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Travel

Serra da Bocaina National Park is part of a new UNESCO World Heritage site in Brazil; the region was honored for its natural and cultural treasures.

Twelve Anniversaries and Events Worth Traveling for in 2020

From Chicago’s Prohibition tours to Palau’s newly enacted marine sanctuary, here are a dozen destinations to travel to this year

Hong Kong’s first Lennon Wall appeared in 2014.

Hong Kong’s Sticky-Note Revolution

‘Lennon Walls’ have spread throughout Hong Kong and the world as a form of public protest and free expression

The Most Anticipated Museum Openings of 2020

Slated for this year are new institutions dedicated to ancient Egyptian, the Olympics, African American music and the Army

The 1906 Kunstdommere (Art Judges) (detail) by Michael Ancher, group portrait captured a handful of Danish cultural luminaries of Scandanavia’s Modern Breakthrough movement of the 1870s and 1880s.

Rare Chance in 2020 to See This Classic Danish Masterwork

At the Portrait Gallery, a new show gets at the visual heart of competitive camaraderie roiling within artist colonies

An Egyptian jeweler named Ramses Said has been working at his family’s Diamond District business since he was 14 years old.

How Manhattan’s Diamond District Continues To Operate Like an Old World Bazaar

The new film ‘Uncut Gems’ calls attention to the 47th Street neighborhood, where million-dollar deals are sealed by handshakes

A drone captured the ice circle that formed on the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine, last January.

The Science Behind Snow Rollers, Ice Circles and Other Winter Phenomena

A meteorologist explains how bizarre snow and ice formations take shape—and where you’re most likely to see them

2020 is shaping up to be a great year for sky watching.

Ten Celestial Events You Don’t Want to Miss in 2020

Whether you are a telescope enthusiast or just want to step outside to enjoy the night sky, these are the phenomena to look out for this year

Yayoi Kusama with recent works in Tokyo, 2016

Celebrating the Eternal Legacy of Artist Yayoi Kusama

An upcoming Hirshhorn collection exhibition will honor the artist’s seven-decade career

AMA #WCW by Dada Khanyisa, 2018

How the Heroes of Africa Triumphed Against All Odds

At the African Art Museum the inspiring stories of 50 individuals from the continent are honored in classical and contemporary works of art

How Haiti’s Devastating Earthquake Prompted a Worldwide Effort to Safeguard Cultural Heritage

To safeguard cultural heritage, a massive Smithsonian-led cultural rescue operation can now be mobilized to help countries recover from disaster

Richard Booth's Bookshop on Lion Street in Hay-On-Wye, Wales

Attention Bibliophiles: These Book Towns Should Be Your Next Vacation Stops

From Australia to Malaysia, these villages are prized for their abundance of bookstores

Bear Family of Kamchatka

This Photographer Goes to the Ends of the Earth to Capture Rarely Viewed Animals

Roie Galitz considers himself an ambassador for the creatures he photographs, capturing their intimate moments in hopes of inspiring conservation

B-52 Storage Area, Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Virtual Travel

A Photographic Tour of Abandoned Cold War Sites

In a new book, historian Robert Grenville explores the haunting beauty of nature reclaiming some of history’s most notorious sites

Founded in 1854, the town of Ivittuut (formerly Ivigtut) once held the world’s largest reserve of naturally occurring cryolite.

How This Abandoned Mining Town in Greenland Helped Win World War II

Ivittuut held the world’s largest reserve of naturally occurring cryolite, a mineral that was used in the manufacturing of fighter planes

The forest has grown so vast that the Watson Lake Visitors Center doesn’t keep any sort of inventory of which signs make up the collection.

There’s a Forest Made Out of Signs in Canada

Since 1942, people have planted 91,000 signs from around the world

A group of revelers are seen wassailing at Redbyrd Orchard Cider in New York.

New York’s Cideries Bring the Tradition of Wassailing to the Finger Lakes

Common in England, the practice of toasting to the health of the orchard has hopped the pond

The 1966 Honda CB77, or Super Hawk, that Robert Pirsig rode on his 1968 trip from Minnesota to California that inspired the book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

The Cycle From ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ Comes to the Smithsonian

The 1966 Honda Super Hawk featured in Robert Pirsig’s book on values was recently acquired by the National Museum of American History

From Christmas to Chinese New Year to San Sebastián Street Festival, here are the beverages that people around the world will be sipping on this holiday season.

Nine Delicious Holiday Drinks From Around the World

Bored of eggnog? Sick of cider? Here are nine scrumptious end-of-year beverages to sip on from across the globe

Fuggerei, built for the poorest residents of the city, dates back to 1519.

After Almost 500 Years, the World’s Oldest Social Housing Complex Is Still Going Strong

The rent of less than one Euro per year at the Fuggerei, located in Augsburg, Germany, hasn’t changed either

Left, local actor Keith Scales portrays Norman Baker in a one-man show at the Crescent Hotel and is an encyclopedia of information about Baker’s time in Eureka. Right, detail of a couch and drapes in the Governor’s Suite, formerly Baker’s office, at the hotel.

The Charlatan of the Ozarks Still Looms Over the Haunted Crescent Hotel

A notorious quack peddled cures at an Arkansas resort in the 1930s. Nowadays the con game is all for show

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