Books · Society
The presidents stepped out of their aircraft at the same moment, solitary, without retinue, and descended the steps as though two envoys of two great civilisations were coming down from the heavens. They walked along the red carpet, drawing closer, and it was frightening to think that they might miss
Geography · London · Moscow · New York · Society · Paris · Saint Petersburg
Population of London, New York, Paris, Berlin, Saint Petersburg and Moscow in 1800, 1830, 1871 and 1900. Moscow: 250,000 - 305,000 - 601,000 - 1,175,000 Saint Petersburg: 220,000 - 442,000 - 668,000 - 1,418,000
Books · Observations · Society · Humour
A quotation from a Doctor of Sciences on an analytical programme on Channel One about the meeting in Alaska. There will be no other analysis today
Geography · Science · Society
Roscosmos on What Is Happening in Alaska. Images received from the Elektro-L and Arktika-M satellites show that the territory of Alaska is for the most part covered by cloud. A high-resolution image of Anchorage was taken by the Resurs-P satellite
Books · Observations · Society · People
The attitude to the creative work and writings of people with such a dark biography is, in truth, a thorny ethical question. When it came to Roman Polanski, his films, at least for me, were not something one wished to unsee, but Sokolov's book I would not pick
Archive · Cinema · Monarchies · Society · People
The name of the Italian opera singer of Russian origin Nadezhda Vasilyevna Bulycheva (1858-1921) is inscribed for ever in letters of gold in the history of the worldwide struggle to abolish slavery. On 10 August 1886 the Russian prima donna Nadine Bulycheva sang the part of the Ethiopian slave
Heritage · Science · New York · Society · Pop Culture
In July, a Martian meteorite found in Niger in 2023 was sold at Sotheby's in New York for $4.3 million. The stone, known as NWA 16788, became the largest Martian meteorite ever sold at auction. Only the other day, Niger opened an investigation into the circumstances of
Archive · Society · Paris · People
Our House Is on Fire, and We Are Looking the Other Way. Jacques Chirac. In the photograph: Chirac in the 2000s and in 1968
Archive · Art · Observations · Society
In the 1790s, campaigns against influences from France appear in England, frightened by the backdrop of bloody reprisals and the overthrow of the monarchy. A propaganda broadsheet compares two allegories of Liberty: Britannia with the scales of justice, Magna Carta under the protection of the imperial lion, and a staff
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"Personally, I am against freedom; I am for the Holy Inquisition" Salvador Dalí Context: Dalí made this remark after Franco, in 1975, had executed three members of the Anti-Fascist Patriotic Revolutionary Front and two members of the organisation Free Basque Country, all of them branded terrorists. Protests
Faith · Monarchies · Observations · Society
Ahead of the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska, scheduled for 15 August, let us recall other occasions when Alaska, hardly the most fashionable venue for diplomatic encounters, played host to world leaders. Richard Nixon and Emperor Hirohito, 26 September 1971, Anchorage. In the night of 26
Art · London · Society
Summer is a relatively quiet season on the auction market, but the Old Masters sale at Christie's in London on 1 July proved an exception. Canaletto's "Venice: The Return of the Bucentaur on Ascension Day" sold for £31.9 million, a new record price