Award-winning photojournalist Robert Nickelsberg has spent more than 30 years chronicling life in Afghanistan. The images he’s taken while covering the country for Time magazine and The New York Times capture the devastating impact decades of war have had on every aspect of society. That devastation includes the destruction of monuments and the theft of museum collections that represent much of the country’s cultural heritage and history.

To some, the idea of building a Guinness world record-breaking concert hall in the middle of the desert sounds unusual: aren’t most world-breaking buildings erected in cities, where they can be viewed and used daily by thousands or millions of people?

Across Germany, there are museums, monuments and memorials dedicated to the millions of victims of the Holocaust.

In northeast Berlin, sculptor Michael Friedrichs-Friedländer has dedicated the last 15 years to creating the tens of thousands of memorial plaques that make up the world’s largest decentralized monument to the Holocaust.

One of the best parts about traveling is trying the cuisine of other countries. From the cafés of France and Italy, to fish markets in Japan and dim sum in China, the possibilities are endless.

Nowhere is South Korea’s diverse and vibrant culture more visible than at one of the country’s many festivals.

Now in its 23rd year, the Boryeong Mud Festival has become one of the largest—and messiest—festivals in the world.

Established in 1998 to promote cosmetic products made with mud from the city of Boryeong, the event attracts millions of visitors each July, with activities such as mud swimming, mud wrestling, mud football and even a mud marathon.