Eighth-century Buddhist temple of stone pagodas and painted halls, paired with the Seokguram grotto Buddha above it.
Fourth-century monastery where Mesrop Mashtots opened the first Armenian school.
Mongolia’s oldest Buddhist monastery, walled by 108 stupas on the site of Genghis Khan’s capital, Karakorum.
Ninth-century mosque with the spiralling Malwiya minaret.
One of Islam’s oldest and grandest mosques, glittering with gold mosaics.
The only Greco-Roman colonnaded temple in the former Soviet Union, first-century, above the basalt columns of the Garni gorge.
Ancient city of the Patriarchs.
Angkor Thom’s central temple, where 200 giant serene stone faces stare from 54 towers.
The "citadel of women": pink sandstone carved so finely it is called the jewel of Khmer art.
Eleventh-century cathedral with original mosaics, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Nubian Aswan’s feluccas and islands, plus the Temple of Isis moved stone by stone to escape the rising Nile.
Judaism’s holiest prayer site, the retaining wall of the Second Temple.
Colonnaded temple in the middle of Luxor, best at night when the pharaonic statues and obelisk are floodlit.
Towering 9th-century Hindu temple compound near Yogyakarta.
Sunken Byzantine reservoir under Istanbul, its columns rising from black water.
Rock-cut cave temples in Maharashtra, crowned by the monolithic Kailasa temple.
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