Museums · Observations · Humour

Estonia's top museum award Aasta Muuseumirott takes the form of a rat statuette

The principal museum award in Estonia is called Aasta Muuseumirott, that is, "Museum Rat of the Year". The winner receives a statuette of a rat with its paws planted on its hips. The size of the figurine depends on the rank of the award, and the largest rat

Aristocracy · Cinema · Books · Observations

I do not care for round-ups as a format, but this time Buro has put together an excellent list of 7 books of aristocratic character, from Julian Fellowes's "Snobs", the very same Fellowes who shamelessly cribbed details of the private life of the Earls of

I do not care for round-ups as a format, but this time Buro has put together an excellent list of 7 books of aristocratic character, from "Snobs" by Julian Fellowes, the very same Fellowes who shamelessly cribbed details of the private life of the Earls of Carnarvon

Black-and-white view from above of a long line of people standing along the edge of a highway, with older cars parked on the shoulder beside them.

NB!

A line of people along a highway with cars parked on the roadside

Archive · Society

The Baltic Way human chain linked Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius on 23 August 1989

An incredible political statement, an incredible unity. A living chain 670 kilometres long: on 23 August 1989, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, people joined hands to link Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. More than two million people formed the human chain, named the "Baltic

Still life with a metal dish of rolled wafers, a glass of wine and a wicker-covered flask on a blue tablecloth against a dark background.

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Still Life “Wafer Rolls” by Lubin Baugin, Painted in 1635

Wafer rolls. Still life. 1635, by the French painter Lubin Baugin. With boiled condensed milk, I trust.

NB! · Observations

Alexey Kondakov Is ❤️

Archaeology · Interviews · Science · People

The lovely Maria Dobrovolskaya, head of the Laboratory of Contextual Anthropology at the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has spoken on a most unusual subject: vegetarianism and ancient people

The lovely Maria Dobrovolskaya, head of the Laboratory of Contextual Anthropology at the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has spoken on a most unusual subject: vegetarianism and ancient people. Besides such questions as vegetarians among the ancestors of modern man and the influence of diet on

Museums · Observations · Ethnography · Humour

Ivan Grinko in “Etno dialogi” proposes viewing the museum through the concept of totemism

Ivan Grinko of the Moscow Agency for the Organisation of Leisure and Tourism offers, in his article in "Ethno Dialogues", a rather original view of museum totemism. Let us replace the word "totem" in the definition with the word "museum", and it really does

NB! · Archive · Faith · Art

Design for a cavalry standard from the time of the English Civil War, depicting the Catholic Church as a many-headed monster

Design for a cavalry standard from the time of the English Civil War, depicting the Catholic Church as a many-headed monster. This Gorynych wears a papal tiara on one head, a scarlet cardinal's galero on another, the black birettas of the common clergy on the rest and,

Two-panel meme: a man in a car eyes a passenger in a pink feathered costume and big glasses; below, a headless horseman in blue mist. Captions: Louis XIII, XIV, XVI

NB!

Meme about French kings: Louis XIII, XIV and XVI

A wide snow-covered stone staircase and a gilded iron fence with stone urns on its pillars at Versailles in winter.

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Heritage

Staircase of the Hundred Steps above the Versailles orangeries under snow

Versailles in winter. The Staircase of a Hundred Steps above the orangeries

Page of a handwritten register with an illegible entry and the line John Russell, Monzie.

NB! · Archive · Books · Observations · Humour

Illegible handwriting of a visitor to Innerpeffray Library in 1878

When some self-important reception-desk outfit presses too insistently for my passport details, I deliberately write in the same hand as this charming visitor to the Innerpeffray Library in 1878. Kindred spirits find one another even across the centuries

Alexandr Radayev