Gambling in Ancient Civilizations

 

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When you talk about gambling usually your mind goes to casinos, baccarat, roulette, lottery, dice etc. But have you ever thought about when or how gambling first originating? The fact is that some forms of gambling have existed in virtually the same form for thousands of years.

Gambling has been of interest to the Greeks since ancient times and it seems that we haven’t forgotten the bad habits of the past. Who would think that the origin of poker goes back to the Minoan civilization, more than 3,500 years ago? Nowadays, we consider that throwing a double six in a dice game is lucky and this too has its ancient origins. Thousands of years ago, rolling two sixes was called the ‘throw of Aphrodite’ and would indicate victory in a game.

Cannes Film Festival 2019 – The Story Behind Posters

Η ιστορία του Φεστιβάλ Καννών μέσα από τις αφίσες του

Since its origin in 1946, each festival has been memorialized by a new official poster. Visible everywhere throughout the city of Cannes during May, the posters have become synonymous with the festival itself with designs sometimes inspired by films, sometimes created by filmmakers and sometimes tributes to icons who’ve been part of the fest.

The poster for the 2019 Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25) pays tribute to director Agnes Varda, who died aged 90 last month.

The poster shows Varda standing on the shoulders of a technician, shooting her first film La Pointe Courte in 1954 when she was 26 years old. The film would screen at the Cannes Film Festival the following year.

Το Φεστιβάλ των Καννών απέδειξε ότι διατηρεί εξαιρετικά αντανακλαστικά και (αποχαιρετά και) αφιερώνει στην Ανιές Βαρντά, αποτυπώνοντας στην επίσημη αφίσα του, μια φωτογραφία από την 26χρονη -τότε- δημιουργό από γυρίσματα της πρώτης της ταινίας, «La Pointe Courte».

Κόκκινο χαλί, λαμπερές παρουσίες, ακριβά φορέματα, πολυτελή αξεσουάρ, μυθικά πάρτι. Πέρα από το κινηματογραφικό ενδιαφέρον, το Φεστιβάλ Καννών συγκεντρώνει τα βλέμματα όχι μόνο για όσα συμβαίνουν στη μεγάλη οθόνη, αλλά και για όσα συμβαίνουν έξω από τις αίθουσες.

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Αν κάτι όμως κεντρίζει το ενδιαφέρον κι όσων ασχολούνται με το καλλιτεχνικό κομμάτι του φεστιβάλ αλλά κι όσων ασχολούνται με τη lifestyle πλευρά του, αυτό είναι οι αφίσες της ιστορικής διοργάνωσης.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2013/04/this-may-brings-the-66th.html

http://www.kathimerini.gr/

Tribute to Frank Sinatra

 

 

 

Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on December 12, 1915, Frank Sinatra rose to fame singing big band numbers. In the ’40s and ’50s, he had a dazzling array of hit songs and albums and went on to appear in dozens of films, winning a supporting actor Oscar for From Here to Eternity. He left behind a massive catalog of work that includes iconic tunes like “Love and Marriage,” “Strangers in the Night,” “My Way” and “New York, New York.” He died on May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles, California.

Cayman Islands – Christopher Columbus

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The Cayman Islands are a British overseas territory located in the Caribbean that have been under various governments since their discovery by Europeans. Christopher Columbus sighted the Cayman Islands on May 10, 1503 and named them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles seen swimming in the surrounding waters. Columbus had found the two smaller sister islands (Cayman Brac and Little Cayman) and it was these two islands that he named “Las Tortugas”.

A History of Town Criers _ Οι ντελάληδες

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As long as there has been news to share, there have been messengers to deliver it.

Town crier, Tony Appleton poses as he announces the birth of a son for Britain’s Prince Harry, and Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, outide of Windsor Castle in Windsor, west of London on May 6, 2019. PHOTO: AFP

 

Town Criers were the original ‘newsmen’ finding their origins in the early Greek Mytholgy, In fact Stentor, a Herald of the Greek Forces during the Trojan War,  was said to have the voice of 50 men and some men with a loud voice may be known as having a voice of a Stentorian.

Town Criers in Britain are thought to have come to the fore in 1066 when news of

The Old Shop with shells turned into an oil dynasty!

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To Παλαιοπωλείο µε τα κοχύλια που µετατράπηκε σε δυναστεία πετρελαίου!

The name of the global oil company “Shell” is, oddly enough, a reminder of the victorian love of conchology.

 

In 1833 one Marcus Samuel opened such a shop selling shells, curios, and other trinkets to natural history enthusiasts. By 1851 Marcus was described in the census as a ‘shell merchant’ and was listed as proprietor of ‘The Shell Shop’ in Houndsditch. He later formed the ‘Shell Transport and Trading Company.’ In 1882 his son (Marcus Junior) while travelling in the Caspian Sea, saw a potential for exporting oil from the region. He commissioned the world’s first purpose-built oil tanker and named the tanker the Murex, Latin for a type of snail shell, as a nod to the company’s beginnings. The first logo (1901) was a mussel shell, but by 1904 it was replaced with a scallop shell.

And so it has remained ever since.

Πάνω από 100 χρόνια το έµβληµα της Shell µε το κοχύλι αποτελεί ένα από τα πλέον αναγνωρίσιµα σήµατα στον κόσµο. Σύµφωνα µε έρευνες µάλιστα, µόνο ο Άγιος Βασίλης έχει καταφέρει να ξεπεράσει σε αναγνωρισιµότητα το έµβληµα της Αγγλο-Ολλανδικής επιχείρησης πετρελαίου και χηµικών.

Exploring Irish Harp Traditions

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And tears are heard within the harp I touch

~ Petrarch

* Irish harp made by John Egan, 1840

The harp has been intimately bound up with notions of Irish identity for centuries, but how did this develop? Siobhán Armstrong reviews a new book that fills in some of the gaps in Ireland’s harp history. …. http://journalofmusic.com/focus/exploring-irish-harp-traditions

 

 

Bulla and Lunula ….amulets

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Roman bullae were enigmatic objects of lead, sometimes covered in gold foil, if the family could afford it. A bulla was worn around the neck as a locket to protect against evil spirits and forces. Bullae were made of differing substances depending upon the wealth of the family.

 

 

 

Roman boys

Before the age of manhood, Roman boys wore a bulla, a neckchain and round pouch containing protective amulets (usually phallic symbols), and the bulla of an upper-class boy would be made of gold. Other materials included leather and cloth.

A freeborn Roman boy wore a bulla until he came of age as a Roman citizen. Before he put on his toga virilis (“toga of manhood”) he placed his boyhood bulla in the care

Marianne North – The painter of the world’s plants

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Αντί να προβάλλουμε την ασχήμια και τη διαφθορά δε θα ήταν καλύτερα να μαθαίνουμε για ανθρώπους που αγωνίστηκαν με όποιον τρόπο να αφήσουν κάτι στους επόμενους που να αξίζει????

Marianne North

Η ζωγράφος των φυτών του κόσμου

Το 1860, η Marianne North ερασιτέχνης κηπουρός και ζωγράφος, διέσχισε τον ωκεανό για την Αμερική, κουβαλώντας πινέλα, μπογιές, ένα καβαλέτο, και την αγάπη της για τα λουλούδια. Στη συνέχεια ταξίδεψε στη Τζαμάικα, στο Περού, στην Ιαπωνία, στην Ινδία και την Αυστραλία. Επισκέφτηκε όλες τις ηπείρους εκτός από την Ανταρκτική, ψάχνοντας νέα λουλούδια για να ζωγραφίσει. «Εντυπωσιάστηκα από την ποικιλία των θεμάτων που μπορούσα να ζωγραφίσω», έγραψε.

Rather than projecting ugliness and corruption, it would not be better to learn about people who fought in any way to leave something to the next to be worth ???? 

 

In 1860, Marianne North, an amateur gardener and painter, crossed the ocean to America, carrying brushes, paints, a cane, and her love for flowers. He then traveled to Jamaica, Peru, Japan, India and Australia. He visited all the continents except Antarctica, looking for new flowers to paint. “I was impressed by the variety of subjects I could draw,” she wrote.

Marianne North (24 October 1830 – 30 August 1890) was a prolific English Victorian biologist and botanical artist, notable for her plant and landscape paintings, her extensive foreign travels, her writings, her plant discoveries and the creation of her gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Jousting… Κονταρομαχία

 

 

Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horsemen wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying hard to strike the opponent while riding towards him at high speed, breaking the lance on the opponent’s shield or jousting armour if possible, or unhorsing him. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The participants experience close to three and a quarter times their body weight in G-forces when the lances collide with their armour^.

Vardo: The Opulent Caravans of The Gypsies

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Living in trailer homes is largely an American culture, but the history of mobile homes originated in Europe

 

 

The first trailer home owners were the travelling showmen who spent most of their lives on the road. Instead of pitching tent wherever they went, they had horse-drawn wagons where they cooked, ate, and slept. Later, around the middle of the 19th century, these caravans were adopted as living quarters by the Romani people, commonly called the Gypsies. These people originated from northwestern India, a country their forefathers left some 1,500 years ago and settled in different parts of the world, but mostly in Europe and Mid-West Asia. In the last hundred years or so, the Romani people have also spread to the Americas.

Peter Josef Safar ….“kiss of life”

 

During the 1950s, Safar designed a daring experiment, one that he acknowledged could not be repeated in later years—he sedated and paralysed volunteers. Then he would tilt a volunteer’s head back and thrust the jaw forward, demonstrating effective airway opening. He also proved that a long forgotten manoeuvre, the “kiss of life,” or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, was far more effective than the then standard chest pressure and arm lift technique.

Κάνε ΚΑΡΠΑ, σώσε μια ζωή!

Όλοι ξέρουμε το φιλί της ζωής αλλά αυτόν που το ανακάλυψε??

Σαν σήμερα λοιπόν γεννήθηκε ο Πέτερ Σάφαρ, αυστριακός γιατρός, που ανακάλυψε τη μέθοδο της τεχνητής αναπνοής, γνωστή ως «το φιλί της ζωής». (Θαν. 2/8/2003).

Το φιλί της ζωής ή ΚΑΡΠΑ (ΚΑΡδιοΠνευμονική Αναζωογόνηση) ή αγγλιστί CPR (CardioPulmonary Ressuscitation) είναι η διαδικασία κατά την οποία ο διασώστης

BREAKING POINT – Carlos Caicedo

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Ah! Paper! Along with the pencils, it’s becoming an endangered species. Future generations won’t get to experience the touch, the caresses with the eyes over the page, the pleasure of turning the paper at the sound of a good read, the instant magic of sketching. Call it nostalgia. Yes, it is…

A small yellow pencil finds itself hanging in danger from its own line.

«Κατάρτι το μολύβι μου, το κείμενο φορτίο…»

Κυριακή ΜπεΪόγλου

 

Με τον καφέ στο χέρι κάθομαι και ξαφνικά συνειδητοποιώ πως μου λείπουν τα ασπρόμαυρα κύματα της χαρτοθάλασσας που υπήρχε επί πολλά χρόνια πάνω στο γραφείο. Και όχι μόνο εκεί, παντού στο σπίτι.

Τώρα τελευταία μου λείπει να γράφω με μολύβι σε χαρτί. Τα γραπτά μας πια πληκτρολογούνται σε ηλεκτρονικούς υπολογιστές κι οι γρήγορες σημειώσεις αποθηκεύονται στα κινητά.

Chinese Women Once Had to Point Out Their Medical Troubles on Ivory Dolls

Κάποτε, οι Κινέζες έπρεπε να δείχνουν που πονάνε σε κούκλες από ελεφαντοστό

A jade diagnostic doll rests on a tiny embroidered throw. Jamie Rees/Courtesy Clendening History of Medicine Library & Museum, University of Kansas Medical Center

 

Often when a woman saw a doctor in 18th-century China, she wasn’t allowed to actually see him. Instead, she sat behind a curtain or bamboo screen, where she had to map out her pain on a body that wasn’t her own. Her hand, or that of a close female attendant, would poke through the drapes or screen, and gesture toward the naked body of an ivory doll. If the patient had difficulty breathing, she might run a finger along the doll’s curved chest. For menstrual pain, the smooth abdomen. For a headache, the bump of a bun. After studying these cryptic communications, the doctor would issue his diagnosis.

King Pedro And Inês de Castro – What Life Took Apart, Death Put Back Together

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“Agora é tarde; Inês é morta”

(Είναι πολύ αργά: η Ινές έχει πεθάνει)

Eugénie Servières, “Inês de Castro with her children at the feet of Alfonso IV, King of Portugal, seeking clemency for her husband, Don Pedro, 1335”, 1822, detail, Palace of Versailles, France

Every country has its legends and fairytales and Portugal is not an exception. One of the most known Portuguese tales is a love story about King Pedro of Portugal and Inês de Castro. Their relationship did not end as they would have wanted, with Inês being killed by royal minions. But in this case, what life took apart, death put back together, and here’s a story of how King Pedro’s and Inês’s tombs were made.

Peterloo exhibition targets new generation of protesters

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Show in Manchester displays key objects shedding light on massacre 200 years ago

A piece of commemorative glass with an image of the massacre, which will feature in the exhibition. Photograph: People’s History Museum

The Scum Uppermost, a satirical cartoon of popular radical reform represented as a many-headed monster, and embroidered flags are among the objects being brought together for the first time in an exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo massacre.

Eighteen people were killed and 700 injured at the peaceful protest for democratic reform in Manchester in 1819, and the exhibition will chart its legacy and the ways in which the storywas suppressed.

Hôtel-Dieu, a hospital for the poor

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A hospital foundation from the Middle Ages, the Hospices de Beaune is one of France’s most prestigious historic monuments

 

A hospital foundation from the Middle Ages, the Hospices de Beaune is one of France’s most prestigious historic monuments. Its flamboyant Gothic architecture, its polychrome roofs and a renowned vineyard make this museum one of Burgundy’s gems. The Hospices de Beaune is also famous for its 60 hectares wine estate, producing prestigious wines, sold at auction on the third Sunday in November.

The Flying Lovers, Bella and Marc Chagall

.Οι ιπτάμενοι εραστές του Vitebsk” είναι ένας ύμνος γεμάτος χρώμα, που αναβιώνει το θρυλικό love story του καλλιτέχνη για την αιώνια μούσα του, Bella Rosenfeld

Love at First Sight

They fell for each other in 1909 in Saint Petersburg. Bella Rosenfeld, who was a 19-years-old daughter of a wealthy Russian jeweller, and Marc, seven years her senior, a painter still attending an art school.

They both said it was love at the first sight. Bella, who was to become a talented writer, described how Marc looked on their first encounter: When you did catch a glimpse of his eyes, they were

Pierre de Coubertin’s Monument

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Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (1 January 1863 – 2 September 1937) was a French pedagogue and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and considered father of the modern Olympic Games.

Ç çèïðïéüò Êáôåñßíá ËÝ÷ïõ, ìå ôçí éäéüôçôá ôçò ÐñùèéÝñåéáò, êñáôÜ ôçí ÏëõìðéáêÞ Öëüãá êáôÜ ôç äéÜñêåéá ôçò ôåëåôÞò ÁöÞò ôçò ÏëõìðéáêÞò Öëüãáò, óôçí Áñ÷áßá Ïëõìðßá, ôçí Ôñßôç 24 Ïêôùâñßïõ 2017. Ïé ××ÉÉÉ ÷åéìåñéíïß Ïëõìðéáêïß Áãþíåò “PyeongChang 2018” èá ðñáãìáôïðïéçèïýí áðü ôéò 09 Ýùò ôéò 25 Öåâñïõáñßïõ 2018. ÁÐÅ-ÌÐÅ/ÌÐÅ/ÃÉÁÍÍÇÓ ÊÏËÅÓÉÄÇÓ

The first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and the second, the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. He was buried in Lausanne (the seat of the IOC), although, in accordance with his will, his heart was buried separately in a monument near the ruins of ancient Olympia.

Old Greek cafes – Kaphenia

Ὁ Ῥωμηός

Στὸν καφενὲ ἀπ᾿ ἔξω σὰν μπέης ξαπλωμένος,
τοῦ ἥλιου τὶς ἀκτῖνες ἀχόρταγα ρουφῶ,
καὶ στῶν ἐφημερίδων τὰ νέα βυθισμένος,
κανέναν δὲν κοιτάζω, κανέναν δὲν ψηφῶ…….

 

Efi’s stone craft decoupage

The kaphenia (cafes) are an integral part of Greek culture, places for locals to talk to each other and share news. They first appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, and some of them still exist.

Described as historical cafés, kaphenia sustain their classic atmosphere by serving both traditional and modern desserts with coffee of supreme flavor. Here are our favorite kaphenia if you want to explore Athens’s unique historical café culture.

The Spirit of Ecstasy and Secret Affairs

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Η «πονηρή» ιστορία πίσω από το αγαλματίδιο της Rolls Royce

The Spirit of Ecstasy is the ornament found on the bonnet of the Rolls Royce car. It is in the form of a woman leaning forwards with her arms outstretched behind and above her, billowing cloth running from her arms to her back, resembling wings. It has become an iconic symbol of luxury and elegance.

Ox cart carreta Costa Rica

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The carreta, or ox cart, is a brightly colored handicraft and symbol of Costa Rica culture. Those looking to appreciate the artistic side of Costa Rica will enjoy this unique art form, and those interested in history and mechanics will enjoy seeing carretas being crafted in the traditional manner.

Ox Cart Background

The ox cart became a significant means of transportation for rural Costa Ricans after it was introduced to the area circa 1840. Farmers used ox carts in order to transport valuable crops like coffee beans or sugar cane. The carreta was valued for its ability to maneuver over all types of hazardous terrain. In spite of the name, originally

Melina Mercouri – Parthenon Marbles

On this day: March 6, 1994 Melina Mercouri passes away

You must understand what the Parthenon Marbles mean to us. They are our pride. They are our sacrifices. They are our noblest symbol of excellence. They are a tribute to the democratic philosophy. They are our aspirations and our name. They are the essence of Greekness.

Melina Mercouri

Melina Mercouri in her tireless campaign for the return of the Parthenon marbles to their home in Athens addressed the British Authorities: “You must understand what the Parthenon Marbles

The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor

 

This tale from Ancient Egypt was written down in hieroglyphics 4000 years ago. It’s one of the oldest stories to have come down to us. In fact, it is really several stories all framed within a story.

A ship returns to Egypt from a long voyage. The merchant owner of the shipper is afraid that the pharaoh will be angry with him

What was the first circus?

Ο Philip Astley δεν ήταν ο πρώτος συνταξιούχος ιππέας της εποχής του – υπήρχαν πολλοί σαν αυτόν, οι οποίοι επέστρεφαν από τους πολέμους και έβρισκαν μια νέα χρήση για τις ιππικές δεξιότητές τους.

Ξεκίνησε δίνοντας μαθήματα ιππασίας το 1768. Η καινοτομία του Astley ήταν να βάλει τα ακροβατικά άλογα σε έναν κύκλο, σε αντίθεση με ένα μακρύ ίσιο, που έδινε στους θεατές του ένα θεατρικότερο σκηνικό. Εδώ μπορείτε να βρείτε περισσότερα για την ιστορία του τσίρκου !

The circus was first established by Philip Astley, who opened the Astley’s Amphitheatre in 1777. It was his idea to have the horses perform in a circular ring.

Museum of London/Heritage

Ηow did the first circus come about, and why did it lead to the modern three-ring spectaculars we’ve come to know and love?

Much of the credit goes to Philip Astley, who had served as a cavalry Sergeant Major in the French and Indian War. When Astley returned from the war to London in 1768 and discovered

The Black Cat Auditions in Hollywood, 1961

“The biggest invitation to bad luck ever seen in one place”

– LIFE magazine, 1961

152 μαύρες γάτες σε αναμονή του ρόλου για τη “Μαύρη γάτα” του Edgar Allen Poe !!!

Cats hate being on leads at the best of times, so what’s going on in these curious photos of kitties on leashes lined up with their owners?

These photos were taken by legendary LIFE photographer Ralph Crane in 1961. They show over 150 of the cutest and fluffiest of budding actors auditioning for a starring role in the film adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Black Cat.

Yasuke, the only African samurai

One of the best-known non-Japanese samurais was the 16th-century African slave who went by the name of Yasuke. He was reportedly the first African man to come to Japan, and because of his origin, many people gathered around him after he arrived to take a closer look.

Yasuke was in the service of the Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano, the man appointed to inspect the Jesuit missions in the Indies. Later, he was made a samurai by the ruler and hegemon Oda Nobunaga, who wanted Yasuke as his bodyguard. The Japanese were so unused to Africans, the warlord ordered him to take off his clothes to have servants try to wash out the “black ink” from his skin.

A Tribute To Stan Laurel

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Άγγλος ηθοποιός και σκηνοθέτης, ο «Λιγνός» του διάσημου κωμικού ντουέτου «Χονδρός – Λιγνός», όπως είναι γνωστό στην Ελλάδα («Laurel & Hardy» στον αγγλόφωνο κόσμο).

 

Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer, and film director who was part of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.

He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles.

Glove Stories…

 

 

 

Discover one of the best collections of gloves in the world – The Glove Collection of the Worshipful Company of Glovers of London, cared for and housed at the Fashion Museum.

This exhibition features exquisite examples of historical gloves from the past 400 years, many of which have never been displayed to the public before.

Highlights include beautiful embroidered gauntlet gloves from the 1600s, a curious pair of gloves in a walnut shell from the 1830s, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s carriage-driving gloves.

Chiribiquete National Park – “The Maloca of the Jaguar”

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Chiribiquete National Park, the largest protected area in Colombia

 

 

Over 75,000 figures have been made by indigenous people on the walls of the 60 rock shelters from 20,000 BCE, and are still made nowadays by the uncontacted peoples protected by the National Park.

These paintings depict hunting scenes, battles, dances and ceremonies, as well as fauna and flora species, with a particular the worship of the jaguar, a symbol of power and fertility.

Ancient campfires led to the rise of storytelling

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Sometime about 400,000 years ago, humans learned to fully control fire. This breakthrough radically changed our diets, because we could now cook food, but did it transform our culture as well?

 

….Campfires allowed human ancestors to expand their minds in a similar way and also solidified social networks.

“Stories told by firelight put listeners on the same emotional wavelength,” she writes in the paper, and “elicited understanding, trust, and sympathy.”

Legendary midwife dies at age 96

Τιμώντας μια αξιόλογη γυναίκα που γνώρισα μέσω μιας φίλης

Legendary midwife dies at age 96

As i had promise to my friend Peggy i want to honor also a truly wonderful person who lived a remarkable life!

Rhodanthe, the midwife

Rhodanthe was passionate about new mothers and their babies. In fact, she spent more than 65 years catering for them. It’s calculated that she assisted 23,000 local mothers and their newborns.

Honorable gentleman, Mr. Pantelis – Έντιμε άνθρωπε κυρ-Παντελή

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Όμως κάποιοι Άνθρωποι δεν πεθαίνουν ποτέ! Έτσι κι ο Πάνος Τζαβέλλας θα μείνει Αθάνατος. Για να μας υποδεικνύει με την αγωνιστική και μουσική του κληρονομιά που μας άφησε ότι ο συμβιβασμός και το βόλεμα γεννά τους εκάστοτε « κυρ- Παντελήδες», που στο χέρι μας είναι να «τους θάψουμε βαθειά στα σπαρτά», πριν προλάβουν να κοπρίσουν αυτά, για τα οποία αυτός και χιλιάδες αγωνιστές στη Γη, ακρωτηριάστηκαν για να τα κρατήσουν ζωντανά. Πανανθρώπινα ιδανικά και αξίες για την Ελευθερία, την Πατρίδα, τον Άνθρωπο, τον Πολιτισμό.

 

 

 

Honorable gentleman, Mr. Pantelis
you have a store somewhere on Earth.
You sell your wares, you make money
a lot of money, a lot of money.

On Sunday mornings, in the church
you pray to the Virgin Mother.

Honourable gentleman, Mr. Pantelis,
you’ve also got a wife, a daughter, a son,
modern furniture, a color TV,
you’re getting intellectual input.

Children’s Games from the Ellen and Arthur Liman Collection

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Instruction and Delight: Children’s Games from the Ellen and Arthur Liman Collection
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 17 January — 23 May 2019

Wallis’s Elegant and Instructive Game exhibiting the Wonders of Art in Each Quarter of the World, ca. 1820
(New Haven: Yale Center for British Art)

By the beginning of the eighteenth century in Britain, parents and teachers had begun to embrace wholeheartedly a suggestion from the philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) that “Learning might be made a Play and Recreation to Children.”

The material culture of this period, and the subsequent generation, reveals a significant shift in thinking, as adults found fresh value in childhood and in play for its own sake.

“Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death”

 

 

Πρόκειται για μια συλλογή από 18 κουκλόσπιτα-σκηνές εγκλήματος, γνωστά ως “Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death” (Μελέτες συνοψίζοντας τα πιο σημαντικά ανεξήγητων θανάτων).

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death are a series of nineteen (twenty were originally constructed) intricately designed dollhouse-style dioramas created by Frances Glessner Lee (1878–1962), a pioneer in forensic science.

Glessner Lee used her inheritance to establish a department of legal medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1936, and donated the first of the Nutshell Studies in 1946 for use in lectures on the subject of crime scene investigation. In 1966, the department was dissolved, and the dioramas went to the Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. where they are on permanent loan and still used for forensic seminars.

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin

 

 

Though he didn’t invent it, the guillotine was named for a French doctor

The man who gave his name to Madame la Guillotine or The Widow (La Veuve) was born at Saintes in southern France in 1738 and became a doctor after graduating from university in Paris. From 1789 he was one of the Paris deputies to the Constituent Assembly, in which he took a prominent role.

Leonhart Fuchs_ Fuchsia

 

 

Fuchs was born in 1501 in Wemding in the Duchy of Bavaria. After attending a school in Heilbronn, Fuchs went to the Marienschule in Erfurt, Thuringia at the age of twelve, and graduated as Baccalaureus artium. In 1524 he became Magister Artium in Ingolstadt, and received a doctor of medicine degree in the same year.

 

Fuchs’ name is preserved by the plant Fuchsia,^]discovered in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean in 1696/97 by the French scientist and Minim monk Charles Plumier. He published the first description of “Fuchsia triphylla, flore coccineo” in 1703. It is sometimes thought that the color fuchsia is also named for Fuchs, but that actually derives from fuchsine, an early trade name for the dye rosaniline hydrochloride, which produces a brilliant pink-purple color.

The United States Prohibition of Alcohol

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The prohibition of alcohol in the United States lasted for 13 years, from January 16, 1920 through December 5, 1933. It is one of most famous—or infamous—times in American history. While the intention was to reduce the consumption of alcohol by eliminating businesses that manufactured, distributed, and sold it, the plan backfired.

 

Considered by many as a failed social and political experiment, the era changed the way many Americans viewed alcoholic beverages. It also enhanced the realization that federal government control cannot always take the place of personal responsibility.

Eric Liddell_ Chariots of Fire

 

 

 

 

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Eric Liddell (1902 –  1945) was a Scottish Olympic champion at 400 m and a famous Christian missionary; his inspirational life was captured in the film Chariots of Fire‘

Although his parents were Scottish, Eric Liddell was both born and died in China. He was born on 16 January 1902 in the city of Tientsin (now Tianjin) in north-eastern China.

He was sent to Eltham College, a Christian boarding school for 12 years. In 1921, he moved to Edinburgh University where he studied Pure Science. From his school days, he was an outstanding sportsman excelling in short distance running, rugby union and cricket. In 1922 and 1923 he played rugby union for Scotland in the Five Nations. However, it was at running that he really excelled, and after setting a new British record in the 1923 100 yards sprint, he was considered a great prospect for the Olympics in 1924.

Samuel van Hoogstraten – A Peepshow with Views of the Interior of a Dutch House

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The peepshow is a rectangular box; the interior is painted on three sides, as well as on the top and bottom

 

The sixth side is open; originally light would have entered the box from this side, perhaps through specially treated paper stretched across it. The box would have been placed close to a window or illumination provided by a candle. There are peep-holes in the two shorter sides which provide the illusion of three-dimensional views of the interior of a house.

Hoogstraten’s box is an unusually elaborate example, decorated on the exterior with allegorical paintings which correspond to chapters in a theoretical book that the artist was to write later. The long side illustrates

“Another Day of Life”

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Το «Another Day of Life» των Ραούλ ντε λα Φουέντε και Ντέιμιαν Νένοφ, με θέμα τον εμφύλιο πόλεμο στην Ανγκόλα, αναδείχθηκε η Καλύτερη Ευρωπαϊκή Ταινία Κινουμένων Σχεδίων για το 2018

A gripping story of a three-month-long journey that renowned Polish reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski took across Angola ravaged by a war in which the front lines shifted like a kaleidoscope from one day to the next.

 

Βασίζεται στο μυθιστόρημα του Πολωνού δημοσιογράφου, φωτογράφου, ποιητή και συγγραφέα, Ρίσαρντ Καπισίνσκι, και καλύπτει τρεις μήνες του πολέμου, μέσω της αλληλογραφίας του Καπισίνκι με το πολωνικό πρακτορείο ειδήσεων.

Η ταινία είναι συμπαραγωγή πολλών ευρωπαϊκών χωρών.

Trinity of the spiral – Lucian Dobârtă

The triskelion or ‘triskele’ is also known as the tri-spiral or ‘Spiral of Life’. The three spirals in the triskelion are interconnected with no open ends thus creating one continuous line. Each spiral turns in the same direction. The three spirals represent balance, harmony and continual motion indicative of the flow of life and of the Earth in her seasons and cycles.

The Witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth

 

Shakespeare wrote Macbeth at a time when interest in witchcraft bordered on hysteria. Witches were blamed for causing illness, death and disaster, and were thought to punish their enemies by giving them nightmares, making their crops fail and their animals sicken.

The Macbeth and the Three Witches 1855 painting originally painted by Theodore Chasseriau

Witches were thought to allow the Devil to suckle from them in the form of an animal, such as ‘Graymalkin’ and ‘Paddock’, the grey cat and the toad mentioned by the Witches in Act 1, Scene 1. Those who were convicted were often tortured, their trials reported in grisly detail in pamphlets that circulated in their hundreds. Often, those accused of witchcraft lived on the edges of society: they were old, poor and unprotected, and were therefore easy to blame.

Στο έργο, οι τρεις μάγισσες αντιπροσωπεύουν το σκοτάδι, το χάος και τη σύγκρουση, ενώ παίζουν και το ρόλο των μαρτύρων. Την εποχή του Σαίξπηρ, οι μάγισσες θεωρούνταν χειρότερες από επαναστάτες, αφού ήταν όχι μόνο πολιτικοί αλλά και πνευματικοί προδότες.

The most striking art inspired by opera

Η νύχτα στην όπερα είναι ηλεκτρισμένη. Δεν είναι περίεργο ότι οι εικαστικοί καλλιτέχνες εμπνέονται χρόνια τώρα από αυτές τις  μεθυστικές μορφές τέχνης.

 

1895 Typogravure Charles Courtney Curran Metropolitan Opera House New York Art

 

A night at the opera is electric. It’s no wonder that visual artists have long been inspired by this most intoxicating of art forms.

Some early artworks present a window into a world available only to a small handful of elite opera-goers; later works turn their attention from the stage and shine the spotlight on the audience and even use the architecture of opera houses as a canvas.

Here are our favourite pieces of visual art inspired by opera:

Εδώ είναι τα αγαπημένα μας κομμάτια εικαστικής τέχνης εμπνευσμένα από την όπερα

William Hogarth
A Scene from ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ VI (1731)

Detail of William Hogarth’s A Scene from ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ VI (1731)

William Hogarth’s painting captures the climactic scene of John Gay’s ballad opera – the moment the highwayman Macheath is sentenced to death.

Ñain An sculptures: New secrets revealed at ancient Chan Chan

Η ανακάλυψη 17 ξύλινων αγαλμάτων στο Chan Chan είναι αρκετή για να αλλάξει την κατανόηση του αστικού κέντρου Chan Chan. Ενσωματωμένα στα τείχη του μεταγενέστερου συγκρoτήματος Ñain An, επίσης γνωστό ως Bandelier, οι ξύλινες φιγούρες πιστεύεται ότι αποτίουν φόρο τιμής  στους αποθανόντες ηγέτες.

The discovery of 17 wooden statues at Chan Chan are enough to change our understanding of the Chan Chan urban centre. Embedded in the walls of the later Ñain An complex, also known as Bandelier, the figures are thought to have bid farewell to the deceased leaders.

Make Me Beautiful, Madame D’Ora

Dora Kallmus, more known by her pseudonym Madame d’Ora

 

In 1907, Dora Kallmus was one of the first women in Vienna to open a photographic studio.

 

 

She delved into the Viennese world of fashion, aristocracy, and politics to immortalize the biggest names of creme de la creme of Austria and abroad, as within only a few months her atelier had established itself as the most elegant and renowned for artistic portraits.

Harriet Powers : Bible Quilt and Pictorial Quilt

Η Harriet Powers (1837-1910) ήταν αφρικανικο-Αμερικανή σκλάβα και λαϊκή καλλιτέχνης που δημιούργησε παπλώματα στην αγροτική Georgia. Χρησιμοποίησε παραδοσιακές τεχνικές εφαρμογών για να καταγράψει τοπικούς θρύλους, ιστορίες της Βίβλου και αστρονομικά γεγονότα.

Μόνο δύο από τα παπλώματά  της είναι γνωστό ότι έχουν βρεθεί : το Bible Quilt and το Pictorial Quilt..

Χάρη στην επιστολή που ανακαλύφθηκε το 2009 γνωρίζουμε ότι ήταν μια λογοτέχνης που μεταμόρφωσε γνωστές ιστορίες που διάβασε σε εικονογραφικά αριστουργήματα.

When the second wave feminist movement in the 1970s brought domestic art into the discussion of art history, textiles became a central topic. This led to the rediscovery of Harriet Powers, whose two surviving quilts currently hang in the Smithsonian and in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Powers, born a slave in Georgia in 1837, created the quilts after she was

Tamo daleko – (Εκεί μακριά…)

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The song was played at the funeral of Serb inventor Nikola Tesla

Από την χορωδία των Κοζάκων του Κουμπάν

Είναι ένα παραδοσιακό τραγούδι της Σερβίας από το Α’ Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο.
Θεωρείται ύμνος του κάθε Σέρβου στρατιώτη που αφήνει την οικογένειά του και πηγαίνει να αγωνιστεί για τη χώρα του.

Cecil Beaton – «Night and Day: 1930s Fashion and Photographs»

2 Οκτωβρίου 2018 – 20 Ιανουαρίου 2019
Μουσείο Μόδας και Υφάσματος του Λονδίνου

 

 

Στην έκθεση, που έχει θέμα τη μόδα της δεκαετίας του 1930, περίοπτη θέση έχουν οι φωτογραφίες του Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), που, εκτός από τα θρυλικά πορτρέτα των σταρ, υπήρξε διάσημος φωτογράφος μόδας για τη Vogue, το Harper’s Bazaar και το Life.

Παρουσιάζονται μερικά από τα πιο διάσημα πορτρέτα του -μεταξύ αυτών του Σαλβαντόρ Νταλί, της Μάρλεν Ντίτριχ, της σχεδιάστριας Έλσα Σκιαπαρέλι και της Κάθριν Χέπμπορν- όπως και μία σπάνια έγχρωμη φωτογραφία του μοντέλου Μέρι Τέϊλορ.

Night and Day: 1930s Fashion & Photographs will present the over 100 of the most influential day and evening fashions ensembles of the decade, from fantasy evening wear to beach pyjamas, complemented by photographs of the stars who championed them. The 1930s ushered in the utilitarianism of World War II after the excesses of the 1920s.

Malala Yousafzai ‘honoured’ by new portrait at UK’s National Portrait Gallery

In 2014, the activist and writer became the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Now she is being further honoured, with her portrait joining those of Queen Elizabeth II and Nelson Mandela in London’s famous gallery.

 

“I am honoured to have my portrait included in the National Portrait Gallery alongside some of Britain’s most influential writers, artists and leaders,” Ms Yousafzai said at the unveiling this weekend.

“I hope it will remind visitors that girls everywhere are fighting for change in their communities and countries — their stories must also be heard.”