NB! · Art · Observations · Humour
Alexandr Radayev
Books · Monarchies · Mores · Saint Petersburg
On 23 January 1874 Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, married Grand Duchess Maria, daughter of Tsar Alexander II, in Saint Petersburg
The wedding was preceded by agonising negotiations between Queen Victoria and the Romanovs. It is this wedding that is mentioned in Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina. "...Vronsky ...had been attached to a foreign prince who had come to Petersburg, and it was his duty to show him
Faith · Art · Mores · Humour
The Pluralist
A satirical image mocking members of the clergy who draw several incomes at the expense of their primary duties. A priest balances in the heavens, resting upon the spires of four different churches while eyeing a fifth
NB! · Archaeology · Architecture · Museums
Model of the Pergamon Altar, Berlin
NB! · Monarchies · Heritage · People · Humour
In This Room, on 22 January 1901, Queen Victoria Died
In this room, on 22 January 1901, Queen Victoria died. Well, with walls that colour, it is hardly surprising
NB! · Art · People · Humour
Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi. Promised not to nag
Almaty · Architecture · Faith · Heritage
Wooden cathedral of 1907 on a reinforced concrete foundation survived the 1911 earthquake
The Ascension Cathedral in Almaty is considered the tallest wooden Orthodox church in the world, with the main dome rising 39 metres to the top of its cross and the bell tower cross reaching 46 metres. The construction of the cathedral, to a design by the architect Borisoglebsky and the
London · Monarchies · Mores
George V died by euthanasia in 1936, which became known only in 1986
The death of George V in the very first days of 1936 was not natural. The king's physician administered to him a lethal mixture of morphine and cocaine. By then the king had lapsed into a coma owing to bronchial complications. It is believed that the royal physician
Books · Monarchies · Observations · Society
Ivan the Terrible and the boyars in Belinsky's 1836 review of Polevoy's history book
Remember how they drummed the great Vissarion Belinsky into our heads at school. Well, let us turn to his writings. Here is a review of 1836 of N. Polevoy's «Russian History for First Reading», in which Belinsky calls Ivan the Terrible a man of good inclinations, and a
Faith · Books · Observations
A priest reads a prayer from the Synod for Russia's deliverance from enemy invasion
I Am Reminded of the Prayer for the Salvation of Russia That Leo Tolstoy Gives in Volume III of "War and Peace" ...the sacristan brought out a little stool, the very one on which the kneeling prayers were read on Trinity Sunday, and set it before the Royal
Faith · Art · Books
The trials of Job, shown naked and crowned beside a ruined house
At first glance one might think that the wall of the ruined house, beneath whose shelter a naked Old Testament elder reposes, bears the word LOVE. But no, it is IOBBO, that is, Job, upon whom the Lord permitted a trial of many sorrows to be sent: the loss of
NB! · Archive · In the Press · London · Monarchies
An excellent infographic describing the standards, flags and banners displayed at the coronation of Elizabeth II
An excellent infographic describing the standards, flags and banners displayed at the coronation of Elizabeth II. The English Tatler