Books · Observations · Society · Humour

According to data for 2024, library attendance in Russia has risen one and a half times since 2020, reaching more than 482 thousand people; in 2020 libraries were visited by 288,802 people

Even so, you will understand, half a million people a year is catastrophically few for a literate, educated country of 140 million. Sad, comrades I alone visit some 300 times a year, though it is unclear here whether they counted unique visitors or the total number of visits. If the

Faith · Observations · Society

Vatican approves “Jubilee Report” on external debt crisis in developing countries

The Vatican has issued yet another document of little consequence; or rather, it has endorsed an international report aimed at resolving the external debt crisis in developing countries. The document, entitled the “Jubilee Report”, was presented on 20 June 2025 by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Among its authors

Art · Observations · Society

Italian government announces cut in VAT on artwork sales from 22 to 5 per cent

The Italian government has announced a cut in VAT on sales of works of art from 22%, the highest rate in the European Union (EU), to 5%, the lowest rate in the EU. The closest to Italy in this respect are Germany and France, with VAT at 7% and 5.

Faith · Observations · Society · Saint Petersburg

Petersburg International Economic Forum and the meaning of Sankt in the name of the city

It is indeed odd that the event is called the "Petersburg International Economic Forum" rather than the "Saint Petersburg" one. Even in English it is St. Petersburg. "Saint", after all, is not even a prefix but part of the name, pointing to the city&

NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

The Circus Mood of Ulyana Sergeyenko's New Resort Collection: I Demand a Continuation of the Poodle's Story

Archive · Faith · Observations · Saint Petersburg

A Te Deum in the Colonnade Hall of the Tauride Palace before the opening of the Fourth State Duma, 15 November 1912

This is how it ought to be in the largest Orthodox country in the world, and not twice a year on feast days

Observations · Ethnography · Humour

In an ancient game-song, a sparrow or a drake entertains the audience by imitating how children, merchants, lads, girls and old women walk and caper about in dance

Old women all go like this: hunched over, stooping low. And girls go like this: perked up, merry-making, perked up, and clap your hands! Let us commit it to memory. Hunched over or perked up. And above all, do not mix them up.

Books · Monarchies · Observations · Paris · Nature

Old fish in the ponds of the Petit Trianon and Barbara Pym's remark about Marie Antoinette

The British novelist Barbara Pym, in her ironic novel Crampton Hodnet, written in the 1930s and 1940s, remarks that the fish in the ponds of the Petit Trianon are so old that they must surely have seen Marie Antoinette. In principle, some freshwater fish really do live for more than

Books · Observations · Mores

Men are, as a rule, more attentive to the breeding of their horses and dogs than to the upbringing of their offspring

Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims / Fruits of Retirement. William Penn, 1693

Observations · Science · People

A reminder from Carl Jung:

Life really begins only at 40; until then, you are merely conducting research

Archaeology · Art · Museums · Observations · Paris

If you hurried through the Egyptian hall of the Louvre to get to the tiny Mona Lisa sooner, I advise you to correct the mistake and make the acquaintance, at the very least, of the figure of the Seated Scribe Kay

If you hurried through the Egyptian hall of the Louvre to get to the tiny Mona Lisa sooner, I advise you to correct the mistake and make the acquaintance, at the very least, of the figure of the Seated Scribe Kay. He is undeservedly neglected, although many historians and art

Museums · Observations · Saint Petersburg · Ethnography · Humour

1980s notice of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography refusing to show freaks and monsters

The essence of the Kunstkamera, Peter's legendary cabinet of curiosities, in a single sentence. Our museum is about the culture and way of life of the peoples of the world, and therefore it does not display the freaks, dwarfs, giants and other monsters who amused the grandees of