Cultural Preservation

Aleppo, Syria, in 2010. Since 2012, the city has been home to a fierce battle in Syria's civil war.

Five Times Aleppo Was the Center of the World’s Attention

Will the once-regal city survive this moment in the spotlight?

A falconer next to a runestone.

Learn to Be a Viking (Without the Pillaging) in Ribe, Denmark

Travel back in time in this Viking village

An artist's rendition of the Rio Olympics facilities for the 2016 Summer Games. Some of the media accommodations were apparently built on top of remnants of Brazil's slave history.

The Media Village at the Rio Olympics Is Built on a Mass Grave of Slaves

As Brazil looks forward to an Olympic future, it buries its past

Eleven Persian qanats are being preserved by Unesco.

Unesco Names New World Heritage Sites

Rock art, irrigation and education add to the organization's growing list of sites worthy of protection

Cultural treasure—or stolen goods?

Britain’s Most Famous Plundered Art Could Finally Go Home

There’s a new attempt to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece

One of the most stunning features of Taiwan's Lukang Longshan Temple is its extravagant wood caisson ceiling.

Experience the Secrets of a Threatened Taiwanese Temple

New 3D reconstructions make it possible to look inside Lukang Longshan

Japan Honors the Creator of the California Roll

Some may see it as an affront against sushi, others see an ambassador for culture

Scene from All is Lost, a 1923 film identified at the Library of Congress's Mostly Lost Film Festival

The Library of Congress Needs Your Help to Identify These Silent Movies

For the fifth year, the "Mostly Lost" film festival calls on its audience to help identify obscure details in movie-making history

Some of Uber den Tellerrand's volunteers teaching a cooking class.

Refugees Are Teaching Germans How to Cook Their Traditional Foods

Cooking classes are bridging the gaps between Germans and Middle Eastern refugees

One of the destroyed handprints.

Vandals Destroyed 8,000-Year-Old Aboriginal Artworks in Tasmania

The priceless rock art is damaged beyond repair

Five Landmarks Threatened by Climate Change

Will a warming planet destroy humankinds' most precious cultural treasures?

This sad relic of ancient Rome is up for adoption.

Rome Is Looking for People to Adopt Famous, Falling-Apart Sites

When in Rome, pony up some cash for cultural preservation

Kurt Riley, governor of the Acoma Pueblo people, spoke on the ever-present specter of theft of cultural objects.

Native Americans Decry the Auctioning-Off of Their Heritage in Paris

Community leaders convene at the National Museum of the American Indian to push for change

China Will Start Publicly Shaming Tourists Who Graffiti Mount Everest

Leave nothing but footprints

The ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra after it was recaptured by the Syrian army in March.

Unesco: Don’t Worry, Palmyra Is Still Authentic

The ancient city may have been destroyed, but it is still a treasured cultural site

Swiss yodeling choir Jodlerclub Echo during a competition.

How to Yodel Like a Local

The Swiss tradition is much more than a simple yodel-ay-ee-oooo

The Slovak Radio Building, an inverted pyramid completed in 1983, has been called “one of the ugliest buildings in the world.” Recording studios at the center are surrounded by outward-facing offices. Its heavy weight and rough texture seem to capture the grim, waning years of Communist Party rule.

Is Bratislava's Communist-Era Architecture Worth Preserving?

For residents of Slovakia's capital, Cold War structures recall a painful past

An Illustrated Map of Chicago, Youthful City of the Big Shoulders, Restless, Ingenious, Wilful, Violent, Proud to be Alive! by Charles Turzak, Boston, 1931. A whimsical map of the city including parks, planes, and even Lake Michigan sea monsters

Eight Awesome Maps From Stanford's New David Rumsey Map Center

A collection of 150,000 historic maps merges paper and digital images in new ways

For the first time in hundreds of years, some seders might include rice and beans.

For the First Time in 800 Years, Rice and Beans Are Kosher for Passover

The Jewish Conservative movement relaxes a 13th-century ban on rice, corn and beans during Passover

Goulash began as a humble soup-stew, cooked over an open fire by Hungarian herdsmen. The addition of refined varieties of paprika from ground red chilies made the dish an international staple.

The Humble Beginnings of Goulash

The hearty soup-stew known around the world began as the everything-goes-in meal of Hungarian herdsmen

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