In the Press · Cinema · Books · Pop Culture · Saint Petersburg

The recent, almost viral surge of interest in the occasionally hilarious and thoroughly un-Peter-Jacksonian television adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, as staged by Leningrad television in the 1990s, has raised a question of sorts: is it really so sur

The recent, almost viral surge of interest in the occasionally hilarious and thoroughly un-Peter-Jacksonian television adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, as staged by Leningrad television in the 1990s, has raised a question of sorts: is it really so surprising that citizens of the USSR were acquainted

In the Press · Interviews · Society · People

Alexander Rodnyansky recalls Chernobyl and its consequences for Kyiv and Ukraine

I am a Kievan. And Chernobyl came into my life at the very moment it happened, on 26 April. More precisely, on the morning of the 27th. I was on my way to work on the metro, as usual. I still remember the name of the station, Arsenalna, where I

The East · Geography · Maps

European map of the early 17th century and the idea of a northern sea route to China

On a European map of the North-East Passage to China from the early seventeenth century, two names, CHINA and Cathay, stand side by side, separated by India Orientalis. The map illustrates not only the currency in Europe of Russian geographical names, but also the conviction, unshakeable at the time,

NB! · Aristocracy · Monarchies · People

Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy, has at last appeared in public

Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy, has at last appeared in public. If, of course, one may call "the public" a paparazzo photographing aristocrats through the windscreen of a black limou

NB! · Art · New York · Humour

Translation of a New Yorker cartoon from an independent Facebook group

NB! · Humour

Are you sure this is a dating questionnaire?

Archive · Observations · Mores

Kharkiv Calendar of 1885 on a peasant woman who threw her newborn into a pigsty

Russian chthonic horror. If anyone had questions for Nekrasov, reality is always harsher than invention. On the night of the 8th the peasant woman Berestova, aged 19, resident of the village of Lozovaya in the Izyum district, threw her newborn child into a pigsty, where it was eaten by the

Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Ethnography

Prince Albert's Balmoral tartan and the rules of wearing it, broken at Zara Phillips's wedding

The English royal family often dresses in ancestral tartans, each with its own history and owner. The Balmoral tartan, for instance, invented by Prince Albert, may apparently be worn by no one but the Queen, members of the royal family and the Queen's personal piper. True, the rule

Art · Monarchies · Ethnography

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII), and Prince Alfred in Highland dress, with a little dog at their feet and a mountain landscape behind

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII), and Prince Alfred in Highland dress, with a little dog at their feet and a view of a mountain landscape in the background. The portrait, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, is in the Royal Collection. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were

Interlaced translucent red, yellow-green and orange bags lie on a parquet floor. Behind them is a white double door with panelled, moulded details.

NB!

Installation of soft coloured forms on the parquet floor of a gallery room

A large aerial photo print with a road and a building at its centre lies layered on the parquet floor of an old hall. A person walks at left; a white unit stands by the wall.

NB!

Aerial site plan laid out on the parquet floor of a gallery room

Architecture · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations

The Museum of Architecture opens “The Fifth Wave”, an exhibition of artists who left Russia

In the enfilade of the main building of the Museum of Architecture, an exhibition has opened that continues my beloved 2020 Garage Triennial of Contemporary Art. If you remember, the selection of works for the 2nd Triennial at Garage was built on recommendations from artists who had taken part in

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