Faith · People · Rome

Pope Francis Admitted to Hospital Shortly After the Traditional Sunday Prayer in Saint Peter's Square

Pope Francis has been admitted to hospital shortly after the traditional Sunday prayer in Saint Peter's Square. The Holy See's press office reports that the Pope is to undergo a scheduled operation on the intestine. Let us pray that all goes well, and that the 84-

NB! · Humour

Every Joke Contains a Grain of Joke 😄

An elongated grey-pink sculpture hangs upside down, with long fibrous strands radiating from its centre. A slatted glass ceiling is above; a stuffed bear is visible below.

NB!

Suspended sculpture with fibrous tendrils in a museum hall

Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations

The Darwin Museum is a most interesting place in its own right, but the way objects of contemporary art have been so carefully and organically integrated into its display, overturning epistemological foundations and focusing attention on…

The Darwin Museum is a most interesting place in its own right, but quite another story is the way objects of contemporary art have been so carefully and organically integrated into its display, overturning epistemological foundations and focusing attention on unnatural history, turning the space into a modern alchemical showcase

Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Science · Humour

Monster skeleton at the Darwin Museum is an artwork by Masha Bogoraz

Good Lord, What Are You? The Darwin Museum has acquired the skeleton of some unimaginable monster. According to the legend, the artefact was discovered by Darwin in the Galápagos Islands and then brought to the American Museum of Natural History, where it was unearthed by a Russian scholar, Vladimir Bogoraz,

Sculpted bust of a bearded man with curly hair and a bowed head, set against red fabric and an ochre wall.

NB! · Faith · Art · Observations

Sculpture of Saint Paul by François Marchand, Made Around 1540

A sculpture of Saint Paul of incredible beauty by François Marchand, c. 1540. What a strong, expressive scar on the face, and what a serene pose

NB! · Cinema · Observations · Humour

I hardly know which of these rare shots is the more impressive: Roman legionaries on the approaches to Hadrian's Wall, or French infantry at Waterloo?

Coming Up · Observations · Society

First presidential culture grant competition draws 4,000 prospective participants in two weeks

Remember the presidential grant competition for cultural projects? The first figures are in: within two weeks, 4,000 people had already expressed a wish to take part in the first grant competition in the sphere of culture, art and the creative industries. The submission of applications opened on 15 June

Coming Up · Archive · Interviews · Books · Moscow

An exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the Library of Foreign Literature itself and the 120th anniversary of its founder, Margarita Ivanovna Rudomino, has opened at the library

An exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the Library of Foreign Literature itself and the 120th anniversary of its founder, Margarita Ivanovna Rudomino, has opened at the library. The display includes the first director's personal belongings, letters and photographs. It also features an unusual multimedia element: an interview

Archaeology · The East · Museums · Heritage · Paris · Humour

Sarcophagus of King Ahiram found in Paris, buried under junk: it serves as a storeroom for brooms and mops in a littered utility room of an administrative building

The sarcophagus discovered in a Franco-Lebanese house is a cast of the original kept in the National Museum of Beirut, incidentally one of its chief treasures. The magnificent sarcophagus of Ahiram, found by the French archaeologist Pierre Montet in 1923, is considered a symbol of Franco-Lebanese friendship: that,

Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

I hope my analogies will not unduly trouble anyone, but judge for yourselves: the bird-catcher Papageno from "The Magic Flute", especially as played by Lucien Fugère, is the very image of Ernie the Giant Chicken from "Family Guy", locked in combat with…

I hope my analogies will not unduly trouble anyone, but judge for yourselves: the bird-catcher Papageno from "The Magic Flute", especially as played by Lucien Fugère, is the very image of Ernie the Giant Chicken from "Family Guy", locked in combat with Peter - well, let

Archive · Art · Observations · Humour

Baritone Fouger sang Papageno at 74 and kept performing after the age of 80

Expectation and reality: Jacques Drésa's costume design for Papageno the bird-catcher in Mozart's "The Magic Flute", and the same costume realised for Lucien Fugère in the 1922 production of the opera. To my mind, Papageno looks far more striking in the flesh. Do

Alexandr Radayev