Observations · People
Albert Schweitzer, theologian from Alsace
Happiness is the only thing that doubles when you share it. The Alsatian theologian Albert Schweitzer
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Archive · Books · People · Ethnography
Draft versions of a poetic list of peoples differ from the familiar text
The lines in the third stanza of Pushkin's "Monument" listing the peoples of Russia who will remember the poet. "And the proud grandson of the Slavs, and the Finn, and the now-savage Tungus, and the Kalmyk, friend of the steppes" - Literal translation in
NB! · London · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
I wonder whether Elizabeth II will use a golf buggy to get about at public events, as the Queen Mother did in her day?
Archive · Art · Observations
A series of portraits of professionals, presented through the tools of their trade in the manner of Giuseppe Arcimboldo's portraits made of vegetables, fruit and sundry objects, created two centuries earlier
The series of engravings of 1800 is called “Hieroglyphs”, a reference to the general excitement that followed the discovery of the Rosetta Stone by Napoleon's troops in 1799. True, the reference betrays a naive understanding of hieroglyphs as the mere reproduction of certain concepts and phenomena by means
NB! · Art · Cinema · People
Jean Marais (the handsome one) and Jean Cocteau (the clever one)
Archive · Books · Moscow · Society
On the pedestal of the Pushkin monument, unveiled in Moscow on 6 June 1880, lines from the poem "Monument" were carved:
And long shall I be loved by the people for this, That with my lyre I awakened kindly feelings. As early as 1880 it became known that the version of "Monument" published in Zhukovsky's edition contained censorial corrections and differed considerably from the original, touching important
Faith · The East · Art · Society
Metropolitan Germanos Blesses the Banner of the Insurgents at the Monastery of Agia Lavra
Today is Greek Independence Day. Every Hellene remembers 25 March 1821, when the Greek revolution against the Ottoman occupation began
NB! · Geography · Maps · Mores · Humour
Map of the most commonly used swear words in European countries
The most commonly used swear words in the countries of Europe. Just in case anyone is about to travel abroad
Aristocracy · Faith · Art · London · Museums · Mores · People · Rome
Painting by Frank Cadogan Cowper, 1910, from the Tate collection
Lucrezia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI. Frank Cadogan Cowper, 1910. Tate Museum
Faith · Art · Museums · New York
Sculpture of the Infant Jesus with an apple dated 1470 at the Metropolitan Museum
The Infant Jesus with an Apple. 1470. Metropolitan Museum
NB! · Observations · Society · Pop Culture
It is now twenty days since Yandex Zen switched off its recommendation feed, that is, the main system on which the service was built and to which everyone had grown accustomed
It is now twenty days since Yandex Zen switched off its recommendation feed, that is, the main system on which the service was built and to which everyone had grown accustomed. I still cannot grasp the point of a Zen without algorithms. It is as if TikTok were suddenly to
Archive · Books · People
Saltykov-Shchedrin on Zola and Goncourt after reading “Manette Salomon”, in a letter of 1875
Saltykov-Shchedrin in a letter to Nekrasov, 14 November 1875:. “Goncourt writes excellently… Zola’s article on the Goncourts is very good… Zola’s despatch on the floods is the kind of thing that makes one’s hair stand on end. A whole appalling drama… If it does not work