Archaeology · Heritage · Nature

Polish fisherman pulls medieval sword of the 13th or 14th century from the Vistula

A Polish angler has pulled a medieval sword from the Vistula. As the law requires, he handed the find over to the capital's Office for the Protection of Monuments. According to preliminary estimates, the sword dates from the 13th to 14th centuries, the time of the founding of

Archive · Art · Observations · Society

British leaflet of the 1790s contrasts British Liberty with the French Medusa

In the 1790s, campaigns against influences from France appear in England, frightened by the backdrop of bloody reprisals and the overthrow of the monarchy. A propaganda broadsheet compares two allegories of Liberty: Britannia with the scales of justice, Magna Carta under the protection of the imperial lion, and a staff

NB! · Archive · Cinema · Mores

The actor Vasily Kachalov and the writer Alexei Tolstoy at a resort, 1930s

NB! · Archive · Art

Sophocles' Ajax Staged in Sicily in 1939

Sophocles' *Ajax* staged in Sicily in 1939. The scene before the funeral of Ajax

Archive · Faith · Mores · Education

Curious Details of Bishop Tikhon's Struggle Against Seminarians Who Were Vagrants, Pranksters and Prone to the Intemperance of a Vile, Suspicious and Drunken Passion in the 1770s

For example, it was devised to select the most honest pupils as fiscals, that is, overseers and informers, who would watch which of their schoolfellows frequented the drinking shops: «Let there be appointed from among the most honest pupils fiscals, that they might watch and report faithfully to the teachers

NB! · Architecture

This is what a Suzdal prison looks like

Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Education

📌 This building housed the theological seminary where, in 1788, the eminent statesman and jurist Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky studied

📌 Also in this building: in 1767 a prison was opened for "raving convicts". From 1829 most of its prisoners were clergy and sectarians. Among the inmates were the soothsayer monk Avel, who foretold the fate of the Romanov dynasty; the Old Believer hierarchs Arkady, Alimpy, Konon and Gennady;

Archive · Art · Society · People

Salvador Dalí's statement after Franco had five people executed in 1975

"Personally, I am against freedom; I am for the Holy Inquisition" Salvador Dalí Context: Dalí made this remark after Franco, in 1975, had executed three members of the Anti-Fascist Patriotic Revolutionary Front and two members of the organisation Free Basque Country, all of them branded terrorists. Protests

Art · Cinema · Observations

A Selection of Films on Painters, Collectors and Forgers in the World of Painting

A selection of films about the art world, painters and their muses, adventurers, passionate collectors and skilful forgers: cinema of various genres united by the theme of painting. Essential viewing; every one of these pictures will bear more than a single watching and will make a fine addition to the

NB! · Observations · Humour

International Commerce in Suzdal

Faith · Monarchies · Observations · Society

Nixon and Hirohito in Anchorage in 1971, Reagan and John Paul II in Fairbanks in 1984

Ahead of the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, scheduled for 15 August, let us recall other occasions when Alaska, hardly the most fashionable venue for diplomatic encounters, played host to world leaders. Richard Nixon and Emperor Hirohito, 26 September 1971, Anchorage. In the night of 26

Art · London · Society

Canaletto painting sold at Christie’s London for £31.9 million, an artist record

Summer is a relatively quiet season on the auction market, but the Old Masters sale at Christie's in London on 1 July proved an exception. Canaletto's "Venice: The Return of the Bucentaur on Ascension Day" sold for £31.9 million, a new record price

Alexandr Radayev