When a medieval fire claimed the original St. Stephen’s Cathedral, it sparked a pattern of unquenchable organ building.

After this one-of-a-kind palace was built the architect's hands are said to have been cut off to keep it that way.

This Roman arena once played host to bloody gladiatorial battles.

The ruins of the largest gladiatorial school in Rome are largely hidden under modern streets.

The city-sized home palace of one of ancient Egypt's most powerful rulers gives us a rare look into the lives of the epoch's rulers.

The engineering wonder and pleasure dome of a much-maligned emperor still holds undiscovered secrets.

Underneath the historic center of Mexico City, the remains of a temple dedicated to the Aztec god of the wind.

This wonderland of ancient temples has been recently painstakingly reconstructed.

This archaeological site boasts temple ruins that date back 5,000 years to the Dilmun culture, and may have been described in the tale of Gilgamesh's search for immortality.

At more than 5,000 years old, these structures are among the oldest free-standing stone buildings in the world.

The oldest surviving mosque in the UAE has mysterious origins and unusual architecture.

Nazca pilgrimage site covering 370 acres is a popular stop for archeologists and looters.

This hunter-gatherer architecture is believed to be the oldest religious complex known.

In this nearly 1,000-year-old monastery, monks painstakingly restore old books.

This magnificent blue mosque in Afghanistan is surrounded by thousands of white doves.

Outstanding, eerie frescoes and decorations fill this 19th-century monastery.

These colonial murals are a fascinating hybrid of Spanish and Indigenous aesthetics.

These medieval monastery ruins are surprisingly overlooked by most tourists.

A fire once nearly devoured this gorgeous 14th-century Gothic cathedral.

A sublime medieval path adorns the marble floor of one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in France.

This Vietnamese bar doubles as a multistory labyrinth.

A turquoise lake within a volcanic crater.

The deepest lake in the United States, and once the site of epic destruction that lives on in legends.

Trees emerge from the surface of this small man-made reservoir.