NB! · Architecture · Faith · Humour
Alexandr Radayev
Monarchies · Mores · People
Alice Perrers, mistress of Edward III, and how she enriched herself at the king's expense
Alice Perrers was 36 years younger than her lover, Edward III. She twisted the king around her finger, sowed discord at court and, after the queen's death, in effect took her place; this troubled society and Parliament so greatly that it was resolved to remove Alice from court.
Archive · Faith · Ethnography
Which horns are used for the shofar at Rosh Hashanah services and what it symbolises
At the synagogue service for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), the shofar, a wind instrument made of a ram's horn, is sounded a hundred times, the very instrument whose blasts brought down the walls of Jericho. A shofar is made from the horns of rams, antelopes and
NB! · Observations · Mores · Humour
Indecency, 1799
Indecency, 1799. It reminded me of a woman artist of my acquaintance who, rather than queue for the lavatory at Simachev's, went to relieve herself round the corner, where she was caught in the act. Since then we have conversed only across the fence
Museums · Observations · Society · Society Pages
The May Decrees of 2012 excluded copy exhibitions from museums' state assignments
At a museum dinner marking Leo Tolstoy's 190th anniversary, I learned that among other things the May Decrees of 2012 included a provision that exhibitions of copies do not count towards the state assignment, so a museum cannot report them as fulfilment of its plan. The innovation was
NB! · Architecture · Art · Books · Heritage
The archivolt of the north portal of Modena Cathedral may contain the earliest depiction of a scene from the life of King Arthur, dating to 1120–1130
Archaeology · Palaeontology · Nature
Fisherman Raymond McElroy hauls giant deer skull from Lough Neagh in his net
A simple Irish fisherman, Raymond McElroy, has found the skull of a giant deer (otherwise known as the great-horned or Irish deer). The find landed in a fishing net in the largest lake in Great Britain, Lough Neagh (in Northern Ireland, not far from Belfast). This is the second
NB! · Science · Palaeontology · Nature
A Skull Found by a Fisherman in an Irish Lough Lay Underwater for More Than Ten Thousand Years and Belongs to the Vanished Giant Deer
NB! · Faith · Museums · Mores · Paris
The Very Reliquary with the Teeth of Abelard and Heloise, Once Owned by Alexandre Lenoir
Books · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage · Paris
In one of the tales in Alexandre Dumas's "A Thousand and One Ghosts" we meet a certain Monsieur Ledru, keeper of an entire collection of royal relics, which he acquired by attending the despoiling of the burial vaults in the Basilica of Saint-Denis and ta
In one of the tales in Alexandre Dumas's "A Thousand and One Ghosts" we meet a certain Monsieur Ledru, keeper of an entire collection of royal relics, which he acquired by attending the despoiling of the burial vaults in the Basilica of Saint-Denis and taking
NB! · Faith · Heritage
The Foot of Saint Catherine of Siena, Patron Saint of Italy, in the Altar of the Right Aisle of the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, One of the Largest Churches in Venice
NB! · Museums · Palaeontology · Paris · Humour
The Parade of Skeletons in the Paris Palaeontology Laboratory Exhibition
The exhibition of the Paris palaeontology laboratory is called a parade of skeletons, because all the skeletons face the same way. And yes, these beasts look as though they have only just reached retirement age in Russia