NB! · Observations · Nature · Ethnography
In Europe there was a superstition that shrubs clipped in a straight line serve as a pathway for witches, and so a hedge must take some other shape. But I am not afraid of witches and I enjoy the beauty of the park
Museums · Observations · Ethnography
Returning to the nábrók, NB: the surviving specimen is most likely a modern fabrication, merely reconstructing the legend. They are kept in a private museum, and since it is thanks to them that we learnt of it at all, they evidently do their work tolerably well. Evidence for the trousers
Cinema · Observations · Nature
As a dacha-dweller, I would add that many regard the lily as a poisonous plant. At any rate, certain varieties can be highly toxic, for cats, for example. There are reports that a cat which has drunk water containing lily sap, or licked lily pollen from its fur, may
Archive · Observations
To mark our five-thousandth reader, I have started a new channel where I shall post headlines and wild stories from the archival periodicals I read for work. Do subscribe: https://t.me/cucumberdeath
Books · Observations · Mores · Ethnography
In the 11th and 12th centuries a struggle unfolded in Rus' between two types of matrimonial norm: the exogamous (forbidding marriage within a family, clan, tribe or other group) and the endogamous (permitting it). Strange as it may seem, this confrontation is reflected in the bylina of Ilya Muromets,
Archive · Books · Monarchies · Observations
In the Scottish town of Kelso, not far from historic Roxburgh, where in 1460 James, King of Scots, was mortally wounded by a fragment of an exploding cannon, there is a curiosity of a particular kind: a large horseshoe set into the paving stones. It is held that on this
Aristocracy · Architecture · The East · Observations · Humour
The Tbilisi house of the Mukhranbatoni on Loris-Melikov Street, renamed Gudiashvili Street, is now partly residential. It was built to the commission of Prince Ivan Bagration-Mukhransky in the style of the French Renaissance, to a design by Kornely Tatishchev, a celebrated architect of his day. When I visited
Aristocracy · Architecture · The East · Observations
I once told of the house of the Princes Bagration-Mukhransky in Tbilisi, which stood not far from the aristocratic club, also owned by the Mukhranbatoni, on Golovinsky Prospect, now Rustaveli Avenue. I have long been meaning to tell one story that connects me with this building
Observations · Mores · Humour
In Victorian times there was a common expression, "born a bit tired", applied to chronic idlers from whom one could not expect even a couple of hours' work a day. A rather topical notion.
Archaeology · Geography · Maps · Observations
I have found a wildly cool website that will be useful to anyone working on maritime history and naval battles: it is the largest shipwreck database in the world. Here you will find maps, a calendar of accidents at sea, the finds of underwater archaeologists, data on shipowners and shipbuilders,
NB! · Art · Observations
Victorian Little Red Riding Hood, George Frederic Watts, 1890. Such a darling: how could anyone have sent her into the forest alone?
NB! · Observations · Heritage · Paris
In the Luxembourg Palace they lovingly preserve this mirror, struck by a bullet during the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944. I should very much like to show them photographs of Peterhof razed to the ground, for example