Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Ireland

The Burren House in San Rafael, California, is one of the most recent projects of the Irish Pub Company, a Dublin-based design group that has created upwards of 2,000 pubs in more than 100 countries on every continent except Antarctica.

How the Irish Pub Became One of the Emerald Isle’s Greatest Exports

The Dublin-based Irish Pub Company has designed upwards of 2,000 pubs in more than 100 countries around the globe

The postcard is stamped April 11, 1912, just a few days before the Titanic sank.

Before the Titanic Sank, a Cheerful Passenger Wrote in a Postcard That He Was ‘Leaving for the Land of Stars and Stripes’

A handwritten note by Richard William Smith, a British businessman who perished in the disaster, is heading to the auction block, where it could sell for up to $12,600

Officials unveiled the portal installation in Philadelphia's LOVE Park on October 22.

New ‘Portal’ Opens in Philadelphia, Connecting Residents to Cities Around the World With Identical Installations

The looming sculpture features a small camera above an eight-foot-tall screen, which displays live video from Lithuania, Poland and Ireland

Brian Cleary poses with a newly published copy of Bram Stoker's "Gibbet Hill," illustrated by Irish artist Paul McKinley.

Cool Finds

Amateur Historian Discovers Lost Story by ‘Dracula’ Author Bram Stoker Hiding in Plain Sight at a Dublin Library

History forgot about “Gibbet Hill” for more than a century—until a fan of the Gothic horror writer stumbled upon the haunting tale at the National Library of Ireland

The 36 silver coins, minted between 1000 to 1065 C.E., have been declared official treasure. 

Metal Detectorists Unearth 1,000-Year-Old Viking Coins on a Small Island in the Irish Sea

Experts say that the trove of silver currency is official treasure and includes coins from England and Ireland

A few costumed tykes—including a Batman and a Green Hornet—hitting the streets in Oakland, New Jersey, in October 1966. 

The Celtic Origins of Trick-or-Treating

The spine-tingling roots of a mischievous Halloween tradition

The anonymous sender secured the artifacts in foam cut-outs inside a cardboard flapjack box.

Cool Finds

The Mystery of the Bronze Age Ax Heads Mailed Anonymously to an Irish Museum Has Been Solved

A farmer stumbled upon the 4,000-year-old artifacts while working in his field in central Ireland

The sender carefully secured the ax heads inside a cardboard flapjack box.

Cool Finds

Someone Anonymously Mailed Two Bronze Age Axes to a Museum in Ireland

Officials are asking the donor to come forward with more information about where the artifacts were discovered

Earthwork Portrait of Genghis Khan

New Research

Move Over, Genghis Khan. Many Other Men Left Huge Genetic Legacies

A 2015 study showed that ten other men have a lot of descendants. The paper is just one of several genetic studies revealing the secrets of descent

The stone has inscriptions on three sides.

Cool Finds

Geography Teacher in England Finds Stone With 1,600-Year-Old Inscriptions in His Garden

The rock is covered in ogham, an alphabet made up of parallel lines used for writing in the Irish language

The portals were unveiled on May 8 in Manhattan's Flatiron District and on Dublin's O'Connell Street.

Through Newly Installed ‘Portals,’ New Yorkers and Dubliners Can Wave, Dance and Inappropriately Gesture to Each Other in Real Time

New art installations connect the two cities through continuous silent video feeds

Charged with the 1974 theft of 19 masterpieces, Rose Dugdale entered a plea of “proudly and incorruptibly guilty.”

The English Heiress Who Masterminded a Multimillion-Dollar Art Heist and Built Bombs for the IRA

Fifty years ago, Rose Dugdale stole 19 paintings worth an estimated £8 million, including works by Vermeer, Velázquez and Rubens, from a British aristocrat’s estate

Lofoten Islands, Norway

Northern Europe and the British Isles

Northern Europe and the British Isles

Explore the region’s history, culture and natural wonders

An illustration of Molly Maguires on their way to the gallows in Pottsville, Pennsylvania

Untold Stories of American History

Eight Secret Societies You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

Many of these selective clubs peaked in popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries

Greens, yellows, blues, browns and more warm hues merge to paint a colorful landscape of pastures in Ireland.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day With a Photographic, Virtual Tour of Ireland

Here’s your lucky chance to see 15 images of the Emerald Isle from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

Religious lore suggests that God showed Patrick the entrance to purgatory, where the Irish could witness the consequences of not embracing Christianity with their own eyes.

St. Patrick Opened a Portal to Purgatory on This Little-Known Irish Island

Medieval pilgrims flocked to the site for spiritual purification

The five-inch-long Bronze Age dress fastener may have once been worn by an "important person,"

Cool Finds

Metal Detectorist Finds a Rare 3,000-Year-Old Dress Fastener

The gold accessory is one of only seven artifacts of this kind discovered in England and Wales

Archaeologist and folklorist Billy Mag Fhloinn rediscovered the Altóir na Gréine, or the "Altar of the Sun," in Ireland.

Cool Finds

Everyone Thought This 4,000-Year-Old Tomb Had Been Destroyed. Then, an Archaeologist Found It

Billy Mag Fhloinn located the Altóir na Gréine, thought to have vanished in the 19th century, in southwest Ireland

Fialka's reading group in Venice, California, in 2008

A Book Club Began ‘Finnegans Wake’ in 1995. After 28 Years, It Finally Reached the End

The group meets once a month to talk about one or two pages of the bewildering James Joyce novel

Austin West visits Kindred Spirits, a monument to the Choctaw in County Cork. The 20-foot-high steel feathers symbolize those used in Choctaw ceremonies.

The Unlikely, Enduring Friendship Between Ireland and the Choctaw Nation

One act of generosity during the Great Famine forged a bond that transcends generations

Page 2 of 7