Faith · London · Mores · Society

The General Synod of the Church of England Discussed Prayers for the Blessing of Same-Sex Couples

The subject is not new to the Church of England, but until now matters had never gone as far as publishing a proposed collection of prayers and Bible readings connected with same-sex services. The Archbishop of Canterbury, however, chose to abstain in the vote on the prayers, explaining that

Art · London · Observations · Society · Humour

Britain Impoverished by the Liberals Begs on the Thames Embankment with Her Battered Lion, the Palace of Westminster in Ruins Behind Her

Colour lithograph by Tom Merry, 1891. On the whole, 130 years on, the subject is topical once more. Only now the old lady Britannia must also sit there with a black eye, courtesy of her cultural enrichers.

Art · Society · Saint Petersburg

Plate with portraits of the Decembrists made by the Leningrad Porcelain Factory in 1925

But you did not perish in vain: what you have sown will sprout. The Decembrists. Leningrad Porcelain Factory, 1925, and we are still waiting for the shoots

Archive · Books · Monarchies · Observations · Society

Catherine II’s “Nakaz” as a portrait of the empress and its article on customs duties

I continue reading the draft of Catherine's Code, her "Instruction" of 22 chapters and 655 articles, that is, the direct guide for the deputies in drawing up the principal body of laws of the Russian Empire, a new Code to replace the "Sobornoye Ulozhenie"

Observations · Society

An international set of 26 words for spelling out names and addresses

A is for Alfa, I is for India, P is for Papa, T is for Tango, V is for Victor. For those occasions when one must set down someone's name, or convey by letters the code of a number plate, an address, or some other word or abbreviation,

Archaeology · Architecture · The East · Observations · Heritage · Society · Saint Petersburg

As for Vladimir Putin's speech today at the Cultural Forum in Saint Petersburg, besides his remark about transformers, I noticed the quotation to the effect that "cultural figures build bridges between peoples – this is a mission…

Let me remind you that terrorists blew up the arch, reconstructed by the French in the 1930s, in 2015. In April this year a visualisation of the Russian project for restoring the monument was presented at the Hermitage Theatre; it was developed at the Centre for Rescue Archaeology together with

Archive · Monarchies · Society

Catherine II's Instruction to the Commission on the success of Peter the Great's reforms

Russia Is a European Power. The proof of this is as follows. The changes that Peter the Great undertook in Russia met with the greater success because the manners prevailing at that time were wholly unsuited to the climate, having been brought to us by the intermingling of various peoples

Art · Museums · Society

Stichting Ambulance Wens Nederland fulfils the last wishes of dying people

A dying woman asked to see a Rembrandt before the end. This happened in Amsterdam in 2015, and it was not an isolated case: several other gravely ill patients in the city's hospitals asked to be shown "The Night Watch" and the Rembrandt exhibition. The chance

Archive · Society

Compiègne Armistice between the Entente and Germany signed in Picardy on 11 November 1918

On 11 November 1918, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the Armistice of Compiègne was concluded between the Entente powers and Germany, ending hostilities in the First World War. The document, signed in the French region of Picardy, effectively put an end to the

Archive · Art · Society · Paris · Humour

The French Republic of de Gaulle (in the guise of Marianne) Casts an Eye on Communism

Sixty years before the famous meme appeared

Art · Society · People

Ernest Pignon-Ernest and his socially engaged street art in France since the 1960s

Works by the French artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest, a member, incidentally, of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts in the painting section. Pignon-Ernest is considered one of the founders of street art in France. Since the 1960s he has placed his works in the urban setting, among small architectural

Architecture · Moscow · Heritage · Society

The 1909 Red Square tram line and the protests of Vasnetsov, Tsvetaev and Shekhtel

In 1909 it was decided to run a tram across Red Square. The tracks were to pass literally in front of the monument to Minin and Pozharsky, which at that time stood opposite the entrance to the Upper Trading Rows. Part of the city's public opinion came out