Geography · Heritage · Society

Venice to increase the number of paid city visit days from 30 to 54

In 2025 Venice will raise its day-tripper tax to €10. The original charge of €5 was introduced to curb the flow of tourists. According to the city authorities, however, the measure failed to achieve its aim, and thanks to the Venice Biennale the number of visitors has actually grown.

Art · Museums · Heritage · Society

Spain identifies 5,126 items confiscated from private collections after the Civil War

Spain's Ministry of Culture Returns to Their Historical Owners Works of Art Seized by the Franco Regime. The ministry has identified 5,126 such items, including paintings, sculptures, books and jewellery, which after the civil war of 1936–1939 were confiscated from private collections and handed over to

Old photograph of a bedroom with a canopied bed, a crystal chandelier, an arched mirror and a round table in a hall with a painted ceiling.

Archive · Architecture · Monarchies · Heritage

The bedroom of the French kings' castle before the 1919 fire and after its restoration

The Emperor's Bedchamber at the Château de Compiègne. The château remained a residence of the French kings until Napoleon III. The old photograph shows the original appearance of the bedchamber as Napoleon found it. In 1919 it burned down and was restored to the form shown in the

Workers in high-visibility vests at an excavation by the Doge's Palace in Venice, with herringbone brick paving and a puddle in the foreground.

NB! · Archaeology · Architecture · Moscow · Heritage

Old brick paving found beneath modern stone tiles in St Mark's Square in Venice

In Venice the modern paving of Piazza San Marco has been taken up, and beneath the stone slabs clinker brick has come to light. A viewing window with a section of the old paving may perhaps be kept, as in Moscow on Pushechnaya Street beside the Sophia Church

Coming Up · Archive · Art · Moscow · Museums · Heritage

Ilya Repin's painting "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 16 November 1581" returns to the permanent display of the Tretyakov Gallery, where an exhibition devoted to its large-scale restoration will open

The project is called "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan. The Return". The display will include, among other things, studies and sketches reflecting the artist's long search for the composition, the types and the historical details. Archive documents will show the chronicle of the first

Books · Museums · Observations · Heritage · People

A winter trip to Boldino and the reconstruction of the Pushkin museum-reserve

Having travelled across almost the whole of Russia in recent years, I set foot on the soil of Boldino, to my own surprise, only this winter. And if we pass over a lengthy description of the protected places of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, where the silence laughs handsomely at the

Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Paris · Pop Culture

At the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris, the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, appeared in vestments by the celebrated French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, aged 75, who in his day dressed Lady Gaga and Pope John Paul II…

At the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris, the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, appeared in vestments by the celebrated French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, aged 75, who in his day created outfits for Lady Gaga and Pope John Paul II. For the opening ceremony Castelbajac also designed vestments

Faith · Art · Observations · Heritage · Paris

Notre-Dame de Paris keeps the Crown of Thorns, a sacred relic believed to be the very crown placed on the head of Jesus Christ by Roman soldiers during his mocking

Fortunately, the relic was saved during the fire, and after the restoration the crown was placed in a new reliquary. Here is the reliquary of one of the greatest holy objects of mankind, made in our own day by Sylvain Dubuisson; compare it simply with the reliquary created in the

NB! · Art · Museums · Heritage

Magnificent Vases from the Château de Fontainebleau

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Paris · Humour

Had the restoration of Notre-Dame been entrusted to Lego, it might well have turned out better

Architecture · Moscow · Heritage · Society

Archnadzor publishes a statement drawing attention to Article 17 of the new Moscow city law No. 24 "On Objects of Cultural Heritage"

Under this article, by 1 July 2025 all newly identified monuments must be entered in the register of regional objects of cultural heritage (OCH), which confers protected status. Those that fail to make it into the register will be struck from the list of identified monuments. There are currently 1,

Wall of a building in Bristol with Banksy's graffiti of a man hanging from a window, beside an orange brick building.

Architecture · Art · Heritage · Society

Building of a Former Clinic with Banksy's 2006 Graffiti Put Up for Sale in Bristol

Graffiti on a Wall as a Factor in Investment Appeal? In Bristol, England, a building has been put up for sale bearing a Banksy graffito, left on the wall of a former clinic in 2006. The work is called “Well Hung Lover”. The property is valued at $900,000, and