NB! · Archive · Books · Observations

since we have come to speak of Solzhenitsyn, here are some lines about him, taken down from the words of Vsevolod Ivanov by his friend Anna Saed-Shakh and set out in a short tale of the history of Peredelkino

Archive · Mores · People · Humour

There is a memory of Lilya Brik, recorded by the poetess Anna Said-Shah, from when Brik was 86

There is a memory of Lilya Brik, recorded by the poetess Anna Said-Shah, from when Brik was 86. An Italian journalist who was visiting her at Peredelkino asked why she went to France rather than to Italy, which was every bit as good. Lilya replied that in Italy people

Aristocracy · Archive · Moscow · Museums

A unique piece from the furnishings of the Ostankino Palace, commissioned by Count Nikolay Petrovich Sheremetev in 1794: a gilded incense burner of copper, brass, marble and wood from the workshop of Paul Spoll

A unique piece from the furnishings of the Ostankino Palace, commissioned by Count Nikolay Petrovich Sheremetev in 1794: a gilded incense burner of copper, brass, marble and wood from the workshop of Paul Spoll. The advertising description in the newspapers of the late 18th century sets out at length the

Aristocracy · Archive · Art · Moscow · Mores

Pyotr and Varvara Sheremetev raised two Kalmyk girls in the 18th century

In the eighteenth century Russian aristocrats took to a new fashion: adopting orphans from the poorest classes. Many families took into their homes the children of non-Russian peoples and brought them up as their own. Pyotr Borisovich and Varvara Alexeyevna Sheremetev raised two Kalmyk girls, the cousins Annushka and

NB! · Archive · Observations · People · Humour

This is not quite what I had in mind when I bought a magazine with the cover line MUSCULAR STRONGMAN ALEXANDER KUPRIN

Archive · Books · Science

An indispensable work for all who are interested in military history and the history of Russian military dress, "A Historical Description of the Clothing and Armament of the Russian Troops" by Colonel Bibikov and Staff Captain Viskovatov, has appeared on

An indispensable work for all who are interested in military history and the history of Russian military dress, "A Historical Description of the Clothing and Armament of the Russian Troops" by Colonel Bibikov and Staff Captain Viskovatov, has appeared on the website of the Historical Library in almost

NB! · Archive · Art

An Evening in Simach, Ferdinand van Kessel, 17th century

Aristocracy · Archive · Art · Moscow · Museums

The Museum of the Defence of Moscow holds a Group Portrait of the Descendants of A.S. Pushkin Who Took Part in the Great Patriotic War, 1957, by the retired lieutenant colonel Vladimir Pereyaslavets

The Museum of the Defence of Moscow holds a Group Portrait of the Descendants of A.S. Pushkin Who Took Part in the Great Patriotic War, 1957, by the retired lieutenant colonel Vladimir Pereyaslavets. Not all of Pushkin's descendants who served in the war are gathered in the

Archive · Books · Mores · People

There are two interesting and fairly popular texts on Leo Tolstoy's attitude to men, often read as proof of Lev Nikolayevich's homosexuality in his boyhood and youth

The first text is a diary entry of 29 November 1851, when Tolstoy was 23: “I have never been in love with women. <…> With men I have very often fallen in love: my first love was the two Pushkins, then the second, Saburov (?), then the third, Zybin and

Archive · Mores · Nature

Tomatoes as a curiosity in Russia and Europe in the 18th and early 19th centuries

As you can see, in the first half of the 19th century tomatoes were still a curiosity in Russia, and an explanation was needed not only of how they were grown, but of how they were to be eaten. At that time tomatoes went by the name of “love apples”

Archive · Art · Observations · Society · Humour

Suslov and the Party Leadership's Displeasure with Vladimir Semenov's Collection

Vladimir Semyonovich Semyonov's collection is customarily spoken of as outstanding, and the man himself is revered not only as a politician, diplomat and scholar but as a great Soviet patron of the arts. Only in its day his collection drew no small amount of reproach and displeasure from

Archive · Geography · Science

French 1804 illustration of Napoleon's invasion of England by Channel tunnel and balloons

What are Napoleonic plans? Take, for instance, this illustration of Napoleon's forthcoming conquest of England, from the French press of 1804. The victorious invasion was to proceed beneath the earth and above the water: troops and guns cross through a tunnel under the Channel, accompanied by an attack