Architecture · Moscow

Triangle on the frieze of architect Faleev's house in Gagarinsky Lane as the emblem of civil engineers

The decorative frieze of the architect Faleyev's house in Gagarinsky Lane. What, one might ask, has a triangle to do with it? Despite the legend that the symbols point to Freemasonry, this is the official emblem of civil engineers in Russia. A similar sign could be found on

Cinema · London · Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Society Pages

Tatler highlights the grey hair of Elizabeth McGovern, Letizia and Caroline of Hanover

Tatler has taken note of gracefully greying celebrities, among them Princess Caroline of Hanover, Queen Letizia of Spain and, the most striking of all, Elizabeth McGovern. The steel-coloured locks swept back from the face of the 60-year-old American actress, who played the mistress of Downton Abbey, together

NB! · Geography · Maps · Observations · Humour

Children, Raise Your Hands If You Too Felt Dizzy at the Upside-Down Map of the Mediterranean

Architecture · Observations · Mores · Humour

I watched an estate agent's presentation of a 19th-century mansion in Scotland

I watched an estate agent's presentation of a 19th-century mansion in Scotland. The Americanisation of everyday life as it is. A house of more than 1,500 square metres, set in 12 hectares of land with a cottage, outbuildings and a glasshouse, is on sale for £4

Faith · People · Rome

Before his week-long pilgrimage to Canada, Pope Francis prayed in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore before the especially venerated icon of the Mother of God, "Salus Populi Romani" ("Protectress of the Roman People"), in which the Virgin Mary is depict

Before his week-long pilgrimage to Canada, Pope Francis prayed in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore before the especially venerated icon of the Mother of God, "Salus Populi Romani" ("Protectress of the Roman People"), in which the Virgin Mary is depicted wearing a consular ring,

Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Humour

The statues in the Babylon Hall of the Pushkin Museum do not talk to you!

The statues:

NB! · Observations · Humour

What People Most Want to Hear When They Learn I Am an Americanist

Archive · Books · Mores · Ethnography

Caesar, Strabo and Cassius Dio on polyandry and shared wives in the British Isles

"In Brittany many men sleep with a single wife, and many wives lust after a single man," reports a Russian chronicler. This is not the only mention of polygyny and polyandry in the British Isles. Already in Julius Caesar's "Commentaries on the Gallic War"

A rounded building with a red middle tier of niches and balconies, a white lower tier with round windows, and a dark roof with dormers. A wrought-iron fence and a dark car stand in front.

NB!

Residential building of rounded shape with red facing and a domed roof

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Humour

A Pumpkin House from Inman, South Carolina, Sends Intercontinental Greetings to a Moscow Egg House

NB! · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

A Happy Grandfather in a Viking Helmet: King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Delighted as a Child at the Opening of the Viking-Themed Amusement Park Vikingaslav in 2017

A happy grandfather in a Viking helmet: King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, delighted as a child at the opening of the Viking-themed amusement park Vikingaslav in 2017. The Vikings left the historical stage long ago, yet they remain the core of the collective memory of a glorious past

Archaeology · Architecture · The East · Geography · Heritage

The Delikkemer Aqueduct, Which Supplied the Lycian City of Patara with Water

The Delikkemer Aqueduct, built some 2,000 years ago, is a pipe laid along the top of a stone wall up to 12 metres high. The pipe is formed within limestone blocks, each with a hole hollowed out through the middle. The aqueduct supplied the Lycian city of Patara with

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