ruins

View of a large cliff dwelling tucked into a large cave: many ruined walls with gaps for windows.

Mesa Verde National Park

Ruins of ancient cliff dwellings used over a thousand years ago by Ancestral Pueblo people.

View down a hill with mountains in the background. On the hill below some of the ruins are visible: the amphitheater and some columns and low walls.

Archaeological Site of Delphi

An important religious site for ancient Greeks, who considered it the center of the world.

Looking through a thick stone doorway to a row of arches and through them to the palace in the distance.

Anjar

Remains of an 8th-century Umayyad town that offers insight into Umayyad town planning and architecture.

Semi-circular rings of stone benches slant down to the circular stage area at the bottom.

The Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus

Ruins of an ancient place of healing, with a huge and still intact Greek theater.

A ruined temple in stone, with tall pillars holding up a pediment, that is mostly broken off.

Acropolis, Athens

The most famous remnant of ancient Greece, standing high above the city of Athens.

A very tall and very steep stone pyramid with a flat top.

Pre-Hispanic Town of Uxmal

Four sets of pre-Columbian ruins that exemplify Mayan art and architecture when Mayan civilization was at its height.

The Library of Celsus seen from close by: columns frame 4 doorways on the ground floor and 3 on the upper floor. Each set of pillars holds a square pediment over the door.

Ephesus

An ancient port city with ruins from the Greek, Roman and early Christian periods.

A view down a street of pretty 2-story buildings.

Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica

A city with the traces of three thousand years of civilization.

A temple with a tall pyramid-shaped roof, covered in carvings.

Great Living Chola Temples

Three outstanding 11th-12th-century temples covered with carvings depicting elements of Hindu mythology.

View from a high point looking down on one of the temple ruins at Copan.

Maya Site of Copan

Once the capital of a vast Mayan kingdom, now a large complex containing beautiful ruins of altars and stelae.

An extremely large burial mound with 2 entrances in the middle. The sides are a story tall and in a round shape, the top is grass-covered and dome-shaped.

Brú na Bóinne – Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne

The largest concentration of prehistoric Neolithic tombs in Europe.

Tombs cut into a cliff: several stories tall, with just a doorway in each, and decorative carving around doors and top of each.

Petra

A 2000-year-old Nabatean archeological site with hundreds of tombs and temples carved from sandstone cliffs.

Panama Viejo fortification ruins: stone walls and a tall square tower.

Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo and Historic District of Panamá

A Spanish colonial city: the first permanent European settlement in the Western Hemisphere.

Old City of Acre

An ancient walled city where Ottoman structures were built on top of a Crusader-era fortress.

Upper Middle Rhine Valley

A beautiful portion of the Rhine River with centuries of history evident in its vineyards, castles and villages.

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.

An archway, with the arch standing on a pillar on each side.

The Caliphate City of Medina Azahara

Ruins of a 10th-century fortified Umayyad city.

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.

Archaeological Area of Agrigento

An exceptional collection of ancient Greek temples dating to the 5th century BC.

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 the extensive ruin of Fountains Abbey at Studley Park.

Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey

A beautifully-landscaped Georgian garden and a well-preserved medieval monastic ruin.

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.

A cluster of red earth buildings with few windows, on the side of a hill. Decorative features carved around the tops of the buildings. Above them, on top of the hill, stone walls of a fortress.

Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou

A largely intact earthen fortified village that lends insight into traditional Moroccan life.

A stone bridge across a river, made of 3 rows of Romanesque arches. The bottom and middle rows are quite large arches; the top row has more arches and they're considerably smaller.

Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct)

A 3-tiered stone aqueduct and bridge that demonstrates Roman-era construction processes.

In a museum, on a small stand, a carved statue of a cow or ox. It's quite detailed in terms of the muscles that show, and the animal's face. It is missing two legs.

Archaeological Site of Olympia

Ruins of an important temple complex dedicated to Zeus, and the site of the first Olympic games.

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.

Persepolis

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

Part of the "palace" complex shows 3 buildings, one story, built of stone, standing on a a stepped platform, also of stone.

Pre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque

Mayan ruins, outstanding particularly because of their well-preserved architecture and elegant art.

Ruins of a temple, with tall columns supporting ornate pediments.

Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape

A collection of 9 archeological sites covering several historical periods of an important city’s grand monuments.

A reconstructed sod house has straight walls and a rounded roof.

L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site

The first proven European settlement in North America, established 1000 years ago in Newfoundland.

A sloped landscape with a scattering of ruins: a well is visible, and a small building, as well as foundations of more buildings and some retaining walls at Troy Archaeological Site.

Archaeological Site of Troy

Excavation of the ancient Greek city of Troy, site of the Trojan War.

Su Nuraxi di Barumini

Ruins of a Bronze Age society that built unique circular defensive structures.

Delos

Extensive archeological site of an ancient Greek commercial center on an Aegean island.

At Portobelo, and entrance gateway: The arch stands, and some walls, but in very bad condition.

Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo

Ruins of Spanish colonial-era fortifications extending along the Caribbean coastline of Panama.

My Son Sanctuary

Evocative ruins of Champa kingdom Hindu temples, elaborately carved, with brick towers.

Two large arches in the center serve as the gateway. Two floors above lined with arched windows, an extra floor forms a short tower on the left side of the gateway. The whole is made of carved stone that looks dirty.

Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier

A collection of Roman ruins showing the importance of the “Rome of the North” in Germany.