Art · Moscow · Humour
How to Tell That You Are Looking at a Sculpture by Alexander Burganov
📌 A column, or the capital of a column, is present 📌 There is a human hand 📌 In place of a head, some object or other
Alexandr Radayev
Faith · Art · Books
The Beast of Revelation in Giusto de' Menabuoi's fresco in the Padua Baptistery
I saw a beast rising out of the sea. He has ten horns and seven heads; on his horns are ten crowns, and on his heads blasphemous names. The beast I saw was like a leopard, but his feet are those of a bear, and his mouth a lion'
Archive · Monarchies · Society
The Evolution of the Russian Flag, 1668 to 1991
1668 A white-blue-red flag is raised on the first Russian warship, the Oryol (“Eagle”), by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. It served as a naval flag, but did not yet have the status of a state flag. 1693 Peter I raises the white-blue-red tricolour for the
Art · Museums
Vessel of rock crystal and gilded silver, with enamel and rubies
Vessel of rock crystal and gilded silver, with enamel and rubies. Work of Dionisio Miseroni, circa 1655. The Miseroni family workshop was founded in 1588 in Prague, under Emperor Rudolf II. Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
NB! · Art · Observations
A cup of water and a pink flower in a painting by Francisco de Zurbarán
Good morning from Francisco de Zurbarán. Let us begin the day quietly, with thoughts as plain as a mug of water and a mood like a tender pink flower
Archive · In the Press · Observations · Humour
In the Western press, Lenin is stubbornly called Nicholas in the 1920s, in the 30s, and even in the 50s and 60s
For example, The Times Record in March 1953, in a piece on the death of Stalin, publishes a photograph from Lenin's funeral, with the caption: This scene shows Nicolai Lenin lying in state at the House of Unions in January, 1924, His wife, Krupskaya and sister Maria stand
NB! · Architecture · Books · Heritage
Masonic Gates with a Secret, from the Book An English Arcadia 1600-1990
Archaeology · Architecture · Heritage
History of Staraya Ladoga and its fortress, from wooden walls to stone fortifications
During excavations in Staraya Ladoga, archaeologists have uncovered stonework dating from the reign of Oleg the Wise, who ruled in the Novgorod land in the 880s. Originally the Ladoga fortress was protected by wooden walls, built after an enemy raid around 860-870, and only in the 10th century was
Archive · Geography · Society
Years of the introduction of women's suffrage from New Zealand to Saudi Arabia
A 102-Year-Old Lady at the Polls in New Zealand in 1916. New Zealand was the first country in the world where women won the right to vote, in 1893. In Europe, the first country where women gained the right to vote and to sit in parliament, in 1906,
The East · Art · Museums
The Maharaja of Indore necklace with Colombian emeralds in the Smithsonian collection
The so-called Necklace of the Spanish Inquisition. The name was coined for advertising purposes by the jeweller Harry Winston, who also claimed that this piece, made of Colombian diamonds and emeralds, had belonged to the Spanish royal family. It was acquired by the Maharaja of Indore and subsequently took
NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums · Rome
Cupid and Psyche, 4th century AD, Ostia Antica
Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Rome
Bernini's Project for a Church in the Colosseum and the Memory of Martyrs
One of the creators of Roman Baroque, the great sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), builder of Saint Peter's Square, contemplated the decline of another landmark of Rome: since the fourteenth century the Colosseum had been in a pitiable state, crumbling ever further. Despite its worldwide fame since