If you’re anything like me, then finding old buildings is possibly one of the best vacation activities ever. I love checking out the history and stories behind a place, and even cobblestones have a story to tell.
But, of course, vacations get pricey, and if you visit historical sites, things can get even tougher on your wallet. Nobody in a normal tax bracket can really afford that. So, we’ve compiled a list of historical sites with fascinating histories that you can experience from the comfort of your home, or just to add to your list for your next holiday.
#1
Castel del Monte 🏰 is a 13th-century citadel and castle situated on a hill in Andria in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It was built during the 1240s by King Frederick II, who had inherited the lands from his mother Constance of Sicily.
The architect remains unknown (though it is possible that Frederick himself participated in the design). It was originally known as *Castrum Sancta Maria de Monte*, named after the monastery (Maria del Monte) that had previously occupied the same site. No traces of the original monastery survive in the current structure, nor have any historical descriptions of its form or interior been preserved. It is believed that the finishing work on the castle was never brought to completion.
Castel del Monte is often hailed as the world’s most famous castle; however, this structure is not a castle in the strict sense of the word. It lacks a moat, ramparts, and a drawbridge. Nor does it contain storage rooms for provisions, stables, or a separate kitchen. The castle’s entrance is unusual, designed in the style of a Gothic cathedral portal. The functional purpose of the castle remains enigmatic. It was previously hypothesized that it was conceived as an imperial hunting lodge; however, according to some researchers, its interior chambers were too lavishly decorated and furnished to serve merely as a «hunting lodge.»
Direct sunlight enters every room on the second floor twice a day, year-round; for the rooms on the first floor, this holds true only during the summer. Thus, the upper section of the structure functions as a gigantic sundial. On two days of the year—the summer and winter solstices—light is distributed evenly among all the rooms on the first floor, both spatially and temporally. Consequently, the first floor can serve as a calendar, while the entire building may be regarded as a unique astronomical instrument ☀️
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#2
Eltz Castle 🏰 is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of House of Eltz who have lived there since the 12th century. Eltz Castle along with Bürresheim Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles in the Eifel region which have never been destroyed.
Several hundred years later, House of Eltz began work on the Platteltz, a Romanesque keep, which was built on the site of the old manor hall. This remains the oldest part of the castle. By 1157 the fortress was an important part of the Holy Roman Empire under Frederick Barbarossa. It continued to protect the trade routes from the Moselle Valley and the Eifel region.
Started in 1470 by Philipp zu Eltz, the 10-story Greater Rodendorf House takes its name from the family’s land holding in Lorraine. The oldest part is the flag hall with its late Gothic vaulted ceiling, which was probably originally a chapel. Construction was completed around 1520. The (so-called) Little Rodendorf house was finished in 1540, also in Late Gothic style.
❗️During the Palatinate War of Succession from 1688 to 1689, many of the early Rhenish castles were destroyed. However, the castle was saved from destruction because its lord as the time was Hans Anton zu Eltz-Üttingen who was also a senior officer in the Royal French Army of Louis XIV.
In the mid 19th century, Count Karl zu Eltz restored the castle.
The masterpieces of the art collection, comprising over 500 exhibits from the 12th to the 19th centuries, are displayed in the treasury in the vaulted cellars of the Rübenach House. Among the works of Augsburg goldsmithing and silversmithing are a 1.10-meter-high statue of the bridge saint John Nepomuk by Franz Christoph Mäderl (1752), Diana on the Stag (circa 1600), and numerous ornate vessels and sacred objects ⚜️
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#3
The New Synagogue 🕍 on Oranienburger Straße in Berlin is a mid-19th century synagogue built as the main place of worship for the city’s Jewish community, succeeding the Old Synagogue which the community outgrew. Because of its Moorish style and resemblance to the Alhambra, the New Synagogue is an important architectural monument in Germany.
The building was designed by Eduard Knoblauch. Following Knoblauch’s end in 1865, Friedrich August Stüler took responsibility for the majority of its construction as well as for its interior arrangement and design. It was inaugurated in the presence of Count Otto von Bismarck, then Minister President of Prussia, in 1866. One of the few synagogues to survive Kristallnacht, it was badly damaged prior to and during World War II and subsequently much was demolished; the present building on the site is a reconstruction of the ruined street frontage with its entrance, dome and towers, along with only a few rooms behind. It is truncated before the point where the main hall of the synagogue began.
The front of the building, facing Oranienburger Straße, is polychrome brickwork, richly ornamented with sculpted bricks and terracotta, accented by coloured glazed bricks. Beyond the entrance, the building’s alignment changes to mesh with pre-existing structures. The synagogue’s main dome, with its gilded ribs, is an eye-catching landmark.
The New Synagogue was built to serve the growing Jewish population in Berlin, in particular, immigrants from the East. It was the largest synagogue in Germany at the time, seating 3,000 people. The building housed public concerts, including a violin concert with Albert Einstein in 1930. With an organ and a choir, the religious services reflected the liberal developments in the Jewish community of the time.
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You might be surprised to see that quite a few of the historical entries on this list are actually from two specific regions: Western Asia and Europe. And it’s honestly not surprising, given that these two regions are home to the vast majority of the world’s oldest surviving buildings and structures.
In fact, historians say that the absolute oldest structure in the world is on the Anatolian Peninsula, in modern-day Türkiye, Iraq, and Syria . It’s often called the “Cradle of Civilization” because it shows some of the earliest signs of humans building permanent structures and forming a civilization.
#4
Wells Cathedral, ⛪️ formally the Cathedral Church of St Andrew, is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. The earliest record of a church on the present site is a charter of 766.A bishopric was established in 909; however in 1090 the cathedral of the diocese was moved to Bath Abbey and remained there until Wells became co-cathedral in 1218. Two towers were added to the west front between 1385 and 1410 in the Perpendicular Gothic style, and the cloisters were remodelled in the same style between 1420 and 1508. The cathedral was restored over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Construction of the cathedral began in about 1175, to the design of an unknown master-mason. Wells is the first cathedral in England to be built, from its foundation, in Gothic style. The vault of the nave rises steeply in a simple quadripartite form, in harmony with the nave arcade.
Wells Cathedral contains one of the most substantial collections of medieval stained glass in England,despite damage by Parliamentary troops in 1642 and 1643.
The greater part of the stone carving of Wells Cathedral comprises foliate capitals in the stiff-leaf style. They are found ornamenting the piers of the nave, choir and transepts ❗️Twenty-seven of the carvings depict animals: rabbits, dogs, a puppy biting a cat, a ewe feeding a lamb, monkeys, lions, bats, and the Early Christian motif of two doves drinking from a ewer. Eighteen have mythological subjects, including mermaids, dragons and wyverns. Five are clearly narrative, such as the Fox and the Geese, and the story of Alexander the Great being raised to Heaven by griffins.
The bells at Wells Cathedral are the heaviest ring of ten bells in the world,the tenor bell (the 10th and largest), known as Harewell, weighing 56.25 long hundredweight (2,858 kg).
The library above the eastern cloister was built between 1430 and 1508.Its collection is in three parts: early documents housed in the Muniment Room;
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#5
Mokha was the major marketplace for many commodities, including, but not limited to coffee (Coffea arabica) from the 16th century through the 19th century.
According to the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Jerónimo Lobo, who sailed the Red Sea in 1625, Mokha was “formerly of limited reputation and trade” but since “the Turkish assumption of power throughout Arabia, it has become the major city of the territory under Turkish domination, even though it is not the Pasha’s place of residence, which is two days’ journey inland in the city of Sana’a.”Lobo adds that its importance as a port was also due to the Ottoman law that required all ships entering the Red Sea to put in at Mokha and pay duty on their cargoes.
Mokha reached its zenith in the first quarter of the 18th century, owing to its trade in coffee.English, Dutch, and French companies maintained factories at Mokha, which remained a major emporium and coffee exporting port until the early 19th century.
The city boasted a stone wall enclosing a citadel, as well as a labyrinth of thatched huts that surrounded the wall from without. Of these, some four hundred accommodated Jewish households that engaged in trade.In the mid-1730s, the vast majority of those occupied in trade in Mokha were the Banyan merchants, who numbered as many as 3,000 to 4,000 men.They chiefly traded in the commodity of coffee, brought by camels to the port of Mokha from places further north and inland, primarily from Bayt al-Faqih.Other trading goods brought to Mokha for export included such spices and commodities as frankincense, myrrh, Dragon’s blood, Socotrine aloe, cumin, and the Balm of Gilead.
Passing through Mokha in 1752 and 1756, Remedius Prutky found that it boasted a “lodging-house of the Prophet Muhammad, which was like a huge tenement block laid out in many hundred separate cells where accommodation was rented to all strangers without discrimination of race or religion.”
2. Pic : mosque in Al Makha is the historic Ali bin Omar al-Shadhili Mosque (also spelled al-Shadheli). Built in the 9th century AH it is a major Sufi pilgrimage site located on the Red Sea coast.
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#6
Tour Saint-Jacques is a monument located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France, on the Rive Droite. This 52-metre Flamboyant Gothic tower at the intersection of the Rue de Rivoli with Rue Nicolas-Flamel is all that remains of the former medieval Church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie (‚Saint James of the Meat Market‘), which was partially rebuilt in the 16th-century and demolished in 1797, during the French Revolution, leaving only the tower. The stones of the old church were treated as if it were a quarry 📜
It was built in 1509 to 1523, during the reign of King Francis I. With a dedication to Saint James the Greater, the ancient church and its landmark tower welcomed pilgrims setting out on the road that led to Tours and headed for the Way of St James, which led to the major pilgrimage destination of Santiago de Compostela.
The church, with the exception of the tower, was demolished in 1793; preservation of the tower was a condition of the contract by which the church was bought for the value of its building materials. In 1824 it was being used as a shot tower to make small shot. It was repurchased by the City of Paris in 1836 and declared a monument historique in 1862. A statue of the saint was installed on the top of the tower during the 19th century.
❗️A statue of Blaise Pascal is located at the base of the tower, commemorating the experiments on atmospheric pressure, though it is debated whether they were performed here or at the church of Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas.A meteorological laboratory is also installed at the top of the tower.The tower inspired Alexandre Dumas to write the play La tour Saint-Jacques-de-la-boucherie in 1856.❗️
🗝️ Nicolas Flamel, reputedly an alchemist and a patron of the church, was buried under its floor.
The tower was surrounded by scaffolding and obscured by sheeting for some years as surveyors investigated the condition of the stone. Recent findings show that most of the stone and its ornamentation originates from the late-medieval era of the tower’s construction, and was not added by the 19th-century restorers.
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As experts point out, the oldest known monumental structures built by humans are Tell Qaramel and Karahan Tepe / Göbekli Tepe. Dating from roughly 10,600 BCE to 9000 BCE, these Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites were built almost entirely using local limestone, earth, and clay.
As for stone buildings, that distinction goes to the Tower of Jericho. Historians believe it is the oldest known stone tower in the world, dating to around 8000 BCE, and it even contains an internal staircase. Its exact purpose, however, remains a mystery. Some theories suggest it had an astronomical function, while others propose it was a symbol of civic authority or power.
#7
Dur-Kurigalzu (modern `Aqar-Qūf عَقَرْقُوف in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq) was a city in southern Mesopotamia, near the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers, about 30 km west of the center of Baghdad. It was founded by a Kassite king of Babylon, Kurigalzu I (died c. 1375 BC) and was abandoned after the fall of the Kassite dynasty. The city was of such importance that it appeared on toponym lists in the funerary temple of the Egyptian pharaoh, Amenophis III.
The ziggurat at Aqar Quf, standing to a height of about 52 metres, has been a very visible ancient monument for centuries. For camel caravans and modern road traffic, the ziggurat has served as a signal of the near approach to Baghdad. Because of Aqar Quf’s easy accessibility and close proximity to the city of Baghdad, it has been one of Iraq’s most visited and best-known sites. The ziggurat was often confused with the Tower of Babel by Western visitors to the area from the 17th century onwards.
The Ziggurat of Dur-Kurigalzu, built in the early 14th century BC by Kurigalzu I, is located in the city’s western area and is devoted to the chief Babylonian God Enlil, who Sumerians believed to govern over wind, air, earth, and storm.
The ziggurat’s base measures 69m x 67m and it was constructed of large, well-tempered liben with many stamped baked bricks incorporated into the structure, bearing the name of Kurigalzu and his dedication of the temple E-U-GAL to Enlil.Facing the front, the Ziggurat can be approached from three main staircases leading up to the first level.Standing upright on the level withholds a terraced compound, built by layers of receding levels. At its core, there are consistent sun-dried square bricks with reed mats placed in every seven layers of brick to help hold the structure altogether. An axial flight of steps was discovered running outwards from the center of the side of the ziggurat towards the temple-complex and was built of solid kiln-baked brick set in bitumen 📜
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#8
The Muhammad Ali Mosque 🕌✨ is a mosque located in the Citadel of Cairo, Egypt. It was commissioned by Muhammad Ali Pasha and built between 1832 and 1857. It is sometimes called the Alabaster Mosque due to the prominent use of alabaster as a covering for its walls.
The new mosque was founded in 1830.In order to accommodate his mosque and new palaces in the Citadel, Muhammad Ali demolished the old and partially ruined Mamluk-era palaces that stood on this site. The extensive decoration of the mosque was not completed until 1857, during the reign of Sa’id Pasha. Muhammad Ali Pasha was buried in a tomb carved from Carrara marble. His body was transferred here from Hosh al-Basha in 1857.
The most extensive care for the mosque occurred during the reign of King Fuad I, following the discovery of structural issues. Mahmoud Pasha Ahmed, Director of the Department for the Preservation of Arab Antiquities, identified severe deterioration in the mosque’s structure. King Farouk also undertook the restoration of the mosque’s clock tower, repairing the long-defunct clock and commissioning plans to clad the remaining facades with alabaster. He declared the southern and northern courtyards as sanctuaries of the mosque and beautified its surroundings.
A monumental tower clock rises over the northwestern wall of the courtyard. This was presented to Muhammad Ali by King Louis Philippe of France around in 1846 in exchange for the obelisk of Luxor now standing in Place de la Concorde in Paris.Made of iron, it is designed in a mix of neo-Gothic and orientalist styles, with a tearoom incorporated into its top level
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#9
Hatra was an ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia located in present-day eastern Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq 📜
The temple of the local Assyrian god Shamash,was officially called Beit ʾElāhāʾ 𐣡𐣩𐣵 𐣠𐣫𐣤𐣠 „House of God“, in Mesopotamian Aramaic inscriptions . The city was recorded as „Enclosure of Shamash“ (ḥtrʾ d-šmš 𐣧𐣨𐣣𐣠 𐣣𐣴𐣬𐣴) on a coin.
According to John M. Rosenfield, the statuary of Hatra belong to the Parthian cultural sphere, with numerous similarities in terms of clothing, decorative elements or posture, which tend to be massive and frontal, with feet often splayed.The architecture of Hatra itself is generally seen as an example of Parthian architecture.Similarities can be seen with the Art of the Kushans as well, due either to direct cultural exchanges between the area of Mesopotamia and the Kushan Empire at that time, or from a common Parthian artistic background leading to similar types of representation.
Hatra became an important fortified frontier city and played an important role in the Second Parthian War, withstanding repeated attacks by the Roman Empire. During the 2nd century CE the city repulsed sieges by both Trajan (116/117) and Septimius Severus (198/199).Hatra’s forces defeated the ascendant Sassanid Persians in 238 at the battle of Shahrazoor, but fell shortly after in 241 to the army of Sassanid king Shapur I and was destroyed
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When it comes to Europe, it may not have the oldest archaeological sites, but it does have some of the oldest surviving enclosed stone buildings, some of which are even older than the Egyptian pyramids. Take the Cairn of Barnenez, for example. Built around 4850 BCE in France, it contains 11 internal burial chambers. It’s a little somber, but definitely fascinating.
But why are these ancient buildings so much more common in Western Europe and the Middle East? Experts say it mostly comes down to building materials and climate. While there are incredibly old archaeological sites in the Americas, Africa, and East Asia, many early structures were built using wood, earth, or mud brick. Those materials erode much more easily over thousands of years.
#10
The Ain Diwar Bridge, 📜 also known as the Zangid Bridge,is a ruined masonry arch bridge in Cizre, 3.5 km northeast of the town of Ain Diwar, Syria. The bridge is within vicinity of the Syria, Iraq and Turkey border region and about 500 m west of the Tigris River which it previously crossed.
According to some sources, the Ain Diwar bridge was built in the 2nd century by the Romans to give them access to Upper Mesopotamia. The Romans also previously set up the Bezabde Camp (modern day Cizre, Turkey) nearby.It was refurbished by the Seljuks and Arabs in the late 12th or early 13th century. The Ain Diwar Bridge is often referred to as a great example of Islamic architecture and civil engineering. Stone carvings on the bridge depict astrological figures, zodiac signs and cavalrymen, which are attributed to Zengid architecture.The structure is listed neither by O’Connor nor Galliazzo in their comprehensive surveys of Roman bridges.
According to a recent (2014) reappraisal by David Nicolle, the bridge is entirely Zengid in origin, without any previous construction. It was built from 1146 to 1163 AD.
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#11
The Portuguese Cistern 💧 is a historic cistern in El Jadida, Morocco. It is located beneath the citadel at the heart of the historic Portuguese fortified city of Mazagan.
The cistern was built beneath the Citadel, the original fort and first permanent structure that the Portuguese built on this site in 1514, before it was expanded into the larger walled fortress in 1541.The chamber’s original function is not clear. It may have been an armory, barracks, or granary, but it is recorded as having been converted into a cistern in 1541.It was designed by an architect named Miguel de Arruda but the construction work was delegated to João de Castilho.
The semi-subterranean chamber has a roughly square plan measuring around 33 to 34 metres (108 to 112 ft) per side, was constructed with five rows of five stone pillars and columns.The chamber is built in a late Gothic style known as Manueline.A round opening in the center of the chamber served to collect rainwater.
The cistern is known today for the visual impression created by the thin layer of water covering the floor, which creates ever-changing reflections from the single shaft of light through the central hole in the ceiling
Image source: old_world_secrets
#12
A columbarium⚱️also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the lost ones. The term comes from the Latin columba (dove) and originally solely referred to compartmentalized housing for doves and pigeons, also called dovecotes.
Roman columbaria were often built partly or completely underground.The Columbarium of Pomponius Hylas is an ancient Roman example, rich in frescoes, decorations, and precious mosaics.
Today’s columbaria can be free-standing units or part of a mausoleum or another building. Some manufacturers produce columbaria built entirely offsite and brought to a cemetery by large truck. Many modern crematoria have columbaria. Examples of these are the columbaria in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and Golders Green Crematorium in London.
In other cases, columbaria are built into church structures.
Columbaria are often closely similar in form to pagodas, which function as in-situ columbaria pavilions at Buddhist temples, which from ancient times have housed cremated ashes. In Buddhism, ashes may be placed in a columbarium which can be either attached to or a part of a Buddhist temple or cemetery. This practice allows survivors to visit the temple and carry out traditional memorials and ancestor rites.
Ps: on pictures Columbarium in der Vigna Codini (Three extensive underground collective burial columbaria were discovered at Vigna Codini in the mid-nineteenth century, near the Aurelian Walls between the via Appia and via Latina in Rome, Italy);
‼️other 2 engravings were made of Piranesi (In the description of the remains of columbaria found in the 18th century, it is indicated that many of them were demolished)‼️
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But if you think these buildings have all been discovered and we’ve seen everything there is to see, you’d be completely wrong. As a matter of fact, we’re living in what historians call a golden age of archaeological discovery. Thanks to modern technology, lost ancient cities and temples are being uncovered at a much faster pace than ever before.
As much as museums and churches give us glimpses into our history, there’s still so much left to discover—even through a screen. The ancient Maya city now known as Valeriana was hidden beneath the Mexican jungle. It had pyramids, sports fields, and even entire neighborhoods, and it was actually identified by an archaeology student while analyzing publicly available lidar data. Crazy.
#13
Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma (post # 2) ✨ The cathedral has three parallel naves with corresponding apses, which most scholars attribute to influence of the roughly contemporary Cathedral of Barcelona and Santa Maria del Mar. It has no transept or ambulatory, and its interior is in no way cruciform. The nave height of 40 meters is the 8th-highest in the world, while the width of the pillars supporting the vaults are the narrowest in the world relative to the vault size: they are 1/12th the width of the vault, to Reims’s 1:6 ratio. The cathedral is 121 meters long and 40 meters wide. The cathedral’s famous east rose window, widely reproduced on tourist merchandise, is the second-largest Gothic rose window in the world, after Strasbourg’s, and spans nearly the entire width of the central nave.
The cathedral’s exterior is highly vertical in appearance, making extensive use of flying buttresses and pinnacles. Both sides of the cathedral are built in three ranks: the first and lowest being the sacristy and chapels, the second being the two side naves, and the third and highest enclosing the main nave. The neo-Gothic renovation of the late 19th century accentuated the triangular plan of the interior, wherein the two side naves are only half the height of the central one, by giving the cathedral’s west façade a gable with pinnacles. In fact, with the exception of the main portal, the entire west façade was reconstructed in a French-inspired neo-Gothic manner.
The Royal Chapel, at the end of the central nave, is the earliest-built section of the cathedral and houses the tombs of Mallorcan Kings James the II and III. They are buried in elaborate marble tombs next to the Episcopal Throne of 1346, made of white marble. Sixteen chapels line the nave, representing nearly all the architectural styles practiced in Mallorca since the Cathedral’s construction. These range from the Plateresque Chapel of Sant Jeroni to the Churrigueresque Chapel of Our Lady of the Crown to the aforementioned modernist chapel of Sant Pere.
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#14
The Cathedral of Our Lady ⛪️ is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. Today’s seat of the Diocese of Antwerp started in 1352 and, although the first stage of construction was ended in 1521, has never been fully completed. It was constructed in the Gothic style by architects Jan and Pieter Appelmans. It contains a number of significant works by the Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens, as well as paintings by artists such as Otto van Veen, Jacob de Backer and Marten de Vos. The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Belgium, with its tower rising 123 m over the city.
The first Christian missionaries arrived in the 7th century. The first parish church dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul was constructed in the current Sint Michielsstraat. After the Viking raids in 836, the church was damaged and restored, and subsequently dedicated to Saint Michael. In the 10th century, a group of twelve secular canons were connected to this church. Becoming more popular, the chapel was demolished and replaced by a much bigger Romanesque church.
During the night of 5–6 October 1533, the new church caught fire. The Antwerp mayor Lancelot II of Ursel is credited with playing a major part in the salvation of the church.Through his active help and coordination, the cathedral is said to have been saved from total ruin. Nevertheless, 57 altars had not been saved and went up in flames.The completion of the second tower was delayed due to the fire and was ultimate abandoned. The church was made the cathedral of the bishopric of Antwerp in 1559. It lost this title in 1801 during the period of French occupation of Belgium by the promulgation of the Concordat of 1801. It was made a cathedral again in 1961.
During the Iconoclasm of 20 August 1566 (part of the Beeldenstorm at the start of the Eighty Years‘ War), Protestants destroyed a large part of the cathedral’s interior. In 1794 the French revolutionaries who conquered the region plundered Our Lady’s Cathedral and inflicted serious damage. Between 1965 and 1993, a complete restoration took place.
The cathedral has a carillon with 49 bells. The largest bell or bourdon is named Karolus.
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#15
Meidum 📜 is an archaeological site in Lower Egypt. It contains a large pyramid and several mudbrick mastabas. The pyramid was Egypt’s first straight-sided one, but it partially collapsed in ancient times.The area is located around 72 kilometres (45 mi) south of modern Cairo.
The pyramid at Meidum is thought to be the first of three main pyramids built by Sneferu. It has been argued construction began under the reign of Huni, the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty, and merely continued by Sneferu. Because of its unusual appearance, the pyramid is called el-heram el-kaddaab (false pyramid) in Egyptian Arabic.
Firstly, the outer layer was founded on sand and not on rock, like the inner layers. Secondly, the inner step pyramids had been designed as the final stage. Thus, the outer surface was polished and the platforms of the steps were not horizontal, but fell off to the outside. This severely compromised the stability and is likely to have caused the collapse of the Meidum Pyramid in a downpour while the building was still under construction.
Franck Monnier and others believe the pyramid did not collapse until the New Kingdom, but there are a number of facts contradicting this theory. The Meidum Pyramid seems never to have been completed. Beginning with Sneferu and to the 12th Dynasty, all pyramids had a valley temple, which is missing at Meidum. The mortuary temple, which was found under the rubble at the base of the pyramid, apparently never was finished. Walls were only partly polished. Two stelas inside, usually bearing the names of the pharaoh, are missing inscriptions. The burial chamber inside the pyramid itself is uncompleted, with raw walls and wooden supports still in place which are usually removed after construction.Affiliated mastabas were never used or completed and none of the usual burials have been found. Finally, the first examinations of the Meidum Pyramid found everything below the surface of the rubble mound fully intact.
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But as a fun fact, when we said earlier that even cobblestones have history, we weren’t joking. “All roads lead to Rome,” quite literally — or at least that’s where the phrase comes from.
This is because the Romans built an extensive road network across Europe to move armies and goods. These roads were carefully engineered in layers, often with large stone paving on top and gravel beneath. And yes, parts of these ancient routes still survive today, and you can actually walk on quite a few of them.
That said, we don’t really recommend visiting any archaeological site unless it’s officially open and in safe condition. Nobody wants to get hit by a stone that might as well have met dinosaurs. But out of curiosity, have you ever visited any of these sites? And if not, which one would you most like to see? Let us know!
#16
The Songyue Pagoda 🏯 is located at the southern foot of Mount Taishi, northwest of Dengfeng City, Henan Province. It is the main building of the Songyue Temple complex and an important landmark of early Chinese Buddhist architecture.
The “Book of Wei” records that Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty provided the labor and ordered the highest Buddhist official in the country, Monk Xian, and the highest local administrative official, the Governor of Henan, Zhen Chen, to inspect the scenic spots of Songgao together with Feng Liang, a hermit who had read many books, loved Buddhist philosophy, appreciated mountains and rivers, and had ingenious ideas. They built a pagoda in a Buddhist temple for leisure, which had wonderful springs and forests, beautiful construction, and the charm of a mountain dwelling.
Its construction began between the twelfth month of the fourth year of the Yongping era (511) and the eleventh month of the second year of the Yanchang era (513) of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and was completed in the first year of the Zhengguang era (520). Calculated from the year of completion, this ancient multi-story dense-eave brick pagoda is already 1500 years old as of 2020.
The location of the Songyue Pagoda is a treasured place of geomancy where heaven and earth meet, the four seasons intersect, wind and rain gather, and yin and yang harmonize. The surrounding environment is the scenic area of Mount Taishi in Songshan, leaning against the Song Ridge, embraced by mountains, facing the void and the sun, overlooking the two bears, with mountains lined up like an arch, streams flowing around the gate, and green pines and cypresses.
Songshan is the most respected of the Five Great Mountains and a famous religious mountain. It is the source of Chinese Buddhism and played a great role in the spread of Buddhism. The Songyue Pagoda is a brilliant star among the physical evidences.
Image source: old_world_secrets
#17
Torysh 🌑 is a valley close to the village of Shetpe and the mountain Sherkala in Mangystau, Kazakhstan. Also known as “The Valley of Balls”, the area features many spherical rock formations which have formed naturally across the landscape in the sedimentary rock, through a concretion process.It is near the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea and the medieval trading settlement of Kyzylkala.
There has been little research into the formation of the ball-shaped rocks in Torysh. However, there is a prevailing theory that they are the product of various geological processes: 1. Sediment deposition occurs from the Caspian, which used to extend this far, although only to a shallow depth;
2. Various organic and inorganic hard, small items (such as shells, grains of sand and minerals) act as nucleation point, beginning the sedimentation process.
3. Minerals (usually calcites, silicates and iron oxides) precipitate and combine onto the nuclei, known as concretion. The resultant rocks are formed of onion-like layers.
4. The rocks undergo cementation, a process wherein minerals adhere to the deposits to bind them together, forming a much harder, more erosion-resistant rock.
5. Lithification acts on the rocks, making them harder and less porous, while they are compacted, consolidating the visible sedimentary layers.
6. Finally, erosion of the surrounding rock leaves the concretions behind, as uplift from the tectonic plates push the boulders towards the surface.
This process occurs over tens of millions of years. The complicated mix of processes means that the boulders vary in appearance, with some exhibiting cracks and weathering marks, while others being completely smooth. Rocks also vary in colour.They also vary in size, from marble-sized to car-sized,although most are roughly 3-4 metres in diameter.
Some of the boulders are embedded within softer sedimentary rocks in the ground of the valley. These rocks may contain unique fossils as a result – many Jurassic fossils of plants have been found at and near the site.The boulders date from the Jurassic Cretaceous period, around 120-180 million years ago.
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#18
Palenque 📸 also anciently known in the Itzaʼ language as Lakamha (“big water” or “big waters”),was a Maya city-state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca. 226 BC to ca. 799 AD. After its decline, it was overgrown by the jungle of cedar, mahogany, and sapodilla trees,but has since been excavated and restored.
Much of the history of Palenque has been reconstructed from reading the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the many monuments; historians now have a long sequence of the ruling dynasty of Palenque in the 5th century and extensive knowledge of the city-state’s rivalry with other states such as Calakmul and Toniná. The most famous ruler of Palenque was Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal, or Pacal the Great, whose tomb has been found and excavated in the Temple of the Inscriptions.
In 1952 Alberto Ruz Lhuillier removed a stone slab in the floor of the back room of the temple superstructure to reveal a passageway (filled in shortly before the city’s abandonment and reopened by archeologists) leading through a long stairway to Pakal’s tomb. The tomb itself is remarkable for its large carved sarcophagus, the rich ornaments accompanying Pakal, and for the stucco sculpture decorating the walls of the tomb. Unique to Pakal’s tomb is the psychoduct, which leads from the tomb itself, up the stairway and through a hole in the stone covering the entrance to the burial.
Within the Palace there are numerous sculptures and bas-relief carvings that have been conserved. The Palace most unusual and recognizable feature is the four-story tower known as The Observation Tower. The Observation Tower like many other buildings at the site exhibit a mansard-like roof. The A-shaped corbel arch is an architectural motif observed throughout the complex.
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#19
The Tholos at Epidaurus, 🔘 also known as the Thymele, was a magnificent 4th-century BCE circular building designed by architect Polykleitos the Younger within the Sanctuary of Asklepios. Renowned for its intricate design and, in antiquity, as the most perfect round building, it featured 26 outer Doric columns and 14 inner Corinthian columns, with a mysterious, labyrinthine underground basement.
Archaeologists believe that the tholos was the most importance building at the Sanctuary of Asclepius. It use is uncertain. It may have also been used as an abaton or a place for the priests of the sanctuary to eat.
Nevertheless, this building is interest due to the subterranean maze which it housed. One could only speculate as to the purpose of this maze. It may have been a place where offerings were made to the gods of the underworld. Perhaps patients were left to wander the maze, potentially finding at its centre a pit of snakes. Some suggest the maze may have acted a form of shock treatment for particular psychiatric cases.
On the exterior stood a Doric peristyle consisting of 26 Doric columns, which enclosed a Doric *septum*. A second circular colonnade, composed of 14 marble columns with Corinthian capitals, adorned the interior of the cella. The floor within the Corinthian colonnade consisted of white and black rhombic ❗️slabs arranged in a unique geometric pattern. According to Pausanias, paintings by the artist Pausias were located inside the cella. Both the Doric colonnade and the Corinthian peristyle supported a roof featuring marble panels decorated with floral motifs. The building was crowned by a conical wooden roof, covered by an intricate system of marble tiles, while an elaborate floral finial surmounted the very top of the roof.
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#20
The Saint-Uzec menhir 📜 (also Saint-Duzec or Saint Uzee) is located approximately 2.5 kilometers northeast of Trébeurden in the Côtes-d’Armor department of Brittany, France. It stands about 600 meters north of the chapel of the same name, on the old road from Penvern to Pleumeur-Bodou.
The menhir is approximately eight meters high and three meters wide, making it the largest menhir in France adorned with Christian symbols. Its sculpting by the Jesuit priest and Breton orthographer Julien Maunoir (1606–1683), also known as the „Apostle of Brittany,“ took place in 1674 as a declaration of war against the supposedly resurgent paganism. The redesigned menhir could be incorporated as a station in processions. A crucifix stands at its top. In addition to the moon and sun, scenes of adoration and the instruments of the Passion, or Arma Christi (hammer, nails, whip, and others), are carved into the south side ⚒️
Well into the 20th century, the Catholic menhir was adorned with colorful Baroque paintings on the altar side. However, the smooth yellow granite could not halt the rapid weathering of the paintings, caused by environmental influences and increasing changes in the climate’s pH value, so that nothing remains of them today. Because of the very naive depiction of the hanging Jesus, the restoration or re-establishment of the menhir’s paintings was not undertaken.
The granite menhir was erected around 2500 BC. On the north side, a 25 cm deep groove in the stone indicates that it lay in place for a period of time. The back side shows vertical grooves that only form while the stone is standing 🪨
Approximately 900 m to the north lies the Keryvon covered wayside shrine. Both are part of a network of cultic stone rows that were, or still are, scattered throughout Brittany (e.g., in Carnac).
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#21
The Kyffhäuser Monument ⚔️ (German: Kyffhäuserdenkmal), also known as Barbarossa Monument, is an Emperor William monument in the Kyffhäuser mountain range in the German state of Thuringia. It was erected from 1890 to 1896 atop the ruins of the medieval Kyffhausen Castle near Bad Frankenhausen.
After the 1888 d***h of emperor William I, numerous memorials were erected in his honour all over Germany.
❗️The monument sits among the ruins (the upper and lower castle) of the medieval Imperial castle of Kyffhausen, that, built beginning around 1,000 AD, reached its maximal extent during the reign of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. Curious evidence of the medieval imperial castle has been preserved, such as the world’s deepest castle well of 176 m depth. The 17 m high keep on the site of the former upper Kyffhausen castle is accessible and houses two exhibitions. Parts of the old gate structures have also been preserved. The Castle Museum focuses on the history of the ancient castle complex, the Barbarossa Saga and the construction history of the Emperor Wilhelm monument. The Museum also exhibits numerous artefacts, that were unearthed during excavations and conservation work by the Kyffhäuser Federation in and around the medieval castle.
The 6.5 m high figure of Barbarossa was fashioned on site from several sandstone blocks. At its feet linger knights, mythical creatures and members of his court, with whom the old emperor is lying in wait for resurrection in his underground dungeon. The Barabarossa legend holds, that he would rise again when Germany 🇩🇪 was in need of his leadership.The emperor himself is depicted as one might imagine an ancient powerful monarch in poems and legends at the very moment of awakening. This moment has been highlighted by the cawling movement of the left hand, that rests in the bottom-long beard and a slightly recessed leg that is not covered by the coat. The emperor doesn’t really sleep, he even winks with one eye. Sculptor Nikolaus Geiger decorated the emperor’s red beard with the imperial crown, as its original is on display in the Vienna Hofburg
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#22
The Wells Cathedral clock 🕰️ is an astronomical clock in the north transept of Wells Cathedral, England. The clock is one of the group of famous 14th– to 16th–century astronomical clocks to be found in the West of England. The surviving mechanism, dated to between 1386 and 1392, was replaced in the 19th century, and was eventually moved to the Science Museum in London, where it continues to operate.The dial represents the geocentric view of the universe, with the Sun and Moon revolving round a central fixed Earth.
Another more basic dial is mounted on the outside wall, driven from the same mechanism. This was first installed in the 14th or 15th centuries, but has been restored a number of times.
The interior dial of the clock proposes a model of the universe (above right). Against a background of stars, the Sun (the large gilded star on the outer ring) moves in a circle, and indicates the time using the 24-hour analogue dial, which is marked in Roman numerals from I to XII, then from I to XII again. Noon is at the top of the dial reflecting the position of the Sun in the sky at this time.In the corners, four angels hold the four cardinal winds. These may be generating the power that makes the universe operate.The minutes are indicated by a smaller star on the ring inside.
The inner circle shows the moon; 🌝 the central moon symbol is much larger than the outer sun symbol. A pointer indicates the age of the moon, between 1 and 30 days. The black and white disk above the centre shows the moon’s phase. The white disk rotates once in a synodic month. The inscription around the moon phase indicator says sphericus archetypum globus hic monstrat microcosmum, which translates as This spherical globe here shows the archetypal microcosm. Howgrave-Graham suggests that the scribe erroneously put microcosmum, when macrocosmum is the more obvious word. Opposite the Moon circle is a weighted pivoted disc, containing a small painting of Phoebe, representing the Moon.The inscription reads: Sic peragrat Phobe, or So progresses Phoebe.
At the centre of the dial, the ball represents the Earth, and the clouds suggest the same.
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#23
Dolmen de Confolens – France (Dolmen de Périssac) 🪨 This Neolithic dolmen is located in the cemetery of the town on Confolens. It was moved here in the 19th century to house the tomb of the wife of the sub-prefect Cecile-Jeanne-Marie Crevelier.
The 10 tonne capstone was transported by a carter from Périssac to Confolens over a distance of several kilometres using 18 horses who struggled for three days to move the block. In 1899 the bulletin of the Archaeological Society reported that the capstone was already broken into two parts, but many believe that it was actually cut for the occasion. This is based on a photo dated from 1883 which supposedly shows the dolmen in it’s original state two years previously.. and the other piece of the capstone lies on the ground a few meters from the pillars with clear chisel marks.
According to Archaeologist Glyn Daniel, this “simple dolmen was bought for 100 francs in 1892 and moved nearly 5 km from Périssac to the town churchyard – as a support for the sarcophagus of a lady much addicted to dolmens”.
It’s said that the sacrilegious entrepreneur who destroyed the megalith was condemned, along with his horses, to wander forever around the ruins where their gallop can be heard as midnight approaches..The children of the country, with sticks, hit the remaining part of the dolmen table and press their ears to it, to hear the gallop of the damned horses.
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#24
Table des Marchands 🪨 (German: Tisch der [Kaufmannsfamilie] Marchand, Breton: An Daol Varchant) is located in Locmariaquer in the Morbihan department of Brittany, France. The megalithic structure was declared a Monument history in 1889.
The dolmen and cairn were built between 3900 and 3800 BC. It is a tomb with a corridor ending in a burial chamber. The first excavations took place as early as 1811, but all the finds made then were later lost. ❗️At that time, the monument consisted of a slab resting on three supporting pillars. The monument was restored in 1883, and it was studied in 1937 by the renowned French megalithic researcher Zachary Le Rouzic.
Apparently used for many centuries, this monument consists of two engraved slabs. The slab, representing the floor of the chamber, was originally located outdoors and was a separate monument. The slab is decorated on both sides; the design on one side depicts a deity with lush hair.
The slab is carved with decorations in the form of a cross, an axe with a handle, and, on the underside, a bull. This slab is part of a block, another part of which is located at the Gavrini burial mound, 5 km away, and another at the Er-Grah burial mound; the ornamental motifs in these structures are completely identical.
❗️The present-day structure is a largely reconstructed dolmen within a stone mound. Excavations have shown that the building was originally enclosed by a two-tiered cairn made of small, broken stones, which—to protect against rainwater intrusion—may have been covered with sand, earth, and grass. However, the cairn or tumulus was dismantled centuries ago, leaving the structure for a long time as a monumental, table-shaped dolmen (hence the name)❗️
The stone material used in the construction was mainly locally sourced granite;
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#25
The Dolmen of Menga 🪨 is a megalithic burial mound called a tumulus, a long barrow form of dolmen, dating from the Neolithic period around 3750–3650 BCE. It is near Antequera, Málaga, Spain.
It is one of the largest known ancient megalithic structures in Europe.It is 27.5 metres long, 6 metres wide and 3.5 metres high, and was built with thirty-two megaliths, the largest weighing about 180 tonnes 📜
After completion of the chamber (which probably served as a grave for the ruling families) and the path leading into the center, the stone structure was covered with soil and built up into the hill that can be seen today. When the grave was opened and examined in the 19th century, archaeologists found the skeletons of several hundred people inside. The dolmen sits 70 metres from the Dolmen de Viera and about 4 kilometres from another subterranean structure known as Tholos de El Romeral.
The Abrigo (shelter) of Matacabras, located at the foot of the northwest face of the Peña de los Enamorados, is closely linked with the Dolmen of Menga whose central axis points directly to it. The tomb is orientated to the northeast, north of the sunrise on the summer solstice, and is the only known tomb so oriented in Europe in this cultural context.
📌At the back of this giant dolmen, in the centre of the floor, is a 30m deep well perfectly carved from the bedrock and with water at its bottom
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#26
The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (French pronunciation) ✨is an illuminated manuscript that was created between c. 1412 and 1416. It is a book of hours, which is a Christian devotional book and a collection of prayers said at canonical hours. The manuscript was created for John, Duke of Berry, the brother of King Charles V of France, by Limbourg brothers Paul, Johan and Herman.The book is now MS 65 in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, France ⭐️
To date, only 20 of the 31 notebooks remain quaternions; the rest have either had sheets added or sheets removed. The presence of unfinished sentences at the end of some notebooks, which have no continuation, also indicates that the manuscript has not been preserved in its entirety. The book of hours contains blank pages, both lined and unlined.
Each miniature is crowned with a semicircle (tympanum), which depicts a solar chariot driven by Phoebus, the zodiac signs corresponding to the given month, and its degrees. The calendar indicates the days of the month, their duration in hours and minutes, church holidays and the names of saints, and golden numbers, which were used to determine the place of the calendar year in the Metonic cycle.
🏰 Well, for us, of primary interest are his miniatures depicting castles. Moreover, they were obviously drawn with great precision, which is why restorers of those that have survived to this day used the drawings as models for reconstruction, although not always.
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#27
The Church of St. Nicholas ⛪️ is a neo Gothic Revival cathedral that was formerly one of the five Lutheran Hauptkirchen (main churches) in the city of Hamburg, Germany.
With the founding of the Nikolai settlement and a harbor on the Alster in the 12th century, a chapel dedicated to Saint Nicholas, patron saint of sailors, was erected. This wood building was the second church in Hamburg, after St. Mary’s Cathedral. In 1335, some years before the onslaught of the Black D***h, construction on a new brick building began. The structure was to be a three-naved hall church in the typical North German Brick Gothic style. This building stood until the middle of the 19th century, undergoing changes, expansions, and withstanding several partial destructions. The tower, which was erected in 1517, burned down in 1589. The tower built to replace it collapsed in 1644.
The old Church of St. Nicholas was the first large public building to burn in the Great Fire of Hamburg of May 1842. 🔥The destruction of the Church of St. Nicholas is described by chroniclers as a particularly moving event for the citizens.
Shortly after the fire, the church was rebuilt again. In 1843, a so-called “shilling collection” was started, and in 1844 there was an architectural competition, won by the architect Gottfried Semper with the draft of a Romanesque domed structure. Shortly before this time, the completion of the medieval Cologne cathedral in 1842 had led to a Gothic Revival in Germany. Hamburg’s own medieval cathedral had been demolished in 1805.
The clearly visible tower of the Church of St. Nicholas served as a goal and orientation marker for pilots of the Allied Air Forces during the extensive air raids on Hamburg. On 28 July 1943, the church was heavily damaged by aerial bombs. The roof collapsed and the interior of the nave suffered heavy damage. The walls began to show cracks, yet neither they nor the tower collapsed.
The current condition of the Church of St. Nicholas is the result of the bombing of Hamburg in World War II, the removal of its ruined walls and rubble in 1951 and restoration work to the tower in the 1990s and 2012.
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#28
The Golden Gate ✨ is the only eastern gate of the Temple Mount, and one of only two Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem that used to offer access into the city from the East side. The gate has been sealed since 1541, the most recent of several sealings. Its interior can be accessed from the Temple Mount. In Jewish tradition, the Messiah will enter Jerusalem through this gate, coming from the Mount of Olives.Christians and Muslims generally believe that this was the gate through which Jesus entered Jerusalem.
The Golden Gate is a rectangular stonework structure with two decorated facades. Unlike other gates in al-Aqsa enclave, the eastern façade was not built level with the wall of the enclave, but projects two meters out from the wall.The Golden Gate has two passages. The two bays are reflected in its plan and main elevations; two doorways are followed by a double passage covered by three pairs of domes. On the ground floor level a vaulted hall is divided by four columns into two aisles, which lead to the Door of Mercy, Bab al-Rahma, and the Door of Repentance, Bab al-Taubah; an upper floor room has the two roof domes as its ceiling.
The 1st-century historian, Josephus, mentions an «eastern gate» in his Antiquities of the Jews, and makes note of the fact that this gate was considered within the far northeastern extremity of the inner sacred court.The Mishnah mentions a former causeway which led out of the Temple Mount eastward over the Kidron valley, extending as far as the Mount of Olives.Rabbi Eliezer, dissenting, says that it was not a causeway, but rather marble pillars over which cedar boards had been laid, used by the High Priest and his entourage.This gate, known as the Shushan Gate, was not used by the masses to enter the Temple Mount, but reserved only for the High Priest and all those that aided him when taking out the Red Heifer or the scapegoat on Yom Kippur.
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#29
Zarafshan Bridge📜 is an architectural monument located 7–8 km northeast of Samarkand on the left bank of the Zarafshan River (Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan). The bridge was built in the year 1502 by the order of Muhammad Shaybani. It served as a water divider on the Zarafshan River, giving rise to two branches—Akdarya and Karadarya.
In historical sources, the bridge is mentioned under various names such as „Timur’s Arch,“ „Puli Shadman Malik,“ and „Abdullah Khan’s Bridge“. In the mid-15th century, the bridge across the Zarafshan River was destroyed by a flood. The construction history of this monument is detailed in the work „Sheybani-name“ by Kamal ad-Din Binai, a historian and poet who lived in the second half of the 15th to the early 16th century. ❗️The bridge was 200 meters long and consisted of seven arches. It is also unknown when and under what circumstances the bridge began to deteriorate.The bridge is a complex structure. Samarkand craftsmen prepared a special mortar for it, similar to modern cement. Gypsum, lime, and plant ash were used in different places, depending on the degree of contact with water, to make the mortar.❗️
Most likely, two arches were destroyed during the earthquakes of 1886 and 1898. In 1962, as a result of archaeological excavations conducted by Abdulakhad Muhammadjanov, the remains of the collapsed second and third arches of the bridge were discovered and studied. Railings, one meter in height and width, made of fired brick, were constructed on both sides of the bridge. This type of construction indicates that the engineers of the 16th century, who designed this structure, took into account safety measures for those crossing the river. 🧱
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#30
Bronze mirrors 🪞were produced in China from Neolithic times, until Western
glass mirrors were brought to China. In China, these mirrors are called to’ou kuang ching, literally «transparent mirrors.» You can also find the names «transparent» or «magic» mirrors ✨Bronze mirrors were usually circular, with one side polished bright, to give a reflection, and the reverse side normally decorated in cast relief in early examples, later on sometimes inlaid in precious metal. They generally had a knob or loop in the center of the back so that they could be easily held in the hand, and sometimes attached to clothing.
Some of the earliest examples of Chinese bronze mirrors belonged to the late Neolithic Qijia culture from around 2000 BCE (some use of bronze is found before the Bronze Age).
❗️For over a thousand years, a rare type of Chinese artifact has puzzled researchers. It is a polished bronze mirror with a pattern cast on the back. The polished surface is unremarkable and can be used as an ordinary mirror. But when a bright light falls on the mirror and the reflected light is projected onto the surface, the pattern printed on the back side mysteriously appears in the projected reflection, as if the hard bronze mirror had become transparent.
The art of making magic mirrors dates back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 24 AD). It was passed down until at least the 8th and 9th centuries. In the 800s, a book called “The Record of Ancient Mirrors” was published that apparently contained all the secrets. It has not survived to this day 📜
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