Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Saint Petersburg

Catherine the Great's erotic cabinet at Tsarskoye Selo and the inconsistencies of its legend

I came across a mention of Catherine II's erotic cabinet, supposedly discovered at Tsarskoye Selo by soldiers at the very start of the war. The story is murky and even contradictory, and there is a great deal of muddle in it. If soldiers found it, what were they

Black-and-white photo of a chair with straight tapered legs, a tall back of two upholstered panels and sculpted decoration on top. The fabric has a diamond pattern.

NB! · Archive

Antique chair with patterned upholstery and a carved crest rail

Archaeology · Museums · Heritage · Society

German officers and museum director Mates looted the museums of Krasnodar and Taganrog

Talk of wartime vandalism is often reduced to a few simple psychological regularities, which tie together the humble origins of the common soldier, the hardships of army life, the constant fear of death and the sight of war's horrors, all leading to dehumanisation. It is often said that

Books · Moscow · Observations · Society

There is a well-known passage from a Lotman lecture on the psychological and social causes of boorishness, which applies equally to the modern hooligan and, as it turns out, to many a civil servant

There is a well-known passage from a Lotman lecture on the psychological and social causes of boorishness, which applies equally to the modern hooligan and, as it turns out, to many a civil servant. A simple formula explains the defiant, odious conduct of people who knowingly destroy what is

Monarchies · Observations · Rome

The Pythia's prophecy to Nero about 63 and versions of its interpretation

There is a legend that the Pythia told Nero to beware the year 63. He, so the story goes, took this as a reference to the age at which death threatened him. But the prophecy revealed itself where no one expected. It is said to have come true otherwise than

NB! · Observations · Mores · Society

It is a pity that the genre of the deathbed farewell, the bedside conversation, the portrait of the dying man has been utterly lost, especially in political culture

It is a pity that the genre of the deathbed farewell, the bedside conversation, the portrait of the dying man has been utterly lost, especially in political culture. Besides, leaders so rarely die these days. And today is the anniversary of Napoleon's death

Archive · Heritage · Society · People

The 1928 Roerich Pact and German looting of Soviet cultural property

Destroyed by human error and restored by human hope. In international law, the history of the protection of cultural property begins in the nineteenth century: the Lieber Code, the Brussels Conference, the Hague Conventions and Declarations and, finally, the Roerich Pact, or Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific

Coming Up · Art · Books · Observations · Heritage

A series of notes on artworks and cultural treasures lost in the war, for Victory Day

For some time I have been studying the subject of cultural losses in the war years, and for Victory Day I have decided to prepare a series of notes on the treasures of art and culture that our country has lost. Over the weekend I shall share the stories that

NB! · Archive · Art · Heritage

American soldiers at Neuschwanstein, where 21,000 works of art were brought from France

Family portrait in an interior: a mother in a teal dress at a harpsichord, the father beside her, four children and a dog on a red carpet.

NB! · Art · Observations · Mores

Family portrait by Troost and the depiction of children as small adults

Troost, family portrait. The children have faces like grown-ups. It is not that nobody knew how to paint a child's face; a child was simply regarded as a small adult. A great deal has been written about this in the history of childhood

NB! · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage

Packaged like a good box of chocolates

Packaged like a good box of chocolates. The royal crown of France, made for the seven-year-old Louis XV, crowned in 1722. At the end of the nineteenth century some of its stones were replaced with bits of glass and sold

Painted sculpted bust of a man in dark clothing with red sleeves on a gilded pedestal.

NB! · Faith · Books · Observations · People

Niccolò Machiavelli on religious practices in the interests of the sovereign

Machiavelli wrote that religious practices should be used solely in the interests of the prince. How fortunate that we do not forget his precepts. And happy birthday, Niccolò!

Alexandr Radayev