A dense tangle of metal structures, some of them blackened, against a blue sky.

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Paris

Metal structures on the roof of Notre-Dame in July 2019

The roof of Notre-Dame, July 2019. As you can see, most of the structures are now made of reinforcing steel

Books · Monarchies · Museums · Mores · Society

Cupid and Sideron, court Moors of William V, in the Hague Historical Museum

In the Historical Museum of The Hague, it is impossible to walk past two child mannequins in eighteenth-century royal livery. These exhibits are a modern reconstruction of the costumes of two court Moors, as Black people were then commonly called at court: Cupido and Sideron. The first came from

Mores · Nature · Ethnography

Toads in British folk belief as companions of witches and the custom of seeing them out of the house

A Note for the Lady of the House:. in some parts of Britain toads were long held to be the familiars of witches, so if a toad happened to find its way into the house, it was swiftly but tenderly shown the door

Colored engraving of an elderly woman in a high-waisted blue dress and lace cap, seated half-turned, holding a book or folder. Books, an inkwell and a quill are at right.

NB!

Elderly woman in a blue dress and lace cap holding a book

Observations · Humour

And You, Too, Beauties, Shall Be Touched by Decay

Recognised them all, comrades?

A golden frog-shaped purse made of finely woven thread, with a long cord and pale fabric at the back, against a dark background.

NB! · Museums · Mores · Humour

Women's handbags in the shape of frogs from the seventeenth century

Aww! If you think fashion was once plain and monotonous, these ladies' handbags in the shape of frogs from the seventeenth century will persuade you otherwise. Ribbit-ribbit

Art · Monarchies · Observations

Symbolism in portraits of Maria Leszczynska, wife of Louis XV, with lilies, a sphinx and oak

I have three similar eighteenth-century portraits for you. The first shows Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, mother of Louis XV; the others show his consort Marie Leszczyńska, who adopts the pose of her mother-in-law in order to please her husband. But the other details of Leszczyńska's

Coming Up · Aristocracy · Art · Pop Culture

If you happen to have a couple of spare millions lying about, do not rush to invest in securities and cryptocurrency: this autumn two weighty collections of antiques, furnishings, art, jewellery and clothing go under the hammer: on…

If you happen to have a couple of spare millions lying about, do not rush to invest in securities and cryptocurrency: this autumn two weighty collections of antiques, furnishings, art, jewellery and clothing go under the hammer. The auction houses will present the collections of two celebrated society ladies, icons

Architecture · Museums · Heritage · People

Viktor Kulakov, who saved the Griboyedov palace at Khmelita from ruin, has died

An empty desk in the director's study of the A.S. Griboyedov "Khmelita" State Historical, Cultural and Natural Museum-Reserve, at which Viktor Kulakov worked. Today Viktor Evgenyevich Kulakov passed away. He was a unique man who will remain in our memory and in the history

An old wooden loom with taut warp threads and an unfinished rug in green and pink stripes, set against a log wall.

NB! · Archive

Wooden loom with a woven rag rug in a log house

A massive wooden structure with curved beams on the grass, with a low picket fence and a rowan tree with red berries behind it.

NB! · Museums · Observations · Heritage

Wooden structure at the Vladimir and Suzdal Museum-Reserve

How enchanting Russia is! The Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve

Archaeology · Museums · Mores · Ethnography

Povoynik of the late 16th century from the Pokrovsky Monastery burial vault in Suzdal

Remember the expression "to okrutit' someone" (literally, to wind someone round, and so to ensnare them into marriage)? It is tied to the custom of winding a bride's hair around her head in a particular way: on her wedding day a Russian girl acquired the

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