Tag: art

Amalia Rodrigues’ European Soul

Throughout Europe there is rising ethnic-identity awareness, a cultural revolution that rejects the multi-cultural sub-culture not of Europe’s own. Renewed enthusiasm for national identity expressed through music perhaps lies behind the recent craze for Portugal’s Queen of Fado, Amalia Rodrigues (1920 ~ 1999). The blues singer‘s fame once eclipsed that of the iconic French soul-singing waif Edith Piaf and that of Nana Mouskouri of Greece.

Virtual walks through the world’s finest museums.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the topic of travel is temporarily closed for most of the inhabitants of the Earth. Fortunately, we can still go on virtual walks in stunning locations. Why not take a stroll through the halls of the world’s best museums that have created an interactive version of their exhibits? Let’s go on excursions to visit the best cultural treasures of different countries and people.

Ireland’s Enigmatic Tomb Older Than The Great Pyramids

Older than Stonehenge and more enigmatic and ancient than the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Newgrange tomb in Ireland holds as many mysteries as each of those mysterious structures. The massive complex of Newgrange was built about 3200 BC, yet its existence was not discovered until 1699, when a local landowner wanted the mound dug up for its stones. In fact, throughout Ireland have been so far discovered over 200 such tombs.

Diana On Her Chariot

Sublime Dreams of Living Machines. Part IV. One of the most interesting clocks, as well as one of the most representative of clockmaking during the transition from the late 16th to the early 17th century, is this rather spectacular automaton of Diana On Her Chariot, as it’s called.

Is Music the Creation of Divinity

Many great Europeans truly believed that their pens, as they composed, were guided by a divine spirit. Great musicians were quite clear in their belief that their works were the creation of a divine force, which we place under the blanket term, God.

Automaton for Marie Antoinette and exclusive mechanisms

Sublime Dreams of Living Machines. Part I. Not so long ago, a short video of a truly uncanny dulcimer-playing wind-up automaton made for Marie Antoinette in 1784 appeared online. The queen was no stranger to extravagance, we know, but why this machine, this wonderful human-like machine, which must have taxed the greatest artisans and mechanics of her time? What was its appeal?