Gilded tower clock with Roman numerals and a sun at the centre of the dial, flanked by two statues, on a blue background with golden fleurs-de-lis.

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Science · Paris

Charles V installed the first city clock of Paris on a palace tower in 1370

The first public clock of Paris was installed at the will of Charles V in 1370. The clock tower was not merely a palace fortification: the clock the king set up showed that the control of time lay in his hands.

Archaeology · The East · Monarchies · Museums · Science · Paris · Humour

In 1976 Egypt issued a passport to the mummy of Ramesses II for examination in Paris

In September 1976 Egypt issued a passport for the Pharaoh Ramesses II. The document certified that Ramesses II was indeed the Pharaoh of Egypt and had been born in 1303 BC. Egyptian scientists had noticed that the pharaoh's body had begun to decay rapidly, possibly owing to the

NB! · Monarchies · Science · People

Vlad Dracula may have suffered from porphyria, a condition marked by both mental disorders and the appearance of blisters and sores on the skin after exposure to sunlight

Vlad Dracula may have suffered from porphyria, a condition marked by both mental disorders and the appearance of blisters and sores on the skin after exposure to sunlight. Porphyria also afflicted George III and Mary Stuart

NB! · Science · Palaeontology · Nature

A Skull Found by a Fisherman in an Irish Lough Lay Underwater for More Than Ten Thousand Years and Belongs to the Vanished Giant Deer

Archaeology · Moscow · Observations · Science · People

Moscow bids farewell to Ekaterina Devlet, specialist in early forms of art

Today in Moscow we bade farewell to the distinguished scholar Ekaterina Georgievna Devlet. Doctor of Historical Sciences, Academic Secretary of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Centre for Palaeoart, Professor Ekaterina Devlet was a leading specialist in early forms of art and in

Books · Observations · Science

Mechnikov in “Essays on Optimism” on Europeans having a long old age, not a long life

Academician Mechnikov wrote in "The Nature of Man" that Europeans do not have long lives, only long old ages. When you are no longer fit for anything, but are somehow still alive

NB! · Observations · Science · Humour

Speaking of Renaissance inventions, one cannot fail to mention the printing press, the parachute, the rolling bearing, the water pump, the telescope and, of course, the steerable centaur costume. Where would we be without it?

Books · Monarchies · Observations · Science · Humour

James IV's experiment with two infants on a desert island in Walter Scott's “History of Scotland”

Walter Scott, in his "History of Scotland", describes an experiment of James IV, who sent two infants to an uninhabited island with a deaf-mute nurse, to find out which language is innate to man, and whether there is one at all. Besides the settlers, the island was

A black clavi-harp in a museum room, with a harp-shaped frame set on a case with a keyboard and pedals.

NB! · Museums · Observations · Science

The clavi-harp, invented by Johann-Christian Dietz in 1813

The clavi-harp is a rarest of instruments, invented in 1813 by Johann Christian Dietz. It is far lighter and more compact than the upright piano, and it is quite unclear why it never became equally fashionable. I should gladly acquire one

Archaeology · Science · Ethnography

Strabo and Claudius Aelian on Scythian arrows with snake venom, blood and dung

Strabo, Claudius Aelianus and several other authors write that the Scythian battle mixture for arrowheads was made from human blood serum, dung and the venom of various snakes. A wound from such an arrow could cause not only direct poisoning by snake venom but also blood poisoning. In other words,

NB! · Science · Mores · Humour

In the seventeenth century, dissection tables with a rotating top became especially popular: they allowed the corpse to be turned towards the sun, a great advantage in the absence of good lighting

Archaeology · Science · People · Rome

Leiden reconstruction of Caesar's appearance and the accounts of his birth

The creators of the Leiden reconstruction do not insist that Caesar looked exactly like this. The appearance, however, corroborates the testimony of the literary sources that Caesar was literally torn from his mother's womb. Yet if the head of the Roman dictator was indeed so markedly deformed, it