Wikipedia:Main Page history/2024 February 13
From today's featured article
The Annunciation is an oil painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling. It depicts the Annunciation, the archangel Gabriel's announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus, described in the Gospel of Luke. The iconography focuses on the Virgin's purity. Her swoon foreshadows the crucifixion of Jesus, and the painting emphasizes her role as mother, bride, and Queen of Heaven. The painting was executed in the 1480s. It was discovered in the early 19th century on an estate of the Radziwiłł family, in whose collection it might have been since the 16th century. It was purchased by the banker Philip Lehman in 1920, was transferred to canvas from its original oak panel sometime after 1928, and is today part of the Robert Lehman collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 1847 the art historian Gustav Friedrich Waagen described the panel as one of Memling's "finest and most original works". (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that Amrita Sher-Gil's painting Hill Women appeared on a 1978 Indian postage stamp (pictured)?
- ... that the Chinese play Silang tanmu, which depicts a general returning home to visit his mother, was banned in Tianjin in 1945 because it "distorted the normal ethics and morality"?
- ... that W. Seavey Joyce's presidency of Boston College was dominated by frequent, large student protests?
- ... that barley was once used as a form of money?
- ... that actor Bridger Zadina became a national champion llama exhibitor when he was 11 years old?
- ... that male mangrove mollies mate sneakily?
- ... that 13-year-old Michael Artiaga won against his 15-year-old brother Andrew in the final round of the 2020 Classic Tetris World Championship?
- ... that Winchester College football used to be played on top of a hill, with a line of boys on each side to keep the ball from rolling away?
In the news
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- In American football, the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers to win the Super Bowl (MVP Patrick Mahomes pictured).
- Alexander Stubb is elected as the president of Finland.
- In association football, the Africa Cup of Nations concludes with Ivory Coast defeating Nigeria in the final.
- Marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum dies in a car crash at the age of 24.
- Irakli Kobakhidze succeeds Irakli Garibashvili as the prime minister of Georgia.
On this day
February 13: Shrove Tuesday (Western Christianity, 2024)
- 1891 – Frances Coles was killed in the last of eleven unsolved murders of women that took place in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London.
- 1961 – Geode prospectors near Olancha, California, discovered what they claimed to be a 500,000-year-old rock with a 1920s-era spark plug encased within (pictured).
- 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was assassinated using VX nerve agent in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Muhammad ibn Ra'iq (d. 942)
- Isabella d'Este (d. 1539)
- Dorothy Bliss (b. 1916)
- Balu Mahendra (d. 2014)
Today's featured picture
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The Dale Creek Crossing was a 650-foot (200 m) bridge in the southeastern Wyoming Territory, United States, completed in 1868. It was constructed by the Union Pacific Railroad as part of the first transcontinental railroad. With a maximum height of 150 feet (46 m) and with a necessity of cutting through solid rock on both sides, it was one of the most difficult parts of the line to build. The original bridge was built of wood, and its trestles began swaying in the wind from the opening day. The original bridge was replaced on the 1868 piers in 1876 by an iron bridge, manufactured by the American Bridge Company, and this was dismantled entirely in 1901 when the Union Pacific completed construction of a new alignment over Sherman Hill as part of a reconstruction project which shortened the Overland Route. This photograph of the Dale Creek Crossing was taken during construction in 1868 by the project's official photographer, Andrew J. Russell. Photograph credit: Andrew J. Russell; restored by Adam Cuerden
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