Art · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour

It is often said what a filthy palace Versailles was in its day

It is often said what a filthy palace Versailles was in its day. There is talk of women merely hitching up their skirts to relieve themselves on the very spot where nature overtook them, and of men easing themselves straight from the balustrade in the middle of the royal chapel,

Monarchies · Observations · People · Humour

Catherine II twice taken out of the palace in the first days after the overthrow of Peter III

I love the French language for its elegance. How do you like this subtle, refined characterisation of Catherine the Great: "usurpatrice"? It is known that in the first days after the overthrow of Peter III, Catherine II slept badly; she was even twice got out of bed and

Aristocracy · Monarchies · People · Humour

There are many witty recollections of the brilliant statesman, scholar and courtier of the age of Peter III and Catherine II, Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin, but the most remarkable is when Panin confessed that for four months he had not answered an urgent

There are many witty recollections of the brilliant statesman, scholar and courtier of the age of Peter III and Catherine II, Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin, but the most remarkable is when Panin confessed that for four months he had not answered an urgent dispatch from Field Marshal Rumyantsev, who was

NB! · Humour

And then he will say that a little bird told him

NB! · Observations · Humour

Genuine Culture vs Modern Tat: 1–0

Catalogue page: a mannequin in black with a Soyka radio direction finder at the waist and a suitcase in hand, USSR, 1960s.

Museums · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Soviet and Russian radio direction finders in the catalogue of the Museum of Cryptography

I Keep Telling You, Fashion Always Comes Back. Radio direction finders of the USSR and the Russian Federation, from a very respectable catalogue of the Museum of Cryptography

NB! · Observations · Humour

A unique domestic original and a quality Western analogue, as so often happens, with the function altered to its very opposite

NB! · Books · Observations · Humour

I have been looking for ages for precisely these sombre-hued stickers for reading Dostoevsky

NB! · Cinema · Pop Culture · Humour

"What is it, Barrymore?" "Varenesaurs, sir"

NB! · Society · Nature · Humour

The Elephant Calf Bought by Ronald Reagan for a Party Conference