NB! · Coming Up · Museums · Observations · Palaeontology

Tomorrow at 11.00 the Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore will present a 120-million-year-old ichthyosaur skull with four nostrils

Tomorrow at 11.00 the Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore will present a 120-million-year-old ichthyosaur skull with four nostrils. I would happily go myself. Those of you in Ulyanovsk, do not miss your chance

Monarchies · Observations

The Romanov dynasty and the Ptolemaic dynasty have rather a lot in common

Both were marked by great achievements, by tragedy, and by a pronounced peculiarity of historical fate. Both dynasties had their adventurers and desperate men. The Romanov dynasty was founded by a man with flimsy rights but a great deal of adventurism. Strictly speaking, that was not the seventeen-year-old

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Observations

I have prepared a note on the Château de Chambord, whose compositional centre is the famous staircase after Leonardo's sketches

I have prepared a note on the Château de Chambord, whose compositional centre is the famous staircase after Leonardo's sketches. The staircase is so contrived that those ascending by its two separate flights will never cross paths, yet will meet at the top

NB! · Archive · Architecture · Observations · Heritage

The contents of the newspaper have not yet been recovered, and it is unclear whether it mentions the defence of Sevastopol, but at least it is clear that the new owner, Amédée Guénée, began the repairs two years after buying the château

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

666 subscribers on Friday the 13th: reason enough for an entry in Marie de' Medici's notebook

Architecture · Art · Observations · Humour

Which of the squirrels from the stained-glass window of the Renaissance château of Azay-le-Rideau are you today? anonymous poll

The Insatiable one, with two nuts – 77 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 55% The Nimble one, with one nut – 64 👍👍👍👍👍👍 45% 👥 141 people voted so far.

NB! · Architecture · Art · Monarchies · Observations

The interiors of the château bear the initials of the owner couple and the emblems of Francis I and his wife

The interiors of the château bear the initials of the owner couple and the emblems of Francis I and his wife. I cannot believe that a mistress so witty and attentive to detail would not have endowed the greedy squirrels at the martyr's feet with some special meaning

NB! · Architecture · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

A stained-glass window at the Château d'Azay-le-Rideau, built by Gilles Berthelot, treasurer to Francis I, or rather by his wife Philippa

A stained-glass window at the Château d'Azay-le-Rideau, built by Gilles Berthelot, treasurer to Francis I, or rather by his wife Philippa. Look at the spiteful squirrels below: it looks like a dig at King Francis and Queen Claude

Aristocracy · Books · Monarchies · Observations · Mores

Louis XIV's Control over the Court in the Books of Norbert Elias and Nicholas Henshall

Found an interesting take on the role of Versailles and Louis XIV's personal will in the life of the French court. Many authors, with varying degrees of skill, describe how the monarch arranged the daily lives of his courtiers, how he meddled in their private affairs and strove

Observations · Mores · Humour

A hand slipped into a lady's muff as an erotic gesture of the 19th century

My favourite detail: in the nineteenth century, slipping one's hand into a lady's muff was considered a vividly erotic gesture. I cannot vouch for the nineteenth century, but even today it sounds far too forward

A fountain shaped like a sailing ship, its masts and rigging covered in ice and icicles, in front of a building and a brick wall.

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Observations · Rome

The Galleon Fountain at the Casina of Pius IV in the Vatican is covered in ice

The frozen Galleon Fountain in the courtyard of the Casina of Pius IV in the Vatican usually fires water, "extinguishing the fire of war", in the phrase of Pope Urban VIII. But these days the galleon is sheathed in a crust of ice, which is more allegorical still

NB! · Faith · Museums · Observations · Heritage

I have a sudden longing to get to Rostov the Great and visit the Museum of Church Antiquities, where a carved altar cross of the 16th century, stolen in 1995, is once again on display

I have a sudden longing to get to Rostov the Great and visit the Museum of Church Antiquities, where a carved altar cross of the 16th century, stolen in 1995, is once again on display. Ticket: 70 roubles