Faith · Mores · Rome · Humour

Historians regard the story of Pope Joan and her exposure as fiction

You will of course know that most historians agree on the fictional character of the tale of a woman on the Papal throne, Pope Joan. Most likely, the myth was devised as an irony at the expense of the dominance of courtesans, kept women and concubines of every description in

NB! · Observations

and indeed

A young man with a short beard stands turned slightly aside, hands in pockets, wearing a navy double-breasted suit, white shirt and blue tie. The backdrop is grey-beige.

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Portrait of a man in a navy double-breasted suit against a neutral backdrop

NB! · Aristocracy · Monarchies · Pop Culture

Pierre Casiraghi becomes ambassador for Dior menswear

Pierre Casiraghi has become an ambassador for Dior menswear. Pierre is the younger son of Caroline, Princess of Monaco and Hanover, and the Italian racing driver and businessman Stefano Casiraghi. Pierre's wife Beatrice Borromeo is one of Dior's global ambassadors, while his elder sister Charlotte Casiraghi

Archive · Geography · Maps · Books · Observations

1912 Guidebook to the Loire Châteaux for Motorists, with Route Arrows on Photographs

Forerunner of Yandex Maps: a slim 1912 tourist guide to the châteaux of the Loire, designed for motoring tourists, has arrows showing the route and the right turning drawn directly over photographs of the landscape. Despite the plainness of the views and the rather poor quality of the offset printing,

Cinema · Books · Pop Culture

The cover of Bauhaus's debut single Bela Lugosi's Dead: a still from the 1926 film The Sorrows of Satan, an adaptation of the incredibly popular mystical novel of the same name by the English writer Marie Corelli, naturally, about a pact with the devil…

The cover of Bauhaus's debut single Bela Lugosi's Dead: a still from the 1926 film The Sorrows of Satan, an adaptation of the incredibly popular mystical novel of the same name by the English writer Marie Corelli, naturally, about a pact with the devil. Much as

Round whitewashed brick building with a red base and two green doors. Between them is a sign reading number 1 and Akademika Komarova Street. Autumn leaves surround it.

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Round brick building with a sign reading Akademika Komarova Street, 1

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Humour

Or, as the public prefers to think, Stalin's sewage bunker

Cinema · Observations · Humour

Joaquin Phoenix and Jodie Comer to play Napoleon and Josephine in the film Kitbag

In the forthcoming 2023 film about Bonaparte's military career and rise to power, Kitbag, the 30-year-old Napoleon and the 36-year-old Josephine will be played by the 46-year-old Joaquin Phoenix and the 28-year-old Jodie Comer. Which means that either we shall

Faith · Books · New York · Society

In 2019 the murder of Pope John Paul I was claimed by the American gangster Anthony "Pluto" Raimondi, a member of one of the five most powerful Mafia families of New York, who confessed to taking part in the crime in an autobiographical book…

According to Raimondi, the murder was arranged by Bishop Paul Marcinkus, president of the Vatican Bank from 1971 to 1989, who in 1973 was suspected of involvement in supplying the Vatican with counterfeit bonds worth almost 15 million dollars. The gangster writes that Pope John Paul I intended to expose

Faith · People · Rome

Francis I recognises a miracle of John Paul I, who was Pope for only 33 days

Francis I has issued a decree recognising a miracle wrought through the intercession of Pope John Paul I. This brings a Pope so adored by the people closer to canonisation. The process of beatification began in 2003, in 2017 Francis approved the canonisation of John Paul I, in 2021 his

Aristocracy · Monarchies · Science · Mores · Paris

Microscope of the Duke of Chaulnes, made around 1750 and sold in 2008 for 900,000 euros

In the drawing room of the antiquary Michel Meyer stood a microscope, an intriguing trinket, though many would call it heaven knows what, neither the most decorative nor the most useful item in the furnishings. Good for propping up books, perhaps, or weighing down the sauerkraut? Yet this microscope dates

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