In 1600, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in Rome. The renowned scholar, philosopher, and freethinker aroused the indignation of all church authorities—both Catholic and Protestant. He was no more welcome in Elizabethan England than in papal Italy. The…
Russian classics are a vast literary edifice, imbued with pain and concern for the fate of little people. Therefore, they have a universal resonance and remain popular in many countries around the world. Those of us over forty remember the…
Autumn is approaching its midpoint. It has already woven a colorful carpet across the earth; the clouds frown, seeing how nature has dressed up (they were so gray), and the rains weep for the passing summer. The harvest in the…
After World War II, the belief became established that the skull and crossbones emblem was a symbol of the SS. Indeed, their battle hymn included the words, “We are always ready for battle when runes and death’s head call us…
October 7th, according to our ancestors, is a special day. In the old days, all girls eagerly awaited it. What’s so special about this date, you ask? Let’s find out together. Every year on October 7th, the Orthodox Church honors…
“This painting dates from just after Brouwer’s arrival in Antwerp, where he came from Haarlem or Amsterdam. Barber, charlatan, and surgeon—the village barber can do anything. Here, he operates on a patient’s leg. Typical of Brouwer, in addition to his…
Fate was cruel, allowing the artist only 10 years of active creative life, but even this short period was enough for Vincent van Gogh to develop into a distinctive master with an original style. Unfortunately, his recognition as one of…
This fragment of a terracotta mask, found in the ruins of the Greek city of Phanagoria, still displays stunning details dating back to the 2nd century BCE, including a hole through which the strap that held the mask in place…
“Is Gogol a Russian writer?” the question sounds deliberately simple, like “black or green tea.” But the answer immediately creaks open to the 19th century: the empire is vast, the boundaries in the mind and on the map don’t yet…
Frida Kahlo painted The Dream (La cama) in 1940, and if it fetched more than $44.4 million at auction, it would break all records. Public DomainFrida Kahlo circa 1932. The accident and the resulting injuries left Kahlo bedridden for many…
“If I decide to become an undertaker, people will stop dying,” is how Ibn Ezra wrote about his failures. The famous Jewish poet, philosopher, Bible commentator, grammarian, astronomer, mathematician and physician Abraham Ben Meyer ibn Ezra was born in 1092…
Feature films often work according to familiar patterns: hero, conflict, climax, resolution. Sometimes it’s exciting, sometimes it’s exhausting. At such moments, documentaries become a real salvation. They reveal the real world – as it is, without special effects and script…