Stone sculpture of Mary Magdalene with long flowing hair and hands joined in prayer, against a dark background.

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Art

Sculpture of Mary Magdalene, 1311–1313, from the west portal of Notre-Dame Church in Écouis

Stone sculpture of Mary Magdalene from the church of Notre-Dame in Écouis, made between 1311 and 1313. The sculpture adorned the west portal

NB! · Faith · The East · Art · Books

The Archangel Gabriel from the "Wonders of Creation and the Oddities of Existence"

NB! · Observations · Society · People

Incidentally, Trump is rather like Mussolini

NB! · Cinema

Stills from the 1940 film The Mark of Zorro

NB! · Books · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

In essence, ChatGPT and Tom Riddle's diary are phenomena of one and the same demonic nature

NB! · Architecture · Art

The tavern from the fresco “The Effects of Good Government in the City”, painted by Ambrogio Lorenzetti for the town hall of Siena in 1338–1339

NB! · Geography · Maps · Observations

I wonder when the map will be updated

NB! · Books · Humour

Thanks to a compositor's error, Lensky's fate might have seemed far more enviable

Art · Monarchies · Mores

Fortification billiards in France with arches, gates and a mallet instead of a cue

Louis XIV Plays His Favourite Game, Billiards, 1694. Note the cue, which resembles a little mallet. Look at the billiard table. First, it has no pockets. Second, a post and an arch stand upon it. What are they? This is a variety popular in France: fortification billiards. For this game

NB! · Art · Moscow · Society

"Big Clay No. 4" is being removed from Bolotnaya Embankment

Archive · Heritage · Society

Insurgents destroy the eight-metre statue of Stalin during the 1956 Hungarian Uprising

The shattered figure of Stalin during the Hungarian Uprising, 23 October - 10 November 1956. The insurgent crowd brought down the eight-metre statue of Stalin erected for his seventieth birthday, leaving only the boots, into which a Hungarian flag was planted. The disfigured head lay for a long time in

Art · Observations

Comparing the figure by the water in paintings by Caravaggio and Waterhouse

Caravaggio's Narcissus and Waterhouse's Narcissus. Caravaggio's is stern and sombre, set against an abstract landscape in dramatic light. No stream, no wood: only black emptiness and a reflection. Waterhouse's is poetic and dreamy. Wrapped in a red cloak and crowned with green,

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