This is Beirut - History

Historic Swedish Church Being Moved as Giant Mine Casts Growing Shadow

This is Beirut, 15/08 18:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Church Preservation Mining Sweden History Culture

A historic red wooden church considered one of Sweden's most beautiful buildings is to be moved from its longtime home in the Arctic town of Kiruna next week as part of a campaign to expand Europe's biggest underground mine. Kiruna Kyrka, a Swedish Lutheran church, dates from 1912. The 672 tonne, 40 metre (131 feet) high building will be moved ...

Heritage and Cool Comfort: Paris’ Underground Catacombs Treasure

This is Beirut, 13/08 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Paris Catacombs Heritage History Heat Wave Culture

The moment visitors step inside the Paris Catacombs, the hundred or so people who had been waiting outside in the shade of the trees put away their caps, sunglasses, and hand fans, swapping them for sweaters and jackets in hopes of escaping the oppressive summer heat. Those dressed too lightly wrap their arms around themselves for warmth. Beatriz ...

China’s Gen Z Women Embrace Centuries-Old Script

This is Beirut, 11/08 14:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Women China History Culture

At a studio in central China's Hunan province, a teacher grips an ink brush, gently writing characters of a secret script created by women centuries ago and now being embraced by a new generation. Nushu, meaning "women's script", emerged around 400 years ago. Barred from attending school, the women secretly learned Chinese ...

Fire Swiftly Contained at Cordoba’s Historic Mosque-Cathedral

This is Beirut, 09/08 12:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

UNESCO Architecture Culture Art History Heritage

A fire broke out in the historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba on Friday, but the monument was saved as firefighters quickly contained and then extinguished it, the Spanish city's mayor said. Widely shared videos had shown flames and smoke billowing from inside the major tourist attraction, visited by two million people per year. "The ...

Saint-Gilles of Tripoli

Amine Jules Iskandar, 09/08 11:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon Tripoli History Heritage Culture

Christian rule over Tripoli came to an end with the death of Byzantine emperor Nicephorus II Phocas in 969. Some 130 years later, the Crusaders reached the city gates and found a fortified settlement where the Arabs had firmly consolidated their presence. Despite reinforcements from the Christian mountain regions, it took them a full decade to ...

Giotto, Padua, Jerusalem: The First Kiss in Art History

Bélinda Ibrahim, 05/08 18:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Giotto Jerusalem Padua Kiss Art History

Within the sacred dimness of the Scrovegni Chapel, this scene immediately draws the eye with its unexpected tenderness. Two faces nearly touch, two foreheads gently meet and two lips reach for each other. This is neither Romeo and Juliet nor Tristan and Isolde, but Joachim and Anne, the biblical couple and parents of Mary, the future mother of ...

Ancient Clues in Gabon’s Forests

Rayan Chami, 05/08 14:40 - Reading : less than a minute

Gabon History Archaeology

In Gabon’s forests, archaeologists have uncovered tools, pottery, and traces of early life that reveal how prehistoric humans lived and adapted.

Archaeological Surprise: 1,000-Year-Old Mummy Discovered in Peru’s Capital

This is Beirut, 02/08 11:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Archaeology Discovery Mummy History Peru Culture

A crew of workers accidentally discovered a mummy more than 1,000 years old while installing gas pipes in Peru's capital Lima, their employer and archaeologists said Thursday. The mummy was found last week in a tomb underneath a street north of Lima, said archaeologist Jesus Bahamonde. The mummy was covered in a shroud in a seated position, arms ...

Ancient statue returns to Turkey 65 years later

This is Beirut, 20/07 10:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Turkey Culture Art Roman History Statue

Turkey has repatriated an ancient statue believed to depict Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius from the United States as part of efforts to recover antiquities illegally removed from the country, the government announced on Saturday. The bronze statue, smuggled from the ancient city of Boubon—now the province of Burdur in southwest Turkey—in the ...

Napoleon Collection Auction Fetches Over $10M in Paris

This is Beirut, 26/06 12:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

History Napoleon Auction Sotheby's France Culture

A massive trove of artwork and curios linked to Napoleon Bonaparte, including one of his iconic bicorne hats, has sold for more than $10 million in Paris, an auction house said. Sotheby's said it had originally estimated the more than 110 items of Napoleonic memorabilia that it sold on Wednesday at around $7 million. Famous paintings of the ...

Before the Olympic Cauldron, a Balloon in the Tuileries: A Flight Through History

This is Beirut, 20/06 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Olympic cauldron Tuileries History Paris Culture

Before the Olympic cauldron—suspended from a helium balloon 60 meters above the ground—returns this Saturday to the Tuileries Gardens in Paris for the entire summer, the iconic location had already played host to one of the very first hydrogen balloon flights, dating back to 1783. On December 1 of that year, over 200 years ago, scientist ...

What If We Could Archive Scents to Awaken Memories?

Bélinda Ibrahim, 08/06 19:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Scent Archive Memories Perfume History

Today, researchers, perfumers and artists are trying to capture these invisible traces. Rather than merely describing smells, they are now trying to recreate them. Like restoring a painting or documenting a dying language, their goal is to preserve the world’s disappearing aromas — those of the past and those vanishing before our eyes. In an ...

History