NB! · Archaeology · Observations · Humour

An eight-metre statue has only just been dug out of a waterlogged layer, so I suspect it has not yet dried out from the groundwater, and you already know about it

NB! · Observations · Humour

A Funny Little Rabbi, That's Me

NB! · Archive · Books · Humour

Medieval Bestiaries Have Answered the Question of How to Receive Many Gifts on 8 March

White sculpted bust of a child with short fringe hair, wearing draped clothing, on a round base.

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Humour

Bust of a Roman child with worn paint on the eyes and a comparison to Minister Oreshkin

The Roman child looks like Minister Oreshkin. Pay no attention to the alarming eyes, the paint has simply worn away

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

I am very fond of beautiful tableware, but I still do not know what considerations ought to guide one in placing a Medici garden vase in the kitchen, even if it is eighteenth-century and by Philippe Mombert

NB! · Humour

Servants Can Be So Inept

NB! · Observations · Humour

Not Quite Sure: Is That a Fish She's Holding?

NB! · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

There is a rule: if you cannot play billiards, you must at least be able to hold up your end of a conversation about Henri IV, whose bust stands in the billiard room

There is a rule: if you cannot play billiards, you must at least be able to hold up your end of a conversation about Henri IV, whose bust stands in the billiard room. The Bourbon, naturally

Fresco of a man in a light coat bowing before the Pope in a red cape, with riders and a hilly landscape behind them.

NB! · Faith · Art · Rome · Humour

Nobleman asks forgiveness of the Pope in a fresco in the Vatican

A man begs forgiveness of the Pope, a fresco in the Vatican. You cannot see it, but take my word for it: with his left hand the nobleman is slipping a purse of gold into the Pope's cassock. The Pontiff receives the believer into the embrace of the

An open medieval book of hours with Latin text and ornamented blue and red initials, set against a dark blue background.

NB! · Archive · Faith · Books · Monarchies · Humour

Personal Book of Hours of Richard III, 15th Century, with His Own Notes

The personal Book of Hours of Richard III, with annotations and entries made in his own hand. Fifteenth century: no gentleman of breeding can imagine himself without a book, even if it be a devotional one. Well, this attachment is no worse than an iPhone

Carved carnival sleigh shaped like a white bird with a red beak, with cherub figures and a red velvet seat, in a museum room.

NB! · Moscow · Museums · Ethnography · Humour

Bird-shaped carnival sleigh from the collection of the Historical Museum

A carnival sleigh from the State Historical Museum. Style!

NB! · Observations · Heritage · Humour