The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Pope Francis shuns papal holiday to stay in Vatican Posted: 07 Jun 2013 03:04 AM PDT  Pope Francis shows a thumbs-up sign as he arrives to lead his Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican. - Reuters pic VATICAN CITY, June 7 — Pope Francis broke with another papal tradition yesterday and revealed he will not spend his summer in the lavish palace in the hilltop town of Castel Gandolfo, host to popes for centuries and a favoured retreat of his predecessor Benedict. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said that Francis would stay in the Vatican City over the summer despite the usually stifling heat in Rome. He will remain in the Domus Santa Marta, a modern hotel-style residence where he has lived since his elevation in March, choosing not to move into the spacious and regal papal apartments. Millions of people in recession-hit Italy are likely to make a similar decision this year. Official data last month showed that one in two Italians were unable to afford one week of holiday away from home last year. The former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina has set a humble tone for the papacy. He has said he wants the 1.2 billion-member Catholic Church to focus on helping the poor and to become more austere itself. He will visit Castel Gandolfo, in the Alban Hills outside Rome, to say a Sunday blessing on July 14, Lombardi said. He is due to visit Brazil later in the month, his first trip abroad as pontiff. Benedict, the first pope to abdicate in 600 years, liked to spend his summers in Castel Gandolfo and also chose to spend the first few months of his retirement in the complex of hilltop villas boasting lush gardens, a farm and stunning views. – Reuters |
| London’s mysterious Cheapside treasure to go on show Posted: 07 Jun 2013 02:30 AM PDT  Curator Jackie Keily holds a mystery object with tapering shank believed to be an aigrette encrusted with diamonds and sapphires, part of the Cheapside hoard at the Museum of London June 4, 2013. - Reuters pic LONDON, June 7 — Experts may be one tiny step closer to unravelling the mystery of who buried hundreds of dazzling jewels under a London neighbourhood during a turbulent period in English history covering the Civil War, Restoration and Great Fire. The Cheapside Hoard on show at the Museum of London from Oct 11 features priceless gems from as far away as India, Latin America and the Middle East that were buried in the 17th century and discovered in 1912 under an old building in central London. Since its discovery, the intrigue surrounding the hoard over who buried it, when and why has been one of London's greatest historical mysteries. But recent examination of a previously overlooked gem bearing the engraved badge of the first and only Viscount Stafford has helped reveal that the treasure is likely to have been buried around 1640, when he acquired his title, but before the Great Fire of London in 1666. The tiny red stone has helped experts to place a date of burial for the hoard found in Cheapside, a district of London famed for its gold and jewellery trade in the 17th century which was razed to the ground during the Great Fire. "Because that gem is there (in the collection), that gives us that nice cut off date that the hoard must have been buried after 1640," Museum of London curator Jackie Keily told Reuters. It is also possible that other pieces in the hoard may have once belonged to the viscount, who was an avid collector of gems and antiquities, but then sold during the Civil War to a goldsmith or jeweller. "During that period of the Civil War, you had a lot of people who had to move quickly and liquidate their assets in a hurry so it may be that people were selling things at that time and therefore gems could have come from a whole series of sources," said Keily. Experts believe that the hoard itself belonged to a goldsmith or jeweller, due to the variety of pieces and cut gems that had not yet been made into jewellery, who never returned to retrieve the treasure after the Great Fire swept through London, destroying a vaste swathe of the British capital. "It may be that it was a jeweller or goldsmith that became a soldier, we know that many of them did, and then basically didn't return," she added. The collection, which features around 500 pieces, includes a one of a kind emerald hexagonal watch, an Onyx cameo depicting an Aesop fable and an intricate brooch shaped like a salamander. Regarded as the single most important find of its type, the hoard also has delicate finger rings, cascading necklaces and decorative adornments embellished with rubies, diamonds, sapphires and pearls. The exhibition will include paintings, multimedia installations and historical objects from the museum's collection to help visitors visualise the craftsmanship behind each piece. – Reuters |
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