Almaty · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Heritage · People
Today Itkind's sculptures are displayed in many museums around the world and held in private collections, while a considerable part of the master's legacy is in Kazakhstan, where the most productive decades of his life were spent. Unfortunately, for a time some of the wooden sculptures
Heritage · Science · Society · Paris
One of the innovations of the French Revolution that almost all of humanity uses every day is the metre. It was a truly revolutionary decision to introduce a unified unit of length at a time when France alone had tens of thousands of different ones, and it was soon adopted
Art · Museums · Heritage · Paris
The Sounds of the Tocsin have a curious fate: in 1892 they were shown in the French pavilion at the World's Fair. After being purchased, the painting ended up in the Museum of Picardy, founded by Napoleon, though whether the artist himself gave the canvas to the museum
NB! · Archaeology · Monarchies · Heritage
That famous flag of Napoleon on Elba, with its three golden bees. The bees may well have been the oldest symbol of the rulers of France. In 1653 an image of bees was discovered in the tomb of Childeric, father of Clovis I, founder of the Merovingian dynasty, who lived
Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Paris
The aesthetics of paving every habitable corner of the earth in granite has reached Paris too. The Pavillon de l'Arsenal in Paris is showing a project to reconstruct the Champs-Élysées by the architect Philippe Chiambaretta and his agency, painfully reminiscent of Moscow's Muzeon park and
Heritage · Society · Nature
A petition has appeared online concerning restrictions on the construction of wind farms in France. The principal complaint is voiced by the Society for the Protection of French Landscapes and Aesthetics. Many country dwellers are convinced that the landscape of their native parts has been degraded by the wind turbines
Architecture · Museums · Observations · Heritage · Paris
There is such a photograph of the outlets of the very Louis-Philippe system of central heating and, accordingly, ventilation in the Gallery of Battles at Versailles. Of course, for its time such a system was the optimal solution, but then the palace was not visited by 15,000 people
Architecture · Museums · Heritage · Society · Paris
A scandal where none was expected. For the first time in the history of Versailles, the floors have undergone such sweeping changes: in several rooms the parquet now bears a great many brass ventilation grilles. The administration explains that the old air-conditioning and heating system can no longer cope
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage
These are the mottoes of one of the most prestigious and respected honours in Europe, the dynastic Order of the Golden Fleece, founded on 10 January 1430 by Philip the Good. In the portrait from the Dijon Museum of Fine Arts, the duke is shown wearing the Order of the
Monarchies · Observations · Heritage · Paris
How do you like Louis Philippe with painted lips? I never cared for the Pear King, but I see nothing amusing in the fact that someone has rouged the lips of his statue at Les Invalides. The saddest thing about this act of vandalism is that lipstick scarcely comes off
Architecture · Cinema · Heritage
The Rostov Kremlin is, beyond doubt, one of the most famous historical architectural complexes in Russia. Every year many millions of people stroll through its chambers, corridors and along its walls, in the company of the heroes of the Soviet comedy "Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession". It was Rostov,
Archaeology · Faith · The East · Heritage
Pictured: the house traditionally regarded as the home of Joseph and the Virgin Mary. Well, the monument does indeed date from the 1st century AD: one wall of the house survives in full, along with part of the floor and a doorway. The walls of the dwelling were hewn out