Architecture · Moscow · Heritage · Society

Residents of the thirteen-storey Academy of Sciences of the USSR staff block on Dmitry Ulyanov Street urge attention to the construction of a metro line right beneath their buildings

Residents of the thirteen-storey Academy of Sciences of the USSR staff block on Dmitry Ulyanov Street urge attention to the construction of a metro line right beneath their buildings. This particular building, dating from 1957 and executed in the style of late Stalinist Empire, is famous as the home

Coming Up · Moscow · Society

The third annual "Bell of Remembrance" event to be held in Moscow and other Russian cities in memory of victims of political repression

The third annual "Bell of Remembrance" event will be held in Moscow and other Russian cities in memory of the victims of political repression. In Moscow, visitors may come to lay flowers and light candles at the memorial to the victims of political repression, the "Wall of

NB! · Archaeology · Museums · Observations · Humour

I suppose it is very silly that the sight of this dead boy on the lid of a 3rd-century AD sarcophagus brings to mind the warning not to lie on one's side, though in this particular case, of course, any wolf would break its teeth

I suppose it is very silly that the sight of this dead boy on the lid of a 3rd-century AD sarcophagus brings to mind the warning not to lie on one's side, though in this particular case, of course, any wolf would break its teeth. Maffei Lapidary

Archaeology · Observations · Heritage

A View over Taman Bay and Medieval Foundations from the Height of the Cultural Layer at the Hermonassa-Tmutarakan Site

A view over Taman Bay and medieval foundations from the height of the cultural layer at the Hermonassa-Tmutarakan site. At present work is under way on only a small part of the monument; in places it has been lost to landslips, elsewhere it has gone under water, and here

Books · Observations · Humour

An analysis of the phrase about the century's youth coinciding with Vladimir Ulyanov's youth

There are expressions that seem to mean nothing at all and to have no sense whatever, and yet seem to contain some beautiful, even winged, thought. Take, for example, “the youth of the century coincided with the youth of Vladimir Ulyanov”. What does this phrase actually tell us? That in

Art · Observations · Mores · Society

Class condemnation in Raisa Zenkova's painting “The Drones”, 1949

A painting by the Soviet woman artist and front-line veteran Raisa Zenkova, called "Drones", 1949. I cannot decide on the tone: is this still passive aggression or already the active kind? But the artist is plainly ill disposed towards at least two of the three heroines of

Archaeology · The East · Art · Observations

Colour reconstruction of Achaemenid reliefs and the skill of painters compared with sculptors

We have long known that the distant past was far more colourful than its ruins. Here is an attempt to restore colour to the artefacts of ancient Persia, using the example of Achaemenid stone reliefs, on the basis of chemical analysis of microscopic pigment residues in the stone. It is

Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Society

Albert II, King Emeritus of the Belgians, Queen Paola and Delphine of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Albert II, King Emeritus of the Belgians, Queen Paola and Delphine of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Barely two weeks after her first-ever meeting with her brother, the reigning King Philippe of the Belgians, Delphine has been received in the house of the father who denied her existence for more than

NB! · Coming Up · Art · Museums · Saint Petersburg

The Russian Museum resumes tours in Russian Sign Language on Sundays at 13:00 in the Benois Wing, devoted to Serov, Vrubel, Kandinsky, Larionov, Goncharova, Malevich and Filonov, and in the Ludwig Museum in the Marble Palace

NB! · Observations

It Turned Out Atmospheric

Coming Up · Moscow

Brusfest, International Documentary Theatre Festival, Opens in Moscow on 25 October

In case you missed it: on 25 October in Moscow the doors opened on Brusfest, the international festival of documentary theatre named after Dmitry Brusnikin. Expect productions, performances, staged readings, promenades, a festival conference, a book launch and much else besides. Tickets can be bought on the festival's

Art · Museums · Society · People

The musician Vladimir Tarasov has given the Lithuanian National Museum of Art more than 500 works by Soviet nonconformists

The musician Vladimir Tarasov has given the Lithuanian National Museum of Art more than 500 works by Soviet nonconformists. Tarasov, who was personally friendly with the authors represented in his half-century collection, will be remembered by future generations if only through the name of the collection, "The Museum

Alexandr Radayev