Elaborately carved to showcase the glorious wealth that the age of exploration brought to the Portuguese empire.

A king's pet, a pope's gift, an artist's inspiration, and a tragic shipwreck.

A little sculpture with a large wardrobe.

A vista of the city and sea from atop the little-known viewing deck on an unassuming Columbus statue.

Gaudí's famously flamboyant architectural style is on full display in this sprawling park and garden.

Construction of Barcelona's iconic (but controversial) church is expected to be completed in 2026—a century after the death of its architect.

One of Antoni Gaudí's most classic buildings is well-known for its "dragon-back" design.

A 2,000-year-old computer demonstrates remarkable engineering and astronomical precision.

This ancient Greek place of assembly and marketplace is being revealed layer by layer below the modern Athens cityscape.

Where commuters walk through remnants of an ancient Greek necropolis.

According to the local folklore, the myriad colors of this lake are the result of a lovelorn wizard's blunder.

Europe’s oldest natural human mummy.

This Italian stadium makes liberal use of fascist statuary to evoke classical sporting arenas.

One of Catholicism's four major basilicas has a series of papal portraits that are said to predict the end of the world.

If you want to talk to the Pope you will have to stare down this surreal vision of Jesus rising from a nuclear hell.

This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.

Architectureal fantasy quarter of Rome.

A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.

The crypts of Capuchin friars decorated with the bones of over 4,000 friars, including an entire "crypt of pelvises."

This Slovakian statue of an emerging sewer worker might just be a bronze peeping tom.

Built to give thanks for the passing of a plague epidemic, this cathedral is a one-of-a-kind architectural hybrid.

A neo-Gothic church built to thank God for saving the Emperor of Austria from an assassination.

Op-art architecture designed for happiness.