Smithsonian Magazine

The Black Church Began as a Place of Faith and Freedom. Here’s How It Shaped American History

Explore the origins of the Black Church and how generations of African Americans transformed faith into a powerful force for ...
Smithsonian Magazine

‘Lie Down and Look Up’ at England’s Most Ornate Ceilings, From Sparkling Gold-Leaf Stars to Intricate Plaster Designs at Queen Victoria’s Seaside Retreat

A new campaign encourages visitors to take in the lavish art above their heads at five historic sites across England. There ...
Smithsonian Magazine

The Best Small Towns to Celebrate Summer

From charming streets to stunning scenery, consider Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, or New York for your next summer adventure.
Smithsonian Magazine

In NASA’s Plan for Artemis 3, SpaceX and Blue Origin Will Compete to Have Their Landers Take Humans Back to the Moon’s Surface

The 14-day mission, slated for mid-2027, will serve as a test to see which company's lunar lander performs better in ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Did Women and Children Collaborate With Male Artisans to Create China’s Terra-Cotta Army? Fingerprints Left on the 2,000-Year-Old Clay Warriors May Hold the Answer

A new study found that adult women and juveniles under the age of 15 accounted for 67 percent of the fingerprints analyzed. The research challenges long-held assumptions about the age and gender of th ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Hundreds of Baby Whales Have Died in Argentina This Year—and Scientists Are Scrambling to Understand Why

Their leading hypothesis is that the young cetaceans are dying from a bacterial infection, but experts are still trying to ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Some Monkeys Seem to Become Germophobic After Living Through a Disease Outbreak, Just Like Humans

Macaques that had gotten sick or seen others become ill were less likely to eat a tasty treat that looked like it was contaminated with poop than primates that didn't witness the outbreak—even though ...
Smithsonian Magazine

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Brittany Levingston is one of the Curators of Religion in the Center for the Study of African American Religious Life (CSAARL ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Looted by Nazis and Recently Restituted, a Kaleidoscopic Kandinsky Painting Just Sold for Nearly $42 Million

"Das bunte Leben," the Russian artist's dreamlike panorama, bridges folklore and early modernism. The sale follows a 2023 ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Divers Recover a Mysterious Cauldron That Had Been Hiding at the Bottom of an English River for Hundreds of Years

Nobody knows how the three-legged iron cauldron ended up in the River Wear. Weeks before Halloween, it finally returned to ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Specialists Removed Three Thrilling, Century-Old Murals From the Walls of a French Monastery. Beneath, They Made ‘a Discovery for the History of Art’

Hidden under multi-paneled Symbolist murals by French artist Odilon Redon were sketches that he had drawn directly on the ...
Smithsonian Magazine

An Italian Farmer Found Some Unknown Seeds in His Attic and, With Nothing to Lose, Planted Them. The Result Was Almost Biblical

When a seven-eared stem emerged from the ground, it seemed like a miracle. What Claudio Grossi had unearthed was an ancient ...