A collection of 285 photographs across 50 places in 12 regions, spanning historic mosques and cities, regions, and landmarks on six continents. Each place includes researched history, cultural context, and notes.
3 photos. The Grand Anwar Mosque is the largest and oldest mosque in Addis Ababa, sitting on Kenya Street in the Merkato — Africa's largest open-air market. Recognizable by its white-and-green color scheme and multiple domes, it is the capital's main congregational center, drawing thousand
3 photos. The Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso ('Dioulassoba') is one of West Africa's finest surviving examples of Sudano-Sahelian mud-brick architecture, built around 1880 in the historic Dioulassoba quarter, the founding heart of the old city. Its bristling wooden torons and two tapering
3 photos. The King Fahd Islamic Cultural Center (Centro Cultural Islámico Rey Fahd) in the upscale Palermo district is the largest mosque complex in Latin America. Inaugurated in 2000 as a gift from Saudi Arabia on land donated by Argentina, locals call it simply 'la mezquita de Palermo.'
3 photos. The Da'wah Mosque (Mezquita Aldawaa Islámica) is the principal Sunni mosque of Guatemala City and the central hub for the country's small Muslim community of roughly 2,000, who are mostly of Palestinian origin. It offers the five daily prayers and Islamic education on Avenida la
3 photos. The Jamia Mosque is the principal Friday mosque of Harar Jugol, the walled old city of Harar in eastern Ethiopia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Held to be among the oldest mosques in a city sometimes called 'the fourth holiest city of Islam,' its twin minarets and white domes
4 photos. The Abdallah Mosque is the first and principal purpose-dedicated mosque in Cuba, opened in 2015 in a converted colonial building in Old Havana that had previously housed an antique-automobile museum. It is a modest one-story building, a milestone for Cuba's small, largely convert
6 photos. Ar-Rahma ('Mercy') is the first and main mosque of Kyiv, built 1996–2000 and fully opened in 2011 on the slopes of Mount Shchekavytsia in the historic Tatarka neighborhood. With its blue dome, copper-clad subsidiary domes, a 27-meter minaret, and stained glass, it serves a commun
3 photos. The Minsk Cathedral Mosque is the largest mosque in Belarus. Opened in November 2016, it is a faithful reconstruction of a historic 1901–1902 Tatar mosque the Soviets demolished in 1962, and was completed largely as a gift from Turkey.
4 photos. Jamia Mosque is the largest and most prominent mosque in Nairobi and the historic center of Muslim religious life in Kenya. Built in a Mughal-influenced Indo-Islamic style with three silver domes, twin minarets, and extensive marble and Quranic inscriptions, it was completed in 1
3 photos. The Dzhumaya Mosque ('Friday Mosque') in central Plovdiv is one of the oldest and largest surviving Ottoman religious buildings in the Balkans. Dating to the 14th–15th century, it is a rare nine-domed Ottoman mosque, still active at the head of the city's main pedestrian square.
5 photos. Areguá is a charming colonial lakeside town in Paraguay's Central Department, on the western shore of Lake Ypacaraí about 28 km from Asunción. Known as 'the City of Strawberries and Pottery,' it is celebrated for its red-clay ceramics, cobblestone streets, colorful colonial house
7 photos. Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay, set on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River. Founded in 1537, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in South America and is known as 'the Mother of Cities' for the many other settlements its expeditions found
7 photos. Buenos Aires is Argentina's capital and largest city, a sprawling, European-flavored metropolis on the western bank of the Río de la Plata. It is the birthplace of tango and a cultural powerhouse where Parisian-style boulevards and belle-époque mansions sit beside colorful workin
6 photos. The Perito Moreno Glacier is a vast, dramatic glacier in Los Glaciares National Park in southwestern Santa Cruz Province, Argentine Patagonia, about 78 km from the town of El Calafate. Roughly 250 square kilometers in area and 30 km long, it is one of the few glaciers on Earth th
7 photos. Salta is a colonial city in northwestern Argentina, nestled in the Lerma Valley at the foot of the Andes. Affectionately called 'Salta la Linda' (Salta the Beautiful), it is renowned for having some of the best-preserved Spanish colonial architecture in the country. The city is a
6 photos. Concepcion de Ataco is a small mountain town in western El Salvador's Ahuachapan department, the most charming stop along the scenic Ruta de las Flores. It is famed for cobblestone streets lined with vivid murals, a cool highland climate, artisan workshops and some of the country
7 photos. Cantarranas, officially part of the municipality of San Juan de Flores, is a small Honduran town about an hour from Tegucigalpa, famous as the country's 'City of Murals.' More than 100 murals painted by artists from across Central America and beyond cover its building facades, tu
11 photos. San Salvador is the capital and largest city of El Salvador, set in a volcanic valley beneath the San Salvador Volcano. One of the oldest capitals in Central America, it blends Spanish colonial heritage, Mesoamerican roots and a striking modernist landmark, the Iglesia El Rosario
6 photos. Tegucigalpa is the capital of Honduras, a former colonial silver-mining town set in a valley at about 990 meters and ringed by rugged mountains. Its historic core mixes Baroque colonial churches with modern political life, and the nearby Basilica of Suyapa is the spiritual heart
6 photos. Valle de Angeles is a beautifully preserved colonial mining town in Honduras's Francisco Morazan department, about 22 km northeast of Tegucigalpa. At around 4,300 feet elevation amid pine forests, it offers a cool, pine-scented escape and is the country's premier destination for
5 photos. The Avenue of the Baobabs is a striking row of giant Grandidier's baobabs (Adansonia grandidieri) lining the dirt road between Morondava and Belon'i Tsiribihina in western Madagascar's Menabe region. One of the country's most photographed natural landmarks, the towering trees are
5 photos. Nosy Be ('big island' in Malagasy) is a volcanic island off the northwest coast of Madagascar in the Mozambique Channel, and the country's most popular tourist destination. Nicknamed the 'perfumed island,' it is famed for ylang-ylang plantations, crater lakes, white-sand beaches,
5 photos. Sossusvlei is a salt-and-clay pan ringed by towering red sand dunes in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, deep in the ancient Namib Desert of Namibia. Its crimson dunes, among the tallest on Earth, and the eerie petrified-tree pan of Deadvlei make it one of Africa's most iconic an
5 photos. Swakopmund is a coastal town in Namibia where the dunes of the Namib Desert meet the cold Atlantic Ocean. Founded as the German colony's main port, it is famed for its remarkably preserved German colonial architecture, palm-lined streets, and role as Namibia's adventure-sports pl
6 photos. Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan and the largest city on the Caspian Sea, famous as a "Land of Fire" built on one of the world's oldest oil regions. It blends a medieval walled core with extravagant 21st-century architecture, and at 28 metres below sea level it is the lowest-lyi
5 photos. Icherisheher, the walled Old City of Baku, is the historic heart of the Azerbaijani capital and the country's first UNESCO World Heritage Site (2000). Enclosed by 12th-century fortress walls, it preserves the enigmatic Maiden Tower and the elegant Palace of the Shirvanshahs withi
6 photos. Noravank is a 13th-14th century Armenian monastery set in a narrow gorge of brick-red cliffs in the Amaghu valley, about 122 km southeast of Yerevan near Yeghegnadzor. It is renowned for its two-storey Surb Astvatsatsin church and the intricate carvings of the medieval master Mom
7 photos. Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, founded as the Urartian fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC. Known as the "Pink City" for the rose-coloured volcanic tuff of its buildings, it sits in the shadow of sacred Mount Ararat.
6 photos. Bobo-Dioulasso is Burkina Faso's second-largest city and its cultural and musical capital, set in the greener, hillier southwest of the country. It is famous for its mud-brick Grand Mosque, its old town of Kibidwe, and as host of the biennial National Culture Week.
5 photos. Dakar is the capital and largest city of Senegal, set on the Cap-Vert peninsula at the westernmost point of mainland Africa. Long the cultural and commercial hub of French-speaking West Africa, it is an energetic Atlantic port where music, fashion, art, and the memory of the tran
7 photos. Ouagadougou, affectionately called 'Ouaga,' is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the historic seat of the Mossi kingdoms. A sprawling Sahelian metropolis of over three million people, it is best known across the continent as the home of FESPACO, Africa's largest fi
6 photos. Saint-Louis (Ndar) is a historic city in northern Senegal built on an island at the mouth of the Senegal River, separated from the Atlantic by the long sandspit known as the Langue de Barbarie. The first permanent French settlement in West Africa, its grid of colonial streets and
8 photos. Castries is the capital and largest city of Saint Lucia, set around a deep natural harbour that long made it a prized Caribbean naval base. It is home to the bustling Castries Market, the grand Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, and serves as the gateway to the island's famo
6 photos. St. George's is the capital and largest city of Grenada, wrapped around a horseshoe-shaped harbour within an old volcanic crater on the 'Spice Island.' Its picturesque Carenage waterfront, colorful hillside houses and 18th-century forts make it one of the most beautiful port citi
7 photos. Chișinău is the capital and largest city of Moldova, set on the Bîc River in the center of the country. A leafy, low-key city, it mixes 19th-century neoclassical architecture with Soviet-era monumentalism and onion-domed Orthodox churches. It is the cultural and political heart o
7 photos. Kraków is Poland's former royal capital and one of Central Europe's best-preserved historic cities, set on the Vistula River in the country's south. Its medieval Old Town, royal Wawel Hill, and Jewish quarter of Kazimierz form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it survived World W
17 photos. Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland, a resilient metropolis on the Vistula River that was almost entirely destroyed in World War II and meticulously rebuilt. Its faithfully reconstructed Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrated as a symbol of the nation's
8 photos. Kuwait City is the capital and primary urban centre of Kuwait, a Gulf port that grew from a pearl-diving and trading town into a modern oil-wealthy metropolis. It is best known for the iconic Kuwait Towers, the vast Grand Mosque, and the historic Souq Al-Mubarakiya.
6 photos. Muscat is the capital of Oman, an ancient Indian Ocean trading port set dramatically between rugged dark mountains and the Gulf of Oman. It is celebrated for the magnificent Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the atmospheric Mutrah Souq and Corniche, and Portuguese-era harbour forts.
5 photos. The Sharqiya Sands (formerly Wahiba Sands) is a vast desert region in eastern Oman, a few hours' drive from Muscat, covering roughly 12,500 square kilometres of rolling dunes. It is the traditional homeland of Bedouin tribes and a prime destination for desert safaris and camping
7 photos. Lyon is France's third-largest city, sitting at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers in east-central France. Renowned as the country's gastronomic capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it blends Roman ruins, an exceptionally well-preserved Renaissance old town, and a
5 photos. Marseille is France's oldest city and its largest Mediterranean port, founded around 600 BC by Greek settlers. A sun-soaked, multicultural metropolis on the southern coast, it is defined by its ancient Vieux-Port (Old Port), the hilltop basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde, and the
5 photos. Reykjavik is the capital and largest city of Iceland, and the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state, sitting on the shore of Faxaflói bay in the southwest of the country. Despite its small size it is the cultural, political, and economic heart of Iceland, known for it
5 photos. The South Coast of Iceland, centered on the village of Vík í Mýrdal, is one of the country's most dramatic and visited stretches of landscape. Along this section of the Ring Road lie thundering waterfalls, jet-black volcanic beaches, towering basalt sea stacks, and glaciers desce
7 photos. Toulouse, in southwestern France on the banks of the Garonne, is nicknamed 'La Ville Rose' (the Pink City) for its distinctive terracotta-brick architecture that glows pink and orange in the sun. It is the capital of the Occitanie region and the European capital of the aerospace
0 photos. Mexico City is the capital of Mexico and one of the largest urban areas in the world, built directly atop the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. Its vast central plaza, the Zocalo, sits where the Aztec ceremonial center once stood, and the excavated Templo Mayor lies just s
8 photos. Montreal is the largest city in Quebec and the second-largest in Canada, a predominantly French-speaking metropolis on an island in the St. Lawrence River. It blends Old World European charm, especially in cobblestoned Old Montreal, with a vibrant arts, festival and food scene. I
7 photos. Puebla, formally Puebla de los Angeles, is a colonial city in central Mexico at the foot of the Popocatepetl volcano, celebrated for its Baroque architecture, hand-painted Talavera tilework and remarkable cuisine. Founded in 1531 on open ground rather than atop an Indigenous city
6 photos. Toronto is Canada's largest city and the capital of Ontario, a sprawling, ultra-diverse metropolis on the north shore of Lake Ontario. It is the country's financial and cultural engine, instantly recognized by the slender silhouette of the CN Tower rising above its glass-and-stee
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