Welcome toWikipedia

thefree encyclopedia thatanyone can edit.

108,153 active editors
7,021,496 articles inEnglish

From today's featured article

Holkham Hall is an 18th-centurycountry house in Norfolk, England, constructed in theNeo-Palladian style forThomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester. The hall was designed by the architectWilliam Kent, with contributions fromRichard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, the Norfolk architect and surveyorMatthew Brettingham and Thomas Coke himself. Holkham is one of England's finest examples of the Palladian revival style of architecture. The exterior consists of a central block, of two storeys and four flanking wings. The interior of the hall is opulent, but by the standards of the day, simply decorated and furnished. The Holkham estate was built up bySir Edward Coke, a lawyer in the reigns ofElizabeth I andJames I and the founder of his family's fortune. It remains the ancestral home of the Coke family, who becameEarls of Leicester. The house is aGrade I listed building, and its park is listed as Grade I on theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Marisa Dick

... thatMarisa Dick(pictured) has two balance-beam elements named after her – the Dick and the Dick II?
... thatKorean science fiction has evolved into distinct North and South branches since the first work appeared in 1929?
... thatSue Anderson helped to break theglass ceiling for female conductors on Broadway?
... that flowers falling off the final dress in Alexander McQueen'sSarabande was a serendipitous effect?
... thatOduwa's reign sawcowries becoming so widespread as currency that nobles stitched them into their clothes, causing runaway inflation?
... that theGeorgian Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1925, gave a solidarity concert with Ukraine soon after theRussian invasion?
... that actressEmma Stone contributed "oddities" to "Florida!!!"?
... thatYulius Selvanus, the governor ofNorth Sulawesi, Indonesia, used his parents'clan names for "personal branding"?
... that the MansfieldTown Mill has produced flour, textiles and cannabis?

In the news

Flooding nearHunt, Texas

Flooding in Central Texas(pictured), United States, leaves at least 120 people dead.
Astronomers announce the discovery of3I/ATLAS, aninterstellar object passing through theSolar System.
TheVera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile releases thefirst light images from its new8.4-metre (28 ft) telescope.
In basketball, theOklahoma City Thunder defeat theIndiana Pacers to winthe NBA Finals.

Ongoing:

Recent deaths:

Nominate an article

On this day

July 12

An AH-64 Apache helicopter

1913 –Second Balkan War: TheSerbian Army began theSiege of Vidin, which they abandoned six days later when an armistice between the Serbs and Bulgarians was signed.
1920 – TheSoviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty was signed, withSoviet Russia agreeing to recognize an independent Lithuania.

1948 –Arab–Israeli War:Israel Defense Forces officerYitzhak Rabin signed an order toexpel Palestinians from the towns ofLydda andRamle.
1997 –Hayao Miyazaki's animated filmPrincess Mononoke is released, becoming thehighest-grossing film in Japan for a few months.
2007 – Two U.S. ArmyAH-64 Apache helicopters(pictured) conducteda series of air-to-ground attacks inBaghdad.

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Slime mold is an informal name given to apolyphyletic assemblage of unrelatedeukaryotic organisms in theclades Stramenopiles,Rhizaria,Discoba,Amoebozoa andHolomycota. Most are near-microscopic; those inMyxogastria form largerplasmodial slime molds that are visible to the naked eye. Most slime molds are terrestrial and free-living, typically in damp shady habitats such as in or on the surface of rotting wood. Some myxogastrians andprotostelians are aquatic or semi-aquatic. Thephytomyxea are parasitic, living inside their planthosts. Geographically, slime molds arecosmopolitan in distribution. A small number of species occur in regions as dry as theAtacama Desert and as cold as the Arctic; they are abundant in the tropics, especially inrainforests. This picture shows a group ofsporangia of the slime moldComatricha nigra, photographed in a garden in Berlin, Germany.

Photograph credit: Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas

Recently featured:

Archive
More featured pictures

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by theWikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteerprojects: