A thread of astonishing details (and anatomical accuracies) in sculpture 🧵

1. The imprint of Pluto's hand on the thigh of Proserpina... Baroque sculptor Bernini achieved a true illusion of human flesh. But The Abduction of Proserpina (1622) also contorted stone into other amazing details — like the curls of Pluto's beard...

What do biblical angels actually look like?

Well, there are 9 different types — the lowest-ranked angels are the most human-looking.

After that, things get weird… (thread) 🧵 Over the centuries, theologians have tried to make sense of the various angels mentioned in the Bible, and establish what they look like.

We often think of winged beings acting as messengers on Earth — but that's just the beginning.

Why is everywhere in America starting to lose its identity?

It's mostly because of one thing — scale... (thread) 🧵 Dropped in any American city 100 years ago, you could probably tell immediately where you were.

Chicago's greystones, built from locally-quarried stone, or San Fran's Victorian rows would give it away — places had unmistakable character.

What are the best-preserved wonders of Ancient Egypt besides the pyramids?

First, there's this 2,000-year-old temple — celestial carvings cover every inch of its ceiling.

And that's still the original paint... (thread) 🧵 The Temple of Hathor near Luxor is one of the most immaculate temples we have, built by Cleopatra's father (Ptolemy XII) around 54 BC.

Very little daylight reaches the paintwork inside, so its blue glow never faded...

Many of Europe's greatest architectural wonders were lost to history — or willingly demolished.

Here are some you haven't heard of... 🧵

1. Neue Elbbrücke Bridge: torn down to add an additional lane Hamburg's greatest bridge was destroyed not by aerial bombs, but by urban planning zealots.

The original, completed in 1887, had two beautiful neo-Gothic gateways — destroyed in 1959 to widen the bridge.

500 years ago, a city of skyscrapers was built in the desert — and it's still standing today.

Known as the "Manhattan of the Desert", it's even more densely populated than New York.

And it's a model for urban planning... (thread) 🧵 There is no older vertical metropolis in the world than Shibam, Yemen. Its "skyscrapers" were built in the 16th century and endure to this day...

What did Jesus of Nazareth look like?

The 6th century Christ Pantocrator is the most recognized image of Jesus — but what about before then?

Well, that's where things get weird... (thread) 🧵 There are no physical descriptions of Christ in the Gospels. The first Christians were wary of idolatry and wanted to focus on his words and teachings.

But what do the earliest artistic depictions show us?

Why do American cities feel less "alive" than their European counterparts?

It's because of something called the "missing middle".

A century ago, American cities looked completely different... (thread) 🧵 Millions make pilgrimages to Europe's centers every year. Architectural beauty is one thing, but they simply feel more vibrant and "alive" than American cities.

But why is that?

You might recognize this as a movie set — it's actually a real place near Paris.

In the 1970s, one man had enough of modern architecture and did something radical.

He went back to Ancient Greece for inspiration... (thread) 🧵 It's called Les Espaces d'Abraxas, and it's unlike anything you've seen before.

It's a housing project built in the 1980s as a backlash against the dreary modernist blocks of the day...

Before you can enter Heaven, you must climb Mount Purgatory.

It has 7 levels, and you must conquer different sins at each one.

This 700-year-old poem guides you up — and it's the greatest self-help manual ever written... (thread) 🧵 In 1321, Alighieri Dante imagined a journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. It's one of the most imaginative stories ever told.

He first travels right to the bottom of Hell and describes each of its 9 levels along the way...

In 1685, someone painted this "3D" fresco in Rome — a masterpiece of Baroque art.

But what was the point of decorating buildings so lavishly?

It wasn't just to show off. It was believed that people could be transported by images... (thread) 🧵 In the 15th century, the printing press put translated copies of the Bible into people's hands across Europe.

Those who had previously relied on the Catholic Church to interpret it for them now argued the Church had taken too much liberty with the original text.

A thread of religious architectural wonders that most people haven't heard of... 🧵

1. Church of the Transfiguration: an entirely wooden, 22-dome church built without a single nail... Part of the Kizhi Pogost, Russia — the world's tallest wooden structure. Built to gather Christians in the remote Karelia region.

The current, restored church used metal nails, but the 18th century original didn't. Instead, it used horizontal logs that interlock in the corners.

Hell has 9 descending circles — each corresponding to how severe your sins are.

The deeper you go, the worse things get.

This 700-year-old poem guides you through it... (thread) 🧵 In 1314, a poet imagined Hell like nobody before: a series of circles deep below ground, where things get worse the deeper you go.

Dante's Inferno (part of the Divine Comedy) takes him on a journey to the bottom with his guide, Virgil.

What does Hell look like?

It's often imagined as a fiery chasm — but 500 years ago, someone painted it entirely differently.

And it's far more terrifying… (thread) 🧵 Hell in Christianity is a place where the soul and body are destroyed in an "unquenchable fire" — or "outer darkness" into which the damned are cast.

But descriptions are sparse in the Bible, leaving room for interpretation of how it may look...

The Lord of the Rings isn't just an epic fantasy — it's a deeply Christian story.

It's packed with subtle religious themes you may not have noticed.

Instead of one Christ figure, there are three... (thread) 🧵 It's no secret Tolkien was a devout Catholic and that his stories reflected it. He said himself:

"The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision."

The greatest wonder of Paris isn't the Notre-Dame or the Eiffel Tower — it's this small chapel.

But it isn't just radiantly beautiful. It was built to protect something of incalculable value... (thread) 🧵 Sainte-Chapelle's 1,113 glass panels are mesmerizing, but why it was built is much more interesting.

That gold reliquary in the middle was made 800 years ago to hold France's most prized possession...

What was lost when the Library of Alexandria burned?

Well — our entire knowledge of the Greco-Roman world comes from about 500 volumes. 700,000 scrolls were potentially lost at Alexandria alone.

Here's what was in there... (thread) 🧵 Alexandria was once antiquity's greatest city — a trade port connecting Africa, Europe and Asia.

When Ptolemy I took control of Egypt in 305 BC after the death of Alexander the Great, he built Alexandria into his thriving capital...

Does art reflect the health of a civilization?

Well, you can tell a lot about the Ancient Greeks from their art.

How they depicted their heroes was quite different to today... (thread) 🧵 In Classical Greece, artists thought the human body reflected divine beauty.

Their art was lifelike but idealistic — they sculpted their gods and heroes with "ideal" human proportions.

800 years ago, Italy had a city of skyscrapers — it's known as the "Manhattan of the Middle Ages".

So what happened to them all? 🧵 The city of Bologna may have had close to 200 of these towers in the Middle Ages. They were mostly around 80 feet tall, some over 300 feet.

Why did Socrates dislike democracy?

He likened the state to a ship — the uneducated voting in elections is like a ship taken over by a crew with no knowledge of sailing.

Democracies, he thought, are doomed to fail... (thread) 🧵 Socrates warns what happens if you put just anybody in charge of selecting a ship's captain:

"The sailors are quarrelling with one another about the steering — everyone is of opinion that he has a right to steer, though he has never learned the art of navigation."

You've seen this image before. It's Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" — but who actually was he?

Well, the Renaissance masters were all imitating a man who lived over 1,000 years earlier.

When his work was discovered in an old library, it changed everything... (thread) 🧵 Da Vinci was fascinated by how geometries of nature could be applied to art and engineering. He studied the ancient structures around him — to understand how they were built, and the ratios encoded within them...