NB! · Art · Books · Mores · Humour

Artist-Writers and Young Ladies: Take Note

NB! · Cinema · Monarchies · Pop Culture

Gillian Anderson shares photos from costume fittings on the set of the second series of "The Great", a free-spirited take on the life of Catherine II

Gillian Anderson has shared photos from costume fittings on the set of the second series of "The Great", a free-spirited take on the life of Catherine II. The incomparable Gillian plays Johanna of Holstein-Gottorp, mother of the Russian Empress

NB! · Faith · Observations · People

Pope Francis shows off a model of the Parthenon, given to him by someone from the Vatican team at the end of his journey to Greece

A woman with short curly hair, green eyeshadow and dark red lipstick rests her chin on a ringed hand. She wears pearl beads, drop earrings and a wheat-spray brooch.

NB!

Portrait of a woman with short curled hair, pearls and a brooch

NB! · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Ever noticed how much Louis XV in profile resembles Catherine the Great?

Ever noticed how much Louis XV in profile resembles Catherine the Great? In their later years, that is. Had they met in person, they would surely have found each other rather agreeable

NB! · Faith · Ethnography

Saint Nicholas Will Come and Set Things in Order

A beige fabric headdress with two tall horns, white edging and red sprig embroidery, lying on hay under a glass cover.

NB! · Art · Observations · Ethnography

Anna Samoilova's series “Kuda det volyu devichyu” and the return of folk motifs to art

I like how folk motifs are appearing in art once more. Works by Anna Samoylova from the series “Kuda det' volyu devich'yu” [“What to Do with a Maiden's Freedom”]. I do hope the Abramtsevo of the third millennium is not long in coming

NB! · Archive · Mores

A greeting in the window of a lingerie shop in Magdeburg, GDR, 1970s

World map with red lines marking the west to east extent of Russia and Africa, with handwritten figures 10000 and 8000.

NB! · Geography · Maps · Observations

West to east extent of Africa is closer to that of Russia than world maps show

Sometimes we live in the grip of delusions. Yes, in reality the extent of the African continent from west to east is far closer to that of Russia than world maps would have us believe

NB! · Pop Culture · Humour

Nike?

Nike? An excellent choice!

NB! · Cinema · Observations · Humour

A reminder: the first fallen snowflake means it is time to rewatch Anastasia

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Monarchies · Moscow

The Convent of Saints Martha and Mary, founded by Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, was built to a design by the architect Shchusev, the very man who authored Lenin's Mausoleum and, somewhat earlier, Kazan Station