Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Archive
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These featured pictures, as scheduled below, appeared as the picture of the day (POTD) on the English Wikipedia's Main Page in the last 30 days.
You can add an automatically updating POTD template to your user page using {{Pic of the day}} (version with blurb) or {{POTD}} (version without blurb). For instructions on how to make custom POTD layouts, see Wikipedia:Picture of the day.Purge server cache
December 19
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The common house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) is a species of lizard native to southern and southeastern Asia. The undersides of this mating pair are viewed through the glass of a window. The male has inserted one of his two intromittent organs, the hemipenis, into the cloaca of the female. The adhesive lamellae with setae on the underside of the feet adhere to the glass and allow the reptiles to maintain traction on the smooth surface. Photograph credit: Basile Morin
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December 18
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The Contrabandista is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand. It premiered at St. George's Hall in London on 18 December 1867 under the management of Thomas German Reed for a run of 72 performances; this poster was produced to advertise the original production. There were brief revivals in Manchester in 1874 and the United States in 1880. In 1894, it was revised into a new opera, The Chieftain, with a completely different second act. The work was the first of Sullivan's full-length operas to be produced. It was not a great success, with Burnand's libretto coming in for the most criticism, but its music exhibits many of the qualities and techniques that Sullivan would employ in composing his twenty further comic operas, including the famous series of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan operas produced between 1871 and 1896. Poster credit: Robert Jacob Hamerton; restored by Adam Cuerden
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December 17
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The Wright brothers – Orville (1871–1948) and Wilbur (1867–1912) – were American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane. They made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, 4 mi (6 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The brothers were also the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible. These portrait photographs of Orville (left) and Wilbur (right) were taken by the brothers themselves in 1905. Photograph credit: Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright; restored by Scewing and Bammesk
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December 16
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Zinnia elegans, known as the youth-and-age, common zinnia or elegant zinnia, is an annual flowering plant in the daisy family, Asteraceae. It is native to Mexico but grown as an ornamental in many places and naturalised in a number of countries, including scattered locations in South and Central America, the West Indies, the United States, Australia and Italy. This photograph of a Z. elegans bloom in a garden in Bamberg, Germany, was stacked from fifteen separate images. Photograph credit: Reinhold Möller
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December 15
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Kabukichō is an entertainment and red-light district in the special ward of Shinjuku in Tokyo, Japan. The location of many host and hostess clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, the district is often called the "Sleepless Town", and includes Shinjuku Golden Gai, famous for its plethora of small bars. This photograph depicts the Kabukichō Ichiban-gai gate, with numerous colorful neon street signs visible in the background. Photograph credit: Basile Morin
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December 14
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Camp: Notes on Fashion was the 2019 high fashion art exhibition of the Anna Wintour Costume Center, a wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that houses the collection of the Costume Institute. The exhibition ran from May 8 through September 9, 2019, and was preceded by the annual Costume Institute Gala on May 6. The display for the exhibition included this rainbow cape, created by the British fashion designer Christopher Bailey for the luxury fashion house Burberry. Fashion design credit: Christopher Bailey; photographed by Rhododendrites
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December 13
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Drottningholm Palace is the private residence of the Swedish royal family, located on an island on the outskirts of Stockholm. The gardens and parks surrounding the castle are one of the main attractions for the tourists who visit the palace each year. This photograph shows a view of the Baroque garden through a window of the palace. Along with the rest of the palace grounds, the garden was neglected during the 19th century, but was restored in the 1950s and 1960s on the initiative of King Gustaf VI Adolf. Photograph credit: Martin Kraft
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December 12
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The New Zealand dotterel (Charadrius obscurus) is a species of shorebird found only in certain areas of New Zealand. The southern subspecies (C. o. obscurus) is considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with only 60 to 80 mature individuals remaining in 2017. This individual, from the more numerous northern subspecies (C. o. aquilonius), was photographed at Point Chevalier, Auckland. Photograph credit: John Harrison
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December 11
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Eldridge Street Synagogue is a synagogue and National Historic Landmark in the neighborhood of Chinatown in Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1887, it was one of the first synagogues erected in the United States by Eastern European Jews. The Moorish Revival building has a 70-foot-high (21 m) dome, a barrel-vaulted ceiling, and stained-glass rose windows. Photograph credit: Rhododendrites
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December 10
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Ubu Roi is a play by the French writer Alfred Jarry, first performed in Paris on December 10, 1896, at the Nouveau-Théâtre. Considered to be a wild, bizarre and comic play, significant for the way it overturns cultural rules, norms and conventions, it is now seen by some to have opened the door for what became known as modernism in the 20th century. This illustration by Jarry was included in the programme for the play's premiere. Illustration credit: Alfred Jarry; restored by Adam Cuerden
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December 9
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Attacus taprobanis is a species of moth in the family Saturniidae native to southern India and Sri Lanka. This adult male, photographed in Kadavoor, Kerala, developed from a larva feeding on a mahogany tree. When ready to pupate, the larva formed a papery cocoon 7.5 cm (3 in) long interwoven with a leaf; before doing this, the larva had attached the leaf to the stem with a silken thread and cut the leaf stalk. The colours of the dying leaf provided camouflage for the pupa, and the adult insect emerged some 24 days later. Photograph credit: Jeevan Jose
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December 8
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Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit". The first Norwegian Nobel laureate, he was a prolific polemicist and extremely influential in Norwegian public life and Scandinavian cultural debate. Bjørnson is considered to be one of the four great Norwegian writers, alongside Ibsen, Lie, and Kielland, and is also celebrated for his lyrics to the Norwegian national anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet". Photograph credit: Erwin Raupp; restored by Adam Cuerden
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December 7
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The Cape starling (Lamprotornis nitens) is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae, found in southern Africa. It is a gregarious bird and forms large flocks outside the breeding season. It usually feeds on the ground, often foraging alongside other species of starlings. Habituated to humans, its diet includes fruit, insects and nectar. It sometimes feeds on ectoparasites that it picks off the backs of animals or visits bird tables for scraps. This Cape starling, of the subspecies L. n. phoenicopterus, was photographed in Damaraland, Namibia. Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp
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December 6
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Quo Vadis is an Italian silent film directed by Enrico Guazzoni for Cines in 1913, based on the 1896 novel of the same name written by Henryk Sienkiewicz. It was one of the first blockbusters in the history of cinema. This poster for Quo Vadis, produced for George Kleine, the U.S. distributor of the film, depicts the Roman emperor Nero playing a lyre while Rome burns in the background, with the caption "Nero sings while Rome burns". Poster credit: National Printing & Engraving Company; restored by Adam Cuerden
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December 5
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James Guthrie (December 5, 1792 – March 13, 1869) was a Kentucky lawyer, plantation owner, railroad president and Democratic Party politician. His financial acumen was recognized by President Franklin Pierce who appointed him Secretary of the Treasury in 1853. He strongly opposed proposals for Kentucky to secede from the United States and attended the Peace Conference of 1861, siding with the Union during the Civil War. This picture is a line engraving of Guthrie, produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 42 secretaries of the treasury. Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva
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December 4
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The Malagasy giant chameleon or Oustalet's chameleon is a large species of chameleon endemic to Madagascar. This male, photographed in the Anja Community Reserve, is catching a grasshopper by projecting its long tongue at tremendous speed to capture prey located some distance away. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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December 3
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The ruble is the name of a currency unit in a number of countries in eastern Europe. This one-ruble coin was issued by the Russian Empire in 1771, during the reign of Catherine the Great. It is made of solid copper, weighing just over 1.022 kg (2.25 lb), and was designed to be kept in the imperial treasury as metallic backing for the country's paper-ruble issue. Marginally larger than a standard hockey puck, it is reportedly the largest copper coin ever issued. The coin now forms part of the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History. Coin design credit: Russian Empire; photographed by the National Numismatic Collection
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December 2
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This historical coat of arms of Indiana is an illustration from State Arms of the Union by Henry Mitchell, published by Louis Prang in 1876. The sun rising over the Allegheny Mountains suggests that Indiana has a bright future. The woodsman represents civilization subduing the wilderness, while the American bison represents the wilderness fleeing westward away from the advance of civilization. This design is also used on the state seal, introduced in 1816, the year in which Indiana became a U.S. state. Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by Andrew Shiva
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December 1
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The northern royal albatross (Diomedea sanfordi) is a large seabird in the albatross family, Diomedeidae. It nests only on the Chatham Islands, on Enderby Island, and at Taiaroa Head on the Otago Peninsula of New Zealand. It spends the rest of the year away from land, in circumpolar flights over the Southern Ocean, feeding on squid, fish, crustaceans, salps and carrion. The species is listed on the IUCN Red List as endangered, but predators have been eliminated from the islands where it breeds, and conservation efforts have proved successful at the Taiaroa Head colony. This northern royal albatross was photographed off the southeastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. Photograph credit: John Harrison |
November 30
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Henry Taube (November 30, 1915 – November 16, 2005) was a Canadian-born American chemist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his work in the mechanisms of electron-transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes". He was the second Canadian-born chemist to win the Nobel Prize, and remains the only Saskatchewanian-born Nobel laureate. Taube also received many other major scientific awards, including the Priestley Medal in 1985 and two Guggenheim Fellowships early in his career (1949 and 1955), as well as numerous honorary doctorates. Photograph credit: United States Department of Energy; restored by Bammesk |
November 29
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The Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station is a storage power station in Bavaria, Germany. The turbines, seen here, are fed by water from the Walchensee which is then released into the Kochelsee. The power station uses the hydraulic head of about 200 metres (660 ft) between the two natural lakes, and water from the Rißbach river is also used to augment the supply. The installed capacity is 124 MW with an annual production of 300 GWh; this is one of the largest of such power plants in Germany. Photograph credit: Diego Delso
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November 28
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A Meeting in the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters is a monumental 1897 oil-on-canvas group portrait by Peder Severin Krøyer, depicting the membership of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters during one of its meetings in the Prince's Mansion in Copenhagen. Commissioned by the Carlsberg Foundation, the painting measures 266.7 by 519.4 centimetres (105.0 in × 204.5 in), and hangs in the Academy's building in central Copenhagen. Painting credit: Peder Severin Krøyer
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November 27
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Cygnus is a northern constellation on the plane of the Milky Way, deriving its name from the Latinized Greek word for 'swan'. Cygnus is one of the most recognizable constellations of the northern summer and autumn, and it features a prominent asterism known as the Northern Cross. Cygnus was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. This illustration of Cygnus, with the surrounding constellations of Lacerta, Lyra and Vulpecula, was produced around 1823 as part of Urania's Mirror, a set of 32 astronomical star-chart cards published in the United Kingdom. Lithograph credit: Sidney Hall; restored by Adam Cuerden
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November 26
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Purana tigrina is a species of cicada found in Southeast Asia. This adult male was photographed in Kadavoor, Kerala, in southern India, and is about one inch (25 mm) in length. The mouthparts are adapted to piercing plant tissues and sucking sap; the male abdomen houses the tymbal, an organ used in the production of song, while the female abdomen is tipped by a large, saw-edged ovipositor. Photograph credit: Jeevan Jose
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November 25
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This forty shillings banknote was issued by the Colony of Connecticut, dated 2 January 1775; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: Colony of Connecticut and Timothy Green (printer); photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This four shillings banknote was issued by the Delaware Colony and is dated 1 January 1776; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: Delaware Colony and James Adams (printer); photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This forty dollar banknote was issued by the state of Georgia and is dated 4 May 1778; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: State of Georgia and W. Lancaster (printer); photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This one dollar banknote was issued by the Province of Maryland and is dated 1 March 1770; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: Province of Maryland and Anne Catherine & William Green (printers); photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This two shillings banknote was issued by the Province of Massachusetts Bay and is dated 1 May 1741; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: Province of Massachusetts Bay; photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This one dollar banknote was issued by the state of New Hampshire and is dated 29 April 1780; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: Province of New Hampshire, printed by Hall & Sellers; photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This twelve shillings banknote was issued by the Colony of New-Jersey and is dated 25 March 1776; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: Colony of New Jersey and I. Collins (printer); photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This two shillings banknote was issued by the Colony of New-York and is dated 2 August 1775; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: Colony of New York and H. Gaine (printer); photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This three pounds banknote was issued by the Province of North Carolina, dated 27 November 1729; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: Province of North Carolina; photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This twenty shillings banknote was issued by the Province of Pennsylvania, dated 20 March 1771; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: Province of Pennsylvania, Printed by D. Hall & W. Sellers; photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Subpage 11
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the Colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the States began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This one dollar banknote was issued by the State of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, dated 2 July 1780; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Printed by D. Hall & W. Sellers; photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the states began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This sixty dollars banknote was issued by the state of South Carolina, dated 8 February 1779; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: South Carolina, engraved by Thomas Coram; photographed by Andrew Shiva
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Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-revolutionary history of the United States. During the American Revolution, the colonies became independent states. No longer subject to arbitrarily imposed monetary regulations by the British Parliament, the states began to issue paper money, to pay for military expenses. This three pounds banknote was issued by the Colony of Virginia, dated 4 March 1773; it is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Other issues:
Banknote design credit: Colony of Virginia, engraved by Henry Ashby; photographed by Andrew Shiva
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November 24
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Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The government is an absolute monarchy, the last of its kind in Africa, and the country has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986. One of the country's important cultural events is Umhlanga, the reed-dance festival, held in August or September each year. This photograph shows Princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini, the eldest daughter of Mswati III, at the 2006 festival. Photograph credit: Amada44
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November 23
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The northern palm squirrel (Funambulus pennantii) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It has a wide distribution in the Indian subcontinent and Iran, being a semi-arboreal species found in dry deciduous forest and many other rural and urban habitats. It is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of least concern. This northern palm squirrel was photographed in Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp
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November 22
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Baby Huwae (22 November 1939 – 5 June 1989) was an Indonesian model, film actress and singer. Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, she moved to Indonesia, where she took up modelling, by the 1950s. She entered the film industry in 1958, and gained popularity following the success of Asrama Dara. Over the next few years, Huwae acted in a further five films and established a girl group, the Baby Dolls, with several actresses who had appeared in her second film. She made a guest appearance in one more film in 1971 after a ten-year hiatus. Photograph credit: Tati Photo Studio; restored by Chris Woodrich
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November 21
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The Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes is a Gothic royal chapel within the fortifications of the Château de Vincennes on the east edge of Paris. It was inspired by the Sainte-Chapelle, the royal chapel within the Palais de la Cité in Paris. It was begun in 1379 by Charles V of France to house relics of the Passion of Jesus. The interior, seen in this photograph, has very little decoration, most of it having been destroyed in 1793 during the French Revolution, but vestiges of the sculpture and portions of the Renaissance stained glass remain. Photograph credit: Daniel Vorndran
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November 20
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The ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres) is a small wading bird in the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae. It is a highly migratory bird, breeding in northern parts of Eurasia and North America and flying south to winter on coastlines almost worldwide. This adult ruddy turnstone in non-breeding plumage was photographed at Boat Harbour in New South Wales, Australia. Photograph credit: John Harrison
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