Black-and-white photograph of a priest in dark robes and a cylindrical hat, seen from behind, walking towards the Parthenon among stones and ruins of the Acropolis.

NB! · Archive · Architecture · Faith

Greek priest before the Parthenon in a photograph by Kees Scherer, mid-1960s

A Greek Orthodox priest before the Parthenon in Athens. Photograph by the Dutch photographer Kees Scherer, mid-1960s

Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Heritage

Elizaveta Likhacheva, Director of the Museum of Architecture, has announced that the scientific restoration of the Melnikov House, built in 1927-1929 and functioning as a museum for the past 50 years, will begin this year and last four years: “We plan to

Elizaveta Likhacheva, Director of the Museum of Architecture, has announced that the scientific restoration of the Melnikov House, built in 1927-1929 and functioning as a museum for the past 50 years, will begin this year and last four years: “We plan to approve the restoration project by the end

Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Education

Exhibition on the VKhUTEMAS Architecture Faculty on View at the Shchusev Museum of Architecture

At the Shchusev Museum of Architecture, a long-awaited major exhibition devoted to the Architecture Faculty of VKhUTEMAS. Who, if not MUAR, should show the genuine masterpieces of the Vkhutemas students, and at last it has come to pass. Moreover, this project looks far more advantageous than the exhibition on

Architecture · Faith · Art · Observations · Heritage

Plaster ghosts by Jakub Hadrava revive an abandoned church in the Czech village of Lukava

At one time I was surprised by the large number of abandoned churches in the Czech Republic. One fourteenth-century church, 200 km from Prague, had stood empty since 1968, when its roof collapsed and people were injured. That lasted until a young artist from the capital, Jakub Hadrava, took

NB! · Architecture

Stalinka Has Dusted Herself Off

Two people with a tripod stand in the snow before the illuminated Parthenon, covered in scaffolding, in a snowy haze.

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Nature

The Parthenon in snow and a reflection on global climate change

The Parthenon in snow is very beautiful. Though I cannot quite make out which myth we have ended up in, if global climate change, to all appearances, is no myth at all

Architecture · Heritage · Paris · Nature

Parc de Sceaux in a Paris suburb, laid out by André Le Nôtre in the late 17th century

Winter in the Parc de Sceaux on the outskirts of Paris. The park was laid out in the late 17th century by André Le Nôtre, one of the most celebrated landscape architects in the world and the creator of the parks and gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte, Versailles, the Tuileries,

Archive · Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Humour

When anyone begins to praise Metlakh tiles to excess, remember this passage from the report of the architect-restorer Pyotr Pokryshkin to the Imperial Archaeological Commission on his inspection of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery of Zvenigorod…

“I found the painting of the monastery's bell tower complete. To my great regret, the painting has been done in oil paints in the former pale pink, banal colour, without the permission of the consistory, and consequently before the Commission's opinion was received. Having learnt from

Architecture · Moscow · Heritage · Education

In the courtyard of the Institute of History and Archives on Nikolskaya Street (remember that Gothic blue façade with the unicorn, the lion and the spires?) there is a small building in the Russian style, a terem

In the courtyard of the Institute of History and Archives on Nikolskaya Street (remember that Gothic blue façade with the unicorn, the lion and the spires?) there is a small building in the Russian style, a terem. In the days of the Print Yard, the terem housed the proofreading workshop

Brick vaults in a dark underground space lit by a torch, with a smaller arch and a heap of broken bricks below.

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Reportage

Visit to the underground vaults of the Kitay-gorod Wall, with a lower level filled with bricks

Visited the underground chambers of the Kitay-gorod Wall. Atmospheric, slightly eerie: a whole city beneath the earth indeed, with yet another city below it, though that one has long since been filled in with bricks.

A wide snow-covered stone staircase and a gilded iron fence with stone urns on its pillars at Versailles in winter.

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Heritage

Staircase of the Hundred Steps above the Versailles orangeries under snow

Versailles in winter. The Staircase of a Hundred Steps above the orangeries

Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Humour

I Love Moscow Landscapes of the Era of Mass Terror

The famous bas-relief on the façade of the Nikitskaya electrical substation of the metro, designed by Fridman in 1934-35, was popular with several generations of Muscovites for its daring and its symbolism. It strikes me as an excellent opportunity to paraphrase "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of