Architecture · Faith · Observations · Society · Paris

On the official poster for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Christian cross has been removed from the spire of Les Invalides

What scoundrels they are, they are no longer ashamed of anything

Archive · Geography · Society · Paris · Nature

The 1910 Paris flood and the end of wooden block paving on the city's streets

The Paris flood of January–February 1910 was the worst since 1658. The Seine itself did not burst its banks, but the rise of the water in it and in its tributaries flooded most of the city through the sewers, drainage pipes and underground tunnels, the Metro included. Hundreds of

Art · Heritage · Society

The monument in Bristol to the English merchant Edward Colston, toppled from its plinth, defaced and thrown into the river in 2020 because Colston was an active member of the Royal African Company and, accordingly, had a connection with…

Coming Up · The East · Interviews · Society

Nizhny Novgorod Opera House stages "The Abduction from the Seraglio", written by Mozart shortly before his marriage to Constanze Weber

The problems of fidelity and choice in love and freedom, of male and female nature: critics call Mozart's opera "a fantasy for grown-ups". The premiere runs from 29 February to 3 March, in a production by Ekaterina Odegova; the musical director of the performance is

Archive · Books · Observations · Society

So, Professor Thomas Salmon, in his "Modern History, or the Present State of All Nations" of 1735, reports that once Russia has mastered the subtleties of navigation and the other sciences, nothing can prevent her from becoming the foremost commercial pow

Russia produces goods without which other nations, and maritime powers in particular, would find it very hard to subsist. From Russia come pitch, tar, hemp, planks and round timber. Thanks to the canals between the Volga and the Baltic Sea, Russia is able to supply grain at low prices. The

In the Press · Faith · Society

His Eminence Seraphim, Metropolitan of Kythira, has excommunicated the members of the Greek parliament who voted to legalise same-sex marriage and the adoption of children by same-sex couples in Greece

His Eminence Seraphim, Metropolitan of Kythira, has excommunicated the members of the Greek parliament who voted to legalise same-sex marriage and the adoption of children by same-sex couples in Greece. The ban on communion for these deputies is already in force in two Greek dioceses, the Metropolises of

Moscow · Observations · Society · Humour

Yesterday the ladies seated next to me in the auditorium were discussing the price of tickets to the Bolshoi, and concluded that it would be better to buy plane tickets and fly off to see "Spartacus" at the Novosibirsk Theatre

Yesterday the ladies seated next to me in the auditorium were discussing the price of tickets to the Bolshoi, and concluded that it would be better to buy plane tickets and fly off to see "Spartacus" at the Novosibirsk Theatre. The company is splendid, the production is praised,

NB! · Architecture · Heritage · Society

Over three days, from 13 to 15 February 1945, Anglo-American aircraft all but destroyed the ancient German city of Dresden

Science · Education · Society

Requirements for scholarship candidates, payment period and grounds for withdrawal

Following last year's presidential decree on the payment of Presidential postgraduate scholarships to 2,000 recipients in the amount of 75,000 roubles, a government resolution has been issued "on the rules for awarding and paying scholarships of the Presi. Candidates for the scholarships are citizens of

NB! · Architecture · Society · Paris

Residential block in Paris at the corner of Rue Eugène Sue and Rue Simart, one of the highest housing densities in the world: 3,321 flats, more than 10,000 residents on 0.03 sq. km

Aristocracy · Monarchies · Society · People

Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, only son of Italy's last monarch, has died

Italy is bidding farewell to the only son of Umberto II, the last Italian monarch. Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples, of the House of Savoy, was born in 1937, still in the reign of his grandfather Victor Emmanuel III. He died on 3 February 2024. After the abolition of the

NB! · Aristocracy · Mores · Society