NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Mores
Alexandr Radayev
Architecture · Books · Saint Petersburg
Let more diverse tastes be joined together
Let more diverse tastes be joined together. Let the same street see rising side by side the gloomily Gothic, the Eastern laden with lavish ornament, the colossal Egyptian, and the Greek, imbued with harmonious proportion... Let houses as seldom as possible merge into one even, monotonous wall... Gogol on eclecticism,
Aristocracy · Monarchies · People
Marshal Ney, his execution on 7 December 1815 and the title of Princes of the Moskva
Michel Ney, Prince of the Moskva, Tries to Regain Napoleon's Favour. Marshal Ney, a brave man, a triumphant commander, a leading general and a favourite of France, was the very man who persuaded Bonaparte, his patron, to abdicate the throne, while he himself joined the military council of
NB! · Faith · The East · Observations · Society · Humour
Trump deified in India on the eve of his visit to the country in early 2020
Trump was deified in India on the eve of his visit to the country in early 2020. I understand, of course, that Hinduism is the closest living equivalent of the Hellenic religion, and that the Romans never missed a chance to admit new gods and fold them into their worldview.
NB! · Observations · Humour
And at eight in the morning, the reasons for staying up until three o'clock at night don't seem quite so convincing
NB! · Aristocracy · Archive · Books · Monarchies
"No one doubted that the Emperor would now find himself honest and devoted men": from the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna on the murder of Rasputin
Books · Society · People
Alexander Zinoviev on the catastrophe that has already happened
Do not wait for catastrophe. It has already happened. Alexander Zinoviev (1922-2006)
Cinema · Observations · Education · Society · Pop Culture
School uniform conforming to the new GOST, developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade together with the Ministry of Education, looks like clothing from Soviet cinema of the 1950s
School uniform conforming to the new GOST, developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade together with the Ministry of Education, looks like clothing from Soviet cinema of the 1950s. Indeed, the burgundy suit with skirt and jacket prescribed for girls, complemented by a lace tie-cum-jabot, is more
Books · Pop Culture
First edition of Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” from 1937 found in Bristol and sold for £43,000
The first edition of Tolkien's The Hobbit, published in 1937, was found without its dust jacket on a shelf in a house in Bristol and sold at auction for £43,000. It is one of 1,500 original copies, of which only a few hundred survive. The book
Archive · Observations · Paris · People · Nature
Salvador Dalí, aged 65, emerges from the underpass of the Bastille Métro station on the rue de Lyon with an anteater
Salvador Dalí, aged 65, emerges from the underpass of the Bastille Métro station on the rue de Lyon with an anteater. The anteater is not his: the animal was provided for the photo shoot by the Jardin des Plantes. Very well. But have you never wondered by what right, exactly?
NB! · Art
The Monk by the Sea, Caspar David Friedrich, 1808–1810
Monarchies · Mores · People · Pop Culture
Queen Elizabeth II's 2006 Range Rover to be auctioned at Silverstone Festival in late August
Queen Elizabeth II always had personal chauffeurs, but she adored driving herself, especially in a Range Rover, the British off-roader that became her signature car. At the end of August one of her vehicles will go under the hammer at the Silverstone Festival auction: a 2006 model with 120,