with the painter Hans Hirtz, recorded in Strasbourg before 1460. The upper right angle of the Christ Carrying the Cross shows the St. Thomas Church as it still looks today.
The church is a five-naved hall church, the oldest on the territory of former south-west Germany. Inside it is approximately 65 metres long and 30 metres wide, with a height of 22m (30m under the late-Gothic cupola). There is a gallery on the left outer aisle, and chapels to the left and right of the apse.
The church is internationally renowned for its historic and musically-significant organs: the 1741 Silbermann organ, played by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1778 and faithfully restored in 1979 by Alfred Kern; the French organist Louis Thiry recorded the Art of fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach on this organ. Another organ is the 1905 organ (installed in 1906) built by Fritz Haerpfer, following a design by Albert Schweitzer.
Monuments at the church date from between 1130 and 1850. Most famous are the richly decorated sarcophagus of Bishop Adelochus (ca. 1130) by the Master of Eschau and the huge, late-Baroque mausoleum of Marshall Maurice de Saxe (1777), created by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. Among the many other remarkable monuments, the Renaissance tombstone of Nikolaus Roeder von Tiersberg (1510) is notable for its realistic depiction of his decaying corpse. Roeder had been the donor of the life-size Mount of Olives group of sculptures (1498) now to be seen inside Strasbourg Cathedral. Neoclassical sculptor Landolin Ohmacht is represented by two works, one of them dedicated to Jean-Frédéric Oberlin.
( Strasbourg - France ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting Strasbourg . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Strasbourg - France
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Places to see in ( Strasbourg - France ) Eglise protestante Saint Pierre le Jeune
Places to see in ( Strasbourg - France ) Eglise protestante Saint Pierre le Jeune
The Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune Protestant Church is one of the most important church buildings of the city of Strasbourg, France, from the art historical and architectural viewpoints. It got its name, Young St. Peter's, because of the existence of three other St. Peter's churches in the same city: Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux (Old St. Peter's), divided into a Catholic and a Lutheran church, and Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune catholique, a massive neo-Romanesque domed church from the late 19th century.
The church has been Lutheran since 1524 and its congregation forms part of the Protestant Church of Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine. It is located on the Route Romane d'Alsace. The oldest part of the church is the small lower church used as a burial crypt, which is the remains of a Columban church erected in the 7th century.
Three of the four arched galleries of the cloister date from the 11th century, the fourth arched gallery is from the 14th century.
The Gothic main building, with its numerous chapels and the lavish rib vault dates from the 14th century. There are many frescoes from this time and the following one-and-one-half centuries, memorial slabs and monuments, the baptismal font, the central painting of the high altar and the choir screen, now unique in Alsace, which have also been maintained.
In 1780, the now nationally famous choir organ of Johann Andreas Silbermann was built (restored in 1948 and 1966 according to the rules of the Organ reform movement). Helmut Walcha recorded a large part of his performances of Bach's organ works here. The pulpit also dates from the same century, as well as another altar.
Between 1897 and 1901, the church, which had fallen into disrepair, was fundamentally overhauled by the Karlsruhe architect Carl Schäfer, one of the most important representatives of neo-Gothic sacred architecture in Germany. At that time, the entrance was moved to the side and a new main portal was created, a copy of the northern entrance of the facade of the Strasbourg Cathedral. The cloisters were painted in polychrome, following the example of the Hortus Deliciarum. The life-sized baptismal angel statue, along with the chapel and the choir glass windows, also date from this time.
( Strasbourg - France ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting Strasbourg . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Strasbourg - France
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Anthony Caro
Times religion correspondent Ruth Gledhill meets Sir Anthony Caro at his extraordinary 'Chapel of Light' at Bourbourg, northern France.
www,anthonycaro.org
Music: The End of the Day recorded by Alan Franks from his album The Arms of the Enemy.
alanfranks.com
Film by Ruth Gledhill
timesonline.co.uk/gledhill.
Ruth Gledhill's feature on Sir Anthony Caro appeared in The Times on Saturday November 8 in The Knowledge.
Angels Appear Live on Camera in Church During Deliverance Prophet Shepherd Bushiri
HOT NEW: Angels Unlock Samsung S9 Phone After Prophet Bushiri Prayer
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Prophet Shepherd Bushiri Major 1 of ECG Church commanded Angels of god to appear live to perform deliverance on church members in church and they were recorded live on camera during a sunday service.it was shown how ‘angels’ purportedly appeared during a live Sunday service at the Enlightened Christian Gathering Church (ECGC) headed by Prophet Bushiri. Wonders will never end .Maybe Prophet T.B Joshua of Synagouge Church of all Nations can learn a thing or 2 from this guy.
Lady and the Unicorn tapestries
These Dame and Unicorn medieval tapestries are on exhibit in the Cluny Museum in Paris, France.
Crown of thorns
According to three of the canonical Gospels a woven crown of thorns was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to the Crucifixion of Jesus. It was one of the instruments of the Passion, employed by Jesus' captors both to cause him pain and to mock his claim of authority. It is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John and is often alluded to by the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and others.
In later centuries, relics believed by many to be all or part of the Crown of Thorns have been venerated.
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Article text available under CC-BY-SA
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Artist Studios at Fearrington Village Second Annual Open Studio Tour 2016
Artist Studios at Fearrington Village announces their Second Annual Open Studio Tour & PreView Exhibit. The self-guided tour will be held Saturday, April 9th (10 a.m.-5 p.m.) and Sunday, April 10th, 2016 (Noon -5 p.m.). Eighteen artists will welcome visitors into their studios to present their creative process and view works in progress and those available for purchase.
The PreView Exhibit will be held Sunday, April 3, 2016 (7p.m. – 9p.m.) at The Barn at Fearrington Village. Visitors are invited to enjoy a taste of things to come - artwork by each of the artists will be on display. Representatives from five local restaurants (Angelina’s Kitchen, Bella Donna Italian Restaurant, Capt. John’s Dockside, Guanajuato, and Moon Asian Bistro) will offer samples from their menus. Enjoy a variety of acoustic guitar stylings from Danny Gotham. The tour and preview exhibit are free and open to the public.
Participating artists: Jim Aiken, Ginger Anderson, Anne Angers, Vidabeth Bensen, Forrest Greenslade, Murry Handler, Jan Harrison, Horty Jacobs, Ronnie Liberman, Art Lituchy, Vietta Maher, Zen Pakoski, Leslie Palmer, Eric Saunders, Steve Shafer, Beryl Sherman, Leigh Sherman, and Pat Stewart.
Art lovers will meet dedicated artists who are thrilled to demonstrate or talk about their work. A wide variety of media and styles are represented - paintings, drawings, photography, hand-screened original prints, fiber art, basketry, sculpture, woodwork, jewelry and more.
Tour Brochure/Map are available at business locations throughout the area. Bright yellow Open Studio signs will guide visitors to the studios.
Fearrington Village is off 15-501 in Chatham County – just 8 miles south of Chapel Hill. For details, to download the tour map or to view a work by participating artists go to fearringtonartists.org or fearringtonartists.blogspot.com. Visit us on Facebook at Artist-Studios-at-Fearrington-Village.
Brittany | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Brittany
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written
language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through
audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio
while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using
a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
In case you don't find one that you were looking for, put a comment.
This video uses Google TTS en-US-Standard-D voice.
SUMMARY
=======
Brittany (; French: Bretagne [bʁətaɲ] ( listen); Breton: Breizh, pronounced [bʁɛjs] or [bʁɛχ]; Gallo: Bertaèyn, pronounced [bəʁtaɛɲ]) is a cultural region in the northwest of France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period of Roman occupation. It became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as if it were a separate nation under the crown.
Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain, with which it shares an etymology). It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its land area is 34,023 km² (13,136 sq mi).
Brittany is the site of some of the world's oldest standing architecture, home to the Barnenez, the Tumulus Saint-Michel and others, which date to the early 5th millennium BC. Today, the historical province of Brittany is split among five French departments: Finistère in the west, Côtes-d'Armor in the north, Ille-et-Vilaine in the north east, Loire-Atlantique in the south east and Morbihan in the south on the Bay of Biscay. Since reorganisation in 1956, the modern administrative region of Brittany comprises only four of the five Breton departments, or 80% of historical Brittany. The remaining area of old Brittany, the Loire-Atlantique department around Nantes, now forms part of the Pays de la Loire region.
At the 2010 census, the population of historic Brittany was estimated to be 4,475,295. Of these, 71% lived in the region of Brittany, while 29% lived in the Loire-Atlantique department. In 2012, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes (897,713 inhabitants), Rennes (690,467 inhabitants), and Brest (314,844 inhabitants). Brittany is the traditional homeland of the Breton people and is recognised by the Celtic League as one of the six Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history. A nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the French Republic.
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery (French: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, [simtjɛːʁ dy pɛːʁ laʃɛːz]; formerly, cimetière de l'Est, East Cemetery) is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris (44 hectares or 110 acres), though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.
Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement and is notable for being the first garden cemetery, as well as the first municipal cemetery. It is also the site of three World War I memorials.
This video is targeted to blind users.
Attribution:
Article text available under CC-BY-SA
Creative Commons image source in video
Brittany | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Brittany
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written
language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through
audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio
while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using
a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
In case you don't find one that you were looking for, put a comment.
This video uses Google TTS en-US-Standard-D voice.
SUMMARY
=======
Brittany (; French: Bretagne [bʁətaɲ] ( listen); Breton: Breizh, pronounced [bʁɛjs] or [bʁɛχ]; Gallo: Bertaèyn, pronounced [bəʁtaɛɲ]) is a cultural region in the northwest of France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period of Roman occupation. It became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as if it were a separate nation under the crown.
Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain, with which it shares an etymology). It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its land area is 34,023 km² (13,136 sq mi).
Brittany is the site of some of the world's oldest standing architecture, home to the Barnenez, the Tumulus Saint-Michel and others, which date to the early 5th millennium BC. Today, the historical province of Brittany is split among five French departments: Finistère in the west, Côtes-d'Armor in the north, Ille-et-Vilaine in the north east, Loire-Atlantique in the south east and Morbihan in the south on the Bay of Biscay. Since reorganisation in 1956, the modern administrative region of Brittany comprises only four of the five Breton departments, or 80% of historical Brittany. The remaining area of old Brittany, the Loire-Atlantique department around Nantes, now forms part of the Pays de la Loire region.
At the 2010 census, the population of historic Brittany was estimated to be 4,475,295. Of these, 71% lived in the region of Brittany, while 29% lived in the Loire-Atlantique department. In 2012, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes (897,713 inhabitants), Rennes (690,467 inhabitants), and Brest (314,844 inhabitants). Brittany is the traditional homeland of the Breton people and is recognised by the Celtic League as one of the six Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history. A nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the French Republic.
Brittany | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Brittany
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Brittany (; French: Bretagne [bʁətaɲ] (listen); Breton: Breizh, pronounced [bʁɛjs] or [bʁɛχ]; Gallo: Bertaèyn, pronounced [bəʁtaɛɲ]) is a cultural region in the northwest of France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period of Roman occupation. It became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as if it were a separate nation under the crown.
Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain, with which it shares an etymology). It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its land area is 34,023 km² (13,136 sq mi).
Brittany is the site of some of the world's oldest standing architecture, home to the Barnenez, the Tumulus Saint-Michel and others, which date to the early 5th millennium BC. Today, the historical province of Brittany is split among five French departments: Finistère in the west, Côtes-d'Armor in the north, Ille-et-Vilaine in the north east, Loire-Atlantique in the south east and Morbihan in the south on the Bay of Biscay. Since reorganisation in 1956, the modern administrative region of Brittany comprises only four of the five Breton departments, or 80% of historical Brittany. The remaining area of old Brittany, the Loire-Atlantique department around Nantes, now forms part of the Pays de la Loire region.
At the 2010 census, the population of historic Brittany was estimated to be 4,475,295. Of these, 71% lived in the region of Brittany, while 29% lived in the Loire-Atlantique department. In 2012, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes (897,713 inhabitants), Rennes (690,467 inhabitants), and Brest (314,844 inhabitants). Brittany is the traditional homeland of the Breton people and is recognised by the Celtic League as one of the six Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history. A nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the French Republic.
Nantes | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Nantes
00:02:22 1 Etymology
00:04:01 1.1 Modern pronunciation and nicknames
00:05:01 2 History
00:05:09 2.1 Prehistory and antiquity
00:07:19 2.2 Middle Ages
00:10:02 2.3 Modern era
00:13:03 2.4 French Revolution
00:15:21 2.5 Industries
00:18:05 2.6 Land reclamation
00:21:19 3 Geography
00:21:28 3.1 Location
00:22:44 3.2 Hydrology
00:24:30 3.3 Geology
00:25:52 3.4 Climate
00:26:55 3.5 Urban layout
00:29:40 3.6 Parks and environment
00:30:56 4 Governance
00:31:05 4.1 Local government
00:33:49 4.2 Heraldry
00:35:28 4.3 Nantes and Brittany
00:38:15 4.4 Twinning
00:39:20 5 Demographics
00:42:33 5.1 Ethnicity, religions and languages
00:45:38 6 Economy
00:49:36 7 Architecture
00:54:32 8 Culture
00:54:40 8.1 Museums
00:56:46 8.2 Venues
00:58:22 8.3 Events and festivals
01:00:55 8.4 In the arts
01:03:39 8.5 Cuisine
01:05:23 9 Education
01:07:21 10 Sport
01:09:34 11 Transport
01:13:27 11.1 Nantes Public Transportation Statistics
01:14:06 12 Media
01:16:41 13 Notable residents
01:17:55 14 See also
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Nantes ([nɑ̃t] (listen)) (Gallo: Naunnt or Nantt (pronounced [nɑ̃t] or [nɑ̃ːt]); Breton: Naoned (pronounced [ˈnɑ̃wnət])) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, 50 km (31 mi) from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth-largest in France, with a population of 303,382 in Nantes and a metropolitan area of nearly 950,000 inhabitants. With Saint-Nazaire, a seaport on the Loire estuary, Nantes forms the main north-western French metropolis.
It is the administrative seat of the Loire-Atlantique department and the Pays de la Loire région, one of 18 regions of France. Nantes belongs historically and culturally to Brittany, a former duchy and province, and its omission from the modern administrative region of Brittany is controversial.
Nantes was identified during classical antiquity as a port on the Loire. It was the seat of a bishopric at the end of the Roman era before it was conquered by the Bretons in 851. Although Nantes was the primary residence of the 15th-century dukes of Brittany, Rennes became the provincial capital after the 1532 union of Brittany and France. During the 17th century, after the establishment of the French colonial empire, Nantes gradually became the largest port in France and was responsible for nearly half of the 18th-century French Atlantic slave trade. The French Revolution resulted in an economic decline, but Nantes developed robust industries after 1850 (chiefly in shipbuilding and food processing). Deindustrialisation in the second half of the 20th century spurred the city to adopt a service economy.
In 2012, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Nantes as a Gamma world city. It is the fourth-highest-ranking city in France, after Paris, Lyon and Marseille. The Gamma category includes cities such as Algiers, Orlando, Porto, Turin and Leipzig. Nantes has been praised for its quality of life, and it received the European Green Capital Award in 2013. The European Commission noted the city's efforts to reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions, its high-quality and well-managed public transport system and its biodiversity, with 3,366 hectares (8,320 acres) of green space and several protected Natura 2000 areas.