#grotto
Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, Nourhan Manougian, leads the Vespers, evening prayers, in the Grotto, in the Church of Nativity, as the Armenian community of Jerusalem celebrates Christmas in Bethlehem, West Bank, on January 18, 2016. Photo by Hadas Parush/Flash90
Post link
“Serpent’s carven”
Québec City, 2021.
1911 Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica
Oooh never seen such a sensitive printing of the one of Clissold and the penguin before!
Post link
Father Antoine 3 Part 11. Simone talks about the grotto.
As Simone descended with the valet for dinner, she saw the two girls Robert had brought into the Dungeon that afternoon coming down the stairs. They were dressed now in their Roissy costumes, and Simone thought they were very lovely. Of course their clothing was designed to accentuate and expose their charms. Their corseted torsos held them upright, and exposed and offered their breasts. And Simone knew that the skirts of the dress opened front and rear to allow access to any parts of them that were desired.
Simone and Robert were dining with Father Antoine and a party from the Society of Roissy, a youngish man in his late twenties named Rene, a nasty looking man she already knew as Nathan, Emil the retired detective from Stuttgart who was in France consulting with the authorities and a few others. They all knew of the little grotto temple that Simone had admired, but admitted that they gave it little thought aside from it’s utility. Simone had not thought of the grotto’s utility, only its ancient look and incongruous setting in the cellars of Roissy, but of course, she thought, something in the cellars would have utility for these men.
Nathan described in detail the different ways that women could be attached to the pillars of the grotto and to the recessed rings in the platform and rings in the curved dome of the ceiling. He enjoyed the look of discomfort on her face as he described the things he had done to women in that grotto.
“In fact,” he said, “I believe Anne-Marie has constructed a replica in her estate and there may be others scattered around as well. It is a good design.”
Simone leaned forward, unintentionally exposing the tops of her cleavage, “There are drawings then, plans with details and elevations?”
“I suppose so,” he replied indifferently, “you could ask Rebecca. She might know. She has other uses than just bent over a table you know.” He guffawed at his own pleasantry and the other members of the society joined in. Robert laughed too, but less loudly.
The talk moved to other matters, but Simone was still considering the grotto and why the ancients, for she was convinced it was a ancient structure, had built this little area so admirably suited to the attachment and chastisement of women. She told herself that it was its ancient provenance that interested her. She did not let herself believe she was interested in its evident purpose.
After dinner, Anne-Marie came over from a different table where she had been dining with some guests. She invited Simone to take coffee with her in a small sitting room. Once there she turned the topic to corsets and freedom.
Two views of a grotto, both views with a fountain with a seated statue, seen from the left and right sides, from ‘Views of the villa at Pratolino’
ca. 1653 Stefano della Bella Italian
Post link
The so-called Grotto of Egeria
Veduta della fonte e delle spelonche d'Egeria fuor della Porta Capena
1766, Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Post link
Who dwells in the grotto beneath the waterfall?
