Books · Moscow · Museums · Heritage · Society
In this modest house in Peredelkino, at 3 Serafimovich Street, Chukovsky lived from 1938 to 1969. A few years after Chukovsky's death, in 1974, Lydia Korneyevna was expelled from the Writers' Union, and the Litfond decided to evict the family from the dacha. Legal wrangling dragged on
NB! · Archive · Books · People
Books · Museums · Heritage
The desk in Chukovsky's library, which he built in the 1930s at his own expense on a neighbouring plot: a few hundredths of a hectare were given to him by the poet Stepan Petrovich Shchipachev (1898-1980). Chukovsky's personal library for children began with 400 volumes
NB! · Architecture · Moscow · People
Art · Observations · Humour
Marcantonio Raimondi, 1510. The Judgement of Paris, detail. Édouard Manet, 1863. Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe. Raimondi was known as Raphael's official engraver, and here he reproduces a lost work of the master. In due course the arrangement of the figures in this mise-en-scène would
Archive · Books · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour
"Ah, you naughty girl! How could you write such a letter! How cold it is! My soul is sad! My heart melts, and my imagination simply frightens me. You love me less strongly. A day will come when you will cease to love me altogether." I have been
Aristocracy · Architecture · Faith · Observations · People
Monsignor Vincenzo Giustiniani, a Genoese patrician turned diplomat, in his 64 years gave Apulia, the region where he served as bishop, several churches and public buildings. Among them is the unique church of Madonna della Grazia in Gravina. Have you ever seen so majestic an eagle on the façade of
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Architecture · Faith · Observations
Everything you need to know about this church in the Italian town of Gravina is written on its face. Madonna della Grazia above the entrance is the name of the church. The eagle spreading its wings over a castle with three towers comes from the family coat of arms of
NB! · Art · Observations · Humour
Oskar Kokoschka, Theseus and Antiope. Or the old guard of society ladies against the Instagrammers
Observations · Mores · Society · Humour
In 301, Emperor Diocletian attempted to fix uniform prices for basic goods and issued the Edict on Maximum Prices. Footwear, for instance, could cost anywhere from 50 to 150 denarii. On average, that is the equivalent of 50 bricks, three weeks of a soldier's pay and two months
Books · Observations · Ethnography
The hero of Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" is accompanied by a mysterious old man named Wednesday. Perhaps one ought to have guessed sooner, and the sly old fellow would have ceased to seem so enigmatic, but the text offers no special explanation. As the book unfolds,