Visit the Basilica Cistern

Istanbul's six-minareted mosque.

Colonnaded temple in the middle of Luxor, best at night when the pharaonic statues and obelisk are floodlit.

White travertine terraces and pools.

Rock-cut cave temples in Maharashtra, crowned by the monolithic Kailasa temple.

Eighth-century Buddhist temple of stone pagodas and painted halls, paired with the Seokguram grotto Buddha above it.

Towering 9th-century Hindu temple compound near Yogyakarta.

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.