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The Wikipedia Main Page

Welcome to the Wikipedia tour. My name is Denis, and I will be your guide. This trip will show you the diversity of the content on Wikipedia, some of its most unusual articles, the inner workings of the project, its policies and debates, and everything you need to know to become a contributor. Don't worry about getting lost - I will be with you during the whole trip.

What you see below is the Main Page of Wikipedia. You've probably seen it before, but pay a closer look. Much of the content below is updated daily by our open community of editors. The featured article, for example, is picked from the list of featured articles. These are pages which have undergone a community review process. The Did you know section in the lower right comes exclusively from our latest article additions. Also take a look at all the other languages Wikipedia is available in!

Welcome to Wikipedia

,

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

127,724 active editors
6,953,782 articles in English

From today's featured article

Gao Qifeng (1889–1933) was a Chinese painter who co-founded the Lingnan School. He spent much of his early life following his older brother Gao Jianfu, learning the techniques of Ju Lian before travelling to Tokyo in 1907 to study Western and Japanese painting. While abroad, Gao joined the revolutionary organization Tongmenghui to challenge the Qing dynasty; after he returned to China, he published the nationalist magazine The True Record. He moved to Guangzhou in 1918, taking teaching positions that culminated with an honorary professorship at Lingnan University in 1925. Falling ill in 1929, Gao left for Ersha Island, where he established the Tianfang Studio. He blended traditional Chinese approaches to painting with Japanese techniques for light and shadow and Western understandings of geometry and perspective. Gao is best recognized for his paintings of animals, particularly eagles, lions, and tigers. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Fatimid gold dinar of al-Mu'izz, Palestine 969/70

... that the Fatimid Caliphate used gold from the tombs of the pharaohs in its gold coinage (pictured)?
... that Paris was the first county seat of Linn County, Kansas, but hardly a ruin is left to tell where it once was?
... that Américo Ramos became Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe after his predecessor, Ilza Amado Vaz, resigned following a tenure of three days?
... that a million tulips at the 1939 New York World's Fair were destroyed and replaced the month after the fair began?
... that there are more than 100 rock paintings of Aboriginal pictographs on a cliff face in Missinaibi Lake?
... that the Deval Mosque was formerly a Hindu temple?
... that Andrei Demurenko, the first Russian officer to be a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, served alongside the Wagner Group in Ukraine?
... that the Stride bus network will launch with electric double-deckers that charge wirelessly?
... that a Taiwanese livestreamer accidentally solved a missing persons case?

In the news

Brigitte Haas

The Patriotic Union, led by Brigitte Haas (pictured), wins the most seats in the Landtag of Liechtenstein.
In American football, the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl.
Former president of Namibia Sam Nujoma dies at the age of 95.
A series of boycotts against retail stores expands to several countries in Southeast Europe.
The 49th imam of Nizari Isma'ilism, Aga Khan IV, dies at the age of 88 and is succeeded by his son Aga Khan V.

On this day

February 13

Coso artifact

1660 – The four-year-old Charles XI became King of Sweden upon his father's death.
1891 – Frances Coles was killed in the last of eleven unsolved murders of women that took place in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London.
1961 – Geode prospectors near Olancha, California, discovered what they claimed to be a 500,000-year-old rock with a 1920s-era spark plug encased within (pictured).
2017 – Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was assassinated using VX nerve agent in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Muhammad ibn Ra'iq (d. 942)
Isabella d'Este (d. 1539)
Dorothy Bliss (b. 1916)
Balu Mahendra (d. 2014)

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Today's featured picture

The Jadeite Cabbage, also known as Jadeite Cabbage with Insects, is a piece of jadeite carved into the shape of a head of Chinese cabbage, with a locust and a katydid camouflaged in the leaves. Created by an unknown sculptor in the 19th century, it was first displayed in the Forbidden City's Yonghe Palace, the residence of Consort Jin, who probably received it as part of her dowry for her wedding to the Guangxu Emperor in 1889. The Jadeite Cabbage is now part of the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. It has been called the museum's "most famous masterpiece" and, along with the Meat-Shaped Stone and the Mao Gong ding, is considered one of the Three Treasures of the National Palace Museum.

Photograph credit: National Palace Museum

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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 the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects: