Scott Monument 🇷🇺

About Walter Scott — the founder of the genre of historique novels and the symbol of Scotland’s Romanticism.

Evolution of the Gothic 🇷🇺

The concept of Gothicness combines in itself associations of the dark and mysterious, both horrifying and captivating. But it wasn’t always so. The evolution of such understandings of the term reflects how Europe itself reflected on its history and cultural values.

Ravenna 🇷🇺

[Work in progress]

A former capital of the Western Roman Empire, this small city carries with it the history of the fall of the empire, its transformation, and the attempts at its revival. Each of these chapters of its history bestowed the city with architectural marvels, making it the capital of Early Christian mosaics.

Imitations in Ancient Ceramics 🇺🇸

Imitation, forgery, copying, inspiration — where is the line between these terms, and how are we to apply them to historic ceramics?

Ludwig Psalter 🇺🇸

Created during the "Carolingian Renaissance", a time of the resurrection of literacy and Classical learning in 8th century Europe, this manuscript is a valuable artefact from the royal library and a marvelous example of the blossoming of learning and the arts within this period.

Notre-Dame de Paris 🇫🇷

A look through the history of the undoubtedly important site of Notre Dame to see how its meaning has changed over time and how the associated architecture has changed accordingly to reflect these changes in perspective.

East-West Relations Through the Lens of the Mosaics of the Church of the Nativity 🇺🇸

The Crusades brought into direct contact the Catholic Europe, the Orthodox Byzantine Empire, and the various Christian groups of the Levant, leading to cultural and religious transformations and self re-imaginations, of which the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem is one of the clearest manifestations, showing both the top-down and bottom-up projection of the views of all involved groups.

Sami in Alaska 🇺🇸

In an attempt to assimilate the Native Alaskans, the US government launched an ambitious project: bring Sami (formerly known as Laplanders) to teach reindeer herding.