Ghibertis Baptistry Doors 3rd Set :: Essays Papers

Ghibertis Baptistry Doors 3rd Set The work of art that I chose to do my research paper on was Ghiberti's 3rd set of Baptistry Doors. These doors are known as "The Gates of Paradise." The doors were commissioned in 1427; they were finally completed and installed in 1452 at the eastern entrance of the Baptistry of San Giovanni. The replication of the doors is located in San Francisco, at Grace Cathedral. The doors consist of ten square panels, gilded together. Surrounding the panels are small heads, floral motifs, and niches that contain miniature statues of Prophets. Leonardo Bruni created the iconographic formula, taken from stories of the Old Testament. Ghiberti followed the plans and created 10 scenes ranging from the Creation of Adam and Eve to the reign of King Solomon. The top left panel is the scene of the Creation, Temptation and Expulsion of Adam and Eve. The top right panel is the scene of Cain murdering Abel. The next panel is of Noah and the Flood; then Abraham sacrificing Isaac; Jacob and Esau; Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers; Moses receiving the Ten Commandments; Joshua and the battle of Jericho; David and Goliath; and finally Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. All the panels were gilded in gold, giving them a uniform and seamless perspective. Ghiberti was a master of using perspective in his works. The attention to detail is apparent when you examine closely the sculpted figures in each panel. They all seem three-dimensional. The way in which Ghiberti sculpted each figure, gives them a shadow against the background which is key to the three-dimensional perspective of each figure. The way in which the panels were positioned on the doors is interesting. Instead of using smaller panels, which would allow for more scenes, Ghiberti chose to use large panels that are easy to see. The miniature figures and heads surrounding the ten panels is another interesting point. The full body figures are Prophets. There are 20 prophets surrounding the panels. Most likely they were also taken from the Old Testament. Each of these prophets is in the motion of some type of action. Their action is probably what they were known for and why they became Prophets. Again, Ghiberti gives each a three-dimensional pose. He is past the old ways of symmetry and each figure looks realistic in pose.

Foreign Direct Investment in Bangladesh

Home  Ã‚  About Bangladesh  Ã‚  Investment and Trade  Ã‚  FDI in Bangladesh Foreign Direct Investment in Bangladesh| | | | Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has played a key role in the modernization of the Bangladesh economy for the last 15 years. | Inflows of Foreign Direct InvestmentThere was an inflows of $666m foreign direct investment in 2007 which raised significantly in 2008 to $1086m. As of 2011, inflows of foreign direct investment recorded to $1136. 8m. Inflows of foreign direct investment during 2007-2011Source: World Investment Report 2011  Private Investment Statistics Year| Proposed Local Investment| Proposed Foreign Investment| Total Proposed Investment| Growth %  | | Project| BDT| Project| BDT| Project| BDT| | 2005-2006| 1754| 18370| 135| 24986| 1889| 43356| 124. 62| 2006-2007| 1930| 19658| 191| 11925| 2121| 31583| -27. 15| 2007-2008| 1615| 19553| 143| 5433| 1758| 24986| -20. 9| 2008-2009| 1336| 17117| 132| 14749| 1468| 31867| 27. 54| 2009-2010| 1470| 27414| 160| 6261| 1630| 33678| 5. 67| 2010-2011| 1298| 39976| 148| 26935| 1446| 66912| 98. 71| 2011-2012| 1604| 497078| 209| 338910| 1813| 835989| 212| * March, 2012Source:Bangladesh Economic Review-2011 (Bangla version),  Ministry of FinanceForeign and Joint Venture InvestmentIn the year 2009-10 (February), there were 89 new foreign and joint venture investment projects registered to BOI which amount to $590m.The projects were invested to mainly in the service, engineering, clothing and agricultural sectors. Sectorwise foreign and joint venture investment during 2010-2011** As of March, 2011Source:Bangladesh Economic Review-2011 (Bangla version),  Ministry of FinanceCountrywise foreign and joint venture investment during 2009-2010* Country| No. of Projects| Proposed Investment (US$ m)| Saudi Arabia| 3| 478. 652| Australia| 4| 2. 036| USA| 5| 2. 990| Finland| 2| 3. 023|India| 9| 8. 451| South Korea| 12| 33. 768| Malaysia| 3| 3. 056| Netherlands| 5| 8. 544| China| 12| 21. 000| United Ki ngdom| 5| 3. 507| Pakistan| 2| 0. 990| Japan| 8| 2. 624| Denmark| 1| 1. 217| Sri Lanka| 2| 0. 646| Canada| 2| 1. 017| Taiwan| 1| 0. 502| Singapore| 4| 1. 929| Turkey| 1| 0. 150| Greece| 1| 0. 156| Italy| 2| 1. 039| Hong Kong| 5| 14. 805| Total| 89| 590. 102| As of February, 2010Source:Bangladesh Economic Review-2011 (Bangla version),  Ministry of Finance|

The Kushan Empire

The Kushan Empire began in the early 1st century as a branch of the Yuezhi, a confederation of ethnically Indo-Europeans nomads who lived in eastern Central Asia. Some scholars connect the Kushans with the Tocharians of the Tarim Basin in China, Caucasian people whose blonde or red-haired mummies have long puzzled observers. Throughout its reign, the Kushan Empire spread control over much of Southern Asia all the way to modern-day Afghanistan and throughout the Indian subcontinent—with it, Zoroastrian, Buhhdism and Hellenistic beliefs also spread as far as China to the east and Persia to the west. Rise of an Empire Around the years A.D. 20 or 30, the Kushans were driven westward by the Xiongnu, a fierce people who likely were the ancestors of the Huns. The Kushans fled to the borderlands of what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, where they established an independent empire in the region known as Bactria. In Bactria, they conquered the Scythians and the local Indo-Greek kingdoms, the last remnants of Alexander the Greats invasion force that had failed to take India. From this central location, the Kushan Empire became a wealthy trading hub between the peoples of Han China, Sassanid Persia and the Roman Empire. Roman gold and Chinese silk changed hands in the Kushan Empire, turning a nice profit for the Kushan middle-men. Given all their contacts with the great empires of the day, it is hardly surprising that the Kushan people developed a culture with significant elements borrowed from many sources. Predominantly Zoroastrian, the Kushans also incorporated Buddhist and Hellenistic beliefs into their own syncretic religious practices. Kushan coins depict deities including Helios and Heracles, Buddha and Shakyamuni Buddha, and Ahura Mazda, Mithra and the Zoroastrian fire god  Atar. They also used the Greek alphabet that they altered to suit spoken Kushan. Height of the Empire By the rule of the fifth emperor, Kanishka the Great from 127 to 140 the Kushan Empire had pushed into all of northern India and expanded east again as far as the Tarim Basin—the original homeland of the Kushans. Kanishka ruled from Peshawar (currently Pakistan), but his empire also included the major Silk Road cities of Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan in what is now Xinjiang or East Turkestan. Kanishka was a devout Buddhist and has been compared to the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka the Great in that regard. However, evidence suggests that he also worshiped the Persian deity Mithra, who was both a judge and a god of plenty. During his reign, Kanishka built a stupa that Chinese travelers reported as about 600 feet high and covered with jewels. Historians believed that these reports were fabricated until the base of this amazing structure was discovered in Peshawar in 1908. The emperor built this fabulous stupa to house three of the Buddhas bones. References to the stupa have since been discovered among the Buddhist scrolls at Dunhuang, China, as well. In fact, some scholars believe that Kanishkas forays into the Tarim were Chinas first experiences with Buddhism. Decline and Fall After 225 CE, the Kushan Empire crumbled into a western half, which was almost immediately conquered by the Sassanid Empire of Persia, and an eastern half with its capital in Punjab. The eastern Kushan Empire fell at an unknown date, likely between 335 and 350 CE, to the Gupta king, Samudragupta.   Still, the influence of the Kushan Empire helped spread Buddhism across much of Southern and Eastern Asia. Unfortunately, many of the practices, beliefs, art, and texts of the Kushans were destroyed when the empire collapsed and if not for the historical texts of Chinese empires, this history may have been lost forever.