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Architecture

The George Inn in the village of Norton St. Philip in Somerset has been crowned the oldest pub in England.

New Research

Where Is England’s Oldest Pub? An Archaeologist Drilled Into 600-Year-Old Timbers to Answer the Contentious Question

Tree-ring dating shows that a historic tavern in Somerset has been continually operating as an inn since the 1430s, when local monks built it to lodge wool merchants

King and Queen, Henry Moore, bronze, 1952-1953

For Over Four Years, the Hirshhorn Worked to Revitalize Its Sculpture Garden. Today, It’s Home to a ‘King and Queen,’ a ‘Wish Tree’ and a 55,000-Pound Vertical Swimming Pool Artwork

Newly refreshed by Japanese artist-architect Hiroshi Sugimoto, the sunken garden welcomes National Mall visitors with bronze masterpieces, contemporary stunners and a stage set for creative performances

The Star Chamber inside Bolsover Castle

‘Lie Down and Look Up’ at England’s Most Ornate Ceilings, From Sparkling Gold-Leaf Stars to Intricate Plaster Designs at Queen Victoria’s Seaside Retreat

A new campaign encourages visitors to take in the lavish art above their heads at five historic sites across England. There are even cushions for maximum comfort while you gaze

Caana, a 141-foot-high “sky palace,” was abandoned around the year 900. Over the next thousand years, it was buried beneath jungle overgrowth in remote Caracol. The palace remains the tallest human-made structure in Belize.

Archaeologists at This Ancient Maya Metropolis in the Forest of Belize Are Debunking Long-Held Myths About the Mesoamerican Civilization

Diane and Arlen Chase have spent a good portion of their lives uncovering the once-great city of Caracol. Their groundbreaking research is rewriting everything we thought we knew about the Maya

The planetarium is in Florida Southern College's Polk County Science Building.

Immerse Yourself in the Cosmos at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Only Planetarium, Recently Restored to Its Former Glory in Florida

Completed in 1958, the domed building is located on the campus of Florida Southern College, home to 13 Wright-designed buildings, the world’s largest single-site collection of the architect’s work

The opera house's spiral staircase connects the riverfront with the roof.

Shanghai’s ‘Audacious’ New Opera House Just Opened Its Doors—and a Gravity-Defying Staircase—to the Public

The riverfront opera house is Shanghai’s latest cultural statement. It features three performance halls and is designed to be accessible to everyone, not just ticket-holders

Boulevard du Temple, Louis Daguerre, 1838

Cool Finds

Where Exactly Were the First Humans to Be Captured in a Photograph Standing? Three Obsessed Filmmakers Solved the Nearly 200-Year-Old Mystery

The sleuths spent two years digging into archives and building 3D models of 19th-century Paris. The location is now immortalized by a bronze plaque celebrating the historic site and the “poetic” early photograph

The late-19th-century Limoges city hall burned extensively over the weekend.

The Burning of This French City Hall Was a ‘Catastrophe for Heritage,’ Tragically Reminiscent of the Notre-Dame Fire

French authorities say that the Limoges city hall, built in the late 19th century and celebrated as an architectural gem, was the victim of an arson attack amid mass protests in France over the weekend

The museum's restoration includes necessary updates to conservation workshops and archive spaces.

Madrid’s Renewed and Expanded Sorolla Museum Lets the Paintings of the Spanish ‘Master of Light’ Re-emerge Into Public View

Dedicated to the works of Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, the museum is centered around his historic home and studio. The first phase of its yearslong renovation is complete, featuring expanded exhibition spaces

A few of the ancient Roman artifacts found beneath the Bath Assembly Rooms

When Jane Austen Took a Turn About the Ballroom in Bath, Ancient Roman Artifacts Were Hiding Beneath Her Feet. Now, Archaeologists Have Finally Found Them

Recent excavations at the Bath Assembly Rooms in England revealed Roman-era coins, roof tiles, pottery, glassware, a network of ditches and a fragment of a military helmet

Built in the mid-16th century, the Villa Silvestri Rivaldi sat abandoned for decades just a short walk from Rome’s Colisseum. A new improvement project is revitalizing the complex and bringing its interior artworks to light. 

In One of Rome’s Most Famed and Neglected Villas, Centuries-Old Risqué Frescoes, Painted Over by Nuns, Have Reappeared

Nearly a year into a $40 million restoration of the Villa Silvestri Rivaldi, conservators are rediscovering and reviving 16th-century art

All of the sites on the Shikoku Pilgrimage are associated with Kobo Daishi, a Japanese monk who lived during the ninth century and founded Shingon, a major school of Buddhism that focuses on the attainment of enlightenment during a practitioner’s lifetime.

Japan’s Smallest and Least-Populated Major Island Is a World of Pilgrimages, Delicious Food and Plenty of Forest Bathing

Each year, more than 100,000 people hike at least part of a 750-mile route on Shikoku that connects 88 Buddhist temples and other sacred sites

This aerial image shows a portion of the ancient school where researchers believe Aristotle taught and Alexander learned.

Archaeologists Unearth the 2,400-Year-Old School Where Aristotle Taught Alexander to Be Great

The latest excavation at Aristotle’s gymnasium in ancient Mieza has revealed ornate, mosaic-covered halls where researchers believe Alexander the Great learned his formative lessons

The structure is a nod to clouds and tree canopies, not the starship that many imagine when they first see the building, according to its architect Ma Yansong.

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a New Endeavor From the Creator of ‘Star Wars,’ Is a Story in Itself

Almost two decades in the making, the institution centers on art that shapes our everyday lives and reveals the craft behind it

The 2,500-year-old temple, photographed in 2009

New Research

Centuries Ago, an Architect Characterized the Parthenon’s Curves as a Clever Optical Illusion. Now, a Mathematician Begs to Differ

In the first century B.C.E., Vitruvius wrote that the Acropolis’ largest temple was horizontally bowed so that it didn’t seem to sag, and that explanation persisted for millennia. New research suggests a different reason

The center opened in December 2025.

Montana Built a $107 Million Museum. Its Smallest Room Says a Lot About the Thought That Went Into Designing the Space

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 needed

The house was commissioned in 1938 and built in 1939.

A Frank Lloyd Wright House in L.A. Is in Danger of ‘Demolition by Neglect,’ Say Advocates

The visionary designed this two-bedroom, one-bathroom in his affordable Usonian style. It’s the only house of its kind in L.A.

Records uncovered by researcher Christopher Moore indicate that stones from Sandown Castle were repurposed in a Victorian-era extension of Constable's Gate at Dover Castle (pictured here).

Cool Finds

Stones From One of Henry VIII’s Fortresses Spent More Than a Century Hidden in Plain Sight. New Research Suggests the Victorians Repurposed Them as Building Materials

Recently discovered archival records indicate that workers constructing an extension of the Constable’s Gate at Dover Castle in the late 19th century reused fragments of the Tudor-era Sandown Castle

Hundreds of people pulled the keep of Hirosaki Castle closer to its original position.

1,800 Volunteers Pull a 400-Ton Japanese Castle Keep Back Toward Its Original Location After a Decade of Restoration Work

The chance to help move the castle keep drew thousands of applications from Japan and abroad. Groups of lottery winners took turns tugging on thick ropes attached to the massive structure

How did Europeans build enormous, complex cathedrals before they had complex mathematics? 

How Did Medieval Builders Construct Complex Cathedrals Before Advanced Mathematics? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

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