Architecture

The preserved home of the first settler of "the most German town in Brazil."

A display of works by one of the world masters sacred art, an 18th-century Brazilian sculptor nicknamed "the little cripple."

A domed disco abandoned since the '70s now attracts artists and explorers under its unique roof.

The oldest building in the District of Columbia was preserved because of a mistaken connection to George Washington.

This spectacular dome managed to survive after being bombed in World War II, in an event known as the "Miracle of Mosta."

A former military outpost of Ivan the Terrible, the 16th-century church contains some of the rarest examples of Eastern Orthodox mural paintings.

Beirut's thinnest building was the result of feuding brothers.

A tilted half-timbered house from 1672 is built into a salvaged segment of a medieval wall.

A giant concrete Brutalist water tower in suburban Johannesburg.

A promising candidate for the lost rock laid by George Washington was unearthed, but the hunt is still on.

A public urinal so pretty, it was declared a national monument.

An eclectic assortment of medieval architecture in a small Iowa town.

An early-20th-century "dacha" village of quaint cottages curiously located in a modern part of Moscow.

The traditional houses along the coast of this charming Japanese fishing village allow people to sleep above the sea.