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
Art · London · Moscow · Observations · Saint Petersburg
A whole cartload of letters about the Moon in various public places arrived over the weekend. Here, for instance, is a colossal Moon at the celebration of the 90th anniversary of Gorky Park in Moscow. In Milan it was a public swimming pool. The seven-metre sphere also shone in
Coming Up · Architecture · Monarchies · Moscow · Museums
The grandiose Model of the Grand Kremlin Palace, which gathered dust for 20 years in the storerooms of the Shchusev Museum of Architecture, is perhaps the most vivid testimony to Catherine II's sweeping idea of remodelling the ensemble of the Kremlin and Red Square. Alas, the plan was
Cinema · Moscow · Observations · Mores
For those weary of the January marathon of old films, I recommend a 1984 picture about metropolitan life in the late USSR, "A Time of Desires" with Vera Alentova and Anatoly Papanov. Admirers of "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" may find this melodrama of some
Moscow · Mores · People
Faina Ranevskaya recalled meeting Stanislavsky near his house as she was crossing Leontyevsky Lane. Stanislavsky was riding in a cab, and on seeing him Ranevskaya began to jump up and down, crying “my boy! my boy!” Faina Georgievna and Konstantin Sergeyevich were 33 years apart in age, yet to her
Architecture · Moscow · Heritage
Would you like to watch another cultural heritage site in the centre of Moscow fall to ruin? Pavel Ogorodnikov has published on Twitter a photo report from one of the most epic buildings in the city: alas, now abandoned and dilapidated, the old Moscow Main Post Office, which in one
NB! · Art · Moscow · Museums · New York
Do you remember the cups of precious metals and exotic shells in the Kremlin Armoury? Well, the Metropolitan Museum holds a vessel made of a gold-mounted nut shell from the Seychelles, fashioned in the sixteenth century by Viennese craftsmen
NB! · Moscow · Observations · Society · Humour
Recently, outside the Moscow government building, I saw a lone picketer with a placard: "We feared the 90s, and got the 30s instead". There is something in that. At the very least, it holds out hope for the 50s
Books · Moscow · Observations · Humour
On the eve of the day when the dead and other unclean spirits run riot, one cannot but recall the work of Russian literature that is held to be mysterious, full of otherworldly signs and horror, and is invariably linked with mystical signs. Although, on the whole, The Master and
Art · Moscow · Museums · Humour
A visitor standing before "Lenin in Smolny" asked whether it was true that Brodsky had given the bald head an extra glow so that it would look like a halo. The guide replied that no, of course not: the bald head simply had to be set off from
NB! · Moscow · Museums · Observations
How can one not love the New Tretyakov Gallery? Do look in on the 4th floor
Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Education · Humour
I hardly know how to comment on this Facebook post by the architect and former MARKHI professor Evgeny Ass. The gatehouse of MARKHI, which occupies the Volynsky-Vorontsov estate, has turned into this. The structure has undergone several transformations of late; I remember that not long ago it looked like