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Alexandr Radayev
Observations · Heritage · Society · Nature
Sympathy for a rat in a photograph and the suffering of urban animals
A state of emergency has been declared in Venice: the water rose to 187 centimetres in recent days, 20 million euros have already been allocated to clear up after the flood, while the mayor puts the damage at 1 billion euros. ps I feel terribly sorry for the little rat
Archive · Observations · Mores · Society
A 19th-century pamphlet against masturbation as an example of control over sexual behaviour
Look at what this charming fifteen-year-old girl became in a mere year, after making the acquaintance of the dreadful sin of masturbation! Yet another nineteenth-century pamphlet against self-gratification is a rather typical example of how the state and society, through the institutions of morality, propriety and
NB! · Archive · Books · Science · Society
National Library of Israel and Google to digitise and upload 120,000 books in Hebrew, Yiddish, Latin, French and Russian
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Flooded arcaded gallery of a courtyard with stone columns
NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Nature
Venice's monuments have suffered badly, but the water has still not receded
Architecture · Faith · Art · Heritage
Flooding of San Moisè church in Venice endangers Torretto's crucifix and Corradini's pietà
The baroque church of San Moisè, which John Ruskin called the clumsiest building in Venice, has been flooded. One of the chief treasures of the church, a wooden crucifix, among the few works in wood by the Italian sculptor Giuseppe Torretto, is floating in the water, and the pietà by
Aristocracy · Architecture · Faith · Art · Mores
A Man Entangled in a Net of Lies and Vices
There are various ways of honouring one's parents. Raimondo di Sangro, the seventh Prince of Sansevero, a Neapolitan, commissioned a sculptural portrait of his father disentangling himself from the nets, or snares, of deceit and sin, accompanied by an angelic figure who frees the sinner for the bosom
Archaeology · Museums · Mores
Roman slave shackles in museums in Spain and England and the question of constant wear
Roman slave shackles from the museums of Seville in Spain and Norwich in Norfolk, England. Finds of this kind are characteristic of the vast territories of the Western Roman Empire. The abundance and character of the finds may also suggest that some of the slaves in the countryside wore shackles
NB! · Moscow · Observations · Society · Humour
Recently, outside the Moscow government building, I saw a lone picketer with a placard: "We feared the 90s, and got the 30s instead"
Recently, outside the Moscow government building, I saw a lone picketer with a placard: "We feared the 90s, and got the 30s instead". There is something in that. At the very least, it holds out hope for the 50s
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores
Anastasia Koshkina and the Romanov and Godunov Claims to the Russian Throne
The Romanovs' claim to the throne rested on the fact that there once was a maiden Koshkina. It was not even a surname: at that time it would be more fitting to speak of by-names. And so there were the Koshkins-Romanovs, and accordingly Anastasia, or, as we
Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Society
Sports hall in Mogilev Choral Synagogue building and a plaque that omits the synagogue
The building of the Choral Synagogue of Mogilev, known as the Zukerman Synagogue, was erected in the late nineteenth century on the ruins of the burnt-out palace of the Catholic bishop Bohusz-Siestrzeńcewicz. Today it houses a sports hall. A memorial plaque on the building tells the history of