NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Paris

The Arc de Triomphe looks splendid after restoration, and even a strange sphere for the opening of the Olympics does not spoil the view

NB! · Archive · Mores · Pop Culture

Ladies' Trifles, 1834

A round crater with rust-colored rims, its floor covered in white ice, surrounded by orange-brown desert terrain under a light haze.

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Ice-filled crater on Mars seen from an oblique angle

NB! · Geography · Science · Nature

Images Published of Water Ice in an 82-Kilometre Crater at Mars's North Pole

Archaeology · Art

Workers find 2,000-year-old copy of Polykleitos's Diadumenos on Delos

Two workmen have unearthed a 2,000-year-old sculpture of the Diadumenos on the Greek island of Delos, that is, a victorious athlete tying the red ribbon of triumph around his head. It is one of the many copies of a lost bronze original by the ancient Greek sculptor

NB! · Faith · Society · Paris

Sixteen French Carmelite nuns who resisted revolutionary state control over the Catholic Church were executed on 17 July 1794 and became the Martyrs of Compiègne

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I'm alive, Marta!

I'm alive, Marta! I'm alive!

Close-up of an old gilded bronze vessel: a ribbed shoulder, silver vine leaves, reclining figures at the neck and a relief of female figures on the body, with patina.

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Gilded bronze vessel with relief figures and a vine motif

A bronze krater with a golden sheen, relief figures, sculptures on the shoulders and a vine ornament in a museum display case.

NB! · Archaeology · Art

Bronze krater of the late 4th century BC with Dionysian scenes from a burial near Thessaloniki

A delightful piece of work from the late 4th century BC. This bronze krater with Dionysian scenes was found in a burial near Thessaloniki. The craftsmen achieved its golden gleam through a high tin content

NB! · Art · Observations · Mores · Humour

Ancient Greek hairstyles and headdresses make one wonder: at precisely which moment did fashion take a wrong turn?

Archive · Books · Moscow · Science · Mores

Dutch barber Quirin suspected of sorcery because of a skeleton on his wall

Adam Olearius, in his "Detailed Description of the Journey of the Holstein Embassy to Muscovy and Persia in 1633, 1636 and 1639", relates the following incident:. "...a barber named Quirinus, a Dutchman and a man of merry disposition, being in the service of the Grand Duke, kept

Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Spanish Bourbons and the claim of Luis Alfonso, Duke of Anjou, to the French throne

I see excellent potential for a dynastic union in this photograph, an alliance of the English and Spanish crowns against France, say, if Prince George were to marry the Infanta Sofía. There is just one small "but": Spain is tied to France through Bourbon-Anjou, and King Felipe

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