This imposing Masonic temple a mile from the White House was the first public library in Washington, D.C.

Obscure Freemasons still live in D.C.’s largest private residence.

A rotating cast of guys and dolls in front of a Washington, D.C. building.

This unacceptably tall building was the real reason for Washington, D.C.'s skyscraper ban.

The sculptor was instructed to add “stallion attributes” to the general's bronze mare.

Sitting in the arguable birthplace of the Wild West, this museum holds the largest collection of bronco busting bric-a-brac in the world.

The largest cattle market on earth holds live auctions open to the public every week.

This giant mimetic milk bottle has encouraged Route 66 travelers to choose dairy since 1948.

Once the fallout shelter of a dictator, this sprawling bunker is now a combined history museum and contemporary art gallery.

An Albanian monument to the Communism that nearly crushed the country is now a crumbling wreck.

What happens when you cross a mayor and a painter?

A museum dedicated to secret surveillance.

In the heart of Tirana, this underground nuclear bunker has been transformed into a museum.

The controversial final resting place of the equally controversial first president of Turkmenistan.

An underground world of gorgeous, palatial metro stations designed as a nuclear shelter complex.

Time capsule of a museum, in which the Soviet Union remains alive and kicking.

This retro, UFO-like structure is a remnant of the Soviet-era circus.

The largest wine cellar in the world is a 150-mile network of underground caves near the capital of Moldova.

This abandoned Soviet circus is slowly being restored to its Communist-era glory.

This mysterious but iconic tapered tower appears in many Azeri fairytales and legends.

A gigantic collection of teeny, tiny books.

Home to nearly a third of the world's mud volcanoes, Azerbaijan is home to a messy, bubbling, and sometimes explosive landscape.

Mysterious hillside with a continuously burning natural fire.

At this rare mosque in Tbilisi, Sunni and Shia Muslims pray side by side.