Many of you may know about France's regulations on Muslim veils and other indications of other religions. To dig deeper into this topic, I have found a blog with information explaining why the French have come up with and why the European Court of Human Rights has defended this decision. In a way, France is kind of doing the opposite of Jahangir, who supported religious tolerance, in order to get the same result, which is to strengthen the unity of the population. It is quite an interesting read, and I highly suggest that all of you would take a look this. 

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/07/economist-explains-2

-Skyler Young

Since everyone in the class really liked the painting by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, I looked into it. It is called The Girl with a Pearl Earring .

 

Heres the link with some facts about it: http://totallyhistory.com/girl-with-a-pearl-earring/
This link elaborates on the mystery of the the subject of the painting tieing in some of his other paintings in and mentions his painting styles: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/the-girl-with-the-pearl-e_n_4178779.html

-Suman Mann

Even though we learned about Alexander the Great earlier on in the year, this article has some fascinating facts about him and his life out on the battlefield, which we did not learn in class. Hope you guys enjoy it.
- Richa Sharma

http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/eight-surprising-facts-about-alexander-the-great

Hi everyone!

I found this article and thought it was interesting because it lists a bunch of facts you may not have known about Joan of Arc. Personally, I find the fact about Joan of Arc's volatile temper to be quite interesting. Tell me what you think!

-Kylie Chan

http://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-joan-of-arc

the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month

I saw this over the Veteran's Day holiday weekend. With my birthday on November 10th I have always been well aware of Veteran's day (or Armistice Day in the UK) and its connection with the end of World War One on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. To honor those that died in this war which began one hundred years ago in 1914, a powerful memorial was created at the Tower of London.


Many of you may not know the significance of the poppy in regards to fallen soldiers, but we will look at this when we get to the 20th century in the spring.

Here is a link to the news story which ran on the Nightly News with Brian Williams
http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/tower-london-poppies-honor-lives-they-would-have-led-n245621


and here is a beautiful gallery of some of the photos taken
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/photo/flanders-field-ceramic-poppies-planted-honor-wwi-veterans-n246146

Mona Lisa, Lady with the mystic smile

After our conversation in class about the Mona Lisa, its home at the Louvre and the crazy number of people who visit it every day, I thought I'd share some articles which may be interesting to some of you.

The first is not about not the Mona Lisa itself but an intriguing copy that was made. Check out the story behind who did this and when it was created
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/feb/01/new-mona-lisa-prado



And here is one more story involving the Mona Lisa
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/05/louvre-and-mona-lisa-world-war-2/
It is about how many of the great works of art that were housed in the Louvre were hidden during World War 2 and then returned once the Nazi's were defeated.