Exquisite wall sculptures carved in secret by an early quarryman in an obscure corner of the Paris Catacombs.

The world's largest collection of materials relating to lesbian history is housed in a Brooklyn townhouse.

This old medieval prison tower has been a site of astronomical research for more than 250 years.

The oldest botanical garden in the world that technically isn't the oldest.

Built to repay the sins of the father, this church is home to one of the most valuable works of Western art.

One of the world's oldest working clocks is curiously missing the Zodiac sign of Libra.

The world's oldest surviving anatomical theater, where "the dead are pleased to help the living."

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

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.

As can be expected from a centuries old church built in a canal city, the undercroft of this house of worship is beautifully flooded.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

Thousand-year-old Viking runes adorn an ancient Greek lion at the entrance to the Venetian Arsenal.

Armenian monks at an island monastery in the Venetian Lagoon make a rare rose petal jam.

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.

This stunning concert hall has become a symbol of Iceland's national recovery.

This aromatherapy shop and mini-museum cofounded by the Sigur Rós frontman documents Icelandic history through scents.

Surrounded by ash fields in Iceland, an impossibly verdant valley looks like something out of a fairytale.

Icelandic folklore says this giant boulder was ripped from the mountains and placed at its current location, where it became home to elves.

This mountain fissure hides a secret path to a secluded mossy grotto within the rock itself.

Twisted girders are all that remain of an Icelandic bridge that was wiped out by a combination of volcanic heat and glacial floods.

This natural rock formation features seemingly unnatural vertical ridges that have been blamed on elves.

Iceland: home to volcanoes, waterfalls and, apparently, Santa?

The oldest hall in Iceland was written of in the Sagas and features a centuries-old escape tunnel.

Three million year old fossils are exposed for all to see on this Icelandic shore.