St. Ermin’s Hotel
A Grade II-listed late Victorian mansion block in Westminster, St. Ermin’s Hotel served as the birthplace of the Special Operations Executive and a Cold War espionage hub.
Van Horne Mansion
A classical greystone mansion on Montreal’s Sherbrooke Street, home to Canadian Pacific Railway president Sir William Cornelius Van Horne from 1889 until its controversial demolition in 1973.
Stāmeriena Palace
A Historicist palace rebuilt in French Neo-Renaissance style after the 1905 Russian Revolution, Stāmeriena housed the author of *The Leopard* and remains one of Latvia’s finest architectural achievements.
Road Island Diner
A 1939 Art Deco streamline diner by Jerry O’Mahony, displayed at the 1939 World’s Fair and restored in Oakley, Utah. The only pre-war O’Mahony diner surviving west of the Mississippi River.
Kelaghayi silk headscarves
Kelaghayi is a silk headscarf bearing traditional prints, created and worn by Azerbaijani and Armenian women as an expression of cultural identity and regional heritage.
Songket
Hand-woven silk and cotton interlaced with gold or silver threads, songket is a shimmering brocade textile worn across Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei for formal occasions and ceremony.
Krama weaving
The krama is a multipurpose Cambodian textile woven in traditional gingham patterns, worn as scarf, headwrap, and child’s hammock by all ages—and designated the national symbol.
Aleppo soap
A handmade hard bar soap crafted from olive oil and laurel berry oil, Aleppo soap represents centuries of Syrian artisanal knowledge and skilled practice.
Lithuanian cross-crafting
Lithuanian kryždirbiai carve intricate oak-wood crosses that blend Catholic spirituality with national identity, a tradition inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Albanian iso-polyphony
A vocal music tradition in which singers perform simultaneous, independent melodic lines—rooted in ancient lamentation and central to southern Albanian identity.