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Arts & Culture

A DEC hard disk drive c. 1980. The invention let users jump directly to data they wanted without scrolling through a tape; when later installed in PCs, the hard disk brought real computing power to the people.

Reboot

A photojournalist enchanted by computers takes another look at the soul of some old machines

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What’s Up

Tiffany diamonds, Portugal and “Great Britons”

Cherry Orchard, 1965: "She was playful with the camera," the photographer says.

Behind the Veil

Photographer Alen MacWeeney wanted to see Ireland’s Travellers as they were

Nighthawks, 1942.

Hopper: The Supreme American Realist of the 20th-Century

Mystery. Longing. A whole new way of seeing. A stunning retrospective reminds us why the enigmatic American artist retains his power

From Vienna to Vegas

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To Return Priceless Artifacts, or Not

High Art for 41 Cents

A Boy and His Lifesaver

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Painted Birds

Industrial Arts

From San Mateo Ixtatán, Guatemala

Julia Pierson has headed protective operations for the White House and served on security details of Presidents George H. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

FOR HIRE: Secret Service Agent

Our new series looks at the jobs you wish you had. First up, the agency’s highest-ranking woman

Around the world (above, Halabja, Iraq), an array of rich and varied wedding rituals exists, full of symbolism intended to reinforce a couple's marital bond and ensure their lasting happiness.

Global Weddings

How “I do” is done around the world

Portuguese King Manuel I (who ruled from 1495-1521), commissioned this Belgian tapestry to commemorate explorer Vasco da Gama's "discovery" of India in 1498. Da Gama is the figure at the left, kneeling before an Indian sultan. In the center, Portuguese sailors load exotic animals—including, strangely, a unicorn—into their ships, for transport to the Portuguese royal zoo.

Global Empire

The curator of an ambitious new exhibition explains how Portugal brought the world together

Mariza is gaining a reputation as the new queen of fado.

Portugal’s Soulful Sound

Often compared to American blues, fado is gaining global appeal

Joelle Linhoff, winner of our 4th Annual Photo Contest, spent three days on a hill overlooking a New Zealand pasture before she snapped the photo that would net her the grand prize. “I just took as many photos as I could,” she says, “using as much film as I had brought. I allotted one whole roll of film to the pasture.”

Capturing the Moment

The winner of the 4th Annual Photo Contest shows off her work in this exclusive photo gallery

The Gullah Geechee perform an ancestral ceremony on Sullivan's Island.

Summertime for Gershwin

In the South, the Gullah struggle to keep their traditions alive

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Port Uncorked

The sweet wine rejuvenates its image

The Sucevita Monastery was built in the last decades of the 16th century in the Moldavian style, a blend of Byzantine and Gothic art and architecture. The exterior walls' striking frescoes (above, "The Ladder of Virtues," contrasting the order of heaven with the chaos of hell) still retain their brilliant hues.

Scripture Alfresco

450-year-old paintings on the exterior of monasteries and churches-—now open again for worship-—tell vivid tales of saints and prophets, heaven and hell

(Shea Beebe, age 36, Converse, Texas, Photographed May 2006) Beebe took a photograph of her then-8-year-old daughter, Peyton, layered an image of a tree over it and added "gold tint to give it a more dream-like quality." Often, Beebe, who plans to pursue a photojournalism degree this fall, will look at unaltered photos "and try to imagine what they could be if I added an unusual color or layered them with another photo of mine."

Prize Pictures

Our photo contest attracted thousands of photographers from 86 nations. And the winners are…

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