Baroque palace with blue walls, white columns and a green roof under an overcast sky, with a lawn in front.

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Reportage

A visit to Khmelita, the Griboyedovs' baroque palace in the Smolensk region

In September I had the good fortune to visit the Khmelita estate. I had long followed the fortunes of the Baroque palace of the Griboyedovs in the Smolensk region, yet I was surprised all the same by its beauty on making its personal acquaintance.

Archaeology · Archive · Monarchies · Heritage · Paris

The body of Henry IV when the Saint-Denis crypts were opened during the Revolution

There is one more detail in this story that I have not mentioned before. When the crypts of the French kings at Saint-Denis were opened during the Revolution, beginning with Clovis, who lived in the fifth century, the body of Henry IV was found in an extraordinarily good state

A mirror in a gilded frame with a bullet hole and cracks, reflecting the moulded and painted interior of a palace.

NB! · Observations · Heritage · Paris

Mirror with a 1944 bullet hole in the Luxembourg Palace and the ruined Peterhof

In the Luxembourg Palace they lovingly preserve this mirror, struck by a bullet during the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944. I should very much like to show them photographs of Peterhof razed to the ground, for example

Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Society

Demolition of the Church of Saint Martin in Sablé-sur-Sarthe for a car park began on 17 July

My Street. France On 17 July, demolition began of the church of Saint Martin in the French commune of Sablé-sur-Sarthe, built in 1880-86. The deconstruction is due to be completed by the end of July. For several years now the church building has been in a state

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Heritage · Humour

The marble lions that lay for 409 years at the foot of the tomb of the French king Charles V and vanished from Saint-Denis in the years of the Revolution, were found 200 years later and sold at auction for £9 million

In the Press · Art · Heritage

A Cranach's journey from a pile of church junk in Kyiv to an American millionaire's collection

I wrote for Esquire about the adventures of a "Russian" Cranach, discovered in a heap of church junk in Kyiv, which travelled across the whole of Europe, paid a visit to Hermann Göring and finally settled in the collection of an American millionaire. The story involves Jewish antique

NB! · Archive · Art · Moscow · Museums · Heritage

The Tretyakov Gallery Has Preserved a Chagall Autograph

The Tretyakov Gallery has preserved a Chagall autograph. In the photograph he is seen with Furtseva and, in all likelihood, her daughter Svetlana Petrovna

NB! · Art · Heritage · Paris · People

The most interesting part is that after the defeat of the Commune the column would be restored, and Gustave Courbet would be blamed for its destruction: by order of the court he was to pay 10,000 francs a year in compensation, and he died in poverty seven

NB! · Architecture · Art · Heritage · Paris

The Statue of Napoleon from the Toppled Vendôme Column

NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Society · Paris

The Demolition of the Vendôme Column on 18 May 1871

Architecture · Monarchies · Heritage · Paris

The Vendôme Column in Paris, from the statue of Napoleon to its destruction in 1871

The original turns out not to differ greatly from its prototype, save for a somewhat enlarged viewing platform on the, er... summit of the column, and a statue of Napoleon set at the very top. Originally the place on the Place Vendôme was occupied by a monument to Louis XIV,

Archaeology · Heritage · Ethnography

Destruction of Stonehenge by medieval farmers and vandals and the ban on entry since 1977

Even before the ban of 1977 nobody was forbidden to walk inside Stonehenge, but the fact that thousands of people laid hands on the megaliths caused considerable erosion. Nowadays, on ordinary days, the megalithic complex cannot be entered, but on the day of the summer solstice thousands of people gather