Geography · Observations · Society · Humour

The Trans-Eurasian Development Belt and experts' doubts over its multitrillion-dollar cost

Remember how, in 2015, the head of Russian Railways proposed building a super-highway from London to New York across the whole of Eurasia and North America, to include a railway, a motorway and oil pipelines? The project was called the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development, but the prospect of its

Museums · Heritage · Society · Paris

The French government has presented a bill intended to simplify the restitution to their countries of origin of works of art removed in the colonial era, reports Artguide

The French government has presented a bill intended to simplify the restitution to their countries of origin of works of art removed in the colonial era, reports Artguide. If the law is adopted, the process of returning objects from France's national collections that originate from states which lost

NB! · Books · Observations

What a fine word, and alas fallen out of circulation: “fellow-man”

Three-dimensional relief map of Asia on a white background, with the high orange Tibetan Plateau at the centre and blue plains and dark mountains around it.

NB! · The East · Geography · Maps · Observations

Relief map of Asia showing the West Siberian Plain and mountain systems

A relief map of Asia. On the one hand, one is struck by the singularity of the West Siberian Plain; on the other, by the impassable wall of mountain systems running from west to east.

NB! · Observations · Society · Humour

If we live in a society of the spectacle, show me the brilliant playwright who managed to devise wind turbines powered by diesel generators

Faith · Ethnography

Elijah's Day and the main Orthodox feasts of August in popular tradition

Today, 2 August, the Orthodox tradition marks Elijah's Day. It opens a series of significant feasts in August. Below is a brief survey with historical and cultural notes. 2 August: Elijah's Day (commemoration of the Prophet Elijah) The Prophet Elijah was an Old Testament righteous man

Cinema · Society

From 1 March 2026 a law comes into force in Russia on blocking films that, in the view of the Ministry of Culture, "discredit traditional spiritual and moral values"

The decision to ban a film will be taken by the ministry jointly with Roskomnadzor, and the owners of online platforms will be obliged to remove such content within twenty-four hours. The law also empowers the ministry to rewrite distribution certificates already issued, and now without any request from

Books · Monarchies · Heritage · Society

The Mirror of Law in the Offices of the Russian Empire and the Ritual of Its Consecration

In 1722 Peter I introduced a special mass-produced form of state insignia, the Zertsalo, which remained an obligatory attribute of the institutions of the Russian Empire until 1917. The symbol of the supremacy of law took the form of a wooden prism with three panels, crowned with the state

NB! · Cinema · People · Pop Culture

Photographs taken by Viggo Mortensen on the set of The Lord of the Rings

NB! · Art

"The Witching Hour", Andrew Wyeth, 1977

Cinema · Observations · Humour

Does it not strike you that a spyglass is most conveniently put to the eye on the same side as the hand that holds it?

Does it not strike you that a spyglass is most conveniently put to the eye on the same side as the hand that holds it? Clearly not the left hand to the right eye. The question, properly speaking, is for Tsar Saltan, from what is probably the finest screen adaptation

Geography · Maps · Society

Provinces of pre-revolutionary France and their replacement by departments during the Revolution

Map of the French provinces before their abolition and division into departments in 1789. Before the Revolution, France was divided into provinces, many of which go back to medieval kingdoms and feudal territories. These provinces differed considerably in their laws, customs and administrative systems. During the Revolution they were replaced

Alexandr Radayev