Towers

These beautiful historic watchtowers were used for both scanning the desert for enemy invaders and observing the celestial world.

This tiny hotel perched atop a 50-foot tower really puts things into perspective.

This hulking behemoth is actually five interconnected towers built in the 1960s.

A 63-foot-tall swinging ball hypnotizes passersby, and proves to any remaining doubters that the Earth is spinning.

Six ravens are kept captive (but well-fed) at the Tower of London to prevent the fall of the Crown.

An eerie collection of the surviving structures from a past celebration of the future.

A towering monument in Spain has proven to be more labor-intensive than initially planned.

Every summer, an open-air swimming pool appears at the base of a Finnish city's beloved winter attraction.

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

The iconic castle that withstood a magnitude 6.2 earthquake has become a symbol of resilience.

The ruins of a monumental tower in the heart of Lebanese mountains still puzzle archeologists.

This remarkable prehistoric town is full of watchtowers and houses that have withstood thousands of years.

A giant light 13 feet high shines near Thomas Edison's old Menlo Park lab.

One of few surviving standpipe water towers in the U.S.

The "plyscraper" is the world's tallest building made predominantly out of wood.

Locals dubbed it the "Owl Building" because of its bird-like appearance.

Visitors dating back to the 1600s carved their marks in the stones of the iconic tower.

Part of the medieval watchtower is displayed in an otherwise ordinary parking garage.