Wikipedia:Main Page/test

This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference.
Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear. To revive discussion, seek broader input via a forum such as the village pump.

Other languages

FAQs | Table free

Welcome to Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

In this English version, started in 2001, we are currently working on 6,858,769 articles.

Browse Wikipedia - Article overviews - Alphabetical index - Other category schemes

Find out how you can help those affected by the recent Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis.

Today's featured article

Bruce Springsteen

Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen (pictured), released on June 2, 1978, by Columbia Records. The album was recorded during sessions in New York City with the E Street Band from June 1977 to March 1978, after a series of legal disputes between Springsteen and his former manager Mike Appel. Darkness musically strips the Wall of Sound production of its predecessor, Born to Run, for a rawer hard rock sound emphasizing the band as a whole. The lyrics focus on ill-fortuned characters who fight back against overwhelming odds. Released three years after Born to Run, Darkness did not sell as well but reached number five in the United States. Critics initially praised the album's music and performances but were divided on the lyrical content. In recent decades, Darkness has attracted acclaim as one of Springsteen's best works and has appeared on lists of the greatest albums of all time. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Selected anniversaries

July 28

Reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo helmet

1540 – King Henry VIII of England had his chief minister Thomas Cromwell executed for treason and heresy.
1866 – At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream became the youngest artist and first woman to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue—that of Abraham Lincoln currently in the U.S. Capitol rotunda.
1911 – The Australasian Antarctic Expedition began with the departure of SY Aurora from London.
1939 – During the excavation of a 7th-century ship burial at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England, archaeologists discovered a helmet (reconstruction pictured) that is widely associated with King Rædwald of East Anglia.
2005 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced the formal end of its armed campaign to overthrow British rule in Northern Ireland and create a united Ireland.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (d. 1794)
Lucy Burns (b. 1879)
Vida Blue (b. 1949)
Zach Parise (b. 1984)

More anniversaries:

In the news

Tadej Pogačar

Landslides kill at least 257 people in Geze Gofa, Ethiopia.
In cycling, Tadej Pogačar (pictured) wins the Tour de France.
Incumbent U.S. president Joe Biden withdraws from the 2024 presidential election.
In golf, Xander Schauffele wins the Open Championship.

Did you know...

Oliveira in 2018

... that Brazilian Olympic gymnast Lorrane Oliveira (pictured) trained for the circus before starting gymnastics?
... that some estimate that maintenance of existing software costs up to nine times as much as creating it in the first place?
... that at age 15, Lilia Cosman moved from the United States to Romania to compete for Romania's Olympic gymnastics team?
... that Baubau city filed two different budgets at the same time, losing their chance at becoming the capital of Southeast Sulawesi?
... that in 1948, Jane Wallis Burrell became the first CIA officer to die in service?
... that after being freed from Buq Buq labor camp in Italian-occupied Egypt, Libyan Jewish prisoners had to walk home across the desert?
... that Aminata Barrow is the first female Olympic swimmer for The Gambia?
... that the Newton Lower Falls Branch was operated with a single electric railcar nicknamed the "Ping-Pong"?
... that after disappearing in 2019, a donkey is now "living his best life" with a wild elk herd?

Wikipedia in other languages

You can read articles in many different languages:

This Wikipedia is written in English. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.

1,000,000+ articles
- العربية
- مصرى
- Deutsch
- Español
- فارسی‎
- Français
- Italiano
- Nederlands
- 日本語
- Polski
- Português
- Русский
- Svenska
- Українська
- Tiếng Việt
- 中文
250,000+ articles
50,000+ articles

Wikipedia's sister projects

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