NB! · Archive · Science · Humour
It is hard to believe this invention did not become the most popular in history. A contrivance for descending from the upper floors without a staircase! GE-NI-AL!
Museums · Paris · People
On 17 February 1673, seated in this very chair, the dying Molière played the part of Argan, the "imaginary invalid" who is forever convinced that something ails him. In the play, Argan resolves to feign death in order to see how those around him will behave once he
Archive · Moscow · Observations · Mores
The Moscow winter seasons of 1814-15 were brighter and richer than the pre-war seasons of 1810-11. This is understandable: people were exhausted by the hardships of war, by ruin, universal gloom and interminable mourning, and when the time came, they returned to life with fresh and even
Aristocracy · Archive · Moscow · Mores · People
Ekaterina Khovanskaya, like many mothers, suffered terribly when no news came from her son, especially during the main and bloodiest battles, which only aggravated her already extremely frail condition. The son was a noted carouser and simply forgot to write home, for which his father devised a stratagem: he asked
NB! · Archaeology · Faith · Art
The Stoibadeion, a phallus on a pedestal adorned with a relief of a cock with a penis for a head. One of two sculptures beside the sanctuary of Dionysus on the island of Delos. He was patron not only of parties but also of fertility, and was associated with phallic
NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums · Rome
Monarchies · Science · People
Scientists at Southern Methodist University in the United States link the difficulties Henry VIII's wives had in carrying children to the presence in the king's blood of a particular antigen, belonging to that group of peptides on red blood cells which, when present in a man&
London · Monarchies · Science · People
Could Syphilis Have Been the Cause of Henry VIII's Foul Temper? By the age of fifty Henry VIII was almost immobile, though legends were still told of his former prowess and might. Standing 186 centimetres tall, by the end of his life the king weighed 180 kilograms and
NB! · The East · Art · Museums · Observations
Tutankhamun's child's chair, ebony, bronze, gold, ivory. The armrests are adorned with gold plates depicting antelopes and plants. How utterly charming
Moscow · Observations · Mores · Humour
It is a matter of common knowledge that Andropov was a very modest man. Yet, looking at the interior of his Moscow flat, it is hard not to ask oneself: why not summon a decorator, from some theatre or other if need be, or any other artist, to help make
NB! · Archive · Moscow · Mores · People
Andropov's flat at 26 Kutuzovsky Prospekt. The photographs were taken in 1984, after the death of the General Secretary
Monarchies · People
Prince of the Moskva Michel Ney Tries to Win Back Napoleon's Favour. Brave soldier, triumphant victor, eminent commander and darling of France, Marshal Ney was the very man who had persuaded Bonaparte, his patron, to abdicate the throne, and had himself taken a seat on the military council