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Almaty · Architecture · Heritage · Society · Reportage
This is how the administrative buildings near Republic Square in Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, look after being looted, burned and smashed during the January attempted coup and mass disorders: the presidential residence, which was built…
Books · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
Byron in “Don Juan” describes the 62-year-old Catherine II as a woman in the bloom of maturity
"Of course, her pleasant face bore traces of obesity": I suggest that all ageists read Byron's description of Catherine II, the imperial mistress of Don Juan. It might seem a not especially flattering beginning. But in fact Byron is kind and benevolent towards the 62-year-
Society · People · Humour
The Only Slap Truly Worth Noticing Has Nothing to Do with the Mediocrities of the American Pop Industry
The only slap truly worth noticing has nothing to do with the mediocrities of the American pop industry. On 7 November 1968 the German journalist Beate Klarsfeld, known as a Nazi hunter, mounted the rostrum at a congress of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and boxed the ears of
Archive · Books · Monarchies · Society
Klyuchevsky on the global significance of Alexander III's reign in a speech of 28 October 1894
"Thirteen years of the reign of Emperor Alexander III have passed, and the more hurriedly the hand of death hastened to close His eyes, the wider and more astonished grew the eyes of Europe to the world significance of this brief reign. At last even the stones cried out:
NB! · Cinema · Pop Culture · Society Pages
Sophia Loren at Armani's pre-Oscars party yesterday with Roberta Armani, the brand's director of VIP client communications
Sophia Loren at Armani's pre-Oscars party yesterday with Roberta Armani, the brand's director of VIP client communications. Sophia is still a beauty at 87🥰
Art · Observations · Paris · Pop Culture
Anniversary Smiley by André Saraiva in the atrium of Galeries Lafayette in Paris
For a month now, a giant smiley has hung in the atrium of Galeries Lafayette to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the yellow grinning mug. Not only in Paris, by the way, but in Beijing and Shanghai too. Though one must admit that a half-century slapped across the eyes
NB! · Archive · People
Charles Bukowski with his second wife Linda Lee and a cat
NB! · Humour
Oh, That Mad, Mad, Mad XVIIIIIIIIIIII Century
NB! · Archaeology · The East · Museums · Humour
Decorated Mesopotamian weight of 2600 BC and proposed uses for the object
DIOR MINI handbag, Ancient Mesopotamia, 2600 BC. Regarded as a decorated weight, but it may quite as well have served as a part of a loom, for religious purposes, as part of a dowry or as a gift
Archive · Books · Observations
"When I think of Russia, I picture to myself what I have read in Turgenev and in my friend Maurice Baring
"When I think of Russia, I picture to myself what I have read in Turgenev and in my friend Maurice Baring. I picture a country where the winters are so long, and the summer is sultry and bright; where expanses of carelessly tilled fields stretch far and wide; where
NB! · Cinema · People