NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
A whole subculture has grown up around the Union of Salvation, and it is most entertaining to observe. And the jokes are good, as they say
Museums · Observations · Heritage · People
Early this morning came the sad news: in her 81st year there passed away a remarkable person, a living legend of the Russian museum world, an outstanding, cultured, devoted and tirelessly active champion of Russian culture, Natalya Nikolayevna Gramolina, who had worked at the Polenovo estate museum since 1970 and
Books · Observations · Society · People
Some very interesting reflections on Griboyedov and secret societies: was he a Decembrist, and what can be said of his attitude to the clash between old and new, as reflected in "Woe from Wit"? They come from a series of talks by Tatyana Savina on Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov,
NB! · Books · Observations · People
NB! · Observations
Archive · In the Press · Books · Observations · Society
There are quite a few oddities in issue No. 9 of 1830 of Delvig's "Literary Gazette". Take, for example, the rhyme in Pushkin's epistle to Yazykov of 1824: "Since time immemorial a sweet bond Unites poets with one another: They are priests of
The East · Museums · Observations · Heritage · Society
The Rijksmuseum and the Museum of World Cultures of the Netherlands intend to part with exhibits acquired during colonial conquests: at the prompting of the Council for Culture, the museums have declared their readiness to return to their homelands works of art, jewels and antiquities that were illegally removed. To
Observations · Science · Education · Nature
Julia Koricheva, Professor of Ecology at Royal Holloway, University of London, has photographed the label on a cork oak in the university arboretum. Note the spring that holds the sign loosely on its screw, so that no foreign object presses too tightly against the bark. In short, the damage done
Archaeology · Observations · Rome · Humour
How should one speak of one's good deeds? A fellow a couple of thousand years ago, for instance, had his name cut into stone on the main square of the resort town of Terracina, on the approaches to Rome along the Appian Way, in huge bronze letters. Made
Cinema · Books · Observations · Mores
Can a couple be happy if she is reading Nureyev's autobiography and he is reading "Women of Japan"? To find a reading person at all is already happiness, of course. And then, if we turn to the plot of "Bed and Board" from François
Books · Observations · Society
Perhaps the history of men's struggle against women's emancipation is more interesting than the story of emancipation itself. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
Faith · Observations · Society · Nature
Pope Francis I, addressing TED, urges us to heed what scientists say about climate change and the need to act now to mitigate it. And, as is his custom, he appeals to our hearts, which fail to notice the suffering of the poorest and least protected amid growing inequality and