Faith · Observations · People

Patriarch Pavel Stoychevich, the Hierarch Beloved by Serbs, on Fasting and Strictness with Himself

Today is the start of the third week of Great Lent, and we recall the words of the Serbian Patriarch Pavle on fasting. In the photograph: Patriarch Pavle (Stojčević) at the Ravanica Monastery in 1994. Patriarch Pavle (1914-2009) is, perhaps, the most beloved hierarch of recent times among the

Archive · Monarchies · People

Anna Yaroslavna's signature on French charters and her role as co-ruler

On a charter of King Philip I of France in favour of the Abbey of Saint-Crépin at Soissons, dated 1063, among Latin texts and the crosses of illiterate magnates stand two words in Cyrillic: "АНА РЪИНА" Queen Anna. This is the only surviving authentic signature of Anna

Archive · Moscow · Education

Spring in the Moscow State University Park, 1960s

Viktor Akhlomov

The East · Art · Books

I do not regret you, years of my spring, Spent in dreams of vain love, I do not regret you, O mysteries of nights, Sung by a voluptuous pipe, I do not regret you, faithless friends, Garlands of feasts and cups passed round — I do not regret you, young bet

I do not regret you, years of my spring, Spent in dreams of vain love, I do not regret you, O mysteries of nights, Sung by a voluptuous pipe, I do not regret you, faithless friends, Garlands of feasts and cups passed round — I do not regret you, young betrayers,

Black-and-white photograph of a man in a sweater and a woman at a festive table, with a poster of the figure 8 made of flowers on the wall.

NB! · Archive · Mores · Society

Boris and Naina Yeltsin at a 8 March celebration in Sverdlovsk in the late 1970s

Boris Yeltsin, First Secretary of the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the CPSU, with his wife Naina Yeltsina at the 8 March celebrations. Approximately 1977–1980, the city of Sverdlovsk

NB! · Archive · Architecture · Moscow · Mores · Humour

"High-Rise Building" cake, made for 8 March 1954 by the architect-draughtsmen designing the "Stalin skyscrapers"

NB! · Archive · Mores · Society

A performance by a circle of physical culturists in honour of the celebration of 8 March in the city of Omsk in 1935

Observations · Mores · Society

8 March as the result of women's struggle for the right to vote, study and work

8 March is not a day of flowers, spring and tenderness, nor a holiday born of a cloud of face powder and marketing ploys. Behind it stand decades of struggle for what today seems self-evident: the right of women to study, to work, to vote, to dispose of themselves.

Archive · Observations · Society · Saint Petersburg

Demonstration of Petrograd Women Workers against Hunger, War and Tsarism on 23 February (8 March) 1917

Dear girls, women, mothers! Happy the holiday of not keeping silent about your rights! Which one may wish for everyone, on any day of the year

Archive · Faith · Books · Ethnography

Semeyskie Old Believers in Transbaikalia in memoirs recorded by Sergey Maksimov

The treasury did not help our grandfathers. An official brought them to the place. They began to ask him: where are we to live? – he pointed to the mountains... They began to press him: what are we to live on? The official said: “Why, when you start felling timber, the

Mores · Society · Humour

Merkel and Costa at the Matthiae-Mahl dinner in Hamburg on European sovereignty

Matthiae-Mahl. The oldest dinner in the world, which nobody has dared to cancel The tradition dates from 1356: every year at the end of February the Hamburg city senate invites guests to a meal. 3,425 glasses, 3,400 pieces of silver cutlery that have been polished for several

Coming Up · Monarchies · Museums

Queen Elizabeth II's private apartments at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of British monarchs in Scotland, will open to visitors for the first time from 21 May to 10 September 2026, marking the centenary of the late Queen's birth

Tickets go on general sale from 12 March, but they are far from cheap: £71 if bought in advance, or £75 on the day of the visit

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