Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Society
I watch with interest as my French colleagues argue over a church in Bordeaux that has been turned into a garage. The arguments touch on the sacredness of religious buildings, on the preservation of heritage and memory, and on respect for the labour of architects and artists. In short, it
Archive · Interviews · Society · People
Viktor Petrovich Astafyev, in conversation with Georgy Stepanovich Zhzhenov about the war, voices an interesting thought about a people that calls itself great, yet for some reason lets itself be led on a leash like a calf, chooses a criminal government for itself and condemns itself to a beggarly existence.
Interviews · Heritage · Society
The last surviving witness of the mass shootings at Babyn Yar has given an interview to RTVI. Estimates of the number of people shot in the ravine near Kyiv between 1941 and 1943 vary from 70,000 to 200,000. A tragic monument to a history that must not be
Coming Up · Art · Heritage · Society · Paris
The French state agency Le Mobilier national, which is responsible for valuable works of art, furniture and interiors in government institutions, palaces and collections, will hold an unprecedented auction on Heritage Days, 20 and 21 September. All proceeds from the sale of palace furniture, paintings, hangings, bronzes and the like
Science · Society · People
In 1952, Alan Turing, without exaggeration one of the most outstanding British scientists of his time, was convicted of gross indecency: he was obliged to admit to a homosexual relationship, unlawful in the United Kingdom, after his flat was burgled by a 19-year-old labourer with whom Turing had
NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Society · People
The Shakhmatovo estate, where Blok spent 36 of the 40 years of his life, was plundered in 1918. The furnishings and furniture were sold off at auction. In July 1921 the house and its outbuildings burned down, most probably set alight through carelessness or plain, dull-witted spite.
Books · Heritage · Society · People
“Why are they riddling an ancient cathedral with holes? Because for a hundred years a bloated priest sat here, hiccuping, taking bribes and selling vodka. Why do they foul the manor houses so dear to our hearts? Because girls were raped and flogged there, if not by that squire, then
Books · Society · People · Saint Petersburg
The Soviet translator Natalya Leonidovna Trauberg on the Russian poet and translator Valentin Stenich, who made the first Russian translation of "Ulysses" and was shot in 1938:. "Nobody was particularly surprised about him [that he would be arrested], because in 1937 they were locking up people who,
Interviews · Observations · Society · People
But all the same, it is an interesting interview, do read it. Alexievich makes some quite reasonable points: a weak state intends to save only itself, and she draws parallels with the Chernobyl catastrophe. She recalls, for example, how Western aid then settled with the officials and, instead of real
NB! · Books · Observations · Society · Humour
Svetlana Alexievich to the studio. The Nobel laureate doubts the nature of the coronavirus; might the epidemic, after all, have been caused by immunity weakened by 5G?
NB! · Archive · Society · Humour
Archive · Society · Paris
The Boston Athenæum has put online a collection of photographs of the Paris Commune and the fortified suburbs of Paris in 1871, as the Franco-Prussian War drew to a close. Cannon in the city, the ruined Ministry of Finance, executions in the streets, and barricades that look nothing like