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Artist Elena Sheidlina Reimagines Horace Slughorn's Attempt to Hide from the Death Eaters
The artist Elena Sheidlina has reimagined Horace Slughorn's attempt to hide from the Death Eaters. On this occasion, no dragon's blood was needed to discover the hiding place.
Observations · Society
Forced coin exchange at unfavourable rates in Europe from the Middle Ages to the 18th century
The right to issue currency has in every age been a source of colossal revenue for those who held it and of incredible injustice for everyone else. In medieval Europe there existed the practice of withdrawing coins from circulation. It happened constantly, sometimes twice a year. People were obliged to
Science · Nature
Mecklenburg stork with an African spear and the study of bird migration in the 19th century
Until the nineteenth century, science did not know for certain what happens to many birds in winter: where do they vanish to? As late as the end of the eighteenth century it was suggested that birds fall into hibernation and sleep beneath the snow or on the beds of lakes
Faith · London · Mores · Society
The General Synod of the Church of England Discussed Prayers for the Blessing of Same-Sex Couples
The subject is not new to the Church of England, but until now matters had never gone as far as publishing a proposed collection of prayers and Bible readings connected with same-sex services. The Archbishop of Canterbury, however, chose to abstain in the vote on the prayers, explaining that
Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies
Giuseppe Duprà painted a portrait of a child with a spear and a dog in 1766
Prince Maurizio Giuseppe of Savoy at the Age of 4. Portrait with a spear. Italian artist Giuseppe Duprà, 1766
NB! · Books · Education · Humour
“It seems to me as if I had not eaten for three days”, “when I do not have supper, I cannot sleep” and other important phrases for not dying of hunger, in French, shed light on the origins of the education of Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov, known as Kis
Books · Science · Humour
An old Russian book explains why stout people are less healthy than thin ones
Why are stout people not so healthy as lean ones? Because in a stout body the pores (passages) are all stopped up by the coldness of the phlegmatic spirits, and the excess of fatty humours, unable to escape from the body through the pores, is forced to return back into
NB! · Art · Observations
The Floating Diana from the Fresco in the Painter's House at Pompeii and Marc and Bella Flying over the Sky of Vitebsk in Marc Chagall's "Over the Town"
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And the Tears Fell
Art · Observations · Ethnography
Henri-Paul Motte depicts the druid rite of cutting mistletoe with a golden blade
The aesthetics of druid life always remind me of pictures of Ancient Rus'. Druids Cutting the Mistletoe on the Sixth Day of the Moon. Henri-Paul Motte (1846-1922) It is believed that sprigs of mistletoe were cut with a golden blade, after which cattle were offered in sacrifice
NB! · Observations