A group of carpenters in hard hats waves from the rafters of Notre-Dame's new timber roof frame, with scaffolding and stone towers behind.

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Paris

Carpenters mark completion of the Notre-Dame roof framework

Carpenters salute the completion of the roof structures of Notre-Dame. It is gratifying that the church is regaining its physical body. And it is especially pleasing to see such a close-knit company of masters of an ancient biblical trade, who have applied their skill and put their souls

Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Heritage

There are houses that stand alone, like a mushroom in a clearing; there are houses with enough space around them for windows and a view on every side, but if something new is built nearby, the windows end up facing a neighbour's wall or else…

There are houses with blind side walls from the very start: it was planned from the outset that they would stand hard against other buildings, on one side or on both. Even when the built-up area was wooden and low-rise, there were many such houses: a thick brick

Art · Moscow · Heritage · Education

Restoration of the Krupskaya monument on Sretensky Boulevard continues in Moscow

In Moscow, the restoration of the Krupskaya monument on Sretensky Boulevard continues. Unveiled in 1976, the monument, the work of the husband-and-wife sculptors Ekaterina (Alekseyeva) and Alexander Belashov, was the first monument dedicated to an individual woman in Moscow. The sculpture portrays Krupskaya as a young revolutionary. Yet

Art · Heritage · Society

The monument in Bristol to the English merchant Edward Colston, toppled from its plinth, defaced and thrown into the river in 2020 because Colston was an active member of the Royal African Company and, accordingly, had a connection with…

Architecture · Art · Heritage

Allegories of the months in the frescoes of the Salone dei Mesi in an Italian palace

Allegory of March, fresco in the Hall of the Months in the Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara. The Salone dei Mesi (Hall of the Months) is one of the masterpieces of Italian palace architecture, famous for the allegorical frescoes symbolising the months on the walls of a hall 24 metres long, 11

Archaeology · Geography · Heritage

Fragment of a 16th-century ship found on an Orkney beach, Armada link unconfirmed

A large fragment of a sixteenth-century ship has been found on a beach on one of the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland. Traces of shipwrecks in the distant past have been found in these parts before, but never has so substantial and well-preserved a piece of

Aerial view of a grass-covered hillfort with several rings of earth ramparts surrounded by fields.

NB! · Archaeology · Architecture · Heritage

Maiden Castle in Dorchester, the largest Iron Age fortification in Europe

Maiden Castle in Dorchester, England, is the largest Iron Age fortification in Europe. The castle was built in the 600s BC and is, in principle, still fit for its original purpose: one need only add a palisade and a few simple buildings, and voilà, ready for defence!

NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Society

Over three days, from 13 to 15 February 1945, Anglo-American aircraft all but destroyed the ancient German city of Dresden

Architecture · Faith · Art · Heritage

The 1488 Church of Saint George at Voroneț Monastery and Voroneț blue

The most beautiful of Romania's churches, a pearl of Moldavian architecture, the Church of Saint George, built in 1488 and painted both inside and out. It stands in the Voroneț convent for women. A UNESCO World Heritage Site. The chief distinguishing feature of the frescoes is held to

Faith · Art · Heritage

The Voices of France, Paul Sibra, 1924, a painting and a fresco in the Church of Saint-Jean in Castelnaudary

What appears to be depicted is the apparition to Joan of Arc of the Archangel Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, who told the girl that it was she who was destined to lift the siege of Orléans and drive out the invaders.

NB! · Heritage · Society · Paris · Pop Culture

The Olympic medals of the 2024 Paris Games will be inlaid with hexagonal plates of iron taken from the Eiffel Tower, a direct nod to the chief symbol of France

Architecture · Art · Heritage · Rome

Caravaggio's only fresco at the Villa Ludovisi in Rome and its alchemical symbolism

"Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto", the only fresco painted by Caravaggio, is found in the alchemical study of his patron, Cardinal Del Monte, in the hunting lodge of his villa. Today the sixteenth-century building on the highest ground in Rome, the Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, is often called the