Divers excavating the 12th-century Huaguangjiao One wreck uncover stacked Song dynasty bowls.

Treasure Trove of Shipwrecks Along China’s Coast Reveals How East Met West on the Maritime Silk Road

Sunken finds in the South China Sea testify to rich trade networks used over hundreds of years. The sea routes brought porcelain, tea and other goods from Asia to Africa, the Middle East and Europe

Père Lachaise Cemetery sprawls across 110 acres. “You don’t feel anymore that you are in Paris,” Benoît Gallot, the conservator, says. “All of your references fall away.”

Why Paris Designed Its Peculiarly Popular Grand Graveyards to Evoke a Celebration of Life Amid All the Death

Cemeteries that inspired parks serve as unlikely tourist attractions in the City of Light and prove that the end of the line is just the start of a new story

Flores holds up leaves from the Fittonia albivenis, a rainforest plant whose veins naturally form the patterns her people call kené. 

The Amazon Has Been This Peruvian Artist’s Home, Inspiration and Palette. Now the World Is Her Gallery

The art of making captivating Peruvian textiles has traditionally been anonymous work. But at 75, Sara Flores is making a name for herself with hypnotic abstractions

For his roaring comeback, Knievel jumps 14 Greyhound buses at the Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio, in October 1975.

After Motorcycle Daredevil Evel Knievel Failed to Clear 13 Buses on a Jump Attempt, There Was Only One Thing to Do: Try 14

A wreck in London broke his bones but not his spirit. So he got back on his two-wheeled horse and sailed through the Ohio sky, with half the country watching

An applejack sour combines lemon juice, orange juice, maple syrup and Angostura bitters, plus a little nutmeg. 

Cold Weather and Apples Were Two Things the American Colonies Had. Industrious Scottish Immigrants Turned Them Into a Favorite Spirit

Applejack is not quite whiskey, but it’s stronger than cider, and it was treasured by some of the Founding Fathers. It’s still around and makes an appealing cocktail

Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster from the classic 1931 horror film Frankenstein

In Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein,’ the Titular Scientist Laments His Nightmarish Creation. But the Real World Can’t Get Enough of His Monster

In the two centuries since the Gothic novel’s publication, the English writer’s tale of a science experiment gone wrong has captivated audiences around the world and taken on a life of its own

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How the Hardy Boys Book Series Cracked the Case of Getting Kids Hooked on Reading

One author has been credited with creating the virtuous teenagers’ thrilling adventures for almost a century. But there’s a story behind that, too

A still from the 2005 film adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, featuring (left to right) Anna Popplewell, William Moseley and Georgie Henley as Susan, Peter and Lucy Pevensie

How World War II Influenced ‘The Chronicles of Narnia,’ C.S. Lewis’ Beloved Fantasy Novels

Published 75 years ago, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” tells the story of four children who are evacuated from London during the Blitz

A church with a red roof and steeple sticks out against the sprawling landscape as the sun pokes through the hazy clouds.

Northern Europe and the British Isles

Get an Eyeful of Iceland in These 20 Photos That Capture Its Natural Beauty

These selections from the Smithsonian magazine photo contest will transport you to the small Scandinavian island

Naomi Odessa Miller-Dawson's spritz cookie recipe is etched on her headstone in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

A Recipe Engraved on a Gravestone Helps to Remember the Dearly Departed and Keep Part of Them Alive

Culinary epitaphs offer a point of connection to the deceased’s descendants and anyone else who comes across them

The Syrian shawarma, originally served in the alleys of Damascus and Aleppo, has become a culinary mainstay in Berlin.

How Shawarma Became a Soul Food of Syria’s Diaspora in Berlin

The popularity of the humble street food is a testament to cultural survival for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who arrived in Germany as refugees and asylum seekers in 2015

From left to right: Director Paul Thomas Anderson and actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio Del Toro on the set of One Battle After Another, a Warner Bros. Pictures release

Why Are Some of the World’s Best Directors Reviving This Special Film Format Created in the 1950s?

Paul Thomas Anderson utilized VistaVision to make his latest movie, “One Battle After Another,” which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a bumbling, washed-up revolutionary trying to save his daughter

As popular as it is, coffee is only the third-most popular drink worldwide, after water and tea.

Celebrate National Coffee Day and Get Your Caffeine Fix With These 15 Photos

It’s a grand day to enjoy coffee-centric snapshots from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

A portrait of Johanna Koerten, whose "thread painting" for the wife of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I sold for more money than Rembrandt's The Night Watch, one of the most famous artworks of all time

This 17th-Century Female Artist Was Once a Bigger Star Than Rembrandt. Why Did History Forget About Johanna Koerten and Her Peers?

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts spotlights 40 women who found fame in the Low Countries between 1600 and 1750, including Koerten, Judith Leyster and Clara Peeters

The Rocky Horror Picture Show debuted in theaters across the United States on September 26, 1975.

‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ Started Out as a Critical Flop. Fifty Years Later, the Beloved Film Is a Cultural Phenomenon

Creator Richard O’Brien reflects on how the 1975 movie musical became a haven for the “marginalized and disenfranchised”

“The base of Ethiopian cuisine as a whole is very much Jewish, more than anything else,” says Beejhy Barhany.

At This Harlem Chef’s Table, the Rosh Hashana Menu Is Full of Ethiopian Spices

With a café in New York City and a new cookbook, Beejhy Barhany is bringing the stories and flavors of Ethiopian Jews to the States

A depiction of George Washington and his mother, Mary Ball Washington, attending a ball celebrating the surrender at Yorktown in 1781

America's 250th Anniversary

The Reinvention of George Washington’s Mother, From Paragon of Virtue to Greedy Shrew to Widow Striving for Independence

A new biography examines how 19th-century Americans remembered Mary Ball Washington, who raised the future president largely on her own after her husband’s death in 1743

Every September in the Swiss Alps, dairy farmers drive their herds from mountain pastures to the villages where they spend the winter.

When the Cows Come Home in the Alps, the Swiss Eat Raclette

Every September, dairy farmers herd cattle from high-alpine pastures back to the villages where they reside for the winter and celebrate the occasion by roasting cheese over a fire

Visitors participate in a Forest Temple service in the spiritualist community of Lily Dale, about an hour southwest of Buffalo.

The Tiny New York Town Where Mediums Give Voice to the Dead

Lily Dale is home to about 40 mediums who connect thousands of spiritual seekers with their deceased loved ones

Real tennis was played indoors, usually in a court with high windows, a sloping roof and a spectators’ gallery.

Why European Royals, From Henry VIII to Louis X, Loved Playing ‘Real Tennis,’ the So-Called Sport of Kings

Modern tennis’ predecessor was a different—and potentially more dangerous—test of athletic prowess

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