Faith · Society · People

The Quakers have a hero named Benjamin Lay (1677 - 1759): an Englishman who ended up in Barbados, where he saw his fill of the horrors of slavery and, because of his categorical rejection of the order prevailing on the island, was obliged to move to Penns

If you have ever been a guest in a Quaker house or in some memorial apartment, you will surely have seen the image of this man, extraordinarily widely reproduced and easily remembered: a bandy-legged fellow under 120 centimetres tall, hunchbacked, with arms longer than his legs. Such was Benjamin

Faith · Observations · Society · Nature

Pope Francis I, addressing TED, urges us to heed what scientists say about climate change and the need to act now to mitigate it

Pope Francis I, addressing TED, urges us to heed what scientists say about climate change and the need to act now to mitigate it. And, as is his custom, he appeals to our hearts, which fail to notice the suffering of the poorest and least protected amid growing inequality and

On a black painted tray lie eight turquoise glazed tile magnets inscribed with the word Kolomna, and three ceramic butterflies.

NB! · Faith · Observations · Ethnography

Tile-style magnets from the ceramic workshop of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kolomna Kremlin

I do so love such charming details: in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kolomna Kremlin one can buy naive tile magnets from the cathedral's own ceramic workshop. The price is 150 roubles

Architecture · Faith · Geography · Observations · Heritage · Nature

Having visited Kolomna, it would be foolish not to see the place where the Moskva flows into the Oka, all the more so as it lies practically within the town limits

Having visited Kolomna, it would be foolish not to see the place where the Moskva flows into the Oka, all the more so as it lies practically within the town limits. The surroundings are very picturesque. If you go, the road will take you past the Old Golutvin Monastery, founded

Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage

Activists from the Kostroma Region are raising funds for conservation and emergency stabilisation work in the Resurrection Church of the Neronovo estate, with its original 18th and 19th-century interiors

Activists from the Kostroma Region are raising funds for conservation and emergency stabilisation work in the Resurrection Church of the Neronovo estate, with its original 18th and 19th-century interiors. I should note at once that the Neronovo estate is privately owned, which, however, does not diminish its cultural significance

Architecture · Faith · The East · Heritage

26 September 1687: during the Venetian siege of the Athenian Acropolis, the Parthenon, where the Turks had set up a powder magazine and a refuge, was blown up

On 26 September 1687, during the Venetian siege of the Athenian Acropolis, the Parthenon was blown up, the Turks having made it a powder magazine and a place of refuge. The Parthenon, which had by then served as a mosque for more than two hundred years, was bombarded without mercy:

Architecture · Faith · Moscow · Observations · Heritage · Society

I am simply horrified: under the guise of "restoration", the necropolis of the Novodevichy Convent has been literally destroyed

I am simply horrified: under the guise of "restoration", the necropolis of the Novodevichy Convent has been literally destroyed. See for yourselves. Levelling hundreds of burials to the ground and dismantling monuments, gravestones and the remains of crypts is now what passes for restoring a cemetery. If any

Architecture · Faith · Moscow · Museums · Heritage

At the Shchusev Museum of Architecture an exhibition has opened that will become a new part of the permanent display: three halls have been given over to the restored frescoes of the 15th-century Trinity-Makaryev Monastery at Kalyazin, blown up and floode

At the Shchusev Museum of Architecture an exhibition has opened that will become a new part of the permanent display: three halls have been given over to the restored frescoes of the 15th-century Trinity-Makaryev Monastery at Kalyazin, blown up and flooded in 1940 during the construction of the

Faith · Art · Humour

Adam only wanted a rest, but the Lord had other plans for him

ps little Eve is sheer charm

Faith · The East · Society · Rome

Pope Francis's first public audience in six months was devoted not only to the challenges of the pandemic but also to words of sympathy for the victims of the tragedy in Beirut, with a special place in his address given to solidarity

Pope Francis's first public audience in six months was devoted not only to the challenges of the pandemic but also to words of sympathy for the victims of the tragedy in Beirut, with a special place in his address given to solidarity. The Pope recalled the Babel syndrome:

Faith · Society · Rome

Today Pope Francis held his first public audience in six months and spoke some very important words: that all of us need the immediacy of personal contact, which does our souls great good, and that we should pray that the pandemic does not become a pretex

Today Pope Francis held his first public audience in six months and spoke some very important words: that all of us need the immediacy of personal contact, which does our souls great good, and that we should pray that the pandemic does not become a pretext for dividing humanity but

Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Society

The concert hall of the Kaliningrad Regional Philharmonic will sound anew: the building is to be renovated and given a new multifunctional, as is now the fashion, cultural space with new lightsoundvideo equipment and venues for…

The concert hall of the Kaliningrad Regional Philharmonic will sound anew: the building is to be renovated and given a new multifunctional, as is now the fashion, cultural space with new lightsoundvideo equipment and venues for lectures, masterclasses and other activities. Curiously, the reorientation of the Philharmonic's premises