From large-scale land art to spiraling staircases, these are some of the world's most wondrous whorls. Let us know if you start to feel dizzy.
LessRobert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" is made of mud, salt crystals, basalt, and dirt. Though it extends a whopping 1,500 feet in the Great Salt Lake, it can only be seen under certain conditions.
This lavish 16th-century mansion has several spiral staircases, the most impressive of which is known as the Scala Regia. Inspired by a grand staircase at Pope Julius II’s Casino di Belvedere, the Scala Regia features frescoes by Antonio Tempesta and is large enough to be ascended by a mule or a small horse.
The ultra-modern chapel was designed by Japanese architect Hiroshi Nakamura who set out to create a building that could in itself evoke the coming together of marriage.
Within the Naturerbe Zentrum Rügen (Rügen Natural Heritage Center), a treetop view tower nicknamed the "Eagle’s Nest" is a stunning structure. A spiraling walkway surrounded by greenery slowly winds its way up and around a 100-foot-tall copper beech tree. The only thing more impressive is the incredible views from the top.
Built circa 3200 B.C., during the Neolithic era, these ancient tombs in the Boyne Valley in the Irish county of Meath predate Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Giza. Newgrange was built with astronomical alignment: On the morning of the winter solstice, the central chamber is briefly illuminated by the rising sun's rays.
In downtown Dallas, Thanks-Giving Square is a meditative and serene urban garden located 15 feet below ground level. Its spiritual center is the spiral-shaped Chapel of Thanksgiving, which explores unity while representing the diversity of different faith and traditions.
At 109 feet deep and 32 feet wide, the aptly-named Big Well is the largest hand-dug well in the United States. An illuminated spiral staircase leads visitors to the bottom of the well, which has been declared one of the eight wonders of Kansas.
Made out of rock and shaped like a corkscrew, this barn towers above the surrounding countryside, looking more like a medieval keep than a farm building.
With its spiraling facade, this tower essentially looks like a giant drill bit poking above the trees. Its purpose? To test new elevator technologies. The German lift manufacturer ThyssenKrupp began building this 800-foot-tall tower in 2014. It uses magnetic levitation to pull its ropeless elevators both horizontally and vertically.
Nothing seems to distinguish the two buildings situated on the 54 and 56 Boulevard Daguerre that seem to blend like chameleons into the urban landscape of Saint Etienne. But the two constructions known as Les Chalets de Bizillon hide an architectural curiosity; a helicoidal, gently sloping ramp serving the six stories, elevating its spiral as a mezzanine around a decorative indoor garden on the first floor.