NB! · Geography · Maps · Observations · Humour

Next time you hear tales of a successful career, remember this map of the Mediterranean, which very modestly calls itself "The Career of Julius Caesar"

NB! · Coming Up · Art · Moscow · Museums · Paris

At the Museum of Moscow's new exhibition "Between Paris and Moscow", I particularly recommend the sculptures of Sergei Koltsov, author of the sketches for the sculptural figures on the building of the Lenin Library

Observations · Humour

Neurogymnastics is trying to write Khrushchev's surname in Polish

Chruszczow, sure you've got it?

Architecture · Madrid · Society

Soviet aid to Republican Spain and Soviet symbols in Madrid in 1937

Did you know that the Gran Vía, Madrid's main street, was renamed in 1937 Gran Vía Avenida de Rusia, Russia Avenue, and soon afterwards Avenida de la Unión Soviética, Soviet Union Avenue? Shortly before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, sympathy with and interest in the workers&

Archive · Books · Society

Book print runs in the USSR according to the 1939 collection “Pechat Strany Sotsializma”

The 1939 volume "The Press of the Land of Socialism" offers valuable data on the state of the publishing industry in the USSR. For example, it gives a comparative breakdown of book output and the print runs of books issued in particular fields and by particular authors. If

Archive · Art · Heritage

Relocation of Michelangelo’s David to the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence in 1873 and its replacement by a copy

The removal of Michelangelo's David from Piazza della Signoria to the Galleria dell'Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence in 1873. A copy was set up in the square in place of the original; otherwise, in all likelihood, the legendary sculpture would by now have suffered badly

Medieval miniature: a man in a tall tiara raises a spear over a man lying by a red tent, with blood visible below.

Faith · Mores · People · Humour

Two versions of the death of Pope John XII, regarded as the most immoral pope

Pope John XII, who occupied the throne from 955 to 964, is said by some sources to have died after being caught in bed with another man's wife, whereupon the jealous husband beat him quite literally to death. This is one version of a most respectable end, but

NB! · Observations

Still, the Printed Press Has Style

NB! · Art · People

Royal Greeting, Henri Cartier-Bresson

Faith · Cinema · Observations · Rome

I agree with the view that the ostentatious modesty of the papacy, and of Francis's pontificate in particular, turns out, once you start looking into it, to be nothing more than a set of marketing ploys and slogans

The phenomenon is nicely captured in the series “The Young Pope” with Jude Law, in which one of the most important figures in the hierarchy is not a spiritual office at all but something like a PR director

Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Rome

Pope Francis buried in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome's oldest church of the Virgin Mary

Before Santa Maria Maggiore, where Pope Francis was laid to rest yesterday, there were, naturally, queues many hours long. It is one of the four major basilicas of Rome, but despite its pilgrimage status, large queues did not usually gather here outside the church festivals. Now, I suspect, the beaten

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Mores · Humour

Alexandr Radayev