Archive · Heritage · Society

German mining of Pushkin's grave and the clearing of mines from the Pushkin Reserve

A wooden plaque with a warning inscription: "The grave of A.S. Pushkin is mined. Entry forbidden. Senior Lieutenant Starcheus." The Germans occupied the Pushkin Reserve for three years, from 12 July 1941 to 12 July 1944. The fascists were driven out of Pushkinskiye Gory by units of

NB! · Archaeology · Archive · The East · Humour

During the building of the pyramid of King Neferirkare, the tallest of the Fifth Dynasty pyramids, one of the officials in charge of its construction was so overcome by the pharaoh's visit that he died of fright

Art · Mores · Society

Presidential portraits in the Oval Office and Trump's choice of Andrew Jackson

There is a tradition in the USA of presidents staging a demonstrative dialogue with their predecessors by invoking their historical images or the trends characteristic of their era. Every new president rearranges the Oval Office and adds a few details, down to changing the colour of the carpet, but chiefly,

Books · Observations · Nature

There Are Insects That Die Immediately After Fertilisation

There are insects that die immediately after fertilisation. So it is with our joys: the moment of fullest delight, and they are gone! Søren Kierkegaard

Faith · Monarchies · Humour

“God Is with Us

«С НАМИ Б҃ГЪ. РАЗУМѢЙТЕ ЯЗЫЦЫ И ПОКОРѦЙТЕСѦ», that is, “God is with us. Understand, O nations, and submit yourselves”. The quotation, in Church Slavonic, is from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and is inscribed on the obverse of the medal “For the Pacification of Hungary and Transylvania”. The

Books

Around the village thunderstorms wandered, And often, full of longing, Lightning strikes, through tears, Broke the sky into pieces. It lashed as if from a flask, And above the gathering of birches A feast of electricity and moisture Merged into furious ch

Returning from Work. Nikolay Zabolotsky, 1954

Painted scene in a drawing room: a woman in a patterned dress stands with her hand on her hip while girls and a boy sit by a piano with sheet music. Green walls hold framed pictures; a lamp

NB!

Green-walled drawing room with a woman and children at the piano

Painted interior with two women seated by an open balcony door, walls in blue patterned wallpaper and a round table with books in the foreground.

NB! · Art · Observations · Paris · People

French Post-Impressionist Édouard Vuillard becomes the author's new favourite artist

I officially have a new favourite artist. Allow me to introduce the French Post-Impressionist Édouard Vuillard (1868−1940)

NB! · Archive · People · Pop Culture

Tchaikovsky's Musical Autograph

A uniformed man leans on a drum beside a gun carriage; a boy bugler sits on it with a horn and a staff topped by an eagle. A large building looms behind.

NB! · Archive · London

Two Royal Artillery musicians with drum and bugle by a gun carriage, London, 1856

Photograph of Crimean War participants, London, 1856. Surviving trumpeters of the Royal Artillery hold a captured flagstaff with an eagle

Observations · Ethnography

The name Vyacheslav, its Slavic forms and its link to the name Stefan

It is curious that the Russian name Vyacheslav corresponds to the common Slavic name Wenceslas, popular among the Poles and Bulgarians. The name is occasionally found among Italians as well. Alexandra Superanskaya, a classic of Russian onomastics, points out that Wenceslas may have been a free rendering of the name

Art · Mores · Humour

A young man in very strange breeches points at his unfaithful sweetheart in the company of another man

Czech engraver Wenceslaus Hollar, 1646

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