Places Edited by Michelle Cassidy

Ancient rock-cut caves adorned with Buddhist inscriptions and sculptures.

Surgeon, scholar, activist, eccentric. This statue remembers a curious figure in Wales’ history.

A massive, 76-foot-high version of a Van Gogh painting in Canada’s sunflower capital.

A statue honoring a preeminent 19th-century dandy and important figure of men’s fashion.

One of the last remaining French Colonial style churches, this centuries-old building was constructed using upright logs and no nails.

This historic hotel was once home to Henry David Thoreau and rumored to be haunted by ghosts of fallen soldiers from the American Revolution.

Sweden's largest remaining gantry crane is a relic of Gothenburg's industrial past.

A bizarre representation of our ever forward moving society.

This rocking chair headstone is allegedly haunted by the spirit of a young girl named Pearl.

Considered the oldest intact wooden structure in Tokyo Prefecture, this impressive temple was built in 1407.

A forgotten hiker’s lodge, now reclaimed by the forest, with its chimney standing as a lone sentinel of the past.

St. Claude, Manitoba, commemorates its first settlers with a giant tobacco smoking pipe monument.

Long before Moo Deng, this 17th-century waterfowl was a cultural sensation.

In the Arabian Desert, a surreal rock formation stands cut clean in half.

Former Gestapo prison turned memorial museum.

In an unassuming corner of the city hall sits the restored study of a local author.

This medieval pilgrimage site was a key part of the early Christian missionary work in Scotland.

No one knows the story behind the mysterious feline perched on this rooftop.

One of Oahu’s best snorkeling and diving spots was created by warm water discharged from the nearby power plant.

After a long legal battle, the heart of the famous composer is finally enthroned in the city of his birth.

The first musical instrument of its kind to be built in the United States—and the world’s tallest.

The final resting place of a once-unsung hero of paleontology.

Being surrounded by typical buildings just makes this uniquely modernist house stand out even more.

Mysterious texts covered in mystical symbols were found in caves at this site centuries ago.