Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 April 15

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From today's featured article

The Cadaver Tomb of René of Chalon is a Gothic funerary monument in the church of Saint-Étienne at Bar-le-Duc in northeastern France. It consists of an altarpiece and a limestone statue of a putrefied and skinless corpse which stands upright; its left arm is raised as if gesturing towards heaven. Completed sometime between 1544 and 1557, the majority of its construction is attributed to the French sculptor Ligier Richier. Other elements, including the coat of arms and funeral drapery, were added later. The tomb dates from a period of societal anxiety over death, as plague, war and religious conflicts ravaged Europe. It was commissioned as the resting place of René of Chalon, Prince of Orange, son-in-law of Duke Antoine of Lorraine. Unusually for contemporary objects of this type, the skeleton is standing, making it a "living corpse", an innovation that was to become highly influential. It was designated a Monument historique on June 18, 1898. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Gloucester Court of Probate

... that Thomas Fulljames designed the Gloucester Court of Probate (pictured) in a "picturesque Gothic" style?
... that the Spider-Man created for the 2018 video game by Insomniac Games has been used by Marvel Comics as an alternate version of Spider-Man?
... that volleyball player Chen Zhaodi, who was nicknamed "One-armed General" despite having two arms, became an actual general after retiring from her volleyball career?
... that the royal vole has larder chambers in its burrow but not latrines?
... that during World War II, the crew of the USS Argonaut donated their ship's bell to the Submarine Memorial Chapel before the submarine was lost in combat?
... that Ruth H. Alexander was the first woman selected to serve on the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition?
... that three times a day, the clock tower across from Southampton's Watts Park tolls out Isaac Watts's hymn "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past"?
... that when Hansgünther Heyme staged classic plays, Antigone was set in Calcutta, William Tell in Nazi Germany, and Hamlet ended with the prince on a metal trolley?

In the news

Omar al-Bashir

Omar al-Bashir (pictured) is deposed as President of Sudan in a coup d'état after nearly 30 years in office, amidst mass protests against his government.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is arrested by British authorities after Ecuador withdraws his asylum.
The Event Horizon Telescope publishes the first direct image of a black hole.
Homo luzonensis is identified as a new species in the genus Homo.

On this day

April 15: Day of the Sun in North Korea; Patriots' Day in various U.S. states (2019); Tax Day in the United States (2019)

The Titanic's sinking, as depicted by Willy Stöwer

769 – The Lateran Council concluded proceedings intended to rectify abuses in the papal electoral process that had led to the elevation of the antipopes Constantine II and Philip.
1912 – The passenger liner RMS Titanic sank about two hours and forty minutes after colliding with an iceberg (pictured), killing more than 1,500 people.
1952 – The B-52 Stratofortress, a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered, strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force for most of the aircraft's history, made its first flight.
1989 – A human crush during an FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, caused 96 deaths, making it the worst disaster in British sporting history.

Richard Poore (d. 1237) · Wilhelm Busch (b. 1832) · Arsenio Lacson (d. 1962)

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From today's featured list

American singer Ariana Grande has released five studio albums, one compilation album, one remix album, four extended plays (EPs), forty-three singles (including twelve as a featured artist), seven promotional singles and thirty-eight music videos. After signing with Republic Records, she released her debut single "Put Your Hearts Up" in December 2011. In April 2013, Grande made her chart debut with "The Way", which peaked at number nine on the United States Billboard Hot 100 chart. Her debut studio album Yours Truly reached the top ten in many countries while debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200. Grande's fifth album, Thank U, Next, was released in February 2019. The lead single of the same name debuted at number one simultaneously in the United States and in the United Kingdom. The subsequent two singles, "7 Rings" and "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored", debuted at number one and number two, respectively, in the United States and topped the charts in the United Kingdom. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

An illustration from The Illustrated London News, dated 15 April 1848, showing the last scene in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Attila performed at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, two years after its premiere in Venice. The London performances were produced by the impresario Benjamin Lumley, who later noted that "none perhaps of Verdi's works had kindled more enthusiasm in Italy or crowned the fortunate composer with more abundant laurels than Attila". In the final scene the captured Odabella, daughter of the Lord of Aquileia, stabs and kills Attila with a sword, to avenge the death of her father at Attila's hands.

Illustration: Uncredited · Restoration: Adam Cuerden

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