Books · Moscow · Observations · People

I saw "Living T." at the Theatre of Nations, with Dmitry Lysenkov playing Protasov, more or less

I saw "Living T." at the Theatre of Nations, with Dmitry Lysenkov playing Protasov, more or less. It is ostensibly a staging of Leo Tolstoy's play "The Living Corpse", but the T. is meant to stand for "Living Tolstoy". Accordingly, the protagonist

Monarchies · Society · Paris

The Women's March on Versailles in 1789 over bread shortages and high prices

The Women of Paris Go to Call on the King at Versailles, 5 October 1789. It was the March of the Women on Versailles, or the march of the women for bread, 234 years ago, that became one of the key turning points of the French Revolution. The women of

Art

The Education of Achilles, Bénigne Gagneraux, 1785

The centaur Chiron fed Achilles on the entrails of wild boars, bears and lions

NB! · Moscow · Observations

Moscow: A City of Contrasts

Aristocracy · Archive · Monarchies · Observations

Diana's brother Charles Spencer shares a photograph from the family archive showing Queen Mary of Teck surrounded by the Spencers during her visit to their ancestral seat, Althorp House

Diana's brother Charles Spencer has shared a photograph from the family archive showing Queen Mary of Teck surrounded by the Spencers during her visit to their ancestral seat, Althorp House. The picture shows the grandfather and grandmother of Charles and Diana, their aunt, and their father with a

Archive · Art · Books

Some miser was there once, who had no end of money

Some miser was there once, who had no end of money, And as he used to tell it, he had grown rich Without dealing crookedly, Without plundering or ruining anyone, No, he swore to it, That God had sent him such wealth into his house And that he was not

Faith · Observations · Society · Rome

Pope Francis on the eve of the Synod of Bishops, in which not only bishops and ordinary clergy but also laypeople will take part, among them, for the first time in history, 54 women

Among other things, the World Synod is to discuss the ordination of women to the priesthood and the blessing of homosexuals, and, along with it, to touch upon same-sex marriage as well. But it seems that nobody expects anything good any longer from Pope Francis with his incredible opportunism,

Huge canvas in a gilded frame on a red museum wall: a toga-clad man on a chariot drawn by white elephants, with soldiers, a chained captive and a youth holding a vase.

NB!

Triumphal procession with elephants in a large painting in a gilded frame

Art · Museums · Rome · Saint Petersburg

Elephants in Tiepolo's painting and their use in the Roman army

The strange appearance of the elephants in Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's painting "The Triumph of Manius Curius Dentatus" in the Hermitage is explained by the fact that the artist had never seen the animal and imagined it from written descriptions and eyewitness accounts. With that in mind,

Black and white photograph of a pavilion with two columns, a rectangular pool and a large urn on a pedestal before the entrance.

NB! · Architecture · Art · Paris

Carl Bergsten's Swedish pavilion at the 1925 exhibition that gave Art Deco its name

The Swedish Pavilion, built by Carl Bergsten, at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. It was the very title of this exhibition that gave the Art Deco style its name: from “arts décoratifs” in Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes

NB! · Paris · Pop Culture

Fashion Week in Paris

NB! · Archive · People

Alexandr Radayev