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Religious History

A skull believed to have belonged to a companion of St. Ursula. The bones of other saints are said to lie under the gemstones and gold fabric.

Portraits of Faith

A Pittsburgh Church Holds the Greatest Collection of Relics Outside of the Vatican

Behold the treasures of this tiny neighborhood church

Portraits of Faith

Portraits of Faith

In a world changing faster than ever, the enduring appeal of religious tradition shines in these photographs

It is not uncommon for highlands churches to be situated within caves. Mekina Medhane Alem, built of wood and layered stone, contains 800-year-old paintings but is believed to be centuries older.

Portraits of Faith

A Legendary Photographer Visits an Isolated Christian Community in Ethiopia

High in the mountains of eastern Africa, an ancient way of life continues apace

A fancy moule à gaufres (waffle iron) held by the Musée Lorrain.

These Beautiful Medieval Wafer Presses Are Where Waffles Come From

Leggo my flat, fancy Eggo

A painting of Martin Luther.

Trace Martin Luther’s Footsteps Through Germany

It’s 500 years since the start of the Protestant Reformation—here’s what you can still see today

Wearing white with a white headscarf to St. John's Eve is an important part of the celebration.

American South

Voodoo Priestess Marie Laveau Created New Orleans’ Midsummer Festival

Mardi Gras may be the city’s biggest party, but St. John’s Eve is its most important religious festival

Although scientific discoveries about blood started happening in the seventeeth century, blood transfusions are (mostly) a twentieth-century thing.

350 Years Ago, A Doctor Performed the First Human Blood Transfusion. A Sheep Was Involved

Early scientists thought that the perceived qualities of an animal—a lamb’s purity, for instance—could be transmitted to humans in blood form

A posthumous engraving of Maria Agnesi from 1836.

The Witch of Agnesi

A mistranslation led to the unusual name of this mathematical concept

Trending Today

Archaeologists Worked Feverishly to Excavate Colonial-Era Graves at Philly Construction Site

The First Baptist Cemetery was supposed to have been moved in 1859, but as it turned out many of the graves were left behind

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

Archeologists found this piece of parchment rolled up in a jug in a cave on the cliffs west of Qumran.

Archaeologists Might Have Found Another Dead Sea Scroll Cave

It could be cave number 12

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

Anger is no match for Patience—no matter how large her sword.

Cool Finds

Here’s What Happens in a “Comic Book” Drawn by Medieval Monks

Psychomachia pits vice against virtue in a battle for human souls

A panoramic view of the "Square of Miracles," including the famed tower of Pisa.

One Time, They Closed the Leaning Tower of Pisa Because It Leaned Too Much

It marked the first time in the tower’s long life that it was was closed for repair.

Sabbathday Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine used to be a thriving community.

Trending Today

There Are Only Two Shakers Left in the World

One of America’s oldest religious sects still survives

Refugees wait for water at a camp in Delhi. The partition of India put millions on the move.

Cool Finds

After Nearly 70 Years, the India-Pakistan Partition Gets a Museum

The Partition Museum is unrelenting in its portrayal of a brutal era

An interior shot of Hagia Sophia. Its name means "Holy Wisdom" or "Sacred Wisdom."

You Can Hear Hagia Sophia’s Sublime Acoustics Without a Trip to Istanbul

Stanford scientists have digitally created the building’s unique sound, taking listeners back to the Middle Ages

The National Menorah and one of the state Christmas trees near the White House in 2009.

Someday, Maybe We’ll Have Hanukkah in July

Hanukkah and Christmas fall on the same day this year because not everyone follows the same calendar

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