Lyubov Polishchuk, Sergei Tsigal It is simply impossible to understand how our ancestors managed to create a great European civilization without cocoa. (Photo: Pavel Gorshkov ) Long gone are the days when citizens made “Truffles” at home in the kitchen. They required scarce products: sugar, butter, cocoa, etc., but it was impossible to get the candies themselves at all.

Galina Kovalskaya The fate of the wreckage of the former Soviet Union remains uncertain. However, their residents do not seem to be sad about this Tiraspol is the Transnistrian capital. It has its own currency, and one dollar accounts for more than 5 million local rubles. For those who bring vegetables from Moldova and Ukraine to the market, it is inconvenient to constantly change money back and forth.

Olga Gerdt The French dance festival ends with "Sleeping Beauty" The original version of "The Sleeping Beauty", staged at the Yekaterinburg Municipal Ballet Theater with the participation of Russian and French dancers (Photo: Vladimir Lupovskoy ) The festival, which was held by the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater together with the French Cultural Center, was essentially a touring showing of the works of two very popular French choreographers.

(Photo: Natalya Loginova ) Irina Arkhipova confirmed the validity of the famous saying that real art is in the Tretyakov Gallery. The singer timed a vocal “vernissage” to coincide with the presentation of her portrait, painted by artist Vasily Nesterenko, in the Vrubel Hall of the gallery. The young singers whom Arkhipova supports performed rarely heard arias and romances that played on the theme of the portrait

Peter Weil Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" was first published in 1600 under the title "The most excellent story of the Merchant of Venice. With the extreme cruelty of the Jew Shylock towards the said merchant, from whom he wanted to cut exactly a pound of flesh." Let us remember that we are talking about the collateral that the moneylender Shylock assigned to the merchant Antonio in case of delay in repaying the debt.

Fedor Romer Masha Chuikova. Art Media Center. "TV Gallery". Moscow (Photo: Anna Prokhvatilova ) In 1992, in Zurich, artist Masha Chuikova decided to mark the first anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet empire with a memorial meal, inviting the bigwigs of the Swiss art world to an exotic dinner prepared according to the recipes of the peoples of the USSR.

Olga Grinkrug In Russia, the Children's Superbestseller is published by Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - the first book from the adventure series of a little wizard The plot about a boy who does not know that he is a wizard, and about the school of magic, where he is eventually going to study, 35-year-old Englishwoman Joan Cathling Rowling invented back in 1990 (photo: AP ) Once upon a time there was a young mother in England with her little daughter Jessica. And she was ...

Sergey Ivanov How tall was Thumbelina? The question is not as elementary as it seems - after all, an inch had different lengths at different times. Most likely, it should be measured in inches, legalized by the decree of the English King Edward II, according to which this unit is “equal to the length of three barley grains taken from the middle part of the ear and placed one against the other with their ends.” Then it turns out that an inch’s height is 25.4 mm.

Natalia Shkurenok It took less than a year for nine St. Petersburg cultural organizations from the Code of Especially Valuable Objects of Cultural Heritage of Russia to spend on their commercial projects $1 million allocated by the World Bank in the form of a loan for the reconstruction of the center of St. Petersburg. The Hermitage spent its grant - 200 thousand dollars - on the production of a modern illustrated guide.

S. Ya. Composer Osip Kozlovsky. Great Hall of the Conservatory. Moscow (Photo: Natalya Loginova ) At the beginning of the 19th century, playwright Vladislav Ozerov was no less famous than Derzhavin. He became famous for abandoning the conflict between duty and feeling, which was obligatory in the theater of the classical era, and wrote several tragedies in a fashionable sentimental spirit.

Yaroslav Sedov State Opera and Ballet Theater. Samara (Photo: Igor Zakharkin ) Lyudmila Semenyaka celebrates 30 years of creative activity with a series of anniversary evenings, where she says goodbye to her favorite ballet roles. At the beginning of the season she danced and gave master classes in Japan, in October she took part in the Donetsk international festival "Stars of World Ballet", and last week she performed in Samara.

Masha Gessen The next dismissal of Sergei Pashin most likely marks the end of judicial reform (Photo: Pavel Gorshkov ) “To bring us all together, Pashin must be fired!” the famous human rights activist said loudly. The hall was packed with people whose names never left the pages of newspapers during the perestroika era. Now, of course, they rarely get together all together.

Yuri Sabantsev Do you like beer? Well, I can drink a bottle or two, but so why love him! - this is how I would answer this question. In any case, unlike the television advertising Mephistopheles exclaiming, while sipping "Holsten", "Divine!" (that’s the devil!), I wouldn’t say about beer “Devilly good!” However, I don’t hate beer either.

Dmitry Ukhov The legendary American musician was a born producer like Leonid Utesov or Bari Alibasov The “Glenn Miller Orchestra” that visited us are professional entertainers performing their duties at the level of a couple of medleys, a Mozart Turkish rondo played on the lips, and Louis Armstrong imitations faded from constant use (Photo: Pavel Gorshkov ) Even those who know nothing about jazz know the name Glenn Miller.

Sharon Begley (Newsweek) As the number of endangered species grows, scientists have dared to try to reproduce them using surrogate mothers (Photo: Terry Whittaker - Photo Researches ) His birth is still a month away, but his proud creators have already chosen a name for him: Noah. Like his biblical counterpart, Noah is called upon to save endangered creatures around the world. However, as far as we know, God is in no hurry to extend his saving hand to him.