Move along, there's nothing to see here

Nosepeg Tjupurrula (c. 1915–1990) was one of the founding artists of the Papunya painting movement, but he was first and foremost a senior Pintupi ceremonial leader. Raised entirely within the traditional nomadic life of the Western Desert, he became one of Central Australia's most respected authorities on Aboriginal Law, played a key role in the Homelands movement, worked as an interpreter during early government contact with remote Pintupi families, and helped establish the Papunya art movement in 1971. Because painting was never his primary role, authentic works by Nosepeg are exceptionally rare and among the most historically significant of the early Papunya Boards.

This illustrated biography explores Nosepeg Tjupurrula's remarkable life, his role in the birth of contemporary Aboriginal art, his distinctive painting style, and why his surviving paintings are so highly sought after by collectors of Western Desert Art.

Head of Medusa by Davide Calandra and Edoardo Rubino (c. 1926)

Tête de Méduse par Davide Calandra et Edoardo Rubino (vers 1926)

Yerebatan Sarnıcı, Istambul, Tukey,

The famous "temple" of 300 columns is actually the Basilica Cistern, a great 6th-century underground water palace made of recycled columns from old buildings. It has 336 columns, 9 meters high, arranged in 12 rows.

A medieval metalworking stamp found in Denmark may reveal where the Sutton Hoo helmet was made and reshape views of power in seventh-century Europe.

Discover ten medieval works once believed lost, from forgotten chronicles and heroic poems to manuscripts found in caves, libraries and book bindings.

Ph. Eduardo Soteras

Ph. Bete Giyorgis

Ph. Sean Gallup

The small town of Lalibela in Ethiopia is home to one of the most extraordinary sacred sites in the world. Its eleven churches were carved directly out of solid volcanic rock. This dusty, rural town only gained access to electricity relatively recently, and it still has no paved roads. Originally called Roha, the town was later named after King Lalibela of the Zagwe dynasty, who ruled the Ethiopian Empire from 1181 to 1221. During his reign, this remarkable complex of eleven churches was created. What you see in these photographs is not a group of buildings made from stone blocks. Each church was carved from a single mass of rock, with no joints, bricks, or mortar. The builders first cut a deep trench around the future church, separating it from the surrounding bedrock. They then worked from the top down, carving the exterior before gradually hollowing out the interior. Once the doors and windows had been opened, workers entered the rock itself and carved out rooms, columns, passages, and sanctuaries from within. That is why these churches are described as monolithic: each one was shaped from a single piece of stone rather than assembled from separate materials.

This method required extraordinary technical knowledge, precision, patience and skill. Even more remarkable was the vision and courage behind the idea itself. The overall concept, the architectural design, and the artistic details and ornamentation are achievements in their own right.

As archaeologists have described it:

Charlie Tawara Tjungurrayi was one of the pioneering artists of the Western Desert Aboriginal art

He was a prolific and talented painter. His works were often structured and intense. The vitality of his brushwork gave his works a characteristic textured surface.

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