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Welcome to Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.2,455,969 articles in EnglishArtsBiographyGeographyHistoryMathematicsScienceSocietyTechnologyAll portalsOverview · Editing · Questions · HelpContents · Categories · Featured content · A–Z indexToday’s featured articleThe Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych painted by the early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516), housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. Dating from 1503 and 1504, when Bosch was about 50 years old, it is his best-known and most ambitious work. Bosch’s masterpiece reveals the artist at the height of his powers. The triptych comprises three sections, a square inner panel with rectangular panels on either side which close as shutters. The panels are painted in oil, the exterior panels of the shutters being in grisaille. The outer wings, when folded shut, show the earth during the Creation. The three scenes of the inner triptych are probably intended to be read chronologically from left to right. The left panel depicts God presenting to Adam the newly created Eve. The central panel is a broad panorama of sexually engaged nude figures, fantastical animals, oversized and gorged fruit, and hybrid stone formations. The right panel is a hellscape and portrays the torments of damnation. Art historians and critics frequently interpret the painting as a didactic warning on the perils of life’s temptations. American writer Peter S. Beagle describes it as an “erotic derangement that turns us all into voyeurs, a place filled with the intoxicating air of perfect liberty”. (more…)Recently featured: Palpatine – Genetics – To Kill a MockingbirdArchive – By email – More featured articles…Did you know…From Wikipedia’s newest articles:… that the Glass Pavilion (pictured), a prismatic glass dome structure built for the 1914 Werkbund Exhibition, was destroyed after the exhibition?… that the ABC documentary television program Our World was often assigned to students as homework, with ABC distributing 39,000 study guides a month?… that conceptual artist Joan Fontcuberta’s works include a hoax exhibition of bizarre animals such as winged monkeys and snakes with 12 feet, incorporating fieldnotes, photographs and X-rays?… that Bill Stoneman, who pitched two no-hitters for the Montreal Expos and later ran the Major League Baseball club as the general manager, first joined the franchise in the 1968 Expansion Draft?… that from October 2008, the Norwegian digital ticketing system t:kort will be valid on Kystekspressen?… that Charles Marshall chose the location where Robert E. Lee’s surrender ceremony took place near the end of the American Civil War?Archive – Start a new article…In the newsDayana Mendoza from Venezuela is crowned Miss Universe 2008.Mount Okmok on the island of Umnak in the Aleutian Islands erupts.IndyMac Bank is placed into conservatorship by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in one of the largest banking failures in United States history.Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (pictured) is awarded The Best of the Booker, as the best novel to have won a Man Booker Prize in the first 40 years of its existence.Three members of the Turkish police force are killed during an armed attack on the United States consulate in Istanbul, with three attackers also dead.India submits its nuclear safeguards agreement to the International Atomic Energy Agency to implement the Indo-US nuclear deal.In Grenada, Tillman Thomas succeeds Keith Mitchell as the new Prime Minister following the National Democratic Congress’ win in the general elections.Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events…On this day…July 14: Bastille Day in France1223 – Louis VIII became King of France.1698 – The Darien scheme began with five ships departing Leith to establish a Scottish colony on the Isthmus of Panama.1789 – French Revolution: Parisians stormed the Bastille (pictured), freeing its inmates and taking the prison’s large quantities of arms and ammunition.1798 – The Sedition Act became United States law, making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the U.S. government.1958 – King Faisal II, the last king of Iraq, was overthrown by a military coup d’état led by Abd al-Karim Qasim.1965 – The NASA spacecraft Mariner 4 flew past Mars, collecting the first close-up pictures of another planet.More events: July 13 – July 14 – July 15Archive – By email – More anniversaries…It is now 20:34, July 14, 2008 (UTC) – Refresh this pageToday’s featured pictureLower Consolation Lake, adjacent to Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. Located in the Canadian Rockies, Banff National Park is the oldest national park in Canada and one of the most visited national parks in the world.Photo credit: Chuck SzmurloRecently featured: Chandos portrait of Shakespeare – New Synagogue – Computed tomographyArchive – More featured pictures…