This gorgeous reading room houses the oldest and largest art history library in the Netherlands.

The world's first zoo for microbes collecting the horrible and wonderful things living on and around us.

A floating cat sanctuary on an Amsterdam canal.

Cat art as far as the eye can see.

A curious collection dedicated to human and animal anatomy and pathology.

Join in a Seance at the Swedenborgian Church.

Rare moles meet activism at this Oaxacan eatery.

It's not hard to see why the historic Peabody Conservatory of Music's library has been described as a "cathedral of books."

Yale University's home for rare works, including the mysterious Voynich Manuscript.

A Manhattan Episcopal church with an eerie underground crypt.

From scholastic to sepulchral - now under reconstruction.

A discreet little stairway on St. Nicholas Avenue leads to a quaint and unexpected cobblestone street of 19th century wooden rowhouses.

The only home that Alexander Hamilton ever owned has a history almost as troubled as his own.

The marble facade hides a little-known medical museum with early surgical instruments and rare copies of canonical texts.

The plague quarantine island home to the alleged "Vampire of Venice."

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

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

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

A large grotto built in the 16th century amidst Florence's famous Boboli gardens.

The middle finger of modernity.

An activist who committed her life to peace and women's suffrage.

A monument stands to the famous suffragist who penned the declaration for women's equal rights, including the right to vote.

Every year model trains zip through a miniature New York City that's now 150 landmarks strong.

The loneliest island in New York.