World Scholar

I asked my followers what their favorite medieval building was. Here's what they said (in no particular order)... 1. Sainte-Chapelle, France (1248)

Did you know that Michelangelo hated painting the Sistine Chapel so much that he wrote a poem to complain about it. He shared his discomfort to his friend Giovanni, saying: “[My] spine’s all knotted from folding myself over.”

You’ve seen the Tower. But the cathedral? Older, grander —And covered in gold since 1602. 📸:Abs

This floor contains 400 tombs of the great Knights of Malta, decorated with polychrome marble and bearing the knights' emblems. Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Valletta (1608 AD).

There are few things on Earth more impressive than medieval castles. Bamburgh Castle, England (1095)

The mesmerizing rose window of the Notre-Dame de Paris.

Andrea Pozzo's ceiling is one of the greatest optical illusions in Rome. It looks like there's multiple layers but this is all painted on a flat canvas.

Romania has some of the greatest castles in Europe. Here's Corvin Castle. It was built in 1446, is the largest medieval building in the country and was said to have imprisoned Vlad the Impaler during his exile.

Is this the most breathtaking library in the world? Admont Abbey Library, Austria (1776)

I like medieval history.

Reminder: Gloucester Cathedral is more than 500 years old. This is what peak medieval architecture in England looked like.

The timeless beauty of Haussmann architecture

Some 11km from Perigueux and one hour's drive from Angoulême, at the end of a long drive flanked by well-kept woods, stands the Château de Bories. Its construction began at the dawn of the Renaissance in 1497.

This ceiling isn't CGI. It's the Farnese Palace in Caprarola, Italy.

Why don't all train stations look like this? Antwerp, Belgium