In the very center of Tokyo, one of the largest and most modern cities on earth, lies an oasis of green surrounded by wide moats and ancient stone walls. Within

Once the seat of a vast Renaissance state and demolished under empire, the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania has risen again from its foundations in Vilnius.

Some castles are single buildings; Óbidos is a whole town wrapped in walls. In the center of Portugal, north of Lisbon, rises one of the most enchanting sights in the

For most of the second half of the fifteenth century, England tore itself apart. The crown changed hands again and again, kings were murdered, princes vanished, and the great noble

On the banks of the river Neva in St Petersburg, its long green-and-white facade stretching in imperial splendour along the water and the great square before it, stands the palace

The Royal Palace of Brussels is where the King of the Belgians works, a neoclassical seat of state famous for its throne room and a ceiling of a million beetle wings.

In the Franconian city of Würzburg, on the northern edge of Bavaria, stands a palace that many consider the single most perfect expression of the Baroque age in Germany. The

Explore the Zwinger in Dresden, the dazzling baroque palace of Augustus the Strong, famous for its galleries, pavilions, porcelain carillon, and world-class museums.

The smoke rising from Turkmen Mountain did not surprise the Turkish public a little. We had compatriots in Bulgaria, Greece and Iraq, but what was Syria? By the way, we

In Madurai stands the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal, a seventeenth-century palace of colossal pillars and rafterless domes, the surviving heart of a far greater wonder built by a Nayak king.