Smithsonian Magazine

This Massive, ‘Mega-Rare’ Monet Painting Is Now the Most Expensive Artwork Ever Sold at Auction in France

The Impressionist painted "Iris" a year or two before his death, at a time when his work was becoming increasingly abstract ...
Smithsonian Magazine

A Soldier in Vietnam Recorded His Letter Home Because He Thought It Was Easier Than Writing. It’s a 43-Minute Splice of History

There’s more to Private First Class Frank A. Kowalczyk’s 1969 message than routine updates on his deployment. He poignantly ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Archaeologists at This Ancient Maya Metropolis in the Forest of Belize Are Debunking Long-Held Myths About the Mesoamerican Civilization

Diane and Arlen Chase have spent a good portion of their lives uncovering the once-great city of Caracol. Their ...
Smithsonian Magazine

What Goes Into a 1920s Prohibition Cocktail

Read more at Beverage expert Derek Brown shows how to make three cocktails from the early 20th century at his Washington, ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Arizona’s Otherworldly ‘Wonderland of Rocks’ Is Now America’s Newest National Park

Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona is now Chiricahua National Park, the 64th national park in the United ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Dam Removals Are Bringing Fish Back Across the Northeastern United States, Striking Down One Tiny Barrier at a Time

While the demolition of big dams in the West gets more attention, many of these often-obsolete obstructions are also coming ...
Smithsonian Magazine

This Mysterious Medieval Manuscript Has Stumped Scholars for Well Over a Century. Could Its Pages Have Been Bound Out of Order This Whole Time?

A new study claims that the pages of the Voynich Manuscript, thought to be written by several different scribes in ...
Smithsonian Magazine

These Big, Fierce Birds Found Love in Australia—and Laid the First Southern Cassowary Eggs at the Adelaide Zoo in 34 Years

Zoo staffers don’t know whether the bright green eggs are viable and will ultimately hatch into chicks. However, the eggs ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Immerse Yourself in the Cosmos at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Only Planetarium, Recently Restored to Its Former Glory in Florida

Completed in 1958, the domed building is located on the campus of Florida Southern College, home to 13 Wright-designed ...
Smithsonian Magazine

For the First Time, Scientists Trapped an Elusive Antimatter Particle—and Contained It for Months. It Could Allow Them to Test an Enduring Physics Theory

The standard model of particle physics works really well, but it can't explain why the universe exists. Something is missing, ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Ivan the Terrible Wanted to Marry Elizabeth I. How Did England’s ‘Virgin Queen’ Reject the Russian Czar Without Souring Trade Relations?

A new book details the Russian ruler's failed courtship of the Tudor queen, who famously remained unmarried during her nearly ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Where Exactly Were the First Humans to Be Captured in a Photograph Standing? Three Obsessed Filmmakers Solved the Nearly 200-Year-Old Mystery

The sleuths spent two years digging into archives and building 3D models of 19th-century Paris. The location is now ...