This elaborate Byzantine-style building was designed for a not-so-pretty purpose.

This beautiful Victorian ironwork masterpiece was built to keep London from smelling like poop.

Putting the "mod" in "modular" since 2000.

Sculptor Antony Gormley used chaos theory and fractal growth to design his tallest creation.

This medieval manuscript collection has some of the most obscure and ancient texts in the world.

A unique museum dedicated to culture and artistry of carpet weaving.

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.

The platform atop this verdant volcano was built with the help of a royal elephant.

An abandoned set from the 1980 film "Popeye," claimed and repurposed as a theme park by creative locals.

Several plaster noses are hidden in plain sight around London's Soho neighborhood.

A living memorial to the trees London lost during the Great Storm of 1987.

These ornate arches show how the course of the River Thames has changed.

These official units of measurement—including chains and perches—lie hidden beneath tourists' feet in a popular London hub.

An easily overlooked stretch of ornate window fronts and gaslight lamps that could be right from the pages of Dickens.

The Metropolitan Police refurbished the blue box (perhaps not coincidentally) the same year "Doctor Who" returned to TV screens.

Abstract dinosaur models in London.

London's smallest police station is barely the size of a phone booth.

Eighty million natural history specimens call this gargantuan museum home.

A charming 17th-century alley is lined with secondhand bookstores and antiquarian shops.

The popularity of Sherlock Holmes led to the creation of his fictional address, turning the orderly London street numbers askew.

London's creepiest cemetery was once the site of dueling magicians and mobs of stake-carrying vampire hunters.

An unusual round church in London with a Templar past.

Preserved Inca city and site of the last Inca stronghold against the Spanish conquistadors.

This lake’s emerald green waters are a spectacular sight, but it’s not a great place for a swim.