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The staircase is the entrance to the main monastery.
Tallinn, Estonia

Ichthus Art Gallery

A secluded art gallery hidden within the cellars beneath Tallinn’s medieval monastery.
Lunardi was so well-received in Britain, he eventually painted his balloon to match the country's flag.
aircraft

The Most Inspiring Hot Air Balloon Ride Ever

Vincenzo Lunardi's first flight over London featured two caged pigeons, an airsick cat, and a lot of solo drinking.
Cara Giaimo September 15, 2017
Part of the "Royal Quartet."
Madrid, Spain

The Royal Quartet

A rare set of strings by famed instrument maker Antonio Stradivarius is on display in the Royal Palace.
The Ghost Church, fall 2016.
Mechanicsville, Virginia

The Ghost Church

The skeletal white beams stand as a monument to religious dissent.
Birgu, Malta

The Executioner's House

The medieval home is still engraved with the symbol of the profession, an eye flanked by two axes.
A replica of her small writing table.
Amherst, Massachusetts

Emily Dickinson's Bedroom

The mighty room where the poet spent most of her life is available to rent for an hour or two.
Felsenkirche, the "crag church."
Idar-Oberstein, Germany

Felsenkirche (Crag Church)

A tiny chapel clings to a precipice above Germany’s gemstone capital.
Oscar James Dunn, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana.
history

Oscar Dunn, America's Forgotten First Black Lieutenant Governor

The New Orleans pioneer's legacy has been overshadowed, and an intended monument never built.
Chelsea Adams September 13, 2017
<em>Pinna nobilis</em>, the clam from which sea silk is produced, grows up to a yard in length.
mythology

You’ll Probably Never Get to See, Let Alone Touch, Sea Silk

Untangling the mysteries of the world’s rarest thread.
Natasha Frost September 13, 2017
A facsimile of James Joyce's death mask
Dublin, Ireland

The Little Museum of Dublin

More than 5,000 artifacts donated by the people of the city, plus a room entirely devoted to the band U2.
Aerial view of the town.
Almeida, Portugal

Fortress of Almeida

The medieval town's star-shaped walls are geometrically dazzling, though not entirely impenetrable.
The site of the American camp, as a farm in the 19th century.
maps

In 1859, the United States and Britain Almost Went to War Over a Pig

Hundreds of soldiers and sailors faced off over one tiny island in the Pacific Northwest.
Sarah Laskow September 13, 2017
Aerial view of the Soviet summer camp.
Bluemont, Virginia

Soviet Embassy's 'Summer Camp' House

Conveniently located within binocular range of a nuclear bunker, the "summer camp" area was a painfully obvious spy house.
The Cairo still dwarfs its neighbors.
Washington, D.C.

The Cairo

This unacceptably tall building was the real reason for Washington, D.C.'s skyscraper ban.
This 1790 portrait of Benjamin Lay, by William Williams and his apprentice, depicts Lay in front of his cave. The basket of vegetables beside him is a hint of his vegetarianism.
slavery

The 18th-Century Quaker Dwarf Who Challenged Slavery, Meat-Eating, and Racism

Benjamin Lay is not to be overlooked.
Natasha Frost September 11, 2017
The communal drying area on Glasgow Green.
Glasgow, Scotland

The Drying Green

The old tradition of drying laundry on poles in the public green is still guaranteed by Glasgow city law.
Curzon Hall at the University of Dhaka.
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Curzon Hall

The fight to make Bengali an official language started in this stunning university hall.
Washington, D.C.

Capitalsaurus Court

The discovery site of the "Capitalsaurus," the official dinosaur of Washington, D.C.