Books · Observations · Science

Crystal books and the opton reader in Stanislaw Lem’s novel “Return from the Stars”

Books are crystals with information imprinted in them. They were read with the help of an opton. The opton resembled a real book, only with a single page between the covers. At every touch, the next page of text appeared upon it. From the science-fiction novel Return from the

Monarchies · Observations

Napoleon leaves Elba and enters Paris without a shot in March 1815

So the brief but dazzling novella known as "Napoleon's Hundred Days" began 209 years ago. On 25 February 1815 he left his captivity of his own accord, sailing from the island of Elba aboard the brig L'Inconstant together with six ships, passing calmly through

NB! · Architecture · Art · Museums · Observations · Paris

The Ceiling of the Grande Galerie at the Louvre Recalled the Elaborately Painted Ceilings of the Ancient Egyptian Art Hall at the Pushkin Museum

Architecture · Faith · London · Observations

A 1904 project envisaged a new neo-Gothic abbey in the immediate vicinity of Westminster Abbey, which had been judged too crowded with antiquities

A 1904 project envisaged a new neo-Gothic abbey in the immediate vicinity of Westminster Abbey, which had been judged too crowded with antiquities. The complex was to include the tallest building in Great Britain, far higher than the towers of Westminster, Big Ben and Saint Paul's Cathedral.

Archaeology · Art · Observations

Neolithic Nefertiti figurine from the Kondon-pochta settlement and the Amur Venuses

The Breathtakingly Beautiful Kondon Nefertiti, One of the Greatest Sculptures of Humankind, a Clay Figurine Made in the 4th–3rd Millennium BC, Was Found in 1963 at the Camp of Settled Fishermen 80 Kilometres from Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The figurine was named Nefertiti at once, as soon as it emerged

Coming Up · Art · Museums · Observations

“Living Sculptures”, the second exhibition of the “Systems of Mimicry” project at the Az/Art space, curated by Alexander Dashevsky, has gathered works by Igor Shelkovsky, Vladimir Yankilevsky, Vadim Sidur, Pyotr Dyakov, Alexander Ney, Elena…

The exhibition makes one attend to the place of the body in artistic language, to the interpretations of the body in different media, and to the influence that perceptions of corporeality exert on art. It opens with a sketch from a beach in besieged Leningrad, one that, according to the

Moscow · Observations · Society · Humour

Yesterday the ladies seated next to me in the auditorium were discussing the price of tickets to the Bolshoi, and concluded that it would be better to buy plane tickets and fly off to see "Spartacus" at the Novosibirsk Theatre

Yesterday the ladies seated next to me in the auditorium were discussing the price of tickets to the Bolshoi, and concluded that it would be better to buy plane tickets and fly off to see "Spartacus" at the Novosibirsk Theatre. The company is splendid, the production is praised,

NB! · Observations · Humour

Good morning!

Good morning! Has anyone seen Papa?

Art · Observations · People · Humour

Brothers Carduccios Plantagenet and Morston Constantine, Artists from Ohio

The Edible, Exceedingly Appetising Still Lifes of the American Painter Carduccius Plantagenet Ream (1838-1917) And note that Carduccius Plantagenet is his given name; his brother, also a well-known painter, was called Morston Constantine. They were born in Ohio, and Carduccius studied in London. We must, of course, pay

NB! · Faith · Art · Observations · Humour

Lucas Cranach shrewdly observed that one small bite of the forbidden fruit was quite enough for Adam and Eve

NB! · Architecture · Observations

The Fountains of Peterhof in Winter

Observations · Nature

I Dream of Visiting This Field

Photo: Space Cowboy