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Sculpture

The Madonna’s dress was of the costumes most severally damaged by the poor lighting in the barn, which faded the color of her gown from pink to white. The restorer’s solution was not to discard the original dress, but instead to reverse it, so that the gown’s back is now its front.

A Creche Reborn

In rural Connecticut, a 300-year-old nativity scene is brought back to life by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Roy Lichtenstein, Modern Head, 1974/1989-1990.

Roy Lichtenstein: Making History

A well-known sculpture works its way back from 9/11 damage

Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers

Bernini’s Genius

The Baroque master animated 17th-century Rome with his astonishing sculpture and architecture

The painted replica of a c. 490 B.C. archer (at the Parthenon in Athens) testifies to German archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann’s painstaking research into the ancient sculpture’s colors. The original statue came from the Temple of Aphaia on the Greek island of Aegina.

True Colors

Archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann insists his eye-popping reproductions of ancient Greek sculptures are right on target

President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned the double eagle in 1905. He later pronounced the gold piece to be “the best coin that has been struck for 2,000 years.”

Golden Grail

Few U.S. coins are rarer than the never circulated 1933 double eagle, melted down after the nation dropped the gold standard

Easter Island

The Statues of Easter Island

A riddle of engineering hasn’t stopped archaeologists from debating how the giant carved stones were transported around the island

Angkor Wat

The Grandeur of Angkor Wat

The 12th century temple is the worlds largest religious structure and a jewel of Khmer architectural style

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Impromptu Ice Sculptures

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The Gates of Paradise

Panels from the Italian Renaissance sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti tour the U.S. for the first time

Ólafur Elíasson's The Weather Project, Turbine Hall of Tate Modern

A Room with a View

Art for the Masses

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Touchy Subject

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Flights of Fancy

Leslie Payne’s flying machines soared, if only in his imagination

Pheasants on the Prairie

Fields of Dreams

To help revive his North Dakota hometown, a former high-school principal created giant sculptures to grace a stretch of prairie highway

Contemporary Art is OK

Chihuly's Walla Wallas (2005).

The Nature of Glass

Prolific sculptor Dale Chihuly plants his vitreous visions in a Florida garden

Outer slope of the Rano Raraku volcano, the quarry of the Moais with many uncompleted statues.

The Mystery of Easter Island

New findings rekindle old debates about when the first people arrived and why their civilization collapsed

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