NB! · Faith · Art · Humour
Alexandr Radayev
NB! · Monarchies · Pop Culture · Humour
I am hinting at nothing, but in the coronation photograph of George VI with his wife and daughters, which announced his monarchical course of unity and devotion to family values, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret wore crowns from Burger King
NB! · Geography · Maps · Observations · Society · Humour
Germany and Russia
Germany and Russia. And Poland between them, naturally; how could it be otherwise. One date I have prudently blurred out, simply because I am not sure whether, where we are, mentioning it nowadays merely lands one in prison or has already progressed to the firing squad.
Art · Museums · Observations · Humour
A Tea Service for Parents
A tea service for parents. A teapot inscribed "Tulip: pride and ingratitude" and a matching cup inscribed "Jasmine: chastity", in the display case of Russian porcelain at the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts. Might I trouble you to top up my chastity with a little boiling
Aristocracy · Art · Observations · Paris · People · Pop Culture
Castelbajac graffiti on rue des Beaux-Arts in Paris still intact six months on
Does anyone still remember the Marquis Jean Michel de Castelbajac? A designer from the distant past, who dressed Madonna in a coat of teddy bears and was famed for his rainbow palette and witty solutions, once even earning the title of France's king of kitsch, and who befriended
Archive · Architecture · Moscow · Observations
Visualisations of Moscow with the 415-metre Palace of Soviets, had it been built
"In Moscow, near the Kremlin, the Palace of Soviets is being built. It will be the tallest structure on earth, higher than the Egyptian pyramids, the Eiffel Tower and the American skyscrapers. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the parliament of the only truly democratic country in the world,
Cinema · Science · Society · People
A short article on the Russian prodigy and young genius Pasha Konoplev: how at four he solved complex school problems, at six scored 142 on an IQ test, at seven mastered logarithms and musical notation, at eight appeared in Solaris, and…
A short article on the Russian prodigy and young genius Pasha Konoplev: how at four he solved complex school problems, at six scored 142 on an IQ test, at seven mastered logarithms and musical notation, at eight appeared in Solaris, and at ten published "A Study of the Variables
NB!
Mineralogical museum display: aquamarine, topaz, phenakite and Khibiny rocks
Coming Up · Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Science
The Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow and its collection dating from 1716
Shall we go to a museum? One of the oldest museum collections in Russia, dating from the time of Peter the Great, is, incidentally, the collection of minerals, which in 1716 became the core of the Mineral Cabinet of the Kunstkamera and in 1836 was formally transformed into a separate
Art · Observations
The Smoker
The Smoker. An allegory of transience. Hendrick van Somer, early 17th century. Just wanted to remind you before bedtime of the last month of summer and how swiftly life flies, of course
Archive · Architecture · Moscow
Lenin's wooden mausoleum in a 1928 photograph and the eagles on the Kremlin towers before the stars
In this August 1928 photograph Lenin's Mausoleum is still wooden, though very like the later stone version, also designed by the architect Alexey Shchusev. The drawing is by Isaak Brodsky, from 1924, and flowers still stand by the Mausoleum. Note the crowned double-headed eagles on the Kremlin
NB! · Art · People