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The making of the great British Christmas
(8 minute read) The feast described in carols and schmaltzy TV adverts is a complicated patchwork of cultures constantly evolving, as Adam Brocklehurst reveals.
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Dallying shepherds and muscular Christs: the Pre-Raphaelites as mental wellbeing
(6 minute read) Adam Brocklehurst believes art can still offer us inspiration in our lockdown state.
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Grimy glory: lessons in beauty from sewage-plants and run-down buildings
(7 minute read) Self-confessed commoner Adam Brocklehurst explains how the aristocratic Lucinda Lambton has helped him see the world around him with new eyes.
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Did I really see what I think I saw? Optical illusion in historical and contemporary art
(6 minute read) Seeing is believing - if you can believe what you see. Carolyn Morrison discovers an art form which makes us “think anew about what we see and how we see it.”
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Mosque, church or secular space? Hagia Sophia and the battle for modern Turkey
(6 minute read) When is a museum not a museum? When it was once a cathedral and then a mosque and is now a mosque again as a politician’s attempted ace card to revive his flagging fortunes. Cihan Eroglu reports.
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A traveller in the village called Rome
(4 minute read) Leonardo Franchi contrasts the simple lanes of village life in rural Italy with the panting heart of the Eternal City, and finds they have much in common.
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Word warping in a time of pandemic
(5 minute read) Ronnie Convery finds himself having a grammar meltdown as he ventures out after lockdown.
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The artist who caught a world in flux
(7 minute read) L. S. Lowry’s charming matchstick men are loved and loathed in equal measure. But as Adam Brocklehurst points out, there was more to Lowry than quirky depictions of northern English grime. He has a message for a society coming to grips with a new normal …
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The party’s over, and why this might be just what Nigeria needs
(7 minute read) Joshua Nwachukwu investigates the extraordinary cult of celebration in African society, and suggests the pandemic may have forced much-needed change.
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A guide for restless hearts: in conversation with a classic of world literature
(4 minute read) It’s time to explore your own mystery, says Luca La Monica, guided by one of history’s greatest thinkers.
