Sonja Anderson

Sonja Anderson

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in New York City.

A 1912 postcard featuring the swastika as a symbol of good fortune

How the Swastika, an Ancient Symbol of Good Fortune Used Around the World, Became the Nazi Logo

Archaeologists have found the distinctive design on artifacts from India, Europe, Africa, China and the Americas. When Adolf Hitler co-opted it, its meaning changed forever

The previously unknown composition was discovered in the collections of Leipzig Municipal Libraries in Germany.

This Lost Mozart Composition Hasn't Been Heard for Centuries. Now, You Can Listen to It

More than 250 years after a teenage Mozart wrote "Serenade in C," a copy of the piece has surfaced in the collections of a German library

Visitors touring the Galeón Andalucía in the town of Ramsgate, England, earlier this year

You Can Climb Aboard a Massive Reproduction of a 17th-Century Spanish Galleon That's Sailing Around the World

The Galeón Andalucía, which is now making its way to London, was designed to resemble the armed merchant vessels manufactured by Spain and Portugal between the 16th and 18th centuries

The temple walls' reliefs were restored to reveal colorful paint that decorated carvings of Egyptian gods.

See an Ancient Egyptian Temple's Brilliant Colors, Newly Revealed Beneath Layers of Dust and Soot

Experts are carefully uncovering traces of the original paint and fragments of gold leaf that once adorned the 2,000-year-old Temple of Edfu

The Hotel Chelsea's neon sign was installed in 1949.

The Hotel Chelsea's Iconic Neon Sign Will Be Divided Into Pieces and Sold One Letter at a Time

The vertical sign stretched across three stories of the Manhattan hotel, which once welcomed the likes of Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Andy Warhol and Janis Joplin

Researchers excavated a crypt in Milan and found human remains containing evidence of cocaine use.

Europeans Were Using Cocaine in the 17th Century—Hundreds of Years Earlier Than Historians Thought

Scientists identified traces of the drug in the brain tissue of two individuals buried in the crypt of a hospital in Milan

The barracks were designed as a series of mudbrick rooms.

These Ancient Egyptian Barracks Paint a Vivid Picture of Military Life During the Reign of Ramses II

Archaeologists unearthed a series of mudbrick rooms filled with religious tributes, soldiers' personal effects, engraved weaponry and animal bones

Knight, Death and the Devil, Albrecht Dürer, 1513

An 11-Year-Old Boy Rescued a Mysterious Artwork From the Dump. It Turned Out to Be a 500-Year-Old Renaissance Print

Experts have confirmed that the image of "Knight, Death and the Devil" is a real master engraving by the renowned German artist Albrecht Dürer

The Winslow House is located in River Forest, Illinois, about 11 miles west of downtown Chicago.

Frank Lloyd Wright Designed His First Prairie-Style House When He Was 26. Now, It's for Sale

The young architect created the Winslow house for a couple living in a suburb of Chicago in 1893. The project would help launch his independent career

The helmet was excavated at at the Łysa Góra site in Poland's Mazovia region.

This Ancient Celtic Helmet Is the Oldest Ever Found in Poland

Unearthed at the Łysa Góra archaeological site, the artifact, some 2,300 years old, is a prime example of Celtic metalworking

The ring was found on the floor of a Pictish house near Scotland's northern coast.

Volunteer Discovers 1,000-Year-Old Ring on the Last Day of an Excavation in Scotland

The artifact likely belonged to the Picts, who occupied a large settlement in what is now the town of Burghead

Impression, Sunrise, Claude Monet, 1872

The Painting That Inspired the Term 'Impressionism' Debuts in America

Monet's "Impression, Sunrise" anchors an exhibition commemorating the birth of the artistic movement 150 years ago

Pieces of the Arch of Constantine came loose during a thunderstorm on September 3.

Rome's Ancient Arch of Constantine Has Been Struck by Lightning

A fierce thunderstorm dislodged marble fragments of the 1,700-year-old monument

Divers observed the HMS Hawke's intact guns at the bottom of the North Sea.

Divers Discover Sunken Warship Torpedoed by Germany in World War I

A German U-boat sank the HMS "Hawke" off the coast of Scotland in the early days of the war

The opening to the cistern was discovered beneath Jefferson Drive, which runs alongside the Smithsonian Castle and other museums.

Workers Uncover an Underground Chamber Sealed for More Than a Century Near the National Mall

The dry cistern was discovered by construction crews working on the Smithsonian Castle’s renovation

An 1851 ink-and-watercolor gift drawing titled A Type of Mother Hannah’s Pocket Handkerchief by Polly Jane Reed, a Shaker in New Lebanon, New York.

These Colorful Drawings Defy Expectations of Shaker Art

Colorful, intricate drawings on view at the American Folk Art Museum are anything but simple

The sword's guard is decorated with chrysanthemum and waterline motifs.

This Decorated Samurai Sword Found in Rubble Beneath Berlin May Have Been a Diplomatic Gift

The short blade’s hilt was made in Edo Japan, and its journey to a German cellar destroyed during World War II is a mystery

Khaleb Brooks' The Wake was chosen from a shortlist of six proposed designs.

London Unveils Design for the City's First Memorial to Victims of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

The towering bronze sculpture by Khaleb Brooks will be installed at West India Quay in 2026

The newly discovered lithographs had been hiding in plain sight at a home in London's Berkeley Square.

These Signed Salvador Dalí Prints Were Forgotten in a Garage for Half a Century

The ten lithographs by Dalí, along with another five by Théo Tobiasse, will go to auction next month

Left to right: William Murray, First Earl of Mansfield; William Legge, Second Earl of Dartmouth; Isaac Barré; John Wilkes.

How Did British Politicians React to America’s Attempts at Independence? Rather Poorly!

When the Colonies got too brassy, the English Parliament went ballistic—despite some wise voices of reason

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