Engaging a selection of narratives from the episodic novel Seibo There Below (2008) by László Krasznahorkai, this paper discusses how literature can enable the atmospheric presencing of architectural monuments. It examines how the reader can partake of the multilayered atmosphere of three famous places of heritage, that are spatial manifestations of different civilizations: the Athenian Acropolis (Greece), the Ise Grand Shrine (Japan) and the palace of Alhambra (Spain). The paper unpacks atmospheric descriptions related to these monuments, through the affective and emotional accounts of the novel’s characters. By doing so, it allows architects, historians and theoreticians to understand significant places under a light that may even contradict canonized interpretations.