The East · Archaeology · Faith · Observations · Ethnography
The petroglyph from Misida (2) in northern Sudan, near the Third Cataract of the Nile, consists of a male figure about two and a half metres tall and two goats. The figure is thought to depict a ruler of Kush, the ancient kingdom in Nubia, in present-day Sudan, whose
The Golden Age · Books · Moscow · Observations · Society
On the subject of Moscow's closed bookshops. Akademkniga on Vavilov Street did not survive the realities of life in the 2020s. Many will probably remember what a shock its closure was in 2019, later briefly interrupted by the shop's reopening. But in 2021, incidentally the Year
NB! · Books · Moscow · Observations
Yes, it is now a somewhat different shop: a new style, a new interior, and no more second-hand department under the ceiling, but the old crystal chandelier has survived, and a cosy courtyard has appeared. It is gratifying that books will go on living within these walls
Faith · Observations · Society · Paris · Humour
On 18 September the Vatican declined several protocol proposals from the Élysée Palace, including the Legion of Honour and a visit to Notre-Dame. On 25 September Leo XIV publicly reprimanded Macron: war, euthanasia, the abandonment of the Church. Macron took offence and began boycotting Masses. But on 27 September,
Observations · Humour
What are they talking about? What else but the fate of Russia?
Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage
Palekh has a remarkable Church of the Exaltation of the Cross with an interesting tent-roofed bell tower. The people of Palekh built it all together, from 1762 to 1774. In Saint Petersburg at that time Rastrelli was giving way to Vallin de la Mothe, while in the Vladimir lands
NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Humour
Observations · Heritage · Society · Paris
Corporal punishment (I am not speaking of running the gauntlet, branding and the knout, but in the form of the bastinado at the very least) must surely be restored. Precisely for such occasions, when the early bird has started to sing, lest the cat should eat it
Coming Up · Art · Observations
In 1972, at Documenta 5, the group Haus-Rucker-Co hung a transparent bubble with a palm tree inside out of a window of the Fridericianum and called it an oasis. This came two years after Verner Panton had upholstered an entire room in foam and abolished the distinction between
Moscow · Architecture · Observations
I forgot to mention that I have tested the new pedestrian bridge along Bolotnaya Embankment. I award it full marks: a pleasant refresh for the city's walking routes
NB! · Archive · Geography · Observations
The icebreaker Krasin in 1934. I look at these photographs and cannot get it into my head on what grounds, or by what leap of imagination, anyone decided to rename an icebreaker with the splendid name Svyatogor after a Party functionary.
Faith · Moscow · Observations · Society
Patience to all who are waiting! Congratulations to all who have stood out their turn in the queue! I cannot help rejoicing that Orthodox Rus' is awakening! They might have put on a train and carried the relic across the whole country, so that people in different cities could