A man set wood on fire to prepare for worshippers to walk barefoot over burning coals during the Nine Emperor Gods festival at a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, October 7, 2024. (Photo by Vincent Thian/AP Photo)

Shortlist, open competition, lifestyle. Healing Vibes – the hot springs of Bagno Vignoni in Italy flow out at a temperature of about 49°C. They were appreciated by the Romans for their healing powers, and have been used as therapeutic treatments since the 12th century, under Emperor Federico II. (Photo by Stefano Butturini/Sony World Photography Awards)

A media member looks at a humanoid robot portraying the Qin emperor Qin Shi Huang, during an organised media tour to Robot Mall, a store selling humanoid and other robots, in Beijing, China on August 6, 2025. (Photo by Florence Lo/Reuters)

A cat looks on near the Victory Pillar at the ruins of the Serapeum of Alexandria, an ancient Greek temple dating to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (246 BC – 391 AD) dedicated to the city's protector deity Serapis, in Egypt's northern coastal city of Alexandria on November 24, 2023. The giant Corinthian column, commonly misidentified as “Pompey's Pillar”, is a Roman triumphal column set up in honour of the Roman emperor Diocletian (298–302 AD), and originally supported a colossal porphyry statue of the emperor in armour. (Photo by Amir Makar/AFP Photo)

A young Chinese girl kicks during a kung-fu class at Ritan Park on June 11, 2016 in Beijing, China. Ritan, meaning “sun altar”, is among the oldest parks in Beijing, built in the early 1500s during the Ming dynasty for the emperor to make sacrifices to the sun. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

“HA Schult, born Hans-Jürgen Schult on June 24, 1939 in Parchim, Mecklenburg is a German installation, happening and conceptual artist known primarily for his object and performance art and more specifically his work with garbage”. – Wikipedia

Photo: German artist Ha Schult stands with his “trash people” below the pyramids May 15, 2002 in Giza, Egypt. Inspired by the statues of the terracotta army of Chinese Emperor Quin Shi Huangdi (247–206 B.C.), the thousand piece sulpture has stood in Red Square in Moscow, La Defense in Paris and the Great Wall in China. Schult, born in 1939 wants to bring the “trash war” to the world's attention beause trash is the greatest battle facing mankind. (Photo by Norbert Schiller/Getty Images)

More than 700 underwater images were submitted for the 2012 Annual Underwater Photography Contest, hosted by the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. This year, for the first time, the University of Miami set up a “Fan Favorite” category for its underwater photo competition. Internet users could vote for their favorite among five pictures. Todd Aki's photo of a jellyfish took the prize, snaring 599 of the 1,221 votes cast. (Photo by Todd Aki)

People walk behind the Medusa head in the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkey, 24 July 2022. The site has been restored by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and is now open for visitors again. The Byzantine structure was commissioned by Emperor Justinian and built in 532. The underground Basilica, also called Underground Cistern, is the largest well preserved cistern in Istanbul, which rests on a total of 336 columns. According to historical texts, more than 7,000 slaves were involved in the construction of the cistern. (Photo by Sedat Suna/EPA/EFE)