Books · Observations · Heritage · Society

Shakespeare's birthplace to be decolonised over concerns about British cultural superiority

The house where Shakespeare was born is to be DECOLONISED over fears of "white supremacy". The initiators claim that Shakespeare's genius may be seen as a symbol of "British cultural superiority". The people who have usurped power in Britain hate England, Europe, Christianity and

Cinema · Heritage · People

A memorial plaque on house No. 72, Chkalov Street, in the city of Rybinsk commemorates the sons of Khaim Shmuilovich Shenker, a clerk at the Rybinsk office of the Volga River Steamship Company, Joseph and Nicholas, who emigrated with their family to the U

A memorial plaque on house No. 72, Chkalov Street, in the city of Rybinsk commemorates the sons of Khaim Shmuilovich Shenker, a clerk at the Rybinsk office of the Volga River Steamship Company, Joseph and Nicholas, who emigrated with their family to the USA in 1893, when they were 15

Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Heritage

Snegirev House on Plyushchikha Hidden Under a Canopy

Snegirev House on Plyushchikha has been hidden under a canopy. In the neglected residence of Professor Vladimir Fyodorovich Snegirev, the founder of Russian gynaecology, repair work has been under way for several years now, though I am not sure it can be called restoration. Built in the Romantic style in

Architecture · Moscow · Heritage

Restoration begins on the Rostokino Aqueduct in Moscow, the only surviving aqueduct in Russia

Restoration work has begun on the Rostokino Aqueduct in Moscow. The only surviving aqueduct in Russia, it is a cultural heritage site of federal significance and an important part of Russia's first water supply system, the Catherine (Mytishchi) Waterworks. The aqueduct was built in 1779–1785 and played

Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Paris

Damaged Notre-Dame limestone to be raffled for France's endangered religious heritage

Notre-Dame de Paris is raffling about fifty stones from its historic façade among those who donate €40 or more to the cathedral's restoration before 4 April 2025. Fragments of limestone that proved too badly damaged for reuse have been cut into pieces weighing from 800 grams, each

Architecture · Art · Museums · Observations · Heritage · Paris

About 2,000 works from the museum will go to French and foreign museums

Today one of the finest museums of modern art, the Centre Pompidou, closes for five years of renovation. Around 2,000 works of art will be dispatched to other French and foreign museums. Part of the museum's collection can be seen quite soon, for instance, at the Grand

Archive · Art · Heritage

Let Us Preserve Our Monuments of Culture

Yefim Semyonovich Tsvik, 1967

Art · Museums · Heritage

In the Netherlands, local police, with the help of art detective Arthur Brand, have found Pieter Brueghel the Younger's painting "Woman Carrying Coals", stolen from the National Museum in Gdańsk half a century ago. At present the Polish authorities…

During the theft in 1974 the criminal replaced the original with a reproduction, and also made off with a sketch by Anthony van Dyck. According to Brand, the trail of the painting was first picked up by a reporter for the Dutch magazine Vind, who spotted it at an exhibition

Architecture · Art · Moscow · Museums · Heritage · Paris

A Brief Review of the Key Publications of the Last Two Weeks of February

A brief review of the key publications of the last two weeks of February. We have spoken about new exhibitions, unique museum collections and the repatriation of art, and touched on pressing questions of the Russian art market and of architectural heritage. 📌 The Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow and the

In a black-and-white photograph, a man in a cap follows a plough drawn by two oxen, with the columns of a ruined temple on the hill behind under a cloudy sky.

Archive · Architecture · The East · Observations · Heritage · Humour

A farmer ploughs a field with oxen beside the ruins of an ancient temple

A farmer ploughs his field beside the 1st-century Temple of Zeus at Aizanoi, Turkey, 1970. And no tourists disturb his contemplation of this magnificence

Architecture · Moscow · Heritage · Society · Saint Petersburg

The Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences (RAACS) has published the minutes of a meeting of its Academic Council devoted to the preservation of Soviet modernist buildings of the 1960s to 1980s

The Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences (RAACS) has published the minutes of a meeting of its Academic Council devoted to the preservation of Soviet modernist buildings of the 1960s to 1980s. The decision to publish the minutes was taken on 12 February, in response to the lively debate

Architecture · Faith · The East · Heritage

The Constantinopolitan Church of Hagia Sophia, now Istanbul's principal mosque of Ayasofya, which ceased to be a museum in 2020, is to undergo restoration

The roof of the church, which is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, will be dismantled. The specialists promise to employ methods and materials appropriate to the era of the Ottoman Empire. Since the ceiling of Hagia Sophia is adorned with priceless Byzantine mosaics (parts of which are covered)