The world's oldest map of the holy land gives us a fragmented glimpse of the layout of biblical nations.

The largest hewn stone in history.

Unsurprisingly, Holland is home to one of the most magnificent flower gardens in the world.

A grassy pyramid named after a French battle.

Handsomely crafted representations of our round planet.

Op-art architecture designed for happiness.

The works of poetry's biggest names grace the walls of the city of Leiden, all carefully painted by hand.

Every equinox this Maya pyramid puts on a spooky ancient light show.

No telescopes, no power, no gift shop: The Observatory of Chichen Itza, one of the world's oldest observatories, takes astronomy back to basics.

The enigmatic and seldom visited ruins of a Mayan city-state.

The Uros people live on floating reed islands in lake Titicaca.

A former plague hospital turned medical museum.

This small museum collects the Christian remembrances which would otherwise be forgotten.

The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.

Popular tourist destination where witches in dark hats sell dried llama fetuses for good luck.

A Victorian natural history and ethnographic museum with wonderful turn-of-the-century, science-book-esque evolution displays.

Ship-sized kinetic sculptural fantasy.

The celebrated eyesore created by starry-eyed sweethearts.

The largest free-standing aquarium in the world resides in a hotel lobby in Berlin.

Two stunning 17th-century libraries and a cabinet of curiosities.

Macabre astrological automaton clock dating to the late 1400s.

A marvel of Byzantine engineering under the streets of Istanbul.

Mysterious lost empire of the Silk Road.

Ruins of the Crusaders' headquarters.