Art · Mores · Ethnography

Polish Dress in Dutch Portraits of Children of the 17th Century, from Bol to Netscher

Here we have a most interesting instance of foreigners borrowing national dress: Dutch merchants in Poland dressed their children in costumes stylised after the clothing of the Polish nobility. The first portrait, of 1656, by the Dutch painter Ferdinand Bol, a pupil of Rembrandt, shows the son of a Dutch

NB! · Faith · Books · Ethnography

The Gospel in Chuvash

NB! · Archive · Books · Mores · Ethnography

Street Theatre in the Sixteenth-Century Tsardom of Muscovy, as Adam Olearius Saw It

Art · Books · Ethnography

The Inscription on the Stone in Vasnetsov's "Knight at the Crossroads"

"Go straight ahead, and you'll not stay alive; there is no way for rider, walker or flyer." Yet, by Vasnetsov's own account, the text has a continuation, borrowed from the epic tale (bylina) and hidden by him beneath a layer of moss: "Go

Observations · Ethnography

The name Vyacheslav, its Slavic forms and its link to the name Stefan

It is curious that the Russian name Vyacheslav corresponds to the common Slavic name Wenceslas, popular among the Poles and Bulgarians. The name is occasionally found among Italians as well. Alexandra Superanskaya, a classic of Russian onomastics, points out that Wenceslas may have been a free rendering of the name

Books · Monarchies · Mores · Ethnography

Engelhardt, in his book A Complete School of Hunting Fur and Feather in All Zones of Russia, notes that the Grand Dukes went hunting in bast shoes, since there is no handier or more practical footwear for the forest in winter: snow gets into them as easil

A rider in a yellow robe and cap on a black horse, with a man in an orange robe standing beside him against a white wall.

NB! · Faith · The East · Art · Ethnography

Kalmyk lama in an 1870 painting by Vasily Vereshchagin

Kalmyk Lama. Painting by Vasily Vereshchagin, 1870

Satellite map of South America with red markings across the Amazon basin.

Geography · Maps · Ethnography

Uncontacted peoples remain in Asia, New Guinea and South America

A Map of the Last Uncontacted Peoples of South America. At present, peoples who have never had direct contact with the outside world and modern civilisation remain in India, on islands of the Indian Ocean, in Vietnam, New Guinea, Paraguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Amazonia, Bolivia and Peru

The East · Art · Observations · Ethnography

Lenin's Meeting with the Mongolian Delegation

A popular subject in twentieth-century Mongolian art. The Mongols' attire is very beautiful. What a pity that national dress is vanishing so rapidly all over the world.

Archaeology · Books · Moscow · Science · Reportage · Ethnography

Eight-volume Academic History of Yugra, written by 130 scholars, presented at VDNKh

A publication unique in Russian historical scholarship has been presented at VDNKh: the Academic History of Yugra in eight volumes. It is the first project of its kind in Russia: a comprehensive study of the region's history, from the era of its settlement 18,000 to 16,000

NB! · Archive · Mores · Ethnography

The Women of Mezen, Arkhangelsk Governorate, in the 1900s

NB! · Art · Museums · Ethnography