Faith · Art · Museums · Humour

Preposterous and Charming Wooden Lions of the Seventeenth Century from the Church of Elijah the Prophet in Yaroslavl

They are kept in the White Chamber of the Rostov Kremlin, which houses the delightful display of the Museum of Church Antiquities, which has existed since 1883. These sculptures in the round adorned the bases of the prayer places built for Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich and Patriarch Nikon on the model

Museums · Observations · Mores · Pop Culture

Colleen Moore's dollhouse palace and its tour during the Great Depression

The most expensive dolls' house in history is held to be a 2.5-metre fairy-tale palace commissioned by the silent film star Colleen Moore from leading Hollywood designers and architects. The palace is adorned with semi-precious and precious stones, even diamonds, with gold, and with fantastical

Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Heritage

The Tretyakov Gallery asks for help in preserving the museum of sculptor Anna Golubkina

Speaking of cultural heritage, an appeal to help save the museum of the sculptor Anna Golubkina keeps turning up in my Instagram feed. The most curious thing is that the appeal comes from the Tretyakov Gallery, hardly a destitute institution, which in theory ought to have the money for this

Faith · Museums · Observations · Nature

I understand that not everyone will care for regular gardens of the French type

I understand that not everyone will care for regular gardens of the French type. Very well, then: I was taken with the metropolitan's garden of apple, pear, cherry and plum trees beneath the ancient walls of the Rostov Kremlin. Metropolitan Jonah Sysoyevich conceived it in the manner of

Art · Museums · Observations · People · Rome

Statue of Pyrrhus, 1st Century, in the Capitoline Museums, and Its Predator-Skin Footwear

Statue of Pyrrhus (318-272 BC) in the Capitoline Museums, 1st century AD. Of course you remember the expression "Pyrrhic victory", but it is not the military past of this commander and ruler, so important to the history of Greece, that I wish to draw your attention to,

Marble bust of a bearded old man in a cap and a cloak on a dark pedestal against a warm plastered wall.

NB! · Coming Up · Art · Museums · People

Exhibition marking 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci's death runs at Château d'Amboise until 2 September

Since we are on the subject of châteaux, a reminder that until 2 September the Château d'Amboise is hosting an exhibition devoted to the death of Leonardo da Vinci. This year marks the 500th anniversary of Da Vinci's passing

Aristocracy · Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Observations

Arkhangelskoye, the Yusupov estate museum, at 100 and its comparison with Versailles

Arkhangelskoye was one of the first museum-estates in the country, and this year the museum marks its centenary. It must be said that both the parks and the palace building are in excellent condition. On several occasions, however, I have heard the estate of the Princes Yusupov called the

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Moscow · Museums · Observations

The portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna by A. Roslin and the portrait of her husband, Emperor Paul I, by S. S. Shchukin hang opposite each other at Arkhangelskoye in such a way that, if one looks into the mirror, the spouses find themselves side by

In the foyer of the Anatomical Museum two large elephant skeletons flank a doorway marked Anatomical Museum, with two busts on pedestals between them.

NB! · Museums · Palaeontology · Nature · Humour

Skeletons in the Edinburgh Anatomical Museum foyer belong to elephants, not dinosaurs or mammoths

For many years two skeletons in the foyer of the University of Edinburgh's Anatomical Museum were believed to be the remains of dinosaurs, and later of mammoths. They are, in fact, elephants

Art · Museums · Observations

Statue of Endymion in the Museum of Gustav III in Stockholm and versions of his myth

Endymion is a sleeping shepherd youth, the beloved of the moon goddess Selene. He is the most famous exhibit in the Gustav III Museum of Antiquities in Stockholm, which houses one of the oldest collections of ancient sculpture in Europe. It is sometimes compared to the Vatican Museums, though on

Coming Up · Art · Moscow · Museums · Saint Petersburg

Gerd Ludwig's Chernobyl exhibition, EverArt Weekend and Bauhaus lectures in August

For those too idle to hunt out items for their own cultural programme, a small selection of events for the coming week. An exhibition by the practising National Geographic photojournalist Gerd Ludwig, “The Long Shadow of Chernobyl”. He is the only foreign photojournalist to have received permission to photograph in

Architecture · Museums · Observations · Heritage · Society

You will probably remember that I wrote about Khmelita, and that I know Viktor Kulakov, the architect of its revival

You will probably remember that I wrote about Khmelita and that I know its revival's architect, Viktor Kulakov. Hardly any time has passed since the death of the creator of the Griboyedov museum, and the Ministry of Culture has decided to dispose of the museum's fate