Books · Observations · Humour
I am inclined to think that the Romans rather irritated one another with their noses. Hence, perhaps, such a restless people came of them. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations
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Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Education
150 years ago Baron von Derviz, the creator of the Trans-Siberian Railway, bought a plot of land of 10 hectares in Nice, built the Château de Valrose and lived there with his wife and three children. The grounds of the villa were laid out with grottoes, cascades, a great
Art · Heritage · Society
Copenhagen Authorities to Remove Mermaid Sculpture Deemed Provocative. The decision has been taken by the Danish Ministry of Culture. But this is not about the famous beauty, Edvard Eriksen's Little Mermaid, but about a contemporary sculpture installed in 2018 in the very centre of the city, on the
NB! · Art · Pop Culture · Humour
Faith · Books
Who could be luckier than those who assure us that they will attain supreme bliss by reading, every day, seven short verses from the sacred psalms? There is a tradition that a rather talkative demon once mentioned to Saint Bernard the existence of seven verses, the daily reading of which
Books · Observations · Society
A culture builds forts when it is on the way down. When it is on the rise, it builds fleets and fights for trade, for growth and for the spread of its own civilisation. When it builds forts, it is already on the defensive, static, waiting to be conquered. Forts
NB! · Archaeology · The East · Museums
Part of the great chain that guarded the approach to Constantinople from the sea. Galata Tower Museum, Istanbul. A link just like this one, or this very one, was formerly displayed at the Archaeological Museum
Books · Mores · People
After the publication of Yusupov's memoirs about the murder of Rasputin, Maria brought a suit against Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry Romanov, demanding monetary compensation for the moral damage caused, but the claim was dismissed, since under French law the court did not consider it possible to
Faith · Observations · Society
A celebrated quotation from the Portuguese Catholic nun Sister Lúcia (1907-2005), one of the three witnesses of the Fátima apparitions of the Mother of God in 1917. According to the Fátima prophecy, the Virgin Mary asked for Russia to be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart, in order to avert
NB! · Archive · Pop Culture · Humour
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