Unique buildings

01

Sedlec Ossuary

A Czech church decorated with 40,000 human skeletons arranged into chandeliers, garlands, and a coat of arms — all assembled by a half-blind monk in 1870. The bones had to come from somewhere.

02

Palace of the Parliament

Ceaușescu bulldozed a fifth of Bucharest — 40,000 homes, 19 Orthodox churches, 6 synagogues — to build a palace so heavy the ground beneath Bucharest still sinks. It has 1,100 rooms no one uses.

03

Quinta da Regaleira

A Portuguese millionaire built an inverted tower tunneling 30 meters straight down into bedrock, lit by a single shaft of light, for Rosicrucian and Masonic initiation rituals. The estate has no church, only crypts.

04

Kowloon Walled City

33,000 people packed into 6.5 acres in Hong Kong with no government, no architect, and no building code — 14 stories of self-assembled concrete running dentists, heroin dens, and daycares simultaneously.

05

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Polish salt miners 64 meters underground carved a Gothic cathedral — vaulted ceilings, chandeliers, bas-relief altarpieces — entirely from salt over 700 years. Mass is still held there; the air tastes of the walls.

06

Alberobello

Apulian peasants built conical limestone roofs with no mortar so they could be legally dismantled within hours when tax inspectors approached. The roofs reassembled the same day. The Bourbon inspectors kept coming.

07

Winchester Mystery House

Sarah Winchester built stairs that dead-end into ceilings, doors that open to 10-foot drops, and a séance room with one entrance and three exits — reportedly to confuse the ghosts of Winchester rifle victims.

08

Coral Castle

Edward Leedskalnin, a 5-foot, 100-pound Latvian immigrant, quarried and erected 1,100 tons of coral blocks alone at night in Florida — then refused to explain how. He left no drawings.

09

Cretto di Burri

Alberto Burri entombed the ruins of Gibellina — destroyed by a 1968 earthquake that killed 231 — in white concrete, preserving every street and foundation. The town-shaped slab is now a kilometer-long sculpture no one lives in.

10

Ryugyong Hotel

North Korea's 105-story pyramid hotel has been under construction since 1987, was capped in 1992, and has never hosted a single guest — its empty windows visible from Pyongyang for 30 years like a concrete tombstone.