Books · Observations · Society
A culture builds forts when it is on the way down. When it is on the rise, it builds fleets and fights for trade, for growth and for the spread of its own civilisation. When it builds forts, it is already on the defensive, static, waiting to be conquered. Forts
NB! · Archaeology · The East · Museums
Part of the great chain that guarded the approach to Constantinople from the sea. Galata Tower Museum, Istanbul. A link just like this one, or this very one, was formerly displayed at the Archaeological Museum
Books · Mores · People
After the publication of Yusupov's memoirs about the murder of Rasputin, Maria brought a suit against Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry Romanov, demanding monetary compensation for the moral damage caused, but the claim was dismissed, since under French law the court did not consider it possible to
Faith · Observations · Society
A celebrated quotation from the Portuguese Catholic nun Sister Lúcia (1907-2005), one of the three witnesses of the Fátima apparitions of the Mother of God in 1917. According to the Fátima prophecy, the Virgin Mary asked for Russia to be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart, in order to avert
NB! · Archive · Pop Culture · Humour
NB! · Observations
Books · Observations · Humour
The Nine Daughters of King Pierus of Macedonia Are Turned into Birds After Losing a Singing Contest to the Muses. A textbook case of the punishment not fitting the offence: so they doubted the talents of the Muses, what of it? The Muses, incidentally, might have refrained from swaggering about
Art · Museums
Boris Orlov, 1987. The exhibition “The Road to the Avant-Garde: Artists in Dialogue in the Journal ‘A-Ya’” at the Zotov Centre
Observations · Humour
Polyamory ought not to exist: it is simply unnatural and even revolting. Poly is a Greek prefix, from the word πολύς, while amor is a Latin root. So kindly choose: either polyphilia, with Greek morphemes only, or multiamory, with Latin ones only. And such an ugly mingling, a hybridisation of
Geography · Observations · Society
Doesn't it strike you as strange that in a country which has renamed the cities named after Lenin and Stalin there still remains a city named after Togliatti, a third-rate historical figure from the Communist Party of Italy? True, not every settlement named after a Communist functionary
NB! · Observations · Mores
One of my strongest childhood memories is the winter walk to kindergarten. A blizzard outside, for some reason always, and the sun not yet up. The cold does not pierce you, it merely pinches your cheeks. Mother and I crunch through the snowdrifts. I am dressed like Napoleon in Russia.
Faith · Observations
Others' sins are none of your business. Sit and weep for your own sins. Venerable Gabriel Urgebadze