Inspired by Rousseau's idyllic descriptions of country life, in 1782 Marie Antoinette asked for a little hamlet to be laid out for her right within the grounds of Versailles

Inspired by Rousseau's idyllic descriptions of country life, in 1782 Marie Antoinette asked for a little hamlet to be laid out for her right within the grounds of Versailles. In the course of a single winter an entire village of peasant cottages and farms was raised for the queen, where she might rest from the routine of the palace and the everyday cares of the court.

Rousseau calls rural pastorals a small paradise, and it is precisely these words that come to mind when one looks upon the queen's village

Report a translation error

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Inspired by Rousseau's idyllic descriptions of country life, in 1782 Marie Antoinette asked for a little hamlet to be laid out for her right within the grounds of Versailles

Read more

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s