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3 October 2017
Gerardo Murillo's [Dr. Atl] 142nd Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...2104960-2x.png
Today's Doodle celebrates "Dr. Atl," born Gerardo Murillo in Guadalajara in 1875.
In a time of revolution and renaissance, Murillo greatly influenced Mexico’s political and cultural identity. He was an activist, artist, writer, journalist, and overall cultural leader.
Murillo pioneered the idea of artistic nationalism. To show his pride in his Mexican heritage, he took on the name "Atl," meaning water in Náhuatl. He worked his entire life to promote Native Mexican culture, writing extensively on folk art, music, and dance.
Murillo loved nature, and in volcanoes, he found his greatest inspiration. He frequently hiked to Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, living and painting on the volcanic slopes for weeks at a time. In 1943, he witnessed the birth of Paricutín and documented the experience in his book Cómo nace y crece un volcán, el Paricutín [How a Volcano Is Born and Grows – Paricutín].
For his contributions to the artistic and cultural heritage of Mexico, he was awarded the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor and the National Arts Award.
Today’s Doodle, by artist Julian Ardila, depicts Murillo painting one of his beloved volcanoes.
¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Dr. Atl!
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3 October 2014
Kenojuak Ashevak's 87th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/hW...F-8aatTUA=s660
Our doodle in Canada pays tribute to Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak, who would have been 87 today. Ashevak’s work brought national attention to indigenous art and thrusted the ever-humble artist into the spotlight. For her contribution to art and Canadian culture, Ashevak was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.
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5 Dec 2017
Veronika Dudarova’s 101st Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...8634624-2x.png
In today’s Doodle, Google-hued lights shine on a group of musicians led by Veronika Dudarova, the first Russian woman to conduct an orchestra.
Born in 1916, Dudarova spent her formative years studying piano and musicology in the company of some of Russia’s most renowned musical talents. In 1947, she graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, joining the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra as a junior conductor. She spent 13 years in that role before taking over as principal conductor in 1960. In 1991, Dudarova formed the Symphony Orchestra of Russia, which she led until 2003.
One of the very few female conductors in the world, Dudarova holds the Guinness World Record as the only woman to lead a major symphony orchestra for more than 50 years. During her career, she won the State Russian Music Award, was named the People’s Artist of the USSR, and even had a minor planet named after her.
On what would’ve been Dudarova’s 101st birthday, we honor the conductor’s dramatic style as she leads the Google letters in a passionate, homepage-worthy performance.
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21 Dec 2013
100th Anniversary of the Crossword Puzzle
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Rr...glImapFb9=s660
See the interactive version here!
We were lucky and excited to collaborate on our crossword doodle with Merl Reagle, one of the best and most well-known crossword constructors working today. Merl worked with Google engineer/crossword enthusiast, Tom Tabanao, to craft our puzzle grid and write all the clues. Merl's knowledge of the puzzle world—and perspective on crosswords in particular—is considerable. We thoroughly enjoyed the wit and humor he brought to the whole endeavor. Here are Merl's thoughts on the history of the crossword puzzle. -Ed.
First, it was a huge honor to be asked to do this. Many, many thanks to Tom Tabanao for pulling me in and shepherding the project through.
Second, it was a great opportunity to bring Arthur Wynne’s name into the public spotlight. He never made any money off the crossword, but he made tens of millions of puzzle fans around the world very happy. The fact that the first word across in the first-ever crossword was FUN is very appropriate, too. Crossword puzzles are indeed supposed to be fun—brainy fun, but fun nonetheless. The first puzzle also contained the word DOH, clued as “fiber of the gomuti palm”—but it’s also appropriate today, 100 years later, as something we would say when we don’t get a crossword clue right away. Maybe Arthur could see into the future! In any event, I am thrilled to have been a part of this centennial celebration.
Posted by Merl Reagle, Crossword Constructor
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31 December 2021
New Year's Eve 2021
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That’s a wrap for 2021—Happy New Year’s Eve!
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31 December 2016
New Year's Eve 2016
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Happy New Year’s Eve! All across the world tonight, we’re sharing the eager anticipation of counting down to midnight: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...
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31 December 2015
New Year's Eve 2015
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...25152-hp2x.gif
Happy New Year's Eve! Check back tomorrow to see what will hatch in the new year.
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9 January 2016
41st Anniversary of the discovery of the Mountain of the Butterflies
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...448.2-hp2x.jpg
In 1975, after a decades long search that involved thousands of volunteers and spanned an entire continent, Ken Brugger and Catalina Trail unlocked one of nature’s most beautiful mysteries: the overwintering place of the monarch butterfly. Led by a team of Canadian Zoologists under Fred Urquhart, the couple followed clues left by tagged butterflies that had strayed or fallen on their migratory journeys south. The scene, in which millions of monarchs cling to oyamel trees in Mexico’s easternmost Sierra Madre Mountains, would have been overwhelming. “They swirled through the air like autumn leaves,” said Urquhart after his first visit, “carpet[ing] the ground in their flaming myriads on the Mexican mountainside.”
With today’s homepage, Artist Kevin Laughlin recognizes the 41st anniversary of an incredible discovery and the singularly awesome beauty of the monarch butterfly.
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19 Jan 2016
Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s 127th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...768.2-hp2x.jpg
Gracing the face of every Swiss 50 franc bill is the straightforward gaze of a dark-eyed woman. Behind this serious portrait lies one of Switzerland's most colorful artists: Sophie Taeuber-Arp, whose 127th birthday we celebrate today!
Taeuber-Arp was a Swiss artist, designer, architect and dancer. Notably, she’s one of the most important artists of geometric abstraction – her minimalistic style, which is reflected in her textile artwork, marionettes, interiors, drawings, paintings, reliefs and sculptures, makes her distinguished amongst other artists of the early 20th century. Together with her husband, Dadaist artist Hans Arp, she permanently moved to France in the late 1920’s.
Today’s doodle, by artist Mark Holmes, was a grand artistic experiment in itself. In his words:
‘Doodling’ other artists gives us the chance to truly appreciate their work through the study and deconstruction of their art. Our challenge, of course, is to reinterpret the work and integrate it with our ubiquitous ‘Google’ in a manner that remains faithful to the artist’s spirit without being a simple reproduction of their work, or so modified that it is unrecognizable. The rough drafts below, featuring my ‘doodled’ versions to the left and her original works to the right, should give a sense of the challenge in balancing legibility with the spirit of authenticity.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5x...o07CRXxOqZE=s0
This was an especially fun doodle because Sophie Taeuber-Arp was such a prolific and diverse artist. I almost couldn’t make up my mind which of her works to draw inspiration from, and I just wanted to keep going. Hopefully in the end, I was able to capture the spirit of at least one aspect of her work, and help draw a few more eyeballs to her many contributions to the arts.
Taeuber-Arp’s legacy has lived on through international exhibitions, including one co-created by the Google Cultural Institute and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Visit this online exhibit dedicated to this Swiss master of modernism.
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19 January 2011
Cezanne's 172nd Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/B7...mfSZVgnyr=s660
I became a huge fan of Cezanne's work during a trip through Europe a while back. A little burnt out on all the Renaissance art from the past ten museums or so, my wife and I stepped into a retrospective of his work in Florence. I had never seen his work except in terribly reproduced copies or books. Seeing his palette in "person" for the first time transformed my own perception of color. He was especially great at playing with shapes – maybe not so much an artist who broke rules inasmuch as he made precise fractures with the unique punch of his brush against the canvas. Needless to say, when the opportunity to celebrate Cezanne with a doodle arose, I knew I wasn't allowed to mess it up!
http://lh4.ggpht.com/pnJGskTwdxIBvu-...O389Z58fno0=s0
A very early concept for the Cezanne doodle. Digital. Notice the placement of the L and G are swapped... I messed up.
With that said, there was no way I was going to be able to paint a doodle digitally and feel like the doodle team did Cezanne any justice! So I broke out the oil paints and went at it on canvas instead.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/5M3tyOf-TSTim0Z...hpUvlU21JhA=s0
Some process images, details, and the final. Oil on canvas. 18x36 inches.
I learned a great deal more trying to recreate his style and unique brushstroke. I'd have to copy a hundred more to get it right, but it was still a very rewarding experience. I hope it inspires some of you to visit a museum to see his work in person.
posted by Mike Dutton
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19 January 2016
José Alfredo Jiménez’s 90th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...784.2-hp2x.jpg
Today’s homepage features the beloved Mexican folk musician José Alfredo Jiménez, who was born in the state of Guanajuato on January 19th, 1926. The astoundingly prolific mariachi, whose songs have rung out at parties and mended broken hearts for over half a century, would have celebrated his 90th birthday today. Feliz cumpleaños, José.
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1 January 2022
New Year's Day 2022
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...109338-2xa.gif
And just like that, 2022 is here—Happy New Year’s Day!
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1 January 2017
New Year's Day 2017
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...12448-hp2x.gif
Cheers to a new year! As 2017 makes its debut, we celebrate new beginnings and set our resolutions. Here’s to another year of exploring, learning, and growing!
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1 January 2016
New Year's Day 2016
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...20736-hp2x.gif
Happy New Year's Day!
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1 January 2008
Happy New Year & 25 years of TCP/IP
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/aV...I3EIkqMb0=s660
The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is the set of communications protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks. The current foundational protocols in the suite are the Transmission Control Protocol [TCP] and the Internet Protocol [IP].
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27 Jan 2014
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's 200th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/i_...Lxf-x4xBQ=s660
Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc was a French architect and author who restored many prominent medieval landmarks in France, including those which had been damaged or abandoned during the French Revolution. His major restoration projects included Notre-Dame de Paris, the Basilica of Saint Denis, Mont Saint-Michel, Sainte-Chapelle, and the medieval walls of the city of Carcassonne, and he planned much of the physical construction of the Statue of Liberty [Liberty Enlightening the World]. His later writings on the relationship between form and function in architecture had a notable influence on a new generation of architects, including Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, Antoni Gaudí, Hendrik Petrus Berlage, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.
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31 January 2012
Discovery of the Iguazu Falls
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lD...qFryLZsn-=s660
Iguazú Falls or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná. Together, they make up the largest waterfall in the world. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The Iguazu River rises near the heart of the city of Curitiba. For most of its course, the river flows through Brazil; however, most of the falls are on the Argentine side. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River forms the border between Argentina and Brazil.
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31 January 2012
Atahualpa Yupanqui's 104th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gH...KoqurAV7g=s660
Atahualpa Yupanqui was an Argentine singer, songwriter, guitarist, and writer. He is considered the most important Argentine folk musician of the 20th century.
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11 February 2015
Zdeněk Burian’s 110th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/me...WhL8SjYmZ=s660
Zdeněk Michael František Burian was a Czech painter, book illustrator and palaeoartist whose work played a central role in the development of palaeontological reconstruction.
Originally recognised only in his native Czechoslovakia, Burian's fame later spread to an international audience during a remarkable career spanning six decades [1930s to 1980s]. He is regarded by many as one of the most influential palaeoartists of the modern era, and a number of subsequent artists have attempted to emulate his style.
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11 February 2013
Elsa Beskow's 139th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/yh...xf19Ogxow=s660
Elsa Beskow was a famous Swedish author and illustrator of children's books. Among her better known books are Tale of the Little Little Old Woman and Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender.
The Elsa Beskow Award was created in 1958 to recognize the year's best Swedish picture book illustrator.
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12 February 2009
Charles Darwin's 200th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pF...zg6hf7MMp=s660
Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. His proposition that all species of life have descended from common ancestors is now widely accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.
Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. By the 1870s, the scientific community and a majority of the educated public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favoured competing explanations which gave only a minor role to natural selection, and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.
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14 Dec 2021
Celebrating som tum
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...109216-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle celebrates signature Thai dish Som Tum, a sweet and spicy green papaya salad also popular in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. On this day in 2012, Thailand’s Department of Cultural Promotion registered Som Tum as a national intangible cultural heritage food.
Like many of the world’s most loved dishes, the origins of som tum are shrouded in mystery. Most food historians believe the savory salad originated in Laos due to its rich history in the historic Isaan region, which encompasses areas of northeastern Thailand and borders Laos. The classic Thai recipe calls for spicy Thai chilies balanced by palm sugar, garlic, shrimp, fish sauce, peanuts, limes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, and green papaya.
The term “som tum” is a combination of two Isaan words translating to “tart flavor” and “to pound,” reflecting the first step in the salad’s preparation in which a mortar and pestle is used to ground several of the ingredients into a tart salad dressing. The dressing is mixed with the remaining ingredients and topped with roasted peanuts for an added salty crunch. The final product is a salad that is simultaneously salty, sweet, spicy, sour, and bitter—a flavor combination that defines Thai cuisine.
How the meal is prepared varies depending on the region, but most pair this popular Thai staple with sticky rice. For those new to som tum, it's recommended that you pay attention to the number of chilis included in your salad as they are notoriously spicy!
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14 December 2008
Shinkansen 2008
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/C4...elq_ex-Fg=s660
The Shinkansen, colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond long-distance travel, some sections around the largest metropolitan areas are used as a commuter rail network. It is operated by five Japan Railways Group companies.
Over the Shinkansen's 50-plus-year history, carrying over 10 billion passengers, there has been not a single passenger fatality or injury on board due to derailments or collisions
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16 Dec 2016
25th Anniversary of Independence Day of Republic of Kazakhstan
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...83104-hp2x.jpg
Today's Doodle celebrates the 25th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence with a depiction of the famous Golden Warrior Monument of the larger Monument of Independence. The statue, situated in Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan at the time of independence, stands 91 feet tall. The Golden Warrior was modeled after an ancient noble warrior of Kazakhstan who lived around the 4th century BCE and was discovered in 1969 during an archeological expedition. The warrior is portrayed as it was found: with armor, tools, and jewelry. The Golden Warrior stands atop a snow leopard, a creature that’s been revered in Kazakhstan since the time the Golden Warrior lived.
Kazakhstan declared its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Independence Day is marked with celebrations including fireworks, traditional Kazakh food and clothing, and gatherings of family and friends.
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16 December 2015
Remedios Varo’s 107th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...79424-hp2x.jpg
One of the most accomplished surrealist painters of the 20th century, Remedios Varo is best known for striking oil paintings that blended together elements of science, magic and mysticism.
Varo was born in Spain and moved around a bit before ultimately settling in Mexico, where she created her finest works, including “La Llamada” [The Call], which is replicated in today’s celebratory Google Doodle. Varo lived during a time when male painters viewed their female counterparts as inferior, but she didn’t hesitate to make women the powerful centerpieces of her paintings. Today’s Google Doodle honors Varo on what would have been her 107th birthday, for her extraordinary imagination and complex paintings that allow her rare talent to live on.
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16 December 2014
Tadas Ivanauskas' 132nd Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Dq...g1GJ7G9px=s660
Tadas Ivanauskas is a name that rings a bell for those interested in fauna and taxidermy, as the Kaunas Zoological Museum is named after him. The prominent Lithuanian zoologist and biologist, sometimes even called the Lithuanian Indiana Jones, established the museum back in 1919.
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17 Dec 2011
Josef Lada's 124th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eR...H988DAyTq=s660
Josef Lada was a Czech painter, illustrator and writer. He is best known as the illustrator of Jaroslav Hašek's World War I novel The Good Soldier Švejk, having won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1963.
The asteroid 17625 Joseflada has been named after him.
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17 December 2021
Celebrating Carrie Best
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7108875-2x.png
Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based guest artist Alexis Eke, celebrates Canadian activist, author, journalist, publisher, and broadcaster Carrie Best and her record of influential accomplishments, including co-founding The Clarion—one of the first Nova Scotian newspapers owned and operated by Black Canadians. For her humanitarian efforts, Best was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1974, and subsequently became an Officer of the Order of Canada on this day in 1979.
Carrie Mae Prevoe was born on March 4, 1903, in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia during a time of pronounced racial discrimination. Encouraged by her parents to take pride in her heritage, she decided from a young age to refuse racial stereotypes and immerse herself in historical and literary works written by Black Canadians and African-Americans. In 1925, she married Albert T. Best.
In 1943, Best was arrested for sitting in the “white only” section of New Glasgow’s Roseland Theatre—an act of protest against the forcible removal of several Black teens who attempted to sit there only days before. She then sued the theatre based on racial discrimination but lost the case. Her drive for equal rights was only strengthened by this event.
Best founded The Clarion in 1946 to publish news by and for the nation’s Black community. In 1952, Best established her own radio show titled “The Quiet Corner,” where she broadcast music and read poetry often relating to human rights for the next 12 years. Best was also a strong advocate for the rights of Indigenous peoples.
Best’s efforts were recognized with honorary law doctorates in 1975 and 1992. The University of King’s College in Halifax, one of the institutions that awarded Best, continues to carry on her legacy by offering outstanding Black and Indigenous Canadian students a scholarship named in her honor.
Thank you for fighting for the future of marginalized people in Canada and beyond, Carrie Best!
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2 Jan 2013
Barış Manço's 70th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/re...bKeRRWb6P=s660
Mehmet Barış Manço, better known by his stage name Barış Manço, was a Turkish rock musician, singer, songwriter, composer, actor, television producer and show host. Beginning his musical career while attending Galatasaray High School, he was a pioneer of rock music in Turkey and one of the founders of the Anatolian rock genre. Manço composed around 200 songs and is among the best-selling and most awarded Turkish artists to date. Many of his songs were translated into a variety of languages including English, French, Japanese, Greek, Italian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Persian, Hebrew, Urdu, Arabic, and German, among others. Through his TV program, 7'den 77'ye ["From 7 to 77"], Manço traveled the world and visited many countries on the globe. He remains one of the most popular public figures of Turkey.
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2 January 2009
Elfstedentocht 2009
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ps...b8h0OQJCw=s660
The Elfstedentocht [ English: Eleven cities tour) is a long-distance tour skating event on natural ice, almost 200 kilometres [120 mi] long, which is held both as a speed skating competition [with 300 contestants] and a leisure tour [with 16,000 skaters]. It is held in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands, leading past all eleven historical cities of the province. The tour is held at most once a year, only when the natural ice along the entire course is at least 15 centimetres [6 in] thick; sometimes on consecutive years, other times with gaps that may exceed 20 years. When the ice is suitable, the tour is announced and starts within 48 hours.
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2 January 2011
Večerníček's 46th Anniversary
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qF...jQ8UuW_w7=s660
Večerníček [meaning "little bedtime story" Czech and Slovak] is a television program for children in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It has been broadcast regularly for over 50 years. Before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, two versions – one in Czech and one in Slovak – were aired in the respective parts of Czechoslovakia. Similar shows in other European countries include Sandmännchen in Germany, Esti mese in Hungary and Wieczorynka in Poland.
Currently, Večerníček is aired in the Czech Republic at 18:45 every day, when children are expected to go to sleep. The show [opening theme, tale, closing theme] lasts maximally ten minutes. Every tale takes 5–8 minutes. A full Večerníček series typically contains 10 – 20 episodes.
The format of the program has been unchanged for decades, making it part of the Czech and Slovak culture.
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29 Mar 2019
Novera Ahmed's 80th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...6278144-2x.jpg
Today’s Doodle celebrates the pioneering artist Novera Ahmed, who is considered the first modern sculptor in Bangladesh and whose distinctive work borrowed from Western, folk, indigenous, and Buddhist themes to reflect the experiences of women.
Ahmed was born in 1939 during a sea crocodile hunt in the largest mangrove swamp in the Ganges. She was drawn to sculpture from a young age, inspired by watching her mother make dolls and clay houses. When her father attempted to marry her off to a noble family, she resisted, insisting that she wanted to become a sculptor.
Ahmed studied design at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in London, graduating in 1955 and going on to receive further training in Florence and Vienna. She rose to prominence in 1960 with Inner Gaze, the first-ever solo sculpture exhibition by any sculptor in Bangladesh or Pakistan. A collaboration with painter Hamidur Rahman resulted in the Shaheed Minar, a national monument in Dhaka commemorating the Bengali Language Movement demonstrations of 1952.
In 1963, Ahmed bid farewell to her home and settled permanently in Paris. Two years traveling through East Asia inspired a departure in form, yielding several assemblages made from the debris of American warplanes. In 1997, Ahmed received an Ekushey Padak, the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh.
Today, many of her works can be viewed at the Novera Ahmed Museum, founded in 2018 by her husband in the small town of La Roche-Guyon outside of Paris.
Happy 80th birthday, Novera Ahmed!
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14 Apr 2019
Hùng Kings' Commemoration Day 2019
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...9545472-2x.png
Almost 5000 years ago, in the Red River Valley of Southeast Asia, the Hùng Kings established Văn Lang, the precursor of modern Vietnam. Today’s Doodle celebrates Hùng Kings' Commemoration Day, in remembrance of the ancient leaders of the Hong Bang era, the traditional founders of Vietnam who ruled for 18 generations.
The first Hùng King, Kinh Durong Vurong, and the 17 leaders who succeeded him, laid the foundations of Vietnamese culture. The Hong Bang was a time of cultural flourishment, known for producing some of the most acclaimed Asian art of the Bronze Age.
Once a mostly regional observance, Hùng Kings' Commemoration Day has been a national holiday in Vietnam since 2007, encouraging more citizens to learn about the ancient history of their country. In the early morning, a grand procession of palanquins heaped with offerings of food, flowers, and clouds of fragrant incense makes its way up the mountain to the Hùng King Temple, accompanied by flags, banners, and traditional music. Young boys and girls in ornate holiday attire make the journey as well as delegates from all over Vietnam.
Singing, dancing, and making Bánh Chưng and Bánh Dầy — traditional rice cakes enjoyed during Lunar New year — are also important parts of Hùng Kings 'Commemoration Day. Many celebrants make time for games, engaging in battles of wits on the chessboard or forming circles to play đá lông, an acrobatic game of skill and agility played by kicking a feathered shuttlecock.
Happy Hùng Kings' Commemoration Day!
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7 September 2020
Kim Sowol’s 118th birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7108317-2x.jpg
Today’s Doodle, illustrated by guest artist Eusong Lee, honors the 118th birthday of Korean poet Kim Sowol, whose beloved 1922 lyric poem “The Azaleas” [“Chindallae kkot”] is widely considered a masterpiece of the form. Celebrated for his contributions to early modern Korean poetry, Sowol composed many poems in the familiar cadence of traditional Korean folk music, which added to the broad popularity of his work.
Kim Sowol was born Kim Jeong-sik on this day in 1902 in present-day North Korea’s North Pyongan Province. As a teenager, Jeong-sik attended the esteemed Osan Middle School, where he became a lifelong protégé of the teacher and poet Kim Eok. In 1920, Jeong-sik published his first poems in a literary magazine, after which he assumed the pen-name Sowol, which translates into “White Moon.”
While still a high school student in 1922, Sowol published his famous work “The Azaleas.” This melancholic poem of love and loss inspired the colorful burst of Azalea flowers that surrounds his portrait in today’s Doodle artwork.
He went on to compose over 150 literary works and in 1925 published his sole collection of poems, also named “The Azaleas.” Sowol’s lifetime of heartfelt compositions cemented his legacy as one of Korea’s most treasured poets, and to this day many Koreans can recite his poems by heart. The annual Sowol Poetry Prize, established in 1987 in Kim Sowol’s honor, is considered one of the most prestigious awards in Korean poetry.
Happy birthday, Kim Sowol!
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7 September 2019
Celebrating Marcelle Ferron
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...3212928-2x.jpg
“My aim has always been modest. I wanted to transform the arranged marriage [of art and architecture] into a love match.” —Marcelle Ferron
Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and work of the renowned Canadian painter, sculptor, and glassmaker, whose famous installation in Montreal’s Vendôme station was unveiled on this day in 1981. Marcelle Ferron’s striking design combined colorful stained glass with a spiraling stainless steel sculpture, a unique style that inspired the Doodle’s art.
Born in 1924, Ferron studied at the École des beaux-arts de Québec, but left upon realizing she was unable to find answers to her questions about modern art. Upon meeting Québec abstract painter Paul-Émile Borduas, she joined his Automatiste group and became one of the youngest artists to sign their 1948 manifesto Refus global. Ferron went on to spend 13 years painting in Paris, exhibiting her work at the 1961 São Paulo Biennial in Brazil, where she won a silver medal.
Her meeting with glassmaker Michel Blum sparked an interest in glass as an art medium. Over time, she devised her own methods, building “walls of light” connected by invisible joints that allowed her to create large planes of color. These innovative techniques can be seen in her mural for Expo 67 and public commissions in the Champ-de-Mars train station, Sainte-Justine Hospital, and the Granby courthouse.
Throughout her 50-year career, Ferron became one of Canada’s most important contemporary artists and was made a Knight of the National Order of Québec in 1985, then promoted to Grand Officer in 2000. This restless visionary’s achievements blazed a trail for women aspiring to make a mark in what was a traditionally male-dominated space.