Archive · Monarchies · Museums · Nature

The hive of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, photographed in 1896 for the album of the experimental apiary of the Imperial Russian Society for the Acclimatisation of Animals and Plants at Izmailovo

The hive is now kept in the museum of the Research Institute of Beekeeping in Rybnoye, in the Ryazan Region

Faith · Art · Museums · New York

A 1530 painting of the miracle of an ascetic saint who revived roasted partridges

A Painting by Garofalo in the Metropolitan Museum Depicts One of the Most Touching Miracles of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino. An ascetic, he refused meat even during a grave illness. When a dish of roast partridges was brought to him, the saint merely made the sign of the cross over

Coming Up · Art · Moscow · Museums

An inspiring spring exhibition, "Larionov / Goncharova

An inspiring spring exhibition, "Larionov / Goncharova. The Beginning", has opened at the Pushkin Museum. It is the first to explore the earliest, pre-avant-garde period in the work of two outstanding figures, a couple of Russian art. The thoroughly Impressionist pastels and drawings by Larionov and Goncharova

Architecture · In the Press · Museums · Heritage · Society · Paris

France's new Culture Minister Catherine Pégard said on France Inter on 30 March that the Louvre renovation plan must be adjusted to take account of security concerns

France's new Culture Minister Catherine Pégard said on France Inter on 30 March that the Louvre renovation plan must be adjusted to take account of security concerns. It is her first public interview in her new post. The occasion was the robbery of the museum on 19 October

Art · Museums · Heritage

Three works by Cézanne, Matisse and Renoir stolen from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation near Parma

A new high-profile theft. Three small-format works with a combined estimated value of about €9 million have been stolen from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation, a private collection of Old Masters and modern art near Parma: Paul Cézanne's "Cup and Plate of Cherries", Henri Matisse&

NB! · Archive · Art · Moscow · Museums

The queue for Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" at the Pushkin Museum in July 1974

Evening view of the New Museum in New York: stacked grey volumes beside an angular wing with glowing windows.

NB! · Architecture · Museums · New York · Humour

New building of the New Museum in New York opens after four years of construction

The new building of the New Museum, the museum of contemporary art in New York. It has opened after four years of construction. One question: why so 2016?

Archaeology · Art · Museums

A Youth Meditating by the Sea

A marble slab from Piraeus, now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Demokleides, son of Demetrios, a hoplite, that is, a heavy infantryman. He died in a naval battle off Corinth in 394 BC, in the course of the Corinthian War: Sparta against a coalition of Athens, Thebes, Corinth

Listings · Moscow · Coming Up · The East · Art · Museums

In the Where to Go rubric: a new selection of Moscow exhibitions

📌 26 March: opening of the exhibition “Family: My Heritage” on the Benois and Morozov dynasties, until 30 April Museum of Moscow 📌 26 March: opening of the exhibition “Art in the Russian Backwoods: The Oriental Collection of Dmitry Burylin”, until 24 May Museum of Oriental Art 📌 The exhibition “Formulae of Eternity”

The East · Interviews · Museums · Heritage · Saint Petersburg

The most important thing I managed to discuss with Mikhail Piotrovsky was not the perpetual succession of museum directors in Moscow, nor the robbery of the Louvre, nor even the hysterics around "colonial museums", but a very specific and direct question:

What lamps? Lamps of the 14th century, a fine example of Islamic applied art, once presented by Timur to the mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi and kept there until the early 20th century. There were six such lamps in all. The Hermitage, it turned out, has two and a half,

The East · Interviews · Books · Museums · Heritage · People · Saint Petersburg

My long interview with Mikhail Piotrovsky has been published, timed to the release of his new book "I Am an Arabist" but focused mainly on the modern museum and the cultural environment around it

I met Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky after the presentation of his book at the Peredelkino House of Creativity. After several hours with the public, an autograph session and filming, the legendary Piotrovsky nonetheless received me with energy and good humour. I tried not to ask the questions that every journalist has

Archive · Art · Museums · People

Claude Monet's promissory note of 18 October 1875

Claude Monet's promissory note of 18 October 1875. In the document the artist acknowledges receipt of a loan of 1,000 francs from Gustave Manet, brother of the painter Édouard Manet. To obtain the loan, Monet had to pledge 35 paintings. The artist promises to repay the debt