Cultural Heritage | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/cultural-heritage/RSS feed for Cultural HeritageenThu, 17 Sep 2026 17:28:02 +0000A Tiny Town in the Italian Riviera Has Its Own Version of Focaccia, and Let This Be a Warning—It's Addictivehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/a-tiny-town-in-the-italian-riviera-has-its-own-version-of-focaccia-and-let-this-be-a-warning-its-addictive-180989514/Unlike the pillowy-soft focaccia that’s more widely known, focaccia di Recco is thin, crispy and filled with gooey cheeseThu, 17 Sep 2026 17:28:02 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/a-tiny-town-in-the-italian-riviera-has-its-own-version-of-focaccia-and-let-this-be-a-warning-its-addictive-180989514/Montana Built a $107 Million Museum. Its Smallest Room Says a Lot About the Thought That Went Into Designing the Spacehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/montana-built-a-107-million-museum-its-smallest-room-says-a-lot-about-the-thought-that-went-into-designing-the-space-180989453/The Montana Heritage Center in Helena has a smudge room. It is open to the public and teaches non-Native visitors why a room dedicated to the burning of cleansing materials, a practice of many Indigenous cultures, is neededMon, 14 Sep 2026 16:51:10 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/montana-built-a-107-million-museum-its-smallest-room-says-a-lot-about-the-thought-that-went-into-designing-the-space-180989453/A Signature Hawaiian Textile With a Rich History Is Making a Splash in the Fashion Worldhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/a-signature-hawaiian-textile-with-a-rich-history-is-making-a-splash-in-the-fashion-world-180989443/The blocky, plaid palaka design has evolved beyond its roots as simple workwear, crossing over ethnic and class lines as a symbol of local prideThu, 03 Sep 2026 15:27:12 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/a-signature-hawaiian-textile-with-a-rich-history-is-making-a-splash-in-the-fashion-world-180989443/Historical Pollution, Not Current Industrial Emissions, Damaged the World's Largest and Oldest Collection of Ancient Rock Art, Study Suggestshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/historical-pollution-not-current-industrial-emissions-damaged-worlds-largest-oldest-collection-ancient-rock-art-180989416/Researchers say that past exposure to sulfur dioxide is likely to blame for the increased porosity of the Murujuga rock art created by the Ngarda-Ngarli people tens of thousands of years agoFri, 28 Aug 2026 18:04:36 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/historical-pollution-not-current-industrial-emissions-damaged-worlds-largest-oldest-collection-ancient-rock-art-180989416/These Medieval Manuscript Fragments Were Reused as Parchment, Inadvertently Preserving Them for Centurieshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-medieval-manuscript-fragments-were-reused-as-parchment-inadvertently-preserving-them-for-centuries-180989398/Recently discovered on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, the pages include Bible passages, poems, plays and other texts. They were repurposed as book bindings during the 16th and 17th centuriesWed, 26 Aug 2026 18:20:50 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-medieval-manuscript-fragments-were-reused-as-parchment-inadvertently-preserving-them-for-centuries-180989398/Why Did the Ancient Romans Bury This Monumental Marble Statue Facedown? They Wanted to Repurpose It as a Paving Stonehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-did-the-ancient-romans-bury-this-monumental-marble-statue-face-down-they-wanted-to-repurpose-it-as-a-paving-stone-180989302/Archaeologists discovered the roughly 2,500-year-old sculpture of a young man while conducting excavations at Sardis in western Turkey. The artwork reflects the different cultures that wielded control over the city in the first millennium B.C.E.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:01:20 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-did-the-ancient-romans-bury-this-monumental-marble-statue-face-down-they-wanted-to-repurpose-it-as-a-paving-stone-180989302/Metal Detectorists Thought They'd Hit the Jackpot When They Discovered a Gold Bracelet Dating to the Bronze Age. Then They Dug Up Two Morehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/metal-detectorists-thought-theyd-hit-the-jackpot-when-they-discovered-gold-bracelet-dating-to-bronze-age-then-they-found-two-more-180989272/At first, Andy Crammond thought the object was a bull's nose ring. Other artifacts unearthed nearby include a Viking brooch, a Roman coin hoard and a Bronze Age ax headThu, 06 Aug 2026 17:39:55 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/metal-detectorists-thought-theyd-hit-the-jackpot-when-they-discovered-gold-bracelet-dating-to-bronze-age-then-they-found-two-more-180989272/