Architecture · Heritage

The Tour du Masque in Old Cannes and the Legend of the Man in the Iron Mask

The Tour du Masque in the old town of Cannes. According to a popular legend, the Man in the Iron Mask was held prisoner on the Cannes coast, and when he escaped, he took shelter in this very building. Naturally, like many tales told to tourists, the claim rests on

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Heritage · Society Pages

The winner of the first category of the The Art Newspaper Russia XII awards, Restoration of the Year: the Moscow Palace of Pioneers on the Sparrow Hills, built in 1962, for its careful treatment of an example of Soviet architectural modernism

The winner of the first category of the The Art Newspaper Russia XII awards, Restoration of the Year: the Moscow Palace of Pioneers on the Sparrow Hills, built in 1962, for its careful treatment of an example of Soviet architectural modernism. The prize is presented by Elizaveta Likhacheva, Director of

A group of carpenters in hard hats waves from the rafters of Notre-Dame's new timber roof frame, with scaffolding and stone towers behind.

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Paris

Carpenters mark completion of the Notre-Dame roof framework

Carpenters salute the completion of the roof structures of Notre-Dame. It is gratifying that the church is regaining its physical body. And it is especially pleasing to see such a close-knit company of masters of an ancient biblical trade, who have applied their skill and put their souls

Architecture · Faith · Observations

Jacob's Ladder on the west façade of Bath Abbey and in church art

At school we were taught a song, "to get to heaven you need a ladder and one more thing", and I remembered its words at once when I saw the cathedral wall of the abbey in the English city of Bath, with Jacob's Ladder. A sculpted

Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Heritage

There are houses that stand alone, like a mushroom in a clearing; there are houses with enough space around them for windows and a view on every side, but if something new is built nearby, the windows end up facing a neighbour's wall or else…

There are houses with blind side walls from the very start: it was planned from the outset that they would stand hard against other buildings, on one side or on both. Even when the built-up area was wooden and low-rise, there were many such houses: a thick brick

Architecture · Faith · Observations · Society · Paris

On the official poster for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Christian cross has been removed from the spire of Les Invalides

What scoundrels they are, they are no longer ashamed of anything

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Education

The New Bauman Building

NB! · Architecture · Museums · People

The Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers, the better to keep watch over the Rijksmuseum, his beloved brainchild, even after his death, hid a sculpted portrait of himself on the wall of one of the towers on the Museumplein side

NB! · Architecture · Art · Museums

Antinous's Magnificent Hairdo

Antinous's magnificent hairdo. A Renaissance bronze after an antique original. Archaeological Museum, Florence

NB! · Architecture · Art · Museums · Observations · Paris

The Ceiling of the Grande Galerie at the Louvre Recalled the Elaborately Painted Ceilings of the Ancient Egyptian Art Hall at the Pushkin Museum

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Paris

Versailles in Winter

Architecture · Faith · London · Observations

A 1904 project envisaged a new neo-Gothic abbey in the immediate vicinity of Westminster Abbey, which had been judged too crowded with antiquities

A 1904 project envisaged a new neo-Gothic abbey in the immediate vicinity of Westminster Abbey, which had been judged too crowded with antiquities. The complex was to include the tallest building in Great Britain, far higher than the towers of Westminster, Big Ben and Saint Paul's Cathedral.