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From today's featured article

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery (Ukrainian: Михайлівський золотоверхий монастир, Mykhaylivs’kyi zolotoverkhyi monastyr) is a functioning monastery in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The monastery is located on the right bank of the Dnieper River on the edge of a bluff northeast of the Saint Sophia Cathedral. The site is located in the historic administrative Uppertown and overlooks the city's historical commercial and merchant quarter, the Podil neighbourhood.

Originally built in the Middle Ages by Sviatopolk II Iziaslavych, the monastery comprises the Cathedral itself, the Refectory of St. John the Divine, built in 1713, the Economic Gates, constructed in 1760 and the monastery's bell tower, which was added c. 1716–1719. The exterior of the structure was rebuilt in the Ukrainian Baroque style in the 18th century (Full article...)

Did you know...

• ... that the Sacred Heart Church in Exeter, England is the earliest surviving architectural work of Leonard Stokes?
• ... that 72 Terrorists came from countries that President Trump recently banned in Executive Order 13769?
• ... that Ida Silverman logged over 600,000 air miles traveling the world, speaking and fund-raising for the creation of a Jewish state?
• ... that there were 31 ancient Egyptian dynasties?
• ... that the Battle of Hampton Roads was perhaps the most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies?
• ... that there are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac?
• ... that some people think approximately 300 years of phantom time were added to the Western calendar in the Early Middle Ages

In the news (from Infogalactic News)

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  Entered Restricted Area
  

On this day...

September 13

• 585 BC – Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victories over the Sabines, and the surrender of Collatia.
• 509 BC – The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September.
• 1899 – Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199 m – 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.
• 1906 – First flight of a fixed-wing aircraft in Europe.
• 1989 – Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu.
• 1993 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing the Oslo Accords granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
• 2013 – Taliban insurgents attack the United States consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, with two members of the Afghan National Police reported dead and about 20 civilians injured.

• More anniversaries:
  • September 12
  • September 13
  • September 14

September 14

• 81 – Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.
• 1829 – The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War.
• 1939 – World War II: The Estonian military boards the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł in Tallinn, sparking a diplomatic incident that the Soviet Union will later use to justify the annexation of Estonia.
• 1943 – World War II: The Wehrmacht starts a three-day retaliatory operation targeting several Greek villages in the region of Viannos, whose death toll would eventually exceed 500 persons.
• 1994 – The Major League Baseball season is canceled because of a strike.
• 2001 – Historic National Prayer Service held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks. A similar service is held in Canada on Parliament Hill, the largest vigil ever held in the nation's capital.
• 2003 – In a referendum, Estonia approves joining the European Union.

• More anniversaries:
  • September 13
  • September 14
  • September 15

• 1789 – The United States "Department of Foreign Affairs", established by law in July, is renamed the Department of State and given a variety of domestic duties.
• 1831 – The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
• 1915 – The Empire Picture Theatre (now The New Empire Cinema), the oldest running Cinema in Mainland Australia, opens in Bowral, New South Wales.
• 1942 – World War II: U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp is sunk by a Japanese torpedo at Guadalcanal.
• 1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation.
• 2000 – The opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics were held in Sydney, Australia.

• More anniversaries:
  • September 14
  • September 15
  • September 16

Today's featured picture

The Birth of Venus (Italian: Nascita di Venere [ˈnaʃʃita di ˈvɛːnere]) is a painting by Sandro Botticelli generally thought to have been painted in the mid 1480s. It has long been suggested that Botticelli was commissioned to paint the work by the Medici family of Florence, specifically Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici under the influence of his cousin Lorenzo de' Medici, close patron to Botticelli. However, there are no documents associated with the painting, and its first identification with the Medici family only comes in the 1550 edition of Vasari's Lives. It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as an adult woman, arriving at the shore (which is related to the Venus Anadyomene motif). The painting is on display at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. (Full article...)

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