FEAST OR FAMINE

In a wing of the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a hall that showcases the brilliance of a craft passed from hand to hand for centuries. The exhibit "The Art of Silver Mastership in 4th to 19th Century Georgia" includes jewelry, weapons, and tableware.   From finely etched wine vessels to royal pendant crosses, from ceremonial weapons to delicate earrings and temple rings, the silver objects on show are more than decorative. They commemorate weddings, wars, coronations, and everyday home life.   Silver mastery in Georgia dates to the late Bronze Age, but the exhibition focuses on the 4th to 19th centuries, tracing an unbroken line of artisanship through shifting empires, trade routes, and religious traditions.   In Georgian culture, silver was not just a medium; it was also a message of national identity, personal status, and sacred symbolism. The exhibit pairs actual artifacts with frescoes and portraits of Georgian nobility where silver jewelry adorned ...

During my recent visit to Tbilisi, I came across an exhibition celebrating Zurab Porchkhidze (1934–1993), a masterful illustrator whose work shaped generations of Georgian readers. His art felt like an intimate conversation between storyteller and child, between tradition and imagination.   Born in Kutaisi, Porchkhidze studied book illustration at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts from 1956 to 1962, before completing postgraduate research in easel graphics in 1970 under Professor Vladimir Keshelava. He later became a professor and head of the department of applied graphics at the Academy and held the title of Honoured Artist of Georgia.   Porchkhidze illustrated more than 100 works, including children’s books, literary classics, international fairy tales, and popular science texts. He served as creative editor for the publishing house Literature and Art and regularly contributed to magazines like  Dila ,  Pioneer , and  Nyangi .   Some of his illustrations ...

  Opposite the entrance gate of the Paris Garden of Plants ( Jardin des Plantes ) is the snake fountain. Actually, it is called the Cuvier Fountain in memory of Georges Cuvier, a French naturalist and zoologist.     On the corner of Rue Cuvier in the Latin Quarter of Paris, the site was formally the prison of the Abbey of Saint-Victor which had a fountain called the Alexander Fountain or the Brush Fountain. The prison, including the fountain, was demolished in 1840.   French architect Alphonse Vigoureux (1802-1853) was the water inspector for the city of Paris. He created the snake fountain from 1840-1846 to pay respect to Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) to replace the Alexander Fountain. Jean Leopold Nicolas Frederic – Baron Cuvier – is best known as the “father of paleontology” and establishing that species extinction was a fact in his work  Essay on the Theory of the Earth  (1813). The French government listed it as a historical monument in 1984.   ...

F ar from the Eiffel Tower  and  Notre-Dame,  is  one of Paris’s most surprisingly engaging museums:  Le Musée de La Poste   – a museum about the French mail .   France’s postal history  started   in the 15 th  century  with Louis XI  (1423-1483) – “Louis the Prudent” –  establishing   a royal postal service for official use. By the 19th century, the postal service became  a vital  connection across France’s countryside and colonies. What began as a state-controlled service of kings evolved into a   government service  for ordinary  people .   France’s first public postal service was founded in 1576   – 449 years ago.  The famous yellow  La Poste  mail vans and mopeds are  now  iconic symbols   of French daily life.   The  symbol for  La Poste  is the  horn , or bugle, which   is  the  historic symbol of the post r...