Context and question: On December 30, 1922, with the creation of the Soviet Union, Russia became one of six republics within the federation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The final Soviet name for the republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was adopted in the Soviet Constitution of 1936. By that time, Soviet Russia had gained roughly the same borders of the old Tsardom of Russia before the Great Northern War of 1700.
How many republics made up the USSR by the end of 1922?
Answer: six
Context and question: The apse mosaic of the Gelati Monastery is a rare example of mosaic use in Georgia. Began by king David IV and completed by his son Demetrius I of Georgia, the fragmentary panel depicts Theotokos flanked by two archangels. The use of mosaic in Gelati attests to some Byzantine influence in the country and was a demonstration of the imperial ambition of the Bagrationids. The mosaic covered church could compete in magnificence with the churches of Constantinople. Gelati is one of few mosaic creations which survived in Georgia but fragments prove that the early churches of Pitsunda and Tsromi were also decorated with mosaic as well as other, lesser known sites. The destroyed 6th century mosaic floors in the Pitsunda Cathedral have been inspired by Roman prototypes. In Tsromi the tesserae are still visible on the walls of the 7th-century church but only faint lines hint at the original scheme. Its central figure was Christ standing and displaying a scroll with Georgian text.
Who started construction on the Gelati Monastery?
Answer: king David IV
Context and question: Dutch belongs to its own West Germanic sub-group, West Low Franconian, paired with its sister language Limburgish, or East Low Franconian. Closest relative is the mutual intelligible daughter language Afrikaans. Other West Germanic languages related to Dutch are German, English and the Frisian languages, and the non standardised languages Low German and Yiddish. Dutch stands out in combining a small degree of Ingvaeonic characteristics (occurring consistently in English and Frisian and reduced in intensity from 'west to east' over the continental West Germanic plane) with mostly Istvaeonic characteristics, of which some of them are also incorporated in German. Unlike German, Dutch (apart from Limburgish) has not been influenced at all by the 'south to north' movement of the High German sound shift, and had some changes of its own. The cumulation of these changes resulted over time in separate, but related standard languages with various degrees of similarities and differences between them. For a comparison between the West Germanic languages, see the sections Morphology, Grammar and Vocabulary.
What's the "cheesy" name for East Low Franconian?
Answer:
Limburgish