Observations · Mores · Nature · Humour

Lady Hamilton's poodle Codina and the fashion for poodles during the fall of the French monarchy

Aww, what a darling! Little Codina, the favourite poodle of Horatio Nelson's mistress, Lady Hamilton. In Russia at this time large poodles were the fashion, while in Europe small ones like this were preferred. Poodles came into great vogue precisely in the years of the fall of the

Books · Observations · Society

Irina Prokhorova is preparing a book on women entrepreneurs in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries

Irina Prokhorova has revealed that she is preparing a large book on women entrepreneurs in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. According to her, before the Revolution 13% of women in Russia had a business of their own. Well, we shall await the book.

Observations · Mores · Society Pages · Humour

At the Veuve Clicquot Award I learnt that Madame Clicquot was widowed very young and inherited rich wine cellars which it was DANGEROUS to enter, owing to the shards of exploding champagne bottles, so that the wine vaults could only be visited…

At the Veuve Clicquot Award I learnt that Madame Clicquot was widowed very young and inherited rich wine cellars which it was DANGEROUS to enter, owing to the shards of exploding champagne bottles, so that the wine vaults could only be visited in special protective suits, against the explosions. Sounds

Books · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour

Sir John Harington's joke, which he played on James VI

Sir John Harington's joke, which he played on James VI. At least, so it is recorded in the book by the admirable Christina Larner, a historian and one of the first to take up the subject of witchcraft. The court poet, incidentally an ancestor of our beloved Kit

NB! · Observations · Education

do not dare forget your teachers, they worry about us and remember

Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Education · Humour

I hardly know how to comment on this Facebook post by the architect and former MARKHI professor Evgeny Ass

I hardly know how to comment on this Facebook post by the architect and former MARKHI professor Evgeny Ass. The gatehouse of MARKHI, which occupies the Volynsky-Vorontsov estate, has turned into this. The structure has undergone several transformations of late; I remember that not long ago it looked like

Museums · Observations · Pop Culture

Trebuchet at Château de Castelnaud and a nearly identical device in China in the 5th century

Remember the trebuchet? A genuine siege engine straight out of Age of Empires, Cossacks and Stronghold: Crusader may be seen, for instance, at the open-air war museum in the French Château de Castelnaud. What I remember the trebuchet for most is its spectacular shot with a dead cow, giving

In the Press · Cinema · Observations · Pop Culture

The new Vogue carries a touching piece by Yana Lukina on the most anticipated release of the year, the feature-length "Downton Abbey", in which the Crawley family prepares to receive George V under its roof

The new Vogue carries a touching piece by Yana Lukina on the most anticipated release of the year, the feature-length "Downton Abbey", in which the Crawley family prepares to receive George V under its roof. The material is good; I was even surprised that it was Vogue,

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · People · Humour

Marie Antoinette as a Hyena

Marie Antoinette as a hyena. The hairstyle is odd, of course

Faith · Museums · Observations · Rome

In the cramped corridor of the Church of the Sacred Heart, exhibits testifying to the apparitions of souls in Purgatory are hung right on the walls

In the cramped corridor of the Church of the Sacred Heart, exhibits testifying to the apparitions of souls in Purgatory are hung right on the walls. These are pages from the prayer books of nuns, bearing the fiery fingerprints of their sisters who appeared to those at prayer after death;

Faith · Museums · Observations · Rome

One of the Most Mysterious and Frightening Museums in the World: Rome's Museum of the Souls in Purgatory

This tiny museum holds artefacts that point to the existence of a life after death: the traces of souls that have found their way into Purgatory. In the nineteenth century a chapel for prayers for the dead stood on this spot. After a fire there in 1897, a mark appeared

Faith · Observations · Heritage · Rome

Pilgrims at the copy of the Holy Child in Santa Maria in Aracoeli, original stolen in 1984

Paid a visit to the Holy Infant in Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Touching pilgrims go on bringing their notes, petitions for wishes granted and for healing, to the copy of the original stolen in 1984, while the genuine Infant, carved from Gethsemane wood, is kept in a secret room in