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kwildgen wrote: > Be still, my heart! I can't wait. A lighthearted comment from kwildgen, but at least a semi-serious response: There is populism and there is kitsch. Some 15 years back I was lucky enough to visit the monastery of Baramus in Wadi Natrun (a fourth-century foundation, reputedly by Helena, who, yes, certainly got herself about). Brother Antony - a retired Cairo dentist who still does sterling work upon the teeth of the local populace and is at least as educated as I am (!) - showed me about. After the main buildings, ostrich-eggs and iconostasis* included, we came into a chapel which had a rather good icon of the Baptist in it from the 18th century. He stood with his back to it, a sly smile on his face, his hands behind his back, and asked us what we thought. As he asked, there was a click behind his back, and multi-coloured fairy lights lit up around the frame. He smiled further, and the lights began to flash. We told him what we thought, but we were nice about it. 'I did this' he said, and smiled further. We were sure to make a donation to the foundation as we left. My response to the list is: whose kitsch is this/whose religion is this? And where do we fit Ivory Madonnas? At the beginning of the 21st century, I for one do not feel too sophisticated: it's much more comfortable to look a few centuries back. Angus Graham, Muscat * A nice 8th-century cedar-wood piece, massive in conception. Along the bottom of which I was appalled to see an electric cable loosely tacked, leading to a hole hacked in for a socket. 'Why was this done?' I gasped. 'Oh. For the vacuum cleaner,' brother Antony answered. Sure, churches need to get cleaned. Features also need modern representation -- don't they? %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%