One of the more delightful finds of traveling in Europe is the house museum, residences transformed into museums and galleries and known for a prior owner who established a collection of outstanding works, either in architecture, sculpture, furniture, or art — and the house-museum devoted to Frederick Stibbert, who lived from 1838-1906, in Florence, Italy, stands high among such places.

Inside the Stibbert Museum , or as its known in Italy, the Museo Stibbert, visitors will discover walls draped in tapestries and leather, rooms filled with paintings and still-lifes, porcelains, Etruscan artifacts, Tuscan crucifixes, and even clothing worn by Napoleon the 1st of France. Perhaps the biggest part of the museum, though, is its arms and armor collection — 12,000 pieces of Asian, Islamic, European, and Japanese arms — from the 15th century to the 19th century. This collection, in fact, is known as one of the most significant in the world. In a grand hall, visitors will also find 14 16th Century knights on horseback, as well as 14 foot-soldiers, all dressed in armor and holding weapons. The collection of Samurai armor alone holds 80 suits and hundreds of swords.

Stibbert’s family was very wealthy, the money coming from his grandfather, Giles Stibbert, who was the commander-in-chief for the British East India Company in Bengal, India, at the end of the 1700s, where he was governor for years. Frederick Stibbert inherited the estate from his grandfather and then did not work again for the rest of his life. Instead, he became a collector, turning his villa into a museum. When his collection outgrew his home, he had three men — architect Giuseppe Poggi, painter Gaetana Bianchi, and sculptor Passaglia — build on more rooms, just for the various artifacts. When Stibbert died, the city of Florence inherited the collection and opened the home to the public.

Once you’ve checked into your hotel, Florence beckons you — calling you to the Tuscany countryside, the wineries, and its famous sculpture and buildings — so it may be easy to overlook this house museum, but this unique villa of 57 rooms contains collected work from all over the world that strongly invites a visit.

Stibbert Museum in Florence is a post from: Chocolate Rave

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For some the Southwestern Company is known only as a company that sells books. Many students will know them as a company that offers a unique internship program. While both of these statements are true, Southwestern Company is much more.

Southwestern Company dates back to the 1850′s in Tennessee where it began as a publishing company. At that time their primary publication was the Bible. The founder, J.R. Graves, smuggled printing plates into the South to print Bibles for the soldiers. Shortly after the war it began to make a shift from publishing to sales. Like many companies, Southwestern Company faced their share of hardships during the 1930′s . However, unlike many companies, their strong, honest reputation helped them to secure a loan at the First American National Bank, which provided them the means to remain in operation and eventually thrive.

Southwestern Company has shifted and changed over the years. From being a publishing company to a sales company and from simply an employer to a student based company. Despite the changes that time has brought, several things have stayed the same. Southwestern has always been a company that gives its best to its customers and employees. Integrity, dependability , and reliability are just a couple of the words that this company stands by; providing a high quality product to customers in a reasonable time by salesmen that are honest and caring and take the time to make sure customers are getting what they paid for.

Every person is shaped by his or her history. Everyone goes through good times and bad times. It is our response to those times that makes us into the people we are. The same concept applies to companies. Every company goes through times of success and failure. It is only when they allow themselves to be teachable and open to change and new ideas that they can overcome the obstacles and gain ultimate success. Southwestern Company is a primary example of determined, innovative company that, as a result, has achieved great success.

Southwestern Company and the History that Shaped It is a post from: Chocolate Rave

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Cartography is the Greek word used to define the science of drawing charts or carts, and maps.  Ptolemy made a distinction between Chorography and Geography, which was later revised by the Renaissance writers.  Chorography is the term used to describe the making of maps, be they maps of the entire areas, or a road map, of towns, cities and counties.  And Geography refers to the mapping of entire countries.

The father of the atlas or the world globe, was a businessman, a map collector and a cartographer during the late 1500′s, Abraham Ortelius.  He published the book Theatrum Orbis Terrarum during 1570 in Antwerp, which has been translated over the many years into various different languages.  He had the view that geography was the eye of World History, and that only would one understand all of history, through the understanding of geography.

In his book was a series of maps, which he created to be not only maps of regions and countries, but they were the stages of the theatres of the world.  For many people during this time, it was fashionable to hang a world map in their home, a whole collection of them if they could find them.  This was then, as the modern day version of the coffee table book is today.  Many people today, do not have the money to hang say…a collection of Picasso works, or Gustav Klimt originals, but they can go to their local bookstore and find books with reproductions, and spend hours looking through the works of such master painters.  World history through art is found.

This is what Ortelius wanted, a book for people that would provide them with a convenient means to view the history of the world, the theatre of the world.  Many people during his time, did have a collection of maps, but due to lack of space they were kept rolled up and tucked away.  He expanded the knowledge of the world, at the same time he condensed it into a book that people could carry around with them, bring the world to their hands so to speak.  This is what a map does today, it brings everywhere into right here, it puts the world into the palms of your hands.

Understanding the History of the World Through Maps and Cartography is a post from: Chocolate Rave

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