Aristocracy · Faith · Monarchies · Rome
A man in formal dress and a priest, photographed after a solemn liturgy, might well be heirs to the Austrian crown. Before us are the brothers of Habsburg-Lorraine, great-great-great-grandsons of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria-Hungary. No great surprise, really, since the Habsburgs are today
NB! · Art · Museums · Rome
Archaeology · Art · Heritage · Rome
The back of the Ostia altar gave it a second name and a second life: it shows the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, which is why the monument is also called the altar of the twins. This subject, too, is bound up with the name of Mars, who, according
NB! · Archaeology · Faith · Art · Museums · Rome
In the month named after Mars, let us remember the god of war and the patron god of the Eternal City. The front face of the altar from the Ostian portico of AD 124, with its bas-relief of Mars, Venus and a goose, has survived rather badly, having probably
NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums · Rome
NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums · Rome
Archaeology · Art · Museums · Observations · Rome
In the collection of the National Museum of Rome there is an extraordinary marble block with a relief of a half-naked woman rising with the help of two attendants whose heads and shoulders, regrettably, have been broken off. This monument of the 5th century BC is usually called the
Archaeology · Art · Museums · Rome
The young centaur from the celebrated pair of Furietti Centaurs of the 2nd century, found in the 18th century at Hadrian's Villa and kept in the Capitoline Museums. Copies of these sculptures are displayed all over the world; this two-coloured replica, for instance, dates from the Hadrianic
NB! · Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Rome
Do you see the empty niche in the upper part of the façade of Santa Maria in Aracoeli? It was here that the first public clock of Rome was installed, in 1412, 42 years after Paris. But in 1806 it was decided to move the clock to the tower of
Architecture · Faith · Observations · Rome
In the very heart of Rome stands a small church with a most unusual crucifix: from its roof a stag gazes down upon the city, a cross between its antlers. This is the heraldic emblem of Saint Eustace, a Roman general who converted to Christianity after meeting, while out hunting,
Faith · Art · Rome
Remember the Biblical story of the supper at Emmaus? On the third day after the Crucifixion, Christ appeared, unrecognised, to two grieving disciples, who invited him to share a meal. At supper the sacrament of the Eucharist took place, and the disciples knew Jesus. Caravaggio painted the scene several times.
NB! · Architecture · Observations · Rome
The second Roman clepsydra is hidden in the courtyard of the private Palazzo Berardi, out of sight of passers-by, and is built as a frontal fountain with caryatids and a shell-shaped basin in which an otter sits. The clock works faithfully and chimes