The Lion and the Rose 🇮🇶

At the corner of 18th and P Street in Dupont Circle, the Boardman House commands curiosity; its Beaux-Arts architecture with distinctive orange Roman-brick façades, soaring windows, and Syrian archway draws spontaneous stops from passing tour buses. Visitors pause, undeterred by the snarling lion at the gate, and drawn in by the building itself, adorned with a mosaic marking its 1894 opening and glowing in the autumnal twilight. Some may know it as the former home of Mabel Boardman, the philanthropist whose legacy influenced Washington society and American humanitarian work. But they likely don’t know it was the site of a quiet revolution, and one of most consequential and little-known coups in American philanthropy.

Read The Lion and the Rose on Diplomatica.

Our friends over at International Intrigue recently highlighted another Iraqi property; the abandoned Iraq Embassy in East Germany. Check it out on Abandoned Berlin.

This month marks the first anniversary of Great Reads from Around the World—a literary collection curated by Diplomatica Global Media in collaboration with embassies, consulates, cultural centers, and diplomats. In just one year, our global bookshelf has grown to include 65 countries and nearly 200 books, each nominated as an authentic window into a nation’s literary traditions and cultural heritage. Readers can explore both modern and classic works—fiction and nonfiction, poetry and short stories, graphic novels, children’s books, recipes, and more—all curated to deepen understanding across cultures.

To celebrate this milestone, we’ve completely rebuilt our book showcase with an improved browsing experience. You can now search titles by country, genre, and language, making it easier than ever to explore world literature in the way that inspires you most. Each featured title is presented without censorship or bias; the views expressed belong solely to the authors.

As we look to the year ahead, we invite you to help shape the next chapter. If your country is not yet represented—or if there’s a book that captures its heritage, perspectives, or literary contributions—we’d love to hear from you. Our goal is to feature a book or author from every country. Thank you for celebrating one year of stories that bring the world closer together—one book at a time.

Our team recently joined with Salzburg Global and the Austrian Embassy to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the iconic film, The Sound of Music. Photographer Stephen Staudigl captured the event, from the pre-film panel discussion to the post-screening themed desserts. See his photographs on Diplomatica.

The holidays are rapidly approaching and the fall calendar is filled with turkeys and visions of sugarplums. Here are some of the events hosted by or at diplomatic properties we’re most looking forward to.

The Embassy of the Czech Republic will be hosting its annual holiday Christmas Market on Saturday, November 8. Free tickets for this popular event go quickly. Learn more about the embassy before you go by revisiting one of our earliest profiles, A Spy’s Defection Prompts an Embassy’s Move on Diplomatica.

The Embassy of Italy is offering self-guided tours of a new exhibit by graphic artist Depero. Multiple dates are available in November.

On November 11, Spain Arts & Culture will be hosting a discussion of the role and legacy of Spanish composers exiled to the Americas after 1939. Learn more.

Join in a festive wreath-making workshop at The Ukraine House on November 15.

Each year, Diplomatica Global Media organizes several holiday-themed events, most notably our annual Zoo Lights outing and visit to the White House Christmas Tree. Many of these have been impacted by the government shutdown; stay tuned for more information in our December issue.