The Church as a ship of saints in the Piccolomini Breviary illustration, Lombardy, circa 1475

An allegory of the Church as a ship, which provokes rejection and hostility from the people on the shore. The ship is filled with saints. The mast is the cross of Jesus Christ, crowned with the nest of a pelican feeding its young with its own blood. On the keel is the dove of the Holy Spirit, and on all four sides around it are the symbols of the evangelists.

Illustration from the Piccolomini Breviary, Lombardy, circa 1475

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

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of 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

The Church as a ship of saints in the Piccolomini Breviary illustration, Lombardy, circa 1475

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September digest: 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