Viewpoints – Placecloud (English)

London, United Kingdom. As the fountainhead of maritime insurance Lloyd's is the most famous coffeehouse. Its story is emblematic of the rise and fall of London’s coffeehouses: part of their meteoric rise was the appeal of auctions; their fall came when these public spaces turned private. Exploring Lloyd’s also reveals the coffeehouse's deep links to the slave trade, from auctions and escaped enslaved Africans to the insuring of slave ships and their human cargo.

St Petersburg, Russia. In 1911, when Vaslav Nijinsky returned from Paris to dance at the Mariinsky, his revealing costume raised eyebrows in the Tsar's box...

St Petersburg, Russia. Pause on the Anichkov bridge to take in the distinctive architecture of Petersburg, and consider how the city itself could thematise looking.

Paris 01 Ancien – Quartier Place-Vendôme, France. How did the square behind the Paris Opera Garnier come to be named for a Russian aristocrat?

London, United Kingdom. Jonathan's Coffee House was at the heart of what has been dubbed ‘the financial revolution’ in late seventeenth-century London. It was home to the stock-jobbers, the scene of the 1720 South Sea Bubble, and the beginning of London's Stock Exchange.

Paris 01 Ancien – Quartier Place-Vendôme, France. Paris is well-known as a centre of fashion and luxury. The elegant stores on the Rue de la Paix offer a glimpse into the sensations of the early twentieth century, and the class distinctions which structured women's spaces.

Potters Bar, United Kingdom. Visit the old palace at Hatfield, childhood home to the future Elizabeth I. It was the place where she learned of her accession to the throne, in 1558, while sitting reading under an oak tree in the palace's park.

Headley, United Kingdom. Journey to the site of Henry VIII's most spectacular building project, a palace that was intended to rival to great Chateau de Chambord in France.

London, United Kingdom. Explore the remains of Henry VIII's childhood home, a palace that also served as a Byzantine Emperor's holiday home and housed a medieval king's personal library. You can even take a walk through Henry VIII's sewer system.

London, United Kingdom. Bethlem Royal Hospital, or Bedlam, is probably the most infamous 'madhouse' in England. Many people think of it as a place where the mentally ill were locked up against their will. But for many patients, this was far from the case. Learn about those who wanted to be in this institution.