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tv   Contest of the Cathedrals  Deutsche Welle  April 13, 2021 11:15am-12:01pm CEST

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there they have to ride the wind and those waves. up next on news it is stock fell we'll look at why christians began building towering cathedrals 1000 years ago that's coming up next on news i'm sarah kelly and burlesque thank you so much for joining us take care. 6. it's their story their very own personal drama. the people who survived the catastrophe and remember. and they share private footage with us that has never been seen before. back to chernobyl stuart's april 28th on t w. this
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is what the 1st christian churches look like. in the roman empire after the crucifixion christianity was a persecuted religion. and its followers forced into hiding buried their dead in catacombs like this. and they also worship here in the presence of the dead. in the 4th century pope down misses the 1st transformed this crypt into an underground church . the earliest christians believed that their physical resurrection was coming soon that they would be led to heaven by christ the light of the world so they had little need of church buildings. but 1000 years later great
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stone cathedrals stretched up to the sky like fortresses of god as here in shire. christianity had long become an integral part of the lives of people in the middle ages. and this era so rulers competing to erect ever mightier symbols of their faith. in minds these researchers studying the period stumbled on a piece of evidence and attracted lots of media attention. the protestant church of st john had been due to get a modern heating system installed by. the neat the floor of the church clues going
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back 1000 years were revealed. excavation director archaeologist greed ofa conny and representatives from the protestant and catholic churches watched fascinated as a stone circle ficus weighing 2 tons was uncovered its location in the navy in front of the altar suggested that it was the final resting place of a high ranking person possibly the medieval bishop of minds aircon but so that's so. for the 1st time in a 1000 years the 700 kilogram lid of the sarcophagus was raced. so might the person buried here really be the ship. archbishop of mines until his death in the year 1021 if so it would prove that this was the location of the city's 1st original cathedral. the question may seem
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unspectacular to non-specialists push for the researchers the remains contain a wealth of information about the period known as the romanesque. such. the world of that time was the result of a remarkable historical development until the 4th century christians had been subject to bloody persecution but then came a revolutionary turn of events one that led bishop eusebius of caesar ria to eulogize the roman imperial power that had previously threatened him he wrote the emperor came among us christians like a heavenly angel of god he was referring to the roman emperor constantine constantine had suddenly decriminalized christian worship and for christians he was an emissary from heaven and the patron of the church.
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from then on churches became palaces the pantheon in rome was a temple in which the ancient romans had worshipped there got this don't structure became the model for the buildings erected to honor the christian god and his earthly representative the emperor. and the eastern roman empire the byzantine empire the hunch a sophia in constantinople became the largest church in christendom. 10000 laborers built the giant basilica adorned with the magnificence that the imperial court saw as its due 5 centuries after jesus died on the cross the christian church had become a highly political body. the imperial splendor of the southeastern reaches of the crumbling roman empire stands in sharp contrast to the more modest style in the northwest there from the start of the 9th century charles the 1st king
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of the franks ruled as successor to the roman emperors. charles later called charles the great or charlemagne built a church in often as a sign of his sovereignty. and he also copied the ancient symbols of the former roman empire. the palatine chapel in aachen is a domed building like the hug of sophia in byzantium. in the year 800 when the newly crowned emperor charlemagne climbed the steps to his throne it was an important advance for churches in the west. colonist in the animal eyes she is if you put audiotapes charles permitted much chlorella. his empire has he allowed the various ethnic groups in his dominion to
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have their own laws languages and cost ties are at least important hot across a large realm he standardized the religious service that article practice the implementation of god's will for god to because this can only be unique in an ambiguous field or people may lead their lives in many ways but there is only one way to god who got his eye and artists. and from then on the task was to enforce the unity of faith in the frankish empire and for that charles needed his bishops the 3 former roman settlements tria cologne and minds became his most important archdiocese. but soon the bishops were vying to expand their own power and prestige. tree or in the west soon reached its limits. cologne was able to extend its domain northwest up to the north sea coast. mines was the most successful of the 3 soon the influence of the bishop of mines
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reached from ferritin in the north to coeur in the south and far into the eastern territories. the man who so in or jeddah glee advanced minds his influence around the turn of the millennium was buried here in st stephen's church built on the highest hill in the city. the mortal remains of archbishop villegas have lain here to this day. villegas sought to underscore the superiority of the diocese of mines for that he developed an ambitious architectural plan at the end of the 10th century.
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the idea was to replace the old wooden cathedral with one made of stone much larger than the mighty abbey built by the monks of russian whole island in my constants it was to be a pole a shell church with a painted wood paneled ceiling the walls were to be painted too with scenes from the bible. people of the time rarely saw pictures and villegas was convinced that the church would make a lasting impression on the faithful and lead them to god. and he was also convinced that his cathedral would reinforce the importance of his diocese he would be the man to crown kings the son of
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a wheelwright villegas had surpassed his humble origins to become regent of the empire and the pope's vicar. his personal insulin and wheel found its way into the coat of arms of minds but i guess his plan to acquire coronation rights seemed to be on track his conceit drill was to shine like the heavenly jerusalem. in the year 1009 the moment had arrived for the largest building north of the alps to be consecrated. but then disaster struck on the day of its consecration villegas his church went up in flames. really is resigned and. the leaders aspired to be the 1st among the bishops and archbishops of the kingdom of the east franks and germany and he reinforced that by building an empire. think of the role. of the us don't structure demonstrated the
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archbishop's rank and he wanted to highlight that and. it was particularly tragic that the cathedral building immediately burned down just as it was being consecrated 1st of all you can read up and. essential a forecast the burden that would place on future archbishops it after all a diocese without a functioning cathedral was unthinkable it's i'd forgotten the day. the circus that the archaeologists opened in st john's church in mines is closed again the body inside was left to rest in peace the lid of the coffin vacuumed clean. only microscopic samples were taken to glean definitive information about the dead man's identity. among the material is this golden thread. it is part of an edge ng made of real gold that was lying
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close to the head of the corpse mathias hines so is a conservator and a specialist in metal alloys using a reflected light microscope he studies the structure and folding of the gold alloy and measures it with micro meter precision. a comparison with other finds suggests that the thread was part of a gold edging of a choice of wool a bishop's liturgical vestment the dead man dressed in the garment was undoubtedly a cleric probably a bishop. but the sample taken from the area of his left upper arm is even more conclusive. it's a fragment of a larger piece of fabric to which are attached to small pieces of edging made of
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dark silk. despite the decomposition of the material even now 1000 years later the microscope reveals that it is of animal origin. and that it's got a clock here we clearly see the scaly structure like overlapping roof tiles of the epidermis layer that i miss fished and in the middle we can still see a bit of them a dull or a canal mark come. on it's and these 2 properties and a cape clearly that this is war of violet in. wool that suggest a garment called a pallium this one band is seen in illustration since the early middle ages it's a kind of stole that even the pope wears and that today is still conferred on his
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archbishops. it is done from the wall from 2 lambs that the pope blesses every year for the archaeologists it's another clue to the identity of the buried man. a scout thus the giver they said once it was clear that the piece of fabric we had found was wool or and that this whole also had a silk edging fals god has pulled this to us that it was a pallium and of a man who wore it was an oft bishop one gets the fields and the carbon 14 dating of the other fabrics on poles gave us the final certain time allowing us to say that this is can both the archbishop could if the 1000 of years ago and you pressed ahead with the reconstruction of minds cathedral be the of this violence of the office phone please. that was the conclusive piece of evidence showing that today st john's church stands on the
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side of minds his 1st cathedral and that archbishop aircon bought the successor of villa guess was laid to rest here presumably because the new cathedral was still under construction following the devastating fire. it seems that out of respect for the old church the new site had been chosen not exactly here but right close by the archbishop's prestige project was a building intended to make minds a 2nd to rome a central point of the empire where the monarchs would be crowned. the east towers were already standing in aircon ballots lifetime and he himself may have walked this way in the southeastern tower however it would not have been this high back then the towers weren't raised to their current proud height of 55 meters
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until much later. despite all the reconstruction over the centuries the interior of mines cathedral still exudes the spirit of the romanesque the solemn darkness and the massive angular stone work that flaunts its solidity. it's hard to imagine how impressive these stone spaces must have seemed to the people of the middle ages who were used to small houses made of wood and mud. with his prestige project villegas had kicked off a contest a challenge not only to his great rival the archbishop of cologne but also to the
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powerful rulers who were to be reminded by such palatial churches that god and his representatives stood above them. the 14th century tomb of the influential archbishop page of one us bet shows how even 3 centuries later the clerics saw their relationship to crowned rulers the greatest is he with the right to crown an anointed king. anointment is described in the book of exodus in the old testament. the sacred annoying thing oil was a means of consecrating priests and prophets. in western europe anointment gradually became customary at the coronation of monarchs. the oil
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represents the transfer and legitimation of political power for the ruler. the. the she would thus be ruler by. by the grace of god as implemented by the church and yet in dependence upon it. did this ritual not imply the subordination of the monarch what would happen if the bishop or the pope withheld the annoyed him and. suppose the cleric did not speak the words and go tate in reagan i anoint the king. would that king or emperor still be accepted by his subjects.
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the anointment with sacred oil made the king the anointed of god christos domini and that gave him a dominant position literally thought is a must but it also made him dependent on the one who had anointed head that could be the bishop or in the case of the anointment of the emperor it was the pope in rome what is the fruit and this is them function well until there is a dispute over rank between the worldly and the cliche as to call powers call. the dispute over rank between church and state was already smoldering in the 1st century of the new millennium 80 kilometers up the rhine the city of rome swizz experiencing friction between the ruling salient dynasty and the new bishop. immediately after his investiture he had begun planning
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a cathedral on the highest point in the town vaughn's too was to boast an imposing building that like a castle would highlight the supremacy of the church. the idea was also to rebuild the town in the shadow of the new cathedral. the new bishop for heart was the right man for the job. it was an associate of the dynamic archbishop of mine's religious with similar determination he set out to underscore the had germany of the church or card was a talented organizer and as the town administrator favored by villegas he immediately set to work. with bush that you could call news in the towers when their shot arrived here in the year 1000 he intended to show that he was the lord of the town as its bishop and he did everything he could encoding activating his connections at the imperial court decide to get the salience to give
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up their property in volumes of food to give up their castle and leave orms involves to fend off more than a day in a symbolic act that he raised the salience fortress and set up a monastery st paul's church and demonstrate i am the sole ruler here it's been. here. to this day the building retains its 11th century contours although only a few foundation stones from bush showed church are still standing the unique specimens of romanesque sculpture the rare animal depictions all date from the 12th century that's because just 2 years after its hasty construction and consecration intending. pushouts representational palace collapsed. and by the time the new church with its late romanesque colonnade was completed 160
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years later or shards ideal of the head gemini of the church had long been called into question anew a path had been born it was as if the architects had already sensed how the coming period the gothic would bring a new wealth of forms and color to life. the citizens had begun to view this space as their own they adhered more to their kings than their bishops and the dispelled salience had already started a competing project next door inch by at. st christopher the carrier of christ the side of whom was believed to prevent sudden death now looked down on changed conditions. have been vanished as best as the assailants have the bad luck to be driven out of the hereditary seat and was all that quickly ordered the construction of
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a new diocesan church the cathedral of st mary and. the building that arose in shire under the salience was truly an imperial cathedral no other medieval cathedral on the rhine was such a symbol of imperial power as st mary's cathedral inch by. looming over the river like a castle it was a high point of imperial architecture a sign carved in red sandstone of a dynastic lane. and itself before the salient settled there it had been referred to is by cina or cowtown but with the cathedral it underwent rapid urban expansion to become an imperial metropolis. forced out of forms and deprived of much political influence due conrad was anointed king of germany 2 decades later
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and ultimately holy roman emperor. as 1000 fields once the staff desire young 1024 the election of the 1st salient king conrad the 2nd became possible because the last new doffing ruler henry the 2nd had died without an heir for. that's what conrad was a descendant of auto the great and this metra lineal descent was very important for the salient sense of their significance and they saw themselves in a long imperial tradition on its own. conrad was laid to rest in 1039 wearing a crown with the inscription sower of peace and benefactor of the city. his time as emperor coincides with the high point of medieval imperial rule the conflicts between the emperors and the pope's were only just beginning to simmer.
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and the cathedral which he had built as a worthy burial site. for himself and his successors was only just started. today had victims i think is the master builder of the world heritage site that conrad had planned as his imposing mausoleum perhaps too imposing when he died not even the outer walls were complete. he taught it like i missed out and. the tragedy was that conrad was not able to experience his vision because the kid hit us up in flanders he had the idea of building the largest church in the western world because he died before it was completed he was basically buried in an unfinished construction site while still a book of honest 2. that was something new in the medieval contest of the cathedrals and emperor who built
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a gigantic burial place for himself and his dynasty one that could compete with the cathedrals of minds and von's. it was a symbol in stone of the emperor's self image one that may have grown in force due to the family's bitter experience in borg's but the ambitious plan initially remained in the building phase. because the jewels columned crypt the largest of its time was completed by the time of conrad's death it testifies to his optimism about the future. and us at his visit you will not you could describe it like this he had this vision and the hot the faith the hope that he would be able to make it succeed in the of and that this idea would be adopted by others that he could kindle the idea in them as him it is a. in 1061 the salience prestige building was consecrated
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in all its romanesque lawry. with just 20 years later came a surprise the new salient emperor and read the 4th ordered most of the new cathedral to be demolished. he wanted it to be even larger and more imposing and above all more sophisticated in its design . what a hellish defer to have this list for and that and the highest everything changed and then ready for the tiger to storm us up that he tore down large parts of the cathedral and rebuilt it in another shape because of and on we can see the biggest change here in the apps which changed from having his straight end to a semi circular one in good. each family as the transepts were taken down all the way to the stone work and changed
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in a death by a restructuring of the facade that in that. owned and the spires will raise the mist up to. his investors the old early romanesque part of the tower and under henry the for what it got its rise. with the school. of the few one storm after the crossing tower was also changed although what we see sedate is the baroque period. is that the said christie is a later addition to the main change in the interior is the vaulting of the center nave obvious wish to be about barry bonds middle shift 1st amount of an hour we believe that in the early romanesque building the ceiling was flat to business to. the central neighbors 40 meters wide with the height of
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a 33 meters up to the vaulted ceiling and those are very very big dimensions thus when i was in our effect what immediately catches the eye from outside is the change to the insertion of a dwarf gallery which wasn't there originally after all deflation got changes the appearance of the outer wall but was typical of the romanesque with windows recessed into walls even gets a fair and not the revolutionary thing about this building is the way its character radiated outward timeless the photo. henry the full 3 he wanted to build the biggest church in the western world and and here he succeeded i'd say. in 1106 the romanesque marvel was completed. it's hard to imagine a more imposing building a vaulted ceiling of this size had not been seen in the west since antiquity for 1000 years. and in terms of size spire
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cathedral did not have to fear the competition certainly not from horns and not even from minds. and while villegas his work in mines his dark and early romanesque in style henry's cathedral was more numinous. as if it were quietly anticipating the gothic period. the historical museum of the need has a model of the head of henry the 4th made by a forensic scientist based on the original find of his skull and perhaps we can
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read the tragedy of henry's life from his face it was a life marked by strife the pope excommunicated him his sons rebelled against him and the year his cathedral was consecrated was also the year of his death. unleashed a foot to his and kaiser decadence into zones on our forefathers like you henry the 4th was an emperor who reigned in thought entirely in the tradition of his ancestors he viewed as monarchy as god given and inherited from his father's house in the flesh and that made him very unprepared for an ethical conflict which broke out in the 2nd half of the 11th century and which suddenly called the authority of the king into question as you. the king was viewed by the church reformers as a layman no longer as one anointed by god or goddess. and that developed into a fundamental conflict around the question of which was to take precedence on earth the power of the church or the secular power. it does or conflict this conflict
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erupted in the so-called investiture controversy which was about much more than the investiture of bishops would be felt was about the question of who needed whom the of the who had precedence over who and who had to obey and was. henry the 4th didn't want to obey that was a tragedy but also his pride as a capable. father and he expressed this pride above all in the rebuilding of schreier cathedral i know. there was an outstanding architectural achievement leading to the largest church in western cristen time at the time because it is outside through that. in fact the cathedral fulfilled the function for which it had originally been intended. to be a tomb for the salience in the summer of 1900 historians excavated the floor of the church and opened the more than 800 year old coffins. it was an investigation
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intended to boost the historical significance of the new german empire under kaiser vilhelm the 2nd and to inform the public about the great deeds of his predecessors . featuring large in this history was the 1st salient emperor conrad who had started building the largest romanesque church his remains and those of his family including his wife gisela described as a woman of beauty and intelligence were now to be carefully studied the historical investigation describes henry the 4th as a man of impeccable form he was described as handsome full of masculine strength and almost famine. and grace. a special find was the golden sapphire ring on henry's right ring finger it was a bishop's ring perhaps the final defiant message from an emperor who believed he
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possessed the sole authority to invest bishops with ring and staff. henry's burial crown was carefully restored at the historical museum of the platen 8. it was the symbol of power of an emperor who was viewed by his supporters as anointed by god by his opponents as the embodiment of evil and who throughout his life insisted that his crown was conferred upon him directly by god without the intercession of the church. his cathedral dedicated to mary the mother of god represented for him the divine affirmation of saving rule set in stone surpassing any papal claims and it seems to have provided him with a foothold for his own personal faith. he must have
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been deeply shaken when the bishop of his cathedral made him turn over the imperial insignia to his disloyal son. old chronicles show him surrounded by his bishops and his 2 sons in apparent harmony. but that account is an example of medieval propaganda. both sons had rebuild against their father and the suppose it harmonious handover of power to his youngest son was in fact an act of great violence. dispute is an a for your foot cell to help this guy and this picture is a complete distortion of reality. gagin giving reality against the divine order the sun rose up against the father i cannot throne could flick divinity it was a generational conflict that was relatively rare in the history of the high middle ages but which forced all their contemporaries to take sides in this conflict
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between father and son between the old and the new order and annoying siegel is not really. the winner as in all such generational conflicts as was the song and he actually tried to rethink and rescue this alien monarchy that ended at the fact that he ended up exercising power just like his father did is the particular tragedy of henry the 5th and it marks the gradual end of the sailing a period in the german empire ended as on the outside in my eyes. the times were changing informs as well and it was here that the last salient emperor played an early part in bringing about a new social order. alongside the clergy a new group was growing in society one which had not been reckoned with the middle class its growing economic power soon was something neither the emperors nor the church could ignore. the vorm city archive has a 12th century document and example of charters that were being issued more and
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more frequently these so-called freedom charter granted rights to common citizens these of the the bishop and the aristocracy. the increasingly self-confident citizenry began to be seen by kings as useful allies to be fostered the bishops may have still been the town moves but they couldn't object if the emperor set his seal on it. the folk at the view of all the document was issued out for boredom cvo valma sencion that is for the benefits of the citizens of vaughan. the story a main content of the middle part release the tax burden it expands the rights of the citizenry that was forming it improves opportunities for economic development and it clarifies ambiguities about certain levies in the uk on one of what's important is that all this granting of privileges takes place in consensus with all
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those who have power over the citizens of the and we can see that here in the formulation of those who have used at protest over the c.v.s. pharmacy and in other words it is taking care that no one can say off to its own i didn't know and i object above all and this is very important it is the bishop as the lord of the town who appears here is a proponent of along with other persons clerical unworldly who in some way have claims of the citizen and. the romanesque cathedrals were becoming more and more churches of the people and there for some once were changing too soon appearing in gothic raymond and not only that . the facade of cathedral has an amusing popular stone figure one that originated in the middle class 20th century. as
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to snuff him wrists who come here always ask 1st about the cathedral docks and where is it but it's at the entrance portal to obama's today you know a master builder in the last century. who carried out renovations on the cathedral in the 1920 s. left a memorial to his pet dogs and. there are a lot of different versions of the story but at the core of it is that the docs and somehow saved his life even that. we'll let that cathedral story from the early 20th century tell itself.
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but master builder brandt's rescued by his docs and is not the only animal story that forms cathedral has to tell the other one leads straight back to the middle ages showing an ape delousing a medieval master builder. the scene is a 1000 years old and it is the only known depiction of a romanesque architect. there are plenty of stories of emperors and bishops and the battles of the powerful but the roman s. cathedral builders are hidden in the shadows of history. they are the ones whose
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spirit and hands made all the structures that we admire today. their rivalry to create churches that were ever lovelier larger godly or how exciting it must have been. a contest over the wealth of forms over the many possibilities of hewing ever new things out of sandstone. it was a contest of the imagination that never came to an end that's human nature what was yesterday shall be different tomorrow.
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the rigor of romanesque building began to wear down. the idea of thick walls like fortresses of god judging toward heaven structures of imposing solidity and architectural defiance. to soon to give way. to a new more expansive style. gothic devoted to a different idea. right.
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kick up. a full celebration during the top. friends predict the bulls to stay on course for the c.m.t. and. drama in the relegation. zone this is 2 minds in the last 2nd and it's quitting time for the coach here still to go. in 90 minutes on d. w.
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place. to . play. this in t.w. news the line from berlin more than 3000000 infections in hospitals pushed to the limit as coppa 19 infections so where in germany the federal government lays out plans to centralize more power as the regions fail to bring the crisis under control. also coming up tensions are running high in the us city of minneapolis demonstrators defy a curfew for a 2nd night to protest against the killing by police young black man the officer alleged to have fired the fatal shot says the famous.

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