A cup of water and a pink flower in a painting by Francisco de Zurbarán
Good morning from Francisco de Zurbarán. Let us begin the day quietly, with thoughts as plain as a mug of water and a mood like a tender pink flower
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Alexander I as King of Poland and the Incorporation of the Duchy of Warsaw into the Russian Empire in 1815
Alexander I, King of Poland, Tsar and Autocrat of All the Russias Just a reminder of Russia's borders before 1918: in 1815 the greater part of the Duchy of Warsaw became part of the Russian Empire as the Kingdom of Poland, or the Vistula Land, until everything fell
How Many Suffered in Dekulakisation: Estimates by Zemskov, Ivnitsky and Conquest
A photograph of 1930 showing the deportation of a kulak and his family The number of victims of dekulakisation has still not been established and can hardly be stated unambiguously, since the figure includes both those directly repressed (stripped of their property, evicted, exiled, arrested) and, on occasion, the victims
Félix Bonfils, photographs of a dragoman and guide for travellers in Syria
From a guidebook to Syria. Photographs by Félix Bonfils (1831-1885)
Fire at Miller House in Saint Petersburg and bans on building after fires in the laws of several countries
On the evening of 1 October the Miller mansion at 3 St Isaac's Square in Saint Petersburg burned down. A house of the second half of the eighteenth century, rebuilt in 1879-1880 in eclectic forms by the architect Ferdinand Miller, it was granted the status of a