Archaeology · Museums · Heritage · People
Continuing my series of notes on the feats of scholars, museum staff and cultural workers during the war, today I shall tell the story of a unique collection of historical treasures in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. In the second week of September 1941 the front line came right up to
NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums
Two Scythian warriors in conversation on a bowl with a spherical base and ram's-head handles. Silver, gilt. 4th century BC.
NB! · Art · Museums
An eighteenth-century invention you will want to own today. A magnificent desk by Italian craftsmen, made for working with documents
NB! · Archive · Books · Saint Petersburg
The dog was never caught. From the siege diary of Tatyana Velikotnaya
NB! · Observations · Nature · Humour
One depiction of the sea-giant Jasconius, whose back weary travellers mistook for the long-awaited land, only for him to sink beneath the waves when they lit a fire. Something about renovation came to mind
NB! · Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies · Heritage
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Heritage · Mores · People
Emperor Alexander III had a brother, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who was married to a German princess, Maria Pavlovna of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The Grand Duchess was also known as Miechen. What a shrew she was! The whole life of the grand ducal couple was marked by bilious envy of the
Observations · Heritage
The loss was discovered on 29 April, and since the alarm failed to go off, the precise time of the disappearance is unknown. The case reminded me of another disappearance, if one may put it so
NB! · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage
The tiara of Duchess Hilda of Luxembourg, set with 367 diamonds, has been stolen. It was taken from the throne room of the museum in Karlsruhe Palace, straight out of its display case
Mores · Ethnography
There is a superstition that eggshells must never be kept, because witches can use them to sail out to sea. The shells must be burnt. Bear this in mind the next time you make scrambled eggs. There is, in fact, another widespread belief connecting unclean spirits with water. Evil entities
The East · Books · Observations · Humour
Military literature is, of course, a world entirely apart. Let me quote one witty passage about Skobelev. Having gathered the non-commissioned officers in his tent, he proposed that they creep by night into a Turkish trench and frighten the Turks away from the Russian camp: "Get to the
Archive · Observations · People
Skobelev had his own approach to awarding decorations. When he was asked why he preferred to give his best soldiers the “voiced” St George Crosses rather than the named ones, although the named ones rank higher, Skobelev explained: “The voiced one he will get now, and be happy; but put