Date·Lore

On This Day · The 142nd day of the year

May 22

May 22 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1762 and 2026. Trevi Fountain is officially completed and inaugurated in Rome.

♊ZodiacGemini ◈BirthstoneEmerald ❀Birth flowerLily of the Valley

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on May 22?

May 22 is the 142nd day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1762 and 2026. Famous people born on May 22 include Richard Wagner, Charles Aznavour and Novak Djokovic.

The shape of the day

200 years on from HMS Beagle, May 22 is a date with an anniversary worth pausing on. Most of the weight falls in the 20th century, where disaster looms large.

Gemini is the sign for May 22 — read more on the Gemini page, or see May's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on May 22

Movies, games, albums & shows

2026

  • Movie Chand Mera Dil
  • Game LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
  • Game Bubsy 4D
  • Movie System
  • TV Mating Season

2025

  • Game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown
  • Game Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping
  • Game Lynked: Banner of the Spark
  • Game Survive the Fall
  • Game Deliver At All Costs
  • Game Pieces of Me
  • Game Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks
  • Game Blades of Fire

2024

  • Game Isles of Sea and Sky
  • Game RKGK
  • Game Wuthering Waves
  • Game Harvest Hunt

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1762

    Trevi Fountain

    Trevi Fountain is officially completed and inaugurated in Rome.

  2. 1766

    1766 Istanbul earthquake

    A large earthquake causes heavy damage and loss of life in Istanbul and the Marmara region.

  3. 1826

    HMS Beagle

    HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage.

  4. 1915

    Lassen Peak

    Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, the only volcano besides Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous U.S. during the 20th century.

  5. 1958

    1958 anti-Tamil pogrom

    The 1958 riots in Ceylon become a watershed in the race relations of various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total deaths are estimated at 300, mostly Tamils.

  6. 1960

    1960 Valdivia earthquake

    The Great Chilean earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, hits southern Chile, becoming the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.

  7. 1992

    Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations.

  8. 2014

    Prayut Chan-o-cha

    General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d'état, following six months of political turmoil.

  9. 2015

    Republic of Ireland

    The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to utilise a public referendum to legalise gay marriage.

  10. 2026

    2026 Liushenyu coal mine explosion

    A gas explosion at a coal mine in Changzhi, Shanxi, leaves at least 82 people dead.

Famous birthday twins

Born on May 22

Richard Wagner

b. 1813

German composer

Charles Aznavour

b. 1924

French-Armenian singer-songwriter and actor

Novak Djokovic

b. 1987

Serbian tennis player

Harvey Milk

b. 1930

American lieutenant and politician

Lisa Murkowski

b. 1957

American lawyer and politician

Hideaki Anno

b. 1960

Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter

Max Brooks

b. 1972

American author and screenwriter

Arthur Conan Doyle

b. 1859

British writer

Deaths

  • 1939Ernst Toller
  • 1885Victor Hugo
  • 1868Julius Plücker
  • 1602Renata of Lorraine
  • 1540Francesco Guicciardini
  • 337Constantine the Great

Holidays & observances

  • —Abolition Day (Martinique)
  • —Aromanian National Day (marginal, celebration on May 23 is more common)
  • —Christian feast day: Castus and Emilius
  • —Christian feast day: Fulk
  • —Christian feast day: Humilita
  • —Christian feast day: Blessed John Forest
  • —Christian feast day: Blessed Maria Domenica Brun Barbantini
  • —Christian feast day: Michael Hồ Đình Hy (one of Vietnamese Martyrs)

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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