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The architect of a city not only attract the tourists but also tells about its past, present and future. More and more advancements in the architecture have challenged the architects to make more and more efficient and creative structures. Here is a small list of few cities with their distinct pieces of architecture.
1. The Barcelona, Spain
It contains the spectacular pieces of arts by Antoni Gaudi. He is the architect who best captured the modernism. The work of Gaudi contained special features such as predominance of curves over straight lines, heavy decoration and detail, shapes and asymmetry, and experimentation with new materials like iron, stained glass, and stone. Some of his notable creations are:
- La Sagrada Familia: the masterpiece of Gaudi is still under construction as his final visions were unknown so architectures are still trying to get an idea but everybody has a different opinion.
- Park Guell, with a number of walk ways, stands above the city. The park is full of curved stone benches and colorful mosaic. It gives a beautiful view of the city.
- Casa Batlo was remodeled from inside by Gaudi. There is no straight line in the building and due to its curved roof, the house is given the name of ‘House of Bones’.
2. Beijing
The 2008 Summer Olympics was the occasion when China thought that it has to prove more to world than its culture and architecture. After that the world watched the Beijing built Western-inspired buildings that have left behind the Chinese architecture, thus making it a centre for both traditional as well as contemporary buildings. The traditional buildings are built outwards and are made of timber columns, beams and brackets, giving the viewers an image of calm. Whereas, the new modern constructions are tall and asymmetric and grab attention and awe the viewers. We have enlisted a few of the wonderful constructions in China.
- The Great Wall of China is 2,000 years old and 9,000 km long. Tourists must see this wall as it represents the rich history of China.
- The Forbidden City of Beijing was home of Chinese emperors and their governments and is still an important monument to the traditional history of China. The city represents the importance of symbolism in Chinese Culture.
- The 51 floored building of CCTV headquarters is a precarious looking asymmetry construction.
3. Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul is also known as the cultural melting point as some of its part is on the continent of Europe and remaining on Asia. Same is the case with the religion of its inhabitants. Most of the people practice Islam but it also has communities of Christians and Jews. So, architecture also varies in nature. There are more than 2,000 mosques, 100 churches and 20 synagogues in Istanbul. It has served as a capital for a number of empires. Each of them formed a new layer of architecture on the old one; however, many of them have remained till now.
- Hagia Sophia, also known as the Church of the Holy Wisdom, is, now, a museum and mainly famous for its dome. Its dome is umbrella shaped ad it has 40 windows at its base, therefore, the light shines from all the directions giving a hovering impression to the dome.
- 20,000 hand-made blue ceramic tiles along the walls and ceiling give the mosque its name,
- The Column of Constantine was built in 330, during the Roman Empire. It was originally 50 meters tall and had a statue of Constantine that was dressed as Apollo at top. Natural disasters and a fire in 1779 had changed it a lot. Now it is 35 meter tall but is still a symbol of Roman Empire.
Its six minarets over the skyline of city make it prominent to be located. The mosque can hold up to 10,000 people at a time.
4. Chicago, U.S.A.
Chicago has the specialty that skyscrapers were created here. Its entire architectural heritage destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. After the construction of the first skyscraper, the competition became more and more intense resulting into the present form of the city. Take a Chicago boat and have an architecture tour of the city. Following are worth seeing places of Chicago.
- Willis Tower is the tallest and most ironic building of Chicago. It contains various offices and business centre but its 103rd floor is famous among tourists. The reason is, it is actually enclosed in glass box extended 4.3 feet from the building.
- Frank Lloyd Wright was responsible for the revolution of art and architecture in 20th century. In his Prairie-style studio, he designed 125 marvelous structures including House, the Larkin Building and Unity Temple. This home studio is worth a trip to see the place where he spent 20 years of his career.
- Cloud gate has a giant sculpture made of stainless steel bean that acts as a mirror thus reflects 80% of the city’s skyline. The best time to visit it is during night when the lights of the skyscrapers beam the gate.
5. Dubai
Dubai has the honor to master the construction of skyscrapers in resent years. Initially its economy was based on the oil reserves but now a significant amount pf them has been utilized. When the government realized it, few years back, they decided to make it an internationally attracting commerce point. As a result, now, Dubai is home to some of the most contemporary and tallest ambitious architectures of the world. It is also claimed that the Dubai city has 15-25% cranes of the world. Let’s have a look on some of its masterpieces.
- Constructed on an artificial island, the luxurious hotel, known as Burj-Al-Arab, is the only seven star hotel of the world. It is of shape of a sail. The island is at a distance of 280 meters from the shore and connected through a bridge. Obviously, rooms are very expensive, ranging from $2,000 to $28,000.
- Dubai also has the honor to construct the tallest man-made building of the world, the Burj Khalifa. It has 160 floors and is 2,717 feet high. Burj Khalifa also boasts the highest mosque and the highest swimming pool and, itself is the tallest free standing structure in the world.
- The World, an archipelago of 300 man-made islands is also an amazing construction. The Islands look like the map of the world and can be seen from the space. These islands can be purchased for $15- $50 million.
6. Athens
Athens, the city of Greece, is associated with temples and columns. The architecture of the city tells the stories of the culture and lifestyle of people of their past. As the ancient Greeks were political, religious and proud so they made monuments to celebrate their victories. Many of those monuments are still there and depict battles, processions, important statesmen and their gods.
- Parthenon is a temple to Greek goddess Athena. Surviving after the 2,500 years of weathering, war and vandalism, the temple is the most important structure from the ancient Greek.
- The Temple of Athena Nike was a place where people worshipped gods and goddess of wars. It was made of marble. Now its original frieze is kept in Acropolis museum but the copies are found in the temple.
- In its times Temple of Olympian Zeus was the most prided temple. Now only ruined remains of this temple are present but they represent the power and pride of the Athenian Rulers. It took several centuries t built this temple as the war and death of the rules prevented it from completion.
7. Rome,Italy
Rome, Italy created a new style of architecture that was practical and creative. This new style has resulted from the alterations made by Romans in the architecture of Greeks and Etruscans. They gave the concept of concrete as a primary construction material that was cheaper and stronger than the previously used marble material. They were the one to perfect the amphitheatres that was not only functional but also aesthetically pleasing. The Roman architecture is complex as they have multi-purpose structures.
- Pantheon was the architectural masterpiece of its time. Its 142-foot dome was largest till 1960 and this was the first building to have the combination of concrete construction and Greek columns. The most interesting fact is that the distance between its floor and dome is equal to the length of its diameter.
- Colosseum was another practical and efficient construction of Roman architecture. It had 80 entrances and could seat up to 50,000 people at a time. It was equipped for a lot of performances like battle reenactment, theatre, executions and mock sea battles.
- 11 aqueducts were built by Romans to provide water for drinking and bathing to their populated area. There had been a lot of planning for each aqueduct for the length, size and grade of it. They had several arches and tunnels to keep the flow of water direct for long distance and over rocky terrain.
