Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Society · Saint Petersburg

Quite recently I wanted to write about the creation in the Leningrad Region of a "Park Agency", which will oversee the preservation of cultural monuments, their use, and the promotion of heritage sites

Quite recently I wanted to write about the creation in the Leningrad Region of a "Park Agency", which will oversee the preservation of cultural monuments, their use, and the promotion of heritage sites. Among the monuments coming under the agency's care are the Priory Park and

Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Heritage

Konstantin Melnikov's house of two cylinders in Krivoarbatsky Lane and the museum inside it

Melnikov's best-known work is his own house on Krivoarbatsky Lane, two cylinders of unequal size, built in 1927-29 for himself and his family. Unrepeatable and striking in its simplicity, its form and its handling of light, it stands today in good condition and houses an excellent

Corner of a yellow building with vertical white ribs and a sign reading Aviamotornaya Street 63. A pale arched volume stands beside it, a black fence in front.

NB!

Building at 63 Aviamotornaya Street with a yellow facade and arched volume

Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Heritage

Another brainchild of Melnikov: the Gosplan Garage on Aviamotornaya Street, 1936

Another brainchild of Melnikov: the Gosplan Garage on Aviamotornaya Street, 1936. Originally the main floor space of the garage was given over to the departmental cars of Gosplan; from the 1950s it housed the 8th taxi depot, and since the 1990s it has been home to assorted organisations, car workshops,

Architecture · Moscow · Heritage · People · Reportage

Today marks the 130th birthday of the Russian architect Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov

Today marks the 130th birthday of the Russian architect Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov. In honour of the jubilarian, my team and I from the Shchusev Museum of Architecture visited the surviving Moscow monuments of his work. A sorry picture, it must be said. All of them, with the exception of the

Archive · Books · Mores · People · Pop Culture

Accountant Matteus Schwarz describes four decades of his clothes in Klaidungsbüchlin

The German accountant Matthäus Schwarz decided to gather in a single book every outfit he had ever worn, annotate them at length and explain the circumstances that had prompted him to choose those very costumes. The fascinating life of a humble bookkeeper, from his childhood, when at the age of

Archaeology · Observations · Heritage · Humour

In this connection I cannot help recalling my address to an archaeological conference a couple of years ago, when I proposed borrowing the American practice of preserving rock art in situ by planting devilishly thorny…

In this connection I cannot help recalling my address to an archaeological conference a couple of years ago, when I proposed borrowing the American practice of preserving rock art in situ by planting devilishly thorny plants that would bar vandals from direct access to the surface of the stone. For

Museums · Observations · Heritage

The author doubts the value of taking children to museums before they have learned how to behave

I am not at all sure about the concept of introducing to the beautiful creatures who are as yet incapable of observing elementary rules of conduct WITHOUT simultaneous titanic educational efforts to bring their behavioural pattern into order. I understand all those lovely theories that the child in its mother&

NB! · Observations

Well, then 🧐

A hand in a blue glove holds an old circuit breaker on a dark panel mounted on a board with remnants of green paint. Porch railings are visible at left.

NB!

Old electrical switch on the wooden wall of a house

Coming Up · Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Society

Tom Sawyer Fest begins restoring the Pribytkovo dacha in Gatchina on 27 July

How heartening that Russia has people like the team and volunteers of Tom Sawyer Fest. If you have not yet heard of this organisation, you will like it: people united by a love of the historical and cultural heritage of their native parts simply rescue decrepit, abandoned and ruined monuments.

Architecture · Faith · Heritage

The Institute of Breton Culture opens a fundraising appeal for the restoration of the seventeenth-century organ of Nantes Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, almost entirely destroyed in the fire of 18 July

The Institute of Breton Culture is opening a fundraising appeal for the restoration of the seventeenth-century organ of Nantes Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, almost entirely destroyed in the fire of 18 July. The instrument survived the years of the Revolution, but was badly damaged in the

Latest