The East · Architecture · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage
The facade of the Mshatta Umayyad Palace, located in Jordan, presented in 1903 by Sultan Abdul Hamid II to the German Emperor Wilhelm II as a personal gift. The palace dates from the first half of the 8th century and is believed to have been built before the fall of
Architecture · Moscow · Observations
The Kremlin wall in northern Italy In Italy, too, they are called swallowtails, and it is said that in the 12th century they served as a kind of badge of allegiance. The Guelphs, supporters of the Pope of Rome, built their walls with rectangular merlons; the Ghibellines, supporters of the
The Golden Age · Archive · Architecture · Art · Museums
In an 1856 photograph by the Berlin photographer Leopold Ahrendts, attentive spectators on the steps of Schinkel's Altes Museum in Berlin are absorbed in August Kiss's sculpture "Amazon on Horseback Attacked by a Panther". Cast in the 1840s, the sculpture was a sensation for
Architecture · Faith · Art
The Rio del Santissimo di Santo Stefano in Venice is a canal that runs literally beneath the apse of the Gothic church of Santo Stefano. The arch under the church is so low that the canal is impassable at high tide or during high water. The church itself was completed
The Golden Age · NB! · Archive · Architecture · Art · Monarchies
Marie Antoinette's apartments at Fontainebleau and the design for their decoration by Pierre Rousseau, 1785-86.
The East · Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Society
A visit to the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul has turned into a rather melancholy affair. In 1934, by decree of Atatürk, the cathedral became a museum open to all, and in July 2020 the Turkish government restored the building's status as a working mosque, yet for
NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage
A wooden escalator of the 1930s in the Saint Anne's pedestrian tunnel in Antwerp
Coming Up · Architecture · Art · Museums · Paris
The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris is showing the exhibition “Gustave Fayet. Collector and Creator” until 8 March 2027. It continues the “Icons of Modern Art” series, which has previously included the collections of Sergei Shchukin, the brothers Mikhail and Ivan Morozov, and the British industrialist Samuel Courtauld. The Fondation
Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Society
Troublemakers have just burned down the town hall of Limoges At the end of a protest, demonstrators smashed the windows of the Limoges town hall, broke in and set the building on fire. The roof over the lower floors and the 43-metre clock tower collapsed, and about two thirds
Architecture · Heritage · Science
Giant steel sphere discovered during the demolition of a paper mill in North Carolina The riveted steel sphere, about 9 metres high and weighing about 40 tonnes, is reported to have been built in 1936. Unfortunately, it was damaged by mistake during dismantling. The most convincing version suggests that the
The Golden Age · NB! · Archive · Architecture · Art · Paris
Les Invalides. Lithograph of 1840
The Golden Age · Archive · Architecture · Moscow · Heritage
A view of the Triumphal Arch in Moscow in the 1930s. As you can see, the stone Triumphal Gates, built to the design of the architect Osip Bove in 1829 - 1834, still stand on Tverskaya, then Gorky Street. In 1936 the arch was dismantled. The monument would be recreated only