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While Newgrange may be the most famous Neolithic passage tomb in Ireland, Loughcrew is one of the most fabled. Around 3300-2900 BC, rock cairns were piled high atop four hills that sit side-by-side in modern-day County Meath. These hills are known as Slieve na Calliagh, or “Mountains of the Witch.” Legend says that a giant […]
Tucked away in the heart of Birkenhead, Birkenhead Priory is like a hidden gem of medieval history that somehow feels both grand and humble at the same time. This is the oldest standing building on Merseyside, and if stones could talk, they’d probably have a lot of great stories to tell. The priory was founded […]
The southeastern corner of the island of Sicily is home to the Necropolis of Pantalica, a collection of cemeteries with rock-cut chamber tombs. There are thought to be just under 4,000 tombs in the area, dating from the 13th to the 7th centuries BC. The area is of archaeological significance, and it is also a nature […]
The Mdina Dungeons Museum has taken a much campier approach to teaching history than some of Malta’s more serious museums. It is located within the historic walled city of Mdina underneath the Magisterial Palace (also known as the Vilhena Palace). The construction of this building was commissioned in the 1720s by Grand Master Antonio Manoel […]
When the Knights of St. John controlled the islands of Malta, they oversaw the construction of many public works buildings that would benefit the general populace. One of their projects was the construction of windmills for providing flour, and these buildings became central parts of the villages in which they were located. These Maltese windmills […]
Seven hundred feet above the banks of the Colorado River, hikers can find what looks like a collection of square windows cut into the sandstone. The carvings were made around the year 1100 by the Ancestral Puebloan people. The cutouts served as grain storage facilities that were designed to be sealed, protecting food stores from seasonal flooding, […]
Carved into a hillside from a single white chalk slab, the underground mosque of Shakpak Ata is a century-spanning collaboration across religions. It sits inside of a cave that would look at home on the moon. The porous cream-white cave bears the marks of its inhabitants, each group imprinting their own symbolism and composing their […]
Amongst the chambers, halls, and squares of Lincoln’s Inn, amidst the beauty and bustle of London’s legal district, stands the diminutive Ostler’s Hut. This unassuming cabin, built in 1860, is the remnant of an essential employment of a bygone era. Lincoln’s Inn is one of London’s four Inns of Court, professional associations for barristers, serving […]
Olavinlinna, or St. Olaf’s Castle, is a 15th-century fortress in southeastern Finland. It stands on an island in a strait that connects two major lakes. Built by Swedes in 1475 close to the contemporary border with Russia, the castle played a strategic role. Initially a small fortress with three thickset round towers (the first of […]
Quite a few of London’s buildings seem relatively ordinary from the outside but are actually quite extraordinary on the inside—London Scottish House is one such building. The exterior makes the London Scottish House look like an average office building, but the interior features a unique multi-story Victorian-era military drill hall that has been given a […]