This temple to the sturm and drang of Richard Wagner contains a dragon's cave and reptile zoo full of living "dragons."

Artist Danielle Jacqui decorates nearly every inch of her home inside and out with her work.

This ancient Roman bridge and aqueduct still stands as a wonder of classical construction.

Buddha and Jesus tower over this French mountainside headquarters of the Aumism religious cult.

Eco-village hidden in the foothills of the Alps that created a massive system of psychedelic underground temples.

The mountaintop inspiration for Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose."

The astonishing collection of an infamous criminologist.

An abandoned underground bathroom is now a space for public art.

People have been living in the cave houses on this Italian hillside since the Neolithic era.

A Lycian city of the dead carved into the hillside of Southern Turkey, complete with startlingly human touches.

Standing proud atop a Turkish bluff, this Ottoman palace has retained its grandeur despite being abandoned for centuries.

A Turkish monastery tucked into a cliff wall.

The small cliffside monastery known as the Tiger's Nest is said to be the meditation site of an 8th-century Buddhist master.

An autonomous republic of Orthodox monks.

This complex of vertically-excavated Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu monolithic temples in India's Maharashtra providence illustrates a spirit of tolerance characteristic of ancient India.

A curious cave church carved into the face of a cliff.

This 16th-century monastery has been turned into a surrealist architecture compound.

200-foot-high minaret and only remnant of Afghanistan's lost city of the Turquoise Mountain.

A man-made island fort that has housed soldiers, scientists, and ravers.

Abandoned medieval hill town.

Natural mummies hidden in the crypt of a medieval French church.

A cave dwelling that was started by the Celts, expanded by monks, and finished by knights.

A Gothic cathedral created from volcanic rocks.

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