New York · Education · People
Dmitry Shostakovich's First Symphony, which brought him worldwide fame, was written as a graduation project. The first performance took place in May 1926 and caused a sensation; before long the symphony was being played across the country and abroad, in Berlin, Philadelphia and New York. Thus the 19-
NB! · Observations · Science · Nature · Humour
The American astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy has shared a new picture of the Moon. She is, in principle, a beauty in our own skies too, only not quite so cheerful
Architecture · Faith · Museums · Heritage
The Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve has reopened its seventeenth-century fortress walls and towers to visitors following the completion of restoration. Some of them had been closed since the 1970s owing to their dilapidated condition. For the first time since the walls were built, the foundations have been reinforced, the
Mores · Society · People
The production of quality fertilisers lent serious support to the agricultural boom of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was precisely in these years that crop farming and animal husbandry were wholly transformed. The zenith of French agriculture is usually placed in the period from 185+ to 1880:
NB! · Science
Architecture · Faith · Heritage
A year has passed since the devastating fire at the Cathedral of St Theodosius of Chernigov in Cleveland, built in 1912 on the initiative of the Society of St Nicholas. The fire at the end of last May inflicted colossal damage on the cathedral: the flames destroyed the roof and
NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
In the Press · Art · Moscow · Museums · Saint Petersburg
The top ten most visited museums in the country looks like this: 1. Peterhof 2. Tsarskoye Selo 3. Saint Isaac's Cathedral 4. Russian Museum 5. Hermitage 6. Tretyakov Gallery 7. Tsaritsyno 8. Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg 9. Museum of the World Ocean (Kaliningrad) 10. Island-
Books · Observations · Humour
“The yearling fillies pretend to be grown up and staid, and only rarely do they skip about or join the merry companies. They graze decorously, arching their swan-like, close-cropped necks, and, as though they too had tails, they flick their little brooms. Just like the grown-up ones,
Art · Observations · Humour
If the Pope, the king, the cardinals and the gentry are in the jaws of the beast, it will be hot, with an orange weather warning. If both at once, traffic jams of 9 points out of 10.
Art · Museums · Observations · Rome
In the collection of the National Roman Museum there is an extraordinary block of marble with a relief of a half-naked woman being raised up by two handmaidens whose heads and shoulders, alas, have been knocked off. This monument of the 5th century BC is usually called the Ludovisi
NB! · Books · Humour