The Madonna’s dress was of the costumes most severally damaged by the poor lighting in the barn, which faded the color of her gown from pink to white. The restorer’s solution was not to discard the original dress, but instead to reverse it, so that the gown’s back is now its front.

A Creche Reborn

In rural Connecticut, a 300-year-old nativity scene is brought back to life by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Happy Repeal Day!

Cheers! Today marks the 75th anniversary of the US government changing its mind about Prohibition

Nutritional supplements.

Vitamins: Friend or Foe?

The truth to vitamin supplements

The Bagpiper, 1624

Couldn’t Eat Another Bite - But Why?

The reason we feel full while eating

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Is That a Halibut Under Your Hood?

Fried chicken: the last meal of choice.

What Would You Choose for Your Very Last Meal?

That’s what the National Museum of Crime and Punishment asked 500 of its visitors

Mark Catesby's Blue Jay.

Mark Catesby’s New World

The artist sketched American wildlife for Europe’s high society, educating them on the creatures living among the unexplored lands

Author of Karsh Reality, Mathew Gurewitsch.

Matthew Gurewitsch on “Karsh Reality”

Pier M. Forni's book, The Civility Solution: What do Do When People Are Rude.

Choosing Civility in a Rude Culture

Professor Pier M. Forni has devoted his career to convincing people to conduct their lives with kindness and civility

A Sufi pilgrim dances at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, in Sehwan Sharif, Pakistan, in 2006.

Pakistan’s Sufis Preach Faith and Ecstasy

The believers in Islamic mysticism embrace a personal approach to their faith and a different outlook on how to run their government

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Letters

Readers Respond to the November Issue

Thanks to the Internet, everyone's a book critic.

Amazon Warriors

Thanks to the Internet, everyone’s a book critic

"Years later, in the Kremlin," Karsh would recall, "[Leonid] Brezhnev agreed to sit for me only if I made him as beautiful as Audrey Hepburn."

From Castro to Warhol to Mother Teresa, He Photographed Them All

Yousuf Karsh took a singular approach to fame and the famous

Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia

Big Deals

Revelry and Architecture

North African artisans combined gold and silver to forge jewelry like the khamsa.

What’s Up

Lincoln’s face, African alchemy, and Victory Mail are all on display at Smithsonian museums

Installation artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Together they built "Running Fence", a 24.5-mile fabric divide through Northern California.

Q and A: Christo and Jeanne-Claude

The artists discuss Running Fence, their 1976 fabric installation that ran through Northern California and subject of an upcoming Smithsonian exhibition

The only known image of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg was uncovered in 1952 at the National Archives. It was taken by photographer Mathew Brady.

Gettysburg Address Displayed at Smithsonian

Lincoln’s timeless speech during the Civil War endures as a national treasure

"First lady of the children's folk song," Ella Jenkins.

Holiday Spirit

NASA's Stardust capsule returned from a seven-year, three-billion-mile trip to collect dust from comet Wild 2.

Stardust Memories

Cosmic dust may reveal some of the uncovered secrets of our universe

Despite receiving critical acclaim, the Curtis film was a box office failure.

Around the Mall: Old Documentary on Western Tribes Restored

How a Film Helped Preserve a Native Culture

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