Rising on a rocky spur beneath the Mokattam hills, dominating the skyline of Cairo, stands one of the great medieval Islamic fortresses of the world: the Citadel of Cairo, the

In the northwest corner of the ancient walled city of Damascus, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, stands a great medieval fortress that has guarded the Syrian

There is no other place on earth quite like the Forbidden City. For nearly five centuries it was the most secret and exclusive spot in the world, the sealed heart

Snaking for thousands of kilometres across the mountains, deserts and grasslands of northern China is the greatest fortification ever built by human hands: the Great Wall of China. Raised and

Some monuments impress you with their beauty, others with their age, but the Great Wall of China overwhelms you with something rarer: sheer, almost incomprehensible scale, sustained across an almost

A short boat ride from the city of Dakar, off the coast of Senegal, lies a small and beautiful island whose name has become synonymous with one of the greatest

Some places hold a few centuries of history; the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long holds a thousand years. In the heart of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, this great walled

Some places hold both the glory and the tragedy of a nation within their walls, and the Imperial City of Hue is one of them. Spread along the banks of

Rising above the Moskva River in the very centre of Moscow, its mighty red walls and towers enclosing a glittering treasure house of golden-domed cathedrals and grand palaces, stands the

On a high, dry plateau on the southern coast of Peru, one of the most enigmatic works of the ancient world lies etched into the desert floor. Across kilometres of