Art · Monarchies · Museums · Saint Petersburg

The "Cabinet for Diamond Items" from the Picture House at Oranienbaum is made in the form of an intricate architectural structure with a mirrored finish

The "Cabinet for Diamond Items" from the Picture House at Oranienbaum is made in the form of an intricate architectural structure with a mirrored finish. Inside the display case itself are all manner of little mirrored drawers with bronze handles, platforms, balconies and arches, which turn the space

Faith · Museums · Heritage · Saint Petersburg

Keys to European fortresses at Kutuzov's tomb and their transfer to the Historical Museum

At Kutuzov's tomb in the Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg hang the keys to fortresses and cities liberated by the Russian army in the war of 1812. In the left niche are the keys to Geertruidenberg, Bremen and Avesnes. In the right are those of Lübeck, Mons and

NB! · Art · Observations

I adore Russian furniture 🔮

Faith · Museums · Heritage · Society

Union of Museums of Russia discusses church claims to museum property, including UNESCO sites

The General Assembly of the Union of Museums of Russia has discussed the thorny question of transferring museum property to the Church. At present, in particular, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Old Believer Church lay claim to the Dormition and Demetrius cathedrals of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve and

NB! · Archive · Heritage · Society

On the night of 13 to 14 November 1961, the monument to Stalin in East Berlin was demolished as part of the Soviet-wide campaign of de-Stalinisation

Archive · Museums · Mores

Muriel Stella Williams's dress for the victory celebration of 11 November 1918

On 11 November 1918 a father brought Muriel Stella Williams, then two or three years old, to the Assembly Hall in Brimingham in this dress, made to mark the long-awaited victory. The description of the exhibit says that in honour of the occasion the little girl's skirt

Faith · Art · Heritage · Society

Corporal Guibert Alsini clings to the crucified Christ: a stained-glass window in the church of the commune of Monbert

During the First World War, the parish priest of the village of Monbert, Father Frédéric Thibault, read out the dispatches from the front every week, told of what had befallen the local lads who had been called up, and held services for the wounded and the dead. When the war

Archaeology · Museums · Rome · Humour

Table made from the marble floor of the Basilica Julia, brought from Rome to Sweden

Roman artefacts are the Chanel of the antiques world. A plain stone from the ruins of Rome may turn out to be a fragment of sculpture from an ancient temple, a mosaic from a senator's house or a column from a sumptuous palace. In the 18th century a

Society · Paris · People

Joan of Arc, during the failed siege of Paris in which she was wounded, kept food out of the city for almost 20 days, unembarrassed that she was starving and sickening the Parisians

Joan of Arc, during the failed siege of Paris in which she was wounded, kept food out of the city for almost 20 days, unembarrassed that she was starving and sickening the Parisians. Of course, this looks like a perfectly normal part of siege strategy. But the point lies not

Museums · Observations · Science · Mores

Nineteenth-century anatomical model with an erotic pose at the Museum of the History of Medicine of Catalonia

Can a dead body be sexually attractive? The makers of this anatomical model of the 1800s, from the Museum of the History of Medicine of Catalonia, expressed themselves on the matter quite unequivocally. It looks ghastly, of course, that this macabre woman with her disembowelled belly should have such a

Aristocracy · Monarchies · People

Marie of Edinburgh, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Alexander II, the last Queen of Romania

Marie of Edinburgh, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Alexander II, the last Queen of Romania. In furs. She wrote ardent letters to George V and Nicholas II and was a genuine celebrity of her day. To this woman the Entente owed Romania's abandonment of neutrality and its entry

NB! · Faith · Art

The Virgin Mary, Newly Delivered, Warms Her Feet on a Lamb

The Virgin Mary, newly delivered, warms her feet on a lamb. “Holy Night” from Manchester Cathedral, by the English artist Josefina Alice Hermes de Vasconcellos (1904-2005), who completed the sculpture at the age of 87

Alexandr Radayev