Architecture · Cinema · Observations · Heritage

The drawbridge of Langeais under Louis XI and Jacques Siegfried's restoration of the château

My favourite part of any castle is the drawbridge. Unfortunately, the cinema pays this feature attention only in siege scenes; after that, the focus falls wholly on walls and arrow slits. And for the most part the bridges shown are monotonous and dull. Here is an example of an interesting

Books · Moscow · Education

Aksakov studied at university for two years, Stankevich for four because of a cholera epidemic

Sergey Aksakov studied at university for two years and received a certificate. Nikolay Stankevich, by contrast, studied for four, having had to sit the same course twice on account of a cholera epidemic.

Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Society

The Bordeaux church turned into a garage and other new uses of churches in Europe

I watch with interest as my French colleagues argue over a church in Bordeaux that has been turned into a garage. The arguments touch on the sacredness of religious buildings, on the preservation of heritage and memory, and on respect for the labour of architects and artists. In short, it

Black-and-white photo: cars and vans stand in the dark nave of a Gothic church with stained-glass windows and scaffolding.

NB! · Archive · Architecture · Faith · Heritage

Cars parked inside a Gothic church with scaffolding

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Heritage

A motor garage in the building of the ancient Bordeaux church of Saint-Jacques

NB! · Faith · Observations · Reportage · Rome

To join the queue for Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, you must first pass beneath the colonnade and through a body-temperature checkpoint

NB! · Moscow · Observations · Mores

A most fascinating discussion on whether the cook Lucien Olivier, creator of the famous salad, really existed, whether his name was Nikolai, whether the salad was invented long before his birth, and who lies beneath a gravestone bearing that name in a Ger

Art · Observations · Nature · Humour

I cannot tell whether this kitten is on the verge of a nervous breakdown or is a hideous demon from a grimoire

Children and a Mousetrap. Dominicus van Tol, 1660s.

Art · Monarchies · Mores · Paris

Marie de' Medici and the child Louis XIII in an engraving, his harsh upbringing and her exile

Marie de' Medici and her young son, King Louis XIII of France. She arrived in Paris immediately after the murder of Henry IV and took power, which is to say that she, of course, gained more from his death than anyone else. Louis in this engraving may be 8

Books · Science · People · Nature

Cholera, the volcanic eruptions of the 1810s and Pushkin’s Boldino Autumn

Strange as it may seem, Pushkin's Boldino Autumn, so often recalled of late in connection with coronavirus isolation, may also be linked to the volcanic eruptions of the 1810s, which had such a profound effect on the Earth's climate. It is believed that the gigantic cloud

Geography · Science · Nature

The 1816 Year Without a Summer, the Tambora eruption and a theory about the bicycle

Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death, or The Year Without a Summer: such is the name under which 1816 entered history, when snow fell every month in Western Europe and parts of the USA, temperatures stayed at winter levels, and rain and hail never ceased. A century later, climatologists explained

NB! · Observations

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