Faith · Observations · Humour
In the Gospel of Luke, in the fourth chapter, where the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness and He met the devil, there is an interesting moment: "And the devil, taking Him up into a high mountain, showed unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a momen.
NB! · Aristocracy · Madrid · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
The Duke of Alba's dinner in honour of the birth of the Prince of Asturias, 1707. I noticed an amusing detail: there is not a single glass on the table. Why? If any of the guests should deign to drink, the servants will bring him one at once
Architecture · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
I know that among my readers there are corrupt officials of poor imagination who cannot think where to spend their pilfered money. I advise them to consider the following lot. In England, Osborne Cottage is up for sale, part of the estate built as a place of seclusion for Queen
NB! · Architecture · Faith · Observations · Paris
An exhibition of models of the great churches of France and Europe is under way in the Parisian church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois. For some reason I do not yet see the famous Solberet Cathedral 🧐
NB! · Observations · Mores · Humour
Indecency, 1799. It reminded me of a woman artist of my acquaintance who, rather than queue for the lavatory at Simachev's, went to relieve herself round the corner, where she was caught in the act. Since then we have conversed only across the fence
Museums · Observations · Society · Society Pages
At a museum dinner marking Leo Tolstoy's 190th anniversary, I learned that among other things the May Decrees of 2012 included a provision that exhibitions of copies do not count towards the state assignment, so a museum cannot report them as fulfilment of its plan. The innovation was
NB! · Observations · Nature · Humour
The flipper of a blue whale. Isn't it practically a hand?
Archaeology · Moscow · Observations · Science · People
Today in Moscow we bade farewell to the distinguished scholar Ekaterina Georgievna Devlet. Doctor of Historical Sciences, Academic Secretary of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Centre for Palaeoart, Professor Ekaterina Devlet was a leading specialist in early forms of art and in
Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Paris
Found the famous Parisian church of Saint-Roch in a sorry state. A church founded in the sixteenth century and rebuilt in the seventeenth under royal patronage. Anne of Austria herself appeared with the infant Louis XIV at the laying of the foundation stone of the new building. Here, in
Monarchies · Observations · Society · Saint Petersburg
In June 1831, popular riots broke out in Saint Petersburg. Terrified by the cholera epidemic, people supposed that the physicians were sprinkling some poison into the water and the wells, and that this was what made the disease spread. Nicholas I himself undertook to quell the riot, addressing the crowd
NB! · Observations · Humour
NB! · Art · Observations · Humour
The old man in the air bubble is Alexander the Great, spying from beneath the water on his beloved Roxana with some fellow. God forbid one should look like that at 30, and, for that matter, go travelling in a bubble either