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A woman in traditional Aymara dress sits with her daughter and their honored human skull, or ñatita, and a bag of coca leaves during the 2015 Fiesta de las Ñatitas in Bolivia.

Meet the Celebrity Skulls of Bolivia’s Fiesta de las Ñatitas

Each November, the Aymara people honor their special bond with the helpful spirits of the deceased

Scuba divers abound at the lake during spring and summer, but during fall and winter the lake is a hiker's paradise instead.

Europe

Explore Austria’s Underwater Hiking Trails

Catch it if you can—scuba season is short in this crystal-clear, temporary lake

Cool Finds

A London Zoo Wants to Hypnotize Away Your Fear of Spiders

This program turns what phobics perceive as terrifying threats into fuzzy friends

American Ingenuity Awards

This Wildly Creative Art Project Transformed an Ugly Interstate Into a 2,400-Mile-Long Visual Masterpiece

Zoe Crosher and Shamim Momin are behind the effort to turn the classic American eyesore into true art

A poster for Schönbrunn Zoo.

Austria

The World’s Oldest Zoo Is a Modern Attraction With a Storied Past

The Austrian destination has a lot more to offer than exotic animals

Stockholm-Arlanda Airport

Appreciating the Art and Architecture of the World’s Airport Towers

Smithsonian photographer Carolyn Russo traveled the world to capturing these surprisingly elegant structures

A spoon and bowl for dieters.

Austria

Embrace the Art of Failure at Austria’s Nonseum

From nosepickers to historic buttonholes, the Nonseum is full of failed inventions

Women observe anti-Semitic graffiti in Vienna in a film shot by an American in 1938.

Watch Rarely Seen Footage of Life in Nazi Austria, Thanks to a New Video Archive

The Ephemeral Films Project offers the public a chance to see what Jews experienced during the Anschluss

Five hundred years ago, officials welcomed foreign Jews to Venice, but confined them to a seven-acre section of the Cannaregio district, a quarter soon known as the Ghetto after the Venetian word for copper foundry, the site’s previous tenant.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Centuries-Old History of Venice’s Jewish Ghetto

A look back on the 500-year history and intellectual life of one of the world’s oldest Jewish quarters

A 17th-century engraving of the revolutionary printer

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Man Who Changed Reading Forever

The Venetian roots of revolutionary modern book printer Aldus Manutius shaped books as we know them today

Europe

Experience Alpine Enchantment at These Eight Austrian Huts

Grander than their name might imply, these hütten are the perfect perch for weary travelers

Hallstatt, Austria

Austria

Top Destinations for the Cultural Traveler: Austria

Daniel Craig as James Bond escapes villains in the Austrian Alps in Spectre, the latest 007 movie.

Austria

The Man With the Golden Passport: Travel the World of the New James Bond Movie

Follow the trail of Agent 007 in his latest film

Girl Behind Bottle (Jean Patchett) by Irving Penn, New York, 1949, printed 1978

A Major Retrospective of Photographer Irving Penn Includes Previously Unseen Works

At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, view works from the master photographer’s 70-year career

The Stockholm Guild, which runs the market, was founded in 1914 to bring the tradition of a Christmas market back to Stockholm (there was a Christmas market here as early as 1523).

Europe

Christmas Markets Might Be the Best Reason to Spend the Holidays in Europe

From mulled wine to intricate ornaments, Europe’s Christmas markets are a mix of food, goods and holiday cheer

First debuted as a minor character in Henson's 1955 TV show Sam & Friends, Kermit the Frog has since become a Hollywood icon.

A New Museum Pays Tribute to the Genius of Jim Henson

Make way for Muppets at Atlanta’s new World of Puppetry Museum

Scores of different spices, including these colorful peppercorns, are available at the Drogheria Mascari, a family-owned store that opened on the Ruga dei Spezieri (“street of the spice merchants”) in Venice in 1948.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Spice That Built Venice

The story of an import so prized, royals were literally rolling in it

Giant pumpkins wait in line for their weigh-in at a 2014 competition in Kasterlee, Belgium.

The Secret to Growing the World’s Largest Pumpkin

From special seeds to helpful fungi, creating a monster takes more than just sunlight and soil

Breaking Ground

Watch the African American History Museum Became a Giant Movie Screen

With state-of-the-art projection imagerie, acclaimed filmmaker Stanley J. Nelson’s 3D video transformed the museum for three nights in November

Hartsdale is the world's oldest operating pet cemetery.

Commune With Pets of the Past at These Five Pet Cemeteries

Far from scary, these burial sites can be relaxing, beautiful and even inspiring

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