Culture

Story'The Lord of the Rings:' Novel of the Century… Typed with Two Fingers

Bélinda Ibrahim 2025-08-16 18:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

The Lord of The Rings Tolkien USA Novel Story

We tend to picture The Lord of the Rings as a towering monument of modern fantasy, which it is, unquestionably. But what we often forget is that this masterpiece is not only the product of an Oxford professor’s fertile imagination and passion for ancient languages. It was forged through relentless, profoundly manual work, carried out in solitude ...

When Art Meets Innovation: Immersive Installations Inspire in Rio

This is Beirut 2025-08-16 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Art Rio Culture Exhibtion

Since its debut in 2021, Rio Innovation Week has grown into one of the world’s largest gatherings on technology and entrepreneurship. In 2024, it draws more than 155,000 people over four days. In 2025, beyond its high-profile panels and investor showcases, the event surprises many with a striking artistic dimension. Inside Pier Mauá, organizers ...

Historic Swedish Church Being Moved as Giant Mine Casts Growing Shadow

This is Beirut 2025-08-15 18:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Church Preservation Mining Sweden History Culture

A historic red wooden church considered one of Sweden's most beautiful buildings is to be moved from its longtime home in the Arctic town of Kiruna next week as part of a campaign to expand Europe's biggest underground mine. Kiruna Kyrka, a Swedish Lutheran church, dates from 1912. The 672 tonne, 40 metre (131 feet) high building will be moved ...

Brother Jean-Louis Mainguy Takes His Final Bow

Marilyne Jallad 2025-08-15 18:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon culture Jean-Louis Mainguy

The Franco-Lebanese interior architect, born in Beirut on October 11, 1953, has never ceased to surprise and inspire those around him, skillfully balancing multiple professional and human roles. A scenographer and the Honorary President of the Union of French Abroad (UFE), an association he devoted himself to as president from 2004 to 2015 to ...

SpotlightPompeii: The City That Survived Its Own End

Bélinda Ibrahim 2025-08-15 18:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Pompeii Italy Vesuvius Archeology

It is hard to imagine Pompeii as anything other than silent stones locked under volcanic dust, a tragic instant frozen in time. Yet recent discoveries overturn that museum-like image: the city did not vanish in a single breath; it lived on in a clandestine and fragile existence beneath its own ashes. Behind cracked walls and half-faded mosaics, ...

Painting the Heat Away: Vienna Museum Uses Art to Cool Urban Spaces

This is Beirut 2025-08-15 14:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Art Climate Vienna Museum Austria Culture

Equipped with an infrared thermometer, Austrian artist Jonas Griessler measures the sweltering heat in an inner courtyard in the center of Vienna. Thanks to his collective's art work covering the black asphalt with a multitude of bright colors, the ground temperature has dropped from 31C to 20C. Initiated by the museum showing the private ...

YouTube Turns to AI to Guess Users' Age and Protect Minors

This is Beirut 2025-08-15 10:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Internet Technology Children AI USA Culture

YouTube has started testing an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to identify the age of its users in the United States, in an effort to better protect minors from content and online habits considered inappropriate for them. "This technology will allow us to infer a user’s age and use that signal independently of the date of birth listed on the ...

SpotlightWhen Fashion Moves: Style, Sport, and Freedom in Motion at the Palais Galliera

Marie-Christine Tayah 2025-08-15 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Fashion Palais Galliera Paris Culture Art Exhibition

From the 18th century to today’s sneakers, the Palais Galliera throws open its doors to a choreography of fabrics and bodies in motion. The exhibition La Mode en mouvement #3 sweeps visitors into an unlikely ballet where garments follow the gesture, the freedom, and the breath of sport—this edition with a distinctive focus on winter ...

From Kyoto to the UN: Tea Ambassador Sen Genshitsu Dies at the Age of 102

This is Beirut 2025-08-14 18:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Obituary Sen Genshitsu Tea Gastronomy Tradition Culture

Sen Genshitsu, who was originally destined to serve as a kamikaze pilot but eventually became a grand master of the Japanese tea ceremony, preparing bowls of matcha for royalty and world leaders died on Thursday at the age of 102, Japanese media reported. With the motto "Peace through a bowl of tea," the grand master of the ancient Urasenke ...

Renowned Egyptian Novelist Sonallah Ibrahim Dies at the Age of 88

This is Beirut 2025-08-14 18:07 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Writer Obituary Sonallah Ibrahim Egypt Culture

Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim, famed for his critiques of political repression, neoliberalism and Western hegemony, has died at the age of 88, the culture ministry announced on Wednesday. Ibrahim "passed away today, leaving behind an immortal literary and humanitarian legacy," Culture Minister Ahmed Fouad Hanno said in a tribute, calling the ...

Expo 2025 Visitors Endure Sweltering Night After Osaka Train Shutdown

This is Beirut 2025-08-14 13:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Expo 2025 Osaka Art Visitors Japan Culture

A sudden suspension of the sole train to Japan's Expo 2025 stranded more than 30,000 visitors, with some forced to spend a sweltering night near the station and more than 30 people sent to hospitals by Thursday morning. A power outage abruptly shut the metro line in Osaka on Wednesday night while a crowd was packed into the Expo site's ...

Spotlight'I Love Peru': Raphaël Quenard’s Biting yet Poetic Mockumentary

Marie-Christine Tayah 2025-08-14 12:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Raphaël Quenard Film Cinema Cannes Culture Art

Balancing fiction and reality, I Love Peru, the feature debut co-directed by Raphaël Quenard and Hugo David, dives with humor and excess into the rise of an improbable leading man. From improvised shoots in hotel rooms to surreal sequences in Peru, the film reveals a character both grotesque and fragile. Premiering at the most recent Cannes Film ...