Faith · Art · Books

Maximilian Voloshin's poem “Our Lady of Vladimir”, 1929

Not on a throne, but on Her arm, His left little hand embracing Her neck, Gaze to gaze, cheek pressed to cheek, He makes his insistent demand… I am struck dumb, No strength, no words on my tongue… Gathered in a beast's tension, The Lion-cub Sphinx has

NB! · Observations

A Peredelkino Mood

A woman with short blonde hair in a light quilted jacket raises her hand at a table set with glasses.

NB! · Archive · New York · People · Pop Culture

Marlene Dietrich at a party in New York in 1967, aged 66

Marlene Dietrich in 1967. A photograph from a party in New York: the diva is 66

Books · Observations · Reportage · Society Pages

First Russian Translation of Henry James’s “The Other House” Presented in Peredelkino

Wondering what was so mysteriously Victorian going on in Peredelkino yesterday? Conversations in hammocks, prose readings in garden pavilions, impassioned speeches by gentlemen beneath century-old pines, photographs taken with an antique mirror camera… Let me tell you. Bookmate and the Peredelkino Writers' House presented the first translation of

NB! · Moscow · Museums · Observations

The Pushkin Museum Turns 112

Archaeology · Heritage · New York · Society

Fifth return of stolen Gandhara antiquities to Pakistan from the United States

Associated Press reports that this week, at a ceremony in the Manhattan District Attorney's office in New York, US authorities returned to Pakistan 133 stolen works of art with an estimated value of more than 13 million dollars. This is already the fifth handover of stolen antiquities of

NB! · Books · Museums · People · Saint Petersburg

The Writing Desk in Dostoevsky's Flat

A woman in a hat and a checked dress stands at a building entrance as the wind lifts her skirt; beside her a man in a suit holds a hat.

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · People · Humour

Wind blows up the skirt of Queen Elizabeth II in a black-and-white photograph

Queen Elizabeth II. The wind lifts her skirt

Cinema · Observations · Education · Pop Culture

Arnold's finger method for multiplying by nine and the Chinese rule

An unexpected method of multiplication is offered by Arnold from "Hey Arnold!". The method works for multiplying by 9 and, it would seem, corresponds to an old Chinese rule of multiplying on the fingers: To obtain the result of multiplying by nine, hold both hands open and fold

Books · Mores · Society

At least Khlestakov, for all his lying, still feared a little, in the midst of it, that they might take him by the scruff and throw him out

At least Khlestakov, for all his lying, still feared a little, in the midst of it, that they might take him by the scruff and throw him out. The Khlestakovs of today have no such fear and lie in perfect tranquillity. Everyone is calm, everyone is immeasurably vain, and one

Old sepia photograph of several men sitting at a table with cups, a bottle and a carafe, with a translucent lampshade hanging above.

Archive · Moscow · People

Photograph by Alexander Rodchenko, 1926, showing men seated at a table

Morning in the Flat of Vladimir Mayakovsky and the Briks in Gendrikov Lane. Photograph by Alexander Rodchenko, 1926

Observations · Society · Nature · Humour

In Kazakhstan, Przewalski's horse, described in 1879, will be called kerkulan and kertagy

Przewalski's Horse Renamed in Kazakhstan. Equus ferus przewalskii, made known to science and described by the Russian traveller and geographer Nikolai Przhevalsky in 1879, is henceforth to be called in Kazakhstan "Przewalski's horse – kerkulan, kertagy". I would suggest coming up with a name for

Alexandr Radayev