July 8th, 2007 by Shenron
The Petra is a place in Jordan which lies in a basin in the large valley that runs from the Dead Sea to Aqaba. It is carved into solid rock and was lost until 1812, although some people did know of it previously. There is no actual definitive date of when the Petra began.
In 106 it was annexed into the Roman Empire and the native rule came to and end, however the city continued to do very well, and within the next century the city had reached its peak, being completely carved into the mountainside. However, as suddenly as this apex was reached everything ceased, there were no more new constructions, coins were no longer in production, and it became a religious area for feasts and traditions. In 2006 a visitors center was established and planned tours have begun, with 59 thousand people visiting in December alone, and expected to increase exponentially.
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July 8th, 2007 by Shenron
In the 12th century a temple was built for King Suryavarman II in Cambodia, and it became the temple of the state and capital city, and the largest temple at the location has remained since the foundation of the entire location as decreed by the king as a religious center.
It began as a Hindu site and later was converted to being Buddhist. The entire island is surrounded by water with two small strips of land that connect to it, the entire structure and water is rectangle in shape and it has a total area of around 200+ acres. Beginning in the nineties Angkor Wat has seen a massive increase in tourism to the location and reconstruction efforts have been renewed in a much larger scale. It is estimate that nearly a million people visit the Angkor each year now, and the number appears to be on the rise. Almost 30% of the income generated by the temple goes back into restoration.
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July 8th, 2007 by Shenron
The Eiffel Tower is an iron building that was constructed on the Champ de Mars next to the river Seine in Paris France in 1887, and became the world’s tallest structure until 1930.
What is amazing about the structure is that during construction only a single person died, while most large structures suffered from multiple casualties, due to Eiffel’s safety precautions. It soars above all the buildings in Paris as the tallest one, and reaches a height of 210 meters, weighing in at over seven thousand tons. It was originally scheduled for demolition in 1909, but it served as a radio tower and was thus saved, and then after that used to secure a victory in battle during the First World War. Today it has two restaurants and a skating rink on the first level in winter time, and is the worlds most visited landmark, passing 200 million visits in 2003.
It’s really a must if you’re visiting France.
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July 8th, 2007 by Shenron
St. Basil’s Cathedral was built between 1555 and 1561 in Moscow Russia, in 1588 a chapel was added on the eastern side and it is located at the southeast end of Red Square, across from the Kremlin. It consists of nine chapels built on one foundation and having one central tower.
Red Square separates the Kremlin from the St. Basil’s Cathedral, and was originally covered in buildings - however in 1493 Ivan II ordered it cleared, and it was. The Kremlin is a fortified structure in the middle of Moscow, and it is made up of four palaces, four cathedrals, and enclosed behind the Kremlin wall with the Kremlin towers. The Wall was built in the late 1400’s with the cathedral completed in 1479, and the rest added later. The oldest non-religious building that is still standing is the Palace of Facets, completed in 1491. Today the Kremlin serves as the residence of the President of Russia.
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July 8th, 2007 by Shenron
The Chichen Itza is a large archaeological area located in Mexico in the center of the Yucatan Peninsula, and was a major center for the Mayans. It is believed that the construction began at around the seventh century, and became a major center between then and the tenth century.
The city is unique in that when it was actively ruled, rather than having a regent or single ruler it relied on a council which chose of what actions to take and not to take - however there was by far no evidence of democracy as all the councils were of royal blood. In the thirteenth century the Chichen Itza began its decline, with a civil war and ruler ship of its location shifted to another city. The former city consist of many buildings, such as El Castillo or the Temple of Kukulcan, the Temple of the Warriors, the Ball-court, the High Priests Temple, the Las Monjas, El Caracol, and many others densely packed in the ceremonial center and surrounding area.
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July 8th, 2007 by Shenron
The Statue of Christ the Redeemer stands 38 meters tall over the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and is located at the peak of the 700 meter tall Corcovado Mountain, weighing an impressive 700 tons. The first ideas came about in the 1850’s; however nothing was constructed until a few years before its opening in 1931 to the public, and it celebrated its anniversary for its seventy fifth year in October 2006.
There is also a small chapel so weddings can be performed underneath the statue of Christ The Redeemer. It had been originally planned that the statue of Christ The Redeemer would be constructed out of steel, however the choice was changed before construction to switch to reinforced concrete, and then the outer layers were made from soapstone. Today it is one of the most popular religious tourism spots in Brazil, and very popular for weddings and baptisms.
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July 8th, 2007 by Shenron
Timbuktu is a city in Mali, and it is home to the Qur’anic Sankore University, and other Islamic schools and colleges. Its construction was carried out in the 10th century initially by the nomads called the Tuareg, and it grew to wealth and power because of its prime trade location, along with being a keystone city for the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire, and reached its pinnacle in the 1500’s. However afterwards marked the decline of the city became the future, and today it has recently been involved in militant conflicts arising from the Tuareg Rebellion which lasted from 1990 to 1996. Tinbuktu’s libraries hold ancient manuscripts and writings dating back to the 1500’s and some earlier, with over a million artifacts - it would be a tragic loss to history if anything happened to it. Today it is impoverished, albeit has an international airport, and came under threat of sands throughout the 2000’s.
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