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Querelles d’amants, ronouvellement d’amour, Вулиця Інститутська, 2, Kyiv (2026)

23/07/2022

Spain's untapped 'liquid gold'

For centuries, people have tapped pine trees to extract resin. But in one Spanish province, locals believe this age-old practice could save rural towns while also helping the planet.

Stretching north from Madrid, north-west Spain's autonomous Castilla y León region is a patchwork of vast mountain ranges, high plateaus and medieval towns. While most visitors come to marvel at the castillo castles that lend the region its name or admire the enchanting cathedrals in León and Burgos, much of the area is blanketed in scrubby sierra and high-altitude meseta plains that extend as far as the eye can see.

But in the provinces of Segovia, Ávila and Valladolid, a drastically different landscape emerges. Here, amid the Tierra de Pinares and Sierra de Gredos mountain ranges, a thick, 400,000-hectare protected forest of fragrant resin pines stretches up into the mountainous folds. Shielded from the hot Spanish sun and lined with trails and, this forested frontier is a popular hiking destination for locals and tourists. And, if you visit at the right time of year and look closely, you may see workers crouched next to the tree trunks, continuing a centuries-old tradition of collecting the pine's "liquid gold".

21/07/2022

Does Spain have the Holy Grail?

Spain's Valencia Cathedral houses a relic that may be the Holy Chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper – it has the right size, material, and history.

The Holy Grail – the sacred cup Jesus drank from at the Last Supper – is one of the most well-known symbols in Christianity. It's also one of the religion's greatest sources of myth and mystery. Yet despite the Grail's fame, no one is entirely sure where it is or whether it ever existed. However, in Spain, Valencia Cathedral believes it has the real thing.

"I always say [the evidence] is like twigs from a tree," said José Verdeguer, Valencia Cathedral's Historical-Artistic Heritage Curator. "If you only have one stick, it breaks easily. But if you join 50 together, you can no longer break them. Here, there are many arguments together and it is no longer easy to break them."

Verdeguer was referring to a collection of evidence that some believe proves the authenticity of the chalice on view at the cathedral. The Grail itself is comprised of two parts: a cup made of reddish-brown agate stone, and a carved gold reliquary into which the cup is set. In the 1960s, an archaeological study concluded that the cup portion dated back to the 2nd or 1st Century BCE and was made by hand in a location between ancient Palestine and Egypt, the only place where that type of agate is found.

Via her research, art historian and author Dr Ana Mafé learned that the gold stand dated to the 11th Century, suggesting that the artisans of that time knew that the top cup was a special relic and wanted to showcase it. Dr Mafé's research also determined that the chalice is the same size and volume as a traditional Jewish kiddush cup – a blessing cup – which is what Jesus would have used at the Last Supper.

19/07/2022

An eerie portal to the Maya underworld

In Belize's ATM Cave, details of ancient Maya religious sacrifices come into focus as new research creates a picture of how rituals were used to re-enact the Maya creation story.

In the eerie red glow of head torches, we could see cracked ceramics lying on the cave's damp, clay floor. Our guide shone a white light across stalactites and stalagmites, illuminating broken stone metates – tools used by the Maya to grind corn – and large earthenware pots.

Then the beam caught the sheen of a human skull half-buried in the clay; its front teeth were cracked, and the bone had long-ago crystallised into calcite. This was the Main Chamber of Actun Tunichil Muknal (the ATM Cave) in the jungle of western Belize, and to the Maya, this eerie, fascinating cavern was a sacred entrance to Xibalba, the Maya underworld.

For more than 1,000 years, the 5k-long subterranean ATM Cave system lay unlooted and undisturbed. Locals rediscovered the entrance in 1986, and, shortly after, hydrologist and spelunker Thomas Miller found skeletons inside. In the decades that followed, the unusually pristine ATM Cave became the subject of much study, offering scientists and intrepid travellers a glimpse into Maya religion and society from about 700-900 BCE. From research at this and other sites in Belize, archaeologists knew that the Maya ventured deep into caves to connect with their deities in some way, but the specifics of those ceremonies and rituals – and the reasons for them – remained shrouded in mystery.

17/07/2022

The UK landscape that hid a criminal enterprise

The story of "King" David Hartley, whose forgery empire brought the UK economy to its knees in the 18th Century, will soon spread far beyond West Yorkshire.

February is as unpredictable as it is breath-taking in Cragg Vale, a village of cobbled streets and immense natural beauty in the sprawling West Yorkshire countryside. A week before I'd planned to trek a five-mile trail known locally as the Coiners route, Cragg Vale was battered by two storms that left flooded rivers and uprooted trees in its wake.

When I finally made it, however, the skies were clear blue and the hills glistened in burnt yellows and rich greens. This is an imposing landscape largely untouched by time, where a handful of wind turbines dotted along the horizon are the only obvious markers of modern life.

I'd come to Cragg Vale to walk in the footsteps of "King" David Hartley, who once forged a criminal empire in this part of Yorkshire, a county affectionately nicknamed "God's own country". I strolled up steep, forest-covered hills and meandered along bridlepaths lined with wildflowers. Hillside cottages were nestled within the valleys, cocooned from the outside world. Birds sang, brooks babbled and sheep grazed in frost-dusted fields.

15/07/2022

The ancient mummies older than Egypt's

The Egyptians may have the most famous mummies, but they're not the oldest. The Chinchorro people of Chile's Atacama Desert were the first to mummify their dead – 7,000 years ago.

In Chile's Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth, mummies have been found that pre-date the Egyptians' by 2,000 years. So while the Egyptians may be the most famous culture to mummify their dead, it turns out they weren't the first to do so.

"The Chinchorro are the very first people that inhabited the north of Chile and the south of Peru," said Bernardo Arriaza, a physical anthropologist with the University of Tarapacá. "They are the pioneers of the Atacama Desert." And, he added, they are also the first known culture in the world to mummify their dead, starting around 5,000 BCE.

The remains of hundreds of these marine hunter-gatherers – who lived on the Pacific Coast of the Atacama from approximately 5450 BCE to 890 BCE – have been found in the Arica and Parinacota regions. In 2021, these cemeteries were inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List for the immense archaeological value they provide. Not only do they reveal the detailed mortuary and funerary practices of the ancient culture, but they offer insight into the community's social and spiritual structures. For instance, mummification was not reserved for the upper class of society (like it was for the Egyptians) but was a ritual for all.

11/07/2022

The empire the Aztecs couldn't conquer

The P'urhépechas were the only indigenous group in Mexico the Aztecs failed to conquer – but despite that feat, they were nearly lost to history.
"This is the legacy of our people," my uncle said as we gazed at the pyramids. We were not in Egypt, but rather in the town of Tzintzuntzan, in Mexico's south-western state of Michoacán. The pyramids, or yácatas, looming in front of us were uniquely round and made of volcanic stone – perhaps the most intact relics of the P'urhépechas, a pre-Hispanic indigenous group that once reigned here, but that most people have never heard of. In fact, I'd never heard of them either until a few months ago, when I found out that I was a direct descendant.

Born and raised in California, I grew up unaware of this part of my heritage as it was lost in my family after my grandfather passed away in 1978. My grandmother was left with five kids and no income, but after saving up, she brought my dad and his siblings to the United States in 1983. Under pressure to assimilate, my father disconnected from our P'urhépecha culture, and it was only recently, when I began to be curious about my identity, that I started questioning him about our past. So in 2021, at the age of 31, he brought me to Michoacán for the first time. That's when I met my uncle Israel, and he revealed that not only were we P'urhépecha, but that my great-grandmother, Juana, was still alive and living in the small pueblo of Urén nearby.

Querelles d’amants, ronouvellement d’amour

23/07/2022

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