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Archive · Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Mores
The Prague Restaurant in Moscow from a Tavern in 1872 to Its Closure, with a 1901 Photograph
@sncmag, it is a great pity that these interiors are now closed to visitors. For if we speak of the truly iconic establishments of Moscow, then it is, of course, the "Praga", opened as long ago as 1872. True, at that time it was rather a tavern, and
Books · Moscow · Observations · Mores · Saint Petersburg
Kofemania on Bolshaya Nikitskaya and the place of coffee in old Russia and Russian literature
The much-discussed “Kofemania” and its clientele are not merely a portrait of our times. Whenever I visit one of my favourite branches, the one on Bolshaya Nikitskaya, I find myself, for some reason, transported into the atmosphere of the celebrated nineteenth-century Petersburg coffee house of “Wolff and Béranger”
Aristocracy · Moscow · Mores · People · Humour
General Afrosimov, a Possible Prototype of Famusov, and His Appetite Before Death
One of the directors of the Assembly of the Nobility, Pavel Afanasyevich Afrosimov, a retired major general, a fearfully important and dreadfully rich Moscow grandee, whom some call the prototype of Griboyedov's Famusov, was dying at the age of 64. His contemporaries left some amusing recollections of the
Aristocracy · Archive · Moscow · Mores
With the death of Count Nikolay Petrovich Sheremetev, Dmitry Nikolayevich was left a complete orphan: the seven-year-old son of the former serf actress Praskovya Kovalyova-Zhemchugova, who had died soon after his birth
The boy's upbringing was taken in hand by the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, while as guardians of the young Sheremetev's person and of his fortune she appointed the State Secretary Dmitry Petrovich Troshchinsky and the Privy Councillor and Senator Mikhail Ivanovich Danaurov, whose family settled at
Archive · Moscow · Observations · Mores
A week of balls in Moscow in January 1815, as described by Sofya Volkova
The Moscow winter seasons of 1814-15 were brighter and richer than the pre-war seasons of 1810-11. This is understandable: people were exhausted by the hardships of war, by ruin, universal gloom and interminable mourning, and when the time came, they returned to life with fresh and even
Aristocracy · Archive · Moscow · Mores · People
A Moscow grandee, poet and celebrated writer, Yury Alexandrovich Neledinsky-Meletsky, found a touching and ingenious way to calm the anxieties of his ailing wife over the fate of their only son Sergei, who served in the years of the Patriotic War…
Ekaterina Khovanskaya, like many mothers, suffered terribly when no news came from her son, especially during the main and bloodiest battles, which only aggravated her already extremely frail condition. The son was a noted carouser and simply forgot to write home, for which his father devised a stratagem: he asked
Moscow · Observations · Mores · Humour
The interior of Andropov's Moscow apartment and his well-known modesty
It is a matter of common knowledge that Andropov was a very modest man. Yet, looking at the interior of his Moscow flat, it is hard not to ask oneself: why not summon a decorator, from some theatre or other if need be, or any other artist, to help make
NB! · Archive · Moscow · Mores · People
Interiors of Andropov's flat on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, photographed in 1984
Andropov's flat at 26 Kutuzovsky Prospekt. The photographs were taken in 1984, after the death of the General Secretary
Coming Up · Faith · Art · Moscow · Ethnography
Carved wooden figures of the Russian North and an exhibition at the Tsereteli Gallery in Moscow
In the Russian North, special 'icons' were venerated: three-dimensional wooden figures of saints set in icon cases, sometimes carved at full length and reaching two metres in height. The oldest such icons in Arkhangelsk date from the 16th century. These original sculptural images were known as carved
NB! · Aristocracy · Moscow · Observations · Paris · Humour
Suddenly, on the Diletant website, Moscow's culture chief Kibovsky and Venediktov call Viscount Olivier d'Archiac, Dantès's second in the duel with Pushkin, ARISHAK
Suddenly, on the Diletant website, Moscow's culture chief Kibovsky and Venediktov call Viscount Olivier d'Archiac, Dantès's second in the duel with Pushkin, ARISHAK. The cooks are baking cakes for one another.
Archive · The East · Books · Monarchies · Moscow
Olearius on the Kabardian delegation's visit to the Tsar's court in 1634
The German Olearius witnessed a visit by a Kabardian delegation to the Tsar's court in 1634. What particularly struck Olearius was that the Kabardians arrived in modest array and with no particular occasion or pretext for conversation with the Tsar's officials, yet were presented with silk