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Smart News / Smart News Arts & Culture

This plaque depicts musicians, a page holding a ceremonial sword and a high-ranking warrior. It numbers among the thousands of works looted by British forces during an 1897 raid of Benin City.

Germany Will Return Benin Bronzes to Nigeria in 2022

Culture Minister Monika Grütters describes the move as a “historic milestone”

Elite Vikings constructed a huge stone boat for use in rituals at the Surtshellir cave.

Cool Finds

Did Vikings Host Rituals Designed to Stop Ragnarök in This Volcanic Cave?

New findings at a cavern in Iceland point to decades of elite ceremonial activity aimed at preventing the apocalypse

The cathedral's dean, Randy Hollerith, describes Wiesel as “the living embodiment of resilience in the face of hatred.”

National Cathedral Unveils Carving of Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate and Chronicler of the Holocaust

The bust of the “Night” author appears in a corner of the Washington, D.C. church’s Human Rights Porch

This tracing shows the shape of the carving, which is only visible under certain weather conditions.

Cool Finds

Is This 10,000-Year-Old Carving Europe’s Oldest Known Depiction of a Boat?

New analysis suggests that rock art found in Norway portrays a sealskin vessel used by Stone Age Scandinavians

The find marks the first ancient fingerprint recorded at the Ness of Brodgar archaeological site.

Cool Finds

5,000-Year-Old Fingerprint Found on Pottery Shard Unearthed in Scotland

The Ness of Brodgar is home to a massive complex of Neolithic buildings

A new analysis dates the wax bust's creation to the 19th century—some 300 years after Leonardo's death in 1519.

New Research

Whale Wax Helps Scholars Solve Mystery of Supposed Leonardo da Vinci Sculpture

Radiocarbon dating places the bust’s creation centuries after the Renaissance artist’s death in 1519

Workers at the famed Italian museum discovered two long-lost 16th-century frescoes while conducting renovations. Pictured here, a life-sized portrait of Grand Duke Cosimo II de’ Medici depicts the ruler towering over two female figures who act as allegories for the cities of Siena and Florence.

Cool Finds

Renaissance-Era Florentine Frescoes Spent Centuries Hidden in Plain Sight

Renovations at the Uffizi Gallery revealed two overlooked paintings of Medici dukes, among other intriguing finds

The copper prototype dates to 1794, the year that the U.S. Mint first struck its famed "Flowing Hair" silver dollars.

One of the First Dollar Coins Struck at the U.S. Mint Sells for $840,000

The 1794 copper coin served as a prototype for the famed “Flowing Hair” silver dollar

Archaeologists say the mosaic was probably part of a grand Byzantine-era home.

Cool Finds

Colorful, 1,600-Year-Old Mosaic Adorned With Geometric Patterns Found in Israel

The fourth- or fifth-century artwork was probably part of a large mansion near an industrial zone

Researchers created this 3- by 2-centimeter version of The Starry Night in just four minutes.

Art Meets Science

Scientists Use Laser Paintbrush to Craft Mini Version of van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’

The colorful “brushstrokes” are “reversible, rewritable [and] erasable,” says scholar Galina Odintsova

Samuel Ntiro's Chopping Wood (circa 1967) is one of 12 newly attributed African Modernist artworks set to go on view in Scotland next month.

Cool Finds

Trove of African Modernist Masterpieces Spent Decades Hidden in Rural Scotland

A two-year research project identified 12 overlooked paintings, drawings and prints by pioneering 20th-century artists

A close-up view of Picasso's Seated Man (1917) shows the deep cracks running along its surface.

Art Meets Science

Why Did This Picasso Painting Deteriorate Faster Than Its Peers?

Study examines how animal glue, canvases, layers of paint and chemicals interacted to produce cracks in one work but not in others

Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze at the University of Cape Town's Jagger Reading Room on April 18.

Why the Cape Town Fire Is a Devastating Loss for South African Cultural Heritage

The inferno destroyed much of the University of Cape Town’s special collections, including rare books, films, photographs and records

The boba shortage is expected to affect the entire bubble tea industry in the U.S., especially businesses on the West coast.

West Coast Bubble Tea Shops Brace for Boba Shortage as Cargo Ships Jam Los Angeles Ports

The popular sweet drink might not be available in some locations for awhile due to shipping delays

The trove of smuggled artifacts included stone arrowheads, knives and other tools.

U.S. Authorities Return 523 Smuggled Pre-Hispanic Artifacts to Mexico

Investigators seized the cache of illegally imported objects in 2016

Currently, tourists can only view the archaeological site from street level.

Site of Julius Caesar’s Assassination Will Be Transformed Into Open-Air Museum

Rome’s “Area Sacra,” a sunken square home to the ruins of four ancient temples, doubles as a sanctuary for stray cats

The letters used in the ancient alphabet bear a distinct resemblance to Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Cool Finds

Pottery Shard May Be ‘Missing Link’ in the Alphabet’s Development

An inscription found on a 3,500-year-old vessel suggests that a standardized script arrived in Canaan earlier than previously thought

Grace Hartigan, Masquerade, 1954

Sweeping Survey Unites Works by 100 Women Artists of the Past Century

An ongoing exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, features 200 paintings, sculptures, ceramics and more

Amy Sherald's posthumous portrait of Breonna Taylor serves as the Louisville show's focal point.

How an Art Exhibition in Breonna Taylor’s Hometown Honors Her Life and Impact

The Louisville show is organized around three overarching themes proposed by Taylor’s mother: promise, witness and remembrance

The Miaz Brothers' hazy portraits challenge viewers' perceptions, inviting the audience to complete the artworks' narrative.

These Out-of-Focus Paintings Put a Contemporary Spin on Traditional Portraiture

A new exhibition in London showcases the Miaz Brothers’ radical subversion of Old Master classics

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