Aristocracy · Monarchies · Heritage · Society

A legal dispute of almost a century over ownership of the property of the Hohenzollern royal dynasty has come to an end: the German federal government, together with the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, has reached an agreement with the descendants of th

The dispute began in 1926, when a treaty on the division of property after the fall of the monarchy in 1918 was signed between representatives of the House and the former state of Prussia. However, since the Hohenzollern property had been confiscated before the agreement was concluded, the legal questions

Geography · Monarchies · Society

Victory of the Russian galley fleet under Golitsyn at Grengam in 1720

By 1720 Sweden, once the formidable Lion of the North, realises the futility of its ambitions to dominate the north of Europe; its former grandeur has been squandered in a string of defeats at the hands of Russia. England, which had stood on Sweden's side from the very

Faith · Observations · Society · Rome

The cardinals' oath of secrecy and the reliability of reports on the conclave of Leo XIV

In these days many pieces have appeared investigating how exactly the conclave went. Original hypotheses are advanced as to how, in what conjunction of circumstances and under which stars Pope Leo XIV came to be elected. For the most part it resembles the intriguing plot of a popular film. Let

Art · Mores · Society · People

Eric Pickersgill photographs people posing with phones removed from their hands

A Striking Statement by the Photographer Eric Pickersgill: the Series Removed. People have fused with their devices swiftly and irreversibly. At first, personal gadgets were very convenient helpers: they solved everyday tasks, made it easier to keep in touch with loved ones, to store and pass on information, to take

Observations · Society

New five-ruble banknotes dated 1997 enter circulation from warehouses after 2022

What does the sudden appearance in circulation of five-rouble notes dated 1997, yet perfectly new, tell us? When I first saw one, I thought it a collector's rarity, but at the till they told me that five-rouble notes had become plentiful. upd a obscurantist from among

NB! · Society · Paris · Humour

The members of the Council of Paris await the next post in Parnassian Mockingbird about the dreadful Mayor Anne Hidalgo

The members of the Council of Paris await the next post in Parnassian Mockingbird about the dreadful Mayor Anne Hidalgo. And so it goes every day, for a mere 4283 euros a month

A book page with an excerpt from a letter mentioning Zyuganov, Zhirinovsky, Yeltsin and Gaidar.

Archive · Books · Moscow · Society

Poet Inna Lisnyanskaya on the events of October 1993 in a letter to her daughter

Stinking Democrats, Cunning Communists, Screeching Liberals, Idiots, Suicides and Thieves. The exceptions are Yeltsin and, perhaps, Gaidar. The poet Inna Lisnyanskaya on the events of October 1993, in a letter to her daughter

Faith · Monarchies · Observations · Society · Rome

Leo XIV explains choice of name by Rerum Novarum and the rise of artificial intelligence

Unlike the start of Francis's pontificate in 2013, when the newly elected pope's first meeting with the cardinals was broadcast live, Leo XIV chose to hold his behind closed doors. The Vatican has published part of the Pope's address, in which, as a supplement

NB! · Faith · Observations · Society · Rome · Humour

So the Vatican may escape higher tariffs, now that it has a Pope made in the USA?

Faith · Observations · Society · Rome

Many Russian media have misrendered the surname Prevost, reading it as French, no doubt out of an idea of the pontiff's French background, but since the Pope is, after all, an American, and there is nothing French about him…

"Prévost" would be correct had he come from a French-speaking colony. In his own country he was Prevost, and this seemingly suited him well enough. At any rate, one will be able to put the question to him in person and find out whether he, in honouring

NB! · Faith · Society · People · Rome

Robert Francis Prevost, Now Leo XIV, the First Pope of Mixed Race

Robert Francis Prevost, now Leo XIV, is the first Pope of mixed race. His paternal ancestors were French and Italian; on his mother's side they were French, Spanish, Louisiana Creole, Afro-Haitian and African

Archive · The East · Art · Society

Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt lead the vanquished Hitler, with snakes growing from his shoulders, in the wake of Kaveh, the mythical blacksmith who rose against the tyrant Zahhak

Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt lead the vanquished Hitler, with snakes growing from his shoulders, in the wake of Kaveh, the mythical blacksmith who rose against the tyrant Zahhak. Goebbels is tied to the horse's tail. During the Second World War, Iran saw a series of propaganda posters based