Saturday, April 25, 2020

मोना लिसा की रहस्यमयी बातें | Mysteries About Mona Lisa | Monalisa Painting Secret hindi| Subrozone



Mona Lisa

PAINTING BY LEONARDO DA VINCI
Alternative Title: “La Gioconda”
 ARTICLE CONTENTS


Mona Lisa, also called Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, Italian La Gioconda, or French La Jocondeoil painting on a poplar wood panel by Leonardo da Vinci, probably the world’s most famous painting. It was painted sometime between 1503 and 1519, when Leonardo was living in Florence, and it now hangs in the Louvre Museum, in Paris, where it remained an object of pilgrimage in the 21st century. The sitter’s mysterious smile and her unproven identity have made the painting a source of ongoing investigation and fascination.


TOP QUESTIONS

Who was the Mona Lisa in real life?

How many years did it take to paint the Mona Lisa?

Where is the real Mona Lisa kept?

What is the value of the Mona Lisa?

Why is the Mona Lisa so famous?



Subject


The painting presents a woman in half-body portrait, which has as a backdrop a distant landscape. Yet this simple description of a seemingly standard composition gives little sense of Leonardo’s achievement. The three-quarter view, in which the sitter’s position mostly turns toward the viewer, broke from the standard profile pose used in Italian art and quickly became the convention for all portraits, one used well into the 21st century. The subject’s softly sculptural face shows Leonardo’s skillful handling of sfumato (use of fine shading) and reveals his understanding of the musculature and the skull beneath the skin. The delicately painted veil, the finely wrought tresses, and the careful rendering of folded fabric demonstrate Leonardo’s studied observations and inexhaustible patience. Moreover, the sensuous curves of the sitter’s hair and clothing are echoed in the shapes of the valleys and rivers behind her. The sense of overall harmony achieved in the painting—especially apparent in the sitter’s faint smile—reflects Leonardo’s idea of the cosmic link connecting humanity and nature, making this painting an enduring record of Leonardo’s vision. In its exquisite synthesis of sitter and landscape, the Mona Lisa set the standard for all future portraits.

There has been much speculation and debate regarding the identity of the portrait’s sitter. Scholars and historians have posited numerous interpretations, including that she is Lisa del Giocondo (née Gherardini), the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo, hence the alternative title to the work, La Gioconda. That identity was first suggested in 1550 by artist biographer Giorgio Vasari. Another theory was that the model may have been Leonardo’s mother, Caterina. That interpretation was put forth by, among others, Sigmund Freud, who seemed to think that the Mona Lisa’s mysterious smile emerged from a—perhaps unconscious—memory of Caterina’s smile. A third suggestion was that the painting was, in fact, Leonardo’s self-portrait, given the resemblance between the sitter’s and the artist’s facial features. Some scholars suggested that disguising himself as a woman was the artist’s riddle. The sitter’s identity has not been definitively proven. Numerous attempts in the 21st century to settle the debate by seeking Lisa del Giocondo’s remains to test her DNA and recreate an image of her face were inconclusive.


History

Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa about 1503, and it was in his studio when he died in 1519. He likely worked on it intermittently over several years, adding multiple layers of thin oil glazes at different times. Small cracks in the paint, called craquelure, appear throughout the whole piece, but they are finer on the hands, where the thinner glazes correspond to Leonardo’s late period.
Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription.Subscribe today
French King Francis I, in whose court Leonardo spent the last years of his life, acquired the work after the artist’s death, and it became part of the royal collection. For centuries the portrait was secluded in French palaces, until insurgents claimed the royal collection as the property of the people during the French Revolution (1787–99). Following a period hanging in Napoleon’s bedroom, the Mona Lisa was installed in the Louvre Museum at the turn of the 19th century.
In 1911 the painting was stolen, causing an immediate media sensation. People flocked to the Louvre to view the empty space where the painting had once hung, the museum’s director of paintings resigned, and the poet Guillaume Apollinaire and artist Pablo Picasso were even arrested as suspects. Two years later an art dealer in Florence alerted local authorities that a man had tried to sell him the painting. Police found the portrait stashed in the false bottom of a trunk belonging to Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian immigrant who had briefly worked at the Louvre fitting glass on a selection of paintings, including the Mona Lisa. He and two other workers had taken the portrait from the wall, hid with it in a closet overnight, and ran off with it in the morning. Peruggia was arrested, tried, and imprisoned, while the Mona Lisa took a tour of Italy before making its triumphant return to France.
During World War II the Mona Lisa, singled out as the most-endangered artwork in the Louvre, was evacuated to various locations in France’s countryside, returning to the museum in 1945 after peace had been declared. It later traveled to the United States in 1963, drawing about 40,000 people per day during its six-week stay at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It also toured to Tokyo and Moscow in 1974.


Condition

Scholars have noted that the Mona Lisa is in fairly good condition for its age. The poplar panel shows some evidence of warping from resistance to its original frame and to braces added by early restorers. To prevent the widening of a small crack, visible near the centre of the upper edge of the painting, dovetails were added to the back of the painting. Restorers later pasted heavy canvas over the crack and replaced the top dovetail.
The glass protecting the Mona Lisa was replaced with a bulletproof case after several attacks in 1956, one of which damaged an area near the subject’s left elbow. The Mona Lisa thus escaped harm from acts of vandalism in 1974 during the work’s visit to Tokyo and in 2009 when a museumgoer threw a ceramic mug at it.


Friday, April 24, 2020

Why is the Dead Sea called the Dead Sea?

Why is the Dead Sea called the Dead Sea?




What is Dead Sea?

The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth at 430.5 meters (1412 feet) below sea level. It is a majestic and mysterious looking lake of light turquoise waters with salt crystals jutting out of it, and golden-brown hills surrounding it.

Where is the Dead Sea?

It is located in the Jordan Rift Valley, bordered by Israel to the East and Jordan to the West. Its hyper-salty waters and mineral-rich mud are known for their many health benefits, and many tourists and locals alike visit the hotels and spas on its beaches for mud treatments and salt baths.

Dead Sea Floating

Why is the Dead Sea called the Dead Sea? Oh, this is an interesting story. Read on to find out!

Why is the Dead Sea so salty?

The Dead Sea is famously known for being one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, and certainly the deepest hyper-saline in the world, at a depth of 304 meters (997 feet). And the reason for this high salinity? The Dead Sea is a terminus for the flow of rain and surface water, which means water flows into it but doesn’t flow out: its water has no escape, but is trapped to evaporate.  Soaring summer temperatures and year-round hot dry climatic conditions make it a perfect place to spend unforgettable holidays yet lead to significant losses of water to evaporation. The water has been losing its H2O content for 65,000 years, with the minerals becoming more and more concentrated and salt prominent among them.

How did the Dead Sea get its name?

In various languages, the Dead Sea is referred to by different names, all reflective of its characteristics. Let’s take a look at all its different names and understand their origins.

The Salt Sea

The Dead Sea’s earliest known name is recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, where it is referred to as “the Salt Sea”, from the Book of Genesis through to The Prophets and later writings. This name was given to due to its unique character: its significantly high salt content, which makes it a source for rock and sea salts.
In the later Roman Era, salt was a highly-valued, strictly controlled commodity, more so than gold or silver. The Roman armies were paid in salt, rather than hard currency, The Latin word for salt – “sal” – forms the basis of the word ‘salary’ from this same meaning. The Romans, beginning with Emperor Trajan, constructed a series of fortresses to dominate every entry and exit ravine for the movement of Dead Sea salt, guaranteeing the payments of tax by the traders. This tax was also paid in salt, rather than coinage.

The Dead Sea

Earliest translations of the name of the Dead Sea into non-indigenous languages often use its original name of “The Salt Sea”, but already by the Roman Era, visitors to Judea had begun to refer to the sea as the “Dead Sea”, as they were mostly struck with how the waters were devoid of all life-forms, whether plants or living creatures.

The Dead Sea origins in the past clarify the matter even better. In the days when the Jordan River flowed south from the Sea of Galilee with full force in the wet season, one could witness reeds and fish swept down with the river flow into the highly saline water of the Dead Sea. As neither fish nor algae can possibly survive in water which is nearly 10 times saltier than most oceans, it was a death-trap for them.

The Plains Sea

In the book of Joshua in the Bible, the Dead Sea is mentioned by the name “the Sea of the Plain”: “That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the Sea of the Plain, even the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho” (Joshua 3:16).
Other names the Dead Sea has been called by over the years are: the Primordial Sea, the East Sea, the Sea of Lot, the Sea of the Arabah, the Sea of Sodom, the Stinking Sea, the Sea of Asphalt and the Devil’s Sea.

Recommended For You:

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Bermuda triangle ka rahasya | Bermuda triangle in hindi | Bermuda triangle ki kahani | Subrozone

What is the Bermuda Triangle?


The Bermuda Triangle is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean in which ships, planes, and people are alleged to have mysteriously vanished.

Bermuda Triangle map
This map shows the general location of the infamous Bermuda Triangle.
For decades, the Atlantic Ocean’s fabled Bermuda Triangle has captured the human imagination with unexplained disappearances of ships, planes, and people.
Some speculate that unknown and mysterious forces account for the unexplained disappearances, such as extraterrestrials capturing humans for study; the influence of the lost continent of Atlantis; vortices that suck objects into other dimensions; and other whimsical ideas.  Some explanations are more grounded in science, if not in evidence.  These include oceanic flatulence (methane gas erupting from ocean sediments) and disruptions in geomagnetic lines of flux.
Environmental considerations could explain many, if not most, of the disappearances.  The majority of Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes pass through the Bermuda Triangle, and in the days prior to improved weather forecasting, these dangerous storms claimed many ships.  Also, the Gulf Stream can cause rapid, sometimes violent, changes in weather.  Additionally, the large number of islands in the Caribbean Sea creates many areas of shallow water that can be treacherous to ship navigation. And there is some evidence to suggest that the Bermuda Triangle is a place where a “magnetic” compass sometimes points towards “true” north, as opposed to “magnetic” north. 
The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard contend that there are no supernatural explanations for disasters at sea.  Their experience suggests that the combined forces of nature and human fallibility outdo even the most incredulous science fiction. They add that no official maps exist that delineate the boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle. The U. S. Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an official name and does not maintain an official file on the area.
The ocean has always been a mysterious place to humans, and when foul weather or poor navigation is involved, it can be a very deadly place.  This is true all over the world.  There is no evidence that mysterious disappearances occur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other large, well-traveled area of the ocean. 
This text of this Ocean Fact was posted on January 4, 2010, and has not been altered since then.


Wednesday, April 22, 2020

SUNDARBAN : It's Not About The Tiger Only | Sundarban National Park | The Royal Bengal Tigers

"Home of the Bengal Tigers"

Sundarbans Tourism




SUNDARBAN : It's Not About The Tiger Only | Sundarban National Park | The Royal Bengal Tigers


Known for hosting the biggest mangrove forests in the world, Sundarbans National Park is located in West Bengal, India. It is also a Tiger Reserve and a Biosphere reserve that provides a complete nature's circle to the tourist right from 'Royal Bengal tigers' to roaring rivers and beautiful estuaries. Sundarbans National Park is a part of Sundarban delta that is covered with Mangrove Forest and the largest population of the Bengal Tigers. It is a UNESCO world heritage site with a large variety of birds and reptiles including salt-water crocodile.
Shared between India and Bangladesh, the Sundarbans meaning beautiful forest, have been declared a UNESCO heritage site. This area has a silent charm that manages to amaze one with the simplicity and naturalness of its ecological balance in spite of offering habitat to some of the most dynamic and awe-inspiring flora and fauna. They are in fact the last remaining stands of the mighty jungles which once covered the Gangetic plain and the sustainability of this natural structure is pretty majestic. Since 1966, the Sundarbans have been a wildlife sanctuary, and it is estimated that there are over 400 Royal Bengal Tigers and about 30, 000 spotted deer in the area.

This forest has the largest number of Sundari trees. Sundarbans epitomize wilderness with its meandering rivers, springs, creeks and estuaries. It is a declared Tiger Reserve, home to the Royal Bengal Tiger- an almost extinct species who swim in the saline water and are often man-eating varieties.

Other endangered species in the Bioreserve are Batagur baska, King Crabs, Olive Ridley and Turtle. You can also find the jungle fowl, giant lizards, spotted deer, wild boar and crocodiles in these forests. The Siberian ducks are another famous attraction here. Besides this, there are over 64 varieties of Mangroves such as Goran, Genwa, Dhundal, Garjan, Kankra, Sundari and Passur. Make sure to hit the Nilkamalor Hiron Point and Katka viewpoints that offer fantastic views of animals in the wilderness. Also, enjoy the mud-flats called Chargheri Char where you can enjoy coastal trekking.
Download Sundarbans PDF Guide
Free . Works Offline . Share Anywhere
Download Now

More on Sundarbans

Safari in Sunderban National Park 

Geography 

Watch Towers 

Flora and Fauna 

Islands 

Culture of the Forest Dwellers 

The Mysterious Delta 

Restaurants and Local Food in Sundarbans 

Suggested Itinerary 

Sundarbans Photos


+ 36
photos

Ask a Question

Ask a question from the travellers who have experience.
 
Q. Can any one give me private boat operators number? Planning to visit with kids.
Answer this question

Sundarbans Reviews

Your rating
 
 Sandip Maji 3 months ago
Roads from Kolkata are mostly two way and not that great. Sunderbans can be a different experience. Not that great with facilities. Take boating early morning. Ferocious Tigers..Tiger spotting entir (Read More)
 Geo Emmatty 3 months ago
Roads from Kolkata are mostly two way and not that great. Sunderbans can be a different experience. Not that great with facilities. Take boating early morning. Ferocious Tigers..Tiger spotting entir (Read More)

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Fact about Amazon Rainforest in 2020 | Largest Forest in the World | Subrozone


Fact about Amazon Rainforest in 2020

The Amazon is a vast region that spans across eight rapidly developing countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, an overseas territory of France.
The landscape contains:
  • CONTINENT
    South America
  • Why are there Fires in the Amazon Rainforest? - Answers

  • SPECIES
    Jaguar, Macaw, Amazon River Dolphin, Black Spider Monkey, Poison Dart Frog
  • One in ten known species on Earth
  • 1.4 billion acres of dense forests, half of the planet's remaining tropical forests
  • 4,100 miles of winding rivers
  • 2.6 million square miles in the Amazon basin, about 40% of South America
There is a clear link between the health of the Amazon and the health of the planet. The rain forests, which contain 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, help stabilize local and global climate. Deforestation may release significant amounts of this carbon, which could have catastrophic consequences around the world.

After the blaze: Amazon community begins recovery following the fires

In Bolivia’s Chiquitano Dry Forest region, flames impacted 5.4 million acres of forest. Thanks to WWF supporters, our on-the-ground partners were able to help the community begin to recover.
Burned forest in Bolivia© Natalia Ramirez / WWF-Bolivia

SPECIES

Squirrel monkey, Amapá, Brazil© Zig Koch / WWF
The Amazon contains millions of species, most of them still undescribed, and some of the world's most unusual wildlife. It is one of Earth's last refuges for jaguars, harpy eagles and pink dolphins, and home to thousands of birds and butterflies. Tree-dwelling species include southern two-toed sloths, pygmy marmosets, saddleback and emperor tamarins, and Goeldi's monkeys. The diversity of the region is staggering:
  • 40,000 plant species
  • 3,000 freshwater fish species
  • more than 370 types of reptiles
To protect these species, WWF works with local communities, partner non-governmental organizations, corporations and governments to ensure that deforestation and degradation of rivers are alleviated.

PEOPLE & COMMUNITIES

Two people on the Amazon© WWF-US/Deborah Gainer
More than 30 million people, including 350 Indigenous and ethnic groups, live in the Amazon and depend on nature for agriculture, clothing and traditional medicines. Most live in large urban centers, but all residents rely on the Amazon’s natural bounty for food, shelter, and livelihoods.

THREATS

An aerial view of deforestation in the Amazon. © Richard Lisboa/WWF-US
Despite its mighty splendor, the Amazon’s forest and freshwater systems are fragile and at risk.

EXTENSIVE CATTLE RANCHING AND AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION

Amazon forests suffer as global demand for products such as beef and soy increases. Forests are cleared for more and more cattle grazing pasture and cropland. These growing industries also displace small farmers, forcing them into forested areas which they must clear to sustain themselves.
Cattle pastures occupy 80 percent of deforested areas in the Amazon. Pasture runoff contaminates rivers. Fire used to manage fields often spreads into the remaining forests. The deforestation caused by ranching also contributes to climate change, releasing 340 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year.
Cattle ranching and forest burning

POORLY PLANNED INFRASTRUCTURE

Transportation and energy infrastructure are essential for national and regional development, but when they are poorly planned, negative impacts can exceed short-term benefits. For example, building new roads exposes previously inaccessible areas of forest to illegal and unsustainable logging. 
Hydropower is now used to meet Brazil’s growing demand for energy, but many dams are being constructed in areas of high conservation value. The dams:
  • disrupt river connectivity
  • block the range of many aquatic species
  • interfere with some subsistence and commercial fisheries
WWF conducts biological surveys and works with governments to help inform the dam site selection process. We advocate for a basin-wide approach to hydropower planning that identifies the rivers with the highest conservation value so that development can be steered away from them. 

ILLEGAL AND UNSUSTAINABLE NATURAL RESOURCE EXTRACTION

There is high demand for the natural resources found in the Amazon, but weak law enforcement to safeguard them. In addition, inefficient extraction processes lead to the destruction of nature and wildlife. For example, some mining activities contribute to soil erosion and water contamination.
WWF works to promote best practices and decrease environmental damage from:
  • gold mining
  • oil exploration
  • illegal logging
  • overharvesting of fish and other aquatic species

CLIMATE CHANGE

In recent times, warmer temperatures and less rainfall have produced droughts of historic proportions. The Amazon suffered its worst droughts of the last 100 years in 2005 and 2010. Long dry spells wither crops, decimate fisheries and lead to forest fires. This can result in significant shifts in the makeup of ecosystems and a loss of species. WWF helps farmers protect their crops from severe rainfall and droughts and ensure nearby wildlife areas can adapt to a warmer world. Learn more about the impacts of climate change in the Amazon.

WHAT WWF IS DOING

Jaguar© David Lawson / WWF-UK
Protecting and conserving the Amazon, a place two-thirds the size of the US, is a big job. WWF has been working in the Amazon for 40 years and is at the forefront of efforts to protect the forests, species, and people that call it home. We engage local communities and partner with governments to identify solutions that bridge the needs of economic development and conservation.

PROTECTING FORESTS

WWF collaborates with governments across the Amazon to create and manage protected forest areas.

In Brazil, through the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA), WWF works to create a network of parks covering 150 million acres of forest. This area would be over 50% larger than the U.S. National Parks system. WWF helps carry out surveys of the new parks as they are created and supports park planning and management.
An important milestone was the creation of Tumucumaque Mountains National Park, the world’s largest protected tropical forest at 9.5 million acres. This pristine wilderness, with its rugged and remote terrain, now protects species like jaguars, giant anteaters, harpy eagles and a rare monkey known as the black-bearded saki.

In the southwestern Amazon, WWF works to protect more than 25 million acres of forest and freshwater habitat. Our work through the Amazon Headwaters Initiative helps park authorities in Peru and improves fisheries and other sustainable livelihoods for indigenous people in Bolivia. In addition, data from years of tracking jaguars in Peru has shown us the importance of conserving long stretches of rivers in the Amazon; jaguars spend a lot of time in riparian habitat.

CONFRONTING DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION

Jarí River
Each year, the Amazon loses forested areas the size of the state of Delaware. Agricultural expansion, ranching, infrastructure projects, energy exploration and illegal logging are to blame. We address the following:
  • Soy farming: WWF works with the Soy Roundtable—made up of soy producers, processers and exporters—to improve the sustainability of their practices and minimize impact on the Amazon and its wildlife.
  • Cattle ranching: WWF works with the beef industry to create standards that increase efficiency and reduce waste. This includes educating ranchers about why it is not necessary to convert more forests into pasture to increase profits. WWF works through a Beef Roundtable to develop principles and criteria that increase the productivity of existing cattle ranches and prevent establishment of new ranches in high conservation value forests.
  • Hydropower: To meet growing energy demands, Brazil has the option to use dams. WWF provides scientific support to help find dam locations that will do the least harm to the environment.
  • Illegal and unsustainable logging: High demand for timber products, weak laws and poorly implemented trade rules lead to logging that destroys nature. WWF works to create market conditions that conserve the world’s forests, but also provide economic and social benefits for businesses and people.
  • Infrastructure: In Colombia, construction of an important road had the potential to disrupt the lives of local communities and harm a forest reserve. WWF’s participation in the planning process succeeded in creating the most environmentally friendly road possible and ensured that the needs of local communities were considered.

DEVELOPING A SUSTAINABLE FOREST ECONOMY

Regional and global demand for natural resources, including timber and fish, can be met without devastating the environment. We work with agriculture and timber sectors to eliminate waste and increase production efficiency.
We also seek to promote demand for sustainable forest products. WWF engages local indigenous communities and governments to manage protected areas. We also support local communities’ ability to earn a living sustainably. For example, in a protected area in Bolivia, WWF supports training and organic certification for sustainable Brazil nut harvesting.

PROJECTS

  • The Natural Capital Project

    Centered at Stanford University, the Natural Capital Project is a partnership among WWF, The Nature Conservancy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Minnesota, and Stockholm Resilience Centre. Through pioneering science, cutting-edge technology, and collaborative partnerships worldwide, the Natural Capital Project works to integrate the value nature provides to people into all major decisions.
  • Transforming Peru's forest sector

    Illegal logging is more prevalent in Peru than in most countries around the world. The majority of the timber from Peru is harvested illegally. But the Peruvian government—with help from WWF and others—is turning this situation around. Together, they are transforming and modernizing Peru’s forest sector.
VIEW MORE PROJECTS

EXPERTS