Painted dome of a church with Byzantine-style icons, stained glass in arched windows and organ pipes on both sides.

Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage

Fire destroys St Anne's Church in Toronto, the 33rd century-old church in Canada lost since 2021

Fire has destroyed the historic St Anne's Church in Toronto. It is already the 33rd century-old church in Canada to be lost to fire since 2021. What do you suppose lies behind such statistics? 📖 Parnassian Mockingbird

Architecture · Faith · Cinema · Heritage

Fire at Saint Theodosius of Chernigov Cathedral in Cleveland, where “The Deer Hunter” was filmed

Built in 1913 on the initiative of the St Nicholas Society, the Cathedral of St Theodosius of Chernigov in Cleveland is rightly counted among the finest examples of Russian church architecture in the United States. Among the donors to its construction was Nicholas II. The prototype for the church was

Archive · Heritage · Society

German mining of Pushkin's grave and the clearing of mines from the Pushkin Reserve

A wooden plaque with a warning inscription: "The grave of A.S. Pushkin is mined. Entry forbidden. Senior Lieutenant Starcheus." The Germans occupied the Pushkin Reserve for three years, from 12 July 1941 to 12 July 1944. The fascists were driven out of Pushkinskiye Gory by units of

Architecture · Faith · Books · Heritage

Alexander the Great was well known in Rus', and if we are to believe the texts of Mavro Orbini's "The Kingdom of the Slavs", "The Tale of Slovene and Rus and the City of Slovensk" and Nizami Ganjavi's "Iskandar-nama", Alexander the Great knew Rus' too and

These legendary reports find reflection in Old Russian architecture. The subject of the Ascension of Alexander the Great is widely known. One example is the relief of Alexander the Great's ascension, in which he holds two sceptres and is borne aloft by griffins, on the façade of the

Art · Museums · Heritage · Education

Gustav Klimt's painting "Medicine", 1901

The painting was destroyed by the Germans in 1945; this reconstruction was made in 2021 by the Leopold Museum in Vienna.

Architecture · Faith · Monarchies · Heritage · Saint Petersburg

Church at Borki near Kharkiv built in memory of the rescue of Alexander III's family in 1888

Near Kharkiv, at the site of the terrorist derailment of Emperor Alexander III's train, returning from the Crimea on 17 October 1888, from which he escaped with his entire family, a hermitage was founded, and in 1894 a magnificent church was built. The Church of Christ the Saviour

Archaeology · Heritage · New York · Society

Fifth return of stolen Gandhara antiquities to Pakistan from the United States

Associated Press reports that this week, at a ceremony in the Manhattan District Attorney's office in New York, US authorities returned to Pakistan 133 stolen works of art with an estimated value of more than 13 million dollars. This is already the fifth handover of stolen antiquities of

Moscow · Heritage · Nature

Snow fells a willow in the Apothecary Garden that predates the garden's founding in 1706

In the Apothecary Garden, snow has brought down an ancient willow that was growing there even before the botanical garden was founded under Peter I in 1706. It is one of the oldest trees in Moscow. The willow was not planted deliberately as part of the botanical garden, but had

Medieval miniature: bare feet in a pink robe below a cloud in the sky and two footprints on a green mountaintop beneath.

NB! · Faith · The East · Heritage

Footprint of Christ's right foot on the Mount of Olives and the left one in Al-Aqsa Mosque

On the Mount of Olives, from which Jesus Christ ascended, a stone slab bearing the imprint of Christ's right foot remains. The relic is called the "Little Footprint" ("Stopochka"). The part of the stone with the imprint of Jesus's left foot was

Architecture · Faith · The East · Observations · Heritage

Of all the churches in Constantinople, the one that impressed me most was the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, part of the Chora Monastery complex

Of all the churches in Constantinople, the one that impressed me most was the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, part of the Chora Monastery complex. In present-day Istanbul it is the best-preserved Byzantine church; the current building dates from the 11th century and stands on the

Architecture · Heritage · Rome

On the pediment of the Palace of Italian Civilisation, built in 1938-1940 by the architects Guerrini, La Padula and Romano, Mussolini's quotation of 2 October 1935 is still inscribed: "A people of poets, artists, heroes, saints, thinkers, scientists…

On the pediment of the Palace of Italian Civilisation, built in 1938-1940 by the architects Guerrini, La Padula and Romano, Mussolini's quotation of 2 October 1935 is still inscribed: "A people of poets, of artists, of heroes, of saints, of thinkers, of scientists, of navigators, of

Architecture · Faith · Heritage

Late 18th century church where a mammoth bone was reportedly gnawed to cure toothache

The Church of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross at Nikolo-Berezovets. This church is said to have housed a unique relic: a mammoth bone, which, by custom, was gnawed to rid oneself of toothache. The vaults, as you can see, are in a sorry state of