Alchemy, a tradition that spans centuries, aimed at discovering a primordial matter from which all substances were thought to derive, along with the Philosophers' Stone and the secret of eternal youth. Its work was wrapped in dense symbolism, and that symbolism produced an extraordinary body of imagery. The Public Domain Review gathers illustrations from manuscripts and treatises dating from the 1500s to the 1800s, many drawn from the Manly Palmer Hall collection and Wellcome Images. They include peasants holding a red robe, cherubs blowing wind over Mercury, a 'Black Sun' from the German treatise Splendor Solis of 1582, and detailed diagrams of alchemical processes. The pictures show how alchemists tried to express transformation visually when they lacked a modern chemical language.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.