Culture

Finnish Orthodox rather than Russian, built from the brick of a Baltic fortress an Anglo-French fleet destroyed in the Crimean War, and now charging admission.

Engel's cathedral above Senate Square: who actually built it, the two name changes, the grey repaint of 2025, and the fact that it now charges admission.

Esplanadi, the lime-tree park from the centre to the harbour: Kappeli, the Espa Stage, the Runeberg statue, the two sides, and the shops.

The National Museum is closed until April 2027. Who designed it, what has been built behind it, and what to see in the meantime.

Three fires and Villanueva's closing of the square, the autos-da-fe, the Casa de la Panaderia and its 1992 murals, the Philip III bronze, and what the square is like now.

The two royal convents and the basilica of San Francisco el Grande: how the Descalzas collection was formed, the Relicario at La Encarnacion, the corrected dates and dome claim, and the Goya in the third chapel.

The Bourbon palace built after the Alcazar burned in 1734: the Italian architects, the Royal Armoury and what it does not contain, the Royal Collections Gallery of 2023, and the Almudena next door.

Found in 1955 during work on a resettlement estate, the tomb has four chambers in a cross and is dated by the museum to the Eastern Han. Its bricks name Panyu county, not a province. Fifty-eight objects were recovered and no human remains. Declared a monument in 1988; the interior is closed and seen through glass.

The Hong Kong Story exhibition that older accounts describe closed on 19 October 2020. Its replacement, also called Hong Kong Story, opened on 1 April 2026 with ten galleries, over 2,800 exhibits and four stated themes. Admission is free and the museum closes on Tuesdays.

No state recognises Tibet as sovereign, and the exile administration in India asks for autonomy within China rather than independence. Two practical points older accounts miss: a permit beyond a Chinese visa is required and must be arranged through an agent in China, with no independent travel; and Lhasa stands at about 3,650 metres, in the band where guidance warns against gaining altitude as fast as a flight there does.