Moscow · Heritage · Society · Nature
At the end of last December, the Moscow government, by a decree of its own, converted the city's specially protected natural areas of regional significance (SPNAs) into specially protected green areas (SPGAs) According to the document, almost 150 parks, nature reserves, natural monuments and other protected territories are
Archive · London · Heritage · Pop Culture
Sophia Loren in 1967 beside one of the two London sphinxes flanking the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle on the Victoria Embankment. The sphinxes are cast in bronze to frame the obelisk. The 18-metre obelisk was brought to London from Alexandria in 1877, although it had been
Art · Heritage · Society
The German Federal Cabinet has approved a plan to reform the restitution of artworks confiscated by the Nazis. Claimants who suffered from Nazi confiscations will now be able to apply directly to a specially created arbitration court, without requiring the consent to arbitration of the present owners of the works
NB! · Art · Museums · Heritage
The Getty Center and the Getty Villa in Los Angeles have fallen within a mandatory evacuation zone owing to the fires in the city. The museum had earlier described itself as "the safest place for works of art during a fire"
Faith · Moscow · Museums · Heritage
The State Historical Museum has begun the first stage of restoring a unique nineteenth-century icon, "The Saviour of Smolensk with Saints Sergius of Radonezh and Varlaam of Khutyn Kneeling", from Saint Basil's Cathedral. The icon has been handed over to the Grabar restoration workshops. The
Architecture · Observations · Heritage
How I loathe these idiotic immersive shows staged at historic sites, which not only prevent one from contemplating genuine architecture as it actually is and transform the landscape, but also substitute a false context for cultural phenomena. Stage your immersive shows at monuments of stagnation-era functionalism or in your
Art · Museums · Heritage · Society · Saint Petersburg
Finnish customs conclude investigation into Russian cultural treasures detained in spring 2022. Finnish customs officers detained vehicles carrying works of art from Russian museums in April 2022. More than 200 exhibits were placed under arrest, among them items from the collections of the State Hermitage, the Tretyakov Gallery, and the
Architecture · Faith · Books · Monarchies · Heritage
Here almost every French king was crowned over the course of 1000 years. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims is the cathedral of the city of Reims, built in the 13th century on the site of a more ancient church. Although the cathedral, in the style of the High
NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Heritage · Paris · Humour
Can Sobyanin be summoned to Versailles? If only for the duration of the repairs to the Parterre du Midi and the Parterre du Nord
NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Paris
Architecture · Heritage · Society
Russia launches a preferential lending programme for the restoration of cultural heritage sites. The programme will make it possible to attract 300 billion roubles of extra-budgetary funds for the restoration of architectural monuments in unsatisfactory condition. At present Russia has more than more than 156,000 cultural heritage sites,
Coming Up · Art · Moscow · Museums · Heritage
The Pushkin Museum Unveils Its Exhibition Programme for 2025. Of particular interest are the exhibitions in the Main Building, "Returning to the Future. On the History of Masterpieces Lost and Saved in the Second World War" and "The Museum of the Baryatinskys. European Art of the 17th–