Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Arts & Culture

Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring in Nuremberg, a new film written and directed by James Vanderbilt

Based on a True Story

The True Story Behind ‘Nuremberg,’ a WWII Drama About Hermann Göring’s Cat-and-Mouse Game With an American Psychiatrist

Starring Russell Crowe as the high-ranking Nazi and Rami Malek as Army officer Douglas M. Kelley, the film dramatizes the intense dynamic between its central characters during the Nuremberg trials

Michael Shannon as President James A. Garfield in Netflix's "Death by Lightning"

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind Netflix’s ‘Death by Lightning’ and the Shocking Assassination of President James A. Garfield

The new limited series dramatizes the brief tenure of the 20th commander in chief, who was fatally shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a lawyer who believed he’d secured Garfield’s election

Sydney Sweeney as Christy Martin in Christy, a new biopic that dramatizes the boxer's major fights alongside the struggles she faced in her personal life

Based on a True Story

The Real Story of Christy Martin, the Trailblazing Boxer Who ‘Created a Sport That Did Not Exist’

A new biopic starring Sydney Sweeney as the legendary athlete chronicles Martin’s fights in and outside of the ring

A company called Roofscapes has installed an experimental green roof over a zinc one at the Academy of Climate in Paris. A wooden platform, dotted with planters, runs along the building’s side, creating a terrace.

The Skyline of Paris Is Filled With Zinc Rooftops. But Can They Survive Climate Change?

Innovations are overdue, as the signature blue-gray metal roofs heat up in high temperatures, making living conditions in the apartments beneath them unbearable

Elsa Lanchester as The Bride in Bride of Frankenstein, 1935

This Designer Created Iconic Costumes for ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ and Other Classic Monster Movies. Her Mysterious Life Ended Tragically

Vera West made her mark on 20th-century horror cinema. Historians continue to ponder the sad circumstances of her story

The Walnut of Benevento (Sabbath of Witches), 1822-1826, by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti

How This Italian Town Came to Be Known as the ‘City of Witches’

Centuries ago, it was said that Benevento was a gathering place for the occult. Today, superstitions still run deep

Hell, unknown artist, circa 1510 to 1520

This Disturbing 16th-Century Painting of Hell Linked Satan and His Demons With the New World Beyond Europe

The panel features monsters with African, Indigenous Caribbean and intersex features, encouraging viewers to connect the sins and punishments depicted to those considered “other”

While he racked up more medals than any other soldier in World War II, Audie Murphy wore this olive drab wool Eisenhower jacket, size 36.

Audie Murphy Was an Idol of the Silver Screen. That Came After He Was the Most-Decorated American Hero of World War II

He single-handedly held off 250 German troops and six tanks, saving an entire company. And that was just the start of what he accomplished in his too-short life

Winslow Homer’s 1892 painting The Blue Boat shows his masterful use of watercolor’s layering effects.

The Delicate Works of Winslow Homer Are About to Get Their Rare Moment in the Limelight

The watercolors of the American master will be on exhibition at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, some for the only time in a generation

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

None

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

Page 6 of 368