A happy grandfather in a Viking helmet: King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, delighted as a child at the opening of the Viking-themed amusement park Vikingaslav in 2017. The Vikings left the historical stage long ago, yet they remain the core of the collective memory of a glorious past among the Swedes and other Scandinavians
An American archaeologist has carried out a forensic analysis of skulls of people who were buried beside the tombs of Egypt's first kings at Abydos, and has found on many of them traces of violent death. Abydos in Upper Egypt served as the burial place of the kings
A costume evening at one of the Moscow theatres in the early twentieth century
Professor Oba Mie of Kanagawa University writes that Japan could become a third partner for the ASEAN countries alongside the USA and China. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations preserves its independence under the slogan of "centrality": the bloc's members seek to remain the principal forum
On 4 October, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, who is regarded as the patron of animals and of nature, animals are blessed in churches all over the world. Stories of his sermon to the birds and of the wolf of Gubbio are associated with the name of Francis,