London · Museums · Heritage · Society

Greece and the British Museum hold talks on the return of the Parthenon sculptures

News of Progress in Talks between Greek Officials and the British Museum on the Repatriation of the Parthenon Sculptures Stolen by the English: a Tangible Shift May Be Coming on the Return of the "Elgin Marbles" to Greece. Firstly, strange as it may seem, after decades of Greek

Bronze statue of a youth in a long pleated tunic and headband, holding leather reins in his outstretched hand, against the warm yellow walls of a museum.

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The Charioteer of Delphi, bronze statue in a museum hall

Archaeology · Art · Museums

The Charioteer of Delphi, one of the most photographed statues in the world, sometimes called the Mona Lisa of Ancient Greece, was created between 470 and 466 BC and has survived to our day, or rather to its discovery in the spring of 1896, thanks to a la

The Charioteer of Delphi, one of the most photographed statues in the world, sometimes called the Mona Lisa of Ancient Greece, was created between 470 and 466 BC and has survived to our day, or rather to its discovery in the spring of 1896, thanks to a landslide brought down

Archive · Books · Monarchies · Mores

Mirror divination on the day of the Tilsit meeting of Alexander I and Napoleon

Pogodin has a tale, told by Countess A.D.B., of a strange divination that took place in a landowner's house, in the company of friends E.O. The young ladies fell to talking of divination by mirror, and the daughter of the house agreed to try it

Art · Monarchies · Humour

Napoleon Converses with Francis II after the Battle of Austerlitz

Napoleon converses with Francis II after the Battle of Austerlitz. Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, 1809. A pity that no one ever told him those breeches fit dreadfully

Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Society

Nizhny Novgorod packhouses named best creative space by two awards

Not for nothing did I admire the Nizhny Novgorod Pakgauzy: by the end of the year they had won two prestigious awards at once. The first: Creative Space at the Russian Creative Awards, where they outstripped both Sevkabel Port and the Oktava cluster. The second: the Snob "Made in

NB! · Archive · The East · Monarchies · Ethnography

Men's Fashion and Ceremonial Dress of the Ottoman Empire from an Album Presented to the Future Emperor Alexander III in 1867

Faith · Art · Observations · Ethnography

Madonna delle Milizie in Scicli and the legend of the rescue of Sicily from the Saracens in 1091

The Madonna delle Milizie from the church in the comune of Scicli is a unique representation of the Mother of God as a horsewoman on a white steed. According to legend, it was the Madonna herself, appearing in a radiant cloud on horseback, who saved Sicily from capture by the

NB! · Books

Quotations from Great Men

Aristocracy · Museums · Observations

Venetian archer's ring of the 14th century with the name of Zenon Donati, British Museum

You can recognise an archer's ring by this characteristic shape: it is worn on the thumb to protect it from damage by the bowstring. The design of this ring from the British Museum's collection strongly reminded me of the newly fashionable rings inscribed "Save and

NB! · Art · Mores · Humour

This fellow has been receiving his friends without leaving his bed since about 1653

This fellow has been receiving his friends without leaving his bed since about 1653. Beer, wine and tobacco as the marks of idle dissipation, already in the days of the Dutch Golden Age and in the lifetime of the artist Gesina ter Borch

Faith · Observations · Mores

Francis of Assisi's pact with the wolf and the Russian tradition of pacts with evil

Francis of Assisi has a tale of how he struck a bargain with a ferocious wolf. Francis was displeased that the wolf preyed not only on animals but also made attempts on people, who bear the image of God. And so the medieval saint proposed a pact to the wolf:

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