Austria

Hikers set off on the annual Alpine Peace Crossing. The Austrian side of the trail is rocky and exposed; in 1947, Jewish refugees had to make the journey in the dark.

You Can Retrace the Footsteps Jewish Refugees Took on a Hike Through the Alps

After World War II, Holocaust survivors fled Europe’s lingering anti-Semitism on a series of clandestine missions

Marie Antoinette in coronation robes

Marie Antoinette's Furniture Is Up for Auction

Two items represent two distinctive stages in the French queen's life

Nazis set an estimated 1,400 synagogues on fire during Kristallnacht.

These 84-Year-Old Nazi Photos Paint a Harrowing Picture of Kristallnacht

The images show mobs ransacking Jewish-owned homes, businesses and synagogues in 1938

Scientists claim that the rock used to carve the Venus of Willendorf statue likely came from Italy.

New Research

3-D Scans Show 30,000-Year-Old Stone Sculpture Dug Up in Austria Likely Came From Italy

Scientists suspect an ancient limestone carving known as the Venus of Willendorf traveled hundreds of miles across the Southern Alps

The Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Berlin houses some 5,500 skulls collected by Austrian anthropologist Felix von Luschan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On Friday, February 11, the German museum returned 32 skulls from the collection to a Hawaiian delegation.

Germany, Austria Repatriate Dozens of Human Skulls to Hawaii

Earlier this month, a Hawaiian delegation retrieved 58 sets of ancestral remains from five European museums

Bronze and Iron Age miners' poop contained Penicillium roqueforti, which is still used to make blue cheese today.

Cool Finds

Europeans Enjoyed Blue Cheese and Beer 2,700 Years Ago, Study Suggests

Ancient poop from salt mines in the Alps contained the same fungi used in brewing and cheesemaking today

Two of the newly colorized paintings: Jurisprudence (left) and Medicine (right)

Art Meets Science

A.I. Digitally Resurrects Trio of Lost Gustav Klimt Paintings

Viewers can explore the works, newly restored to lush greens, blues, pinks and golds, through a Google Arts and Culture hub

The golden bowl may have been used in religious ceremonies honoring the sun.

Cool Finds

3,000-Year-Old Golden Bowl Adorned With Sun Motif Found in Austria

Researcher Michał Sip described the prehistoric vessel as the "discovery of a lifetime"

Warming temperatures allowed archaeologists to begin examining the barracks, which had previously been sealed off by a glacier, in 2017.

Cool Finds

Melting Glacier in the Italian Alps Reveals Trove of World War I Artifacts

Excavations at the summit of Mount Scorluzzo offer rare glimpse into lives of soldiers fighting in the White War

Lily Renée helped develop the Señorita Rio comic strip as one of the early woman creators in the industry.

Drawing on Their Escapes From the Nazis, These Artists Became Celebrated Cartoonists

A groundbreaking female comic book artist, a MAD magazine star and a counterfeiter-turned-illustrator share the floor in an exhibit in New York City

A very sad before and after

This Ten-Foot-Tall Bottle of Wine Seemed Like a Great Idea—Until It Started Leaking

Firefighters in Austria worked for three hours to prevent 1,590 liters of Zweigelt from flooding a local restaurant

A Beethoven monument stands in Vienna's Beethovenplatz.

Following Beethoven’s Footsteps Through Vienna

For the composer’s 250th birthday, visit the apartments where he lived, the theaters where he worked and his final resting place

Home to just 780 people, Hallstatt welcomes more than one million tourists each year.

This Picturesque Austrian Town Is Being Overrun by 'Frozen' Fans

The 16th-century hamlet, incorrectly believed to be the inspiration for the fictional kingdom of Arendelle, hopes to stem the deluge of tourists

Layers of dirt accumulated over the centuries, hiding the painting under what is now the church's gift shop.

Cool Finds

Artwork Discovered in Vienna Cathedral's Gift Shop May Be the Work of German Renaissance Master Albrecht Dürer

The find is particularly intriguing because it represents the first evidence that Dürer visited the Austrian city

A stone in front of Adolf Hitler's birthplace reads, "For peace, freedom and democracy. Never more fascism. Millions of dead warn."

Hitler’s Birthplace Will Be Converted Into a Police Station

Officials hope the building's new function will deter Nazi sympathizers from making pilgrimages to the site

Section of fragment found

Cool Finds

Fragment of 'The Rose Thorn,' a Poem About a Talking Vulva, Dated to the 1300s

The section of the erotic Medieval fantasy was found in the binding of book in Austria's Melk monastery

A scene from Verdi's opera Rigoletto during a photo rehearsal on the lake stage as part of the Bregenz Festival. The premiere will take place on July 17.

There's a Massive Jester Floating on Austria's Lake Constance

Each year at the Bregenz Festival, a set designer creates an elaborate opera stage on the water

Some of the charred Cheerios.

Cool Finds

Ancient, Inedible 'Cheerios' Found in Austrian Archaeological Site

Made from wheat and barley, researchers believe the dough rings were likely ritual objects, not breakfast cereal

Max Peintner, "The Unbroken Attraction of Nature," 1970-71, handcolored by Klaus Littmann in 2018

Art Meets Science

Curator Will Plant 299 Trees in a Stadium to Make Statement on Climate Change

After the installation closes, the makeshift forest will be relocated to a public space, where it will remain accessible as a 'living forest sculpture'

Teresa Feodorowna Ries, "Witch Doing Her Toilette on Walpurgis Night," 1895

Remembering the Forgotten Female Artists of Vienna

New exhibition draws on works by around 60 women who lived and worked between 1900 and 1938

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