Black-and-white photograph: a man in a coat and two girls, one in a headscarf, stand in a church before an ornate altar with a recumbent figure of Christ and a lace altar cloth.

NB!

A man and two girls before an altar with a figure of the dead Christ

NB! · Archive · Art

Photographs by the Italian photographer Ferdinando Scianna

Marble bust of Vespasian with the top of the head hollowed out like a basin, against a dark blue background.

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums

Marble bust of Vespasian turned into a sink with a drain in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages the head of Vespasian was hollowed out from within and used as a water basin, with a hole bored in the ear to serve as a drain. Collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Farnese Collection

Observations · Society · Nature · Humour

Some do not believe that a mere few thousand years ago people, covered in hair and clad in a pitiful semblance of clothing or none at all, could run about with sticks, huddle into herds and display behaviour of the most thoroughly animal kind, explaining

Some do not believe that a mere few thousand years ago people, covered in hair and clad in a pitiful semblance of clothing or none at all, could run about with sticks, huddle into herds and display behaviour of the most thoroughly animal kind, explaining it by saying that man

Books · Mores · Education · People

The legend of Lermontov learning English from Byron and his tutor Vinson

There is a legend that Mikhail Lermontov began learning English by reading Byron's poetry in the original. And within a few months the fifteen-year-old Mikhail Yuryevich was supposedly a fine master of English, or at least understood it remarkably well. Like all legends, this tale sounds

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Humour

New-builds in Moscow be like

NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Paris

The Luxor Obelisk and the Arc de Triomphe at opposite ends of the Champs-Élysées

The Luxor Obelisk and the Arc de Triomphe at opposite ends of the Champs-Élysées. In 1830 the obelisk was presented to France by Muhammad Ali, Viceroy of Egypt

Red, yellow and white patches of coloured light on old stone floor slabs.

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Heritage

Stone floor of the Palace of the Popes in Avignon, papal residence in 1309–1377

The floor of the Papal Palace in Avignon. This palace was the papal residence during the years of the Avignon Captivity of the popes, in 1309 to 1377, and in the years that followed, when popes and antipopes resided in Avignon

NB! · Cinema · Pop Culture

Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie Playing Chess

NB! · Art · Pop Culture

Balloon sculptures by the Japanese artist Masayoshi Matsumoto

Architecture · Moscow

Triangle on the frieze of architect Faleev's house in Gagarinsky Lane as the emblem of civil engineers

The decorative frieze of the architect Faleyev's house in Gagarinsky Lane. What, one might ask, has a triangle to do with it? Despite the legend that the symbols point to Freemasonry, this is the official emblem of civil engineers in Russia. A similar sign could be found on

Cinema · London · Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Society Pages

Tatler highlights the grey hair of Elizabeth McGovern, Letizia and Caroline of Hanover

Tatler has taken note of gracefully greying celebrities, among them Princess Caroline of Hanover, Queen Letizia of Spain and, the most striking of all, Elizabeth McGovern. The steel-coloured locks swept back from the face of the 60-year-old American actress, who played the mistress of Downton Abbey, together

Alexandr Radayev