Taj Mahal

Located at the city of Agra in the State of Uttar Pradesh, the Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful masterpieces of architecture in the world. Agra, situated about 200 km south of New Delhi, was the Capital of the Mughals (Moguls), the Muslim Emperors who ruled Northern India between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Mughals were the descendents of two of the most skilled warriors in history: the Turks and the Mongols....

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The Pharos of Alexandria

The Pharos of Alexandria (circa 280 BC), located on an island in the harborof Alexandria, Egypt, was a famous ancient lighthouse standing more than 134 m (440ft) tall; it was destroyed in the 14th century. The Pharos of Alexandria,in Egypt, was the forerunner of modern lighthouses. The name belonged originallyto an island lying off the coast. When Alexander the Great laid out the city he connectedthe island of Pharos with the mainland by means of a mole, or causeway. On theeastern point of the island his successors, Ptolemy I and ...

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The Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes was a 30-m (100-ft) bronze statue of the Greek sungod Helios, erected about 280 BC to guard the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes; itwas destroyed about 55 years later. The Colossus of Rhodes was a great bronzestatue, erected in about 280 BC by the citizens of Rhodes, capital of the Greek islandof the same name. It represented their sun-god Helios and was said to be 105 feethigh. According to legend, it straddled the harbor entrance, but it is more likelythat it stood to one side. The statue ...

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The Temple Of Artemis at Ephesus

Is it simply a temple? How could it take its place among other unique structures such as the Pyramid, the Hanging Gardens, and the Colossus of Rhodes? For the people who actually visited it, the answer was simple. It was not just a temple... It was the most beautiful structure on earth... It was built in honor of the Greek goddess of hunting and wild nature. That was the Temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus. Location The...

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The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (circa 353 BC) was a monumental marble tomb,decorated by the leading sculptor of the age, for King Mausolus of Caria in AsiaMinor; only fragments remain. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, also in Asia Minor,derived its name from King Mausolus of Caria. After his death in the middle ofthe 4th century BC, his queen, Artemisia, employed Greek architects to constructa superb monument over his remains. It was a great rectangular pile of masonry, surmountedby an Ionic colonnade supporting a rooflike pyramid. At...

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Statue of Zeus

The 12-m (40-ft) Statue of Zeus (mid-5th century BC) by the Greek sculptorPhidias was the central feature of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Greece. Thestatue of Olympian Zeus was erected at Olympia, in the Peloponnesus of Greece, bythe great sculptor Phidias in the 5th century BC. It was a towering structureof ivory and gold, 40 feet high, majestic and beautiful. After about 10 centuriesof existence the statue was destroyed. Our only idea of it is gained from coins ofElis, which...

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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, perhaps built by King Nebuchadnezzar II about600 BC, were a mountainlike series of planted terraces. The Hanging Gardens ofBabylon have long since disappeared. They were said to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzarin the 6th century BC to please and console his favorite wife, Amytis. Great terracesof masonry were built one on top of the other. On these were planted gardens of tropicalflowers and...

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The Pyramids of Egypt

The Pyramids of Egypt, built at Giza during the 4th Dynasty (circa 2680-c.2544 BC) are the oldest of the seven wonders and the only ones remaining intact today. Thegreat pyramids of Egypt still stand. They were built between 2650 and 2500 BC. Exceptfor parts of the Mausoleum and of the temple of Artemis, they are the only one ofthe seven ancient wonders still standing. Of the seven wonders of the ancientworld, only the pyramids of Egypt have survived in a form that resembles their originalcondition. The largest of the three,...

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