Faith · Observations · Society · Rome

Biden's closed-door meeting with Pope Francis and the discussion in the Catholic world

Biden's visit to the Vatican, the second Catholic president in US history, and especially his private meeting with the Pope behind closed doors, has provoked debate in the Catholic world. A conservative American bishop, Strickland, even called Francis a serpent, though he has since deleted the insult and

Faith · Observations · Society · Rome

Nothing out of the ordinary, just snipers on the roof of the Church of Saint Patrick in Rome during the Bidens' attendance at Mass in that church

The Church of St Patrick is the church of the American Catholic community and of the English-speaking community in Rome generally, and this year it turns one hundred

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Looking at this 1909 photograph of Sir Winston Churchill, then a major and a Member of Parliament, with Kaiser Wilhelm II, I think not of history and politics but of how splendid it would be to bring back capes like Wilhelm's into men's fashion

Banner with cartoon figures: visitors in old-fashioned and modern clothes head to the museum, people in swimwear head to the bank of the Oka.

NB! · Museums · Observations · Humour

Illustrated notice about the dress code at the Polenovo Museum-Reserve

It is good when a museum employs people with a sense of humour. A notice on the grounds of the Polenovo Museum-Reserve

London · Observations · Science · Education · Society

Boris Johnson cites the fall of Rome as an example of the consequences of climate change

"When the Roman Empire fell, it was in large part the result of uncontrolled immigration. The empire could no longer control its borders ..and Europe sank into the Dark Ages, which lasted a very long time. ..it could happen again" The Prime Minister of Britain has warned of

Mummy of a woman with long dark hair and a pale fur hat lying on an ochre woven mat.

NB! · Archaeology · The East · Observations · Ethnography

Four-Thousand-Year-Old Mummy of a Woman from the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang

A beautifully preserved four-thousand-year-old mummy of a woman from the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. What lovely hair and headdress, even after all these years

Painting detail: a coffin under a black and white pall hangs from rigging beside a ship, while clergy, officers and rowers stand in boats below, a flag at left.

NB!

Draped coffin hoisted from a sailing ship's side, detail of a painting

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Paris · People

Arrival of Napoleon's coffin aboard the ship La Belle Poule (The Pretty Hen), 15 December 1840

Arrival of Napoleon's coffin aboard the ship La Belle Poule (The Pretty Hen), 15 December 1840. Eugène Isabey

In the Press · Faith · Society · Nature

Pope Francis today addressed listeners of BBC Radio with an appeal to the world leaders gathered at the climate summit in Glasgow: "Each of us, whoever we are and wherever we are, can play a part in changing our collective response to the unprecedented th

Pope Francis today addressed listeners of BBC Radio with an appeal to the world leaders gathered at the climate summit in Glasgow: "Each of us, whoever we are and wherever we are, can play a part in changing our collective response to the unprecedented threat of climate change and

Art · Cinema · Observations · Humour

Primaticcio’s 1540 Spring Costume and the Living Trees in Alexander Rou’s “Morozko”

On the one hand, these costumes resemble the work of contemporary Russian designers. On the other, they are very interesting and, in their own way, beautiful, if alarming. Costume of a spring beneath a grove, 1540, by Francesco Primaticcio. Costume of the animated trees from the fairy tale "Morozko&

Page of a Dutch fashion magazine with engravings of black mourning dresses, hats, brooches, a fan and jewellery with crosses.

NB! · Archive · Mores · Pop Culture · Humour

Mourning dress and accessories in the Dutch fashion magazine De Gracieuse, April 1880

A selection of mourning dress and accessories in a Dutch fashion magazine, April 1880. After all, a widow must be not only merry but fashionable too

NB! · Architecture

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