The Potteries of Staffordshire
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 16, 2017
The art of pottery making has been known since ancient times. However, the first true porcelain was made in China only during the Han Dynast...
The Forgotten Communist-Era Monuments of Bulgaria
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 15, 2017
From the end of the Second World War until the fall of communism in 1990, Bulgaria was a communist state ruled by the Bulgarian Communist Pa...
The Diving Horses of Atlantic City
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 13, 2017
For nearly half a century, Atlantic City, in New Jersey, United States, was home to an attraction almost too fantastical to believe—an appar...
The Double-Barreled Cannon of Athens
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 11, 2017
In front of the City Hall of Athens, in Georgia, United States, stands an unusual cannon from the American Civil War. It’s a double-barreled...
The Art of Mediaeval Book Repairing
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 10, 2017
In the early Middle Ages, books were made from animal hides known as parchment, rather than from paper. Preparing the parchment was a delica...
Michelangelo’s Hidden Drawings at Medici Chapels
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 10, 2017
In a concealed room beneath the New Sacristy of the San Lorenzo Basilica in Florence, Italy, the great Italian sculptor and architect Michel...
Lyon, The City of Murals
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 8, 2017
For the last four decades a group of muralists in the French city of Lyon has been transforming the city into a massive outdoor art gallery....
The Abandoned Canfranc Railway Station
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 7, 2017
Sitting at the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains on the Spanish side of the French-Spanish border is an immense railway station. Built wit...
Puzzlewood: Tolkien's Inspiration For Middle Earth
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 6, 2017
The “The Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic novel of the same name were shot almost entirely in New Zealand,...
Newton's Apple Tree in Lincolnshire
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 6, 2017
The story of Sir Isaac Newton and the falling apple is one of the most famous anecdotes in science. The young Isaac Newton was sitting under...
Ise Jingu: The Japanese Shrine That’s Torn Down And Rebuilt Every 20 Years
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 3, 2017
The Ise Grand Shrine, also known as Ise Jingu, located in the city of Ise, in Japan, is one of Shinto's holiest and most important sites...
The Painted Monasteries of Romania
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 3, 2017
In northern Romania, in a region historically known as Bukovina, are a collection of eight Byzantine-era churches renowned for their beautif...
The Art of Well Dressing
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 2, 2017
Every year throughout summer many villages in Derbyshire and Staffordshire decorate their wells and water sources—a custom known as well dre...
The Udny Mort House
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 1, 2017
Much of what we know about the human anatomy comes from dissecting human cadavers. The practice goes back to classical antiquity. The Greeks...
Madam Coudray’s 18th Century Manikin For Midwife Trainees
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 31, 2017
This crude fabric doll of a small child emerging out of a fabric womb was one of the first life-sized obstetrical manikin used by Angélique ...
Sheela-Na-Gig: The Mysterious Medieval Carvings of Women Exhibitionists
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 30, 2017
The Church of St Mary and St David at Kilpeck in the English county of Herefordshire is famous for its Norman carvings of writhing snakes an...
The Rock Houses That Inspired Tolkien
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 28, 2017
In 1777, a certain Joseph Heely of Birmingham published a guide book to the three great West Midland gardens of the mid-18th century with a ...
Medieval ‘dos-Ã -dos’ Book Bindings
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 27, 2017
Back in mediaeval times, when people didn’t have Kindles to carry a thousand books, some book binders bound two separate books together in a...
Japanese Milk Delivery Boxes
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 25, 2017
For many western countries, doorstep milk delivery is a thing of the past, but in Japan, millions of people still rely on the milkman for fr...
The Forgotten Soviet-Era Murals
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 25, 2017
Telling stories through mosaics and murals is a tradition that goes back to antique times. During the Soviet era, murals were used extensive...
