Mausoleum of Hadrian Turned into Castel Sant’Angelo

January 3, 2019 — Victor Tribunsky
Castel Sant'Angelo from the South by Caspar van Wittel. Oil on canvas.
Castel Sant’Angelo from the South by Caspar van Wittel. Oil on canvas.

When you are heading to the Vatican, you can’t avoid seeing an amazing ancient bridge (foot traffic only) decorated with angel sculptures, and a mighty, brown building of original architecture near it. The Castle of the Holy Angel in the center of Rome, Italy, started its history as a mausoleum of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in 139 AD. In 250 years, it became a castle when the young and rising power, the Christian Church, started to replace pagan Roman buildings with Christian ones.

Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Italy. Tags: , , , , , , , , . 35 Comments »

La Scarzuola, Umbria: New Life of St. Francis Monastery

March 19, 2018 — Victor Tribunsky

By Irina.

The ideal city of La Scarzuola, Umbria, Italy.

The ideal city of La Scarzuola, Umbria, Italy.

We stumbled upon the information on the St. Francis Monastery, La Scarzuola, Umbria, Italy, accidentally. Its pictures in the Internet looked like a hello from a wonderful private estate, Quinta da Rigaleira, Sintra, Portugal, that we visited a couple of years ago. Then we found the website of La Scarzuola with minimal historic information, but with an Italian telephone number and email. So, it was possible to agree on the date and time of our visit. Why?

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Italy. Tags: , , , , , , . 22 Comments »

The Famous Ruins of Estonia: Pirita Convent

November 27, 2017 — Victor Tribunsky

Pirita Convent Ruins Park, Tallinn, Estonia.

Pirita Convent Ruins Park, Tallinn, Estonia.

Her dream was unusual. She would be the founder and the head of a new Catholic Order. Its convents would be a home for both monks and nuns. They would be living separately, but be attending services together in one church. They would be poor, but could have as many books as they wanted.

Such a dream had visited a noble Swedish lady, Birgitta Birgersdotter, around 1345. After 25 years, she got permission from the Pope to establish the Order of the Most Holy Saviour (1370) and to start building monasteries. Sixty years later, her third community, Pirita Convent, was completed on the banks of the Pirita River where it flows into the Gulf of Finland, and became the largest nunnery in Old Livonia. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Estonia. Tags: , , , . 36 Comments »