Fortress church

A fortress church (German: Kirchenburg) is particular type of church that, in addition to its religious functions is also used by the local population as a retreat and defensive position, similar to a refuge castle. A fortress church usually implies that the church is enclosed by its own fortifications, such as curtain walls and defensive towers. By comparison, a church with simple defensive features, such as battlements and embrasures on the church itself, is usually just referred to as a fortified church.

Architectural history

The fortress church is typically surrounded by defensive walls equipped with wall towers and wall walks. It is a development of the fortified churches, whose defensive walls were also the actual walls of the church. However, the terms are often used interchangeably and there is often no clear distinction. However, generally a fortified church is a single building, whereas a fortress church is a building complex.

In the Early Middle Ages, former bishop's seats, especially in recently Christianised regions like Saxony, were designed as fortress churches. There they were referred to as a Domburg or "cathedral castle".

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs. The term is derived from the Latin fortis ("strong") and facere ("to make").

From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in an ever changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek Phrourion was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These construction mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and lands that might threaten the kingdom. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch and maintain the border.

Fortress (Grin)

Fortress is the code name of a cancelled action role-playing video game that was in development by Grin. Director Ulf Andersson devised the concept for Fortress and preproduction began in the second half of 2008. During development, Square Enix approached the developer and proposed making the game a spin-off of Final Fantasy XII. Grin reconceived the game in the recurring Final Fantasy world of Ivalice, and included elements of Final Fantasy XII such as stylistic motifs and character designs; additional elements included chocobos and other recurring creatures from the Final Fantasy series. It was to be released on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 platforms.

During development, Square Enix did not pay Grin over several months, and disapproved of the game's Nordic art style. Grin worked to bring the game's art style closer to the Final Fantasy series, but after six months of development was told that no funding would ever come from Square Enix, and the developer filed for bankruptcy several days later. Word of the project leaked out through art portfolios of those who worked on the project and even a tech demo surfaced. In 2011, Fortress was thought to have been in development by an undisclosed studio, but this was also suspended and the game will not be released in any form.

Fortress (Miniature Tigers album)

Fortress (stylized as F O R T R E S S), is the Miniature Tigers' second full-length album. It was released on July 27, 2010.

Track listing

Notes

.church

.church is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It comes from the common name church and is used by churches, congregations, ministries of religion, and entities who deal with them. The church domain was entered into the DNS root on May 15, 2014.

Holly Fileds, LLC c/o Donuts (corporation) is the registry acting as the official technical administrator of the .church TLD. It is required by ICANN to sell names via registrars such as Godaddy, Network Solutions and Web.com. This gTLD was approved by ICANN on 06 Feb 2014.

See also

References

External links

Church (Metro Rail)

Church is a Buffalo Metro Rail station located in the 300 block of Main Street (just north of Church Street) in the Free Fare Zone, which allows passengers free travel between Erie Canal Harbor Station and Fountain Plaza Station. Passengers continuing northbound past Fountain Plaza are required to have proof-of-payment. Church Station is the closest to the Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center located two blocks east at Ellicott and North Division Streets.

Notable places nearby

Church Station is located near:

See also

Church (SEPTA station)

Church Station is an elevated train stop on the Market-Frankford Line, above the intersection of Frankford Avenue and Church Street in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the first station to run above Frankford Avenue, after previously running above Kensington Avenue.

Church Station originally opened as the Ruan-Church Station on November 5, 1922, one of eleven similar stations on the Frankford line. The station was renovated in the 2000s, making it ADA-accessible. During peak hours, Church is served by "B" trains only. Despite the fact that "Ruan" was removed from the station's name, street-level access to and from the station can be found on either side of Frankford Avenue halfway between Ruan and Church Streets.

Station layout

SEPTA City Bus Connections

External links

Media related to Church (SEPTA station) at Wikimedia Commons