7 Facts About Saint Basil's Cathedral

1. The cathedral was given the nickname "St. Basil's" after the "holy fool" Basil the Blessed (1468-1552), who, at that time, was hugely popular with the Muscovites masses and even with Ivan, the Terrible, himself.
2. St. Basil's Cathedral was primarily built by 'Ivan the Terrible', to commemorate the capture of the Tartar stronghold of Kazan, in 1552.
3. The cathedral is the most recognizable symbol of Russia. Its colorful onion domes are instantly recognizable around the world as emblems of Moscow.
4. The design of St. Basil's Cathedral comprises of nine individual chapels. Each of the nine chapels has a unique onion dome, reflecting a victorious assault on the city of Kazan.
5. The design of the cathedral is based on contemporary tented churches, mainly those of Ascension in Kolomenskoye (1530) and of St John the Baptist's Decapitation in Dyakovo (1547).
6. It is believed that after the construction work of Saint Basil's Cathedral was complete, Ivan blinded Postnik Yakovlev - the architect, to prevent him from constructing a more splendid building for anyone else.
7. Each of the chapels of Saint Basil's Cathedral stands adorned by beautiful icons, medieval painted walls, and varying artwork, on the top inside of the domes.

Where is the Alhambra?

During the Middle Ages, the Moors from North Africa conquered most of Spain and Portugal and established a kingdom there.

They chose as their capital the city of Granada, where they built a splendid palace fortress surrounded by red brick walls. The fortress came to be known as the Alhambra, from the Arabic word for "The Red".

The Alhambra is so large that it would take about an hour to walk around its walls. But the Alhambra is valued much more for its beauty than for its size. It has been called by many people as "the most beautiful structure on Earth".

Throughout the Alhambra one finds marble and alabaster sculptures, colorful mosaics, swimming pools, fountains, and tree-lined courtyards. One of the most beautiful parts of the Alhambra is the Patio of the Lions, named after the alabaster fountain in the middle of the courtyard, and adorned with 12 lions carved in white marble. Each lion is said to represent each of the twelve sons of Israel, as well as the zodiacal signs.

According to legend, the Alhambra is so beautiful that the people who lived there refused to go to heaven when they died, so it is no wonder that the Alhambra is frequented by the ghosts of its former residents!

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Which palace is 3700 m above sea level?

Lhasa is the capital of Tibet, now part of China. Like most of Tibet, Lhasa is located in the Himalayas, among the highest mountains on Earth. Lhasa is at an altitude of 3,700 meters above sea level!

Lhasa's largest building - and one of the largest religious structures in the world - is called Potala, the "Palace of the Gods". The Potala has served as the seat of Tibet's government, as a Buddhist monastery and as the home of the Dalai Lama, the head of all Tibetan Buddhists.

Its construction began in the year 700, on a steep hill outside the city, where it can only be reached by long zigzag stairs up the hill. Altogether, the nine floors of the Potala have approximately 500 rooms and more than 1,400 windows, and house more than a thousand monks.

In times past, Lhasa was known as the "Forbidden City," since only Tibetans were allowed to enter the sacred city.

The roof and towers of the Potala are covered with glittering gold.

The building was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, this declaration was extended in 2000 and 2001 to include the neighbouring monuments Norbulingka Palace and Jokhang Temple.
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Where is the world's largest religious complex?

The nation of Cambodia, formerly known as Kampuchea, is the home of the Khmer people.

More than a thousand years ago, the Khmer (Khmer) built an empire in Southeast Asia, with its capital in Angkor, the largest and most magnificent city in the entire East. Then in the fifteenth century, the city was conquered by the enemies, and the Khmer abandoned it.

In 1861, a French butterfly collector accidentally found Angkor. The growth of the jungle had covered the buildings, where monkeys and panthers roamed freely in the corridors. Angkor had been forgotten in the jungle for four centuries!

Angkor covers almost 40 square miles, with immense palaces, temples, libraries, baths, and courtyards. The city's largest temple, called Angkor Wat, has five acorn-shaped towers - one as tall as a 25-story building.

Stone carvings of gods, men and animals cover the walls. Undoubtedly, Angkor Wat is the largest building in Asia, and the largest religious complex in the world.

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Where is the world's largest palace?

The city of Beijing in China is surrounded by walls, and within this city there is another city, also surrounded by walls: the Imperial City.

And inside this Imperial City, there is such a large palace that it is almost a city in itself! Most of that palace was built between the 15th and 18th centuries.

The Imperial Palace, the largest palace in the world, is about 950 meters long by 740 meters wide, and contains 17 individual palaces. Also known as the "Forbidden City," the Imperial Palace covers almost 180 acres.

How big is that? Well, the largest palace on Earth that is used as a residence is the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican which covers an area of only 13.5 acres.

The graves surrounding the imperial palace are as wide as a football field, and extend over a distance of about 3 kilometers. Once the home of the Chinese emperors, the Palace is now the seat of the Chinese government.

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What temple was built to house a rock?

One of the most sacred and famous buildings in the world is located in the city of Jerusalem. It is the mosque of Omar, which is also known as the Dome of the Rock.

This religious sanctuary, with a dome 30 meters high, was built during the seventh century, on the same site as the ancient Hebrew temples. This sanctuary was built for the sole purpose of housing a rock.

According to Islamic belief, the prophet Muhammad was brought to Jerusalem on a winged horse and left on the rock inside the Omar mosque. The granite rock is 18 meters long by 12 meters wide, and completely fills the center of the building. Muslims believe that the holes in the rock mark the points where Muhammad's winged horse landed.

The site where the Dome of the Rock is located is also sacred to the Jews, who believe that this rock was the place where the Hebrew patriarch Abraham came to sacrifice his son Isaac, obeying God's command.
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What was a ziggurat?

The pyramids of Egypt had smooth, inclined sides, but not all pyramids built in antiquity were like them. Some had sides that resembled a ladder system, so they were called staggered pyramids or ziggurats.

The largest ziggurat in the ancient world was erected in Ur of Sumeria, a city that flourished in the Middle East around 2100 BC. This structure was made of baked bricks stacked on seven levels, each smaller than that built below, so that the ziggurat looked like a giant wedding cake!

The Ur ziggurat was about 50 meters high, and covered an area of more than 30,000 square feet. At the top of the structure were a chair and a table for the god of the Moon, Nannar, who was supposed to visit the top of the ziggurat every time he came down to Earth.

Each step on the three main stairs of the ziggurat of Ur was engraved with the name of the Babylonian king.

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Where is the world's most powerful lighthouse?

The first lighthouse built in history was in ancient Egypt, and some of them had already been built in Europe before the time of Christ. The most famous lighthouse of the ancient era was the Alexandria Lighthouse in Egypt, which was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This building is thought to be about 180 meters high, but historians today doubt that it was that high.

No matter how high the Alexandria Lighthouse was, it certainly was not as powerful as modern lighthouses, this was because in ancient times the light was provided by bonfires above the lighthouse. The most powerful lighthouse on Earth today is on an island off the coast of Brittany, France. This building, which is 50 metres high, has a light equivalent to 500 million candles.

But the lights that can be seen at the longest distance are the bulbs above the Empire State in New York. Each of these bulbs has a light equivalent to 450 million candles, and they can be seen at a distance of 125 km... and from an airplane at a distance of 480 km!

The highest lighthouse on Earth is in Yokohama, Japan, and is about 105 meters high.

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Great facts about Machu Picchu

 The historic site of Machu Picchu in Peru is located at an altitude of 2,400 meters above sea level.

Once known as the "Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is today the best known symbol of the Inca Empire.

The site is one of the Seven New Wonders of the World.

The place was built in 1460 by the Inca Pachacutec, but was abandoned a century later.

The site of Machu Picchu was forgotten by the world until 1911, when it was discovered by Hiram Bingham, an American historian.

Was declared a Historic Sanctuary of Peru in 1981.

Was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983.

The city of Machu Picchu was built in the classic Inca style, with carved stone walls.

Its main buildings are Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Temple of the Three Windows.

Machu Picchu received world attention for the first time, when the National Geographic Society magazine dedicated its entire April 1913 issue to the newly discovered city.

An area of 325.92 kilometers around Machu Picchu was declared Peru's 'Historic Sanctuary' in 1981.

The place is probably the most important archaeological site in South America and an unavoidable tourist attraction in Peru.

This historic site comprises about 140 structures.

The name Machu Picchu means "Old Mountain".

The Intihuatana Stone located in the site is one of the many ceremonial stones found in South America.

Researchers believe that the Intihuatana Stone was built as an astronomical clock or calendar.

When in 1911, Machu Picchu was discovered, people were found living there, as well as some ancient mummies.

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Things you didn't know about the pyramids in Egypt

 If the Great Pyramid were to be broken into 30 cm thick slabs, a one metre high wall could be built around France.

Some have said that the pyramids were more than gigantic sepulchres; they could also have been granaries or treasure houses.

All the pyramids were probably looted a few centuries after they were built; the only tombs that escaped spoil were those built on the rock outside the pyramids, such as that of Tutankamon and Queen Hetepheres I. 

The Egyptians apart from mummifying the pharaohs, also did so with their pets, and buried them with their masters inside the pyramids.

The weight of the Great Pyramid is approximately 5,400,000 tons. The largest known stone is found in the pyramid of Micerino, which weighs about 285 tons - 200 to 250 cars.

The Great Pyramid was built by the Pharaoh Jufu of the Fourth Dynasty.

The Great Pyramid is Egypt's biggest tourist attraction.

It is the only one of the seven ancient wonders still standing.

The Greek Herodotus wrote that it took the Egyptians 20 years to build the Great Pyramid.

Herodotus also mentions that another 10 years, before the construction of the pyramid, was used to prepare the ground and build the underground chambers.


These are the names of the three main pyramids in Egypt:

• Pyramid of Jufu (Keops), or Great Pyramid in Giza
• Pyramid of Jafra (Kefren) in Giza
• Pyramid of Menkaura (Micerino) in Giza

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Great facts about the Statue of Liberty

The face of the Statue of Liberty is said to have been modelled on that of the sculptor's mother - Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.

This colossal statue was inspired by the classical sculptures of Greece and Rome.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States in 1886.

The crown of the statue has 25 windows and 7 peaks.

The peaks of the crown are thought to represent the seven continents as well as the seven oceans of the world. However, the peaks are actually rays of sunshine and the circle is a halo or what in art is called a "nimbus".

The weight of the Statue of Liberty is 31 tons of copper, 125 tons of steel and 27,000 tons of concrete.

The statue's torch has been closed to the public since 1916.

When the wind exceeds 80 km per hour, the statue is tilted about 8 cm, while the torch is tilted about 12 cm.

In the Statue of Liberty there have been at least three suicides over the years.

Since the beginning of cinematography, the Statue of Liberty has been used as the setting for a multitude of films. One of those films in which it appeared was Charles Chaplin's 1917 film, The Immigrant.

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Where is the Western Wall?

Wailing Wall - Kotel - Western Wall

Many Israeli pilgrims come to the Western Wall with the desire to pray. This pilgrimage centre is located in Jerusalem, the holy city of Jews, Christians and Muslims.

In Jerusalem, near the site of Solomon's temple, which has now disappeared, the remains of a high wall made up of large cubic stones, which was built at the time of King Herod, rise up. A religious custom that was imposed through the ages summons the Jews to come every Friday to the foot of this symbolic wall to mourn the ruin of the "Jewish Jerusalem". From the multitude of faithful gathered there rises a whining cry, which sometimes drowns out the noises of the city. Today, Israeli pilgrims flock to the foot of the wall, and along with traditional lamentations read fragments of the psalms, proverbs, or Talmud.

Where is the Parthenon?

The Parthenon facts for kids

At the top of the Acropolis and dominating Athens, capital of Greece, stands the temple of the Parthenon, a masterpiece of Greek architecture.

Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom. The city of Athens erected numerous monuments and statues. Dominating the city, the Parthenon, made of white marble, rises its luminous silhouette over the Athenian sky. High columns support the ceiling and the two triangular pediments and close the central enclosure, a sacred place, where a statue of the goddess stood, 12 meters high, sculpted by Phidias. The Parthenon has known several destinations: it was a Byzantine church, cathedral, mosque, flanked by a minaret, and finally... Powder house! Damaged by an explosion and an earth tremor, systematically plundered by unscrupulous collectors, it is now partially restored. It is a jewel of ancient art with the rank of world wonder.

Origin of the Eiffel Tower

   There was a world's fair in Paris in 1889. For it Alexandre Gustave Eiffel built a high tower. The tower was named for him. When the fair ended, Eiffel Tower was left standing. Some of the people of Paris think that it should be torn down because it is not beautiful. But it is so famous and so many people visit it every year that it will probably be left stand­ing for many years more.
   The tower is 984 feet tall. At the time it was built, it was taller than anything else anyone had ever made. But 41 years later, in New York, a skyscraper was built that was taller. It was the Chrysler Building. Now the Empire State Building is nearly 300 feet higher than Eiffel Tower.
   Eiffel Tower has three "floors" and, near the top, a balcony. From the balcony one can see more than 50 miles. Some of the visitors who climb to the balcony get sea-sick because the tower sways in the wind.
Since the tower is made of iron, it must be painted to keep it from rusting. But painting it is not easy. It takes so long that the painters are always at work on it. By the time they get to where they started, they have to begin over again.
   The tower has proved useful for other things besides sight-seeing. It is used as a weather station. And for years wireless and radio messages have been sent from it. Now it is also used to transmit television programs.

The Washington Monument

   The Washington Monument is a majestic monument erected in honor of George Washington. It stands in the Mall on the banks of the Potomac, Washington, D. C. The corner stone was laid by President Polk, July 4, 1848, and Dec. 6, 1884, the cap stone was set in position. The foundations are 126½ feet square and 36 feet 8 inches deep. The base of the monument is 55 feet 1½ inches square and the walls 15 feet thick. At the 500 foot mark, where the pyramidal top begins, the shaft is 34 feet 5½ inches square and the walls are 18 inches thick. The monument is made of blocks of marble two feet thick, and its height above the ground is 555 feet. The pyramidal top terminates in an aluminum tip, which is 9 inches high and weighs 100 ounces. The total weight, foundation and all, is nearly 81,000 tons. An immense iron framework supports the machinery of the elevator. At one side begin the stairs, of which there are 50 flights, containing 18 steps each. Five hundred and twenty feet from the base there are eight Windows, two on each face. The Washington monument is the highest masonry monument in the world; total cost. $1,500,000.

Sidney Opera House

   Like a ship with its sails set for the future, the Opera House dominates the harbor in Sidney, Australia. Built out on a peninsula, the building is a series of concrete shells that house a center for the performings arts.
   Geographically an Asian country, Australia has an English heritage strongly influenced by its isolation from Europe. Australia has also taken in many European refugees who have helped to make its culture more international.
   Thus, when the Australian goverment decided to build a center to celebrate the arts, it sponsored a worldwide competition to choose its architect, Joern Utzon, a Dane, was the winner. His building rests on a high platform, and the shells rise more than 200 feet (60 meters) above ground level. It contains four theaters, each acoustically perfect for the type of performance held. There is a concert hall, an opera theater, a drama theater, and a chamber music and film hall. Completed in 1973, the Sidney Opera House is today considered one of the modern world's outstanding buildings.

Famous tombs

Taj Mahal

The KING TUTANKHAMEN'S TOMB is better known for what it contained than for its outward appearance. When it was built (about 1350 B.C.), Egyptian kings were more interested in hiding their burial places than in outward splendor. The entrances were closed with huge stones, sealing inside the mummy of the king and the fabulous treasures which filled the underground chambers. In 1922 a British scientist, Howard Carter, discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen in the famous Valley of the Kings near Thebes.


MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS. After the death of King Mausolus in 353 B.C., his widow, Queen Artemisia, had an elaborate tomb, 140 feet (43 m) high, constructed in his memory. On the top a chariot drawn by prancing horses carried figures of Mausolus and his queen. The tomb still existed in Asia Minor on the Aegean Sea when Columbus discovered America. Later destroyed by an earthquake, remnants of the statues can be seen today in the British Museum.


TAJ MAHAL means "gem of buildings." For over 350 years, visitors to Agra, India, have acclaimed this Mughal tomb as such a gem. Pools of water reflect the white marble towers and the 243-foot central dome. According to legend, the favorite queen of the emperor Shah Jahan first saw this splendid tomb in a dream. She described it to her husband when she awakened. He immediately hired an army of 20,000 workmen, but it took them 22 years to transform the dream into a reality.


TOMB OF KEMAL ATATURK. The tombs of rnodern leaders do more than glorify the dead. They are also patriotíc shrines. Mustafa Kemal Pasha led a revolt against the sultan of Turkey in 1922. As president of the new Turkish republic, he put through many reforms to modernize his country and make it more like other western nations. He became known as Ataturk, or Chief Turk, in 1934. On his death in 1938, an impressive tomb was erected in his honor at Ankara. It serves as a symbol for the Turkish people.

Great Churches

THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. PETER in the tiny state of Vatican City is the largest Christian church in the world. It is built in the shape of a cross, 718 feet long and 450 feet wide, with its great dome rising over 400 feet. Like many large cathedrals, it took over 100 years to build. It was dedicated in 1626.
According to church usage, a cathedral is a church which holds the bishop's chair or throne; size is unimportant. St. Peter's, in this sense, is not a cathedral. St. John Lateran is the cathedral for the diocese of Rome.

Hagia Sophia

HAGIA SOPHIA began as a Christian church in A.D. 532 in Constantinople (formerly Byzantium; now Istanbul). Over ten thousand men labored six years to build it. About 1453, the Turks converted ít into a mosque, a Moslem place of worship. Now it is a museum. The main floor plan resembles a Greek cross. Above the center is a 184-foot dome flanked by half domes. Rich mosaics decorate the floors, arches, vaults and upper walls. Many of these colorful mosaics were plastered over by the Turkish conquerors. Eight dark-green marble columns brought to Hagia Sophia from the dismantled Temple of Artemis are remnants of an earlier faith.

CHARTRES CATHEDRAL (the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Chartres) has two unmatched spires. Only the cathedrals of archbishops were permitted to have identical towers, and the cathedral of Notre Dame was founded by a bishop. Most of this famous Frenen church was built during the 12th and 13th centuries, but the tallest spire—377 feet—was not completed until the 16th century. It is known for its rose window and Gothic architecture.

NOTRE DAME DE PARIS, is the Gothic cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that comprises the cathedra (official chair) of the Archbishop of Paris. Notre Dame de Paris is broadly considered one of the excellent examples of French Gothic architecture in Europe, and the naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. The first period of construction from 1163 into the 1240's coincided with the musical experiments of the Notre Dame school.

The Seven Wonders of the World

THE 7 WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

THE GREAT PYRAMID OF KHUFU near Cairo is the only one of the original seven wonders of the world that is still standing. Built about 2600 B.C., this tomb of a pharaoh is the largest of the 70 or so pyramids in Egypt. Each side of the 13-acre square base originally measured about 756 feet. Blocks of stone quarried nearby rise in steps to a 481-foot peak. Some of the more than two million blocks of limestone weigh 30 tons, but the average is about 2½ tons. It took 30 years and the labor of 100,000 men to haul the stones up long ramps. Fine stones to line the inner passages and burial chambers were quarried in the south of Egypt and shipped by raft 700 miles down the Nile to the site of the pyramid. On the exterior was placed a facing of white limestone blocks that made the tomb glisten in the sunlight. Many of these finely cut slabs have since been removed and used to adorn public buildings.
Nearby on the plains of Giza is the Sphinx, a temple-monument carved after a second pyra­mid had been built in the area. The Sphinx was cut from a natural bluff of rock, formed as a result of stone quarrying for the pyramids. Its shape is that of a lion with a human head.


MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS. Shortly after the death of King Mausolus ín 353 B.C., his widow, Queen Artemisia, had an elaborate tomb, 140 feet high, erected in his memory. On the top a chariot drawn by prancing horses carried figures of Mausolus and his queen. The tomb still existed in Asia Minor on the Aegean Sea when Columbus discovered America. Later destroyed by an earthquake, remnants of the statues can be seen today in the British Museum.

Cathedrals of the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages are sometimes called the Age of Faith. To show their faith in God, the people of those times built great churches called cathedrals.

During the Middle Ages the common people were poor. Many of them lived in houses that we would call hovels. But their poor houses did not matter so much if they had beautiful churches to worship in.

It took more than 100 years to build some of the great cathedrals. The people of a region did not simply hire someone to build their great church for them. Instead, they did much of the work themselves. No people worked harder for their cathedral than did the people of Chartres in France. Princes and peasants, old men and boys, hitched themselves to carts as if they were horses and pulled loads of stone.

The cathedral of Chartres towers high above the town. It is in the style of architecture called Gothic. The main part of the ca­thedral is in the form of a cross. The arches are pointed. Great braces called flying buttresses strengthen the thick walls of stone.

Magnificent stained glass Windows and hundreds of figures carved from stone help make the cathedral beautiful. The higharched ceiling and the soft light coming through the stained glass Windows make the inside of the cathedral aweinspiring and give an air of mystery.

A cathedral of the Middle Ages was the center of the life of the town. The people for miles around gathered there to worship. They carm for Christmas and other special celebrations. At times there were plays that told stories of the lives of saints.