Jesus, there are so many. For me, it's more about the location of the structure and the experience than the structure itself, I guess.

Probably Prodromos Monastery, a cliffside monks' dwelling in the middle of the Peloponnese, in Greece. It just kind of hangs there. Still active. We walked the entire day via the Lousios Gorge. Even if you were to drive, the end of the road is fairly far (20 mins of stairs and trails?), so it feels off-piste and relatively remote compared to say, the slightly more impressive monasteries at Meteora. The frescoes inside are pretty incredible, as is all the old wood. And the monks will serve you coffee:

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/greece/ark ... 51/1316570

Honorary mention: It's technically a three-building complex of madrasas, but the Registan, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, also ranks:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registan

Oohh.....

Probably the Pantheon, St Peter's Basilica and the Palace of Versailles.

Sagrada Familia, at any of the three stages of completion that I have seen over the course of about 30 years
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/bar ... 45257.html

kmc wrote: Sat Sep 20, 2025 7:17 am Sagrada Familia, at any of the three stages of completion that I have seen over the course of about 30 years
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/bar ... 45257.html

Yep. It's amazing. I have a friend who's vocally anti-Catholic for obvious reasons who has exclaimed that visiting the Sagrada Familia is supporting an abusive institution. He's kind of right. But that architecture though.....

Not quite the God tier Muslim-Catholic hybrids of Spain mentioned above, but Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is striking.

Machu Picchu has a powerful effect on a visitor but more as a collection of small buildings in a site than one grandiose structure. The Incan walls anywhere you see them could blow a mason's mind. They appear to be random boulders found far and wide that happen to lock together like puzzle pieces that will be standing in future millenia when New York and Paris are just rubble covered in weeds.

losthighway wrote: Sat Sep 20, 2025 8:03 am

kmc wrote: Sat Sep 20, 2025 7:17 am Sagrada Familia, at any of the three stages of completion that I have seen over the course of about 30 years
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/bar ... 45257.html

Yep. It's amazing. I have a friend who's vocally anti-Catholic for obvious reasons who has exclaimed that visiting the Sagrada Familia is supporting an abusive institution. He's kind of right. But that architecture though.....

Fuxache.

Castlerigg Stone Circle, Cumbria.
You can feel the energetic vibration as soon as you enter the circle. I've felt this before at Woodhenge, but it's much more powerful here.

It's situated in a field of sheep. As you walk across the field to get to the circle, there was sheepshit everywhere. Inside the circle however, there was none. (Cue twilight zone music)

losthighway wrote: Sat Sep 20, 2025 8:09 am Not quite the God tier Muslim-Catholic hybrids of Spain mentioned above, but Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is striking.

Machu Picchu has a powerful effect on a visitor but more as a collection of small buildings in a site than one grandiose structure. The Incan walls anywhere you see them could blow a mason's mind. They appear to be random boulders found far and wide that happen to lock together like puzzle pieces that will be standing in future millenia when New York and Paris are just rubble covered in weeds.

Totally agree... on Gehry's Guggenheim stops you in your tracks. MP is on my short list to see

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Fri Sep 19, 2025 10:54 am Honorary mention: It's technically a three-building complex of madrasas, but the Registan, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, also ranks:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registan

Christ I want to go to Central Asia.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote:

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Fri Sep 19, 2025 10:54 am Honorary mention: It's technically a three-building complex of madrasas, but the Registan, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, also ranks:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registan

Christ I want to go to Central Asia.

I forgot that I had been there long ago until this post popped up, because my memory (for my own life) is frustratingly faulty.