Coming Up · Books · People

Project for the 50th anniversary of poet Boris Ryzhy devotes a month to his works

Boris Ryzhy departed this life very young, at 26. This year he would have turned fifty. It was Boris Ryzhy who wrote the lines "In Russia people part for ever…". His poetry requires no preparation and no agonised interpretation: it is to be felt. Yevgeny Rein, a friend

Painting of several men asleep among olive trees, with a grey-bearded man sitting and resting his head on his hand.

Art · People

Felice Carena, Italian painter who lived from 1879 to 1966

Apostles, 1924. The Italian painter Felice Carena (1879-1966)

Art · Mores · Paris · People · Pop Culture · Humour

In 1980 Dalí sent Yoko Ono a dry blade of grass for 10,000 dollars instead of a hair

How Salvador Dalí Sold Yoko Ono a Blade of Grass for $10,000. Some episodes from the life of Salvador Dalí, for all their plausibility, may seem entirely apocryphal: a kind of definition of Surrealism itself. Yoko Ono and Salvador Dalí first met in 1969, when Ono and John Lennon

Art · Books · Museums · Mores · Paris · People

Raphael's portrait of Baldassare Castiglione from the Mazarin collection in the Louvre

Portrait of the Italian Renaissance writer and diplomat Baldassare Castiglione (1478–1529), known as the author of The Book of the Courtier, which describes the court of Urbino in the form of a manual of etiquette. Castiglione gives particular attention to moderation and courtesy, regarding them as proof of civilisation.

Cinema · Observations · People

Vasily Stalin in His Youth

It must be said that Gela Meskhi, who played the lead in the film "Son of the Father of Nations", bears a certain resemblance to him

A balding bearded monk in a brown habit leans over an open book, his hands folded on a skull.

Faith · Books · People

Saint John of the Cross, a Spanish Carmelite monk, in a painting

Seek in reading, and you will find in meditation; knock in prayer, and it will be opened to you in contemplation. The Spanish Carmelite friar Saint John of the Cross

NB! · People

Mikhail Baryshnikov 💎

A cream rotary telephone with a white lobster lying where the handset should be, and a braided cord.

NB! · Art · People · Humour

Salvador Dalí's Lobster Telephone alongside other kinds of telephone

Pay phone, phone with answering machine, mobile phone, oh yes, lobster phone. You are calling Salvador Dalí

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · People · Saint Petersburg

A rare photograph of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future Emperor Nicholas II, in the uniform of the Life-Guards Ataman Regiment of His Imperial Highness the Heir Tsarevich

A rare photograph of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future Emperor Nicholas II, in the uniform of the Life-Guards Ataman Regiment of His Imperial Highness the Heir Tsarevich. Saint Petersburg, Wesenberg & Co. studio, 1880s.

In the Press · Society · Paris · People

Durov and Zuckerberg and Western advice on platform moderation

Sergey Lavrov on the detention of Pavel Durov:. Durov turned out to be too free. He was too “slow”, or else did not “listen” at all, to Western advice on the “moderation” of his “brainchild”. After all, what is happening is not only about him. M. Zuckerberg was summoned before

Faith · Society · People · Rome

Meetings of John Paul II with Reagan and other American politicians

The chief anti-Soviets of their time: Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II. Officially, Reagan met John Paul II at least four times: in June 1982 at the Vatican, in May 1984 in Alaska, in June 1987 at the Vatican and in September 1987 in Miami. In addition, John

Art · Society · People

The Gao Brothers under Chinese Government Scrutiny and Their Secret Exhibitions

In China, the artist and sculptor Gao Shen, who works as a duo with his younger brother, has been arrested. The activities of the Gao brothers have always been under the close scrutiny of the Chinese authorities. Their anti-government stance is partly explained by the fact that in the