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NB! · Archive · Observations
The legend rests on photographs supposedly taken by the soldiers who discovered the secret study
Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
The alleged erotic cabinet of an empress lacks any official confirmation
There is no official confirmation of this find, or indeed of the very possibility of such a cabinet. I have never come across a catalogue or a description of it either, nor even a printed mention in any serious source. Nevertheless, some of these objects have been photographed. Whether they
Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Saint Petersburg
Catherine the Great's erotic cabinet at Tsarskoye Selo and the inconsistencies of its legend
I came across a mention of Catherine II's erotic cabinet, supposedly discovered at Tsarskoye Selo by soldiers at the very start of the war. The story is murky and even contradictory, and there is a great deal of muddle in it. If soldiers found it, what were they
NB! · Archive
Antique chair with patterned upholstery and a carved crest rail
Archaeology · Museums · Heritage · Society
German officers and museum director Mates looted the museums of Krasnodar and Taganrog
Talk of wartime vandalism is often reduced to a few simple psychological regularities, which tie together the humble origins of the common soldier, the hardships of army life, the constant fear of death and the sight of war's horrors, all leading to dehumanisation. It is often said that
Books · Moscow · Observations · Society
There is a well-known passage from a Lotman lecture on the psychological and social causes of boorishness, which applies equally to the modern hooligan and, as it turns out, to many a civil servant
There is a well-known passage from a Lotman lecture on the psychological and social causes of boorishness, which applies equally to the modern hooligan and, as it turns out, to many a civil servant. A simple formula explains the defiant, odious conduct of people who knowingly destroy what is
Monarchies · Observations · Rome
The Pythia's prophecy to Nero about 63 and versions of its interpretation
There is a legend that the Pythia told Nero to beware the year 63. He, so the story goes, took this as a reference to the age at which death threatened him. But the prophecy revealed itself where no one expected. It is said to have come true otherwise than
NB! · Observations · Mores · Society
It is a pity that the genre of the deathbed farewell, the bedside conversation, the portrait of the dying man has been utterly lost, especially in political culture
It is a pity that the genre of the deathbed farewell, the bedside conversation, the portrait of the dying man has been utterly lost, especially in political culture. Besides, leaders so rarely die these days. And today is the anniversary of Napoleon's death
Archive · Heritage · Society · People
The 1928 Roerich Pact and German looting of Soviet cultural property
Destroyed by human error and restored by human hope. In international law, the history of the protection of cultural property begins in the nineteenth century: the Lieber Code, the Brussels Conference, the Hague Conventions and Declarations and, finally, the Roerich Pact, or Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific
Coming Up · Art · Books · Observations · Heritage
A series of notes on artworks and cultural treasures lost in the war, for Victory Day
For some time I have been studying the subject of cultural losses in the war years, and for Victory Day I have decided to prepare a series of notes on the treasures of art and culture that our country has lost. Over the weekend I shall share the stories that
NB! · Archive · Art · Heritage