Statue of the Infant Jesus from Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome, stolen in 1984

One of the shrines of Rome is the miraculous statue of the Infant Jesus in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, which tradition holds to have been carved 600 years ago from the trunk of an olive tree from the Garden of Gethsemane, and which was said to be able to raise the dead. This Infant granted wishes and healed the gravely ill: his lips changed colour if a prayer had been heard. In 1984 the statue was stolen, and to this day no one knows where it is. The church now holds a copy of the wooden Infant.

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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

Statue of the Infant Jesus from Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome, stolen in 1984

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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