The ancient settlement attracts tourists from all over looking to learn about the Chinese vision of the afterlife.

These ruins once flourished as the capital of the Lydian kingdom, often credited with the invention of metal coinage.

A mysterious ancient cemetery with Roman sarcophagi and Lycian inscriptions.

The ornate miniature mansions were built for Istanbul's feathered residents.

A deadly ancient portal to the underworld.

Dozens of elegant ceramic tiles decorate these ancient walls, each displaying the Lord's Prayer in a different language.

Oldest Protestant church in the Middle East, designed to resemble a synagogue.

A "miracle" that seems to produce more holy fistfights than holy revelations.

This family tattoo parlor has been inking religious pilgrims in the Middle East for 700 years.

The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq until ISIS blew it up twice and then drove over it with bulldozers.

A 605-page Quran penned in the blood of a dictator is locked away in a mosque.

Celebrated as a center of civilization, the remains of the ancient city have been nearly destroyed by greed, egoism, and war.

A sophisticated astronomical tower built by one of the greatest Persian scholars of the Islamic Golden Age.

Mirrors and glass shards cover every inch of this arrestingly beautiful mosque.

The palace of the King of Kings, burned by Alexander the Great.

A spectacular rainbow of stained glass makes the "Pink Mosque" one of the most beautiful in Iran.

The Vatican's secret porn-festooned bathroom was painted in erotic murals by one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance.

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

Breathtaking and huge 430 year old maps of Italy.

Hidden beneath the famous St. Peter's Basilica is a veritable city of the dead that may hold the remains of St. Peter himself.

This seaside sanctuary was once one of the most important religious sites for women in ancient Greece.

According to legend, this cavern holds the passage that Persephone used to travel to and from the underworld.

Heralded as the world's first theater, these ruins are often overlooked as they reside in the shadows of the Acropolis.

This famous archeological mystery may be an ancient example of movable type.