The 7 wonders of the world are among the masterpieces of ancient art.
Each is distinguished by its extraordinary proportions and testify how powerful and genius there are builders. The architectural feats, challenges of weightlessness, and decorative richness.
01- The Great Wall of China, China | 7 wonders of the World
It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. It consists of parallel walls built over two millennia across northern China and southern Mongolia. 21,196.18 km in length, traces the profile of hills and mountains of the Chinese countryside, part of its length consists of natural barriers. The main reason for building the wall is to defend China from northern invasion.
The Great Wall had three major components:
Passes: were major strongholds along the wall, usually located in intersections with trade routes.
Signal towers: they were used to send military communication by beacons, built on hilltops for maximum visibility.
Walls: the body of the wall was the key part of the defensive system. It usually stood 6.5 meters wide at the base and 5.8 meters at the top, with an average height of 7 to 8 meters or a bit lower on steep hills. The walls were made of tamped earth sandwiched between wooden boards, adobe bricks, a brick and stone mixture, rocks, or pilings and planks.
02- Machu Picchu, Peru
Machu Picchu” means “Old Peak” or “Old Mountain.”
It’s located in the heart of the Peruvian Andes, the sacred citadel of the Incas. It was built around 1450 and discovered in 1911.
In 1983, the citadel was declared a Cultural and Natural Patrimony of Humanity by UNESCO.
It is made up of temples, palaces, terraces, monuments, urban complexes, walls, and water channels built with large stone blocks.
Two sectors are separated by a wall about 400 meters long:
The agricultural sector is characterized by the presence of terraces or platforms used for the cultivation of various foods.
In the urban sector, there is the Royal Residence.
The Sacred Square (Plaza Sagrada) is the main ceremonial site of the city.
The Intihuatana Pyramid (Pirámide del Intihuatana) houses the largest sundial.
The Temple of Three Windows (Templo de las Tres Ventanas) is a chamber composed of three large stone windows.
The Temple of the Condor (Templo del Condor) includes places for ceremonial use.
The construction process: The structures were built in “ldquo ashlar.”’
This technique is about cutting stones to fit together without mortar.
The buildings were made of granite, a high-density material in the area. Hundreds of men pushed the heavy rocks that weighed more than 50 tons up the steep mountainside without using wheels
03- Taj Mahal, India
A gigantic white marble funerary mausoleum built between 1631 and 1648 in Agra by the order of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to perpetuate the memory of his favorite wife, the Taj Mahal, is the jewel of Muslim art in India, designed by the Architect, Ustad-Ahmad Lahori.
The mausoleum was designed based on a symmetrical plan.
The symmetry among the Mughals was mandatory: it meant to order, rigor, precision, and perfection.
The monument is a raised tomb.
The tomb sits on a raised square platform, the four sides of the octagonal base bounded by the minarets extending beyond the square formed by the angles.
The platform’s top is accessible by a side flight of steps arranged in the center of the south facade.
The horizontal plane’s composition is a model of balance.
With the octagonal burial chamber in the center, flanked by porches and four halls at each corner. This plan is reproduced at the upper level.
The exterior of the tomb is square-shaped. The main chamber, topped with a bulbous dome, which contains the cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, follows a strictly octagonal plan. The magnificent octagonal balustrade in openwork marble surrounds the two cenotaphs richly decorated with inlays. “
The dome is a characteristic of Persian art. it’s particularly well-proportioned. It is bulbous
and the dome is mounted on a drum.
The Taj Garden: Known as the charbagh, in its ideal form it was laid out as a square subdivided into four equal parts.
Water also plays a key role: in Paradise, four rivers source at a central spring or mountain, and separate the garden by flowing towards the cardinal points. The center of the garden is highly symbolically charged and is where, in the ideal form, a pavilion, pool, or tomb would be situated.
04- The Colosseum of Rome | 7 wonders of the World
The Colosseum, also called Flavian Amphitheatre, was built between 70 and 72 CE. It could hold more than 50,000 spectators at its maximum capacity. It is located just east of Palatine Hill. The main structural framework and facade are travertine, durable, and attractive enough to serve as an exterior finish and can be shaped into neat large blocks. The secondary walls are volcanic tufa, softer than Travertine, making it easier to shape into blocks. The inner bowl and the arcade vaults are concrete.
A complex system of barrel vaults and groin vaults measuring 189 by 156 meters overall.
Three of the arena’s stories are encircled by arcades framed on the exterior by columns of different orders: the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian
05- The city of Petra, Jordan
Nabataean is situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea. A fusion of Eastern traditions and Hellenistic architecture, the Caravan city is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and surrounded by mountains. Petra is filled with tombs, monuments, and houses carved into sandstone cliffs. These elaborate structures were chiseled by hand out of rose-red rocks, then covered with stucco and painted bright colors.
Nabateans worshiped and studied the sun for their benefit. During the winter solstice, the setting sun illuminates a sacred podium inside the monument known as Ad Deir, or the Monastery, where the Nabateans may have held religious festivities. At that same moment, the silhouette of the front mountain draws the head of a lion, the sacred animal for them.
06- The statue of Christ the Redeemer, Brazil
Towering 2,310 feet above the city of Rio de Janeiro on top of Corcovado mountain. The largest Art Deco-style sculpture on the planet was deemed in 2007 as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The statue stands 30 meters tall and its outstretched arms reach 28 meters horizontally. The statue is made of reinforced concrete and sits on a square stone pedestal base about 8 meters high, which itself is situated on a deck atop the mountain’s summit.
Because of the statue’s massive size, the statue was put together on top of Mount Corcovado, and all the necessary materials, as well as the workers, were transported up the mountain on a small cog-wheel train. Workers used long wooden poles to act as scaffolding during the construction phase.
07- The city of Chichen Itza, Mexico | 7 wonders of the World
This sacred site was one of the greatest Mayan centers of the Yucatán peninsula. Chichen Itza is Mayan for “at the mouth of the well of the Itza.” The city was built in the early 400s A.D. All of the buildings of Chichen Itza were linked by a network of nearly 100 “sacbeob,” or paved roadways and sidewalks.
El Castillo:pyramid-shaped structure known as the Temple of Kukulkan
The Great Ball Court: this structure was used for sports
Temple of the Warriors: Another large, stepped pyramid.
Group of a Thousand Columns: A series of exposed columns that are believed to have supported a large roof system.
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