Blog

cropped black and white photograph of Dorando Pietri running
How Dorando Pietri lost the 1908 Olympic marathon gold medal

Italian long distance runner who turned failure into success

black and white photograph of Suzy Solidor who sits in a car with a large dog sitting next to her
Suzy Solidor & La Vie Parisienne

Lesbian entrepreneur, actress, singer and 'the most painted woman in the world'

Aristotle among his students. Miniature on the first leaf of Oresme’s translation of Aristotle’s Ethics, in a late 15th-century manuscript
Reading and debating at the Arts Faculties

University life in the middle ages

Domenico Modugno in a shot from the early 1960s. Winner of three editions of the Sanremo Festival, including the one of 1958 with the famous song “Nel blu dipinto di blu”. Photo Archivio Luce - Cinecittà. All rights reserved.
February begins, Italy sings – 72 years of the Sanremo Music Festival

How Sanremo changed the way of doing music, television and entertainment

Explorers of China

We follow the tracks of great China explorers and revisit their accounts of life behind the Great Wall.

close-up colour photograph of a silver lion-shaped figure on top of a silver trophy
The Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race Trophies

Contemporary silver masterpieces from the 'Battle of the Blues'

colour photograph of Fatih Akin who is holding a microphone and holds up one hand
Exploring the films of director Fatih Akin

Belonging and identity in contemporary multicultural Germany

white map of Europe with purple background, and words Esch-sur-Alzette, Kaunas and Novi Sad
European Capital of Culture 2022

Esch-sur-Alzette, Kaunas and Novi Sad in the spotlight

black and white photograph of two people standing in front of a large glacier
Discovering Dreesen: a pioneering German photographer

Photographer, globetrotter, influencer

Gouache depicting a garden with large pond, rocks, pavilions and flower pots, late Qing dynasty
The Chinese Garden

Traditional Chinese garden design connects the realm of the physical with that of the ideal, to express the harmony that should exist between humans and nature.

Lilly Steinschneider wearing a pilot costume, she is holding her eye protecting goggles and her pilot cap in her right hand
Lilly Steinschneider, Hungary's first female pilot

Conquering the skies in 1912

cropped black and white photograph, a man with a beard wearing long robes and a hat
Abdullah Frères, Ottoman photographers

Documenting life in Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire

Detail of a miniature of Charlemagne at a table receiving a letter
How the Carolingian dynasty changed how we read

Learn how the Frankish noble family helped popularise and standardise written text as we know it now.

An assembly of women reading, in 'L'Épître Othéa'.
Private and public reading

Different reading practices in the Middle Ages

View from above of a combination lock
Ismail al-Jazari: The Muslim inventor who may have inspired Leonardo da Vinci

Uncover the story of the 12th century polymath who laid the groundwork for modern engineering, hydraulics and robotics.

A modern-day example of a monastic refectory of St. Paul's Abbey in Oosterhout (the Netherlands).
Monastic mealtimes

Nourishment for body and soul

black and white photograph of a group of people who are wearing white tennis clothing
Photographers Augusta and Anna Curiel

Sisters who chronicled early 20th century life in Suriname

Jesuits in China, Part 2

Learn about the intrigue, spying, and political and religious opposition that would lead the Jesuits to be banned from China for almost 100 years.

An early copy of the Annals of Petau, showing the short entries in Latin for each year (beginning with ‘Anno’ with a stylised initial 'A' in red)
From Easter to Emperor

Monastic annals and the evolution of medieval historiography

Jesuits in China

A story of mutual discovery, part 1