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Archive · Art · Society · Paris · Humour
The French Republic of de Gaulle (in the guise of Marianne) Casts an Eye on Communism
Sixty years before the famous meme appeared
Archive · The East · Books · People
Pushkin on the body of the murdered Griboyedov taken to Tiflis and their last meeting
"Two oxen, yoked to a cart, were climbing a steep road. Several Georgians accompanied the cart. "Where are you from?" I asked them. "From Tehran." "What are you carrying?" "Griboyedov." It was the body of the murdered Griboyedov, which was being
Archive · The East · Books · People
Griboyedov tells Pushkin about the Persians on the eve of his last journey to Tehran
You do not yet know these people: you will see that it will come to knives. Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, on the Persians, on the eve of his last journey to Tehran
Archive · Books · Ethnography
"A stout Mordvin woman in a chemise mottled at the shoulders, sleeves and hem with red wool, as though it had been inscribed in blood; her bosom weighed down with silver coins of various sizes in several rows; in her ears a ball of swan's down apiece, and
"A stout Mordvin woman in a chemise mottled at the shoulders, sleeves and hem with red wool, as though it had been inscribed in blood; her bosom weighed down with silver coins of various sizes in several rows; in her ears a ball of swan's down apiece,
NB! · Archive · London · Monarchies
Two Kings: Fifty-Six-Year-Old George VI and Three-Year-Old Charles III
NB! · Archive · London · Monarchies
Charles III in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace after the State Opening of Parliament in 2023, for the first time as king, and in 1952 with Elizabeth II, who opened Parliament for the first time as queen
Archive · Monarchies · Saint Petersburg · Humour
The Emperor sent two letters to Saint Petersburg and received no reply
Napoleon Sent Two Letters to Saint Petersburg and Received No Reply. Worse than importunate people are only importunate emperors
Archive · Books · Science · Humour
Why is it coldest at dawn and before morning, of all the hours of the day?
Why is it coldest at dawn and before morning, of all the hours of the day? So an unknown inquirer asks Paul Taverner, Rector of the University of Lyon, in 1597. But we already know that the darkest hour is just before the dawn. Thanks be to Benjamin Disraeli or
Archive · Books · Humour
A thinker of the 1600s named the years from 35 to 48 as the best age of man
Which years are best for a man to wish for? A thinker of the 1600s speaks to the point: The manly, or stalwart years: from the age of 35 manhood begins and lasts until 48. In them lies all the perfection of human life
Archive · Books · Monarchies · Society · Saint Petersburg
"There is no power on earth more absolute than that of the sovereigns of Russia: throughout their empire their will is the only law; obedience the only morality
"There is no power on earth more absolute than that of the sovereigns of Russia: throughout their empire their will is the only law; obedience the only morality. Yet we shall see their pitiable condition, and how their power, having overstepped every limit prescribed to men, has destroyed itself
NB! · Aristocracy · Archive · Mores
General Kostenetsky Dined at Count Osterman-Tolstoy's for Twenty Years
General Kostenetsky dined at Count Osterman-Tolstoy's for twenty years. It was so organic a part of their routine that every day, an hour and a half before dinner, the Count sent his carriage to fetch the General