The compass on its front was a handy tool for 17th-century merchants who needed to know the direction of the wind.

Explore 400,000 years of humans' "battle against darkness" in this offbeat but thorough lamp museum.

Christ's blood preserved in a Belgian town.

An early 19th-century English style garden hidden in the Rotterdam cityscape.

Peek through a transparent pyramid and drink in the mountain made of books.

The doodles of a genius line the walls of a secret room under the Medici Chapel, where they were hidden for nearly 500 years.

Over 50 exquisite hand-painted Renaissance maps decorate a Medici storage room.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

The famous sculptor left his mark on this Italian wall in an internationally protected example of street art.

In the world's oldest university is a stunning 17th century anatomical theater carved from spruce.

The mummified relic of St. Catherine sits forever on a golden throne.

An amazing collection of wax anatomical models and terratological models.

Lavish royal estate punctuated with heated greenhouses.

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

One of the oldest masonic temples in the Netherlands, built in 1757.

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

Stumbling upon this whimsical wooded garden is like stepping into an enchanted forest full of philosophical musings.

On rare days, this abandoned castle's gatekeepers open its doors, revealing the eye-popping splendor hidden inside.

Renaissance villa and gardens complete with a tormented colossus.

Art and armour fill every inch of this rich kid's Italian villa.

This private skyway is filled with art and was expanded explicitly so that Hitler could appreciate a river.

Former hunting lodge of a duke who was an avid collector of impressionist works.

High atop the Eiffel Tower is a small apartment built exclusively to entertain the science elite and make the rest of Paris jealous.

The ruins of a Duke's bucolic dream, where camels once roamed alongside "Dutch" windmills and faux-Italian vineyards.