Mores · Pop Culture

Russian folk tunes in Rossini’s opera “The Barber of Seville” of 1816

Ah, why was it needful to fence a kitchen garden? Ah, why was it needful to plant cabbages? With the words of this folk song, Russian troops stormed the suburb of Warsaw in 1794 under Suvorov's command. It is also said that the Russians sang it as they

Old engraving of festivities, booths and carriages on the ice of the Thames, with a title cartouche about the frost of 1683 and a lettered key below.

NB! · Archive · London · Mores · Nature

Frost fair on the frozen River Thames in London during the severe frost of 1683

Public festivities on the ice of the River Thames in London in 1683, with entertainments, refreshments and booths. Evidently the townsfolk understood that such a fair comes only once, and everyone who could attended the spectacle

Grey memorial plaque reading Rosa Luxemburg on a railing beside the canal water, with a bridge behind.

NB! · Heritage · Society · People

Memorial to Rosa Luxemburg at the Landwehr Canal in Berlin, where her body was thrown in 1919

Memorial to Rosa Luxemburg in Berlin beside the Landwehr Canal, where she was murdered on 15 January 1919 together with Karl Liebknecht. The car in which they were being taken to prison was attacked. Rosa's body was thrown into the canal over this very railing, in which the

NB! · Faith · Mores · Society

Pope Francis: Chastity Is a Virtue Not to Be Confused with Sexual Abstinence

Archive · Art · Moscow · Society

Second Moscow Conference of October 1944 on the War with Japan, the Balkans and Poland

Stalin and Churchill at the Second Moscow Conference in October 1944. Drawing by the Swiss artist Lindi. The matters at issue were the Soviet Union's entry into the war against Japan and the postwar fate of the Balkans and Poland. Besides Stalin, Molotov and Churchill, the conference was

NB! · In the Press · Science · People · Humour

After Omni magazine named Richard Feynman the smartest man in the world, his mother, Lucille Feynman, said: “If that is the smartest man in the world, God help us”

Painting of dark silhouettes of a tower and fortress walls against a sunset sky, a church with a pointed spire behind them and a grassy, stony slope in front.

NB! · Architecture · Art

Carl Gustav Carus painted a view of the Imperial Castle in Eger in 1824

Imperial Castle, Eger. Carl Gustav Carus, 1824

Page 456 of an old French book with a tally of sums in roubles for 1796 and a total of 88,820,000.

Monarchies · Mores · People

A million roubles in the time of Catherine II equals roughly a billion modern roubles

Some Interesting Calculations Showing That in 34 Years Catherine II Spent More Than 88 Million Roubles on Her Favourites. Of course, it is impossible to say exactly how much this would be in present-day roubles, but judging by purchasing power, the cost of a basket of provisions and, say,

Framed watercolour: a barefoot man in a tunic and trousers, seen from behind, with a staff and a wooden spoon at his belt, walks a path toward mountains under a cloudy sky.

NB!

Watercolour of a barefoot wanderer in a mountain landscape, seen from behind

Coming Up · Faith · Art · Moscow · Museums

Exhibition “Museum of Spiritual Avant-Garde” at the Voznesensky Center on the Christian intelligentsia

For another 12 days the Voznesensky Centre is showing a small but richly packed exhibition, "The Museum of Spiritual Avant-Garde", devoted to the spiritual and worldly experience of the Christian intelligentsia in the 1930s to 1950s, a time that seemed to many without exit and without hope.

NB! · Archive · Architecture · Heritage · Rome

The Arch of Constantine in Rome beside the Colosseum, shielded from bombing during the Second World War

NB! · Monarchies · Society · Reportage

People listen to the Prime Minister of Denmark proclaiming, from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace, Frederik as King of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands

People listen to the Prime Minister of Denmark proclaiming, from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace, Frederik as King of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The phrase “Long live King Frederik the Tenth!” is pronounced three times.

Alexandr Radayev