Marble relief on a red wall: a large eagle bends toward a seated, half-naked youth who feeds it from a bowl.

NB! · Art · Museums · Observations · Saint Petersburg · Humour

Relief in the Hermitage showing Ganymede feeding the eagle, the form Zeus took

Zeus stole the beautiful Ganymede by turning himself into an eagle. I do not know whether the youth is feeding the bird on this bas-relief from the Hermitage before the abduction or after it, but I think you will have understood what a vile, lecherous beast this Zeus was

NB! · Art · Museums · Humour

"Why is the child kissing a naked woman?" "Pay no attention, he is a pupil of Michelangelo"

Two plates with green and gold borders and painted landscapes beside an octagonal leather case inscribed “Assiettes de dessert”.

NB! · Monarchies · Museums · Observations · Humour

Travelling set of dessert plates of Emperor Napoleon in its case

The Emperor's travelling set of dessert plates. What can one say, an indispensable item, and not only for Napoleon.

A wide-brimmed red hat with gold embroidery and a bow in a museum display case, with a dark crucifix visible below it.

NB! · Faith · Monarchies · Museums · People

Hat worn by Pius VII in 1814 during his captivity under Napoleon in Savona

Pius VII wore this hat in 1814 during his captivity in Savona: the pontiff was shut up in confinement for refusing to submit to Napoleon. In the end Pius not only returned to Rome, but outlived Bonaparte

Portrait of Peter the Great in a dark frame beneath a painted, frescoed ceiling, with smaller portraits on either side.

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Museums · Education

Ivan Nikitin painted a portrait of Peter the Great in Florence, now in the Uffizi

Cosimo III de' Medici placed the Russian pensioner Ivan Nikitin in the academy of the painter Tommaso Redi. Here Nikitin painted a portrait of Peter I, who had sent him abroad to study; the picture is in the collection of the Uffizi

NB! · Museums · Science · Palaeontology · Nature

The first complete mammoth skeleton ever displayed in a museum belongs to the Lena mammoth; in this photograph its tusks are fitted wrongly: in reality they curved inwards, not outwards

Museums · Science · Palaeontology · Nature · Saint Petersburg

Adams's mammoth from the Lena valley stood with wrongly set tusks until 1899

A little about the errors of scholars. In 1806 a frozen mammoth was found in the valley of the River Lena. Apart from the missing internal organs, part of the muscle mass and the front right leg, it was a whole carcass, badly mauled by the wild beasts that had

Art · Moscow · Museums · People

Anniversary of the death of sculptor Sergey Konenkov, who returned from the USA to the USSR

Today is the anniversary of the death of the Russian artist and sculptor Sergey Timofeyevich Konenkov, who died in his 98th year on 9 December 1971. The outstanding master lived and worked in the USA for more than twenty years. He returned to the USSR with all his works aboard

A laid table with a white cloth, a porcelain plate with floral decoration, a tureen topped by a cherub, glasses, silver cutlery and salt cellars.

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Museums · Mores

Condition of the royal family's service and salt cellars as a mark of hosts' status in the 18th century

The service has survived beautifully, though the royal family used it for more than 200 years! Note the number of salt cellars: in the eighteenth century this was an important indicator of the status of those presiding at the table

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Moscow · Museums · Paris · Saint Petersburg

A table service from the Kuskovo collection, made in Saint Petersburg to the order of Catherine II, is now on display at the Château de Champs-sur-Marne in the suburbs of Paris

Museums · Observations · Heritage

Film photographs from a summer trip to Khmelita, the Griboyedov estate

Today we travel once more to my beloved Khmelita. I have developed the film from my summer journey, so the memories are especially warm. And I recommend that everyone follow the Griboyedov estate on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/griboedovmuseum/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GriboedovMuseum And for those

NB! · Faith · Museums · Society · Humour

People online are asking why Kirill is wearing a mantle in the colours of the Chechen flag

People online are asking why Kirill is wearing a mantle in the colours of the Chechen flag. For comparison, here is a photograph of the mantle of Patriarch Adrian, from the 17th century, also green and with three stripes symbolising the Old and New Testaments