Moscow · Museums · Observations · Education

I am greatly impressed that the main building of RSUH on Miusskaya Square has opened a museum-workshop of Leonardo da Vinci, with models of his inventions that one may not merely touch but test: every mechanism is in working order…

I am greatly impressed that the main building of RSUH on Miusskaya Square has opened a museum-workshop of Leonardo da Vinci, with models of his inventions that one may not merely touch but test: every mechanism is in working order, except, of course, the bombard on a worm gear

Monarchies · Mores · People · Humour

The 1876 diagnosis of Alexander II and his affair with Ekaterina Dolgorukaya

In 1876, Alexander II was diagnosed with "exhaustion caused by excesses in sexual relations". And of course, what was meant was his relationship with his mistress Ekaterina Dolgorukaya: the passionate affair lasted 14 years, and it was provoked by the fact that, after the birth of eight children,

Archaeology · Books · Observations · Science · Education

Course on the peopling of the Americas published in Spanish on iBooks

Friends! My book is out! It is a course of study on the peopling of the Americas, on which I worked for two years and which sets out exhaustive information on where the first people to reach the American continent came from, by what route, what drove them and what

Archaeology · The East · Observations · Humour

Terracotta figurines with lyres from Priene, possibly depicting Baubo

Remember the episode of Family Guy in which Peter Griffin recalled his grandfather's sister, whose legs went all the way up to her ears? I have recently found the archaeological prototype of this character. At first glance, these terracotta statuettes look like figures of Apollo: the lyre of

Archaeology · Museums · Mores

Roman amphora from southern Spain labelled as holding young tuna aged two years

This is what a tin can looked like in Ancient Rome. This clay amphora of AD 70-100, for instance, states that it contains young tuna, matured for two years. The amphora is known to have been packed in the south of Spain. What sort of fish is matured for

Domed white chests marked with numbers stand on a dusty floor before a gilded wall; at right, a gilded cow head with black horns, and a heap of broken wooden objects behind.

NB!

Chests and a gilded cow head with numbered tags inside an Egyptian tomb

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Observations

Furnishings from Tutankhamun's tomb of the 1300s BC in a modern interior

The furnishings from Tutankhamun's tomb are, for me, among the most powerful aesthetic experiences. It is scarcely credible that this dates from the 1300s BC. I can quite easily picture the golden couches in the form of lions and bulls, the heads of the celestial cow, the chests,

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Spotted a table by a Dutch master, rather like something from Tutankhamun's storeroom

Spotted a table by a Dutch master, rather like something from Tutankhamun's storeroom. But it also costs 30 thousand euros 😭

NB! · Art · Moscow · Observations · Society Pages · Humour

Well, the Cosmoscow opening was a success

Well, the Cosmoscow opening was a success. There are plenty of splendid things, but their prices are more splendid still

A small figure of a mammoth with thick reddish fur and long curved tusks on a wooden shelf next to a pencil.

NB! · London · Museums · Observations · Palaeontology · Humour

Miniature mammoth from the Natural History Museum in London

Good heavens, I am in love! Just look at this tiny mammoth from the Natural History Museum in London 😍😍

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Science

The eight-petalled dome of GUM, incidentally, was created by our greatest engineer, Vladimir Shukhov

The eight-petalled dome of GUM, incidentally, was created by our greatest engineer, Vladimir Shukhov. So GUM is a relative of Shukhov's television tower, of the Pushkin Museum with its glass roof, and of the Kiyevsky Railway Station with its arched covered train shed

Black-and-white photo of a woman archer drawing a bow, in a white frame under glass. The caption reads Irma Danielsson, Sweden, 1969. A glass gallery roof is behind.

NB!

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