Da Vinci began painting “The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne” in 1503 and when he died in France in 1519 the unfinished work, depicting Christ beside his mother and grandmother with a sacrificial lamb, was acquired by King Francis I.

Restoration carried out in the past century left the “Saint Anne” disfigured by stains, on the Virgin’s dress for instance, due to the ageing of a substance in the varnish and in 2010 the museum decided to restore the work once more.

The “Saint Anne” is to be unveiled to the public in March as the highlight of a major exhibition built around it.

But the project hit a rock last autumn as critics warned that cleaning could damage the masterpiece, and two experts have since resigned in protest from the advisory committee set up to oversee the work.

Both are art world heavyweights: Segolene Bergeon Langle, who left in December, is a French national heritage curator, while Jean-Pierre Cuzin who left in the autumn is former chief curator of the Louvre’s painting department.

A French arts journal first sounded the alarm in October with an article entitled “Leonardo in danger”.

At stake was the type of solvent used to dissolve the yellow-brown coat of varnish covering the painting, deemed too harsh by critics who fear it could remove the actual paint.

Experts especially feared damage to the faces of Saint Anne and the Virgin Mary, and more broadly to the “sfumato” — layers of clear paint used by Da Vinci to produce smoky, softened contours, on this work as on the “Mona Lisa”.

Contacted by AFP last week, the curator Bergeon Langle said she left the advisory committee for several reasons.

“I deemed that the restoration was not being carried out in line with what I imagined was necessary for this Louvre painting. That is my firm belief.”

One critical point was the question of whether to remove a white patch on the body of the baby Jesus.

The museum’s chosen restorer Cinzia Pasquali, who worked on the paintings of the Chateau de Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, was convinced it was a patch of varnish, turned white by microscopic cracks, and wanted to remove it.

Bergeon Langle believed it may have been added by Da Vinci’s own hand — and was wary of any intervention.

Finally Vincent Pomarede, the head of the Louvre’s painting department, went ahead and green-lighted its removal after having it analysed.

“On that issue, we were in disagreement,” he told AFP this week. “But I have the laboratory results and they are conclusive. I was certain it was a cracked varnish, and you can see plainly from the final result that it is.”

“I have no regrets,” said Pomarede, who has insisted the Louvre is not putting the work at risk.

Last autumn the Louvre invited journalists to view the painting in the workshops of the French Museums’ Centre for Research and Restoration, the C2RMF, next to the Louvre, to defuse tensions.

In 1994, the Louvre had to abandon an earlier plan to restore the “Saint Anne”, over fears for its delicate “sfumato”.

At the time, explained Pomarede, the Louvre did not have the technical know-how to protect the work. Now, however, he said it was possible to measure the thickness of the varnish down to the last micron.

On the subjects’ fragile faces, for example, the restorer left an extra thickness of varnish: 16 to 17 microns, against 8 to 12 microns elsewhere — and down from 30 to 35 microns previously.

Early this month the scientific committee met and handed down a “positive verdict on the thinning of the varnish and the removal in places of additional layers of paint,” said Pomarede.

“Two or three experts even wanted to go further” including removing secondary tree trunks that are thought to have been added in the 19th century,” said Pomarede — who ruled to keep the trunks as they are.

Since then the Louvre says tensions have simmered down with the dissenting experts.

Pasquali is putting the finishing touches to the work but this phase of the work is all reversible unlike removing varnish, and “should be a more serene period,” Pomarede said.

But Bergeon Langle, who was received by the head of the Louvre Henri Loyrette early this month and has another meeting planned with Pomarede, told AFP she still had “doubts” over the progress of the work.

“As a general rule, I prefer old works to be cleaned only very lightly. You can never retrieve the original colours, what you get instead is the current state of the painting materials. Leaving a slight veil over the work makes it more harmonious,” she explained.

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The son and grandson of ministers, Schweitzer studied theology and philosophy at the universities of Strasbourg, Paris and Berlin. After working as a pastor, he entered medical school in 1905 with the dream of becoming a missionary in Africa. Schweitzer was also an acclaimed concert organist who played professional engagements to earn money for his education. By the time he received his M.D. in 1913, the overachieving Schweitzer had published several books, including the influential The Quest for the Historical Jesus and a book on the composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

Medical degree in hand, Schweitzer and his wife, Helene Bresslau, moved to French Equatorial Africa where he founded a hospital at Lambarene (modern-day Gabon). When World War I broke out, the German-born Schweitzers were sent to a French internment camp as prisoners of war. Released in 1918, they returned to Lambarene in 1924. Over the next three decades, Schweitzer made frequent visits to Europe to lecture on culture and ethics. His philosophy revolved around the concept of what he called “reverence for life”–the idea that all life must be respected and loved, and that humans should enter into a personal, spiritual relationship with the universe and all its creations. This reverence for life, according to Schweitzer, would naturally lead humans to live a life of service to others.

Schweitzer won widespread praise for putting his uplifting theory into practice at his hospital in Africa, where he treated many patients with leprosy and the dreaded African sleeping sickness. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1952, Schweitzer used his $33,000 award to start a leprosarium at Lambarene. From the early 1950s until his death in 1965, Schweitzer spoke and wrote tirelessly about his opposition to nuclear tests and nuclear weapons, adding his voice to those of fellow Nobelists Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell.

LEAD STORY
Albert Schweitzer born, 1875
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Continental Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris, 1784
AUTOMOTIVE
Dodge co-founder dies, 1920
CIVIL WAR
House Committee proposes amendment to protect slavery, 1860
COLD WAR
United Nations vote “deplores” Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, 1980
CRIME
Benedict Arnold, American traitor, born, 1741
DISASTER
Explosion rocks USS Enterprise, 1969
GENERAL INTEREST
The first colonial constitution, 1639
George Wallace inaugurated as Alabama governor, 1963
Gold prices soar, 1980
HOLLYWOOD
Marilyn Monroe marries Joe DiMaggio, 1954
LITERARY
Joseph Conrad returns to London, 1894
MUSIC
Diana Ross and the Supremes perform their final concert, 1970
OLD WEST
General Miles reports on Sioux, 1891
PRESIDENTIAL
Adams, Jefferson and Madison help to ratify the Treaty of Paris, 1784
Roosevelt ushers in Japanese-American internment, 1942
FDR becomes first president to travel by airplane on U.S. official business, 1943
SPORTS
Undefeated Dolphins beat Redskins in Super Bowl VII, 1973
VIETNAM WAR
Westmoreland appointed as Harkins’ deputy, 1964
Operation Niagara launched, 1968
WORLD WAR I
South African troops occupy Swakopmund in German Southwest Africa, 1915
WORLD WAR II
Anglo-American Combined Chiefs of Staff established, 1942
Roosevelt and Churchill begin Casablanca Conference, 1943

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Stockholm resident Susann Bollö, 45, was taking a winter walk with her boyfriend Roger Bengtsson in a field outside of Morup in Halland when she chanced upon the folded, handwritten pages on the field’s edge.

“I cried out to Roger that the letter was from ’62,” she told local paper Hallands Nyheter.

But then on closer inspection, Bollö was surprised to find the letter was actually dated July 24, 1862.

“The fields were frosty so the pages were completely dry. It must have come in with the storm, ‘Emil’, the day before,” she told the paper.

“The letter was only a few metres from a water-filled ditch. It would have only taken a breath of wind to take it off into the water where it would have been destroyed.”

The letter, though a little smudged over time, is still quite legible despite the age and the old fashioned penmanship. It appears to have been sent from the Belgian coastal town of Ostend.

Bollö said the letter’s contents were a little difficult to read at first with the old styled Swedish characters, but that the abundance of the words ‘my beloved’ and ‘loving’ revealed the letter’s purpose.

It is also clear that the romantic writer was called Lina, and the object of her affection was named Otto.

It appears the romantic writer was well travelled too, as one passage reads “but my dear, one cannot compare Paris will London.”

The letter is signed off with “a heartfelt embrace… I love you” followed by a signature that is mostly still readable.

“Of course, it makes you wonder who Lina and Otto were,” Bollö told the paper.

“It would be really fun to find out.”

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Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 13, 1982, an Air Florida 737 crashed into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge and fell into the Potomac River after taking off during a snowstorm, killing a total of 78 people; four passengers and a flight attendant survived. (Half an hour after the Air Florida crash, a Washington Metro train derailed during rush hour, killing three passengers.)

On this date:

In 1733, James Oglethorpe and some 120 English colonists arrived at Charleston, S.C., while en route to settle in present-day Georgia.

In 1794, President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the Union. (The number of stripes was later reduced to the original 13.)

In 1864, composer Stephen Foster died impoverished in a New York hospital at age 37. (In his pocket: a note which read, “Dear friends and gentle hearts.”)

In 1898, Emile Zola’s famous defense of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, “J’accuse,” (zhah-KOOZ’) was published in Paris.

In 1945, during World War II, Soviet forces began a huge, successful offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe.

In 1962, comedian Ernie Kovacs died in a car crash in west Los Angeles 10 days before his 43rd birthday.

In 1966, Robert C. Weaver was named Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson; Weaver became the first black Cabinet member.

In 1978, former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey died in Waverly, Minn., at age 66.

In 1987, West German police arrested Mohammed Ali Hamadi, a suspect in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner. (Although convicted and sentenced to life, Hamadi was paroled by Germany in Dec. 2005; he is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.)

In 1990, L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the nation’s first elected black governor as he took the oath of office in Richmond.

In 1992, Japan apologized for forcing tens of thousands of Korean women to serve as sex slaves for its soldiers during World War II, citing newly uncovered documents that showed the Japanese army had had a role in abducting the so-called “comfort women.”

In 2001, an earthquake estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey at magnitude 7.7 struck El Salvador; more than 840 people were killed.

Ten years ago: Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and Commerce Secretary Don Evans said on the Sunday talk shows they had never considered intervening in Enron’s spiral toward bankruptcy, nor did they inform President George W. Bush of requests for help from the fallen energy giant. President Bush fainted briefly after choking down a pretzel while watching a football game on TV in the White House residence. Christian Longo, wanted for killing his wife and three children and dumping their bodies into coastal waters off Oregon, was arrested in Mexico (he was later sentenced to death). The off-Broadway musical “The Fantasticks” finished its original run of nearly 42 years and 17,162 shows.

Five years ago: Nine people were killed in an apartment building fire in Huntington, W.Va. Two miners were killed when a roof collapsed inside the Brooks Run Mining Co.’s Cucumber coal mine in McDowell County, W.Va. The North Carolina state attorney general’s office agreed to take over the sexual assault case against three Duke University lacrosse players at the request of embattled Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong (all three players were later exonerated).

One year ago: Vice President Joe Biden became the first top U.S. official to visit Iraq since the country approved a new Cabinet; Biden emphasized to Iraqi leaders that the U.S. wanted nothing more than for Iraq to be free and democratic. A funeral was held in Tucson, Ariz., for 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, the youngest victim of a mass shooting that also claimed five other lives and critically wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Thought for Today: “Never underestimate your power to change yourself; never overestimate your power to change others.” — H. Jackson Brown Jr., American writer.

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The three million inhabitants of Leningrad (now renamed St Petersburg) suffered extremes of starvation and deprivation. For decades after the war they were not allowed to talk about it, in order not to detract from the heroic victory myth constructed by the Soviet Union.

900 Days also won the Best Dutch Documentary award at the 2011 International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.

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Hoping to cash in on the appeal of the Middle Ages, developers are completely rebuilding medieval-style castles, throwing in an idle cannon or suit of armor for effect.

The investors are driven by a desire to recapture the glory of a time when Poland was a great European power, before centuries of occupation, warfare and foreign rule left much of the country in ruins.

After the devastation of World War II, Poland rebuilt some historical landmarks, most famously Warsaw’s Royal Castle and Old Town square. They were reduced to rubble by Germans in retribution for the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, and their rebuilding became a symbol of the nation’s postwar recovery.

Many of the castles being rebuilt today, however, already fell into ruin long ago, during the notorious Swedish invasions of the 17th century or other wars.

Medieval structures continued their decay during the communist era because of a lack of investment and building materials. They also weren’t helped by Marxist ideology, which rejected any glorification of feudalism, with a class structure built on lords exploiting their serfs.

In most cases, the buildings are private investments and are destined to house museums, hotels or conference centers. Owners hope the fairy-tale atmosphere they are trying to evoke will attract visitors.

“Why should the Germans have their castles on the Rhine, the French their castles on the Loire, why should the Czechs have so many castles open to the visitors and why should the Poles have only ruins?” said Dariusz Lasecki, a businessman and one of two brothers rebuilding a medieval castle in Bobolice, a town near Czestochowa.

In contrast to the communist period, private investors are now finding the funds to rebuild structures that evoke a vaunted age when Poland ruled a large swatch of Europe stretching from the Baltic Sea in the north down to the Black Sea.

The medieval and Renaissance periods were “a golden age for Poland,” said Jacek Nazarko, a real estate developer who has just completed the rebuilding of a 16th century red brick castle that had been in ruins since 1755.

“It was a time when Poland was known in Europe, when Poland mattered.”

His castle, made of thick red brick walls, with a well and a cannon in the courtyard, now dominates a marshy land on the edge of Tykocin, an eastern Polish town. It will start operating in the coming weeks as a hotel, restaurant and reception center for weddings and other events.

The recently rebuilt castle in Bobolice juts up from a rocky hill, its thick limestone walls and turrets so fairy-talish in appearance it’s hard not to believe a legend saying it is still haunted by the ghost of a girl killed in its dungeon.

Those involved in its rebuilding say they are doing something to preserve Poland’s history. It was built in the 14th century by King Casimir III the Great, a ruler remembered as tolerant and wise. Poles often recite a rhyme recalling that Casimir “found Poland built of wood and left her built of stone.”

That castle will be completed this year and then house a museum.

In some cases, urgent efforts are being made to preserve ruins before it is too late.

A private investor is planning to build a cultural center within the walls of the ruins of an old castle with medieval and Renaissance elements in Chrzelice, near the Czech border. Only the outer walls remain, and they will be reinforced and a modern structure placed within them, keeping it clear what is old and what is new.

“There is a drive to save what can be saved,” said Wojciech Poplawski, an architect working on the project with the firm OP Architekten, which is still awaiting European Union financing to proceed. “But we are not reconstructing the castle. We want to preserve what is authentic.”

In the western city of Poznan, there is also a debate going on about whether to recreate a former royal fortress, but it’s not clear yet if the foundations are strong enough for it to be rebuilt.

Just the desire to rebuild castles underlines the appeal of these storied structures.

“A castle is a symbol of security — a symbol of a permanent place on the earth where you can take refuge,” Nazarko said. And with the legends surrounding them, “they inspire emotion.”

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Austria’s department in charge of national antiquities said the trove consists of more than 200 rings, brooches, ornate belt buckles, gold-plated silver plates and other pieces or fragments, many encrusted with pearls, fossilized coral and other ornaments. It says the objects are about 650 years old and are being evaluated for their provenance and worth.

While not assigning a monetary value to the buried bling, the enthusiastic language from the normally staid Federal Office for Memorials reflected the significance it attached to the discovery.

“Fairy tales still exist!” said its statement. “Private individual finds sensational treasure in garden.”

It described the ornaments as “one of the qualitatively most significant discoveries of medieval treasure in Austria.”

The statement gave no details and an automated telephone message said the office had closed early on Good Friday. But the Austria Press Agency cited memorials office employee Karin Derler as saying the man came across the “breathtaking” objects years ago while digging in his back yard to expand a small pond.

The weekly Profil magazine identified the man only as Andreas K. from Wiener Neustadt, south of Vienna, and said he asked not to be named.

While he found the ornaments in 2007, Andreas K. did not report it to the memorials office until after rediscovering the dirt-encrusted objects in a basement box while packing up after selling his house two years ago, said Profil. The soil had dried and some had fallen off, revealing precious metal and jewels underneath.

He initially posted photos on the Internet, where collectors alerted him to the potential value of the pieces, leading him to pack them in a plastic bag and lug them to the memorials office, the magazine said in its Friday edition.

Neither Profil nor the memorials office statement said when Andreas K. first alerted Austrian authorities and it was unclear why they waited until Friday to announce the discovery.

Memorials office president Barbara Neubauer told Profil the objects were a “sensational find.”

The magazine said the finder was not interested in cashing in on the trove and was considering loaning the collection to one of Austria’s museums.

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The only hope is that a fire-proof safe behind the altar may have protected a baptismal bowl and the communion silver, both from the year 1760.

Pastor Per Johan Wiig, who has served the congregation during the past 12 years, says it is a sad day, as he thinks of all those who have walked in and out of this church over the past 250 years.

Porsgrunn Mayor Øystein Beyer agrees: 250 years of history are redcued to ruins. This is just too tragic.

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The disrupted digs are in Saqqara, not far from Cairo, where the Dutch museum has been overseeing an archaeological project since 1975. The site, where people were buried for a period of over 4000 years, is also home to Egypt’s famous step pyramids and monuments to entombed pharaohs from the 14th and 13th centuries BC, the time of Tutankhamen and Ramses the Second.

Armed gangs
Dr Raven explains “There are still corners of the site which have yet to be properly explored. To this day, we are discovering burial monuments belonging to the highest-ranking officials in Egypt.” He says unofficial reports have reached him of looting at the dig, day and night. “There is no security, only total anarchy. Armed gangs are unearthing artefacts illegally all over the country. Pyramids and sealed private graves have been broken open, storerooms and depots have been plundered.”

As Dr Raven suggests, looters have also wreaked havoc outside of Saqqara. Their main targets are museum warehouses, where ancient treasures are stored. Last week, robbers forced their way into the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Most likely in search of gold, they destroyed two mummies and ancient statues.

Identity
“The people of Egypt have been kept in the dark,” says Dr Raven. “They are incapable of estimating the value of these treasures for their national identity, to say nothing of world heritage. Now the only law is the will of the strongest. I’ve always been afraid this would happen. All we can do now is look on and weep.”

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