Tag Archives: History

Architecture, Buildings, Design, History, Landmarks, Videos

The Flatiron Building: Its Beaux-Arts Design To Now Iconic And ‘Vacant’ Status

Video Leave a comment

The B1M (May 3, 2023) – DESPITE standing just 22-storeys tall on an island full of massive skyscrapers, New York’s Flatiron Building managed to endure as a cake-slice shaped icon of this city since 1902.

That unusual triangular shape has captured the eyes of photographers, tourists and directors for decades. 

But in recent years, this world-famous structure has sat empty and under scaffolding only for a New York court to then order it be put up for grabs at auction in early 2023 – an auction that seems to have turned into a bit of a farce.

It’s the latest uncertain chapter in the long story of this building – a building that’s seen so much of New York’s history unfold and endured so much already.

This is how one of the city’s strangest towers came to be, how it went on to become iconic and why the current struggles around its sale will probably only make it more famous.

Architecture, Buildings, Cities, History, Reviews, Tours, Videos

Architecture: A Walking Tour Of New Orleans

Video Leave a comment

Architectural Digest (April 20, 2033): Today on AD, architect Robby Cangelosi leads us on an insightful walking tour of New Orleans, exploring the fascinating history of its neighborhoods and buildings from its origins to the present day.

Buildings, Culture, History, Reviews, Travel, Videos

Travel: France’s Most Beautiful Hiking Paths

Video Leave a comment

FRANCE 24 (April 20, 2023) – Of the 370 long-distance hiking paths that criss-cross the French countryside, some in particular stand out. In Finistère, on the Atlantic, the Chemin du Pouldu merges with the Brittany coast. Its contrasts of green and blue have inspired many artists, such as French painter Paul Gauguin.

Down in the Cévennes, Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson gave his name to the Chemin Stevenson, where you can still come across donkeys. As for the route to Santiago de Compostela, one of the oldest long-distance hiking paths in France, it contains delights for the eyes and the soul.

Culture, Magazines, Photography, Previews, Reviews, Travel

May 2023 Cover: National Geographic Traveller UK

Leave a comment

Image

National Geographic Traveller Magazine (May 2023). The cover story this month takes a fresh look at the classic destinations of Italy, a country that offers enough for a lifetime of discoveries. From a coastal road trip through Calabria to street art tours in Turin and dining in the shadow of Mount Etna, we round up 21 experiences that cast the peninsula in a different light.

This issue also comes with a free Ecuador guide. Inside, we discover the country’s striking wildlife and landscapes, try the dishes leading its culinary renaissance and meet is creative, resilient communities.

Also inside this issue:

Madagascar: The communities and eco-lodges preserving the island’s rich, endangered habitats.
Scotland: Canoe down the River Spey, the water of life for Caledonia’s malt whisky.
Germany: Creativity, community and craftsmanship in the magical Black Forest. 
Kyoto: Turn up the volume in Japan’s cultural heart, where live music fills cafes, bars and historic houses. 
Cape Town: South Africa’s ‘Mother City’ is finding a new groove with edgy bars and excitinghotels.
Punkaharju:Spend a weekend in the Finnish Lakeland.
Napa Valley:Discover local produce and craft beers in the US’s most famous wine region.
Mexico City:The Mexican capital’s hotel scene is booming in buzzing neighbourhoods.

Arts & Literature, Culture, History, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Arts/Culture: Humanities Magazine – Spring 2023

Leave a comment
Image

Humanities Magazine – Spring 2023 Issue

Audubon in This Day and Age

The artist and his birds continue to challenge us

John James Audubon, dead for 172 years, has been in the news again. Disturbing facts known to his biographers—that, for example, when he kept a store in Henderson, Kentucky, he enslaved people—have gained new currency, although the National Audubon Society has, for now, held on to its name. For many, Audubon has become synonymous with an activity—call it science, ornithology, natural history, birding, love of the outdoors—that has, for the longest time, excluded people of color.  

A Lot of What Is Known about Pirates Is Not True, and a Lot of What Is True Is Not Known.

In 1701, in Middletown, New Jersey, Moses Butterworth languished in a jail, accused of piracy. Like many young men based in England or her colonies, he had joined a crew that sailed the Indian Ocean intent on plundering ships of the Muslim Mughal Empire. Throughout the 1690s, these pirates marauded vessels laden with gold, jewels, silk, and calico on pilgrimage toward Mecca. After achieving great success, many of these men sailed back into the Atlantic via Madagascar to the North American seaboard, where they quietly disembarked in Charleston, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City, Newport, and Boston, and made themselves at home.

Archaeology, History, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Preview: Archaeology Magazine – May/June 2023

Leave a comment

Image

Archaeology Magazine (May/June 2023):

Roman Ruins Uncovered at England’s Exeter Cathedral

(BBC News reports that traces of a Roman street and timber buildings were uncovered in southwest England at the site of the cloister garden at Exeter Cathedral during an investigation ahead of the construction of a new cloister gallery.

England Exeter Cathedral

The Shaman’s Secrets

Germany Mesolithic Shaman Bone Headdress

An impressive selection of grave goods including roe deer antlers (top) that could have been worn as a headdress and boars’ teeth (middle) and tusks (above) with holes drilled in them enabling them to be suspended from an animal skin were found in a 9,000-year-old shaman’s burial.

Bad Dürrenberg is a modest spa town in eastern Germany, perched on a bluff overlooking the Saale River. On a Friday afternoon in 1934, workers were laying pipe to supply the spa’s fountain with water when they came across red-tinted earth. 

(Photographs Juraj Lipták)

Documentaries, Geology, History, Reviews, Videos

‘Abyss Of Time’: How James Hutton Founded Geology & ‘Earth’s Age’ In Scotland

Video Leave a comment

BBC News (March 26, 2023) – In the 1700s, geologist James Hutton discovered a rock formation in Scotland that transformed how we think about time. Through studying the rocky headland of Siccar Point, Hutton identified the existence of ‘deep time’ – proving that Earth is millions, not thousands, of years old.

James Hutton (1726–1797), a Scottish farmer and naturalist, is known as the founder of modern geology. He was a great observer of the world around him. More importantly, he made carefully reasoned geological arguments. Hutton came to believe that the Earth was perpetually being formed; for example, molten material is forced up into mountains, eroded, and then eroded sediments are washed away.

He recognized that the history of the Earth could be determined by understanding how processes such as erosion and sedimentation work in the present day. His ideas and approach to studying the Earth established geology as a proper science.

Architecture, Buildings, History, Reviews, Videos, Views

Skyscraper Architecture: New York City’s Top Styles

Video Leave a comment

Architectural Digest (March 24, 2023) – Michael Wyetzner of Michielli + Wyetzner Architects returns to AD, this time breaking down five of the most common skyscraper styles dotting the New York City skyline. From set back ‘wedding cakes’ to the supertall buildings of the future, Michael gives expert insight on the different skyscraper styles that coalesce into one unforgettable view.

Arts & Literature, Books, History, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Preview: History Today Magazine – April 2023

Leave a comment

Image

HISTORY TODAY MAGAZINE – APRIL 2023 ISSUE

The First Folio

Shakespeare’s First Folio in the library of Durham University, 1950s.
Shakespeare’s First Folio in the library of Durham University, 1950s.

The stage has a short memory, print a long one: 400 years since its first publication, Shakespeare’s First Folio is the reason we remember him.

American Moppets

Teleradiola "Belarus-5" in an ordinary Soviet house.
 ‘The ‘Belarus-5’ in an ordinary Soviet house,’ photographed in the 1960s. 

Americanised globalisation and the new world of Russian business in the 1990s.

In the 1990s, a version of the satirical puppet show Spitting Image arrived on Russian television. A Muscovite once told the story of his father, who took great care to record every episode on VHS.

Buildings, Culture, History, Reviews, Travel, Videos

Culture/History: The Many Lives Of Abbeys In France

Leave a comment

FRANCE 24 (March 21, 2023) – Once important seats of Christian worship, and now treasures of the country’s heritage, French abbeys often have surprising histories. That’s the case of Fontevraud abbey, in the former duchy of Anjou. Run by a woman during its heyday, the abbey was turned into a prison after the French Revolution.

In Alsace, the abbey of Mont Sainte-Odile is famous for its supposedly miraculous spring water. Finally, on the outskirts of Montpellier, Valmagne abbey used to be a wine cellar. Visitors can still observe the gigantic barrels that were once used to store thousands of litres of wine.