Archive · Monarchies · Observations

Rumyantsev's Embassy to Sweden in 1720 and Agreement on Peace Talks in Åbo

Since they write that the Northern War was recalled at today's negotiations, I too shall turn to the events that preceded the conclusion of the Peace of Nystad. So. The embassy to Sweden in September 1720, ostensibly to congratulate Frederick I on his recent coronation, was headed neither

NB! · Archaeology · Archive · Faith · The East

Graffiti of a ship from the Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Constantinople

Archive · Monarchies

In the instruction issued by His Imperial Majesty to Alexander Rumyantsev by the College of Foreign Affairs before his departure for the Swedish embassy, there is an important clause on the conclusion of an armistice, that is, peace with Sweden

In the seventh clause Peter orders Rumyantsev to tell Frederick plainly of the reports known to him that the Swedish side wants a peace agreement, and to ask whether this is truly so, informing him that Peter has no need of a peace agreement, but that if Sweden wants one,

Archive · Monarchies · Humour

Rumyantsev's letter to Peter I on the Swedish fleet alarmed by an embassy galley in 1720

The Swedes were so frightened of the Russian fleet that even a single Russian post galley threw their coastal forces into confusion. Adjutant General Alexander Ivanovich Rumyantsev describes in a private letter to Peter I an amusing incident that befell him in Sweden in August 1720, when Peter sent him

Archive · Art · Moscow · Museums

Zotov Centre opens exhibition on the October and ROPF photography groups

Moscow collections hold a great many works by Constructivist photographers, but the systematic study and display of this legacy began only comparatively recently. Well, better late than never. An exhibition devoted to the work of members of two photographic associations, October and ROPF, has opened at the Zotov Centre. Both

NB! · Archive · Observations · Humour

I hope I am not the only one whom early 17th-century manuscripts remind of the universe of Wonny and Potachok

NB! · Archive · Geography · Ethnography

Trackers on the Yangtze, 1946

A book page with an excerpt from a letter mentioning Zyuganov, Zhirinovsky, Yeltsin and Gaidar.

Archive · Books · Moscow · Society

Poet Inna Lisnyanskaya on the events of October 1993 in a letter to her daughter

Stinking Democrats, Cunning Communists, Screeching Liberals, Idiots, Suicides and Thieves. The exceptions are Yeltsin and, perhaps, Gaidar. The poet Inna Lisnyanskaya on the events of October 1993, in a letter to her daughter

Black-and-white engraved portrait of a young woman with long dark ringlets and a lace shawl over her shoulders.

Archive · Books · Humour

Letter from Gustave Flaubert addressed to Louise Colet

"Pull as many faces as you like behind my back; my backside is watching you" Gustave Flaubert to Louise Colet

Archive · The East · Art · Society

Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt lead the vanquished Hitler, with snakes growing from his shoulders, in the wake of Kaveh, the mythical blacksmith who rose against the tyrant Zahhak

Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt lead the vanquished Hitler, with snakes growing from his shoulders, in the wake of Kaveh, the mythical blacksmith who rose against the tyrant Zahhak. Goebbels is tied to the horse's tail. During the Second World War, Iran saw a series of propaganda posters based

Silhouettes of a uniformed man in a peaked cap and a child with a raised hand against festive fireworks and Kremlin towers with stars.

Archive · Art · Society

Miron Lukyanov’s poster for the 9 May holiday, created in 1989

Happy Victory Day! Poster by Miron Lukyanov, “9 May is Victory Day!”, 1989

Archive · Faith · Science · Society

If Leo XIV is the first American Pope, then Leo XIII created the term "the heresy of Americanism"

One of the stumbling blocks between the Catholics of the United States and the Vatican during the pontificate of Leo XIII was the wish of the American clergy for changes, so that the Church might become one of the pillars of the state order. It was precisely in this period