Historic structure around the world

Hello, my name is Kira
I am doing a small project on historic buildings and structures around the world. So this topic is for all local and international people in the community. anyone wishing to participate should post the name of the structure, country and some historic fun facts/background. :)

Borobudur temples, Indonesia.
Loads of steps so not recommended for people with heart conditions.

The Pyramid of Cheops at Giza (Egypt) was built approx. 2580 BCE and, at 146m (today 139m due to erosion) remained humankind's highest building for over 3800 years - until some European church tower took over that title in the 14th century.

When I saw Strasbourg Cathedral (Notre-Dame Cathedral) Felt in love with Gothic art; it was amazing. Also some information from Wikipedia;  "Strasbourg Cathedral has the 10th-tallest recorded height in history, at 142.0 m (466 ft), among all church buildings in the world." Also the Great Wall at Beijing; you have to visit there during April to witness the dance of the cherry flowers with wind; I am speechless to explain that amazing view!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/garethwiscombe/1071477228/in/photostream/

Stonehenge is perhaps the world's most famous prehistoric monument. It was built in several stages: the first monument was an early henge monument, built about 5,000 years ago, and the unique stone circle was erected in the late Neolithic period about 2500 BC. In the early Bronze Age many burial mounds were built nearby. Today, along with Avebury, it forms the heart of a World Heritage Site, with a unique concentration of prehistoric monuments.

beppi wrote:

The Pyramid of Cheops at Giza (Egypt) was built approx. 2580 BCE and, at 146m (today 139m due to erosion) remained humankind's highest building for over 3800 years - until some European church tower took over that title in the 14th century.


Beppi: that date is being challenged, these days. Some paleohistorians (Graham Hancock, for one) reckon it may have been erected at least two or three thousand years earlier. That speculation requires the existence of an earlier civilisation than the ancient Egyptian one; but that's not necessarily out of the question. The same speculation applies to the erection of the Sphinx - and to places like Baalbeck. Who knows, eh?

There is no lack of questionable theories:
Why is there no other evidence of such a hightly developed civilization, if it existed at all?
And why did the „later“ Egyptians completely re-decorate the pyramid (until no more trace of its older origin is visible), claim in their scriptures that it was built by them and use it for their own purposes many centuries later?
I believe the more probable story and not the conspiracy.

beppi wrote:

There is no lack of questionable theories:
Why is there no other evidence of such a hightly developed civilization, if it existed at all?
And why did the „later“ Egyptians completely re-decorate the pyramid (until no more trace of its older origin is visible), claim in their scriptures that it was built by them and use it for their own purposes many centuries later?
I believe the more probable story and not the conspiracy.


"Conspiracy" is not the correct word, Beppi: "alternative theory" might be better. After all, historical facts aren't settled yet - any more than scientific facts are settled. Truth shifts from time to time, to accommodate new reasoning and new discoveries. You seem to have fallen for the Bishop Ussher Syndrome. Ussher was the well respected historian a few hundred years ago who convinced the Western world that God had created heaven and earth in October 4004 BC. That date was long recognised as "settled history", just as your date for the Egyptian pyramid is today. His was proven wrong, just as yours may one day be proven wrong. It's risky to commit oneself to the accepted history of the day. Your "more probable" judgment of the Pyramid's construction-date coincides with the judgment of today's masses - acceptable to those who honour the masses' verdicts on anything, but that's all it amounts to.

Gordon: You got me wrong - I didn't call "conspiracy" the alternative theory that the pyramids could be much older than conventional wisdom currently dictates! I called so the circumstances that this alternative theory would require to be true, namely the mentioned eradication of all signs of this older civilisation, in all artefacts and scriptures, by the later Egyptians. I believe such an eradication and falsification of history (which I called conspiracy) is neither possible nor in the interest of a later culture, thus extremely unlikely.
But believing in conspiracies is strangely common - remember that men never landed on the moon, HIV was invented by the CIA, Aliens control the world and Elvis is alive (or was it JFK?), although I heard that tin foil hats help.

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