Citizens of the United States, based on your lived experience and observations on the ground, do you agree with the BBC's suggestion that the economy is booming so hard that it hurts?

Castle of the Week #5: Castel del Monte! 🇮🇹

This majestic Italian castle is from the 13th century and was constructed by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II!

This octagonal castle was likely inspired by the concept of the Dome of the Rock Frederick had seen in Jerusalem! 🧵

'Great men stand like solitary towers in the city of God'

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Kavanagh, A Tale

The world of the late bronze age was the first “globalized” society.

But this highly connected network of cultures crumbled into a dark age after a series of disasters.

There are some striking parallels to today…🧵

Having travelled extensively across each of Italy's twenty regions, I can confirm that they are blessed with many of the most panoramic public transport stops imaginable.

This, for example, is the vista presented to those awaiting the bus in Ravello!

No wonder The King was, in the words of the BBC, 'initially mildly surprised by the strong colour'.

Gaudy palette, head out of proportion to the body and an overwhelming sense that the piece is unfinished. The King's instinctive recoil is the sane man's reaction to this 'work'.

Christians have sung 'Kyrie Eleison' for over 1,000 years. Its origins can be traced to the early Greek-speaking Eastern Church

It was THE ORDER OF THE REDEEMED honour to shoot & edit this video of St. Ann’s choir, Manchester, UK as part of our shared quest to keep tradition alive

The US Secretary of State abandoning professional dignity to sing a song called 'Rockin' in the Free World' at a people facing total demographic collapse thanks to that 'Free World', while their Armed Forces are disintegrating in real time, is embarrassingly fitting.

I keep thinking about this town of Mahdia in Tunisia.

It used to be an important port but brutal wars through history reduced it to a quiet fishing town.

It's a place of significance for Western history as the first successful crusade-like expedition was launched here in 1087.

No wonder The King was, in the words of the BBC, 'initially mildly surprised by the strong colour'.

Gaudy palette, head out of proportion to the body and an overwhelming sense that the piece is unfinished. The King's instinctive recoil is the sane man's reaction to this 'work'.

Interior of Hagia Sophia with kneeling and walking Turks
Georges-Antoine-Prosper Marilhat, after 1821

The Feast of the Ascension, as celebrated in Venice on Sunday, offered a fine display of a wonder hiding in plain sight over Saint Mark's Square.

Indeed the great Astronomical Clock, completed in 1499, is a triumphant alliance of aesthetics and function!

On this day, May 14th in 1643, King Louis XIV takes the throne at only four years old. A visual thread..🧵👇

This would lead to the King commissioning the Palace of Versailles, one of the finest palaces in the world.

Here are 20 photographs showcasing the beauty here and a

St Eustache Church in Paris

An awful lot of Britons do not want to hear this, but Winston Churchill.

Certainly he was a charismatic orator, but he sold out what remained of Britain's sovereignty to Washington, all to fight a war whose conclusion destroyed the United Kingdom as a world power.

'A false science makes atheists, a true science prostrates men before the Deity'

Voltaire, The Critical Review, or Annals of Literature, Volume XXVI

These huge towers in the town of San Gimignano present an imposing sight over the Tuscan countryside!

They are a reminder of a very violent time when warring families inside the town built such towers.

There used to be many more of such towers in this town, over 70 of them. 🧵

Iberia has often served as the redoubt of hope for Christianity in Europe, from those who refused the Moorish yoke to those who in 1936 said that enough was enough.

Today, at the Sanctuary of Fátima in Portugal, this most noble spark glows once more!

How to sculpt metal like a Greek-

The creation of an ancient Greek bronze

a 🧵

1. Design-
Clay, composed of hydrated aluminum silicates, offering malleability, allowed artists to create intricate details.

The door at St. Edward's Church in Stow-on-the-Wold, often called the Tolkien Door, is a captivating sight.

Flanked by ancient yew trees, its wooden panels and old oil lamp evoke a sense of stepping into a fantasy realm.

Local lore suggests J.R.R. Tolkien found inspiration