The Polish capital has had a deep connection to its guardian mermaid for almost a millennium now.

A menacing statue of this mythical creature can be seen at the legendary site of the monster's lair.

Special benches that play Chopin's music are scattered throughout his native city.

This micro-nation may be some sort of prank, but its constitution sure seems official.

Legend has it that Napoleon Bonaparte fell in love with this Gothic church.

A former imperial sea-fortress and Soviet prison.

Disused seaplane hangar gets a second life as the jaw-dropping home of Estonia's museum of maritime history.

A black cat protests the City Guild in Riga's Old Town.

The oldest housing complex in Riga is a mini timeline of architectural trends.

This enigmatic artifact remained buried in a churchyard for years.

Flamboyant architecture from the turn of 20th century.

A former Latvian headquarters of the brutal KGB secret police is now open as a grim reminder of their atrocities.

3,000 market stands in five former Zeppelin hangars.

The walls and ceiling of this Polish church are decorated with thousands of skulls, with another 21,000 skeletons just below.

London's last remaining public soapbox site has seen speeches from Karl Marx, Vladmir Lenin, and George Orwell.

A concrete plant shaped like four giant soldiers commemorates one of the most decisive battles of the Napoleonic Wars.

This hanging crocodile is thought to be the "dragon" that once plagued a Czech city.

This renaissance château was home to an infamous witch hunter who sent a hundred suspected witches to their deaths.

A peculiar clock commemorates a historic victory won by ringing the noonday bell an hour early.

Tiny communists hammer away on the Olomouc Astronomical Clock.

An ornate plague column – built to celebrate life – claimed the lives of numerous artisans during its construction.

An enormous and lavish Gothic church in Czechia.

A former top secret nuclear fallout shelter now operates like a hotel stuck in the Cold War.

Be(w)ar(e) the moat around this historic Czech castle.