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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Thursday, July 10, 2025

"A Thing of Beauty Is a Joy Forever" — John Keats

Susan Daniels, Jul 09, 2025,  @ Susan's Newsletter 

Several years ago, I went to St. Petersburg, Russia. My lifelong dream was to visit the Hermitage Museum. I saw some of the most beautiful works of art there, including a 10’ tall automated, gold peacock clock. It was built for Peter the Great in the 1870s by a British craftsman, James Cox, and still works.

The most breathtaking thing I saw in Russia was the Amber Room in Catherine’s Palace. It is a reproduction of an entire room stolen by the Nazis. In today’s prices the room would be valued at $250 million.

And when the Nazis were done:

But, whether at the Hermitage or any of the many palaces in St. Petersburg, which was once called Leningrad, there waits at every doorway a heavyset, dour-looking matron daring you to make a wrong move.

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