culturaltutor

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1,128 days ago I quit my job and started writing online. I posted every day for two years, then began working on something with Penguin. Today, finally, I'm announcing my book. The Cultural Tutor: 49 Lessons You Wish You'd Learned At School It's out this September and https://t.co/9mqihit4XP

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Napoleon died 204 years ago today. He rose from obscurity, joined a revolution, became an emperor, tried to conquer Europe, failed, spent his last days in exile — and changed the world forever. This is the life of Napoleon, told in 19 paintings: https://t.co/b3QwvOR7Jz

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It took 8 architects, 21 popes, and 120 years to build and finish St Peter's Basilica in Rome. And, four centuries later, it's still the largest church in the world. So here's a brief introduction to St Peter's... https://t.co/wInmmnG4E2

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The Sistine Chapel is one of the world's greatest buildings, and it has the most famous ceiling in history. But what is it, who built it, and what does Sistine even mean? Well, here's the surprisingly controversial history of the Sistine Chapel... https://t.co/n62v3cfWfJ

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This is Burg Hohenzollern in Germany, one of the world's most beautiful Medieval castles. Except that it isn't a Medieval castle — trains had been invented before it was built. And so Hohenzollern is a perfect introduction to Neo-Gothic Architecture... https://t.co/Lj11TWUQu6

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This painting has no brush strokes — it is made from over 2,000,000 individual dots of colour. And although it looks like nothing more than a sunny afternoon in Paris, it has a much darker hidden meaning... https://t.co/SmdQ5sTL7I

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This is the Queen's Stepwell in Gujarat, India, built nearly 1,000 years ago. It's incredible, but it isn't unique — India is filled with hundreds of stepwells just like it. Here is the story of the world's most extraordinary underground architecture... https://t.co/P75S6AZWmy

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The Eiffel Tower was completed 136 years ago today. It's now a global symbol of France and over 7 million tourists visit it every year. But people hated the Eiffel Tower at first — they called it humiliating, modern, and too American... https://t.co/ZXZHAqszbZ

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These buildings, from around the world, look like they're either ancient or medieval. But they were all built in the last few decades... https://t.co/SjWs47QIpJ

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But why is it America, then, and not... Ameriga? During the Middle Ages and Renaissance it was common for Europeans to Latinize their names; Latin, the language of Ancient Rome, had become the continental lingua franca. His Latinized name was Americus Vesputius. https://t.co/m6h06l6g3E

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The Brutalist is about an architect who studied at the Bauhaus. Its protagonist is fictional, but the Bauhaus was real. What was it? The most influential design school in history. So, from fonts to furniture, this is how Bauhaus created the aesthetic of the modern world... https://t.co/jldHLKZA8E

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Mont-Saint-Michel in France is one of the most famous places in the world. You've seen thousands of photos of it... but what is Mont-Saint-Michel? Who built it? And when? This is a brief history of the world's strangest village... https://t.co/YYNz25s3JP

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This unusual house in Turin was built 123 years ago. It's the perfect example of a kind of architecture unique to Italy, known as the Liberty Style. How to make ordinary buildings more interesting? The Liberty Style has an answer... https://t.co/0Wan38ocL8

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This painting is nearly 100 years old. It's by Grant Wood (most famous for American Gothic) and it's called The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Why does it look like that? Because Grant Wood had one of the most unusual styles in art history... https://t.co/OTKdznq5ym

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This is Mount Nemrut in Turkey, one of the strangest ancient ruins in the world. It's a colossal, 2,000 year old burial mound on top of a mountain, surrounded by huge stone heads. Who built it? A king who wanted to become a god... https://t.co/nUQ6tE4NSG

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This approach grew more sophisticated as the Renaissance progressed. Consider The Agony in the Garden by Andrea Mantegna, from 1456 — it has a full, albeit heavily stylised, landscape. But notice how (in order to tell the story more clearly) its proportions have been warped. https://t.co/2mRyGsYNSw

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In the year 1712 something incredibly strange happened in Sweden. For the first and only time in history, February had 30 days. Here's the story of what happened — and why... https://t.co/vKcXcldFuq

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That explains its overall form, but what about its details? Well, the most striking thing about the American Radiator Building is surely its colour scheme: a combination of black bricks and golden decorations, which were made using bronze paint. https://t.co/Vc5NWIk7kk

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Why Brutalism isn't as bad as you think... https://t.co/ZBgJpaHmxJ

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8. Human Scale That being said, even more important than its roof is a building's ground floor — because that's the part people see and interact with. Hence many buildings have a colonnade, loggia, or shopfronts at ground level, or least make some architectural distinction. https://t.co/vVo5BEoT56

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