Architecture · Faith · The East · Humour

The wooden crocodile in Seville Cathedral, a gift from the Egyptian sultan to Alfonso X

In Seville Cathedral, the largest Gothic church in Europe, there hangs a crocodile. There are, of course, many treasures and relics there, such as paintings by Velázquez, Goya and Murillo and the sarcophagus of Christopher Columbus, but the crocodile is the most memorable of them all. Not a real one,

Observations · Society · Reportage · Ethnography

Authorities allocate no land for a new cemetery in a dying Russian village

The Russian village has fallen still. Among their pressing problems, the villagers name the cemetery: the authorities will not allot land for a new graveyard, though for dozens of kilometres around the village lie abandoned fields, meadows and forests. "There is no land!" Once the village had its

Education · People · Pop Culture

Shostakovich's First Symphony, a graduation work that brought the 19-year-old composer fame

Dmitri Shostakovich's First Symphony. It was first performed in May 1926, having been written as his graduation project. Its first performance was a sensation, and soon it was being played all over the country and abroad, in Berlin, Philadelphia and New York. Thus the 19-year-old composer

NB! · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society

Under any regime, in any weather, in any season, Moscow has one constant: the queues at the Tretyakov Gallery

NB! · Coming Up · Cinema · People · Society Pages

Alla Demidova before the premiere of Lyubov Arkus’s film “Kto tebya pobedil nikto”

A little piece of Alla Demidova. Ahead of the premiere of Lyubov Arkus's film about Alla Sergeyevna, "Kto tebya pobedil nikto"

Coming Up · Art · Reportage · Humour

Dmitry V. wins contest to finish a comic, “Ouroboros” show at JART open until 26 September

Comrades, reporting from the artist's studio, I can announce that Lyokha Kyoujay and I have tallied the results of the competition to finish the comic. The winner is Dmitry V., who guessed, quite literally, how it all really happened. As promised, the holder of first place will receive

A woman in a jacket and short skirt sits on a stone parapet beside a bronze cannon whose muzzle is shaped like a smiling lion's face.

NB! · Archive · Cinema · Paris

Actress Sabine Azéma beside an old cannon in Paris, photographed by Robert Doisneau in 1986

The actress Sabine Azéma and a smiling cannon, Paris, 1986. Photograph by Robert Doisneau

Observations · Society · People · Humour

The Execution of Prometheus

A frame destined for the history books. This is not photoshopped. Angela Merkel at the Marlow bird park during a visit to her former constituency of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, three days before the federal elections in Germany. Why former? Merkel has announced that she will no longer stand for the Bundestag,

In the Press · Interviews · Society · People · Nature

On the eve of her 87th birthday, Brigitte Bardot gave an interview to Parisien Magazine, speaking of her fight for animals, their lives and rights, of French presidents, and of the funerals of famous Frenchmen

First and foremost, Bardot spoke of the “barbarians, bastards, vile, rotten monsters” who inflict suffering on animals. She recalled, among other things, the shocking tragedy of the bloody slaughter of 1,428 cetaceans in a fjord in the Faroe Islands; on this occasion she wrote to the Prime Minister of

Cinema · Society · Paris · People · Pop Culture

Brigitte Bardot doubts the national honours for Belmondo and Josephine Baker

Brigitte Bardot Criticises the Memorial Policy of Macron, Whom She Detests. The actress looks sceptically on the funeral of her friend Belmondo: “Jean-Paul Belmondo would not have liked his funeral at Les Invalides.” He was “a charming man”, but “I do not understand the origins of the national reverence

NB! · Aristocracy · London · Monarchies · Society Pages

Mood for the Evening: Prince Michael of Kent and His Wife, Princess Michael of Kent, Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz, Leave the Exclusive Oswald's Club in Mayfair in Their Car

Coming Up · Society

Cultural Initiatives Fund to accept applications for new competition from 1 November to 20 January

Following on from the day before yesterday's subject: the results of the first competition for the distribution of funds to cultural projects have yet to be tallied, and already it is time to submit applications for the next. The intake of applications for the next competition of the

Alexandr Radayev