The white Château d'Amboise with grey slate roofs and towers above a river, with lawns and an avenue of pollarded trees in front under a cloudy sky.

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Heritage

Château d'Amboise as a residence of French kings and the burial place of Leonardo

For a long time the Château d'Amboise was one of the favourite residences of the French kings. How Leonardo's tomb came to be here, I have written about earlier: https://telegram.me/captainpaleo/113

Old fabric banner with a black double-headed eagle under a crown, holding a sceptre and orb, in a wavy blue-green border.

NB! · Museums · Observations · Heritage

One of the oldest surviving French banners, with a double-headed eagle from Rocroi

One of the oldest banners surviving in France. The double-headed eagle from Rocroi. It has no connection with the Russian eagle. I do not know the history or the ownership of this banner. But the Battle of Rocroi was an epic one

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Heritage

A good infographic on the Kremlin from the Kultura.rf portal

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Heritage

The fate of Chambord deserves a separate telling: for all its magnificence, no king ever properly lived in it, and it was given away, inherited and resold

The fate of Chambord deserves a separate telling: for all its magnificence, no king ever properly lived in it, and it was given away, inherited and resold. In the twentieth century it became state property once more

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Heritage · People

Today is the birthday of King Francis I, who built one of the symbols of France, the Château de Chambord

Today is the birthday of King Francis I, who built one of the symbols of France, the Château de Chambord. They say that Da Vinci, whom Francis had invited to his court, took part in planning the château

NB! · Architecture · Heritage

The most famous gates in Germany after the Brandenburg Gate are the Holstentor of Lübeck, fifteenth century (Lübeck was the capital of the Hanseatic League)

The most famous gates in Germany after the Brandenburg Gate are the Holstentor of Lübeck, fifteenth century (Lübeck was the capital of the Hanseatic League). Thirty cannon were mounted upon them, not one of which ever fired a shot

NB! · Archaeology · Faith · The East · Geography · Heritage

In the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan, statues of the Buddha, presumably 55 m, 37 m, 13 m, 5 m and 2 m in height, were carved into the cliffs

In the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan, statues of the Buddha, presumably 55 m, 37 m, 13 m, 5 m and 2 m in height, were carved into the cliffs. All of them were destroyed by the Taliban "as they were objects of worship, which Islam forbids"

NB! · Faith · The East · Art · Heritage · Society

The world community, which protested loudly against the destruction of cultural heritage sites, could do nothing to stop the Taliban from blowing up a unique complex of Greco-Buddhist art

Black-and-white photograph of a group of people standing at the foot of a huge Buddha statue carved into a rock niche.

NB! · Archaeology · Archive · Faith · The East · Heritage

Buddha statues in Afghanistan, erected in the 6th century and blown up by the Taliban in 2000

1931, archaeologists beside a statue of the Buddha in the Afghan desert. The Buddhas of Bamiyan were raised in the 6th century. The largest of them, at 55 metres, was the tallest statue in the world. In 2000 the statues were blown up by the Taliban

NB! · Geography · Heritage · New York · Nature

The bed of the Niagara has been reinforced, the floor of the falls cleared, and the natural monument is at present under no threat

Art · Observations · Heritage · People

The lost grave of Leonardo da Vinci and the artist's last years in Amboise

I deliberately do not write "the tomb of da Vinci", because his real grave was lost during the Huguenot wars. The record of the death of Leonardo, aged 67, survives in the register of the church of Saint-Florentin in Amboise. Near Amboise, in the Château du Clos

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Heritage · People