Centre of the world Part II by Anthony Ham Amsterdam, September 12th 2021—Ag Mohamed Ali initiated travellers into Timbuktu’s secrets. He took them to the private family libraries that still held manuscripts from Timbuktu’s golden age – biographies of the Prophet Muhammad on pages of gold leaf and scientific treatises from the great Islamic scholars of…
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The Chapel in Vence AF Amsterdam, August 14, 2021–Don’t beat around the bush and we’re certainly not going to lie to each other, but when we visit the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence, near Nice on the Riviera in Southern France, it’s not necessarily out of love for sacred art. It is rather and…
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Fifty Years ago Ammsterdam, Agust 4th 2021– It was 50 years ago but Zhang Xielin still remembers vividly how a shaggy-haired American table tennis player stepped onto the Chinese team’s bus, a chance encounter which would shape history. It was the world championships in Nagoya, Japan, and Glenn Cowan mistakenly hopped in with Zhang and…
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From Mathematics to Philosophy Romney Wheeler interviews British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic Bertrand Russell at Russell’s home in Surrey, England. Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (b. May 18, 1872 at Trellech, Monmouthshire, Wales; † February 2, 1970 at Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd, Wales) was a British philosopher, mathematician, religious critic, and logician.…
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Grand mural projects by Jeremy Musson Amsterdam, 23 July 2021–In her book, Lydia Hamlett unpacks the literary, cultural and political significance of “the animated wall” Mural paintings are some of the most ambitious works of art commissioned by British patrons during the 17th and early 18th centuries. From Rubens’ work at Banqueting House, Whitehall, to…
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Madame Kim passed away on January 28, 2019, making this interview possibly the last sessional interview of her 92 years on earth. Although she dedicated her life to helping wartime rape victims, she received no official apology from the Japanese government. Her story will live on through her fighting spirit. Please watch this video and…
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Soon after this film aired, Agafia found a helper who has now been living with her for more than a year. Georgy Danilov, 53, is from Orenburg. He is an Old Believer. It was Agafia’s spiritual father who found and blessed her helper. Georgy has been doing the toughest chores for almost two years: he…
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Where To This Time? Anton Foek Amsterdam, June 8 th 2021–Kalmykia is in Southern Russia. North of the Caucasus it is bordered by the Oblasts of Volgograd, Dagestan, Astrakhan, Rostov and Stavropol Krai. It has access to the Caspian Sea and the Volga River. The Republic has many natural resources and wildlife including the protected…
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And yet so rich and easy Part II Amsterdam, 30 june 2021– One often hears that Rilke’s poetry is so difficult, so very incomprehensible. This is true for his mystical late work, but not for the poems from his middle period. These are surprisingly concrete and clear, if you make any effort to follow the…
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Part III by: A. van Veelen Amsterdam, June 28th 2021– It is as if Amsterdam Football Club and Ajax’s selection escapes relegation in the post-competition and we still praise the coach: just go for it, he did it in the very end. Nothing seems to break our self-image. No pandemic, benefits disaster or corruption scandal. The…
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