The Cross Temple is a former place of worship in Fangshan, Beijing. Built as a Buddhist temple, it may have seen Christian use during the Tang dynasty (618–907). The temple was used by Buddhists during the Liao dynasty (916–1125) and by Christians during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), returned to Buddhist use during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), and was sold in 1911. Its first modern mention was in 1919. The Cross Temple was damaged during the Cultural Revolution but recognised as a national-level protected site in 2006. Some scholars consider it to be the only place of worship of the Church of the East (also known as Nestorian Christianity) discovered in China. In the early 20th century, two stone blocks carved with crosses were discovered, one of which had an inscription in Syriac; they are presently on display at Nanjing Museum. Today, the site features two ancient steles (one pictured) dating to the Liao and Yuan dynasties, some groundwork and the bases of several pillars. (Full article...)
Tom Taylor (1817–1880) was an English dramatist, public servant and writer. After a brief academic career in English literature and language at University College London in the 1840s, Taylor practised law and became a civil servant. At the same time he became a journalist, most prominently as a contributor to and eventually the editor of the magazine Punch. He also began a theatre career and is now best known as a playwright. With up to one hundred plays staged during his career, both original work and adaptations of French plays, Taylor's output covers a range of genres from farce to melodrama. Most fell into neglect after Taylor's death, but Our American Cousin (1858), which achieved great success in the 19th century, remains famous as the piece that was being performed in the presence of Abraham Lincoln when he was assassinated in 1865. This undated photograph by the studio of Samuel Robert Lock and George C. Whitfield is part of Men of Mark: A Gallery of Contemporary Portraits, a collection published in 1881.
A series of explosions at a depot storing 1,500 tonnes of obsolete munitions forces the evacuation of some 2,000 people in Sofia and the closure of the Bulgarian capital's main airport.
.jpg)
