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Flooded arcaded gallery of a courtyard with stone columns
NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Nature
Venice's monuments have suffered badly, but the water has still not receded
Architecture · Faith · Art · Heritage
Flooding of San Moisè church in Venice endangers Torretto's crucifix and Corradini's pietà
The baroque church of San Moisè, which John Ruskin called the clumsiest building in Venice, has been flooded. One of the chief treasures of the church, a wooden crucifix, among the few works in wood by the Italian sculptor Giuseppe Torretto, is floating in the water, and the pietà by
Aristocracy · Architecture · Faith · Art · Mores
A Man Entangled in a Net of Lies and Vices
There are various ways of honouring one's parents. Raimondo di Sangro, the seventh Prince of Sansevero, a Neapolitan, commissioned a sculptural portrait of his father disentangling himself from the nets, or snares, of deceit and sin, accompanied by an angelic figure who frees the sinner for the bosom
Archaeology · Museums · Mores
Roman slave shackles in museums in Spain and England and the question of constant wear
Roman slave shackles from the museums of Seville in Spain and Norwich in Norfolk, England. Finds of this kind are characteristic of the vast territories of the Western Roman Empire. The abundance and character of the finds may also suggest that some of the slaves in the countryside wore shackles
NB! · Moscow · Observations · Society · Humour
Recently, outside the Moscow government building, I saw a lone picketer with a placard: "We feared the 90s, and got the 30s instead"
Recently, outside the Moscow government building, I saw a lone picketer with a placard: "We feared the 90s, and got the 30s instead". There is something in that. At the very least, it holds out hope for the 50s
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores
Anastasia Koshkina and the Romanov and Godunov Claims to the Russian Throne
The Romanovs' claim to the throne rested on the fact that there once was a maiden Koshkina. It was not even a surname: at that time it would be more fitting to speak of by-names. And so there were the Koshkins-Romanovs, and accordingly Anastasia, or, as we
Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Society
Sports hall in Mogilev Choral Synagogue building and a plaque that omits the synagogue
The building of the Choral Synagogue of Mogilev, known as the Zukerman Synagogue, was erected in the late nineteenth century on the ruins of the burnt-out palace of the Catholic bishop Bohusz-Siestrzeńcewicz. Today it houses a sports hall. A memorial plaque on the building tells the history of
NB! · Archive · Mores · Humour
1832: Charles Warren, a Dorset father of three and modest proprietor of an acre of potatoes, lately widowed, seeks a woman to tend the pigs while he is at work
Aristocracy · Mores · People · Humour
William, 5th Baron Byron, British nobleman, peer, politician and great-uncle of the famous poet, went down in history as the Wicked Lord or the Devil Byron: a dreadful scoundrel who beat his wife, killed his own cousin, stabbing him in a dark…
William, 5th Baron Byron, British nobleman, peer, politician and great-uncle of the famous poet, went down in history as the Wicked Lord or the Devil Byron: a dreadful scoundrel who beat his wife; the killer of his own cousin, whom he stabbed in a dark room and was convicted
NB! · Observations · Mores
Bonfire as a celebratory fire rather than fireworks, in an English dictionary entry
The bonfire is a fire made for triumph or jubilation, in other words not a firework but a festive blaze. And quite rightly: what is a holiday without one?