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NB! · Art · Museums · Observations · Paris
Mood for the week: a porcelain Bolognese of the Meissen Manufactory, 1734
Mood for the week: a porcelain Bolognese of the Meissen Manufactory, 1734. Modelled by Johann Joachim Kändler, collection of the Louvre, donor a former consul of the Ottoman Empire in France, Isaac de Camondo
NB! · Observations · Humour
Lads, does anyone know what tank this is?
Art · Museums · Observations
Washington statue, Napoleon portrait and Hermitage Jupiter modelled on Phidias's Zeus
George Washington and Napoleon in the Guise of Zeus-Jupiter. The magnificent marble Washington was commissioned by Congress in 1832 to mark the centenary of the first president's birth. The sculpture is the work of Horatio Greenough. Today the statue, 3.5 metres high, is displayed in the
Cinema · Observations · People · Humour
Man in pince-nez, white dress uniform and plumed helmet in the second half of the 20th century
Tell me, am I the only one who thinks the Governor of Bermuda in the early 1960s, Major-General Sir Julian Gascoigne, in old-fashioned full-dress uniform and pith helmet, looks like the chief antagonist of the first Jumanji film, the demented hunter Van P. And do not forget
Architecture · Moscow · Observations
Tribune Tower in Chicago, a neo-Gothic skyscraper of the 1920s, converted into apartments
If only all skyscrapers looked even half as impressive and majestic as the Tribune Tower in Chicago, Illinois. The neo-Gothic tower was built in the 1920s and is the most emblematic building in Chicago. These days the skyscraper has been converted into residential apartments. It must be said that
NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Might one ask Coca-Cola to bring back the 1899 bottle?
Art · Observations · Humour
Guido Reni's painting of Atalanta and Hippomenes and the myth of their transformation into lions
Take to Your Heels, You Fool! Guido Reni. Atalanta and Hippomenes, 1622-1625. The picture is based on the myth of the beautiful Atalanta, who invited the men who fell in love with her to run away from her, and entirely unarmed at that. She herself pursued them with a
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · People
Maria von Vetsera, her death with Crown Prince Rudolf and the crescent in her hair
The mystery of the death of Mary Vetsera, the Austrian noblewoman and beloved of Crown Prince Rudolf, the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, remains unsolved to this day. The young baroness was found dead together with Crown Prince Rudolf on 30 January 1889. There are many
Museums · Observations · Heritage · Society · Nature
Yesterday came the news that the governor of Smolensk is stripping the Khmelita museum-reserve of its status as a specially protected natural area
Yesterday came the news that the governor of Smolensk is stripping the Khmelita museum-reserve of its status as a specially protected natural area. I am very fond of Khmelita and have been there many times, so I immediately approached the museum's management for comment, and I return
NB! · Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
If Anyone Has Forgotten What Camilla, England's Queen Consort, Looks Like
If anyone has forgotten what Camilla, England's Queen Consort, looks like. Incidentally, she is almost a contemporary of Alla Pugacheva: there are just 2 years between them.
Books · Museums · Observations · People · Humour
Facts about Beethoven's mother from Koblenz refute the myth of his African origin
We have already heard about a black Napoleon; now it turns out that Beethoven was black too. One wonders who is next in line: Shakespeare? The author of this theory has even published a book, but not one of the facts he cites as proof of Beethoven's African