Table made from the marble floor of the Basilica Julia, brought from Rome to Sweden

Roman artefacts are the Chanel of the antiques world. A plain stone from the ruins of Rome may turn out to be a fragment of sculpture from an ancient temple, a mosaic from a senator's house or a column from a sumptuous palace. In the 18th century a piece of the floor of the Basilica Julia, built by Julius Caesar in the 50s BC for sittings of the Senate, was brought to Sweden from Rome. From a slab of marble this unique table was made, now on display in the National Museum

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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

Table made from the marble floor of the Basilica Julia, brought from Rome to Sweden

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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