NB! · Museums · Heritage · Saint Petersburg
A Bullet Mark in the Mirror
A bullet mark in the mirror. The Hermitage
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Faith · Art · Museums · Saint Petersburg
The Return of the Prodigal Son: one of Rembrandt's last paintings, one of the chief masterpieces of the Hermitage and one of the greatest canvases in human history
The painting is most often dated to 1666-1669. But since very little is known about the last years of Rembrandt's life, neither the history of its creation nor the artist's own interpretation is known. The painting was acquired in the lifetime of Catherine the Great
Books · People · Saint Petersburg · Humour
A Decisive Evening
This evening I shall see you, This evening my lot will be decided, This evening I shall receive what I desire, Or an abschied into retirement! And tomorrow, the devil take it, I shall get tight as a tick, I shall fly like an arrow in a dashing troika; Having
NB! · Archive · Mores · Society · Saint Petersburg
Lynch Law for a Negligent Chauffeur in Petrograd, 1917
Art · Museums · Saint Petersburg
A Wind, but Not of Change
Ilya Repin's painting What Freedom! (1903) symbolises, in the critic Stasov's judgement, Russian youth who had not lost their courage, hopes and joyful expectations amid the misfortunes that beset them. By Repin's own account, he was simply walking along the Gulf of Finland when
Coming Up · Observations · Pop Culture · Saint Petersburg
From 1 July to 26 August the Hermitage, GES-2 and the Pakgauzy in Nizhny Novgorod host the Pianissimo summer festival
Twenty-six concerts in which works by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Schubert will be performed by talented young pianists who, in keeping with good tradition, stand at the very beginning of their careers but are already recognised by the professional community. Last year I attended the Pianissimo concerts at
NB! · The East · Art · Cinema · Museums · Saint Petersburg · Humour
A Kirghiz convict painted by Vasily Perov in 1873 looks exactly like Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow
A Kirghiz convict painted by Vasily Perov in 1873 looks exactly like Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Collection of the Russian Museum
Faith · Art · Monarchies · Museums · Saint Petersburg
The poet Apollon Maykov prevents the painter Nikolai Kuznetsov from cutting off the head of the writer Ieronim Yasinsky, while the Symbolist Dmitry Merezhkovsky, in chains, contemplates the proceedings with detachment
The poet Apollon Maykov prevents the painter Nikolai Kuznetsov from cutting off the head of the writer Ieronim Yasinsky, while the Symbolist Dmitry Merezhkovsky, in chains, contemplates the proceedings with detachment. 1888, Ilya Repin. This is just what Repin's painting "St Nicholas of Myra Saves Three Innocents
Architecture · Museums · Heritage · Saint Petersburg
In 1933 a unique automated bakery was built in Leningrad, in which the bread-making cycle was automated to the greatest possible degree
In 1933 a unique automated bakery was built in Leningrad, in which the bread-making cycle was automated to the greatest possible degree. The conveyor line was arranged in rings set on different floors of the building. Flour was delivered to the very top, where the sourdough department was situated.
Faith · Monarchies · Mores · Saint Petersburg
At one solemn service Catherine II saw a woman fall to her knees before an icon of the Mother of God and throw a paper on the floor
At one solemn service Catherine II saw a woman fall to her knees before an icon of the Mother of God and throw a paper on the floor. When the paper was picked up, it turned out to be a complaint against the Empress, addressed to the Mother of God
Cinema · Observations · Paris · People · Saint Petersburg
The actor Sergei Dreiden (Dontsov) has died today. I remember him from two roles: in Kirill Serebrennikov's recent "Petrov's Flu" and in Yury Mamin's good old "Window to Paris"
Though not, in my view, the best known of films, "Window to Paris" is one of the important, truly Russian pictures. Very delicate and funny, tragic, absurd and bitterly truthful. A prim old lady hides a magical secret in her room in a grimy, noisy communal flat: on
Coming Up · Art · Saint Petersburg
Nine Kilometres of Cord Went into the Appliqué Beard of Chernomor in Anton Okonеshnikov's Ruslan and Lyudmila at the Alexandrinsky Theatre
Nine kilometres of cord went into the appliqué beard of Chernomor in Anton Oconeshnikov's production of Ruslan and Lyudmila at the Alexandrinsky Theatre. Premiere on 20 May, hurry to see it