NB! · Art · Humour
Meissen vase with a bird cage and elephant-shaped handles, 1728
A Meissen cage vase with elephants. 1728. Madness and adoration.
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NB! · Archaeology · Faith · Mores · Humour
Pilgrim badge of the 14th century shaped like a travelling vagina
Badges like this were a popular souvenir among medieval pilgrims. True, they say little about the holy places visited, but in every other respect they are eloquent enough. This travelling vulva is from the 14th century
Books · Monarchies · Mores · Humour
Small stature of Marina Mnishek and False Dmitry and the myth of a slender beauty on the throne
Alexei Tolstoy has lines about the pretender (False Dmitry) climbing onto the throne with his bride (Marina Mniszech) and dangling his legs beside her. The first crowned Russian tsarina, Marina Mniszech, and her husband were indeed of very slight stature. And while of Tsar Dmitry it was merely said "
NB! · Art · Observations · Humour
The old man in the air bubble is Alexander the Great, spying from beneath the water on his beloved Roxana with some fellow
The old man in the air bubble is Alexander the Great, spying from beneath the water on his beloved Roxana with some fellow. God forbid one should look like that at 30, and, for that matter, go travelling in a bubble either
Books · Observations · Science
Mechnikov in “Essays on Optimism” on Europeans having a long old age, not a long life
Academician Mechnikov wrote in "The Nature of Man" that Europeans do not have long lives, only long old ages. When you are no longer fit for anything, but are somehow still alive
Books · Observations · Humour
Taras Bulba's weight of 20 puds and his horse named Chyort
Taras Bulba weighed 20 poods, or about 326 kilograms. What is one to do with such a weight? How is one to manage? Probably only die. But Taras Bulba still contrived to ride on horseback. Then again, if one remembers that his horse was called Chort (Devil), everything falls into
NB! · Archive · Architecture · Faith · Heritage
Plan of the 42-Metre Church of the Dormition in Kondopoga, Destroyed by Fire Today
Books · Observations · Mores · Humour
A cloak, a britzka and a girl in Gogol's works and the thousandfold fall in the rouble's value
To feel the real fall of the rouble that everyone talks about, it is enough to imagine it a thousand times cheaper than in Gogol's day. A good lady's cloak cost 80 roubles ("Nevsky Prospekt"), a good britzka 4,000 roubles ("The Carriage&
NB! · Observations · Science · Humour
Speaking of Renaissance inventions, one cannot fail to mention the printing press, the parachute, the rolling bearing, the water pump, the telescope and, of course, the steerable centaur costume. Where would we be without it?
Books · Monarchies · Observations · Science · Humour
James IV's experiment with two infants on a desert island in Walter Scott's “History of Scotland”
Walter Scott, in his "History of Scotland", describes an experiment of James IV, who sent two infants to an uninhabited island with a deaf-mute nurse, to find out which language is innate to man, and whether there is one at all. Besides the settlers, the island was
NB! · Architecture · Faith · Art · Heritage
Vandals defaced a 12th-century sculpture on the façade of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela
Vandals have defaced a 12th-century sculpture on one of the unique façades of the cathedral of the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela. The church is a local shrine and an architectural monument
Aristocracy · Art · Mores
The Cholmondeley Ladies, early 17th century
The Cholmondeley Ladies, early 17th century. The inscription on the painting reads: "Two Ladies of the Cholmondeley Family, who were born the same day, married the same day, and brought to bed the same day." The ladies, portrayed in identical poses and identical attire, with identical infants in