Books · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage · Paris

In one of the tales in Alexandre Dumas's "A Thousand and One Ghosts" we meet a certain Monsieur Ledru, keeper of an entire collection of royal relics, which he acquired by attending the despoiling of the burial vaults in the Basilica of Saint-Denis and ta

In one of the tales in Alexandre Dumas's "A Thousand and One Ghosts" we meet a certain Monsieur Ledru, keeper of an entire collection of royal relics, which he acquired by attending the despoiling of the burial vaults in the Basilica of Saint-Denis and taking

Skeletons of deer and horned hoofed animals in a hall with tall arched windows, with two large-horned skulls in the foreground.

NB! · Museums · Palaeontology · Paris · Humour

The Parade of Skeletons in the Paris Palaeontology Laboratory Exhibition

The exhibition of the Paris palaeontology laboratory is called a parade of skeletons, because all the skeletons face the same way. And yes, these beasts look as though they have only just reached retirement age in Russia

NB! · Museums · Palaeontology · Paris · Nature

The Giant Deer, or Irish Elk

The giant deer, or Irish elk. It became extinct about 20,000 years ago. The antlers of the animal spanned as much as 5 metres. This skeleton is kept in the Palaeontological Museum in Paris

In a museum display case stand porcelain chess figures and painted propaganda plates with a red star and a Red Army soldier.

NB! · Art · Museums · Society · Humour

Porcelain revolutionary chess set of 1933 with red and white pieces

Porcelain revolutionary chess set, 1933. Reds against Whites. The Red pawns are peasants; the White pawns are shackled by the bourgeoisie. As for the Red king and queen, they are, of course, the worker and the collective-farm woman

Archaeology · Museums

In 1859 a boy found the head of an Iron Age woman in the Stidsholt bog

In 1859, a boy walking along the bogs at Stidsholt in Denmark spotted a woven ribbon sticking out of the ground. Pulling at the ribbon, the lad drew out of the peat layer the mummified head of a red-haired woman. The local doctor established that the head had been

NB! · Monarchies · Museums · Mores · People · Pop Culture

The Slippers of Eugénie, the Last Empress of the French and Arbiter of Fashion across All Europe

A black clavi-harp in a museum room, with a harp-shaped frame set on a case with a keyboard and pedals.

NB! · Museums · Observations · Science

The clavi-harp, invented by Johann-Christian Dietz in 1813

The clavi-harp is a rarest of instruments, invented in 1813 by Johann Christian Dietz. It is far lighter and more compact than the upright piano, and it is quite unclear why it never became equally fashionable. I should gladly acquire one

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums

The Etruscan terracotta Apollo of the 3rd century BC from the Scasato temple at Falerii was long held to be a sculpted portrait of Alexander the Great

The Etruscan terracotta Apollo of the 3rd century BC from the Scasato temple at Falerii was long held to be a sculpted portrait of Alexander the Great. But what is more interesting about the statue is the splendid rendering of the suntan

A magnifying glass over small diamonds and a dark stone on a beige mount under display glass.

NB! · Archaeology · Faith · Monarchies · Museums

Diamonds from Ganina Yama are kept in the Tsar's Museum in Yekaterinburg

Diamonds found at the site where the bodies of the Romanovs were desecrated at Ganina Yama are held in the Tsar's Museum in Yekaterinburg. The fate of almost 8 kilograms of family jewels remains a mystery to this day.

A marble bust on a cushion beside a reconstructed head held by hands in blue gloves.

NB! · Archaeology · Museums · Science · People

Leiden Museum of Antiquities Reconstructs Julius Caesar's Face from a Bust Found in Turin

The National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden has made a 3D model of Julius Caesar's head from the bust found in Turin. The deformed right side of the skull supports the hypothesis of a birth injury

A small pale figurine of Baubo with a tuft of hair on its head stands on a wooden shelf against a dark background.

NB! · Archaeology · Museums · Observations · Humour

Figurine of the ancient Greek Baubo in Freud's study

The aged ancient Greek libertine Baubo in Freud's consulting room. Nicely settled in

Glass display cases with rows of stamps and seals against a wall bearing the Russian inscriptions “Special control”, “Permanent” and “To be returned”.

NB! · Archive · Museums · Society

Collection of KGB officers' stamps at the KGB Museum in Vilnius

Stamps for every occasion in a chekist's life: prohibit, special control, secret. The KGB Museum, Vilnius