Faith · Observations · Heritage · Society

Bulgarian euro coins depict Saints Paisius of Hilendar and John of Rila

Bulgaria Puts Images of Orthodox Saints on the Obverses of Its National Euro Coins. The 2-euro coin depicts Saint Paisius of Hilendar, who lived in the 18th century, a key figure of the Bulgarian National Revival and the author of the Slavonic-Bulgarian History of the Bulgarian peoples and

NB! · Archive · Art · People

Ilya Kabakov in Hamburg in April 1996

Moscow · Observations · Society

Moscow metro changes the wording of its announcement on giving up seats

In the Moscow metro, the announcement "Dear passengers, please give up your seats to the disabled, the elderly, passengers with children and pregnant women" has been replaced with "Be courteous, give up your seats to those for whom standing is harder". I am not sure whether

Society · Saint Petersburg

CDU proposes twinning Hamburg with Kyiv instead of partnership with Saint Petersburg

Head of the Hamburg CDU Group Proposes Ending the City's Twinning with Saint Petersburg, in Force Since 1957. According to the politician, Russia is not a partner of Germany, and Saint Petersburg is not a partner city of Hamburg. Instead, the CDU proposes establishing a full twinning of

Painting in blue and pink: a pink vase with round green leaves and orange flowers on a stool, nude dancing figures behind it, a red chair at left.

NB!

Henri Matisse, Nasturtiums with "Dance"

Listings · Moscow · Coming Up · Art · Museums

A new selection of Moscow exhibitions

📌 Closing soon: the exhibition "From Beijing to Moscow: A Dialogue of Cultures" at the Tretyakov Gallery, until 23 February 📌 The exhibition "Will It Last Forever?" at the Shift gallery, until 28 March 📌 Andrey Kuzkin's exhibition "Not Here" at the pop/off/art

Faith · Art · Books · Museums · Rome

Raphael’s last painting, “Transfiguration”, as described by Vasari

Let us begin the week before Great Lent with Raphael's Transfiguration of Christ. This is the last picture the artist worked on before his death in 1520. It is kept in the Vatican Pinacoteca. A reminder that the beauty of Christ's sacrifice will save the world.

Archive · Science · Education · Society

Mendeleev on a professor's salary in 1890 and its conversion into modern roubles

In the old days, when I lectured, a professor's salary of 3000 roubles was so ample that I could even keep a footman – I took on Alyosha, you know. But does it provide so well now? If I were a minister and were asked to name what a

Archive · Cinema · People · Pop Culture

Alexander Gradsky during the filming of Andrei Konchalovsky's "A Romance of Lovers" in 1973

photo by Yevgeny Umnov

Books · Observations · Society

A remark by Miss Flite in Dickens's “Bleak House” and the question of the wealth of the powerful

I recall this phrase of the blessed Miss Flite from Charles Dickens's Bleak House whenever I think of the mighty of this world, indeed of almost all the famous persons invested with power, and ask myself, really, what do you want so much money for? And, by the

Coat of arms of Madrid under a golden crown: a bear at a tree with red fruit, a blue border with white stars, captioned 1967 and 1982.

NB! · Madrid · Observations

Coat of arms of Madrid used from 1967 to 1982 and the current version

The arms of Madrid, then and now. But why?

NB! · Art · Observations · Mores · Ethnography

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