What Llama-Poop-Eating Mites Tell Us About the Rise and Fall of the Inca Empire

Lake-dwelling mite populations boomed at the height of the Andean civilization but dropped following the arrival of Spanish conquistadors

The Valley of the Fallen

Trending Today

Spain’s Push to Remove Franco’s Remains From the Valley of the Fallen

Congress approved the government decree to move the fascist dictator from his spot in the civil war mausoleum, but obstacles remain

Sofonisba Anguissola, "Self-Portrait at the Easel Painting a Devotional Panel," 1556

Madrid’s Prado Museum Will Spotlight Pioneering Duo of Female Renaissance Artists

Lavinia Fontana is widely considered the first professional female artist, while Sofonisba Anguissola served as Philip II of Spain’s court painter

A skull with other bones of a victim's body is classified by anthropologists following an exhumation of a mass grave at the cemetery of Paterna, near Valencia, Spain,

Archaeologists Open One of Many Mass Graves From the Spanish Civil War

The excavation comes amid a push to deal more openly with a difficult chapter of Spain’s history

Salvador Dalí with his pet ocelot, Babou, and cane. 1965.

Catalonia

Travel Through the Landscapes That Inspired Salvador Dalí

Three destinations in northeastern Spain offer a unique glimpse into the life of the famous surrealist

Readers Discuss Our July/August 2018 Issue

Feedback from our readers

Salvador Dalí, "Gala Placidia. Galatea of the Spheres," 1952

Catalonia

Why Gala Dalí—Muse, Model and Artist—Was More Than Just Salvador’s Wife

Barcelona exhibition draws on 315 artifacts to unravel the myths behind central surrealist figure

Magic Moments, April 2018

A Photographer Captures Contrasts and Characters in Barcelona’s Streets

Josep Fabrega Agea, a retired teacher and psychosociologist, points his lens at the city’s dark corners and poetic places

Trending Today

The EU Mulls Ditching Daylight Saving Time

The European Commission is polling citizens about whether the 28-nation bloc should keep springing forward and falling back each year

The giants and big heads have been a hit among Folklife Festival-goers, says performer Jesus Bach Marques. "They're amazed by our giants! For most of them, it's something really new."

Catalonia

For Hundreds of Years, Papier-Mâché Has Lent a Surreal Face to Catalan Culture

Street performers disguised as Giants and Big Heads blend reverence with ribaldry at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The sculpture of St. George before and after

Trending Today

Restorationist Botches 16th-Century Spanish Statue of Saint

Reports indicate a local priest hired an art teacher to restore the polychromatic wooden statue, with cartoonish results

Teams compete to form the tallest human towers, called castells—a centuries-old activity that creates quite the spectacle in Catalan public spaces.

Beyond the Headlines, Catalan Culture Has a Long History of Vibrancy and Staying Power

The autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia takes center stage at this summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The San Jose's decorated cannons

Cool Finds

“Holy Grail” of Spanish Treasure Galleons Found Off Colombia

The San José went down in 1708 filled with gold, silver and gems now worth billions of dollars

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Catalonia

Catalonia

The body of a juvenile sperm whale was found on a beach in Spain's Murcia region.

Dead Sperm Whale Had 64 Pounds of Trash in Its Digestive System

The juvenile sperm whale was found in the Murcia region of Spain, and its death has spurred a local campaign to combat plastic pollution

Cool Finds

Sunshine Sheds Light on 17th-Century Mystery Painting At Hearst Castle

Two bright-eyed guides found an abbreviation and inscription leading to Spanish painter Bartolomé Pérez de la Dehesa

In 2018, researchers at the Art Gallery of Ontario released X-ray scans of this hidden painting beneath Picasso's The Crouching Beggar. The artist used the mountains in the painted-over landscape to shape the curves of his subject's back.

Researchers Uncover Hidden Details Beneath Picasso Painting

Using new imaging techniques, researchers reveal the secrets of the 1902 work “La Miséreuse Accroupie” (“The Crouching Beggar”)

Salvatore Dali with ocelot friend at St Regis / World Telegram & Sun photo by Roger Higgins.

Dive Through More Than 1,000 Dalí Paintings Online

Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation’s complete catalogue raisonné, which spans from 1910 to 1983, is sheer surrealist eye candy

Catalan Mossos d'Esquadra officers scuffle with demonstrators as they cordon off the area around Lleida museum in the west of Catalonia, Spain, on Monday, Dec. 11, 2017.

What to Know About the Removal of 44 Artworks from Catalan’s Museum of Lleida

The fate of the works has become a point of contention in Catalonia’s bitter push for independence

Decennatherium rex

New Research

Four-Horned Giraffe Ancestor Unearthed in Spain

The fossil is an unusually complete individual of an ancient giraffid species

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