Romanian actress and model Madalina Diana Ghenea poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film “Killers of the Flower Moon” at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 20, 2023. (Photo by Daniel Cole/AP Photo)

To an outsider, their passion is at times illegal and often on the verge of life and death. But climbing rooftops of high-rise buildings and exploring abandoned facilities is in the blood of these young Muscovites. The small group calls itself “Rudex”, which stands for “roof and decay exploration”, and is akin a Western youth craze known as urbex or “urban exploration” of man-made structures. Here: Urban explorer Vad Him of Rudex team jumps whilst on a rooftop in Moscow, Russia, August 14, 2017. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

In this April 13, 2018 photo, motorcycle taxi driver Ricardo Medina, 60, transports vegetable vender Rigoberto Herrera Mendez, left, and coconut vendor Osvaldo Ochoa in Campo Florido, east of Havana, Cuba. The three men expressed hope that new government leadership will improve things, saying the country cannot move backwards. “We survive life with our work”, said Medina. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

A man dressed up as the devil jumps over babies lying on a mattress in the street during “El Colacho”, the “baby jumping festival” in the village of Castrillo de Murcia, near Burgos on June 18, 2017. Baby jumping (El Colacho) is a traditional Spanish practice dating back to 1620 that takes place annually to celebrate the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi. During the act – known as El Salto del Colacho (the devil's jump) or simply El Colacho – men dressed as the Devil jump over babies born in the last twelve months of the year who lie on mattresses in the street. (Photo by Cesar Manso/AFP Photo)

Attendees dressed as Puerto Rican-inspired Buggy the Clown, right, and Hatsune Miku pose during New York Comic Con at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Saturday, October 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP Photo)

Cosplayers attend Comic-Con International in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Reuters)

Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

Lew Hendrix collects palm branches blown down by the outer bands of Hurricane Ian in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, FL, early Wednesday morning, September 28, 2022. (Photo by Ted Richardson/The Washington Post)