Archive · Books · People
Vladimir Sorokin in 1992
Photo by Yury Rybchinsky
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NB! · Museums · Observations · Heritage · Society · Paris · Humour
Director of the Louvre in Paris resigns, and the author assesses her work
Well, well: the Director of the Louvre has finally resigned. She wrecked whatever she could, and we may at least be thankful she did not burn the place down
NB! · Archive · Faith · Heritage
The Trinity Lavra of St Sergius in 1962
Mores · Society · People
Nicholas Soames calls criticism of Churchill's words on colonised peoples laughable
When Helen Rogers Reid, editor of the New York Herald Tribune, asked Churchill at a White House dinner about British colonisation and the fate of the Indians, touching on the then much-discussed question of Indian independence, he replied:. - Which Indians do you mean? Those whose population has grown considerably
NB! · Humour
In Real Life He Looks Nothing Like His Photos…
Archive · Observations · Society · Paris
The Paris Commune and its Bolshevik interpretation, a 1921 poster
The dead of the Paris Commune have risen again beneath the red banner of the Soviets! We understand, of course, that this is an ideological construct fashioned by the Bolsheviks after the fact, for the sake of appearances, so to speak: a justification of their own model of dictatorship and
Cinema · Observations · Humour
My grandfather Vilém was a hypnotist, and the whole town saw in his vocation a wish to do nothing at all
Trainee dispatcher Miloš Hrma. The 1966 Czechoslovak film by Jiří Menzel, "Closely Observed Trains"
Observations · Society · Humour
Section 188 of the German Criminal Code on insulting politicians and sentences for gang rape
A German pensioner is to stand trial for commenting on Chancellor Merz's visit to his town with the words: "Pinocchio arrives in Heilbronn 🤥" Section 188 of the German Criminal Code governs liability for public insult, slander or defamation of persons holding positions in political life, including
Archive · Books · People · Humour
Krupskaya recalls a peasant doubting the strength of a bridge when she travelled with Lenin
This Is Very Funny. From the reminiscences of Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya about Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. I remember how we once drove up to a bridge of decidedly doubtful sturdiness. Vladimir Ilyich asked a peasant standing beside it whether a motor car could cross. The peasant shook his head and said
Archive · Faith · Education
Nuns of the Saint Joseph de Saint-Vallier school skate in Quebec in 1967
A Remarkable Photograph, More Like a Painting. Nuns who teach at the Saint Joseph de Saint-Vallier girls' school in Quebec skate against the backdrop of the Laurentian foothills. 1967. Photo by John Lanois
Interviews · Cinema · People
Jiří Menzel in a 2013 interview on censorship and freedom in cinema
Czech director Jiří Menzel (1938-2020) on censorship:. - In one of your interviews you said that cinema always faces some form of censorship. Yet it seems that in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s this apparatus gave artists a different "impulse" from the one the state or the system gives
Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Mores · Paris
Hotel in a 1681 building on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles and its interiors
Having a look inside the once much-discussed hotel right beside the Palace of Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle Château de Versailles. The hotel's unique selling point is its location literally on the palace grounds, that is, within the boundaries of the estate, behind the gates of the palace