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NB! · Art · People
The Picador, Picasso's First Oil Painting, Painted at the Age of 8
NB! · Faith · Books · Ethnography
The Gospel in Chuvash
Art · Monarchies · Museums · Paris
Table Made from a Malabar Teak Slice for Louis XVIII at the Grand Trianon
In 1823 Louis XVIII acquired a unique slab of wood: a cross-section of Malabar oak, or teak, almost 3 metres across. The wood of Indian teak, especially from the Malabar Coast, is highly prized for its handsome colouring. But teak usually reaches no more than a metre and a
NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Observations
Flowers decorate the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge in Moscow with the Kremlin in view
What a beauty! Well done, the city services! They have decked the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge with flowers, and it looks magnificent, never mind Paris
NB! · Art · People
This Is What the Influence of Leonardo da Vinci Looks Like
NB!
The Pauper and the Rich Man
Books · Observations
Everything Finest That Men Have Said Was Said in Greek
The French writer Marguerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian
Archive · Books · Monarchies · Moscow
"And having so taken counsel, they came together at Moscow…": The first mention of Moscow in the Patriarchal (Nikon) Chronicle for 1147, from a manuscript presumably compiled at the Trinity-Sergius Monastery from the mid-14th century
"In the year 6655. Grand Prince Yury of Suzdal, son of Vladimir Monomakh, grandson of Vsevolod, great-grandson of Yaroslav, great-great-grandson of Vladimir the Great, gathered an host, and went and took the town of Novy Torg, and along the river Msta laid waste many districts; and
Moscow · Pop Culture · Saint Petersburg
Neil Tennant learned the Russian alphabet at 14, and West End Girls traces Lenin's route
The Pet Shop Boys in Red Square, Moscow, in 1993, during the filming of the video for Go West. The lads have loved Russia for a long time. Neil Tennant, the duo's singer, has said that he learned the Russian alphabet at the age of 14, simply out
Art · Madrid · Museums · Society
Spaniard arrested in Madrid over sale of fake portrait of Trivulzio
A Spanish citizen has been arrested in Madrid on suspicion of involvement in a deal to sell a fake Leonardo da Vinci. The fraudster planned to sell in Milan a portrait of the Italian military commander and patron of the arts Gian Giacomo Trivulzio for 1.4 million dollars. The
Archive · Books · Society · People
Griboyedov's arrest in 1826, his interrogation about Russian dress and his release
In 1826 Griboyedov was arrested on the testimony of Prince Trubetskoy, who had named him among the members of a secret society. Alexander Griboyedov was interrogated by General Vasily Vasilyevich Levashov, a veteran of Borodino. Among other things, Griboyedov was asked at the interrogation: - In what sense and to what