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The resemblance between Nicholas II and George V in matching photographs
Nicholas II and George V are such card-players, swapping places in identical photographs to confuse everyone around them: the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen of their day. I just can't decide whether this is already "Big Daddy" or still "Two of a Kind: Me
NB! · Faith · Moscow · Observations
The loveliest sight in Moscow: the gold of Orthodox crosses at sunset
NB! · Art
Theodor Pištěk's painting “Family Portrait” of 1975
Family Portrait. Teodor Pištěk, 1975
Archive · Moscow · Society · People
Mikhail Frunze's horse in the funeral procession on Red Square, 3 November 1925
At the funeral of Mikhail Frunze, his horse was led in the procession. 3 November 1925, Red Square, photograph by Arkady Shaikhet. The horse became a full participant in the funeral cortège and walked behind its master's coffin together with the leaders of the Soviet state: Stalin, Zinoviev,
Books · Humour
Voltaire on the play “Hamlet”, which he sees as the work of a drunken savage
"Hamlet" is a coarse and barbarous play which even the common people of France or Italy would not deign to read. Hamlet goes mad in the second act, and his beloved in the third. The prince kills his beloved's father, pretending to kill a rat, and
Art · Books · Humour
Thereupon the Town Governor took off his own head and handed it to me
Thereupon the Town Governor took off his own head and handed it to me. Examining the box lying before me more closely, I found that it contained, in one corner, a small barrel organ, capable of playing certain simple pieces of music. There were two such pieces: “I'll
Archive · Moscow · People
Nikolai Pushkin, the poet's grandson, and his wife on Povarskaya Street in 1902
The grandson of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin with the girls. 1902, Povarskaya Street Nikolai Alexandrovich Pushkin and his wife Nadezhda Alexeyevna Petunnikova on the right, with Madame M. N. Nikolayeva on the left. The family, with two children, emigrated after 1917 and settled in Belgium. The writer Kataev visited the poet&
Art · Observations · People
Painting by Franz von Stuck, one of Kandinsky's teachers, recalls cave art
The Wild Hunt, 1890. My favourite among the works of the remarkable Bavarian artist Franz von Stuck, incidentally one of Kandinsky's teachers at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. The elongated horizontal canvas, the arrangement of the figures and the dark colours make the picture resemble cave art.
Interviews · Cinema · Books · Observations · People
С выхода фильма «Высоцкий
Almost 15 years have passed since the release of the film «Vysotsky. Thank God I'm Alive», and since then, it seems, the media have rarely recalled the Soviet Union's foremost bard. And now CHTIVO is bringing out an issue devoted entirely to Vladimir Vysotsky. I am
Art · New York · Society
Christie’s sums up the first half of 2025: revenue of $2.1bn, in line with the same period last year
Christie’s has sums up the first half of 2025: revenue came to $2.1bn, in line with the same period last year. As Christie’s chief executive Alex Rotter noted, the steady results were driven by increased demand for the art of the 20th and 21st centuries. The most
Archive · Books · People
Leo Tolstoy on the death of Fyodor Dostoevsky, whom he never saw
How I wish I could say all that I feel about Dostoevsky. I never saw the man and never had any direct dealings with him; and suddenly, when he died, I understood that he was the closest, dearest, most necessary person to me. And it never once entered my head