Aristocracy · Books · Mores

Prince Ivan Mikhailovich Dolgorukov recalled how, as a child, he was allowed to go and watch the wedding of Vladimir Poluektov and Ekaterina Argamakova, where he met Katerina Obukhova, with whom he fell instantly in love, and the two at once resolved to b

Prince Ivan Mikhailovich Dolgorukov recalled how, as a child, he was allowed to go and watch the wedding of Vladimir Poluektov and Ekaterina Argamakova, where he met Katerina Obukhova. The two fell in love on the spot and there and then resolved to become bridegroom and bride, in token whereof

Books · Observations · Mores

Othello's Handkerchief in Shakespeare's Play and the Contradictions in Its Origin

Othello gave his young wife a rather modest gift, an embroidered handkerchief that had come to him from his mother, which in the end played a fatal part, being planted on the jealous Moor's comrade as a token of infidelity. With this handkerchief everything is very far from

In the Press · Books · Mores · Ethnography · Humour

Gifts in world culture from ancient gift exchange systems to the presents of literary heroes

What is better to give one's beloved: sperm whale teeth, a leg of lamb, a little gold, or a bouquet of tulips in the old-fashioned way? In the pre-holiday Kommersant Style supplement I have mused on the place of gifts in the annals of world culture.

NB! · Observations

Out at the crack of dawn to the corner of the house for a newspaper

Archive · Books · Observations · Mores · Rome

Michel de Montaigne's journal for February 1581 mentions a Muscovite ambassador in Rome, dressed in a crimson cloak, a cassock of gold brocade, a nightcap-shaped hat of gold brocade trimmed with fur, and a skufia of silvery linen…

Michel de Montaigne's journal for February 1581 mentions a Muscovite ambassador in Rome, dressed in a crimson cloak, a cassock of gold brocade, a nightcap-shaped hat of gold brocade trimmed with fur, and a skufia of silvery linen, who had come to ask Pope Gregory to help

Books · Observations · Humour

Mikhail Pogodin's 1846 Remark on the West and Muscovite Russia

In his "Historical and Critical Fragments", Mikhail Pogodin has an amusing phrase dating from 1846, setting the Renaissance West against Muscovite Rus': "... with them propaganda, with us preservation, with them movement, with us tranquillity...". It makes one smile that today these words would most likely

Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Heritage

Elizaveta Likhacheva, Director of the Museum of Architecture, has announced that the scientific restoration of the Melnikov House, built in 1927-1929 and functioning as a museum for the past 50 years, will begin this year and last four years: “We plan to

Elizaveta Likhacheva, Director of the Museum of Architecture, has announced that the scientific restoration of the Melnikov House, built in 1927-1929 and functioning as a museum for the past 50 years, will begin this year and last four years: “We plan to approve the restoration project by the end

Art · Monarchies · Paris · People

Napoleon at the sacking of the Tuileries on 10 August 1792 in Maurice Réalier-Dumas's painting

Napoleon during the sacking of the Tuileries on 10 August 1792. Painting by Maurice Réalier-Dumas. In time Napoleon would come to be ashamed of the horrors he witnessed and took part in. From the wall, Louis XVI gazes down at the then lieutenant Buonaparte, in a recent portrait of

NB! · Observations · Humour

Macron is, of course, a legendary character

Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Max Gazzè performs at Sanremo as Leonardo da Vinci with a song about a pharmacist

Leonardo da Vinci has appeared on the stage of the annual Italian Sanremo Music Festival. The extravagant Max Gazzè turned up in a rather convincing Leonardo get-up, accompanied by a cardboard orchestra of eminent figures from world pop culture, from Elizabeth II at the drums to Paul McCartney on

Books · Observations · Society

Andrey Kozovoy's new book on Brezhnev draws on little known sources

On the history shelf at the Fnac in Nantes, next to "The Real Novel of Gorbachev", stands a book about Brezhnev, the new work of Andrei Kozovoi, a French historian of Soviet origin who specialises in the Cold War and its manifestations in culture. This history of Brezhnev

Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society

The Body Worlds exhibition at VDNKh and the ethics of displaying human bodies in museums

An exhibition of human corpses is about to open at VDNKh. In effect, the Body Worlds project is a travelling morgue which, under the name of Dr Hagens, wanders the globe displaying human bodies saturated, soon after death, with a special compound to prevent decay and lend the tissues elasticity.

Alexandr Radayev