Faith · Madrid · Society · Nature · Ethnography
Last Saturday Spain held festivities marking the feast of Saint Anthony the Great, patron saint of domestic animals. Near Madrid, in the village of San Bartolomé de Pinares, which has a population of about 500, the rite of Las Luminarias has been held every year for centuries. Riders lead their
Archive · Heritage · People
Aeschylus's "The Persians" at the National Greek Theatre in 1934. One of the last works of the director Fotos Politis (1890–1934). On stage: Ioannis Avlonitis, Georgios Glinos, Tsavalas Karousos. The founding of the National Theatre in the spring of 1930 was of great significance for
Archaeology · Architecture · Faith · The East
Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a Byzantine-period monastic complex in Sohag Governorate in Egypt. The find has been described as the most comprehensive of its kind in the region. The monastery comprises residential and communal buildings, small cell-like annexes for the monks, as well as service rooms
NB! · Observations · Mores · Society · Humour
Faith · Books · Society
Around 6.3 million Bibles were sold in Britain, a new record for the whole history of the book's sales and 134% more than in 2019. The number of people attending church in England and Wales has risen by 50% since 2018. In the US, sales have reached
NB! · Archive · New York · People · Pop Culture
Archaeology · Archive · Architecture · Books · Rome
The ancient Roman would not have recognised the layout of his own city, were he to behold it. It has often happened that, on digging deep into the earth, men have struck the top of a very tall column which "still stood at its full height below." For
Books · Society · People
Bank of Russia issues a 2-rouble coin to mark the 200th anniversary of Saltykov-Shchedrin. The coin is struck in 925 sterling silver, is circular in form with a diameter of 33 mm, and contains 15.55 grams of pure precious metal. The mintage will be 3,000 pieces.
Archive · Moscow · Observations · Science
The screen around us. A robot converses with visitors at the "Electrification of the USSR" pavilion. Do you know what year it was? 1959. It looks like the future, yet it was sixty years ago. So what is it that surprises us all so much now? Photo from
Archive · Moscow · Nature
In the Moscow Zoo of the 1930s, as a matter of fact, there was a pair of hippopotamuses, a male, Peter, and a female, Greta, and in 1943 they had a calf, August. Peter and Greta lived on into the 1980s. And now we know that besides them there was
Archive · Faith · Cinema
At this council Prince Dmitry Donskoy, Andrey Rublev, Maximus the Greek, Metropolitan Macarius, Paisius Velichkovsky, the Blessed Xenia of Saint Petersburg, Ignatius (Brianchaninov), Ambrose of Optina and Theophan the Recluse were glorified among the saints. The celebration of the jubilee is shown in the 1989 documentary film “The Local Council
NB! · Cinema · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
No better combo than Einstein and Mr Bean could possibly be devised. Any thoughts as to why they are there?