Art · Science · Society · Ethnography

Soyuz-Apollo

Soyuz-Apollo. A work by Lubsan Dorzhiev (1918-2011), People's Artist of the Buryat ASSR, who painted in the folk style and for many years devoted himself to Buryat ornamentation. Soyuz-Apollo was the first international crewed space flight, and is considered to mark the end of the

Aristocracy · London · Monarchies · People

Princess Alexandra of Kent, the most Russian member of the British royal family, turns 87

First cousin of Elizabeth II, granddaughter of Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna and great-great-granddaughter of Emperor Alexander II

Faith · Observations · Society

In His Christmas Address Pope Francis Unexpectedly Reminded Us That We Are Not a Number but a Face

Yet in reality everything now happening in the world looks rather the other way round. "Amid a world so judgemental and unforgiving", "you are not a number but a face", and the Christ Child "descends into the narrow confines of our lives, not shunning our

NB! · Art · Humour

A Man in a Pram: A Request to Return the Child to Its Mother

Faith · Books · People

Tolkien's words to his son Michael about Holy Communion and talk of canonisation

Pope Francis quoted Tolkien's letter to his son in his Christmas address:. "Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament… There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the

Books · Society · Humour

Blaise Pascal on how the number of lackeys decides who yields the way

How right it is to distinguish men not by their inner qualities but by their outward signs! Which of us two is to go first? Which is to yield the way to the other? The one who is less nimble. But we are equally nimble, so force will have to

NB! · Archive · People

Possibly the Boldest of Winston Churchill's Photographs

NB! · Humour

Et tu, Brute?

German soldiers in spiked helmets in a trench read letters and open parcels beside a decorated Christmas tree.

NB! · Archive · Mores · Society

The Christmas Truce of 24–25 December 1914 on Some Sectors of the First World War Fronts

The Christmas Truce of the First World War, 24–25 December 1914. The truce was not observed along the whole front, but in some sectors the guns fell silent

NB! · Faith · Art

The Holy Family, Fifteenth Century

NB! · Art · Books

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin's "Behind the Samovar" on the cover of the French edition of Ivan Bunin's "The Life of Arseniev"

Art · Observations · Humour

The Main Thing Is Not to Forget That a Dragon Is a Dragon

Illustration by the American artist Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951)

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