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NB! · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Humour
They say that when Chagall was in Moscow, he was so struck by the beauty of Levitan's canvases that he asked the Tretyakov Gallery to give him one landscape in exchange for all his own paintings
They say that when Chagall was in Moscow, he was so struck by the beauty of Levitan's canvases that he asked the Tretyakov Gallery to give him one landscape in exchange for all his own paintings. Fools, they should have agreed!
NB! · Archive · Books · Observations · Mores · Humour
My New Hobby: Jewish Cuisine of Many Lands
My new hobby is Jewish cuisine of many lands. At the back of the 1907 volume 'Choice Dinners and Dishes for the Jewish Family' I found an advertisement for a book for young Orthodox housekeepers. I want it, I cannot have it 💔
NB! · Art · Books · Observations · Humour
I Feel Like the Owl in the Portrait of the Scottish Writer and One-Hit Wonder James Boswell
Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Society
Demolition of the Church of Saint Martin in Sablé-sur-Sarthe for a car park began on 17 July
My Street. France On 17 July, demolition began of the church of Saint Martin in the French commune of Sablé-sur-Sarthe, built in 1880-86. The deconstruction is due to be completed by the end of July. For several years now the church building has been in a state
NB! · Aristocracy · Art · Observations · Mores
Count of Bellamont in a portrait wearing mismatched coloured shoes with spurs
Note that the Count of Bellamont is wearing odd-coloured shoes, and with spurs to boot. Only the most daring dandies could permit themselves footwear of differing colours; it was considered the height of style
NB! · Architecture · Cinema · Books · Observations · Humour
Episode 1 of Game of Thrones recalled Chetham's Library in Manchester: the same little gates as in the Citadel, though here they went further and chained the books down, and in place of Samwell Tarly it was Karl Marx who sat up late
NB! · Faith · Art · Observations
A woman, whatever we choose to call her, cares for her beauty: in one hand a comb, in the other, presumably, a mirror
A woman, whatever we choose to call her, cares for her beauty: in one hand a comb, in the other, presumably, a mirror. The most interesting thing is that this pair comes from the church where Shakespeare lies with his wife
Art · Books · Observations · Ethnography
Relief with a male and a female water being and the origin of the rusalka
A curious carving of two aquatic creatures: one male, one female. One should be careful with the term "rusalka", since it is purely Slavic. For clarification one ought to read about life beneath the waters and the harem of the vodyanoy: here one thinks of Barbara Frischmuth'
NB! · Art · Observations · Mores · Humour
Victor Hugo's drawing of the Bastille, known to him only from paintings
Today is Bastille Day, when my neighbour from the 3rd entrance, Uncle Lyonya, used to get drunk and bellow "A young Cossack strolls along the Don". This is Victor Hugo's drawing of the Bastille, which he knew only from paintings, but it looks rather like it
NB! · Archaeology · Observations · Mores · Humour
Original and reconstructed tools of a medieval manicure set
Looking at this manicure set (originals on the right, reconstructed tools on the left), I would not wish life in the Middle Ages on anyone!!! anyone!!! Well, except Louis-Philippe and Yana Rudkovskaya
NB! · The East · Observations · Ethnography
Chinese child's shoe of 1926 with a cat face as a charm against evil spirits
A child's shoe from China, 1926. The cat fooled evil spirits and kept the child safe. It brings a lump to the throat: my grandmother sewed me just such shoes when I was little, as her own grandmother had sewn them for her in her day