Twelve grave-faced marble angels guard the emperor's tomb at Les Invalides.

Despite being considered a thoroughly American sport, basketball's oldest surviving playing field is found in the basement of a Paris YMCA.

This off-limits room in the National Library of France is home to a system of pneumatic tubes, once used to bring books to readers.

Museum on French naval history, with magnificent figureheads, a historic diving suit, and a boat used by Napoleon.

This charming cobbled backstreet is the most Instagramable street in Paris, much to the residents' annoyance.

Hidden away in a modern library are the remains of one of the 18th century's most celebrated wunderkammers.

The curious underground history of keeping Paris clean.

Indents in the pavement are all that remain from a grisly death machine in Paris.

Egyptian Revival movie palace abandoned for decades and restored in 2013.

A Parisian cemetery where the elite and artistic are interred beneath an eccentric collection of tombs.

A scandalous Art Nouveau collaboration that set Paris all atwitter at the turn of the century.

A museum of carnival attractions where you are invited to ride the rides.

This massive library holds what was once the largest book collection in the world.

One of the oldest medical collections in Europe focusing on rare surgical instruments.

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

The macabre collection of Jacques Sirgent, an expert scholar on the undead and all of their trappings.

An Italian vineyard invites religious pilgrims to stop by 24/7 to get their drink on, for free.

This ancient church, rebuilt at least 3 times, is flanked at all sides by history.

This bridge is the first to be made entirely from iron, but designed like it was still made of wood.

The first tunnel to be dug beneath a river, repurposed as an art and museum space.

The world's oldest model village.

A giant white horse drawn on an English hillside may not have been intended to be a horse at all.

The oldest working mechanical clock in the world.

These lovely Turkish-styled baths were brought back to life after winning a reality show competition.