Coming Up · Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Science
Shall we go to a museum? One of the oldest museum collections in Russia, dating from the time of Peter the Great, is, incidentally, the collection of minerals, which in 1716 became the core of the Mineral Cabinet of the Kunstkamera and in 1836 was formally transformed into a separate
Art · Observations
The Smoker. An allegory of transience. Hendrick van Somer, early 17th century. Just wanted to remind you before bedtime of the last month of summer and how swiftly life flies, of course
Archive · Architecture · Moscow
In this August 1928 photograph Lenin's Mausoleum is still wooden, though very like the later stone version, also designed by the architect Alexey Shchusev. The drawing is by Isaak Brodsky, from 1924, and flowers still stand by the Mausoleum. Note the crowned double-headed eagles on the Kremlin
NB! · Art · People
Archive · Books · Museums · Science · People · Saint Petersburg
The Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences announces the long-awaited acquisition of Vladimir Nabokov's Swiss archive, after three years of preparatory work and colossal logistics. The archive amounts to as many as 300 boxes of documents, manuscripts and texts. To be
Coming Up · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations
Guidoccio di Giovanni Cozzarelli (1450-1517). The Baptism of Christ. John the Baptist sports an epic hair shirt. Now on show at the Pushkin Museum, at the exhibition of proto-Renaissance masterpieces. The canvas comes from the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. “Siena at the Dawn
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Coming Up · Art · London · Museums
Titian, Allegory of Prudence. The painting is usually read as a depiction of the three ages of man and the three tenses: past, present and future, a sign that prudence is acquired with the years. But who, in that case, are the dog, the lion and the wolf in this
NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Observations
Here and there in Moscow, retro-style address plates have begun to appear on buildings. Take, for example, the sign on the Helikon-Opera building, modelled on a Soviet street sign. It looks very pleasing
Art · Society
On 30 July 1914 general mobilisation was declared in Russia, following Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia a few days earlier. On 1 August Germany declared war on Russia
Archive · Moscow · Society · People
Stalin in the Kremlin in August 1941, when he learned of the German advance on Kyiv. The photograph was taken by Boris Burkov, editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda, and preserved in defiance of an order to destroy the frame as showing the leader in an unflattering light. It is
In the Press · Interviews · London · Science · Society
Alexandr Lukashev, Director of the Institute of Parasitology, in a lengthy interview with Kommersant, spoke about the differences in laboratory practice involving animals between Russia and European countries, about what the life of a mouse is worth to a scientist, and about the ethics of animal research in general. The