Author: A Scholarly Skater
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Lost Languages and conversations about them
It’s been a long time since I’ve been as excited about a book as I was about Andrew Robinson’s Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World’s Undeciphered Scripts (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002), and I get excited about books almost every day. Lost Languages is a really excellent and informative introduction to the world’s un-deciphered writing…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Reims Cathedral, France
This gargoyle is so strange! From the differences in the stone, I assume that the creepy head is a later alteration or restoration, but I’m still not sure what the figure is supposed to represent. The words “crazed donkey” come to mind, however.
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Gargoyle and Grotesques of Casa de Las Gárgolas, Santiago, Chile
I was scrolling through a set of gargoyle photos in order to find today’s gargoyle, and I was a little surprised to find a category entitled “Gargoyles of Chile”. This curious creature is from the Casa de Las Gárgolas (House of Gargoyles, since gárgola means gargoyle in Spanish) in Santiago. I didn’t find much about…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of the Forbidden City, Beijing
I bet you didn’t see this one coming! We tend to associate gargoyles with the Gothic architecture of medieval Europe, but the idea of carving functional drain-spouts into the shapes of real or imagined creatures is not unique to Europe, Christianity, or the Middle Ages. Beijing’s Forbidden City, a treasure-trove of animal statuary in all…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of St. Giles High Kirk, Edinburgh
My Facebook friend Sara requested gargoyles of the Scottish Highlands for my next gargoyle of the day. Unfortunately, I haven’t had any luck tracking down photos of specifically Highland gargoyles. So many of the gorgeous churches out there are in such a state of ruin that in most cases, whatever gargoyles they may have once had…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Notre Dame de Paris
This 19th-century grotesque comes from the great Gothic cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Westminster Abbey and Palace, London
An introduction to the gargoyles and grotesques of Westminster Abbey and Westminster Palace – two important Gothic and Gothic Revival structures in London.
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Hotel de Ville, Brussels
Read about a part-fish gargoyle on the Hotel de Ville in Brussels.
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Why I’m a fan of preservation and “Preservation” magazine
In one of the first philanthropic acts of my grown-up life, I recently joined the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a non-profit organization that provides funding and support for the protection and restoration of historical landmarks throughout the United States. As a membership benefit, I just received my first issue (Winter 2015) of Preservation magazine in the…
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My review of David Day’s The World of Tolkien: Mythological Sources of The Lord of the Rings
The fact that it is still December and I’m already writing a review of a book I got for Christmas should tell you everything you need to know about how wonderful this book was. David Day’s The World of Tolkien: Mythological Sources of The Lord of the Rings. (New York: Chartwell Books, Inc., 2013) is a 184-page-long,…
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Nerd Candy: Doodles in Medieval Manuscripts
I loved medieval graffiti, and now I find out that there are medieval doodles, too! What more could a history nerd want? I just came across an article on Colossal (a very cool site, by the way, so be sure to follow it) about some work being done by Erik Kwakkel, a manuscript historian at Leiden University. Kwakkel is…
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Art Crimes Awareness: Ebay and the Modern Forger
The Monuments Men Foundation for Art the Preservation of Art’s facebook page, which by the way is one of the best resources out there for information about cultural heritage advocacy, recently linked to this article from The Daily Beast about art forgery on eBay. My first reaction was that anyone who thinks they’re going to buy a Picasso on eBay…
