NB! · Humour
Alexandr Radayev
Monarchies · Science · People
Paleoproteomic study of Louis XIV's heart points to fungal infection as cause of gangrene
It is now known what Louis XIV really died of in 1715: a scientific study of his heart has revealed an infectious cause of death. Physicians now know which microbe brought on his gangrene. A palaeoproteomic study carried out on a sample of the heart of Louis XIV offers new
Aristocracy · The East · Art · Monarchies · Paris
Sotheby's sells Princess Niloufar Pahlavi's collection from her Paris mansion
Sotheby's has put up for sale the collections of the Iranian princess Niloufar Pahlavi, niece of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The collection was kept in a mansion in the French capital, decorated by the legendary Renzo Mongiardino in the late 1970s. Most of the works of art
NB! · Observations · Humour
French book translated from American by Béatrice Vierne
Translated from the American. Sheer genius
NB! · Cinema · People · Pop Culture
Judi Dench photographed by Charlie Clift
Art · Paris · People
Auguste Rodin modelled a bust of Victor Hugo in 1883 without Hugo posing for him
"I am creating the image of a genius!" "Just don't forget to sign it, or everyone will think it's you" Rodin modelled his bust of Hugo without the sitter ever posing for him. For, as is well known, Hugo could not sit
NB! · Observations · Humour
I Want a Photo Like Pope Benedict's
NB! · Architecture · Observations
Reflections on the tastes of people who admire modern high-rise architecture
When I see buildings like this, I wonder what guides the people who find them beautiful. Which books have they read, what did they dream of as children, what films do they love?
Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Society · Humour
Graffiti appears on Canterbury Cathedral walls at the initiative of the Church of England
Graffiti on the walls of Canterbury Cathedral, the chief Anglican church of Great Britain, built in 1070. This is the cathedral founded by Saint Augustine himself, and its walls have been disfigured with hideous tags. And do you know what? The graffiti on the walls of the Cathedral and Metropolitical
Art · Observations · Paris · Society Pages
All week, everyone I know in Paris has been discussing Kirill Serebrennikov's premiere at the Théâtre du Châtelet, where "Hamlet. Ghosts" was presented
All week, everyone I know in Paris has been discussing Kirill Serebrennikov's premiere at the Théâtre du Châtelet, where "Hamlet. Ghosts" was presented, to a text by Serebrennikov about Hamlet in the context of world culture and modern history. The first thing that distinguishes the production
Observations · Heritage · Mores · Rome
Police seal the Antico Caffe Greco in Rome, a café founded in 1760
The oldest café in Rome has closed. The owners of the building have evicted the cosy Antico Caffè Greco, near the Spanish Steps, where Stendhal, Casanova, Andersen and Schopenhauer once sat, and where, among our own compatriots, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, for one, left his mark. The long stand-off between
Architecture · Faith · Art
Filippo Lippi's last work, the frescoes of Spoleto Cathedral, where he is also buried
The frescoes of the Duomo in the Italian city of Spoleto are the last work of Filippo Lippi. They were executed on the commission of Cosimo de' Medici in 1466, together with Fra Diamante. The fresco of the Dormition of the Virgin is by Lippi; the other scenes in