A small etching on the white marble parapet was written in runic script by a Viking mercenary.

Five sultans and their families rest in eternal splendor, teeming with overlooked beauty and drama.

Building owners can take out tiles for free at this repository for historic building materials.

This restored Portuguese cafe may well be the most beautiful place in the world to grab a Big Mac.

Elaborate tile work in this railway station tells the story of Portugal.

Hamburg's first legal sex work is relegated to a gated street that still does not allow pedestrian women.

Hamburgers are intensely proud of their tunnel beneath the river.

The world's first and only three-segment bascule bridge folds up into the shape of a capital "N" to let boat traffic through.

The wooden telephone box tucked away in London's Piccadilly was the original prototype of the iconic kiosk.

The site where a plot to assassinate Hitler was planned—and its conspirators were executed—is now a powerful memorial to the German resistance during World War II.

This massive blockhead sculpture hides an entire library.

An Orthodox church built by the Royal Family for the Russian community exiled to the French Riviera.

The approximate spot where the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar was put to death.

If you look closely at the oldest bridge in Paris, you might notice hundreds of ugly faces leering from its sides.

César Baldaccini's iconic sculpture of a 40-foot thumb stands tall in La Défense.

This bridge was constructed from the rubble of the infamous Bastille.

Residents of Berlin take their coffee and cake in one of the city’s most restful spaces: a cemetery.

Baroque celebration of the end of the Great Plague of Vienna.

The metal leaves on this tree are engraved with the names of Holocaust victims.

The holes in this wall provide a glimpse into Jewish life in Budapest, both past and present.

How did an Australian statue of the Bard of Avon end up in the Hungarian capital?

A diminutive statue that was inspired by the sculptor's own daughter.

The medieval "dragon" on an Austrian city's coat-of-arms comes to life in a fountain.

The world's most important buildings shrunk to a tiny size.