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Eiffel Tower (London)
:The Eiffel Tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris
of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. The
Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII of England, opened the tower.
Of the 700 proposals submitted in a design competition, Gustave
Eiffel's was unanimously chosen. At 300 metres (320.75m
including antenna), and 7000 tons, it was the
world's tallest building until 1930.
Notes:The
tower has three platforms. A restaurant (extremely expensive;
reservations absolutely necessary), the Jules Verne
is on the second platform. The top platform has a bar, souvenir
shop, and the (recently restored) office of Gustave Eiffel.
300 steel
workers, and 2 years (1887-1889) to construct it. 40 tons of
paint, 2.5 million rivets, 1652 steps to the
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Taj Mahal (India):
Location :
Agra, India
Famous As: 7th Wonder world
Built By: Shahjahan
Memory Of: Mumtaz Mahal
State:
Uttar Pradesh, India.
Sheer poetry in
marble. Majesty and magnificence, unrivalled. Love redefined. The Taj Mahal,
the one and only one of its kind across the world.The monumental labour
of love of a great ruler for his beloved queen. The ultimate realisation of Emperor Shahjahan's
dream.
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One of the wonders of
the world. An immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between
1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his
favourite wife, the Taj Mahal is the jewel of Muslim art in India and
one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage.
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Garden
of Babylon:
The
ancient city of
Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar II, must have been a wonder to
the traveler's eyes. "In addition to its size," wrote Herodotus,
a historian in 450 BC, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in
the known world."
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56
miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high. Wide enough,
he said, to allow a four-horse chariot to turn.
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The inner walls were "not so thick as the
first, but hardly less strong." Inside the walls were fortresses and
temples containing immense statues of solid gold. Rising above the
city was the famous
Tower of Babel,
a temple to the god Marduk, that seemed to reach to the heavens.
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Tower
of Pisa(Italy):The
angle of inclination of the white marbled leaning tower at Pisa,
Italy, which started to tilt shortly after building began 800 years
ago, has imperceptibly moved back about 40cm during delicate
engineering works carried out in 2000-2001. The tower is built on
sandy soil, and there is water not far below ground. Engineers
discovered that by gradually excavating earth from under the
foundations, the tilt could be corrected without resorting to
dismantling the famous landmark, which once seemed the only way to
prevent it collapsing.
Among the more curious solutions offered to save the tower was one
plan to drill 10,000 holes to reduce the weight of the building, and
a Chinese project to build a replica of the leaning tower next to it
- leaning in the opposite direction in order to prop it up!
In December 2001, the Tower of Pisa re-opened to
visitors. It was closed in 1990, because it was in danger of falling
over. After work to shore up its foundations was
completed, tourists were once again able to climb the 284
steps to the top of the 800 year-old tower. Engineers say that the
$25 million re-construction will ensure that the Tower lasts at
least another 200 years. |
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