Art · Museums · Heritage · Paris
The Sounds of the Tocsin have a curious fate: in 1892 they were shown in the French pavilion at the World's Fair. After being purchased, the painting ended up in the Museum of Picardy, founded by Napoleon, though whether the artist himself gave the canvas to the museum
Archive · Art · Museums · Observations
How works of colossal size are exhibited is more interesting still. Look at the system of blocks and ropes that several workmen used to hang a large-scale painting in the Museum of Picardy a little over 100 years ago. As far as I know, the photograph shows work on
NB! · Museums · Observations · Paris
Time to freeze. A guillotine blade used during the years of the Revolutionary Terror in France. From the Museum of the Paris Police Prefecture in the Latin Quarter, which is unfashionable, but quite large and rich.
NB! · Museums · Society
Museums · Observations · Mores · New York · Humour
If anyone finds the constitutional amendments not frightening enough, I suggest a look at this ghastly automaton of the 1870s, which recalls the work of the Brothers Quay. The "Naturally Crawling Doll" is held by the Smithsonian Institution and by the American Museum of Natural History, where the
Books · Museums · Observations · Humour
If you cannot think how to spend 5 million roubles, then far from all Parnassuses and sundry vanities, in the illustrious city of Oryol an entire museum of Sergei Yesenin has been put up for sale. The lifelong labour of the man who assembled this priceless collection is being sold
Museums · Mores · Ethnography
The woollen caps of Dutch whalers of the 17th and 18th centuries look much alike, yet each has a colourway all its own. An original pattern was a practical necessity for identifying the sailors. Otherwise men wrapped up entirely against the cold simply could not be told apart. The Rijksmuseum
Faith · Museums · Science · Rome
The Mother of All Churches, the Lateran Basilica in Rome, where the Pope celebrates Mass and sits enthroned, keeps a veritable collection of Christian relics. In a small museum, tucked away between the chapels, lies this fragment of the tunic of Saint Francis of Assisi, which is tied to one
NB! · Archaeology · Museums · New York · Humour
If one must stroll the afterlife in sandals, then with closed toes. Sandals and toe stalls of sheet gold, found in the tomb of the three foreign wives of Pharaoh Thutmose III: Menhet, Menwi and Merti. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
NB! · Archaeology · Art · Cinema · Madrid · Museums · Humour
And more on amusing coincidences. Princess Leia and the stone Lady of Elche, 4th century BC, Archaeological Museum of Madrid
Art · Museums · Observations · Paris
We recently discussed the installation of new vents in the floors of Versailles for the ventilation system, which can be viewed in different ways, both from the standpoint of improved comfort and a favourable microclimate, and from conservative considerations of the immutability of the palace's appearance. Well, the
Museums · Observations · Society
It seems to me only fair that access to cultural sites should cost the same for everyone. Apart from special concessionary categories, naturally