Archaeology · Architecture · Heritage · Rome
The Pyramid of Cestius is an ancient Roman mausoleum in Rome, built in 18-12 BC. The tomb received the ashes of Gaius Cestius, an influential Roman magistrate and priest. The pyramid is a concrete structure 36 metres high, faced with marble. The Pyramid of Cestius has survived to our
NB! · Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Paris
A symbol of awakening from darkness to light, of vigilance and of the protection of Paris, the golden cockerel crowning the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris holds a fragment of Christ's Crown of Thorns, as well as relics of Saint Geneviève and Saint Denis. The relics survived
Archive · Books · Mores
In any dispute, the first thing done is to bribe the judge. Money is taken from both sides, as is well known, and he who gives more wins the case. Thomas Salmon, "Modern History, or the Present State of ... Russia", 1735
Aristocracy · Books · London · Museums · Observations · Society
Chatsworth, one of Britain's best-known country houses and seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, the Cavendish family, since 1549, launches a scheme of free admission through libraries. The mechanics of the project are as follows: a library reader in Derbyshire borrows a "community card" just
Coming Up · Art · Books · Museums · Rome
At the end of September the Vatican Apostolic Library will open AQVA, an exhibition from its new cycle "Catastrophe and Miracle". The cycle is based on Gaetano Volpi's treatise "On the Passion for Books" of 1756, which lists five threats to the book: water,
Art · Monarchies · Ethnography
Queen Matilda Working on the Bayeux Tapestry, Alfred Guillard, 1848. The painting draws on the legend that attributes the making of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the conquest of England, to Matilda, Duchess of Normandy and Queen of England, wife of William the Conqueror. Such romantic vignettes belong to the
Faith · London · Monarchies · Observations · Society
At the end of June Buckingham Palace published an annual financial report of little interest to the general public. But here is what is interesting: in the description of the monarch's duties a new line has appeared, to the effect that the King "protects the space for
Art · Museums · Observations · People
One of the strongest impressions of this year: the series of Madonnas by Giovanni Bellini in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. Bellini painted this subject more than eighty times in the course of his life, so there is no better material for watching his mastery develop. The Madonnas
Archaeology · Observations · Science · Palaeontology
Whoever has not yet tired of following my scholarly work may like to hear about two interesting recent articles on my subject. One, by Ben Potter, maintains that the Palaeoindians were megafauna specialists who followed the mammoths from Alaska to Patagonia. Nothing especially sensational here. But the second article, by
Art · London · Monarchies · Museums · Humour
The sinister portrait of Charles III by Jonathan Yeo, unveiled in 2024, in which the king's figure drowned in the crimson haze of the underworld, has made it into Buckingham Palace after all. The Royal Collection has accepted as a gift a large preparatory study for that portrait,
Art · Society · Humour
In Baltimore, the pedestal that has stood empty for exactly six years, ever since the monument to Columbus was removed from it, has finally acquired a new occupant. True, this Renaissance lasted only a few minutes, and the self-proclaimed David was led away by the police. This time, dropped
Architecture · Museums · Science · New York · Society
A cunning bacterium has been found in the cooling tower of the Guggenheim Museum, infecting people through clouds of vapour. The bacterium is called Legionella, and its history belongs to the twentieth century. It was isolated after 1976, when participants in a convention of the American Legion fell ill at