Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores · Society

During the Belgian royal family's visit to the royal crypt, alongside King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and Philippe's parents, the 87-year-old Albert II of Belgium and 83-year-old Queen Paola, Princess Delphine was also spotted…

During the Belgian royal family's visit to the royal crypt, alongside King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and Philippe's parents, the 87-year-old Albert II of Belgium and 83-year-old Queen Paola, Princess Delphine was also spotted: Philippe's half-sister, the very woman

An elderly man in a dark suit and a green striped tie stands by a window with a white curtain.

NB! · London · Monarchies · Observations · People

Prince Philip admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital in London for observation

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, aged 99, has been admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital in London. Buckingham Palace reports that Prince Philip felt unwell and is to remain in hospital for a few days for observation. One can only hope that all will be well with him

Two people with a tripod stand in the snow before the illuminated Parthenon, covered in scaffolding, in a snowy haze.

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Nature

The Parthenon in snow and a reflection on global climate change

The Parthenon in snow is very beautiful. Though I cannot quite make out which myth we have ended up in, if global climate change, to all appearances, is no myth at all

Aerial view of the snow-covered Acropolis with the Parthenon on top of the hill during a snowfall.

NB! · Geography · Nature

Snowfall in Northern Greece almost every year, in Athens every five to seven years

Athens today. And the level of snow in Greece on this same day from 2005 to 2020. Heavy snowfalls occur in Northern Greece almost every year, even on the islands. In Southern Greece, including Athens, they are rarer, but in modern times they are still quite usual: snowfalls here come

Aristocracy · Faith · Art · Mores · People

Margravine Sibylla of Baden-Baden in a Witch Masquerade Costume Portrait

Sibylla of Saxe-Lauenburg (1675-1733), Margravine of Baden-Baden, in a masquerade costume as a sorceress. I do not know whether the outfit really came with fire-breathing asps; perhaps there were simply no fire salamanders to be had. In this portrait Sibylla has gathered together the various attributes

Monarchies · Observations · Society · People · Pop Culture

Meghan Markle announces a second child after last year's court action over privacy

Meghan Markle has announced that she is expecting a second child. Only last year she turned to the courts for protection of her private life from journalists. Yesterday's news, in all likelihood, illustrates not merely a wish to publish personal stories and news on her own terms, but,

Archive · Geography · Maps · Observations · Rome

Map of Rome from a Ptolemy codex of the late 15th century with the Colosseum and Pantheon

In my view, the best kind of map. Fidelity of scale and distance is of no real consequence for finding one's way anyway, nor are superfluous features, which distract the eye from what truly deserves to be marked on a map. A view of Rome from a codex

A dark-haired woman in a patterned poncho and flared jeans stands with a hand raised to her face among tall stone columns under a blue, cloudy sky.

NB!

Woman in an embroidered poncho among the columns of ancient ruins

Archive · The East · People · Pop Culture

Elizabeth Taylor's 1976 trip to Iran with photographer Firouz Zahedi

In 1976 Elizabeth Taylor visited Tehran in the company of her friend, the celebrated Hollywood photographer and cousin of the Iranian ambassador to the United States, Firooz Zahedi. The series of photographs Zahedi took on that trip was shown in Los Angeles in 2011. According to Firooz Zahedi's

Architecture · Heritage · Paris · Nature

Parc de Sceaux in a Paris suburb, laid out by André Le Nôtre in the late 17th century

Winter in the Parc de Sceaux on the outskirts of Paris. The park was laid out in the late 17th century by André Le Nôtre, one of the most celebrated landscape architects in the world and the creator of the parks and gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte, Versailles, the Tuileries,

Round miniature of a hand from the clouds holding a red heart on a thread above a river and town, inscribed Non habet fundum.

NB! · Art · Books · London · Museums

Miniature of a heart from Jacob Hoefnagel's 1634 book in the British Museum collection

This has no end. From the book Gloria Crocodilus of 1634 by the Flemish artist Jacob Hoefnagel, with 82 allegorical miniatures. From the collection of the British Museum

NB! · Art · Moscow · Museums · Education

Lenin in the VKhUTEMAS hostel on 25 February 1921, arguing with the students about Futurism, Mayakovsky and the future of art

Lenin in the VKhUTEMAS hostel on 25 February 1921, arguing with the students about Futurism, Mayakovsky and the future of art. Behind him stands Nadezhda Krupskaya in a pale blue dress. A very beautiful work by Alexey Sotnikov, 1965, from a very rich exhibition marking the centenary of VKhUTEMAS

Alexandr Radayev