An ancient sanctuary that has long been a holy site for the Chaldean Christian Church.

An ancient fortified mound raised over the millennia from settlements built one on top of the other.

A bloody history is captured in this former prison turned museum.

Long before air conditioning, Persian architects found an ingenious way to cool off.

Putrefaction plateaus in Iran, where the dead were sent for decontamination before going to their final resting place.

Ancient structures used to make and preserve ice in the deserts of Persia.

These little castles each held thousands of pigeons.

In this tiny Iranian town playing on the roof isn't just encouraged, it's the only place to go.

Salt cured mummies continue to turn up in this Iranian mine.

One of the holiest Shi'i shrines in Iran honors the life and death of a learned noblewoman who became a saint.

A 1,500-year-old, 3-story subterranean city where ancient Persians took refuge in times of war.

Modern-day cave dwellers carve elaborate homes out of volcanic debris.

This lake in northwest Iran has started turning from green to red more frequently than scientists are comfortable with.

This ruined fortress was the stronghold for a persecuted medieval leader and his infamous Assassins.

Iran's colorful terraces are a rare geological masterpiece.

Iranian tombstones shaped like male and female sexual organs.

A dictator's gold statue once rotated to face the sun on a 75-meter high marble tower.

Sumptous memorial to a controversial independence.

If you want to get married in the White Marble City of Ashgabat, you should do it in this surreal disco ball building.

A fiery crater has been burning in the Karakum Desert since 1971.

This cavernous swimming spot doubles as a home to the largest known colony of bats in Central Asia.

A sophisticated astronomical tower built by one of the greatest Persian scholars of the Islamic Golden Age.

Once a bustling fishing port, this semi-ghost town is now more than 90 miles away from the shore.

The ruins of an ancient Zoroastrian Tower of Silence believed to be the earliest example of the traditional funerary practice.