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Renovation and Restoration

The mosaic in 2007, before being repaired

The Gouged-Out Testicles of This Bull Mosaic in Italy Are Just Two More Victims of Tourists Abusing Monuments for Luck

It’s common for visitors to touch intimate areas portrayed in artworks, but the phenomenon puts cultural icons at risk

The Cerne Abbas Giant lies on a hillside.

England’s Most Famous Naked Giant Will Glow White Again, Thanks to Help From Hundreds of People Performing a Ritual of Restoration

The Cerne Abbas Giant, a 180-foot-tall geoglyph in southern England, is getting a new layer of chalk

English Heritage volunteers finish work on a reconstruction of a 4,500-year-old Neolithic hall near Stonehenge. 

A 4,500-Year-Old Neolithic Hall Replica Rises at Stonehenge as Archaeologists and Volunteers Build With Prehistoric Tools and Techniques

The reconstruction of a prehistoric building, likely originally a place for winter feasts at the nearby Durrington Walls site, will serve as a learning space for students

The fresco, painted by Francisco Goya in 1798, depicts Saint Anthony of Padua performing a miracle. 

Stunning Frescoes in This Madrid Church Received a Facelift—But the Spanish Artist Buried Beneath Them Is Still Missing His Head

Goya’s frescoes are given new life in a church in Spain that also serves as the final resting place for most of the artist’s body. The mystery of his missing skull has inspired poems and artworks

Baptism records identifying the boy

New Clues Help Solve the Mystery of an Enslaved Boy Pictured in a Portrait by a Leading English Artist

An oil painting by Joshua Reynolds features a named naval officer and a Black child whose life story was unknown until researchers searched through captains’ logs, letters and admiralty records

The paintings on the Burgtheater’s ceiling depict the history of Western theater.

Before ‘The Kiss,’ Gustav Klimt Got His First Big Art Assignment at This Austrian Theater. Now Visitors Can See His Ceiling Paintings Up Close for the First Time

As a young man, the artist who later became famous for working gold leaf into portraits earned a Golden Cross of Merit from an emperor for his contributions to Vienna’s Burgtheater

The HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in England

How Do You Lift a 30,000-Pound Mast From a Warship Built a Record-Breaking 261 Years Ago? With a Really, Really Big Crane

HMS “Victory” served in the American Revolution, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. It’s the world’s oldest warship still in commission—but it’s in desperate need of repairs

The Green-House at Green-Wood opened in April.

This New York City Cemetery Restored a Victorian Greenhouse to Welcome Visitors to Its Historic Grounds

Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn grew out of the 19th-century “rural cemetery” movement that transformed graveyards from cramped and dark to sprawling and beautiful

The passageway stretches 15 feet underground.

This Secret Passageway May Have Been Part of the Underground Railroad. Now, Preservationists Say It’s in Danger

The Merchant’s House Museum in New York City announced its investigation into the tunnel’s history in February. A neighboring development could threaten the building’s walls and foundations

Outside the Colosseum's southern wall, newly constructed marble slabs indicate where tall columns once supported two arcades.

At the Colosseum, New Marble Slabs Mark Where Towering Columns Stood Thousands of Years Ago

Crowds once mingled below two tall arcades supported by 164-foot-tall columns. But due to earthquakes and unstable foundations, these architectural elements collapsed long ago

The dining room of Martin House

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Vision for the Martin House Included Everything Inside It. See How Experts Recovered Furniture, Artworks and Decorative Glass

A new exhibition at the home in Buffalo spotlights curators’ decades-long efforts to track down the original furnishings and other items, some of which the architect had designed himself

The Last Judgment is located behind the Sistine Chapel's altar.

The Sweat of Tourists Has Covered Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Fresco in a White Film. Now, the ‘Last Judgment’ Is Getting a Much-Needed Cleaning

Patches of calcium lactate have dulled the colors of the famous 16th-century mural, which hasn’t been cleaned since 1994. Experts will carefully restore the artwork to its former glory

Vision of Zacharias in the Temple, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1633

Cool Finds

They Joked About Discovering a Forgotten Masterpiece. Now, Experts Say They’re the Unwitting Owners of an Original Rembrandt

“Vision of Zacharias in the Temple” had been removed from the Dutch painter’s oeuvre in the 1960s. But when the owners brought it to the Rijksmuseum, scholars decided to conduct a close analysis

The Musée de la Vie Romantique has reopened in Paris after a lengthy renovation.

Museum Devoted to the Romantic Movement Reopens in Paris After Extensive Renovations

The Musée de la Vie Romantique, where the Dutch-French painter Ary Scheffer once lived, opened its doors on Valentine’s Day

The coffin of Margrave Philipp Wilhelm of Brandenburg-Schwedt (middle)

The Berlin Cathedral Is Reopening Its Massive Crypt—Home to the Bones of One of Europe’s Most Powerful Dynasties

The crypt, which has been closed for renovations for the past six years, houses coffins containing members of the House of Hohenzollern

Pope Alexander VII commissioned the elephant sculpture to support an ancient Egyptian obelisk.

This Famous 17th-Century Elephant Sculpture in Rome Keeps Losing the Tip of Its Tusk

Designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the statue holds an 18-foot-tall Egyptian obelisk on its back. The four-inch fragment of its tusk was found nearby

Researchers have produced hundreds of Galápagos tortoises genetically related to the extinct Floreana Island subspecies, thanks to a surprising discovery and captive breeding program.

Giant Tortoises Vanished From the Galápagos’ Floreana Island More Than 150 Years Ago. Now, Conservationists Have Brought Them Back

Researchers released captive-bred tortoises carrying the ancestry of the extinct local species

The greater Bermuda land snail

Scientists Once Thought This Snail Was Extinct. But a Surprising Discovery and Decade-Long Conservation Effort Revived the Species

Conservationists have bred and released more than 100,000 greater Bermuda land snails

Empress Eugénie's crown was damaged as thieves attempted to remove it from its glass case on October 19, 2025.

Jewel Thieves Dropped This Crushed Crown as They Fled the Louvre. Now, the Historic Headdress Will Be Restored to Its Former Glory

The crown belonging to Empress Eugénie was found on the sidewalk after robbers made away with eight pieces of royal jewelry in October. Officials estimate that the repair will cost nearly $50,000

The Painter’s Father is in the collection of the National Gallery in London.

Is This Copy of a Long-Lost Northern Renaissance Portrait Actually an Original Albrecht Dürer?

Experts have long assumed that a painting at London’s National Gallery is one of many replicas of an original Dürer portrait. Now, a new book claims that this cracked copy is the real deal

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