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The East · Art · Monarchies · Humour
Cyrus the Great Walked into Babylon as Though It Were His Own Home
Cyrus the Great walked into Babylon as though it were his own home. Quite literally: without a fight, by way of the river, past the guards. He conquered Babylon in 539 BC, exploiting the discontent of the population and diverting the course of the Euphrates so that his troops could
Faith · Art · Books
Not with seven diamond seals is the eternal entrance to God's paradise locked, It does not beckon with glitter and temptations, And the people know nothing of it
It is a door in a wall long abandoned, Stones, moss and nothing more, Beside it a beggar, like an uninvited guest, And the keys hang at his belt. Knights and men-at-arms ride past, The howl of trumpets, the jangle of silver, And no one glances at the
NB! · Art
Painting “Enlightenment”, 2013, by Mi-Yon Choi
NB! · Art · Museums · Humour
Don't Try to Escape from the Giacometti Museum
In the Press · Museums · Heritage · Science
Atomic oxygen for restoring darkened lead white in Copenhagen graphic art
Specialists at the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen intend to use atomic oxygen, a substance found naturally in low Earth orbit, in the restoration of works on paper, reports The Art Newspaper Russia. Lead white enjoyed wide popularity from ancient times until the twentieth century, when it fell out
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Gallery corner with a cabinet-like object, a painting and a looped cord on the wall
Coming Up · Art · Moscow · Museums
An Important Exhibition, "Inhale Exhale" by the Artist Anya Zheludь, Is on at the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow: Her Fine Lines Spoke Louder Than Any Words
Metal bars, beds, hospital wards, kettles: all these are not mere objects but traces of presence, occasions for reflection. Her paintings seemed almost empty, yet it was in that very emptiness that their strength was born. Anna wrote short phrases on the canvas, as though keeping a private diary: "
Observations · Mores · Society · Humour
The typical Soviet club as the cultural centre of a settlement or district
The typical club of our day is where everyone has a “unique style” but the same trainers and the same playlist, and even the bouncer knows you came not for fun but for a top-up of self-esteem. The typical club of the era of the developed welfare state,
Faith · Art · Humour
“The Immaculate and God the Father” by Luca Mombello, a 16th-century painting of the Virgin Mary
Luca Mombello is a name all but forgotten outside Italy, yet in the sixteenth century this painter held a place of his own. His painting “The Immaculate Virgin and God the Father”, made somewhere between 1560 and 1580, conveys that delicate borderline where spirituality is interwoven with sensibility. At the
Art · Books · Humour
Recent Italian edition of the “Divine Comedy” with illustrations for “Paradiso”
Dante descended into Hell once, but illustrators go down there every time they are asked to add a few more details. The design of this recent Italian edition of the Divine Comedy makes the book a collector's find at first glance
NB! · Archive · The East · Books · Nature