Faith · Art · Observations · Heritage · Paris

Notre-Dame de Paris keeps the Crown of Thorns, a sacred relic believed to be the very crown placed on the head of Jesus Christ by Roman soldiers during his mocking

Fortunately, the relic was saved during the fire, and after the restoration the crown was placed in a new reliquary. Here is the reliquary of one of the greatest holy objects of mankind, made in our own day by Sylvain Dubuisson; compare it simply with the reliquary created in the

NB! · Coming Up · Interviews · Paris

Off to Paris, Urgently!

Off to Paris, urgently! A creative meeting with Yury Butusov is an excellent continuation of the touring production. He is one of the finest theatre directors in the country. There is so much one could ask him

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Society · Paris

Pope Francis will not come to the reopening of Notre-Dame, but Donald Trump will

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Paris · Humour

Had the restoration of Notre-Dame been entrusted to Lego, it might well have turned out better

Art · Books · Museums · Paris

Pavel Antokolsky’s poem about Velázquez and the portrait of the Infanta

The painter was ardent, affable, pure, clever. He knew that the rosy, timid child Was long since dry and yellow, like a squeezed lemon; That in the pulse of those veins are the dreams of many buried; That it is not Brabant lace that is beyond price, But that, surely,

Painting of a boy in a brown coat standing alone in a courtyard, while a group of pupils in dark uniforms with red trim look at him and point.

Art · Museums · Paris · People

A lone boy and his mocking peers in uniform in an autumn school courtyard

At Malmaison, Napoleon's best-known residence, now a museum of the Napoleonic era, a recently acquired painting of the young Bonaparte at Brienne has been hung. What a familiar opening. A lone figure among mocking enemies, rejected by all and accepted by none. What happens next in such

Black and white ink drawing of cats running across an open space at night, with a large lit building and a full moon behind them.

Art · Museums · Paris

Taiyo Matsumoto, a contemporary Japanese artist, and his drawing of cats

The Cats of the Louvre. The contemporary Japanese artist Taiyo Matsumoto

Archive · Architecture · Paris

Globe Céleste, the giant globe of the 1900 Paris World Exhibition, and its demolition

This is what Paris looked like in 1900. Beside the Eiffel Tower stands another symbol of the Exposition Universelle in Paris, though one built 11 years later. The round blue-and-gold building with stars is called the Globe Céleste and is, in effect, a very large globe, more than

NB! · Art · Paris

High time to recall the snowy views of Gustave Caillebotte

Cinema · Paris · Pop Culture

⚡️Something Beautiful for the Night ⚡️

A shoot by Ellen von Unwerth for Ulyana Sergeenko's new collection, with Natalia Vodianova and Katya Letskaya, Ulyana herself and her daughter Vasilisa (attention, please), held on a ranch in the outskirts of Paris. I would never have thought such a thing existed. It turns out that Ellen

Black and white photograph of a granite relief with four standing baboon figures in a museum display.

NB! · Faith · The East · Art · Museums · Paris · Nature

Relief of four baboons from the Temple of Amun at Thebes, Louvre collection

Baboons worshipping the sun. Stone relief from the Theban temple of Amun, Louvre collection

Observations · Society · Paris

French Council of State annuls decrees regulating housing rents in Paris

Rents in Paris Are About to Go Through the Roof. France's Council of State has annulled several decrees regulating rents in Paris at a stroke. In effect, a blow has been dealt to the neo-Bolshevik course of the Paris city hall. The National Union of Property Owners