This is Beirut, 11/08 14:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Rayan Chami, 05/08 14:40 - Reading : less than a minute
In Gabon’s forests, archaeologists have uncovered tools, pottery, and traces of early life that reveal how prehistoric humans lived and adapted.
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
This is Beirut, 26/04 11:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Paris France Napoleon History Culture Art
A sword once belonging to Napoleon, "commissioned for his personal use" in 1802 and preserved throughout his reign, will take center stage at an auction on May 22 at Hôtel Drouot in Paris. The piece, presented by the Giquello auction house, is valued between €700,000 and €1 million. "Bonaparte, then First Consul, ordered the sword between ...
Sana Richa Choucair, 13/04 15:30 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Lebanon history schools civil war CRDP
In Lebanon, the official history textbook ends with the withdrawal of French troops in 1946, following the country’s independence in 1943. Entire chapters of the country’s modern history remain unaddressed—most notably the 1975–1990 war, which left at least 150,000 dead and 17,000 missing. Even the terminology remains contested: Should it ...