Orangeblossom in my garden.

Foxgloves in the rain in my garden.

“Dame de Brassempouy” Approx 28,000 BC. Ivory of mammoth Grotte du Pape, (Brassempouy, Landes) The “Lady with the Hood” or “Dame de Brassempouy” is the most famous and most moving of prehistoric works of art, the most real and lifelike image of Palaeolithic woman. Further info in the alt text 👇

St Mary Magdalene chapel in Cambridge. It was built in the early 12th century as the chapel of a leper hospital. The hospital is long gone, but the chapel is preserved as a museum.

Art for The Doom that came to Sarnath. #Lovecraft

Whatever you do,

An unusual statuette from Egypt's Late Period or Ptolemaic era, depicting an elegant #cat feeding her kittens. In this case, she's not a just a cat - she's Bastet, goddess of fertility, and protector of women and children. I love the kitten trying to give mama a kiss. 🐈‍⬛ 🏺 1/ 📸 me #BrooklynMuseum

The early 11th century tower of St Benet's, Cambridge. I was in Cambridge over Easter, more mediaeval pics to follow.

My beagles knocked this tulip down with waggy tails while they were playing in the garden today, but you can see the how the interior works.

Vanessa Stockard (Australian, b.1975) "Satan Taking a Break from Hate Crimes," 2022 Oil on dibond #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt #catlover

Relief from Roman Cirencester (Corinium) depicting three Genii Cucullati and a seated mother goddess. The relief was found at the site of the Police Station in Cirencester, and is now part of the collections at The Corinium Museum. 📸 My own. #ReliefWednesday #RomanBritain

The guardian

Wonderful ancient artistry! Some 3,400 years ago, an Egyptian artisan captured a sense of speed and elegance in this beautifully carved whip handle in the shape of a horse! New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III, c. 1390–1352 BC. The Met 📷 by me #Archaeology

Xochipilli, the god of flowers, plants, and music clay and pigments 1200-1400 CE Aztec Mexico #handmade #ceramic #clay #pigments #religion #art #xochipilli #aztec #prince #god #flowers #plants #music #sport #mexico #mesoamerica #precolumbian #prehispanic #sculpture #ancientart #ancientmexico

This delightful little painted wooden horse was a child’s toy around 2,000 years ago. It dates from 1st - 3rd century AD Roman Egypt. The wood has been preserved so well by the intense dryness of the Egyptian climate. 🏛️📷 British Museum #AncientBlueSky 🏺

First tulip of the year in my garden.

Magnolia stellata in my garden today.

Jar lid decorated with a little bird just hatched from one of the eggs. Egyptian alabaster, wood, and ivory. Found in 1922 in the tomb of Tutankhamun, 18th Dynasty, c. 1336-1327 BC. Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

Never not utterly astonished by the ancient grandeur of the twelfth-century tower and west front of @elycathedral.bsky.social. Breathtakingly wondrous.

The power of the book: the goddess Diana presiding over an assembly of women reading in 'L'Épître Othéa'. BL Harley 4431; Christine de Pizan, Various Works; c.1410 CE-c.1414 CE; France, Central (Paris); f.107r @blmedieval.bsky.social

I want you all to appreciate this Attic kylix from the 470s BC depicting the scene where Jason is supposed to be killing the Colchian dragon that guards the Golden Fleece. Except for some reason, it’s either swallowing or barfing him while Athena checks in.

Unbread! Unbread! Unbread!

Got a fantastic review of the London Lovecraft Festival that we did a couple of weeks ago. independenthorrorsociety.com/event-review...

A very unusual person in the windows of St Chad's church in Haggerston, east London.

🧵'From this viewpoint York Minster presents a magnificent appearance.' A George Washington Wilson; photographic print from 1865 it is taken from his book 'Photographs of English and Scottish Scenery' Wilson (1823–1893) was a pioneering Scottish

swordfighting tactics, germany, 16th century

Snowdrops in my garden.

#FolkloreThursday In Japanese folklore, eating the flesh of a ningyo, or mermaid, grants eternal life and youth. It was also said that Ningyo blood will cure any wound. Boxwood ningyo netsuke, Tadayoshi, 19th century collections.mfa.org/objects/19902

In recognition of the #lunaryear, here are two rather sprightly-looking winning horses, Adorandus and Crinitus, from the stud farm of Sorothus at ancient Hadrumetum (modern-day Sousse in #Tunisia), late 2nd century AD What fine fellows!

The Chemical Formula of the Ancient Greeks’ “Magic Elixir” Discovered: A Study Reveals the Hallucinogenic Secret of the Eleusinian Mysteries www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/02/t...

#MedievalMonday & a chance again yesterday to see the #floods lapping against the saxon ramparts of Wareham transforming the Dorset town into a near island

If you are planning your menus for the coming week, just be pleased that you are not living in medieval times when Lent (which starts Wednesday) was much more widely observed and much stricter. Image: Fasting nuns at the refectory table being served by skeletons (an

Art for the Dunwich Horror Opera, which will premiere on Sunday 22nd of February at the London Lovecraft Festival.

Livre de la chasse, Paris, France, c. 1406-1407.

The London Lovecraft Festival is happening again next week at the Drayton Arms Theatre in South Ken, London. There's a week of horror theatre and other eldritch goodness. There's even an opera. More deets and tickets are here: www.thedraytonarmstheatre.co.uk/london-lovec...

Cats from the Ashmole Bestiary, made c. 1200. Now in the Bodleian Library (MS. Ashmole 1511).

its #RuinedPrioryFriday & there's this curious quartet of monastic sites in a crescent around Shrewsbury which deserves a bit of a thread 🧵👇

Tanaka Ryōhei was a Japanese artist who specialized in detailed etchings, a less common technique in Japan compared to traditional woodblock printing. His works often depicted landscapes, temples, and traditional thatched-roof farmhouses, showing both the beauty and the decay of these scenes.

La Roche Longue in Quintin (Côtes-d’Armor) is a 7m tall needle-like granite menhir. It was said that fairies and nains used to dance around it and that the menhir itself sometimes danced when midnight sounded. #StandingStoneSunday.

The ruins of Chaalis Abbey (in Fontaine-Chaalis, Oise, France, in the snow last year. #RuinedPrioryFriday

York's splendid and iconic medieval Guildhall #medievalsky

Map of London in the late Anglo-Saxon period. Sourse and more information here: londonist.substack.com/p/mapping-an...

Take a bow Budge! 🐈 Our resident Cathedral cat has been named one of The Guardian's 25 favourite European travel discoveries of 2025! Journalist Peter Ross writes that Budge 'makes a wonderful place even more wonderful'. Read the full article at www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

Crusader Ghost (1916) illustration by Frank Dadd from the book ‘Old Christmas’ by Washington Irving (1783-1859) #PhantomsFriday

'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.' Photograph by Daniel Ibanez

#Woodensday 1263-4 #AdventAngel originally decorated ceiling of Painted Chamber (King's state bedchamber) in Henry III's remodelled Westminster Palace with companion painting of prophet. Earliest surviving panel paintings in England, believed lost until rediscovered in 1994. @ BM

Hambye Abbey in Normandy. The abbey was founded in 1145 and dissolved during the French Revolution. The abbey is open to the public. #RuinedPrioryFriday

"over the mountains of Svalbard, the sky unfolded into something unbelievable — rare polar stratospheric clouds shimmered in neon colors, turning the frozen Arctic air into a living rainbow" – 📷 ?