Places Edited by philippe gonzalvez

An astounding collection of taxidermy, fossils, skeletons, and even a few strange live beasts.

A beautiful ruin of a 14th-century Plantagenet castle built by a medieval mercenary.

This Parisian gem is one of the most incredible ethnographic museums in the world.

This local emblem is the oldest and largest dragon tree in the Canary Islands.

A beautiful Victorian statue shows France's enduring love of the rhinoceros.

This demon atop the Notre-Dame de Paris looks utterly bored.

This garden houses the remains of the ancient Greek port of Marseille.

Deliberately hidden for centuries, the magnificent Saadian Tombs were eventually uncovered in 1917.

This mosaic-lined medieval church was built by the world's first admiral and still holds mass in ancient Greek.

This triumphal arch celebrating the Sun King's conquest of Lille is a masterpiece of military architecture.

Tables of secondhand books fill the inner courtyard of this 17th-century stock exchange.

France's third-largest necropolis offers a peaceful respite from a busy port city.

This triumphal 16th-century arched gateway leads to the oldest street in Palermo.

Behind medieval walls in a corner of bustling Palermo is a breathtaking former mosque once inhabited by a wolf-taming hermit.

This amazingly preserved Doric temple was abandoned before it was ever completed.

Made famous by 'Star Wars,' these troglodyte homes face an uncertain future.

These ruins reveal the remarkably intact layout of a Roman marketplace.

One of the most well-preserved temples of ancient Egypt.

Why a column on the entrance is inscribed with a verse from the Quran is one of Sicily's many mysteries.

A mysterious ancient elephant said to possess magic powers is now the symbol of a Sicilian city.

These Egyptian statues have survived for 3,400 years and were an acoustic wonder of the ancient world.

The eclectic observatory castle of a 19th-century astronomer and explorer.

This charming cobbled backstreet is the most Instagramable street in Paris, much to the residents' annoyance.

This ancient structure is widely thought to be the oldest intact pyramid in the world.