NB! · Observations · Society · Humour

While @museumsnob and @KirillandhisFriends have received notice of their priority right to a free vaccination as workers in cultural institutions, I have been assigned to the sphere of TRADE AND SERVICES; thank heavens it was not the internal organs

Architecture · Moscow · Heritage · Society

Khamovniki may get a 100-metre residential complex and a higher permitted building height

Will the cosiest district in Moscow turn into yet another cluster of glass skyscrapers? In Khamovniki, at the junction of Rossolimo Street and Olsufyevsky Lane, a residential complex a hundred metres tall may be built. That is 30 metres higher than the bell tower of the Novodevichy Convent. The house

NB! · Museums · Observations · Society · Humour

Quite right: if ration cards for sugar and butter are being brought back, one may as well book a museum visit by telephone, or better still, by telegraph

Aristocracy · Art · Observations · Mores · Education · Ethnography

Shorts in English dress since the 16th century and the habit of wearing them in winter

A snowy day, Ronald Lampitt. One can go endlessly goose-pimpled watching Englishmen, certain continental Europeans and Americans stroll about in shorts in winter. Some will write it off as plain folly, others will recall ancient traditions, still others will put the wardrobe at odds with the weather down to

Pixel-art image of a man in a bowler hat on the corner of a pink building wall beside a wrought-iron street lamp.

NB! · Art · Cinema · Paris

Pixel portrait of Charlot as played by Charlie Chaplin on rue Charlot in Paris

Street art on Rue Charlot in the Jewish quarter of Paris. A greeting from the tramp Charlot, as played by Charlie Chaplin

Wooden daybed with a tall back, gilding and floral fabric on the apron; the seat shows rough canvas. Behind it a landscape screen, below a carpet and parquet floor.

NB!

Antique daybed without upholstery in front of a painted screen

Observations · Mores · Society · Humour

Convertible sofa of the 18th century at La Motte-Tilly and Soviet folding sofas

There was once a text about the Soviet passion for sofa-beds, which still haunts the hapless tenants of flats where a single room finds itself holding a bed, a sofa-bed and an armchair-bed, all against the backdrop of a carpet. For some reason there is a special

A moustached man in a white vest and white tights with pink trunks stands half-turned, one hand on his hip, against a dark background.

Art · Observations · Humour

Arthur Kampf’s painting “Artist”, created in 1907

In the old days men were men, not like now. The Artist, Arthur Kampf, 1907.

NB! · Observations · Humour

I am trying to get through a run of celebrations without sinking into drink, relying on nothing but the help of higher powers

Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Origins of the words suede and zamsha, Swedish gloves and the chamois

Our good old acquaintance, Carl Philip, Prince of Suede, that is to say, of Sweden. This form of the word, suede, came into English from French, where it took hold thanks to the expression gants de Suède, "Swedish gloves", the name for articles made of the very soft,

Close-up of a glazed ceramic statuette: a bearded figure with wavy hair holds a curved staff. Columns and a glowing lamp are blurred in the dark background.

NB!

Ceramic figure of a bearded man with a staff in evening light

Faith · Art · Observations · Rome

Ceramic nativity scene by Castelli artisans in Saint Peter's Square in 2020

In St Peter's Square the Christmas tree has been lit and the crib unveiled, which, all in all, has become one more unexpected gesture from Pope Francis. Never before has the Nativity scene been presented in such implausible figures. If I am honest, only the ram in this

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