The tiny, studious rodents greet visitors to the National Archives of Finland.

This insurance company building reminds customers that witches, bears, and gnomes are out there, best be insured.

A lovingly curated curio shop in which the taxidermy wear newspaper party hats, and peanut shells are spread across every surface.

A subterranean house of worship carved right out of the bedrock.

A tiny park in the middle of some big power politics.

This crucial gathering spot along the "hippie trail" still displays old notes between traveling beatniks and backpackers.

The legendary luxury train passage is commemorated with a charming museum inside its former eastern terminus.

This eatery re-creates dishes from the Ottoman Empire so you can dine like a sultan.

An Art Nouveau gem hides beneath the layers of city grime obscuring this once-magnificent building.

1513 Turkish world map, full of European state secrets and snarky commentary.

Five sultans and their families rest in eternal splendor, teeming with overlooked beauty and drama.

Like something out of a bad acid trip, this Ukraine hallway has been covered in hallucinatory phantasmagoria.

This hill is known for its connection to the occult in Slavic tradition.

One of the world’s best microminiaturist, Nicolaï Siadristy displays his lifetime of tiny creations in this museum.

A Kyiv-based repository for all manners of discarded curiosities.

An Art Nouveau building covered in animal gargoyles and grotesques.

A small but hugely whimsical theater where marionettes play out the "The Battle of Stalingrad."

Unusual building appears to be haphazardly built from randomly piled bricks.

One man’s collection of photography books has transformed into a charming exhibition space.

Despite producing just a handful of movies, a brave and lyrical filmmaker has an entire museum dedicated to him.

China's beehive-shaped pyramids house the remains of a lost kingdom.

A favorite haunt of Delhi's politicos and intellectuals, this old-school coffee shop was shut down under Indira Gandhi's Emergency.

This beautiful 16th-century necropolis marks an astonishing feat in heritage conservation.

Made by a man on a worldwide sanitation crusade.