One of the oldest children’s plays is making soap bubbles – soap was produced already in the antiquity. In European art soap bubbles appear mainly in Early-Modern times; however, late medieval manuscripts provide proves that soap bubbles appeared also in the medieval courtly culture. Check out this monkey on a…
On January 20th, 1320, the coronation of Ladislaus I the Short took place in the Cracow cathedral (or, to be more specific, in its ruins after a huge fire). From this day, subsequent kings of Poland were crowned in that particular place, the only exceptions being Stanisław Leszczyński (king of Poland…
Almost obligatory decoration for market squares in the former Habsburg monarchy is so called Plague Column, in most cases late-baroque. They were erected after plagues, and we may find a many examples of such monuments in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, or Silesia (in Poland) and most of them date…
Those who read my texts or attend my lectures know that I often say: “well, everything already happened in the Middle Ages!” This time I will tell you about medieval dislike towards Mondays. Apparently already in the Middle Ages nobody liked Mondays, and it was especially true for the souls…
There is a very interesting monument by St Nicholas church in Cracow (Kopernika Street): it looks like a stone pole and many people pass by it not knowing what it actually is. In fact, it is a medieval Lantern of the Dead! Previously there were holes at the top of…