Rachel Heller

Full front view of the Wurzburg Residence: a massive palace, several stories tall and extremely wide. A symmetrical design with a round dome above the entrance and smaller domes at each end.

Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens and Residence Square

A magnificent 18th-century baroque palace and accompanying garden.

A red temple with the traditional curved roof lines, one flight up on pillars.

Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long – Hanoi

The remains of what was the center of political power in Vietnam for over a thousand years.

A person follows a boardwalk along the right side of the picture passing, on the left, a series of waterfalls into a pool of clear water.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Stunning waterfalls and lakes formed by natural tufa barriers.

Socotra Archipelago

Four Indian Ocean islands with extraordinary biodiversity and distinct endemic species.

Close-up of an orangutan: face and upper torso.

Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra

Three national parks that protect a wide range of endemic flora and fauna, including endangered species.

Saint Sophia Cathedral seen from directly centered. White with green domes and one central gold dome.

Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

An Orthodox Christian cathedral and monastery dating back to the 11th century.

A gateway into Brimstone Hill Fortress, an archway topped by a flag.

Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park

A 17th-century British fort built by imported African slaves to defend St. Kitts against the French.

A wide, white low building of about 5 stories with the ground floor on pillars to allow traffic through.

Berlin Modernism Housing Estates

Apartment complexes designed in the early 20th century to improve living conditions for low-income families.

View of Torun, Poland from across the water: a pretty cluster of medieval buildings.

Medieval Town of Toruń

An intact 13th-century Old Town and New Town – the former was a trading hub, the latter a craft center – plus a Teutonic castle ruin.

A view of a cluster of half-timbered buildings with balconies and flower boxes.

Strasbourg, Grande-Île and Neustadt

Two districts, one exemplifying medieval cities, the other a model of modern city planning.

Looking through prison bars into a cell: a mat on the floor, a small table, and a round can with a lid.

Robben Island

A former prison; now a symbol of resistance to and, ultimately, triumph over South Africa’s apartheid system.

A row of pretty buildings, 3-4 stories high, along a river in Bamberg.

Town of Bamberg

A beautifully intact medieval city center with over 1000 historic buildings as well as an early example of urban farming.

View of a room without a roof, walls of large stone blocks.

Masada

A 2000-year-old desert palace complex with a dramatic story of Jewish resistance against Roman rule.

A red-brick factory building with a tall chimney next to it.

Derwent Valley Mills

A series of early cotton mills that represent the birth of the factory system at the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Kaziranga National Park

A riverine wildlife refuge that is home to many rare and threatened species, including the one-horned rhinoceros.

The sign marking the site reading "Redwood National and State Park" carved in wood.

Redwood National and State Parks

Four nature reserves that combine to protect the oldest and tallest trees in the world.

A group of temples, each with a pointed roof, at Ayutthaya

Historic City of Ayutthaya

A 14th-18th century city that served as a seat of the Siamese royal court and whose art and architecture show international influences.

View of rice terraces in parallel rows up the side of a mountain.

Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras

A living cultural landscape that has endured for 2000 years.

A large gateway, arched, with decorative elements both around and under the arch.

Fatehpur Sikri

An ancient city that is a masterpiece of Mughal architecture.

Baroque towers on the Abbey's cathedral.

Abbey of St. Gall

An 8th-century monastery with a beautiful Baroque cathedral and an ancient library.

Kilimanjaro National Park

A spectacular nature preserve centered around Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa.

A view along the water with some white colonial buildings in the distance and a lighthouse beyond them.

Old Town of Galle and its Fortifications

A charming and well-preserved colonial fortified city in Sri Lanka.

Sulaiman-Too Sacred Mountain

A small mountain with a very long history as a sacred site.

Gently rolling hills covered with rows of grapevines, very green, and a small village on one of the hills with a tall church spire.

Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene

A uniquely beautiful landscape of hills and valleys, with vineyards and wineries producing world-famous Prosecco wines.

Harlech castle, in this view, has two round corner towers still more or less intact, and the wall between them too, with a doorway and two rows of windows above that.

Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd

Four castles in Wales, fine examples of medieval defensive architecture, all built under orders of King Edward I.

The church is primarily rectangular shapes, with no high church tower, but all of the edges - the roof lines and the windows - are embellished with detailed gothic-style stone lacework.

Monastery of Batalha

A well-preserved and impressive masterpiece of Late Flamboyant Gothic architecture with Manueline Baroque elements.

Below where this photo was shot is a line of large statues of saints along the edge of the church's roof. Beyond that is Saint Peter's square, which is round, with pillared colonnades around the sides, except the far section which is open to a straight boulevard. The city of Rome spreads very far in the distance.

Vatican City

A tiny city-state with a long history at the center of the Catholic Church and containing magnificent works of art and architecture.

The classic view of the Machu Picchu ruins: On a ridge that ends in a sharp peak, the steep walls of what was the citadel form terraces in the steep sides of the ridge. On a small flat area along the top of the ridge, the ruins of buildings.

Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu

Evocative Incan ruins in a magnificent mountainous setting.

A view toward the sea from El Morro shows the extreme thickness of the defensive wall.

La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico

Colonial-era structures that demonstrate defensive architecture as it was adapted from European designs for a tropical environment.

Persepolis

Ruins of what was a magnificent palace complex over 2000 years ago, capital of the Achaemenid Empire.

A hiker stands on a rocky trail in Sagarmantha National Park. She carries a backpack and leans on two walking sticks as she looks at the scenery: a view of a rocky, snow-capped mountain peak.

Sagarmatha National Park

Breathtakingly beautiful snow-capped mountains, including Mt Everest; endangered species; and a Nepali Sherpa population that practices Tibetan Buddhism.

In Valley of Flowers National Park, a field of pink flowers in the foreground, a range of mountains in the background, clouds hanging low over the peaks.

Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks

A vast nature reserve with breathtaking scenery, perfect for intrepid nature lovers.

A very elegant central entrance: stairs up to an arched doorway, a rose window above that, rows of statues on the ground floor and above the door, three square towers on top, all with detailed carved ornamentation. The rest of the building is much smaller and extends on both sides out of the picture, two stories tall with simple rows of windows.

Monastery of Alcobaça

A masterpiece of Gothic Cistercian art and architecture.

A long building with a row of columns all along the front like a Greek temple. In front of it, a fountain.

Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berlin

5 museums that demonstrate the evolution of museums and museum design.

The hall is large, with a row of pillars down the center and tall arched windows on either side. the pillars support a ceiling with gothic arches.

Maulbronn Monastery Complex

An intact and complete medieval monastery that demonstrates the transition from Romanesque to Gothic architecture.

A big view of mountains with snow in the sheltered parts against a cloudy sky in Glacier National Park.

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

Spectacular scenery and a showcase for the importance of international cooperation in protecting our planet’s wilderness.