Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pecos National Historical Park

(Encyclopedia)Pecos National Historical Park, 6,671 acres (2,702 hectares), N New Mexico; est. as a national monument 1965, designated a national historical park 1990. The park contains the remains of the Pecos pue...

Montañes, Juan Martínez

(Encyclopedia)Montañes, Juan Martínez hwän märtēˈnĕth mōntäˈnyās [key], c.1568–1649, Spanish sculptor. He was known for his polychrome figures in wood. Most of his work was done for the churches and co...

Portobelo

(Encyclopedia)Portobelo, Porto Bello pwārˈtō bāˈyō [key], town, central Panama, on the Caribbean Sea. The site, an excellent harbor, was visited by Columbus. The town was founded in 1597. A thriving colonial...

Abd ar-Rahman III, emir and caliph of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia)Abd ar-Rahman III, 891–961, Umayyad emir (912–29) and first caliph (929–61) of Córdoba. When he succeeded to the throne, the Spanish emirate was reduced to Córdoba and its environs and beset w...

stalactite ornament

(Encyclopedia)stalactite ornament, type of ornament characteristic of Islamic architecture. Generally executed in wood or in plaster over a wood or brick base, it consists of little vertical polygonal or curved nic...

Hollein, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Hollein, Hans, 1934–2014, Austrian architect and designer. He studied with Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Richard Neutra. Opening his own practice in 1964, he established an internationa...

Aztec

(Encyclopedia)Aztec ăzˈtĕkˌ [key], Indian people dominating central Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest. Their language belonged to the Nahuatlan subfamily of Uto-Aztecan languages. They arrived in the V...

Santo Domingo, city, Dominican Republic

(Encyclopedia)Santo Domingo sänˈtō dōmēngˈgō [key], city (1993 pop. 1,609,966), S Dominican Republic, on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River. It is the country's capital, largest city, leading...

Manila

(Encyclopedia)Manila mənĭlˈə [key], city (1990 pop. 1,601,234), capital of the Philippines, SW Luzon, on Manila Bay. Manila is the center of the country's largest metropolitan area, its chief port, and the focu...

painting

(Encyclopedia)painting, direct application of pigment to a surface to produce by tones of color or of light and dark some representation or decorative arrangement of natural or imagined forms. See also articles on ...

Browse by Subject