Art · London · Humour
“The Lament for Icarus”, a painting by Herbert James Draper from 1898
A Lovely Tan, but at What Price! The Lament for Icarus, a painting by Herbert James Draper, painted in 1898
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Books · Society
Jean-Jacques Rousseau on the independent existence of government and the structure of the state
The State must always be ready to sacrifice the government for the people, and not the people for the government. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract. in order that the body of the Government may have an existence of its own, a real life that distinguishes it from the body
The East · Geography · Maps
The Aral Sea on maps of Asia and the Caspian shown in place of two seas in Sanson's atlas
The Aral Sea appears on maps of Asia only at the very end of the seventeenth century. Indeed, many atlases of even later date, such as this atlas by Sanson, still show the Caspian Sea as if it were two seas in one: they mark the Syr Darya and the
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Marble bas-relief of a woman with birds and piglets in an arched niche
Architecture · Art · Moscow · Observations · Heritage
The metro station Dobryninskaya (formerly Serpukhovskaya) is adorned with 16 refined bas-reliefs by Elena Janson-Manizer, wife of the author of the bronze sculptures at Ploshchad Revolyutsii station
The marble reliefs depict, for the most part, agricultural workers. This is presumably meant to allude to the chief farming trade of each Soviet republic. Why 16 republics? The Union republics, the RSFSR included, numbered 15 from 1956 onwards; in 1950, when the station opened, there was still the Karelo-
NB! · Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Paris
A magnificent twin-spiral oak staircase, twenty-one metres high and weighing twenty tonnes, has been installed in the south tower of Notre-Dame de Paris
NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Heritage
Interior of the house in Ajaccio, Corsica, where Napoleon was born
Books · Humour
John Updike in “Rabbit, Run” on an adult walking down an alley instead of driving
It is quite unclear why a grown man is walking down the street on foot. Where is his car? John Updike, Rabbit, Run
Archive · Art · Moscow · People
Boris Shalyapin, who moved to France, on a walk through Moscow in 1960
Boris Chaliapin in Moscow in 1960. A stroll past the Ryabushinsky mansion, the Church of the Great Ascension at the Nikitsky Gates and along Spiridonovka. The elder son of Feodor Chaliapin, who had moved to France in 1925, visited Moscow several times during the years of the Thaw. An exhibition
Art · Monarchies · People
Napoleon's sabre of 1802 by Boutet, given to Marshal Grouchy before Waterloo
Napoleon's Sabre Sold for $5.2 Million. The sabre was made in 1802 to Napoleon's order, after he had been proclaimed Consul for Life. The work was carried out by the master armourer Nicolas-Noël Boutet, who directed the state arms workshop at Versailles. The blade
The East · Cinema · People
The Palme d'Or at Cannes goes to "It Was Just an Accident" by the Iranian director Jafar Panahi
The jury of the main competition this year was chaired by the French actress Juliette Binoche.
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