Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 January 29

The Pyramid of Nyuserre is a pyramid complex built in the 25th century BC for the Egyptian pharaoh Nyuserre Ini of the Fifth Dynasty. It is in the Abusir necropolis south of modern-day Cairo between the complexes of Neferirkare and of Sahure. Nyuserre was the last king to be entombed in the necropolis. The main pyramid, nearly 52 m (171 ft) tall, had a stepped core built from roughly cut limestone encased in fine Tura limestone. The casing was stripped by stone thieves, leaving the core exposed to the elements and further human activity, reducing the pyramid to a ruined mound. Adjoining the pyramid's east face is the mortuary temple built in an L-shape rather than the usual T-shape plan. It introduced the antichambre carrée, an innovative type of room that became a standard feature of later monuments. The site has two structures which appear to have been pylon prototypes. These, too, became staple features of temples and palaces in a later period. (Full article...)

Saint or sibyl?

• ... that art historians disagree as to whether two figures in
  a painting (detail pictured) by the Master of Delft are saints or sibyls
  ?
• ... that American Brigadier General Harold Francis Loomis was in charge of the rearmament of French forces during World War II?
• ... that Overdrawn at the Memory Bank was recorded on videotape instead of photographic film so as not to be as expensive as Blade Runner?
• ... that Kathleen Heddle was one of two Canadians to win three gold medals at the Summer Olympic Games?
• ... that eleven people, nine of them minors, died in a sugar plantation fire in Cagua, Venezuela, while trying to hunt rabbits?
• ... that Minnie Lou Crosthwaite, the first Black woman to pass the teacher exam in Nashville's segregated school system, and Minnie Lee Crosthwaite, one of Kansas City's first Black social workers, both attended Fisk University?
• ... that Sampson's snakeroot is traditionally used to help knit broken bones and as a salve on wounds, ulcers and boils?
• ... that Zéna M'Déré led a protest movement in Mayotte in which women tickled their political opponents, forcing them to comply with their demands?

Kaja Kallas

• A coordinated short squeeze targeting American hedge funds causes GameStop's stock price to spike.
• Kaja Kallas (pictured) becomes the first female Prime Minister of Estonia, following the resignation of Jüri Ratas.
• In Russia, protests against the arrest of Alexei Navalny occur in more than 120 towns and cities.
• American baseball player Hank Aaron dies at the age of 86.

January 29

"Mantra-Rock Dance" poster

• 1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: At the Battle of Brienne, both sides' commanders, Napoleon and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, were nearly captured.
• 1891 – Liliʻuokalani, the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Hawaiian Kingdom, ascended the throne.
• 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Rennell Island, the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal campaign, began.
• 1967 – The Mantra-Rock Dance (poster pictured), called the "ultimate high" of the hippie era, took place in San Francisco, featuring Swami Bhaktivedanta, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg.
• 1991 – The first major ground engagement of the Gulf War began with the Iraqi invasion of Khafji, Saudi Arabia, recaptured three days later by Coalition forces.