A collection of anatomical samples from one of the first anthropologists to suggest that humans reached North America by crossing the Bering Strait.

Macabre astrological automaton clock dating to the late 1400s.

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

This Polish cave has housed a dragon, a brothel, and an enduring legend.

The fairy tale castle of the "fairy-tale king."

The bunker where Hitler took his own life is hidden under this deliberately ordinary parking lot.

The most visited, and possibly most controversial, museum in Germany.

A fascinating insight into daily life in the Eastern Bloc.

The largest free-standing aquarium in the world resides in a hotel lobby in Berlin.

This series of Baroque passageways in Vienna's cultural center mix old architecture with modern art.

The Habsburgs' royal collections of art and wonders.

The beautiful baroque library of the Hapsburg empire.

This museum houses an imposing skeleton army comprised of creatures great and small.

Natural history museum celebrating biodiversity with a parade of taxidermy animals.

A haunting collection of the vanished and disappearing natural world.

A majestic lion statue guards this Parisian botanical garden, and feeds on an unsettling item.

Known as the "Dodo Manège," this carousel features a herd of animals that have disappeared—or may be gone soon.

Medieval museum built over Roman baths that features famous tapestries of a lady and a unicorn.

This iconic Parisian bookstore doubles as the "Tumbleweed Hotel" for traveling writers.

This former “ante-chamber to the guillotine” has been refurbished to illustrate the brutal history of French justice.

The celebrated eyesore created by starry-eyed sweethearts.

France's most famous cemetery, with some of its most curious tombs.

By day this New Orleans square is for pedestrians, but by night it is a kingdom of kittens.

The gorgeous library at Trinity College is home to remarkable treasures of Irish identity.