Museums · Observations · Heritage

Film photographs from a summer trip to Khmelita, the Griboyedov estate

Today we travel once more to my beloved Khmelita. I have developed the film from my summer journey, so the memories are especially warm. And I recommend that everyone follow the Griboyedov estate on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/griboedovmuseum/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GriboedovMuseum And for those

Art · Heritage · New York · Society

Rybolovlev's Sale of Salvator Mundi and Other Leonardo Works in Private Hands

In 2014 it was reported that Dmitry Rybolovlev, the former owner of Uralkali, had sold his last major Russian asset, Voentorg. But, as it turned out three years later, the billionaire still had something worth having left in Russia. In 2017 he began selling off his famous collection of European

NB! · Observations · Heritage · Society · Ethnography

On Love for One's Native Ashes and the Graves of One's Fathers

On love for one's native ashes and the graves of one's fathers. In Kazakhstan, memorial events are being held for the heroes of 1723! Not as part of patriotic strategies or state programmes, but on the initiative of their descendants

NB! · Aristocracy · Art · Heritage

A little chair from the suite of the Duchess of Aumale, or of the French princess Marie Caroline of Bourbon-Two Sicilies

A little chair from the suite of the Duchess of Aumale, or of the French princess Marie Caroline of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Restoration revealed that beneath the lilac velvet lay the original green upholstery

NB! · London · Museums · Heritage · People

For a long time, Bentham's mummified head was kept in the same display case as the philosopher's body, but it was then removed from exhibition and taken to storage, where it is examined for preservation a couple of times a year

Old handwritten land survey plan of Khmelita showing boundaries, fields, woods and inscriptions, hanging on a wall.

NB! · Archive · Maps · Museums · Observations · Heritage

Land survey plan of Khmelita and the 24,000 hectare area of the present-day museum reserve

Survey plan of the lands at Khmelita. Observe that not a single scrap of land went unclaimed: every last inch was made to yield a living. Today the historical, cultural and natural museum-reserve of Khmelita covers 24 thousand hectares

NB! · Aristocracy · Architecture · Museums · Heritage

In one of the family rooms at Khmelita hangs a portrait of Suvorov, a reminder of the part played in Suvorov's campaigns by Alexei Fyodorovich Griboyedov, owner of the estate from the late 18th century

NB! · Architecture · Books · Heritage · Mores

Khmelita is believed to be immortalised in "Woe from Wit" as the house of Famusov

Khmelita is believed to be immortalised in "Woe from Wit" as the house of Famusov. On this staircase the master of the house received his guests, conducting them into the halls. The ground floor, meanwhile, was not meant for the gentry

NB! · Archive · Architecture · Heritage

All the fireplaces and stoves had to be rebuilt and made anew from the old drawings

All the fireplaces and stoves had to be rebuilt and made anew from the old drawings. In winter the large rooms with their high ceilings were hard to heat, but here a temperature was maintained for the sake of preservation

NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Mores

Neither the French nor the Germans merely spared the splendid estate: both meant to keep it for their own use

Neither the French nor the Germans merely spared the splendid estate: both meant to keep it for their own use. Murat and some member of the Wehrmacht's upper echelons wished to retain Khmelita as their own hunting lodge

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage

Khmelita's double-flight grand staircase was also destroyed: it beggars belief that anyone could have razed it to the ground!

Khmelita's double-flight grand staircase was also destroyed: it beggars belief that anyone could have razed it to the ground! But it really does say a great deal about our patriotism

Aristocracy · Architecture · Heritage · Mores

The Khmelita estate after the 1950s fire and its restoration by Viktor Kulakov

An eighteenth-century manor survived Napoleon's invasion, revolution, nationalisation, collectivisation and the Great Patriotic War, but did not survive a drunken peasant. In the 1950s it was burnt down by hard-drinking collective farmers who decided to warm themselves on a cold night within the walls of the