The party’s just starting Jul 26, 2019

The party’s just starting

To usher in the summer music festival season, we take you to a pastoral hillside in the Swiss Alps for the International Alphorn Festival held each summer near the town of Nendaz. Musicians are gathering here this weekend to celebrate and blow these enormous traditional horns of the Alps. No one really knows the origin of the alphorn. We do know that for centuries, European mountain folks from the Alps and east to the Carpathian Mountains used this horn to signal to each other across great distances and to call in animal herds. Even though the horn has no valves or keyholes, it’s not easy to play and requires great lung power.

© Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Jul 26, 2018Exploring the wilder side of New York
Jul 26, 2020A path to access
Jul 26, 2021The dancing trees of Sumba Island
Jul 26, 2022Mangrove Conservation Day
Jul 26, 2023International Day of Mangrove Conservation
Jul 26, 2024Summer Olympics begin in Paris
Jul 26, 2025International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Oct 26, 2018A notorious gunfight that was incorrectly named
Feb 6, 2020A hint of spring
Apr 19, 2020Step into the dark
May 30, 2019A day to celebrate the sun
Apr 17, 2021A river runs through it
May 2, 2023Jöriseen lakes in the Silvretta Alps, Switzerland
Sep 27, 2018High seas commerce
Jun 20, 2018Today is World Refugee Day
Dec 18, 2025Celebrating 54 years of Capitol Reef National Park
Aug 16, 2018Keep your hands inside the ride at all times…
Jan 16, 2019Up on the glacier
Nov 15, 2024Yi Peng lantern festival, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Dec 11, 2024International Mountain Day
Apr 7, 2023International Beaver Day
May 20, 2021Happy Bee Day to you
Aug 6, 2020Space-age style by the sea
Sep 27, 2022Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park
Oct 10, 2019A star blows a bubble
Dec 15, 2018A long winter’s nap, perhaps?
Jun 18, 2023Happy Fathers Day!
Jul 27, 2018Composite image of a lunar eclipse
Jan 19, 2024Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
Jan 29, 2018Vacuum Chamber 5 at Glenn Research Center
Apr 17, 2025Andean cocks-of-the-rock, Ecuador
Oct 22, 2022Guilin and Lijiang River National Park, China
Jun 26, 2025Horse Head Rock, New South Wales, Australia
Dec 13, 2018Iceland awaits the Yule Lads
Feb 24, 2022Glacier cave in Iceland
May 2, 2018Mackerel forming a bait ball to avoid predators
Jan 16, 2023Martin Luther King Jr. Day