Cultural Gallery

Nebra sky disk, Bronze Age

Nebra sky disk. Artwork of a Bronze Age artefact known as the Nebra sky disk. Made of bronze and inlaid with gold, this object is around 30 centimetres across. It was found in Germany and is thought to date to around 1600 BC. The gold symbols are thought to represent the Sun (left), a Crescent Moon (right), and the stars (dots). The two arcs at left and right represent the angles between the rising of the Sun at the solstices, and the arc at bottom may represent the barge of the Sun, or the Milky Way. The disc is now kept in the Saxony-Anhalt State Museum for Prehistory, Germany

© JOSE ANTONIO PE'AS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Cervantess Don Quixote in his library

Cervantes's Don Quixote in his library, 1863 French edition. Don Quixote reading books on chivalry in his library before setting out on his quest. Don Quixote is a work published in two parts (1605 and 1615) by Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616). It tells the story of a Spanish nobleman and would-be knight Alonso Quijano (who calls himself Don Quixote) and the farmer Sancho who travels with him as his squire. Artwork, by French artist Gustave Dore (1832-1883; engraved by Heliodore Joseph Pisan (1822-1890)

© MIDDLE TEMPLE LIBRARY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Czech Republic - 10th All Sokol Rally in Prague 1938

A rally to promoting public exercise as a way to stimulate national self importance (through organised gymnastic and athletic demonstrations - usually mass-participation). The Sokol (which translates as Falcon') arose as the first Czech Gymnastic organisation in the 1860s. Between the First and Second World Wars the organisation grew to have a million members. The Sokol programmes were organised to have mass appeal across all strata of Czech society and across all age groups. Miroslav Tyrs (1832 -1884) (pictured top right) was a key exponent of this approach and is duly being honoured by the ranks of passing Sokol participants. Tyrs believed that a nation must be physically fit, morally on a high plane and intelligent in order to secure independence and retain it. Elevated to Doctor of Philosophy at Charles University and a member of the Education Staff of Riegers Encyclopedia, Tyrs formulated his Sokol plan, creating an entirely new gymnastic terminology. The next twenty years of his life were devoted to Sokol. He was the first Physical Director, editor of the Sokol paper and creator of calisthenics and exercises, placing the whole system on a firm scientific basis. This card commemorates 20 years of the event. Date: 1938