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Reports that an ancient icon of the Virgin Mary that Orthodox Christians revere as miraculous has returned to Russia.

YEARS ago, New Yorkers in search of culinary enlightenment did not come back from Italy raving about Roman food. Rome was where your plane landed on the way to that dream trip to Tuscany. Back at home, returned travelers could always find Roman icons like spaghetti alla carbonara, bucatini all'amatriciana, fritto misto and saltimbocca in scores of Italian restaurants. But in the last year or so, a half-dozen new places inspired by Rome, not the inevitable Tuscany, have opened around New York. Their menus plumb the repertory beyond the well-known crowd-pleasers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To the Editor: Regarding ''Hidden Gardens of Paris'' (June 29): Is there a more gifted, knowledgeable writer than Elaine Sciolino on the hidden splendors of Paris? Last year (October 2007) she led us on a tour of Paris's lesser-known churches. Now, it is Paris's hidden gardens. Thanks to Ms. Sciolino, I discovered in May, among the many churchly treasures she identified, the icons and the living tree trunk in St. Seraphin-de-Sarov. Now I can't wait to return to Paris to see the otter surface in the pond of the Jardin de la Vallee Suisse. Merci encore, Ms. Sciolino. Peter Stamelman New York [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sometimes, even American originals have to sell a piece of themselves. Richard Petty is one of the great sporting icons, who transformed his business, who takes over an event just by being there, with a black Charlie 1 Horse cowboy hat looming over his bladelike face. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the positive correlation between housing sales and the sales of St. Joseph statues and burial kits in the U.S. According to Chris Bell, spokesman for the Cleveland Area Board of Realtors, real estate agents usually buy them when their sales did not meet their expectations. Betty Vento, owner of Mosack's Religious Gifts, believes that St. Joseph is the patron saint of homebuilders.

Highlights the installation of an enormous Byzantine icon behind the altar of the Church of Our Saviour on Park Avenue and 38th Street in New York City. Demonstration of Christ in the aspect sometimes called Pantocrator in the painting; Recollection of the great age of cathedral painting shown in the lavishness of the work; Enlargement of a sixth-century painting thought to be among the oldest extant icons of Christ.

Reports on the plan of Pope John Paul II to give back a revered icon to Russia. Effort of the pope to improve the relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church; Disappearance of the icon around the time of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution; Purchase of the icon by a Catholic group.

Reports on the controversy sparked in Ireland by a Saint Patrick statue characterized as pagan. Opposition to government-funded statue which would replace one that had stood on the highest point of Tara, capital of Gaelic Ireland; Residents' allegation that the design depicted pagan symbols; Suggestion for a more appropriate design.