On 8 April 2005, the day of Pope John Paul II's funeral, a sudden strong wind fell upon Rome, and for a time the Vatican became one solid human mass shaken by the gusts of the elements

On 8 April 2005, the day of Pope John Paul II's funeral, a sudden strong wind fell upon Rome, and for a time the Vatican became one solid human mass shaken by the gusts of the elements. The phenomenon went down in history as the Red Wind. Red, for the colour of the Catholic cassocks, which billowed like scarlet waves. A natural occurrence that heightened the emotional colouring of the last farewell to an outstanding pontiff

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September digest on archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

On 8 April 2005, the day of Pope John Paul II's funeral, a sudden strong wind fell upon Rome, and for a time the Vatican became one solid human mass shaken by the gusts of the elements

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September digest on archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s