Faith · Cinema · Observations · Education · People

Saint Vincent de Paul and the disputed account of his captivity in Tunis

Watching Scorsese's "Silence", besides indignation and weariness I felt a sense of déjà vu. The film reminded me of a story that at school is usually recalled in the last days of September. There is a Catholic figure, Saint Vincent de Paul, whom some guides stubbornly

NB! · Art · Observations

I love such details

I love such details. One look and it is clear at once: Cupid is a tamer of wild beasts. And then you remember that he was suckled by the creatures of the forest, and his late antique depictions with a chariot drawn by swans and butterflies

NB! · Monarchies · Observations

At This Table Dined Louis XV, Whom I Rather Dislike

NB! · Observations · Heritage · Humour

If you should wish to tell me everything, the dealer in antiquities knows where to find me

NB! · Observations · Humour

I do not know what this little stool in the foreground was originally meant for: a child, a gnome or a lapdog, but these days it is usually used for charging a phone

Archive · Books · Museums · Observations

I read this card with such delight!

I read this card with such delight! And afterwards I pestered a member of the museum staff, quizzing him about the details of the dinner depicted, about which room Napoleon-Jérôme (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and darling of the whole family) had stayed in, and whether any of his personal

NB! · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

No sooner had I got rid of my collection of porcelain with monarchical symbols than I began eyeing plates with Masonic ones

No sooner had I got rid of my collection of porcelain with monarchical symbols than I began eyeing plates with Masonic ones. Somebody hold me back

NB! · Observations · Nature

The baby pangolin is an endangered species: the Chinks are actively wiping it out, believing that either the flesh or the scales of the pangolin have curative powers

The baby pangolin is an endangered species: the Chinks are actively wiping it out, believing that either the flesh or the scales of the pangolin have curative powers. What a pity that defenceless animals suffer so much at the hands of man

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Mores · Paris

Found on Google Street View the Deer Park I wrote about yesterday

Found on Google Street View the Deer Park I wrote about yesterday. It is hard to imagine that in the eighteenth century this place was such a den of iniquity. A couple of years ago the building was on sale for 6.5 million euros

Archaeology · Observations · Heritage · Ethnography

Excavation of the Ukok Princess in 1983 and the dispute over reburial of the mummy

Why do I say alas? Because one truly wishes that the touching devotion of the people of Altai to their native mummies might be rewarded. The Ukok Princess was excavated in 1983, and her body was remarkably well preserved for its age of 2,500 years. All thanks to the

Monarchies · Observations · Heritage · Mores · Humour

Everyone loves to recall the story of Peter I scooping up the seven-year-old Louis XV in his arms; the event even has a monument at Peterhof, the original of which was stolen during the war and may well now stand in some private park…

Speaking of parks, when I think of Louis XV, what comes to my mind is his boarding house of harlots, which was called the Parc-aux-Cerfs (the Deer Park), after its location, not far from Versailles. Louis was altogether a dreadful whoremonger and was constantly unfaithful to his wife,

NB! · Observations