The Grand Ludovisi Sarcophagus was found in 1621 near the Porta Tiburtina, one of the eastern gates of the city of Rome. It was named after Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (1595-1632), who was an avid collector of antiquities. The sarcophagus can be dated to around 250-260, so it is a little…
The Portonaccio Sarcophagus is a large sarcophagus that can be found in the Palazzo Massimo, one of the four locations of the Museo Nazionale Romano. It is an impressive piece of second century craftsmanship. The sarcophagus was found in 1931 near the Via Tiburtina and can be dated to around…
The parish of Belém, just west of Lisbon’s city centre, has many monuments related to Portugal’s naval history and the Age of Discoveries. The Padrão dos Descobrimentos and the Torre de Belém have already been discussed. Yet Belém’s greatest treasure is arguably the awe-inspiring Jerónimos Monastery. It was built between…
It is perhaps a little hard to believe that the Torre de Belém was actually built as a fortress to protect the mouth of the Tagus river, the gateway to Lisbon. The tower is so beautifully decorated with Manueline and Renaissance elements, that it could easily have been part of…
Belém is a historically important part of Lisbon near the mouth of the river Tagus. The name Belém means ‘Bethlehem’ in Portuguese. This parts of Lisbon is known for its cultural and historical heritage, such as the famous Jerónimos Monastery and the Torre de Belém, a tower guarding the mouth…
We have twice been to Sintra, a city west of Lisbon on the edge of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. The first time was in May 2011, when we took a train from Lisbon’s Rossio Station, a trip of some 45 minutes. The second time was in August 2015. This time,…
The Santa Maria sopra Minerva is one of the richest churches in Rome. There is so much to see and so much to tell about the history of this church and its treasures, that one could easily write multiple dissertations about it. I will just stick to what I usually…
San Tommasso in Formis is a very small church from the thirteenth century on the Caelian Hill. It has been restored on multiple occasions between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The church itself is not that interesting. Much more interesting churches with a much richer history, like the Santa Maria…
Being Dutch, I had a good reason to want to visit the Santa Maria dell’Anima. Here we can find the tomb of the only Dutch pope in history, Adrianus VI. I had already been to Rome many times since 1996, but somehow never found time to visit this church, which…
The Santa Croce in Gerusalemme is an old Roman Catholic church that is just within the third century Aurelian Walls of the city. The church is architecturally and culturally rather unimpressive, but it is very important from a religious point of view. There has been a Christian place of worship…
The church of San Pietro in Montorio is located on the Gianicolo, an ancient hill north and west of Trastevere which was named after the Roman god Janus. The church is dedicated to Saint Peter, the apostle who needs no further introduction. An old tradition dictates that Peter was crucified…
The Sant’Andrea della Valle is a huge church in the rione Sant’Eustachio, not far from the Campo de’ Fiori and the Piazza Navona. It was built at the site of a much older church (the San Sebastiano in Via Papae) and a palazzo that was the property of the influential…
Just opposite the Palazzo and Galleria Corsini is a beautiful Renaissance villa, over 500 years old, that has some of the most gorgeous frescoes in all of Rome. This is the Villa Farnesina, built between 1506 and 1510. Many signs in Trastevere give directions to the villa and indicate that…
Just outside Trastevere, one can find the Palazzo Corsini. It is home to the Galleria Corsini, one of two locations of the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica (the other being the Palazzo Barberini). Although I have been to Rome several times and almost always stay at a hotel in Trastevere, I…
I was not familiar with the technique called opus sectile until I visited an exhibition in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam about Constantine’s influence on the Christianisation of the Roman Empire. Part of the exhibition was a mosaic depicting a man in a chariot and four horsemen in the colours…
We drove to Rethymnon, a small city of some 35,000 inhabitants, on a rainy day in October. Autumn was rapidly approaching on Crete and it was chilly and wet. There was a lot of traffic in the city streets and we had to drive around for quite a while before…
A conversation about the village of Fodele could be something like this: “Ah, Fodele, that’s where the famous Cretan painter El Greco was born!” “In your dreams, Nikos, he was born in Candia, present-day Heraklion.” “Nonsense, he was born in Fodele, and we have the proof! There’s a museum at…
Comparing the palace complexes of Knossos and Phaistos is like comparing day and night. Visiting Phaistos is a completely different experience. Phaistos is about half as famous as Knossos, it is much smaller, does not draw huge crowds and little to no restoration work has been carried out here. The…
A trip to Crete is not complete without a visit to the Minoan palace complex of Knossos. The first palace here was built during the Old Palace period (1900-1700 BCE). Around 1700 BCE, this palace was destroyed, presumably by an earthquake. It was rebuilt soon afterwards. The ruins we see…
Chania is the second largest city on Crete, with a population of over 50,000 inhabitants. It is also, in my honest opinion, by far the most relaxed, charming and beautiful city on the island. We drove all the way from Ligaria near Heraklion to Chania, which is about 100 kilometres…