Russia’s dumping grounds for Soviet sculpture

At the collapse of the USSR, all the public paraphernalia of Soviet rule - statues, mosaics, frescoes - still lay scattered across Russia and beyond. Marxism-Leninism may have been kicked out of office, but what were people supposed to do with the public propaganda artworks which, for many Soviet citizens, were an unwelcome symbol of …

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Historical portraits of people and their pets

While writing my personal statement for university applications I read a number of books by Keith Thomas, a rather distinguished early modern historian who I later found out had been a fellow at my College. His books are always readable and full (sometimes too full) of entertaining anecdotes - I still remember the story from …

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J.S. Bach, the most famous housemaster of all time?

Aside from the fact that I am of German stock, I never thought I had that much in common with renowned composer Johann Sebastian Bach. At least not until I visited the Bach Haus in Leipzig several months ago, where I discovered that we had one  surprising thing in common: Bach, like myself, was a …

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