Cultural

David Nicholls explains what is not included in a modern French film looking at love, betrayal and anti-colonialism in 1930s South East Asia.

Graham Shipley meets the dead in a Greek cemetery - an oasis of classicism in modern Athens.

Gerd Horten on how 'soaps' helped win the war after Pearl Harbor.

An insight into how Belgium has used lottery funds to bring medieval status back to life.

Diana Webb looks into the pleasures and pitfalls of an early tourist experience.

A look at a new exhibition in Venice, which shows the flow of culture between East and West in early Greece.

Maxim Gorky was revered over the lifetime of the Soviet Union as the leading artist and intellectual associated with the 1917 Revolution. But did he really approve of Lenin and the Bolshevik experiment? 

David Ellwood discusses America's cultural take-over of Europe in a seemingly innocent Italian 1950s comedy called "Un Americano a Roma". The comedy features a hapless hero whose attempts to Americanise himself mirror Italy's struggle to handle a clash of cultures after World War II.

Anne Laurence takes a look at a history course which compares the cultures of 17th century Britain and France.

As Luang Prabang, Laos' former royal capital of South East Asia becomes the latest addition to UNESCO world heritage sites, Cherry Barnett explores its significance.