World’s Most Famous Buildings March 14, 2008
Posted by anagasto in building, history.trackback
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This is NOT a ranking, just a list of the buildings that most people would know where to place. They are not noted for their architecture, but for their meaning to past and present history — as seen from Europe.
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Architecture that many kids would know by the age of about 12
The Great Pyramids are tombs almost 5,000 years old. On the enlarged version you can see the horses trying to hide from the sun in the shadow of the stone blocks.
See the 5 mega photo by Liberato is under a CC Attribution license at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:All_Gizah_Pyramids.jpg
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The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 world fair in Paris. Its metal structure weighs 7 300 tons and it needs 50 to 60 tons of paint every seven years.
There is a great 5 mega picture where you can see every little detail of that gridwork and how it was put together:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Tour_Eiffel_Wikimedia_Commons.jpg
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The Great Wall of China is a fortress 1,500 miles long and 6 meters wide. More than a million men may have died in its construction.
The photo by Herbert Ponting is more than 100 years old. — It is in public domain according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Greatwall_large.jpg
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Bjoern Kriewald in public domain at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Chinesische-mauer.jpg/1280px-Chinesische-mauer.jpg
It is breath-taking in more than one way because of the inhuman effort in its construction and the beauty of its landscape
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The South fassade of the White House as photographed by Magnus Manske. Published under a CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WhiteHouseSouthFacade.JPG.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Sheeponthesouthlawn.jpg White House photograph in public domain http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/grounds/06.html
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The Lower Manhattan skyline as photographed by Diliff and
Published under a CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at http://commons.wikimedia.org
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Machu Picchu:
there is a falconer’s great blog post at Ladyhawker.blogspot.com/Machu-Picchu where you can see how they built their temples of cut and carved stone:
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Architecture that many people would know by the age of about 30
The Twin Towers by “Jeffmock”.
Published at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ under a CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported lice
In public domain at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:National_Park_Service_9-11_Statue_of_Liberty_and_WTC_fire.jpg The address is right, and yet I keep getting a 404 error
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The Kremlin.
The smaller photo above is no longer online.
The second picture is by Julia Velkova at http://www.world66.com/europe/russia/moscow/lib/gallery
The name means “citadel”. So there are kremlins in many Russian cities, but the one in Moscow is the most famous.
In 1987 a little white Cessna landed without authorization right in front of the Kremlin.The amateur pilot , 19 years old and a dreamer, came from Helsinki and had taken some flight instruction because he wanted to fly to Moscow. His name was Matthias Rust. The Russian radar picked him up, they assigned him a combat number and three SAM divisions tracked him for some time. —
The complete story is at http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/?s=+Cessna+moscow
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The Alhambra in Spain. Its name is Arab and means “the red house”. It was built in stages as a palace and fortress for the kings and princesof Islam who ruled large parts of Spain for nearly 8 centuries.
Its style and its history is reflected in Pepe Romero’s guitar solo on Youtube.
The great photo by Bernjan is under a CC Attribution license at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vista_de_la_Alhambra.jpg. See recent photos at http://lanomademoderne.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/the-alhambra-pt-1/
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The photo is from http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/SouthernWall.html
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The famous photo by David Shankbone and its 6 mega version are under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_Mount_Western_Wall_on_Shabbat_by_David_Shankbone.jpg
The Temple Mount. Its history of about 3,000 years is rooted in Judaism and later branched out into Christianity and Islam.
This photo was released into public domain by Bcrawford92 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:South_Temple_Mount.jpg……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
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Athens, Greece: The Acropolis. Greece, its art and architecture and its philosophy represent one of the beginnings of Western culture. The other one is the Bible.
A larger version of this picture is at http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Acropolis available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
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Saint Peter’s Basilica, partly designed by Michelangelo, but first built long before.
Below, Saint Peter Square, designed by Bernini.
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The panorama photo is published by Dfmalan under a CC Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vatican_StPeter_Square.jpg
The term “Basilica” means both a Roman church design and a church declared of a certain rank. There is no single definition.
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The TajMahal is a tomb in India built of the white marble of India by an emperor for his wife in 1649.
The photo by Amal Mongia is under a CC Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License at http://schools-wikipedia.org/images
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Mecca is very famous, but only as a name, because though it is visited by pilgrims from all over the world, as a non-Muslim you are not permitted to enter. It is also called Makkah or Makkah al-Mukarramah.
In this building Muslims keep their sacred Black Stone. Every Muslim who can afford it must visit it at least once to walk around it seven times.
The stone fell from heaven to show Adam and Eve where to build an altar. The stone was lost in the great Flood, and Mohammed found it again when the angel Gabriel gave him the first message for the Koran.
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The Coliseum, also called the Flavian Amphitheatre was built for up to 50,000 spectators to watch gladiators, public executions, mock battles.
The thumbnail is from a photo by Matt Nardella. It is a model and very well figured out. The full size picture is at http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Roman_Colosseum.html/cid_1202715498_roman_colosseum_model_1.html
The real building is 2000 years old:
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The Coliseum in Rome by José Antonio Reyes Murillo published with permission under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
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The Toledo skyline, cathedral, and fortress.
The photo by Australian photographer Diliff was singled out by Wikipedia and is worth enlarging. It is in Wikipedia under a the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
Below are Toledo’s city bridge and its age-old city walls.
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link to Diliff’s 3 mega version at Wikipedia
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Windsor Castle is so immense that it is best photographed by plane. It is mentioned in Shakespeare.
The castle belongs to the Queen of England, as does Buckingham Palace.
The photo on the left is by Diliff under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license..
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Westminster Palace and the Big Ben. This is where Churchill used to work.
This photo and the one below of the tower called Big Ben are by Diliff.
The British government has had its seat in this area for about 1000 years, but the present building dates back to the 19th century. And its name “minster” was originally “monastery”.
“Westminster palace” by DaniKauf – Licensed under CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Westminster_palace.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Westminster_palace.jpg
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The Tower Bridge in London, also by Australian photographer Diliff.
This is not the bridge that a legendary American bought as a souvenir and took home to Lake Havasu City in Arizona, but it is here that you would see Her Majesty’s Ship Belfast, as a memorial to the WW2 landings in the Normandy.
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Notre Dame de Paris
Photo by Rick Steves’ “Europe Through the Back Door” at the Smithsonian http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/ricksteves/Rick-Steves-Europe-Gimmelwald-Switzerland.html
Notre Dame cathedral in Paris : it took 200 years to build and it was finished around 1345. There are 380 steps up its tower, and its big bell weighs 13 tons and has a name: Emmanuel.
The photo by Benh LIEU SONG is under CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Notre_Dame_Paris_front_facade_lower.jpg.
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And finally below is the most famous building that does not exist anymore, but is remembered in many paintings:
The Tower of Babylon
Engraving by Cornelis Anthonisz
Bibliothèque royale de Belgique Brussels Belgium
1547
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As I don`t know what this discussion is about,I would not like to interfer … but in Germany many “top-blogs” are full of senseless posts about the keeper of the blog him/herself.
Catueso, having two kids who are under 12 years of age, I miss the building in Taipeh (the highest building of the world !, kids love maxima !) and I miss the Empire State Building (and I’m not sure about the White House).
And later on, I miss the London Bridge and the Dome of the Rock.
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To Krimileser
Notice that the buildings listed are not my favourites. None is, except the Toledo skyline, which however is not “a building”. I simply asked people what buildings abroad they knew of. And I checked the hits on Google and an architect’s popularity list. (He also had a list of the most popular architects.) So this is not a ranking. — I would have loved to include some of my own favourites, but those are bridges where, mostly, you can see how they were built. The Alamillo bridge, for instance, that looks like a harp! There is a good photo of it at http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/spain/seville/calatravabridge/bridge.html
April 4, 2008
The Dome of the Rock is known as a concept, but not as a building. I think it is not readily accessible to tourism, and its history past and present is very difficult to grasp, impossible to summarize.
Maybe you could include Buckingham Palace in your list of well-known buildings, Cantueso.
That Alamillo Bridge is stunning! Thanks for the picture. It was my treat for the day.
I’ve been wondering whether the House of Parliament and the Big Ben Tower would be a better choice for your list.
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To 100swallows:
Maybe, especially if the Big Ben is part of that parliament. However, I had a great photo of Buckingham palace, a photo made by the same guy as did that Manhattan skyline.
Dam why arent there some more buildings of San Diego,CA.
The Americas Finest City…!
Well i Wish they can put that one building that is in front of the Horton Plaza in Downtown.
That building is KOOL!
So yeah more San Diego buildings..PLZ!!!
Swain Star out.
peace to the world.
INFAMOUS KREW!!!!! SON!!!
The Fresh Coast!!!
To Swain: The buildings on my list are noted for all kinds of reasons, but not for their architecture. San Diego, CA, must be a very beautiful city, but I have never heard of that famous kool building there that you don’t seem to know the name of!
So how can I even google it up?
Suggest 1 more world’s famous building :
Borobudur –
u can google it @
it’s from Indonesia, and it is awesome..
=)
Could you give me an access to your blog?
I can’t take up your suggestion, because, look at the photos, this post is not about architecture, but buildings that have been politically relevant. They have become popular because of that. They are in the history books. They represent a story.
Your
was probably also “politically relevant” but the stories of that part of the world are not (yet) known here. That is of course wrong, but it is so anyway.
Hi can you put what year they were made. That would help more.
To Malory:
For the very old buildings, there isn’t a date, but rather a history of construction.
The best I found was here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_architecture
Scroll down and you get a building that is typical of each time period.
Other sites were either too technical or were mindless enumerations of everything there is.
i think you forget the Empire State and the leaning tower of Pisa……….
i think no need to build too much anymore…if war coming …it just take few second to destroyd a building…so don waste too much time for BUILDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol how stupid are you V aka lycans
MAYBE THINK ABOUT SOME OF THE FOLLOWING:
CN Tower
Taj Mahal
Giza Pyramid Complex
Petra
Great Wall of China
Stonehenge
Angkor Wat
Chichen Itza
Eiffel Tower
Moscow Kremlin
Coliseum
Big Ben
Empire State Building
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Louvre Museum
Burj Dubai
Taipei 101
Petronas Twin Towers
Kennedy Space Center
Hagia Sophia
Forbidden City
Your selection is more international. Do you work for a travel agency?
I started simply by laughing at my own supposition that the world’s most popular building, really really popular, is probably the Eiffel tower followed by Egypt’s pyramid.
Maybe I ought to admit that I can’t visualize about 12 or 13 or more of the buildings you listed ….. but I’m now going to google them up.
I like your criteria:
You have chosen gorgeous buildings.
Examples of each style : Islamic (La Alhambra, Spain. The Mecca, etc…) , the glorious Piramids ,Egypt.
Roman, Romanic, Gothic (Toledo Cathedral, Spain, a wonder),
the chinese Great wall,
the chic Eiffel Tower (this one: too much marketing….indeed…)
and modern famous buildings….
a good summary!
what about acropolis athens?????
Come on!!!!
pentagon I think is very well known, too
To articoka:The Pentagon is known as a concept, but not as a building. I have just now seen it for the first time on Google. (I don’t watch any TV).
However, my omission of the Acropolis is really something. I simply forgot, because at first I could not find photos that didn’t actually look like modern imitations or neoclassical kitsch.
I LIKE THIS CRITIRIA,
I THINK TAJ MAHAL IS MOST FAMOUS.
collect some more pics of famous building from all over the world.
the dome of the rock it is very accessible to tourism, ihave been there twice
I got that idea from Wikipedia, but I may have misunderstood something or other. I thought there were restrictions based on Jewish laws and some based on the Koran. — The name “Dome of the Rock” also made me doubt whether I knew what was meant, the complete platform with its buildings or only one building. What looks like a dome on the photo seems to be a mosque, but I thought that “Rock” was a Jewish metaphorical reference to God. — “Temple Mount” is a better name, but I found that later.
yes u forget the burj al arab
this is so cool
WHAT ABOUT THE PHARONIC TEMPLES IN EGYPT AND kaitbay castele in ALEX THERE ARE ALOT OF FAMOUSE AND VERY BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS IN EGYPT YOU SHOULD TO SEE IT
Very good selection.
About the Dome of the rock, I think it’s the best place in the world. I have been there 3 times. In fact I live in Jerusalem and it is as safe as New York or London. So worth visiting
But some things missing are:
Acropolis
Hagia Sophia
Petra
Ephesus
La Sagrada familia
Karnak temple
To Zac
Yes, the Acropolis. But then I fixed that.
As to the other names that you mention: they are famous as places, but not as individual buildings.
this is so beautiful, lovely post. architecture– so fascinating world!
thank you
u should have more east asia buildings such as
Borobudur
Angor wat
Forbidden city
Red fort
Jama masjid
Petronas towers
Terracota worriors
taj mahal is the worlds most famous building as well as the most valuable building!!!
hai :D
Erm, excuse me but this is a website where you find interesting things about famous buildings, not trying to seduce men with your name and giving it out to people you barely know; its not safe and you are just being a slut. You are uninteresting and people are practically going use you. Also, using internet does not mean you use to flirt with strangers. That is being stupid !
I personally think that Taj Mahal is one of the greatest buildings and it has a strong meaning towards it!!
Bronzee is shittty .. yaaaay
– sorry, this was written by my son. Forgive me.
Hey would you like a cup of coffee? (:.
love all t buildings, its really great!!!
i loveall the building so much
Sydney Opera House
couldnt u add staute of liberty?
Is it considered a building?!
I thought it was a present from France, a statue. It should get its own post, but not as a building.
I looked up the definition of “building” in the WorldWeb dictionary online: “A structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place”.
It is not a good definition. Some Greek temple for instance would be excluded. I think the definition should include “inhabitable”.
Burj Dubai is actually Burj Kalifa now, and has to be included as the world’s tallest building.
China has 5 of the top 7 tallest buildings, yet I see none.
Buildings of interest vary from poster to poster, but I agree with most posters. I teach international cultures, in Thailand, and Asian buildings seem to be slim in numbers, to say the least.
It would also be of interest to include what they are made of, and their function. Taj Mahal is a mausoleum/temple; Burj Khalifa is an accomodation centre, hotel, park and visitor attraction – as most are.
There are also some buildings worth reviewing and adding if you google ‘The worlds most amazing 50 buildings.’ Gugenheim museum, Lloyd’s insurance building, Kentucky library etc etc.
Some mispellings in my first post. Comparisons and contrast attract kids and schools for research to sites like yours. Pics only are a little boring – they can be found on google images.
MikeL
This post is about buildings that represent some history, and I did try to find out about historical buildings in China, but could not decide which were known to many people.
This post is not about the highest or the biggest or the oldest building, but about buildings that are evocative of some story or other.
So I had to omit Asia, because I know almost nothing in that regard.
only few places are there
That photo of the Toledo skyline must be one of the best I have ever seen
i ‘ud lyk 2 noe more abt monuments!!!
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To “riz”
Your writing is difficult to understand for people like me who learned English mainly from the newspapers!
good collection
please give me all world famous tower picture
To “Rakesh”:
Do you mean the world’s most famous tower?
That would certainly be the Eiffel tower in Paris, France, Europe.
There is a very good picture above, the second from the top, the one after the pyramids.
Or maybe you mean the world’s tallest tower which is in Dubai, and there is a great picture at http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/
niccccce
برايي ان الكعبة هي الاكثر شهرة و قدسية في العالم كله و هدا ليس الان فقط بل من عهد ادم عليه السلام و سيبقى كدالك حتى يوم الاخرة
Google translation:
In my opinion the Kaaba is the holiest and most famous in the whole world and this is not only now but has been this way since the reign of Adam, peace be upon him, and will remain until the day of the afterlife.
To ياسمين حدباوي
But yours is not so much an opinion as a world view shared by many million people.
I LIKE THE PICTUR OF KHANA=E=KABA
it’s really good to have world’s famous building and landscape whatever the famous is, but i do think there was one famous and biggest mountain in nepal too.i did not see that.so,
Big Ben really looks interesting….
Here is finally the Tower of Pisa:
<a href="http://carldagostino.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/pisa.jpg"
i like soooooo much
angkor wat is very popular in the world
Not a bad list, and I liked seeing La Alhambra included. I was very impressed by Westminster Palace and the Eiffel Tower, but La Alhambra is the top attraction in Europe, IMO. Petra and the Golden Gate bridge should be on the list too. The Pyramids of Egypt are #1 but the pyramids of Mexico are top end as well.
Zac; The Dome of the Rock is iconic but non-Muslims are not normally allowed in. Given your name, how did you get in?
I have never been there. What makes you think that I got in? And as to my name, ¿do you mean “cantueso”? It is a kind of lavender here in Spain. I did not know it would mean I could not be a Muslim. But I am Swiss and largely a Catholic.
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Sorry, I see your “Zac” is somebody’s name; you were talking to another user. I thought it was a word like “oops” meaning you thought you had overlooked something.
I’ve seen most of the above list and found it a decent list, although of course this sort of thing is arbitrary. The lower Manhattan skyline is not a structure and didn’t belong on this list, of course, especially not at the time the picture was taken. The Eiffel Tower is the most famous structure in Europe and very, very beautiful and awesome although I like the Houses of Parliament in London the best for architecture and I think La Alhambra in Granada, Spain is the best attraction in Europe overall. The Giza Plateau in Egypt, well, that’s the top icon for the human race overall. Teotihuacan in Mexico isn’t that well known but is more awesome than anything in Europe.
Of the buildings listed I have only seen the Notre Dame of Paris and the Toledo skyline. I am worthless as a traveler, get lost, can’t remember a thing, and I even get bored. I lived and studied in Paris for a year, learned English there, but I do not think I ever saw the Eiffel tower. –
Now, as to the Manhattan skyline, I thought I had to put it in if I wanted to include the Toledo skyline. It was a quid pro quo. So you see, the selection is subjective, but not arbitrary.
it is better to see the great buildings and there photos
I like this website because every people learn what is the wold
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