Blog

a colour photograph of a smiling woman with a straw hat, holding a basket, in front of a green plantation of tea plants
Tea from China

A cup of wonder: how tea from China conquered the world

black and white photograph, two men in the audience watching sports react with surprise
Surprising sports at the Olympic Games

8 unusual activities that have been part of the Olympics

black and white photograph of gymnasts in formation
Gymnastikhøjskolen: a school for gymnastics in Denmark

Nation's first sports college was founded in 1920

colour painting of gymnast Věra Čáslavská doing a gymnastics move.
Věra Čáslavská: Czech gymnastics icon

How did Věra Čáslavská protest the Soviet invasion at the 1968 Olympics?

Vitalism: art celebrating sport, bodies & nature

Health, youth and strength in Scandinavian and German art

Illustration from The Book of the City of Ladies (Le Livre de la Cité des Dames) depicting two scenes. In the first scene, on the left side, a woman (the author) sits at the desk with books on it; in front of her, three women (three Virtues) are standing wearing crowns. In the second scene, on the right side, the female author is helping one of the Virtues (called Lady Reason) build the external walls of the titular City of Ladies.
Beguines and literature in the Middle Ages

13th century female semi-religious orders who created and transmitted vernacular literature

black and white photograph, wheelchair user athletes parading in a stadium in front of large crowd
Histories of the Paralympic Games

Evolution of the games for athletes with disabilities

What the White House could have looked like

The story of George Washington and the competition to design the residence of the President of the United States

colour painting depicting a woman reading at a table, while two children and a servant are talking
China for bookworms

Summer reading tips inspired by the Land of the Dragon

black and white photograph of a Latvian football team
11 vilki: the early history of Latvia's national football team

Playing for two decades in the 1920s and 1930s

painting portrait of a young woman, who wears a white cloak / dress with a detailed red collar, her hands are crossed and she holds white gloves
Migrants: portraits of figures who moved to Sweden

Summer exhibition at the Swedish National Portrait Gallery

colour photograph of a silver medal with pink and yellow ribbon on which is word 'Friendship'
The Gay Games

Friendship through Culture and Sports

colour photograph of a white and red lighthouse against a bright blue sky
Histories of lighthouses across Europe on film

Life on the rocks

black and white poster showing Anna May Wong with the text Świat nocy
The Dragon Lady

Caught between history, fiction and stereotype

black and white photograph of a number of horses and jockeys jumping fences
Steeplechase: the Irish roots of the first race

Racing horses between two churches

black and white photograph, three young women, one of whom is eating an ice cream cone
The history of ice cream in Sweden

When ice cream travelled north

black and white photograph, group of men playing quoits, one quoit is flying through the air
Quoits - a traditional game still played in the Yorkshire Dales

Still going strong in the north of England

A souvenir from China

Chinese export paintings: testimonies of global trade

colour photograph, group of people at an air show looking up
Jaakko Julkunen, Finnish photojournalist

Capturing life in Finland in the mid-20th century

black and white photograph, male athletes running a race in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic stadium
The 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam

Remembering an Olympics of firsts