Haymaking on the Île aux Juifs in Paris in a Très Riches Heures miniature of the Duke of Berry

Happy start of summer, everyone! May June be as fruitful and bountiful as it is in the miniature from the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry, dating from the middle of the fifteenth century.

The miniature already shows the haymaking, for Europe is, after all, a little warmer. Peasants are mowing hay in Paris, on the city meadow on the Île aux Juifs near the Cité, where the embankment of the Pont Neuf now stands. In the background the Conciergerie and the Sainte-Chapelle are clearly visible

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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

Haymaking on the Île aux Juifs in Paris in a Très Riches Heures miniature of the Duke of Berry

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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