Archive · Paris · Humour
"There is no black maw that will devour all the gendarmes!" "There is, but it is temporarily closed"
Photograph by Robert Doisneau, 1952
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· 1930 stories
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NB! · Archive · Art · People
Claude Monet in His Garden at Giverny
Archive · Art · People
Ilya Glazunov in 1991 on Chaadaev's words and the secret of time for an artist
"I recall Chaadaev's words that an artist may be as clever as you please, but if he does not know the secret of his time, he is no artist. And what is the secret of time? It seems to me it is, above all, the real alignment
Archive · Monarchies · Nature
Nicholas II's two elephants, Indian and African, and how they died
Nicholas II had two elephants: one Indian, one African. The Emperor liked to fuss over animals, bathed the elephants and fed them, and could watch the giants at play in their pool for a long time. The Indian elephant did not live long, having failed to adapt to the climate,
Archive · London · Monarchies · Mores
St George's Hall at Windsor Castle prepared for a banquet in 1902
The table is laid for a very small company: let us sup quietly, en famille. Banquet in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle in 1902
Archive · Faith · Mores · Pop Culture
Cocaine-laced Mariani wine and the Vatican gold medal from Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII on an advertising poster for Vin Mariani. Vin Mariani was nothing other than a wine tonic laced with cocaine, which became extraordinarily popular in the 1870s. According to the recipe, every 100 grams of the drink, made from Bordeaux wine, contained 25 mg of cocaine. The makers
Archive · People · Humour
Grandad, is that really you?
In case you failed to recognise him, these photographs of 1895-1900 show the young Winston Churchill
NB! · Archive · Architecture · Heritage
The Parthenon, Athens, 1907
NB! · Archive · London · Monarchies · People
Elizabeth II and White Horses in 1944, 2016 and 2022
Archive · Observations · Society
Number of hospitals in the Russian Empire in 1891 and in Russia in 2019
According to Volume X of the Statistics of the Russian Empire for 1891, the means of combating mortality at the disposal of a country of 113 million inhabitants cannot be considered considerable. The number of hospitals reaches 3,400. According to Rosstat data for 2019, the number of hospitals in
Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
A creepy fellow I would not let within several kilometres of my children. Let alone my wife.
A creepy fellow I would not let within several kilometres of my children. Let alone my wife. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, her five children, their governess and Rasputin. Where was Nicholas II looking?
Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
One day in childhood there comes a moment when you play in the yard with your friends for the last time, until you are called indoors, but you do not yet know it
One day in childhood there comes a moment when you play in the yard with your friends for the last time, until you are called indoors, but you do not yet know it. Look closely at this photograph. The mood is much the same: the wedding of Princess Victoria Louise