Eat, live, breathe, sleep art

Benji Lanyado tries out a new scheme in Paris that's helping visitors get to grips with the contemporary art scene by allowing them to sleep in it

Frozen in time

The crumbling baroque buildings, vintage American cars and Che have all become the symbols of postcard Havana. What will become of them now that Castro has resigned, wonders Observer architecture correspondent Stephen Bayley

Brave new Beijing

The Olympics have given Beijing a new generation of buildings built by 'starchitects'. Alex Pasternack picks out the most spectacular

Russia’s land of lost churches

A quest to discover the forgotten churches of Russia's rural heartlands takes Robin Stummer to a place where time flows backwards

Reflected glory

When the Guggenheim opened 10 years ago, it was the sole attraction in the uninspiring port of Bilbao. Now the rest of the city has caught up.

Is this what you really look like on holiday?

Martin Parr has been photographing tourists for three decades. To mark the relaunch of his book Small World, Joanne O'Connor looks at what his pictures tell us about the way we travel today.

Love at first sight

It was supposed to be a temporary attraction. But eight years on the London Eye has become a shining symbol of our capital city. Steve Rose explains why taking it down would now be unthinkable.

To the edge of the canvas

Gormley's seaside place Having grown up in St Ives surrounded by artists and their work, Peter Kirby is well placed to explain why they are so often drawn to the seaside.

High style in the Alps

Heidi wouldn't recognise the place - today even Alpine supermarkets are at the cutting edge of design, writes Tom Robbins.

… and a Jarvis in a pear tree

Swan Lake gets its skates on, Dorothy heads back to Oz, John Lennon fights the power and Don Juan blazes into Soho ... our critics pick the best of this year's festive fun.