Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Religion

This huge temple was lurking beneath the site of a hotel.

Cool Finds

Gigantic Aztec Temple Unearthed in Mexico City

It was built in tribute to the wind god

Sliver of Saint’s Brain Stolen From Italian Basilica

Police are looking for the person or persons who swiped the sacred relic from the Don Bosco Basilica

Tatev Monastery in Armenia.

Armenia

Explore Armenia’s Medieval Monasteries in Interactive 360-Degree Panoramas

Navigate through secluded buildings that once housed some of the brightest scholars of the Middle Ages

A posthumous engraving of Maria Agnesi from 1836.

The Witch of Agnesi

A mistranslation led to the unusual name of this mathematical concept

Irving Berlin and Ellin Mackay Berlin.

Songwriter Irving Berlin’s Interfaith Marriage Caused 1920s Gossip

The songwriter made headlines when he and writer Ellin Mackay got married against her millionaire father’s wishes

This monument will soon join a cross and other veterans' memorials in a public park.

Trending Today

Minnesota Town Gets Veterans Memorial Covered With Satanic Imagery

It’s America’s first satanic monument on public grounds

Some Very Compelling Evidence the Tower of Babel Was Real

Biblical scholars have debated whether the Tower of Babel existed. A remarkable stone tablet never before shown on film appears to settle that question

The Sticky Clue That Links the Tower of Babel to the Bible

Evidence is piling up that the Tower of Babel really existed. It’s a conclusion that’s partially borne out by an astounding discovery

Why Jesus’s Miracles Seemed Apocalyptic to the Gospel Writers

Jesus gained renown as a preacher of a particularly apocalyptic form of Judaism. This was further strengthened by his ability to perform miracles

Did Judas Actually Betray Jesus to Force a Rebellion?

There are numerous theories, from money to the intriguing idea that Judas may have actually been an overzealous believer anxious to provoke a confrontation

Exploring the Ancient Region Where Jesus Rose to Prominence

The Sea of Galilee contains the lowest freshwater lake in the world, and it’s the area where a young Jesus of Nazareth first gained popularity

How to Understand the Three Wise Men, Frankincense & Myrrh

The story of the nativity is actually a blend of both the gospels of Luke and Matthew. They reveal the significance of the gifts carried by the three kings

This gold and red miter greeted builders when they discovered an unexpected tomb in St. Mary-at-Lambeth.

Cool Finds

Builders Find Remains of Five Archbishops of Canterbury

Turns out the vault in which they were buried wasn’t destroyed by flood after all

These washing machines represent dignity for homeless people in Rome.

Cool Finds

This Free Laundromat Has a Famous Sponsor: the Pope

Rome’s homeless people will be able to do their laundry on the Vatican’s dime

First page of the Kempe manuscript

New Research

Researchers Decipher Recipe Believed to Treat Medieval Mystic

The find came to light thanks to a multi-spectral analysis on the manuscript of Margery Kempe’s autobiography

Statuary inside the salt cathedral.

Step Inside This Underground Cathedral, Carved Into the Walls of an Abandoned Salt Mine

An old mine has transformed into a subterranean worship space, 650 feet underground

Prayer wheels are just one of the sounds preserved and remixed in a new project.

Cool Finds

Listen to the Sounds of Sacred Spaces Around the World

A new project documents, then remixes, religious and spiritual sounds

History of Now

Muslims Were Banned From the Americas as Early as the 16th Century

Long before today’s anxiety about terror attacks, Spain and England feared that enslaved Africans would be more susceptible to revolt if they were Muslim

President Dwight Eisenhower at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Feb. 2, 1956.

The History of the National Prayer Breakfast

The tradition began with President Eisenhower and has often been a place for the chief executive to talk about his faith

Astrolabes were astronomical calculating devices that did everything from tell the time to map the stars. This 16th century planispherical astrolabe stems from Morocco.

Think Big

The Story of the Astrolabe, the Original Smartphone

Prosperous times likely paved the way for this multifunctional device, conceptual ancestor to the iPhone 7

Page 29 of 38