Architecture · Art · Moscow · Observations
The works of della Robbia recalled the sculptures at Rimskaya metro station in Moscow, opened in 1995. Rimskaya is a most unusual station, both in its architecture and in its decorative scheme. Where else on the metro would you find a fountain? The station was built with the participation of
NB! · Archive · Moscow · Observations · People · Humour
Here is my beloved Alla Demidova at twenty. She is not yet a student of the Shchukin Theatre School, but for now an actress of the Moscow State University student theatre under the direction of Igor Lipsky. Do correct me if I am mistaken, but I see a strong portrait
Moscow · Science · Society
In September 1771, plague was killing 1,000 people a day in Moscow. The pestilence had first appeared in the city back in December 1770.
Moscow · Observations · Mores
Do you know Furmanny Lane in Moscow? The Helmholtz Institute of Eye Diseases stands there. Well, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, furmanshchiki was the name given to catchers of stray dogs. The word most probably derives from fura, a cart or wagon, a furmanshchik being one who
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
Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society
The Tretyakov Gallery only recently announced with pride that it was ready to receive the public and to furnish its guests with hand sanitiser. Until thunder strikes, the peasant will not cross himself.
Faith · Books · Moscow · Science
Pushkin's Boris Godunov contains a tiny scene with a holy fool: children have taken a coin from Nikolka, who never removes his iron cap and is hung about with chains, and he addresses the Tsar as he passes by:. Holy Fool (weeping) They have taken my little kopeck;
Books · Moscow · Paris
The French have their own “Borodino”: a poem no less piercing and significant about the events of 1812. This is L’expiation (“The Expiation”), written by Victor Hugo in exile and describing the retreat of Napoleon's army from burnt Moscow. Since the poem is very long, only an
Coming Up · Interviews · Art · Moscow · Observations
The Art Newspaper has run a piece on a grand exhibition by the well-known Moscow collector Max Boxer, which opens on 19 March and will transform the IN ARTIBUS foundation's space into a flat filled with genuine belongings and interiors of the Boxer family. I gather that
Art · Moscow · Observations
Not long ago, at a lecture by a very educated woman, the question was put of how enormous canvases were carried through the narrow lanes of Moscow to be hung in the mansion of a famous collector. How astonished I was that this lady-in-waiting of the writing profession
The East · Monarchies · Moscow · Observations · Society · Humour
Maxim Suchkov, the Russian editor of the American Al-Monitor, has drawn attention to the setting of Putin's talks with Erdoğan on 5 March: behind Recep stands a bronze Catherine II, who routed the Turkish army, destroyed the Turkish fleet at Ochakov and Izmail in 1768-1774 and
Architecture · Moscow · Observations
To all who categorically despise the so-called Luzhkov architecture, I want to show this house at 3 Znamenka, built in 2002. There was a separate story there, about how a certain artist, A. Shilov, was granted two plots at once in the very heart of the city, and two