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NB! · Archive · Architecture · Art · Moscow · Observations
Anonymous French engraving of the French entry into Moscow in 1812
Note the appearance of Moscow's fortress walls, more reminiscent of the Western European Middle Ages, in the anonymous French engraving "The French Entering Moscow". I am especially fond of the drawbridge beside the Kremlin
NB! · Cinema · Books · Observations
Usually I choose with ease, but in the case of Miss Marple and Poirot it is impossible to say which of them is my favourite
Faith · Observations · Society
Patriarch Alexy II on bitter words spoken to rulers and to the people
There were times when the Patriarch's duty was to speak bitter words to the ruler's face. Now, it seems, there are coming times when still more bitter words must be spoken to the face of one's own people. Patriarch Alexy II
NB! · Archive · Museums · Saint Petersburg
The Hermitage in Photographs by Lev Borodulin, 1966
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Has Every Right
Archive · Nature · Humour
Monkey at sea mistaken for a person, rescued by boat, swims away again
In 1950 a solitary male proboscis monkey was spotted far out in the South China Sea. The passengers of a cruise liner mistook the animal for a human being, and a boat was lowered to go to its assistance. The monkey clambered aboard, rested for a while, but then leapt
NB! · Art · Museums · Humour
Knights Don't Want to Leave Their Beds Either, but a New Working Week Lies Ahead
NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Heritage
The House with the Unicorn in Nashchokinsky Lane was built by the architect Shchekotov in 1897 with Gothic motifs, but the unicorn appeared considerably later, as did the gargoyles: these decorative elements arrived on the façade after the building's reno
Faith · Observations · Society
Pope Benedict XVI and his view of the modern ideology of the West
We are building a dictatorship of relativism that recognises nothing as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires. Pope Benedict XVI, it turns out, on the modern ideology of the West
Art · Museums · Observations · Paris · Pop Culture
Advertisement with Poussin's painting from the Louvre and its subject of death in Arcadia
Nicolas Poussin's "The Shepherds of Arcadia" (1637–38) in an advertisement for Lolita Lempicka's men's fragrance. The first thought on seeing this dreadful advertisement: did the collaboration bring the Louvre, which houses Poussin's immortal canvas, enough money to acquire for
Art · Books
Batyushkov's poem on a shepherdess's grave and Poussin's painting “The Arcadian Shepherds”
Подруги милые! в беспечности игривой Под плясовой напев вы резвитесь в лугах. И я, как вы, жила в Аркадии счастливой, И я, на утре дней, в сих рощах и лугах Минутны радости вкусила: Любовь в мечтах златых мне счастие сулила: Но что ж досталось мне в сих радостных местах? — Могила!