NB! · Archaeology · Monarchies · Museums · Science · People · Rome

A reconstruction of Nero's appearance, based on his bust in the Capitoline Museums, lets us see with what expression on his face he made a hell on earth

A black grand piano stands in a parquet-floored hall, with a woman in dark clothes beside it. The walls bear bright lacquer panels with fairy-tale scenes; two red ottomans sit on the floor.

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Hall with lacquer panels on the walls and a grand piano

NB! · Architecture · Art · Moscow · Observations

I have never seen anything like it: the Palekh Hall in the Sats Theatre, with huge lacquer panels of theatrical scenes by artists of the Palekh workshop of the 1970s and 1980s

Large framed black-and-white portrait of a smiling elderly woman in a polka-dot jacket, on a wall with columns. Rows of small portraits hang on the right.

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Black-and-white portrait of an elderly woman on a lobby wall

NB! · Observations · Education · Society

I See No Grounds for Obtaining a Higher Education in Such Conditions

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Forgive Me

Close-up of a stone relief in which the hand of one figure holds the hand of another, beside folds of clothing.

NB! · Archaeology · The East · Art · Humour

Persian courtier leads a Greek envoy by the hand to the king in a Persepolis relief

What is high diplomacy? Here, for example, a Persian courtier tenderly holds the hand of a Greek envoy as he escorts him to the royal throne. Detail of a sculpted frieze from Persepolis, Iran, photograph by Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

A smiling elderly woman in a lilac hat with flowers and a light patterned jacket holds an open paper fan. She wears a necklace and a gold bracelet.

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Elderly woman in a lilac flowered hat holding a fan

NB! · Art · Pop Culture

Plates with sculpted ceramics by Jacquemus x Daphne Leon available on Farfetch for 32 thousand roubles

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Heritage

Good news from the Museum of Architecture: there are no plans to close the permanent exhibition

A lacquered tray with a wavy edge hangs on a wall. On its dark green ground is a painted bouquet of cream and peach roses, tulips and ferns, with an orange dragonfly above.

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Lacquered tray with a painted bouquet of roses and tulips and a dragonfly

NB! · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society

Photographs from the exhibition on the letter Ё at the Slovo pavilion, VDNKh

Photographs from the exhibition on the letter Ё at the Slovo pavilion, VDNKh. A very atmospheric and coherent picture. It is a pity that we shall soon be deprived of public cultural life altogether, though visiting museums is, of course, hundreds of times safer than going to shops and restaurants,