A hand holds a thick old book with a worn leather spine, with open books and a laptop in the background.

NB! · Observations · Humour

The author compares the time before leaving home to the thickness of an old book

How soon shall I leave the house? In about this long

Conical gold headpiece with figural relief scenes, openwork ornament and a Greek inscription around the body, displayed behind museum glass.

NB!

Gold tiara of Saitaphernes with relief friezes and a Greek inscription

Architecture · Faith · Geography · Cinema

The Panagia Chozoviotissa Monastery on Amorgos, Founded in 1017

Panagia Hozoviotissa is an Orthodox monastery for men, perched on a rock on the island of Amorgos in the Aegean Sea, where Luc Besson filmed "The Big Blue". The monastery was founded in 1017 and remains active; today it is home to three Orthodox monks. The monks produce

Old sepia photograph of a seated young bearded man in a suit and a taller bearded man standing beside him with a hand behind his back.

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Nicholas II and George V on photo cards where they swap places

Nicholas II and George V are such fun, swapping places in identical photographs to confuse everyone around them: the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen of their day. I just cannot decide whether this is already "Papasha from the Posters" or still "Two: Me and My Shadow"

A black-and-white portrait of a woman in a dotted veil and glove, in an oval silver frame on a wooden shelf beside a stack of books, one marked “Dalí”.

NB!

Oval silver frame with a portrait of a woman in a veil on a bookshelf

Archive · Moscow · Museums · People · Society Pages

Today, at 25/9 Tverskaya Street in Moscow

Today, at 25/9 Tverskaya Street in Moscow, the Museum-Apartment of the People's Artist of the USSR Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya opened its doors. The apartment in which Plisetskaya lived was donated to the Bakhrushin Theatre Museum by the ballerina's widower, the composer Rodion Shchedrin. Together

NB! · Paris · People · Pop Culture

Maya Plisetskaya's Balenciaga

NB! · Art · Moscow · Museums · Pop Culture

The beloved Alla Borisovna and Yevgeny Boldin, her husband from 1985 to 1993, in a photograph by Sergei Borisov

The beloved Alla Borisovna and Yevgeny Boldin, her husband from 1985 to 1993, in a photograph by Sergei Borisov. The photograph is shown at Borisov's exhibition at the Multimedia Art Museum

Heritage · Paris · People · Pop Culture

Coco Chanel's apartment keeps its interiors from the day she died and is closed to the public

Today Coco Chanel's apartment is closed to visitors, save for the most important guests of the House. Its furnishings have remained unchanged since the day Coco died. There is a video showing the interiors of the famous apartment

Black-and-white photo of a woman in a light suit and hat seated in an armchair in a salon with lacquer screens, bookshelves, a crystal chandelier and animal figures.

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Woman in a suit and hat in an interior with Chinese lacquer screens

Architecture · Mores · Paris · People · Pop Culture

Coco Chanel's apartment at 31 rue Cambon, where she received guests but never slept

Coco Chanel in her apartment at 31 Rue Cambon, in an eighteenth-century building, in the 1950s and 1960s. Coco's apartment was on the second floor of the building that became the residence of her brand. The shows were held on the ground floor, the showroom lay above,

NB! · Archive · Monarchies

Prince Christian and Princess Alexandrine Augusta of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the future King Christian X of Denmark and Queen Alexandrine

Prince Christian and Princess Alexandrine Augusta of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the future King Christian X of Denmark and Queen Alexandrine. The photograph was taken at Fredensborg Palace in 1903

Alexandr Radayev