NB! · Archive · Society

Gorbachev Was the Last of the Trio Who Brought the Cold War to an End

Gorbachev was the last of the trio who brought the Cold War to an end. Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022), Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)

Black and white photograph of the wrought iron gates of Versailles, with a crown above the gateway and a sign reading “Le musée est fermé”.

NB! · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage · Society · Paris

Versailles closed to visitors and its masterpieces were moved to Chambord in August 1939

On 25 August 1939 a notice reading "Museum Closed" appeared on the gates of Versailles. On 29 August the removal of masterpieces from the palace to the Château de Chambord began. On 3 September France declared war on Germany

NB! · Society · Saint Petersburg

Founded in 1710 and in existence until 1918, the Kexholm Infantry Regiment twice took Berlin: in 1760 and in 1813

Monarchies · Society · Paris · People

The First French Journalist to Mount the Scaffold in the Years of the Terror Was Durosoy

The first French journalist to mount the scaffold in the years of the Terror was Barnabé Farmian Durosoy. Before his death he left a note: "A royalist such as I should die on the Feast of Saint Louis." Saint Louis died on 25 August 1270. Durosoy died on

NB! · Archive · Moscow · Society

The 15-tonne Dzerzhinsky toppled from his pedestal on Lubyanka Square on the night of 23–24 August 1991

NB! · In the Press · Books · Society · People

Julian Barnes on Why He Has No Intention of Withdrawing His Books from Russia

NB! · Geography · Society · Nature

Euronews has published a report on the shrinking of Europe's major rivers during the drought of 2022: the bed has been laid bare in the Italian Po, the Dutch Waal, the German Rhine, the French Loire, the Guadiana in Spain, the Danube and the Thames

The East · Geography · Maps · Monarchies · Society

Catherine the Great's Greek Project: A Plan to Crush the Ottoman Empire

Out of the shards of the Ottoman possessions, Catherine planned to fashion a New Byzantine realm for her grandson Constantine, who was to be enthroned in Constantinople. On the map these lands are marked in red. Catherine is believed to have put faith in the Orthodox prophecy of Constantine, the

Books · Observations · New York · Society · Nature

Exploitation of horses in big cities and Mayakovsky's verses on a fallen horse

In New York, Conscientious People Are Outraged at the Cruel Treatment of Horses, an Important Part of the City's Tourist and Entertainment Industry. Incidentally, I am sure this is a common problem for all big cities where horse labour is exploited for amusement: the wretched animals work from

Geography · Society · Nature · Ethnography

European drought exposes hunger stones with warning inscriptions in the Elbe

European drought exposes so-called hunger stones in riverbeds. The inscription on one of the stones in the Elbe reads: "If you see me, weep." Stones marked with extremely low water levels on the Elbe have surfaced in 2018, in 1918 and in the nineteenth century. The marks

NB! · Archive · Education · Society · Paris

Posters of Lenin, Trotsky, Marx and Mao at the Institut d'études politiques in France during the events of May 1968

NB! · Observations · Education · Society · Humour

It turns out that applicants to the Higher School of Economics can get +2 points for a gold Ready for Labour and Defence badge: almost the same as for a gold medal, which takes a decade of slogging to earn