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Architecture

Since this art museum in Brazil was completed in 1996, it has put the relatively unknown city of Niterói on the map.

Cool Finds

These UFO-Like Buildings Are a Space-Age Tourist’s Dream

The future is now—follow this tour of UFO architecture found all around the world

The Chateau d'Ussé has connections with Sleeping Beauty...and contains a slightly creepy surprise.

Cool Finds

The French Castle That May Have Inspired “Sleeping Beauty” Is Filled With Creepy Mannequins

In honor of Charles Perrault’s birthday, explore the Chateau d’Usse

Seven of the Most Innovative Gyms in the World

Go way beyond free weights and stationary bikes at these clever workout facilities

In recent years, the festival has begun including sculptures that draw inspiration from popular culture. In 2009, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh were represented at the festival.

All the World’s a Frozen Sculpture at China’s Ice and Snow Festival

Thousands flock to one of the country’s coldest regions to see the stunning displays

A gondolier navigates the Venetian Lagoon, a shallow, 210-square-mile bay fed by the Adriatic Sea, at sunset.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Enduring Mystique of the Venetian Lagoon

Among islands barely emerging from the water, you find yourself in an ageless world

Portrait of Suleyman I (1520-1566), 10th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Cool Finds

Suleiman the Magnificent’s Lost Tomb Might Finally Be Found

Hungarian historians believe they have found the Ottoman sultan’s final resting place

Theaster Gates' Chicago studio includes a formal gallery and a wood shop.

American Ingenuity Awards

How Theaster Gates Is Revitalizing Chicago’s South Side, One Vacant Building at a Time

The artist’s creative approach to bringing new life to a crumbling neighborhood offers hope for America’s beleaguered cities

Document Deep Dive

When the Empire State Building Was Just an Architect’s Sketch

How one of the world’s most famous skyscrapers was built

The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, after a $30 million renovation, is qualified once again to be called the "American Louvre."

The Renwick Reopens

The Renwick: Finally The Gem It Was Meant to Be

When the newly renovated museum reopens this month, one of Washington D.C.’s most storied buildings will be elegantly reborn

Cool Finds

This Norwegian Modern Art Museum Is Also a Bridge

An ingeniously twisted design blends art with infrastructure

Overlooking part of Malpaso or Nezahualcoyotl Dam in Chiapas.

Trending Today

The Sunken Ruins of a 450-Year-Old Church Rise From a Mexican Reservoir

After a historic drought, a 16th-century church has reemerged

Cool Finds

The Oldest Chemistry Lab in America?

A classroom designed by Thomas Jefferson was rediscovered

Cool Finds

A Woman Bought a House For $100,000, Then Learned Frank Lloyd Wright Built It

She had no idea her Madison, Wisconsin, home was part of the famous architect’s affordable housing project

Haohan Qiao, a newly opened 984-foot-long bridge in China's Hunan province.

Look Down If You Dare: 14 of the World’s Most Terrifying (and Beautiful) Glass Skywalks

A new glass bridge in China is suspended 590 feet in the air — and visitors brave enough to cross it can see all the way down

Trending Today

ISIS Demolished Yet Another Priceless Syrian Monument

The 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph was destroyed on Sunday

Looking down into the Big Delta.

This Giant Contraption Can Print a House

Inspired by wasps’ nests, an Italian company is printing inexpensive houses for the developing world

Cool Finds

It Will Take Nine Years to Clean the Taj Majal

“Mudpack therapy” will help the iconic monument clean up its act

Krzyżtopór Castle in Ujazd, Poland, once the largest castle in all of Europe, now in a state of ruin.

Visit the Ruined Castles of Poland

Grand but dilapidated structures from many centuries ago dot the country’s landscape

Trending Today

Tourists Will Soon Be Able to Sleep Over at Versailles

Let them eat cake (at a five-star hotel)

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