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" – 📷 ?

Winter sunset over north London.

Bright and colourful fibre art for a chilly day #ArtAdventCalendar "True Colours", art quilt

A dragon showing off in life drawing class. #dragon #art

Much Wenlock Priory (Shropshire, UK) in the snow last week. The Priory was a Cluniac house, founded 1079 and dissolved in 1540. The former infirmary is still inhabited. #RuinedPrioryFriday

What a life! #ElephantonFriday Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 016II; Matthew Paris OSB, Chronica maiora II; 13th century; f.152v @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

The mediaeval London Bridge in the context of the modern city. Art by Julian Hoffman Anton and David Fletcher.

Caxton invents predatory publishing practices.

Roman London and the modern (well, two years ago) city from a similar angle.

Rievaulx Abbey in autumn. #RuinedPrioryFriday

Sad news, the Chartreuse du Mont-Dieu in the Ardennes, France, suffered a disastrous fire on Sunday. The Carthusian priory was founded in 1132, largely rebuilt during the 17th century, and dissolved during the French Revolution. It is a protected historic monument. #RuinedPrioryFriday

Holbeche House, near Dudley, where the leaders of the Gunpowder Plot met their end in a shoot out with the Sheriff of Worcester's troops on 8th November 1605. This photo was taken around 1900.

In memory of all the beloved pets who are no longer with us. We will also meet them again someday...

November isn't a good time for pigs in the medieval calendar. #medievalcalendar BL Lansdowne 383; the 'Shaftesbury Psalter'; 12th century; England; f.8r

Tomorrow is the first night of our new show, Magic Lantern Call of Cthulhu, which will be on at the Old Red Lion in Islington, London, as part of the Grimfest Horror Festival. Deets are here: www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/call-of-cthu... #cthulhu #horror #theatre #lovecraft