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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

"Mrs. Tabitha's Cats Academy"

Cats in Literature? It’s a Long Tail

A new exhibition at the British Library explores how cats have inspired—and frightened—writers across the centuries

The Leaning Tower of Pisa Has Gotten a Little Straighter

Engineers announced that the famed structure’s tilt has reduced by about 1.5 inches

A Rapa Nui sculptor has offered to create an exact replica of the famed Easter Island head

Rapa Nui Representatives Visit British Museum to Discuss Repatriation of Moai Statue

The four-ton sculpture was taken from an island temple and gifted to Queen Victoria in 1869

Quai Branly Museum in Paris houses a collection with more than 300,000 indigenous art of Africa, Asia, America and Oceania.

French Report Recommends the Full Restitution of Looted African Artworks

The report was commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron, who has advocated for repatriation

Civil War Photo Sleuth's software identifies up to 27 "facial landmarks" evident in images uploaded to database

Art Meets Science

Facial Recognition Software Is Helping Identify Unknown Figures in Civil War Photographs

Civil War Photo Sleuth aims to be the world’s largest, most complete digital archive of identified and unidentified Civil War-era portraits

The Golden Record features images of life on Earth, nature sounds, greetings recorded in 55 different languages

Art Meets Science

New Catalogue Describes Everything We’ve Sent Into Space

Entries include Doritos’ advertisement, Klingon Opera invitation, Beatles song

The Statue of Liberty’s Original Torch Gets a New Home

The torch, which was replaced in the 1980s, has been moved to a new museum on Liberty Island

The museum featured replicas of a pioneer school, mining cabin, blacksmith's shop and more

Paradise’s Gold Nugget Museum Falls Victim to Camp Fire

The beloved local institution was founded in 1973 to commemorate the town’s prospecting past

Monet's "Water Lilies" panels were installed at the Musee d'Orangerie in 1927, one year after the artist's death

Step Into Claude Monet’s World With This Immersive VR Exploration of ‘Water Lilies’

New VR experience whisks participants from Paris museum to Impressionist’s Giverny garden and studio

The Rothschild bronzes depict two muscular men riding astride panthers

Washboard Abs and Unusual Toes Convince Experts These Sculptures Were Crafted by Michelangelo

Analysis makes the newly attributed early 16th-century Florentine sculptures the Renaissance giant’s only surviving bronzes

Dorcas Reilly preparing her famous green bean casserole at the Campbell Soup corporate kitchen in 2005.

The Woman Who Invented the Green Bean Casserole

Dorcas Reilly came up with the iconic American dish in the 1950s

A still from Neck n' Neck

Cool Finds

Missing Disney Cartoon From 1928 Discovered in Japan

The short featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is one of seven missing Disney cartoons about the character the predates Mickey Mouse

A man cleans a skull near a mass grave at the Chaung Ek torture camp run by the Khmer Rouge in this undated photo.

Landmark Verdict Finds Two of Khmer Rouge’s Surviving Leaders Guilty of Genocide

It is the first time that such a verdict has been meted out against high-ranking members of the brutal Cambodian regime

This eagle pendant was once worn by Founding Father Alexander Hamilton to signify his membership in an elite society

Hamilton Family Heirlooms to Go on View at Philadelphia Exhibition

Artifacts include an eagle pendant owned by Alexander Hamilton and a gold mourning ring worn by Elizabeth following his death

Two of the recovered artifacts feature depictions of winged serpents

Authorities Recover Three Moundville Artifacts Stolen in Devastating 1980 Heist

Nearly four decades, ago, the theft claimed 264 Native American items dating back 800 years from the Erskine Ramsey Archaeological Repository

The court deemed Levola’s argument to be full of holes, much like a chunk of Swiss.

Dutch Company Can’t Copyright the Taste of Its Cheese, E.U. Court Rules

Taste, according to the ruling, is an ‘idea’

The duo opted to emphasize visual connections between artifacts, organizing rooms by size, medium, color, subject matter

Wes Anderson’s Curatorial Debut With Juman Malouf Transforms Vienna Museum Into One of Filmmaker’s Dollhouses

The filmmaker and Malouf, an illustrator, designer and novelist, co-curated the new exhibition, which pulls from the Kunsthistorisches’ vast collection

January 28, 1972 file photo of Aretha Franklin

Why This Aretha Franklin Documentary Took 46 Years to Make it to Theaters

The documentary was long beset by technical and legal woes, but Franklin’s family members recently gave it their blessing

Paramount Ranch hosted an array of Classic Hollywood stars, including Carole Lombard, the Marx Brothers and Bob Hope

100 Years of Hollywood History Lost as California Inferno Destroys Paramount Ranch

The ranch’s Western Town served as the one of the sets of popular HBO drama ‘Westworld’

The Colorado State Capitol Building in Denver.

Why Colorado Had to Vote This Week to Abolish Slavery in All Forms

Previously, the state’s constitution made an exception for slavery as a punishment for convicted criminals

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