Architecture · Museums · Observations · Heritage · Paris

The Louis Philippe heating and ventilation system in the Gallery of Battles at Versailles

There is such a photograph of the outlets of the very Louis-Philippe system of central heating and, accordingly, ventilation in the Gallery of Battles at Versailles. Of course, for its time such a system was the optimal solution, but then the palace was not visited by 15,000 people

Engraving of a crowned king in an ermine mantle on a canopied bed with fleurs-de-lis, with candlesticks and a cross before it.

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Posthumous Portrait of Henry IV on His Bed of State, Engraving of 1610

Behold the tiny feet of Henri IV ☺️ Only bear in mind that here he is a corpse. Hardly the most flattering angle for a portrait, and a posthumous one at that. The king reclines on a bed beneath a canopy, in full dress and regalia, with candlesticks set all around

Archaeology · Museums · Observations

A bronze mask of Oceanus from a 2nd-century AD Roman fountain, from a villa rustica in the tiny German town of Treuchtlingen-Schambach

A bronze mask of Oceanus from a 2nd-century AD Roman fountain, from a villa rustica in the tiny German town of Treuchtlingen-Schambach. It is kept in the Archaeological State Collection in Munich. When I see such charming things from out-of-the-way places, I feel a little

Coming Up · Art · Observations · Society

On 11 February Sotheby's Will Once Again Offer David Hockney's "Splash"

On 11 February Sotheby's will once again offer David Hockney's "Splash". The painting is expected to fetch as much as $39 million. In 2006 "Splash" was sold for £2.9 million. One of the three splashes is going under the hammer: there

Cinema · Observations

Review of the Netflix series “Dracula” with Claes Bang and Dolly Wells

Watched Netflix's "Dracula": three ninety-minute episodes are just the thing for a weekend. It is a pity that each episode is weaker than the last, but it remains an engrossing spectacle: a splendid acting partnership, with the Bond-type looks of the towering Dane Claes

Books · Observations · Society

But

But. You see, "the trouble is not with the personality of the despot who oppresses his family and everyone around him. He is powerless and insignificant in himself; he can be deceived, removed, thrown into a pit at last... But the point is that with his destruction despotism does

Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Society

In an 1855 letter, Herzen asks Alexander II for freedom of speech and the abolition of serfdom

Sire, give freedom to the Russian word. Our intellect is cramped, our thought poisons our breast for want of space, it groans in the stocks of the censorship. Give us free speech... we have something to say to the world and to our own people. < > Wash from Russia

Back cover of a 1990 booklet with text in a red frame about cashless payments by the public through the Savings Bank of the USSR.

NB! · Archive · Books · Observations · Society

Savings Bank of the USSR advertises cashless payments on the back of a 1990 issue of the Ogonyok Library

1990: Sberbank of the USSR advertises cashless payment (the advertisement itself is on the back of an Ogonyok poetry collection, incidentally). As you can see, the automatic payment of utility bills was invented long before debit cards became ubiquitous and Sberbank Online was ever thought of.

NB! · Cinema · Books · Observations · Pop Culture · Ethnography

One would like to recall the death scene of Albus Dumbledore and look at those events from the standpoint, let us say, of Russian folk demonology

Monarchies · Observations · Heritage · Paris

Vandals paint the lips of the Louis Philippe statue with lipstick at Les Invalides

How do you like Louis Philippe with painted lips? I never cared for the Pear King, but I see nothing amusing in the fact that someone has rouged the lips of his statue at Les Invalides. The saddest thing about this act of vandalism is that lipstick scarcely comes off

Cinema · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Appearance of Nicholas Alexandrovich in The Last Czars at the Funeral of Alexander III

In Netflix's The Last Czars, this is what we are invited to take for the heir to the Russian throne, Nicholas Alexandrovich, at the funeral of Alexander III. Let me remind you that Nicholas was 26 🤷🏽‍♂️ Of course, in former years people looked older and worse than we

Page of a printed book with entries dated 25 and 28 December about Governor-General Vrevsky and work for the starving on the Volga.

NB! · The East · Observations · Society · Humour

Vrevsky in Turkestan and Annenkov on the Volga in records from late 1891

The end of 1891. The Governor-General of Turkestan, Vrevsky, is interested only in women and asparagus, while Annenkov makes the starving hack at the ice on the Volga by hand. Russia and her rulers do not change, even a hundred years on