NB! · Faith · Moscow · Museums · Observations

The reliquary of Mary of Egypt recalled the "Saint Louis" exhibition in the Patriarch's Palace of the Moscow Kremlin, to which a glass casket from the Crown of Thorns was brought, but without the Crown, that is, simply an empty bit of glass

NB! · Archive · Observations · Mores · Humour

The Perils of Fashion, a Nineteenth-Century Depiction

The perils of fashion, a nineteenth-century depiction. Pity there is no such picture for brains

NB! · Archive · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Do Read Item 17 of a Circus Programme from 1885

Do read item 17 of a circus programme from 1885. A HORSE named Blondin WALKS A TIGHTROPE AT A HEIGHT OF 6 METRES. The horses I know can only booze and retouch their photos for Instagram 🙄

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Observations · Humour

A few kilometres from Southwold Jack stands another similar "clockmaker" or bell-ringer, at Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh

A few kilometres from Southwold Jack stands another similar "clockmaker" or bell-ringer, at Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh. Fine armour, one must say.

Faith · Art · Observations

Stars and blue as symbols of the Virgin Mary in Christian art and church architecture

Readers ask: what makes me so sure this is the Madonna and not simply a lady with a child? In fact, it is obvious, if one knows the simplest Christian symbols. First, the tunic is strewn with stars. The star is a sign of the Mother of God, a reminder

A painted sculpture of a seated Madonna holding the Christ Child, in a glass case with a gilt-framed painting behind.

NB! · Faith · Art · Observations · Humour

Terracotta Madonna in sandals by the French sculptor Gervais Delabarre

Terracotta Madonna in sandals, the work of the French sculptor of the 16th-17th century Gervais Delabarre. The toes are admittedly odd; I recommend replacing the sandals with loafers or espadrilles

NB! · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations

Yasumasa Morimura makes photographic self-portraits, reflecting on the history of art and transforming himself into Da Vinci, Van Eyck, Frida Kahlo and Vermeer

Yasumasa Morimura makes photographic self-portraits, reflecting on the history of art and transforming himself into Da Vinci, Van Eyck, Frida Kahlo and Vermeer. I have been to his exhibition at the Pushkin Museum, and tomorrow I shall go again

Three vintage glasses in purple, blue and amber glass stand on a white countertop beside a sink.

NB! · Art · Observations

The author's new favourite items, Austrian glasses of the early 20th century

I have new favourites. Austrian liqueur glasses of the early twentieth century

Three wooden beehives stand on the roof of Notre-Dame, with three jars of honey of different sizes on the paving in front of them.

NB! · Faith · Observations · Paris · Nature

Beehives have stood on the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris since 2013

Since 2013, bees have been kept on the roof of Notre-Dame. It is an initiative of city activists, endorsed by the cathedral because it shows the beauty of the created world. And I am still afraid to go to church with my own candles

NB! · Archive · Observations · Humour

Sitting in my cell, awaiting congratulations on Archives Day

Workers and onlookers stand in mud around an excavator bucket holding a silt-covered stone find.

NB! · Archaeology · The East · Observations · People

An 80-centimetre bust of Seti II with a cartouche found near the Ramesses colossus

An 80-centimetre bust of Seti II has been found close to the Ramesses. A rather interesting character, and the sculpture is labelled with his cartouche, unlike the giant, within an 8-metre radius of whom there is not a single inscription

NB! · Archaeology · Observations · Humour

An eight-metre statue has only just been dug out of a waterlogged layer, so I suspect it has not yet dried out from the groundwater, and you already know about it