Spring seventeen fourteen the lucky. Boy voter of the country is abducted and taken to constantinople. Constantine branco vanny grown too powerful for the ottoman sultans liking is to be executed there with his son whos the youngest tells a soldier he will convert to islam with his life his spirit whereupon his father tells him it is better to die a thousand deaths than to renounce jesus christ on the fifteenth of august seventeen fourteen the heads of bronco fan and his sons are struck off by the sultans executioner. It was to have been a day of celebration the day of my death was also my sixtieth birthday i hope to spend it here amidst the neo. Go to and it will hills below the southern copper atheist and this was to have been my message to the catholic kings in the north and the heathen muslims to the south a monastery conceived entirely in my spirit that every symbol of the age the monastery of parts of. The for. The project matter deeply to me two years after i took the office of voivode of the Foundation Stone was laid the monastery of hundreds who in his adjunct chapels were seven years in the building. You will say that it does not look particularly like a monastery from the outside troops the fact was i needed a bastion in the west of the country a stronghold with powers from which a defense could be conducted for a longer period if need be. But let me show you around in the courtyard the impression of a castle disappears this is not medieval i intended it as a celebration of the rebirth of the arts. For the summer months a generously planned building with an italian large area was to have been at my disposal i remember the rounded arches from my student days in papua one of my uncles had admired and copied the ducal architecture of venice here near the valley of the river old it was all to become reality not that the influences were all foreign even as a boy i had felt envious of the beautiful open verandas that graced the homes of the wealthy or the like in farmers elegant almost oriental arcades. Now do you understand why the sultan was so jealous those who are fortunate enough to eat their bread by the mercy of the turks he once said should conduct themselves modestly and not build palaces which only goes to show how little he understood of this project the point is not grander it is proportion this is particularly true of mile tunnel as the italians term this kind of covered staircase it is stately no doubt but never excessively showing. Your are good. But perhaps you were point to the fine stonework the floral ornaments and the animals carved in stone i can assure you that they were not used to my condition dionysia balika the third habit of the monastery had been made some forty years after my death and if you will permit the observation these are not extravagant features either. The lions and eagles still betray their origins as heraldic emblems my private apartments are altogether classical in mood and restrained in style the south wing was intended for such leisure as i had i established a fine library of which nothing now remains bar the inscription next to it was the Reception Room where i saw important visitors to hold its envious tongues whisper that i hoarded treasure here but as you have doubtless guessed not a word of the rumors is true. What angered the sultan much more than my court style was doubtless the church and small wonder i was at pains not to make concessions. For two whole years i deliberated over the plans with my architect it was principally conceived as a marriage of christian ecclesiastical architecture and oriental splendor a post byzantine byzantium but i had other things in mind as well. The decorative features of oriental architecture struck me as cloying what interested me more was symmetry the arcades of the vestibule correspond to the galleries in the cloisters for example. Harmonic echoes give the whole a rhythmic unity. In this way the sacred and profane are brought together last remaining distinct. Were. Were as. I myself feel that their stylistic synthesis works best on the court and the inscription above the entrance is a feature normally found in oriental temples here it has been combined with folk art features the sunflowers and the pumpkin flowers are usually seen in the rural architecture of the old valley. There are also features that recalled the delicate stucco of churches in northern italy. And then there is the pear wood door with its nod to an entirely different tradition that of the gothic which was introduced of akio by brazil lupul. Were her when. Her what. Many a well meaning friend counseled me not to overdo my opposition to the sultan after all he was my overlord but i could not help but here in this painting my wife mary and i are symbolically presenting the church to christ. I am for trade and i say this with pride in the regalia of the byzantine emperor so the great nazi the road with gold woven into it the company tsa the arm in line brocade cloak from venice and of course the gold crown. No other prince of my age establishing a monastery possessed so magnificent a crown i must emphasize that i saw myself in the succession of those who had been victorious over the Ottoman Empire my parents had already seen me in that succession when they named me constantine the memory of the great emperor of byzantium and i was anxious to fulfil my mission in life of course that could be only one patron for the church who else but the emperor constantine. Constantine knows my greek painter could not have guessed the grave consequences his paintings were to have i was recording my feet from birth to death when he painted the portraits of the country was a nose on the brink of ones my mothers family and that of my father. Here you see me as a child with my immediate ancestors around me i already bear the insignia of future rule and every eye is bent upon me in hope. But as i now know it was not in fact every on. There is my grandfather who raised me and my father the man with the sad expression. I always think i can see that bloody night when he himself was murdered in his eyes. I was only one year old and was saved by a trick my father servant still an infant from a gypsy woman and handed it over to the rebellious boy i was in my place they promptly killed. The. What the boy is failed to do these men accomplished stone at constantine and thoma with the sword of the count of his ino family another artist subsequently over painted their portraits rightly so posterity now no longer sees them feigning to wish me well. And stand their gaze as averted stoli grow to the sultan claiming i had sealed a secret pact with the sultans enemies in the eyes of the porter i was guilty of high treason. The sultan welcomed the opportunity to deal with me he had long mistrusted my policies now he had a pretext for high treason there could be only one punishment. The. Blonde long after my death the people of my life yet i was still singing a ballad klingon am romanesque weep people of romania. The ballad imagines the words i would have spoken to the two kind of casinos who betrayed me if it was to rule that you desired why did you not tell me. That i would have granted your request. And you would have ruled in its. Thanks one of germanys best known bands tokio hotel. A classic sports special. We look at their feet beginnings as teen pop stars. The secret of their success. And their fans. The tokio hotel phenomenon. But. Next sunday the folks. Fifty kitchens one city common area will tour around berlin the jerome x. Series is a very simple recipe but its what made it so i can have a fifty International Dishes chefs restaurants the recipes for cooking the dishes to join them in. The kitchens one city. Your romance in sixty minutes on d w. It tells us starring stories so. It makes us laugh. And cry play tremble and smile folks magical images and emotions going out to the folks you know the busy every weekend on d w. Make your smile be smothered with a w. For smile. What you want what you want to. Up to date. Extraordinary. Steps. You decide what songs. Find out what d. W. Done smart. Do one organize a party its a real party because theres no rubbishing about everyone writes that their name on their own cup and then we parted. And you know what the great thing is here is you know in a. Welcome to this special edition of exports all about the german pup