The romantic era was characterized by opening gambits (sacrificing pawns or even pieces), daring attacks, and brazen sacrifices. Many elaborate and beautiful but unsound move sequences called "combinations" were played by the masters of the time. The game was played more for art than theory. A profound belief that chess merit resided in the players' genius rather than inherent in the position on the board pervaded chess practice.
Winning was secondary to winning with style, so much, in fact, that it was considered unsportsmanly to decline a gambit (the sacrifice of a pawn or piece to obtain an attack).
Murray's 900-page book constitutes the Bible of chess historians. With his knowledge of numerous languages including Latin and Arabic, and his devotion to chess world-wide, H. J. R. Murray was one of those late Victorian giants whose intimidating figure seems to have inhibited further research for the next two generations.
Not an Atlas?We do not claim to present an all-encompassing, true-to-scale, and objective view of the world with the collection of maps, that are published in this book. Rather we follow the idea that maps are by no means just representations of reality. Maps articulate statements that are shaped by social relations, discourses and practices, but these statements also influence them in turn. Hence, maps (and atlases) are always political.
This Is Not an Atlas seeks to inspire, to document the underrepresented, and to be a useful companion when becoming a counter-cartographer yourself.
Est-elle d’autant plus célèbre qu’elle reste inachevée ? Chef-d'oeuvre de Gaudí toujours en chantier, la basilique de la Sagrada Família continue de mettre à l’épreuve les successeurs de l’architecte. Une enquête enrichie d’une reconstitution en 3D de l’atelier du maître, détruit en 1936 par un incendie.
