Museums · Observations · Heritage · Humour

Coins from a hoard found in 2011 stolen from the Diderot museum in Langres

I can hardly believe my eyes, but France has suffered yet another high-profile museum robbery. It would seem that the criminal world has announced some sort of tour of the cultural heritage. Right after the Louvre, on Monday, the Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot in Langres, Haute-Marne, was

NB! · Museums · Observations · Paris · Humour

Doing the one thing forbidden on the premises of the Louvre

Museums · Observations · Heritage · Paris · Humour

It turns out that the rococo-style display cases for the royal jewels installed in the Galerie d'Apollon at the Louvre until 2019 were fitted with armoured glass, and that if the integrity of the outer casing was breached, their contents would automatical

It turns out that the rococo-style display cases for the royal jewels installed in the Galerie d'Apollon at the Louvre until 2019 were fitted with armoured glass, and that if the integrity of the outer casing was breached, their contents would automatically drop into a safe. The

Faith · Art

Angels with orbs in Guariento di Arpo's cycle for the chapel of the Carrara residence

Angels by Guariento di Arpo (1310-1370) from the cycle of angelic hierarchies for the chapel in the da Carrara residence. In the angels' hands are spheres known as the orb, the globe, the mirror or the sovereign's apple. As a rule, these are large spheres bearing

Museums · Society · Paris

Louvre director met discontented staff, museum not expected to open before Wednesday

The Louvre is not expected to reopen before Wednesday. The museum's director, Laurence des Cars, has met the staff. According to The Times, the director's address was greeted with disapproving shouts from the hall. The staff's discontent began long before the incident. As early

Observations · Nature · Humour

Hannibal's War Elephants in the Crossing of the Alps, Their Supply, Losses and Role

Pity the Poor Beasts, Eh! Hannibal took some 37 war elephants with him across the Alps. Roughly as many as it takes to fill the runway at a Marina Rinaldi show. The elephants were most probably of the North African subspecies. An elephant requires an enormous quantity of fodder, some

Architecture · Observations · Society · Paris

Graffiti on Paris buildings, the cost of removing it and the question of fines

Graffiti in Paris has climbed far above the ground floors, and it is becoming a real calamity. All the more so given what it costs to paint it over or wash it off. And it spoils the view considerably. But perhaps, if one were to fine people for daubing residential

Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Society

Watching Trump demolish part of the White House to build a vast ballroom of some 8,000 square metres, I think that America is approaching a perfect balance of the outer and the inner, a complete accord of form and idea

Watching Trump demolish part of the White House to build a vast ballroom of some 8,000 square metres, I think that America is approaching a perfect balance of the outer and the inner, a complete accord of form and idea. But the age of plenty is drawing to a

Listings · Moscow · Coming Up · Art · Museums

Five exhibitions for October and November, from Moscow nonconformists to early photography

A new selection of Moscow exhibitions that I recommend visiting this week:. 📌 Group exhibition “Moscow Nonconformists. In Search of Identity” at Arts Square Gallery, until 26 October 📌 24 October: opening of an exhibition from Polina Bondareva's private collection in the new space masters:dom on Sofiyskaya Embankment 📌 Collective

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Or, as the critics put it, the work turns to the theme of the authenticity of the gesture and the contingency of form, the artist calls into question the boundaries between creator and observer, a subversion of the academic tradition

NB! · Art · Museums · Paris

The Gioconda Is Finished

NB! · Museums · Heritage · Paris

Alexandr Radayev