Architecture · Art · Observations · Society · Paris

Studying the bas-relief of the Palais de la Porte Dorée, one notices a peculiarity shared by all the colonial figures: like the images of ancient Egypt, they face the viewer in profile, and only the allegorical figure of France, on the central axis of the

Studying the bas-relief of the Palais de la Porte Dorée, one notices a peculiarity shared by all the colonial figures: like the images of ancient Egypt, they face the viewer in profile, and only the allegorical figure of France, on the central axis of the composition above the doorway,

Architecture · Art · Observations · Paris

Whenever I recall the delightful façade of the Palais de la Porte Dorée on the edge of the Bois de Vincennes, I wonder whether mankind will ever invent anything so aesthetically flawless and inspired as the Art Deco tradition.

The building, which now houses a tropical aquarium and a museum of the history of immigration, was originally created as an exhibition space for the six-month Colonial Exhibition held in Paris in 1931. The entire façade of the Palace of the Golden Gate is covered with bas-reliefs depicting

Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society

The Tretyakov Gallery only recently announced with pride that it was ready to receive the public and to furnish its guests with hand sanitiser

The Tretyakov Gallery only recently announced with pride that it was ready to receive the public and to furnish its guests with hand sanitiser. Until thunder strikes, the peasant will not cross himself.

Faith · Books · Moscow · Science

Prototypes of the Holy Fool Nikolka Iron Cap in Pushkin's Tragedy

Pushkin's Boris Godunov contains a tiny scene with a holy fool: children have taken a coin from Nikolka, who never removes his iron cap and is hung about with chains, and he addresses the Tsar as he passes by:. Holy Fool (weeping) They have taken my little kopeck;

NB! · Observations

Well, It All Adds Up

Observations · Mores · Humour

The drunkard's cloak and the scold's bridle as punishments for drunkards and quarrelsome women

The drunkard's cloak: a barrel with holes for the head and arms, in which alcoholics were dressed and sent to walk about town, though sometimes the man in the barrel was also tied to a post. Beside the drunkard stands a quarrelsome woman in a scold's

Books · Moscow · Paris

Victor Hugo’s poem “L’expiation” on Napoleon’s army retreating from Moscow in 1812

The French have their own “Borodino”: a poem no less piercing and significant about the events of 1812. This is L’expiation (“The Expiation”), written by Victor Hugo in exile and describing the retreat of Napoleon's army from burnt Moscow. Since the poem is very long, only an

Archive · Art · People

Frozen, despairing, dying soldiers of Napoleon, and Napoleon himself, absently warming his hands by a dying fire: such are the sketches of scenes witnessed in Russia left by Faber du Faur, an officer of the Württemberg Corps

In all, up to 16 thousand men from Württemberg took part in the Russian campaign; only a few hundred of them returned from Russia.

Books · Observations · Society

Final scene of Alexander Sumarokov’s tragedy “Dimitry the Pretender” and the death of its hero

There is a tragedy by Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov called "Dimitry the Pretender". And it contains these lines: ... Parmen (with a drawn sword, tearing Ksenia from his hands) Your cruelties and your thunderings are over! Our people are delivered from deaths, persecutions, wounds, The tyrant in his impotence is

NB!

But let us not tempt fate, as they say

Coming Up · Interviews · Art · Moscow · Observations

Moscow collector Max Boxer's exhibition opens at the IN ARTIBUS foundation on 19 March

The Art Newspaper has run a piece on a grand exhibition by the well-known Moscow collector Max Boxer, which opens on 19 March and will transform the IN ARTIBUS foundation's space into a flat filled with genuine belongings and interiors of the Boxer family. I gather that

Glass case by a window: a mannequin in black monastic robes and headdress, beside a clergyman's portrait, a staff, a rosary and a document. A humidifier stands on the floor.

NB!

Alexandr Radayev