Art · Society

EU commissioners for culture and democracy speak out against Russia's participation in the Venice Biennale: in their view, it runs counter to the EU's anti-Russian sanctions regime

Russia plans to present at the Venice Biennale a project entitled "The Tree Is Rooted in Heaven", to be staged in its national pavilion. Blackmailing the Biennale, the European Commission has threatened to strip it of a €2 million grant should Russia nonetheless go ahead with its project.

Silhouette of a black horse on a road marked with pale tyre tracks, with fog and three flames in the background.

Archive · The East · Nature

Steve McCurry photographed a black horse on a road amid flames in Kuwait in 1991

A black horse amid chaos. Kuwait, 1991 Photo by Steve McCurry

Books · Observations

Of all that is written, I love only what a man hath written with his blood

Of all that is written, I love only what a man hath written with his blood. Write with blood, and thou wilt find that blood is spirit. It is no easy task to understand unfamiliar blood: I hate the reading idlers. He who knoweth the reader, doeth nothing more for

Aerial view of Paris with the Eiffel Tower and the project's spiral ramps joining its second level.

Archive · Architecture · Paris

Engineer André Badouin's 1936 project for car ramps to the second level of the Eiffel Tower

Spiral concrete ramps for reaching the second level of the Eiffel Tower by car. So as to get to the restaurant without bothering with the lift. This is how the symbol of France might look today, had the project proposed in 1936 by the engineer André Badvan been carried out.

NB! · Science · Society

Exactly six years ago the WHO officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic

A young woman in a black bouclé jacket with a lace peplum, stockings and a feathered cap holds an oversized golden needle against a light grey background.

NB!

Model in a black suit and feathered headpiece holding a giant golden needle

Observations · Pop Culture · Society Pages

Ulyana Sergeenko presents a nostalgic Haute Couture collection for Spring-Summer 2026, timed to the House's 15th anniversary and therefore devoted to signature silhouettes, techniques, models and other recognisable elements from the archives

What can one say? As always, it is very beautiful. The finest detail, the most extravagant flights of fancy, handwork of astonishing mastery... And had I not been a friend of the brand and seen their workshops with my own eyes, I should probably not have believed that all these

Archive · Geography · People

Port Arthur in 1945

Photograph by Yevgeny Khaldei

London · Observations · Society

Ban on images of people on British banknotes and a claim about its link to Islam

The Bank of England will use images of wildlife on its new banknotes, fearing division among the public. The statement reads: “The theme must not include images that could be offensive or exclusionary to any groups.” A country’s history becomes offensive only when the events of the past are

Archive · Cinema · Books · Heritage

In 2013 the Library of Congress published a report with the eloquent title “The Survival of American Silent Feature Films: 1912–1929”, from which it follows that we have lost for ever 75% of the creative legacy of the era that raised…

Between 1912 and 1929 some 11,000 silent feature films were released in the United States. Only a small part of them has survived to the present day. The chief cause of the losses was deliberate destruction. Before home cinema and television, films were considered useless once their run was

Archaeology · Architecture · Faith · The East · Heritage · Society

In Armenia, a monumental complex with a statue of Jesus Christ, planned to be one of the tallest in the world, is due to rise on the summit of Mount Ates by the end of 2026

In Armenia, a monumental complex with a statue of Jesus Christ, planned to be one of the tallest in the world, is due to rise on the summit of Mount Ates, some 30 km from Yerevan, by the end of 2026. The statue itself will stand 33 metres high, and

Interviews · Books · Observations · Society

Vladimir Sorokin on enlightened feudalism multiplied by high technology

It seems to me that we have an enlightened feudalism, multiplied by high technology. Modern feudal lords travel not in carriages but in “six-hundred” Mercedes. And they keep their money not in chests but in Swiss banks. But mentally they are no different from the feudal lords of the

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