Smart News Arts & Culture

The National Museum, seen from above, after the overnight fire in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Why Brazil's National Museum Fire Was a Devastating Blow to South America's Cultural Heritage

The collection of more than 20 million artifacts included the oldest fossil found in the Americas and a trove of indigenous literature

The winning design features an 180-foot, 200-ton steel column jutting out of the Northumberland hillside at a roughly 30-degree angle.

British Aristocrat Commissions 180-Foot Monument Celebrating Elizabeth II’s Reign

The Third Viscount Devonport has chosen sculptor Simon Hitchens to bring the Elizabeth Landmark to life

A few pages from the recently digitized codex.

Cool Finds

See Leonardo da Vinci's Genius Yourself in These Newly Digitized Sketches

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has made ultra high-resolution scans of two codices available online

The ghost of a bagpiper is rumored to haunt the caves below Culzean Castle

Cool Finds

Hidden Medieval Door Leading to Smugglers’ Caves Discovered Underneath Scottish Castle

Culzean Castle, a towering fortress overlooking the cliffs of Ayrshire, sits atop a labyrinthine network allegedly used by smugglers, ghosts and fugitives

Domed skylights offer tantalizing glimpses into the Amos Rex museum's sprawling underground galleries.

Helsinki's New Subterranean Art Museum Opens Its Doors

The Amos Rex Museum is located beneath Lasipalatsi, a 1930s shopping center known as the ‘Glass Palace’

The project will also feature the world premiere of a controversial Ilya Khrzhanovsky film, produced from 2009 to 2011 on another simulated set.

An Immersive Art Installation Will Temporarily Resurrect the Berlin Wall

This fall, event organizers plan on constructing a pseudo-city within a block of Berlin in order to emulate life in an unfamiliar country

Monks likely used the disc-shaped gaming board to play Hnefatafl, a Norse strategy game that pits a king and his defenders against two dozen attackers, during the 7th or 8th century

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Medieval Game Board During Search for Lost Monastery

Scotland's oldest surviving manuscript, the Book of Deer, was written by monks living in the Aberdeenshire monastery

The new book tells the tale of Tuor, a man living in an age where the world is dominated by the dark lord Melko—known in other Tolkien books as Morgoth.

Trending Today

J.R.R. Tolkien's Final Posthumous Book Is Published

The author tinkered with and rewrote <em>The Fall of Gondolin</em>, one of his first tales of Middle-earth, many times during his career

Egon Schiele, "Woman Hiding Her Face," 1912

63 Works By Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele Are at the Center of the Latest Nazi-Looted Art Dispute

The German Lost Art Foundation removed the artworks from its database, suggesting they were saved by a collector's relatives rather than seized by Nazis

Playwright Neil Simon in his Los Angeles office in 1988.

Neil Simon, Prolific Playwright and Giant of Broadway, Has Died at 91

He wrote more than 30 comedic plays, among them ‘Barefoot in the Park’ and ‘The Odd Couple’

A thatched hut in the Javari Valley

Drone Captures First Images of an Uncontacted Amazon Tribe

Officials say images like these can help them learn how to better protect Brazil’s indigenous people

Artist's rendering of "Orbital Reflector," a reflective space sculpture set to be launched into space this October

Art Meets Science

Astronomers Say This Reflective Space Sculpture Will Cause Unneeded Light Pollution. The Artist Argues Otherwise

‘Orbital Reflector,’ a 100-foot long, diamond-shaped balloon, aims to inspire humans to gaze up at the night sky with a renewed sense of wonder

The NYPL's Insta Novels are available via Instagram.

Fall Down the Rabbit Hole With the New York Public Library's Instagram Version of Classic Tales

Featured texts include ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ ‘The Metamorphosis’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper'

North Carolina will leave three Confederate monuments in place at the state Capitol

North Carolina Votes to Keep Three Confederate Monuments at the State Capitol

The state’s historical commission said it was bound by a 2015 law that restricts the relocation of statues on public property

Shuttered Amid Protests Last Year, Queer Art Exhibition Reopens in Rio

A successful crowdfunding campaign helped bring “Queermuseu” back to life

The iconic Barnum's Animals crackers are getting a redesign, thanks to PETA.

After 116 Years, Animal Crackers Have Been Freed From Their Circus Cages

A new redesign of the iconic treats shows animals walking across a savanna

Archaeologists unearthed the rotting teeth during construction of a new metro line in Melbourne, Australia

Cool Finds

Archaeological Dig at Australian Metro Station Unearths 1,000 Human Teeth

A local dentist probably flushed the molars down the toilet or discarded them with his trash

Obvious' "Portrait of Edmond Belamy" exceeded expectations at Thursday's sale

Art Meets Science

Christie's Will Be the First Auction House to Sell Art Made by Artificial Intelligence

Christie's will sell the work from Paris-based art collective Obvious, which created ‘Portrait of Edmond Belamy’ with the machine-learning algorithm GAN

Poster for Cinématographe Lumière (1896)

Poster From One of the Earliest Public Movie Screenings Is Heading to Auction

The artwork advertised the Lumière brothers’ pioneering Cinématographe

Police stand guard around the Confederate statue Silent Sam after it was toppled by protestors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Protestors Pulled Down a Confederate Statue at the University of North Carolina

“Silent Sam,” as the monument is known, had been a source of controversy for decades

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