St Mary’s Basilica in Cracow is probably known all over the world for its magnificent late gothic carved main altarpiece – a masterpiece by Veit Stoss, completed in 1477-1489. It has been restored lately and the restoration project was granted European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award 2023. Meanwhile, in…
Manneken Pis is a symbol of Brussels, but I will start this post with a fountain from another place. One of my favourite cities in Europe is Prague: full of wonderful places perfect for walking around, resting and admiring artworks. Surely one of such places is Wallenstein Garden (Valdštejnská zahrada)…
The following post is dedicated mostly to ancient depictions interpreted as images of children; nonetheless, most of the illustrating material is suitable rather for adult Readers. As it happens, ancient Egyptians venerated some child deities – or rather particular gods when they were children. Christian cult of Infant Jesus is…
In Central Europe, churches’ furniture dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries may often be a source of very interesting curiosities. For example, let’s take a look at pulpits: they sometimes had extremely weird shapes, as well as complex theological meaning. Some time ago I wrote about whale-shaped pulpits…
One of the most surprising ancient sculptures in the collection of Louvre in Paris is probably Sleeping Hermaphroditus – it is a Roman marble statue, and a copy after lost bronze Hellenistic Greek sculpture (dating back to mid-second century B.C., mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his “Natural History”). It…