In this issue…

Without faith there can be no victory

Alexander Ebralidze, managing director of the Taleon company: "Without faith there can be no victory. So, anywhere, anytime, whatever we do we should have a strong faith in what we are doing. Faith is a substantial component of victory."

…8

To Stop the Moment

He travelled extensively – along the Volga, in the Russian Far East, the Crimea and old Russian towns – and brought back huge folders of drawings. Again and again the artist strove to set down on paper the beauty of the instants that indeed make up everyday life.

…20

"Having begun in the service in the lowliest positions…"

One of the last grandees of Catherine's time, Prince Alexei Kurakin saw and achieved a great deal in his long life. He served his country under four monarchs.

…28

Fridays with the Scent of the Sea

In the morning these molluscs were still basking in a warm sea; in the evening they are resting on ice on a broad tray beneath the gaze of visitors to the Taleon Club.

…36

By the Map of Fate

Just as Cinderella dreamed of her handsome prince, Agatha dreamed of meeting royalty. The famous detective writer always harboured the dream of belonging to the exclusive circle of the aristocracy, something she could not claim as a birthright.

…42

Bruce the Thunderer

Jakob Bruce was without doubt the best educated of all Peter’s close associates. He did not become a great scholar, because Russia had far greater need of engineers and military commanders.

…54

Condemned to Marriage

The blade dropped over and over, but the head did not fall and the unfortunate victim continued to scream. The scaffold was steeped in blood and the crowd, paralyzed with terror, shuddered at every fresh sweep of the sword.

…68

Beneath the Mellow Sun of Tauris

Nikita Khrushchev can hardly have envisaged that places hallowed by feats of Russian arms, Russian spirituality and Russian culture, would become an object of international dispute. In his worst nightmare he could not have imagined that two fraternal nations would be divided by a state border.

…82

He called himself the Philosopher King

Frederick II went down in history as an outstanding military commander, who won a series of victories over the best armies in Europe, and as a wise ruler who abolished censorship and corporal punishment, as a discerning connoisseur of the arts and as a musician, poet, philosopher...

…96

There is no place for fuss when serving the gentry

Huge domestic staffs were a weakness with the Russian nobility. The metropolitan aristocrats, who owned thousands of serfs, could allow themselves to keep several hundred attendants in their urban houses.

…102

A Time of Masks

Carnival is a chance given by fate to look afresh at the world around us -- wonderful, unique and full of new possibilities.

…116

From Maxi to Mini

A properly trained piglet can be shown in public without embarrassment and taken to social events. It causes a stir and is guaranteed to get everyone’s attention. More often, though, people buy mini-pigs for themselves.

…124