M.J. Rose

Myth or memory?

From Atlas Obscura,

…The legendary sword in the stone from the lore of King Arthur does exist. But it’s not in Avalon. It’s in Italy — on display in the Montesiepi Chapel in Tuscany.

The Sword in the Stone at Montesiepi Chapel

The real sword in the stone is found not in England, but in an Italian chapel.

“Galgano Guidotti was born in 1148 near Chiusdino. After spending his youth as a wealthy knight, in 1180 Giudotti decided to follow the words of Jesus and retired as a hermit near his hometown. He began to experience visions of the Archangel Michael, leading him to God and the twelve apostles on the hill of Monte Siepi. In one vision, Michael told Giudotti to renounce all of his earthly possessions. He responded that this would be as difficult as splitting a stone, and to prove his point, thrust his sword into a rock. To his surprise, the sword went through the impenetrable surface as though it was water. Shortly after, an errant horse led Giudotti to the very hilltop that had appeared in his visions, where he was moved to plant a cross. Not having any wood handy, he plunged his sword into a rock, just as he had in the vision, where it was embedded for all time. One year later Giudotti died, and in 1185 Pope Lucius the 3rd declared him a saint, and the Montesiepi Chapel was built up around it.

While the sword was considered a fake for years, recent studies examined the sword and the hands, and the dating results as well as metal and style of the sword all are consistent with the late 1100s – early 1200s. This may mean that the story of Excalibur in the stone originated with Guidotti in Italy….”

For the rest, click here.

Ah! These make for a most fantastic guessing game!

From which book does this meal hail? (Clue in the caption)–

From ‘Fictitious Feasts’, work about food scenes in literature. Here the memory of the avocado crabmeat salad, with the bell jar, symbol of death and despair, from the American novel…

From Featureshoot.com,

Spellbinding Photos of Meals from Classic Books
by Ellyn Kail

“Paris photographer Charles Roux describes his boyhood self as “a lonely kid that filled his life – and his voids- with literary fiction.” In this way, you could say Fictitious Feasts began in the artist’s early years, when he was curled up with a book, turning the pages and imagining the worlds inside them.

Growing up, he always had a vivid and visceral picture in his head of Alice’s tea party in Wonderland, the dinner table at the Ramsay house in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, Gregor Samsa’s wretched pile of rotting food, left on the floor each morning by his sister Grete in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. As an adult and still life photographer, he had the means to bring these scenes to life.

Food, Roux suggests, has a hallowed place in the literary realm. Meals become metaphors; the real magic is in the mundane. For Fictitious Feasts, the photographer started with the books. Some, like the madeleines from Remembrance of Things Past and the porridge stolen by Goldilocks from the Three Bears, popped into his head instantly. Others took more time to recall and dig up. He read and reread the classics, jotted down notes, and sketched out table settings…”

For the rest, click here.

Well, we absolutely MUST gain access!

from Atlas Obscura,

Gustave Eiffel’s Secret Apartment
High atop the Eiffel Tower is a small apartment built exclusively to entertain the science elite and make the rest of Paris jealous.

“When the Eiffel Tower opened in 1889 to universal wonder and acclaim, designer Gustave Eiffel soaked up the praise, but as if that wasn’t enough, it was soon revealed that he had built himself a small apartment near the top of the world wonder garnering him the envy of the Paris elite in addition to his new fame.

Located on the third level of the tower, Eiffel’s private apartment was not large, but it was cozy. In contrast to the steely industrial girders of the rest of the tower, the apartment was reported to be, “furnished in the simple style dear to scientists.” The walls were covered in warm wallpaper and the furniture included soft chintzes, wooden cabinets, and even a grand piano, creating a comfortable atmosphere, perched nearly 1,000 feet in the air. Adjacent to the small apartment were some laboratory areas equipped with the experimentation gear of the day…”

For the rest, and more pictures (!), click here.