Architecture · Observations · Society
I know Varlamov wrote about this. Still, it is a handsome idea, if a rather ambiguous one. The administration of Rybinsk, in the Yaroslavl Region, has ordered that signboards in the historic part of the town be made in a "historical" style, and plastic is apparently banned as
Aristocracy · Architecture · Humour
The Colleoni family coat of arms is adorned with three pairs of testicles. The family is said to owe its emblem to one of its founders, Gisalberto Colleoni, who had a distinctive physiological peculiarity, a third testicle, which may have been the result of an orchitis he had suffered. Indeed,
Architecture · Heritage · Society
Buzuluk wooden Art Nouveau: yes, such a thing exists. The people of Tom Sawyer Fest in the town of Buzuluk are preserving unique monuments of the wooden architecture of their region, and they need our help. Read the post (https://www.instagram.com/p/CDi6i7FjI-J/?igshid=150ddi3chlg2z); perhaps you
Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Society · Saint Petersburg
Quite recently I wanted to write about the creation in the Leningrad Region of a "Park Agency", which will oversee the preservation of cultural monuments, their use, and the promotion of heritage sites. Among the monuments coming under the agency's care are the Priory Park and
Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Heritage
Melnikov's best-known work is his own house on Krivoarbatsky Lane, two cylinders of unequal size, built in 1927-29 for himself and his family. Unrepeatable and striking in its simplicity, its form and its handling of light, it stands today in good condition and houses an excellent
Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Heritage
Another brainchild of Melnikov: the Gosplan Garage on Aviamotornaya Street, 1936. Originally the main floor space of the garage was given over to the departmental cars of Gosplan; from the 1950s it housed the 8th taxi depot, and since the 1990s it has been home to assorted organisations, car workshops,
Architecture · Moscow · Heritage · People · Reportage
Today marks the 130th birthday of the Russian architect Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov. In honour of the jubilarian, my team and I from the Shchusev Museum of Architecture visited the surviving Moscow monuments of his work. A sorry picture, it must be said. All of them, with the exception of the
Coming Up · Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Society
How heartening that Russia has people like the team and volunteers of Tom Sawyer Fest. If you have not yet heard of this organisation, you will like it: people united by a love of the historical and cultural heritage of their native parts simply rescue decrepit, abandoned and ruined monuments.
Architecture · Faith · Heritage
The Institute of Breton Culture is opening a fundraising appeal for the restoration of the seventeenth-century organ of Nantes Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, almost entirely destroyed in the fire of 18 July. The instrument survived the years of the Revolution, but was badly damaged in the
Architecture · Books · Museums · People
At Melikhovo, which Chekhov bought in 1892, he, who had never had a house of his own, acquired for the first time a study of his own, of which he wrote: "I sit in my study with its three large Italian windows and live in blissful content." The
Architecture · Museums · Heritage · Paris · People
A miniature replica of the Bastille with eight towers, made from stone from the Bastille's wall. An original souvenir devised by a man who styled himself the demolisher of the Bastille. A bustling contractor, engaged in pulling down the Bastille before any public debate had formed around the
NB! · Architecture · Art · Heritage · People
Grandma Tessie Prisbrey and her bottle village: 16 monumental structures of glass, cement and plastic fished out of the rubbish. Simi Valley, California, USA.