Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

The earliest recorded reference to Tholey Abbey dates to 634 A.D.

New Stained Glass Is Coming to Germany’s Oldest Monastery

Gerhard Richter is set to design a trio of windows for the Benedictine Tholey Abbey

The 8-year-old girl lived in the Andes around 1470

500-Year-Old Inca Mummy Repatriated to Bolivia

Dubbed Ñusta, or ‘Princess,’ the mummy represents the first archaeologically significant set of remains to be repatriated to the Andean country

Women Who Shaped History

Documentary Explores Pioneering Woman Director Written Out of Film History

Alice Guy-Blaché directed more than 1,000 films including the world’s first narrative film, but was expunged from the story of cinema

Alvin Baltrop, "Untitled (Portrait of Marsha P. Johnson)," undated

Bronx Exhibition Spotlights Alvin Baltrop, Photographer Who Documented Manhattan’s Underground Queer Community

Baltrop took thousands of snapshots at New York’s West Side Piers between 1975 and 1986

One critic of the proposed redefinition says, "It would be hard for most French museums—starting with the Louvre—to correspond to this definition, considering themselves as ‘polyphonic spaces'"

The Term ‘Museum’ May Be Getting Redefined

But experts are divided on the proposed new definition

Cool Finds

Early Sketches From ‘The Little Prince’ Found in Swiss Collection

A folder includes images from the beloved book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, as well as a love letter written to his wife, Consuelo de Saint Exupéry

The underground shelter was transformed into a Resistance command post the week before Paris' liberation

Paris Basement Used as WWII Resistance Headquarters Transformed Into Museum Centerpiece

The soon-to-open museum also explores the lives of Resistance leaders Jean Moulin and General Leclerc

The Ohio State University filed for a trademark application to the word “THE”

The Ohio State University Seeks to Trademark ‘The’

This article is about an article

This picture taken on May 21, 2018 shows discarded climbing equipment and rubbish scattered around Camp 4 of Mount Everest.

New Rules Could Determine Who Gets to Climb Everest

Nepali officials propose new requirements for obtaining a permit to climb the world’s tallest mountain

Edward Hopper, "Western Motel," 1957

Thanks to the Hopper Hotel Experience, You Can Now Spend a Night at the Museum

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will host guests in a 3-D recreation of Edward Hopper’s 1957 painting, ‘Western Motel’

The cloth is embroidered with animals, plants and narrative scenes

See Scrap of Cloth Believed to Be From Elizabeth I’s Only Surviving Dress

The fabric, set to go on view, was previously used as an altar cloth in a small village church

The underlying sketches found beneath The Virgin of the Rocks

Cool Finds

Imaging Reveals Leonardo da Vinci Wrestled With the Composition of ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’

Two underdrawings detected using high-tech imaging techniques show he altered the figures twice before painting

Speakers featured in the Celebrating Indigenous Languages project.

At-Risk Indigenous Languages Spotlighted on New Google Earth Platform

The new initiative features recordings of native languages from around the globe

Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece is normally housed in the Louvre's Salle des États gallery

People Aren’t Happy About Their Increasingly Brief Encounters With the ‘Mona Lisa’

The problem stems from the masterpiece’s temporary relocation to a different wing of the museum

A worker sprays a gel on the ground to absorb lead as he takes part in a clean-up operation at Saint Benoit school near Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris during a decontamination operation on August 8, 2019.

Notre-Dame Restoration Delayed Due to Lead Poisoning Concerns

Work is set to continue next week with more stringent safety protocols, decontamination units

The author's son plans on releasing a trove of his father's unpublished works at some point during the next decade

J.D. Salinger’s Work Is Coming to E-Readers for the First Time

The author’s longtime publishing company will release four e-books in August

Trending Today

There Is Going to Be a ‘Moby-Dick’ Musical

Broadway powerhouses Dave Malloy and Rachel Chavkin recently previewed the performance under the whale at the American Museum of Natural History

A Police officer asks tourists to scoot.

Per Favore, Do Not Sit on the Spanish Steps

Plop down on the landmark and you might find yourself hit with a €250 fine

Beyoncé Knowles-Carter photographed on July 14, 2019 in London, England.

A Beyoncé Portrait Is Coming to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

The image appeared in Vogue’s 2018 September issue and was shot by the photographer Tyler Mitchell

"The Gift of Literature" by Jules Arthur Arts is one of the three proposals for the sculpture honoring Maya Angelou at the San Francisco Main Library.

San Francisco Is Getting a Monument to Maya Angelou

The city’s arts commission is expected to choose one of three proposed designs this week

Page 137 of 290