Books · Observations · Heritage · Society · Paris

While in Russia they timidly wind down discussion of moving the long-suffering body of Lenin from Red Square, and all but ignore the dismantling of the necropolis at Novodevichy Convent, in France the subject of famous graves is at the centre of attention

A petition is being put to the President for re-interment in the national Pantheon; it has already been signed by 10 former ministers of culture and various eminent figures of the intelligentsia. The subject is two notable nineteenth-century poets, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine. The romance of Rimbaud

Archaeology · The East · Observations · Mores

My grandmother collected household textiles, and whenever I heard about wonderful Egyptian cotton, it seemed like yet another Soviet marketing prejudice, in the manner of unique Czechoslovak crystal and inimitable Chinese…

My grandmother collected household textiles, and whenever I heard about wonderful Egyptian cotton, it seemed like yet another Soviet marketing prejudice, in the manner of unique Czechoslovak crystal and inimitable Chinese camel-hair blankets. After all, excellent crystal was also made in the Vladimir region, camel wool is the pride

London · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Queen Victoria, the Biedermeier style and her upbringing at Kensington Palace

Yesterday, at an interior-design lecture, a respected lady informed us with a perfectly straight face that Queen Victoria, being an ethnic German, invented the Biedermeier style upon arriving in England. Decorators and architects are of course under no obligation to be historians and to know such things, so I

Observations · Pop Culture · Society Pages

Kirill Serebrennikov, congratulating the magnificent Alla by video link, has just put it very precisely: "Alla Sergeyevna has kept her back straight all her life

Kirill Serebrennikov, congratulating the magnificent Alla by video link, has just put it very precisely: "Alla Sergeyevna has kept her back straight all her life. She has never bowed down to anyone, never bent the knee."

Moscow · Observations · People · Society Pages

Alla Demidova came incognito to an evening in her honour on her birthday

The incomparable Alla Demidova appeared incognito at an evening in her own honour on her birthday. Alla Sergeyevna slipped quietly into the auditorium while Sergey Nikolayevich was speaking of her Phèdre and her Ranevskaya, and Pavel Kaplevich was telling how he had mixed up Vera Vasilyeva with Yekaterina Vasilyeva. For

NB! · Archive · Observations · People · Humour

This is not quite what I had in mind when I bought a magazine with the cover line MUSCULAR STRONGMAN ALEXANDER KUPRIN

Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage

Activists from the Kostroma Region are raising funds for conservation and emergency stabilisation work in the Resurrection Church of the Neronovo estate, with its original 18th and 19th-century interiors

Activists from the Kostroma Region are raising funds for conservation and emergency stabilisation work in the Resurrection Church of the Neronovo estate, with its original 18th and 19th-century interiors. I should note at once that the Neronovo estate is privately owned, which, however, does not diminish its cultural significance

NB! · Observations · Humour

I Hereby Present You with This Stake for Planting Out Cabbage Seedlings; Do with It What You Will

Wooden carved frieze with large fruit and leaves on a darkened board, mounted on a museum gallery wall.

NB! · Architecture · Art · Observations

Carved Frieze of the Early 17th Century with Life-Size Fruit

An early seventeenth-century carved frieze with life-size fruit. Russian architecture, what's not to love? ❤️

Cinema · Books · Observations · Society

National Electronic Library opens free access to classic works in an app

The National Electronic Library, under the Ministry of Culture, has released an app called “Svet” [“Light”] with free access to thousands of books, films and plays. Since we do, after a fashion, have a copyright law, what has been made openly available is mostly classic works whose terms happen to

NB! · Cinema · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Doesn't it seem to you that the great Bourvil, the outstanding comic actor and celebrated variety singer who died 50 years ago, bears a striking resemblance to Joseph Brodsky?

London · Observations · Society · People · Humour

I know that many are still mourning the untimely death of the American judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but let us not pass by the darlings still among us, such as Baroness Floella Benjamin, who celebrated her 71st birthday in such a dazzling look…

I know that many are still mourning the untimely death of the American judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but let us not pass by the darlings still among us, such as Baroness Floella Benjamin, who celebrated her 71st birthday in such a dazzling look that, as Andrey Malakhov would say, "