King Louis XVI was guillotined in Paris on January 21, 1793, after the National Convention convicted him of high treason. Prints of the execution quickly spread across Europe, and their meaning depended on who made them. English prints often showed devils celebrating and emphasized the brutality of the machine, which was only invented the year before. Royalist French images cast Louis as a Christian martyr forgiving his enemies, while pro-revolutionary prints praised the sword of law. Louis himself had suggested an oblique blade design for the guillotine, making his own death an ironic footnote.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.