Smart News Arts & Culture

Tourists wait to see Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

More Than One Million People Saw the Louvre's Blockbuster Leonardo da Vinci Exhibition

The record-breaking show attracted almost double the number of visitors as the Paris museum's 2018 Delacroix retrospective

A scanned page from The Lytille Childrenes Lytil Boke, a 15th-century courtesy book of table manners and etiquette for kids

Don't Pick Your Nose, 15th-Century Manners Book Warns

The taboo on booger hunting stretches back centuries, reveals a book recently digitized by the British Library

Gardens alongside the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace became archaeological sites where Girl Scouts discovered handmade nails and a shard of pottery.

Girl Scouts Join Archaeological Dig at Birthplace of Organization's Founder

The 200-year-old house, where Juliette Gordon Low was born in 1860, is undergoing renovations to increase its accessibility

Chitetsu Watanabe as a young man (left) and at age 112 (right)

Chitetsu Watanabe, the World's Oldest Man, Dies at 112

The Japanese supercentenarian attributed his longevity to not getting angry and keeping a smile on his face

A half-submerged stone inscribed with Luwian hieroglyphs detailing the fall of Phrygia

Cool Finds

Ancient Inscription Unveils the King Who May Have Toppled Midas

A newly discovered stone hints that a lost civilization defeated the ancient Turkish kingdom of Phrygia around the eighth century B.C.

A reconstruction image showing the scale and decorated interior of Bishop Bek’s 14th-century chapel at Auckland Castle

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Identify Site of Long-Lost Chapel Razed During English Civil War

The "sumptuously constructed" 14th-century chapel was roughly the same size as Sainte-Chapelle in Paris

A Dixie Highway marker on Georgia State Route 3

Parts of Florida Highway Honoring the Confederacy Will Be Renamed in Honor of Harriet Tubman

Miami-Dade County commissioners unanimously approved plans to rename local stretches of Dixie Highway

Greg Lecoeur won the title of Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020 for his Frozen Mobile Home, a playful snapshot of seals circling an iceberg.

Dazzling Display of Seals Wins Underwater Photographer of the Year Award

French photographer Greg Lecoeur triumphed over more than 5,500 submissions from hundreds of artists around the world

“Why did the Royal Canadian Mint make the world's purest and largest gold bullion coin?” the mint’s site asks. “Because we can.”

Berlin Court Sends Three Suspects to Prison for Theft of Giant Gold Coin Worth $4 Million

Prosecutors say two cousins carried out the heist with the help of a childhood friend hired as a security guard at Berlin's Bode Museum

Shawn Walker, Neighbor at 124 W 117th St, Harlem, New York, ca. 1970-1979

Library of Congress Acquires 100,000 Images by Harlem Photographer Shawn Walker

The African American photographer was a founding member of the Kamoinge Workshop, an art collective launched during the 1960s

A very sad before and after

This Ten-Foot-Tall Bottle of Wine Seemed Like a Great Idea—Until It Started Leaking

Firefighters in Austria worked for three hours to prevent 1,590 liters of Zweigelt from flooding a local restaurant

A 55-inch wide sarcophagus and what appears to be an altar are seen in an underground chamber at the ancient Roman Forum.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Possible Shrine to Romulus, Rome's Legendary Founder

An underground temple and sarcophagus discovered in the Roman Forum may pay homage to the mythical figure

Pompeii's House of Lovers, first uncovered in 1933, was severely damaged in a 1980 earthquake.

Pompeii's House of Lovers Reopens to the Public After 40 Years

The building, one of three newly restored painted houses, is named for a Latin inscription that reads, “Lovers lead, like bees, a life as sweet as honey”

An installation view of the "Fantastic Women: Surreal Worlds From Meret Oppenheim to Frida Kahlo" exhibition

Spotlighting the Forgotten Women of the Surrealist Movement

A new show reveals how Frida Kahlo, Meret Oppenheim and other women artists probed questions of femininity, autonomy and politics

Peaceful protestors march down Constitution Avenue and the National Mall on August 28, 1963.

This Virtual Reality Exhibit Brings Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' Speech to Life

"The March" debuts on February 28 at the DuSable Museum in Chicago

The warrior carved onto the Tulloch Stone wields a spear with a "kite-shaped blade and a doorknob-style butt," according to a new study.

Cool Finds

This Carving Is Helping Archaeologists Unravel the Secrets of Ancient Scottish Warriors

The male figure depicted on the Tulloch Stone has an "elaborate hairstyle," "robust" torso and "pronounced" buttocks

Tempestries representing daily high temperatures in Utqiagvik, Alaska, in 1925, 2010, and 2016 (left) and Death Valley, California, in 1950 and 2016 (right)

Art Meets Science

How Knitting Enthusiasts Are Using Their Craft to Visualize Climate Change

In these crafters' scarves and blankets, rows of color correspond with daily temperature

The tapestries depict scenes from the lives of St. Paul and St. Peter.

For One Week Only, Raphael's Tapestries Return to the Sistine Chapel

This is the first time all 12 of the Renaissance creations have been united in their original home since the 16th century

Mail was slow and spotty during wartime. But that didn't stop homesick soldiers from penning love letters by the thousands.

New Orleans Museum Spotlights World War II Soldiers' Love Letters

War is often billed as being all about guns and guts. But there's glory in gushiness, too

A 3-D model of Athens' classical acropolis

Virtual Travel

These 3-D Models Offer a Digital Glimpse Into 3,000 Years of Athens' History

Photographer-animator Dimitris Tsalkanis built the city from scratch and posted it online for free

Page 80 of 244