Archaeology · London · Science · Humour
Around 1700, a young man of obscure origins was wandering about Europe. He went through several legends before settling on the most advantageous of them, announcing himself a native of the island of Formosa. Under the name of George Psalmanazar he made his way to London, where he found a
Listings · Moscow · Coming Up · Art · Museums
Small-scale plastic art is seldom the star of a museum display. Yet for how much these works can tell us about the history and culture of a country, few things can compare. This week's recommendations are devoted to exhibitions of coins and medals that deserve particular attention,
NB! · Moscow · Observations · Nature · Humour
And what is wrong with the short-term memory of all those Muscovites who have fallen into hysterics over snow at the end of April? It falls, as a matter of fact, quite regularly even in June
NB! · Architecture · Observations
Archive · Monarchies · Society · People
This remarkable phrase appears in the testament of Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy. The whole sentence runs thus: "And should God change the Horde, my children shall not be obliged to give the tribute to the Horde, and whichever of my sons takes tribute in his own appanage, to him
Moscow · Observations · Society · People
I remember Election Night in March 2018. It was his sixth presidential defeat, yet Zhirinovsky climbs onto the stage without any visible disappointment. A short speech on how the political landscape would change in the years ahead. We applaud more out of inertia: the result has been announced, though everything
NB! · Humour
Archive · Art · Monarchies · Humour
The Parlement of Paris, or the Supreme Royal Court of France, in solemn session in the presence of King Charles VII. Miniature by Jean Fouquet from the Hours of Étienne Chevalier, 1450s. From about the summer of 1461, the future King Louis XI effectively isolated his father, Charles VII, in
Architecture · Cinema · Observations · Heritage · Society
Trump Plans to Rebuild the Reflecting Pool, the Very One Between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, Along Which Forrest Gump Ran to Jenny and Around Which a Crowd of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Listened to Martin Luther King. I've probably built more than a hundred
Archaeology · Geography · Science · Nature
An international team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena has set side by side three sets of data: models of the distribution of the largest complexes of vector mosquitoes, palaeoclimatic models and the settlement sites of early humans in sub-Saharan Africa in the period
Archaeology · The East · Art
In the ancient city of Laodicea in south-western Turkey, a marble statue of Athena almost two metres tall has been found in the ruins of the western theatre. The statue lay face down in a collapse of rubble by the outer wall of an administrative building. The head and
Architecture · Observations · New York · Society
Have you come across reels criticising the new skyscraper in New York, which is being berated for blocking the view of the Empire State Building from Fifth Avenue? These lamentations have been turning up in my feed for a week now, and New Yorker acquaintances confirm that everyone is indeed