1.
Building
–
A building or edifice is a structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. To better understand the term building compare the list of nonbuilding structures, Buildings serve several needs of society – primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a division of the human habitat. Ever since the first cave paintings, buildings have become objects or canvasses of much artistic expression. In recent years, interest in planning and building practices has also become an intentional part of the design process of many new buildings. The word building is both a noun and a verb also an adverb, the structure itself and the act of making it. As a noun, a building is a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place, there was a building on the corner. In the broadest interpretation a fence or wall is a building, however, the word structure is used more broadly than building including natural and man-made formations and does not necessarily have walls. Structure is more likely to be used for a fence, as a verb, building is the act of construction. Structural height in technical usage is the height to the highest architectural detail on building from street-level, depending on how they are classified, spires and masts may or may not be included in this height. Spires and masts used as antennas are not generally included, the definition of a low-rise vs. a high-rise building is a matter of debate, but generally three storeys or less is considered low-rise. A report by Shinichi Fujimura of a shelter built 500000 years ago is doubtful since Fujimura was later found to have faked many of his findings. Supposed remains of huts found at the Terra Amata site in Nice purportedly dating from 200000 to 400000 years ago have also called into question. There is clear evidence of homebuilding from around 18000 BC, Buildings became common during the Neolithic. Single-family residential buildings are most often called houses or homes, residential buildings containing more than one dwelling unit are called a duplex, apartment building to differentiate them from individual houses. A condominium is an apartment that the occupant owns rather than rents, houses which were built as a single dwelling may later be divided into apartments or bedsitters, they may also be converted to another use e. g. an office or a shop. Building types may range from huts to multimillion-dollar high-rise apartment blocks able to house thousands of people, increasing settlement density in buildings is usually a response to high ground prices resulting from many people wanting to live close to work or similar attractors. Other common building materials are brick, concrete or combinations of either of these with stone, also if the residents are in need of special care such as a nursing home, orphanage or prison, or in group housing like barracks or dormitories
Building
–
The
Hôtel de Ville, building in
Paris,
France
Building
–
A
Shaolin Monastery building in
China
Building
–
A building and
skybridge in
Munich,
Germany
Building
–
The Rotunda in
Hellerup,
Denmark, a cylindric building made in steel frame and aluminum
2.
Sculpture
–
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts, a wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or molded, or cast. However, most ancient sculpture was painted, and this has been lost. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, India and China, the Western tradition of sculpture began in ancient Greece, and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the classical period. During the Middle Ages, Gothic sculpture represented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith, the revival of classical models in the Renaissance produced famous sculptures such as Michelangelos David. Relief is often classified by the degree of projection from the wall into low or bas-relief, high relief, sunk-relief is a technique restricted to ancient Egypt. Relief sculpture may also decorate steles, upright slabs, usually of stone, techniques such as casting, stamping and moulding use an intermediate matrix containing the design to produce the work, many of these allow the production of several copies. The term sculpture is used mainly to describe large works. The very large or colossal statue has had an enduring appeal since antiquity, another grand form of portrait sculpture is the equestrian statue of a rider on horse, which has become rare in recent decades. The smallest forms of life-size portrait sculpture are the head, showing just that, or the bust, small forms of sculpture include the figurine, normally a statue that is no more than 18 inches tall, and for reliefs the plaquette, medal or coin. Sculpture is an important form of public art, a collection of sculpture in a garden setting can be called a sculpture garden. One of the most common purposes of sculpture is in form of association with religion. Cult images are common in cultures, though they are often not the colossal statues of deities which characterized ancient Greek art. The actual cult images in the innermost sanctuaries of Egyptian temples, of which none have survived, were rather small. The same is true in Hinduism, where the very simple. Some undoubtedly advanced cultures, such as the Indus Valley civilization, appear to have had no monumental sculpture at all, though producing very sophisticated figurines, the Mississippian culture seems to have been progressing towards its use, with small stone figures, when it collapsed. Other cultures, such as ancient Egypt and the Easter Island culture, from the 20th century the relatively restricted range of subjects found in large sculpture expanded greatly, with abstract subjects and the use or representation of any type of subject now common. Today much sculpture is made for intermittent display in galleries and museums, small sculpted fittings for furniture and other objects go well back into antiquity, as in the Nimrud ivories, Begram ivories and finds from the tomb of Tutankhamun
Sculpture
–
The Dying Gaul, or The Capitoline Gaul a Roman marble copy of a
Hellenistic work of the late 3rd century BCE
Capitoline Museums, Rome
Sculpture
Sculpture
–
Michelangelo 's
Moses, (c. 1513–1515), housed in the church of
San Pietro in Vincoli in
Rome. The sculpture was commissioned in 1505 by
Pope Julius II for his
tomb.
Sculpture
–
Assyrian
lamassu gate guardian from
Khorsabad, c. 721–800 BCE
3.
Rock (geology)
–
Rock or stone is a natural substance, a solid aggregate of one or more minerals or mineraloids. For example, granite, a rock, is a combination of the minerals quartz, feldspar. The Earths outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock, rock has been used by mankind throughout history. The minerals and metals found in rocks have been essential to human civilization, three major groups of rocks are defined, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The scientific study of rocks is called petrology, which is a component of geology. At a granular level, rocks are composed of grains of minerals, the aggregate minerals forming the rock are held together by chemical bonds. The types and abundance of minerals in a rock are determined by the manner in which the rock was formed, many rocks contain silica, a compound of silicon and oxygen that forms 74. 3% of the Earths crust. This material forms crystals with other compounds in the rock, the proportion of silica in rocks and minerals is a major factor in determining their name and properties. Rocks are geologically classified according to such as mineral and chemical composition, permeability, the texture of the constituent particles. These physical properties are the end result of the processes that formed the rocks, over the course of time, rocks can transform from one type into another, as described by the geological model called the rock cycle. These events produce three general classes of rock, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic, the three classes of rocks are subdivided into many groups. However, there are no hard and fast boundaries between allied rocks, hence the definitions adopted in establishing rock nomenclature merely correspond to more or less arbitrary selected points in a continuously graduated series. Igneous rock forms through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava and this magma can be derived from partial melts of pre-existing rocks in either a planets mantle or crust. Typically, the melting of rocks is caused by one or more of three processes, an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition, igneous rocks are divided into two main categories, plutonic rock and volcanic. Plutonic or intrusive rocks result when magma cools and crystallizes slowly within the Earths crust, a common example of this type is granite. Volcanic or extrusive rocks result from magma reaching the surface either as lava or fragmental ejecta, the chemical abundance and the rate of cooling of magma typically forms a sequence known as Bowens reaction series. Most major igneous rocks are found along this scale, about 64. 7% of the Earths crust by volume consists of igneous rocks, making it the most plentiful category. Of these, 66% are basalts and gabbros, 16% are granite, only 0. 6% are syenites and 0. 3% peridotites and dunites
Rock (geology)
–
Balanced Rock stands in the
Garden of the Gods park in
Colorado Springs
Rock (geology)
–
Rock outcrop along a mountain creek near
Orosí,
Costa Rica.
Rock (geology)
–
Sample of igneous
gabbro
Rock (geology)
–
Sedimentary sandstone with iron oxide bands
4.
Construction
–
Construction is the process of constructing a building or infrastructure. Construction as an industry comprises six to nine percent of the domestic product of developed countries. Construction starts with planning, design, and financing, and continues until the project is built, large-scale construction requires collaboration across multiple disciplines. An architect normally manages the job, and a manager, design engineer. For the successful execution of a project, effective planning is essential, the largest construction projects are referred to as megaprojects. Construction is a term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations. Construction is used as a verb, the act of building, and a noun, how a building was built, in general, there are three sectors of construction, buildings, infrastructure and industrial. Building construction is further divided into residential and non-residential. Infrastructure is often called heavy/highway, heavy civil or heavy engineering and it includes large public works, dams, bridges, highways, water/wastewater and utility distribution. Industrial includes refineries, process chemical, power generation, mills, there are other ways to break the industry into sectors or markets. Engineering News-Record is a magazine for the construction industry. Each year, ENR compiles and reports on data about the size of design and they publish a list of the largest companies in the United States and also a list the largest global firms. In 2014, ENR compiled the data in nine market segments and it was divided as transportation, petroleum, buildings, power, industrial, water, manufacturing, sewer/waste, telecom, hazardous waste plus a tenth category for other projects. In their reporting on the Top 400, they used data on transportation, sewer, hazardous waste, the Standard Industrial Classification and the newer North American Industry Classification System have a classification system for companies that perform or otherwise engage in construction. To recognize the differences of companies in this sector, it is divided into three subsectors, building construction, heavy and civil engineering construction, and specialty trade contractors, there are also categories for construction service firms and construction managers. Building construction is the process of adding structure to real property or construction of buildings, the majority of building construction jobs are small renovations, such as addition of a room, or renovation of a bathroom. Often, the owner of the property acts as laborer, paymaster, for this reason, those with experience in the field make detailed plans and maintain careful oversight during the project to ensure a positive outcome. Residential construction practices, technologies, and resources must conform to local building authority regulations, materials readily available in the area generally dictate the construction materials used
Construction
–
In large construction projects, such as this
skyscraper in
Melbourne,
Australia,
cranes are essential.
Construction
–
Military residential unit construction by U.S. Navy personnel in Afghanistan
Construction
–
The National Cement Share Company of
Ethiopia 's new plant in
Dire Dawa.
Construction
–
Framing
5.
Monument
–
The term monument is often applied to buildings or structures that are considered examples of important architectural and/or cultural heritage. Monuments have been created for thousands of years, and they are often the most durable, in more recent times, monumental structures such as the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower have become iconic emblems of modern nation-states. The term monumentality relates to the status and physical presence of a monument. Monuments are frequently used to improve the appearance of a city or location, planned cities such as Washington D. C. New Delhi and Brasília are often built around monuments, for example, the Washington Monuments location was conceived by LEnfant to help organize public space in the city, before it was designed or constructed. Older cities have monuments placed at locations that are important or are sometimes redesigned to focus on one. As Shelley suggested in his famous poem Ozymandias, the purpose of monuments is often to impress or awe. Structures created for purposes that have been made notable by their age. This can happen because of age and size, as in the case of the Great Wall of China. Monuments are also designed to convey historical or political information. They can be used to reinforce the primacy of political power. The social meanings of monuments are rarely fixed and certain and are contested by different social groups. This contention of meaning is a theme of modern post processual archaeological discourse. Until recently, it was customary for archaeologists to study large monuments, New ideas about what constitutes the archaeological record have revealed that certain legislative and theoretical approaches to the subject are too focused on earlier definitions of monuments. An example has been the United Kingdoms Scheduled Ancient Monument laws, recently, more and more monuments are being preserved digitally through organisations as CyArk. Cenotaphs and other memorials to commemorate the dead, usually war casualties, e. g. India Gate and Vimy Ridge Memorial, or disaster casualties, such as the Titanic Memorial, Belfast. Church monuments to commemorate the dead, located above or near their grave, often featuring an effigy, columns, often topped with a statue, e. g. Berlin Victory Column, Nelsons Column in London, and Trajans Column in Rome. Gravestones, small monuments to the deceased, placed at their gravesites, e. g. the tombs and vaults of veterans in Les Invalides, mausoleums and tombs to honor the dead, e. g. the Great Pyramid of Giza and Taj Mahal
Monument
–
The
Lincoln Memorial,
Washington Monument, and
US Capitol. The planned US capital
Washington D.C. is built around monuments commemorating founding fathers of the
United States.
Monument
–
The
Great Pyramid of
Giza built almost 5000 years ago as
pharaoh 's
tomb, one of the
Seven Wonders and enduring symbol of
ancient Egyptian civilization since antiquity.
Monument
–
The
Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of
Ancient Greece, the
Athenian democracy, as well as the symbol of
Western Civilization.
Monument
–
The
Colosseum Flavian amphitheatre in
Rome, a popular monument of the
Roman Empire.
6.
Artifact (archaeology)
–
An artifact or artefact is something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, especially an object of archaeological interest. In archaeology, however, the word has become a term of particular nuance and is defined as, an object recovered by archaeological endeavor, which may have a cultural interest. However, modern archaeologists take care to distinguish material culture from ethnicity, examples include stone tools, pottery vessels, metal objects such as weapons, and items of personal adornment such as buttons, jewelry and clothing. Bones that show signs of modification are also examples. Natural objects, such as fire cracked rocks from a hearth or plant material used for food, are classified by archeologists as ecofacts rather than as artifacts, natural objects that humans have moved but not changed are called manuports. Examples include seashells moved inland, or rounded pebbles placed away from the action that made them. For instance, a bone removed from a carcass is a biofact. Similarly there can be debate over early stone objects that could be either crude artifacts or naturally occurring and it can be difficult to distinguish the differences between actual man-made lithic artifacts and geofacts – naturally occurring lithics that resemble man-made tools. It is possible to authenticate artifacts by examining the general attributed to man-made tools. Artifact Collection at the Royal Military College of Canada Museum in Kingston, Ontario
Artifact (archaeology)
–
Mycenaean stirrup vase found in the acropolis of Ras Shamra (
Ugarit), 1400-1300 BC
Artifact (archaeology)
–
Archaeological artifact from the work developed in the area of
Citânia de Briteiros, Portugal
7.
Cathedral
–
A cathedral is a Christian church which contains the seat of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. The counterpart term for such a church in German is Dom from Latin domus ecclesiae or domus episcopalis, also Italian Duomo, Dutch Domkerk, when the church at which an archbishop or metropolitan presides is specifically intended, the term kathedrikos naos is used. In addition, both the Catholic Church and Orthodox churches have formed new dioceses within formerly Protestant lands for converts, consequently, it is not uncommon to find Christians in a single city being served by three or more cathedrals of differing denominations. In the Catholic tradition, the term cathedral correctly applies only to a church houses the seat of the bishop of a diocese. The abbey church of a territorial abbacy serves the same function, the Catholic Church also uses the following terms. A pro-cathedral is a parish or other church used temporarily as a cathedral, usually while the cathedral of a diocese is under construction, renovation and this designation applies only as long as the temporary use continues. A co-cathedral is a cathedral in a diocese that has two sees. A proto-cathedral is the cathedral of a transferred see. The cathedral church of a bishop is called the metropolitan cathedral. The term cathedral actually carries no implication as to the size or ornateness of the building, nevertheless, most cathedrals are particularly impressive edifices. The building is now under renovation and restoration for solemn dedication under the title Christ Cathedral in 2018, in the ancient world the chair, on a raised dais, was the distinctive mark of a teacher or rhetor and thus symbolises the bishops role as teacher. A raised throne within a hall was also definitive for a Late Antique presiding magistrate. The history of cathedrals starts in the year 313, when the emperor Constantine the Great personally adopted Christianity, in the third century, the phrase ascending the platform, ad pulpitum venire, becomes the standard term for Christian ordination. During the siege of Dura Europos in 256, a complete Christian house church, or domus ecclesiae was entombed in a bank, surviving when excavated. Otherwise the large room had no decoration or distinctive features at all, in 269, soon after Dura fell to the Persian army, a body of clerics assembled a charge sheet against the bishop of Antioch, Paul of Samosata, in the form of an open letter. Characteristically a Roman magistrate presided from a throne in a large, richly decorated and aisled rectangular hall called a basilica. The earliest of these new basilican cathedrals of which remains are still visible is below the Cathedral of Aquileia on the northern tip of the Adriatic sea. The three halls create a courtyard, in which was originally located a separate baptistery
Cathedral
–
São Paulo Cathedral, a representative modern cathedral built in Neo-Gothic style.
Cathedral
–
Interior of
St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral,
Memphis, Tennessee with a procession.
Cathedral
–
The cathedral of the
Pope as Bishop of Rome, Cathedral of St. John Lateran
Cathedral
–
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
8.
City
–
A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output
City
–
1908 map of
Piraeus, the port of
Athens, showing the grid plan of the city
City
–
Ancient
Ur of
Sumer in present-day Tell el-Mukayyar in
Iraq, one of the world's earliest cities
City
–
Mohenjo-daro, a
World Heritage site that was part of the
Indus Valley Civilization
City
–
A map dating 1669 showing the location of
Multan, Pakistan
9.
Taj Mahal
–
The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643 but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years. The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by the architect to the emperor. The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the worlds heritage. Described by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore as the tear-drop on the cheek of time, it is regarded by many as the best example of Mughal architecture, the Taj Mahal attracts 7–8 million visitors a year. In 2007, it was declared a winner of the New7Wonders of the World initiative. The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1631, to be built in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, construction of the Taj Mahal began in 1632. The imperial court documenting Shah Jahans grief after the death of Mumtaz Mahal illustrate the story held as the inspiration for Taj Mahal. The principal mausoleum was completed in 1643 and the surrounding buildings, the Taj Mahal incorporates and expands on design traditions of Persian and earlier Mughal architecture. Specific inspiration came from successful Timurid and Mughal buildings including the Gur-e Amir, Humayuns Tomb, Itmad-Ud-Daulahs Tomb, while earlier Mughal buildings were primarily constructed of red sandstone, Shah Jahan promoted the use of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones. Buildings under his patronage reached new levels of refinement, the tomb is the central focus of the entire complex of the Taj Mahal. It is a large, white marble standing on a square plinth and consists of a symmetrical building with an iwan topped by a large dome. Like most Mughal tombs, the elements are Persian in origin. The base structure is a large multi-chambered cube with chamfered corners forming an unequal eight-sided structure that is approximately 55 metres on each of the four long sides. Each side of the iwan is framed with a huge pishtaq or vaulted archway with two similarly shaped arched balconies stacked on either side and this motif of stacked pishtaqs is replicated on the chamfered corner areas, making the design completely symmetrical on all sides of the building. Four minarets frame the tomb, one at each corner of the plinth facing the chamfered corners, the main chamber houses the false sarcophagi of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, the actual graves are at a lower level. The most spectacular feature is the dome that surmounts the tomb
Taj Mahal
–
Southern view of the Taj Mahal.
Taj Mahal
–
"Shah jahan on a globe" from the
Smithsonian Institution
Taj Mahal
–
Artistic depiction of
Mumtaz Mahal
Taj Mahal
10.
Cusco
–
Cuzco, often spelled Cusco, is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cusco Province, in 2013, the city had a population of 435,114. Located on the end of the Knot of Cuzco, its elevation is around 3,400 m. The site was the capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th until the 16th-century Spanish conquest. In 1983 Cusco was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and it has become a major tourist destination, hosting nearly 2 million visitors a year. The Constitution of Peru designates it as the Historical Capital of Peru, the indigenous name of this city is Qusqu. Although the name was used in Quechua, its origin is found in the Aymara language, the word is derived from the phrase qusqu wanka, related to the citys foundation myth of the Ayar Siblings. According to this legend, Ayar Awqa acquired wings and flew to the site of the future city, there he was transformed into a rock to mark the possession of the land by his ayllu. Then Ayar Oche stood up, displayed a pair of large wings, then they went up on top of the hill. Now at the site where he was to remain as an idol and he returned and told Ayar Manco that from then on he was to be named Manco Capac. Ayar Oche came from where the Sun was and the Sun had ordered that Ayar Manco take that name, after this had been stated by the idol, Ayar Oche turned into a stone, just as he was, with his wings. Later Manco Capac went down with Ayar Auca to their settlement. he liked the place now occupied in this city Cuzco, Manco Capac and his companion, with the help of the four women, made a house. Having done this, Manco Capac and his companion, with the four women and it is said that they took the maize from the cave, which this lord Manco Capac named Pacaritambo, which means those of origin because. they came out of that cave. The Spanish conquistadors adopted the name, transliterating it into Spanish phonetics as Cuzco or, less often. Cuzco was the spelling on official documents and chronicles in colonial times. Cuzco, pronounced as in 16th-century Spanish, seems to have been an approximation to the Cusco Quechua pronunciation of the name at the time. As both Spanish and Quechuan pronunciation have evolved since then, the Spanish pronunciation of z is no longer close to the Quechuan pronunciation of the consonant represented by z in Cuzco. In 1976, the city signed an ordinance banning the traditional spelling and ordering the use of a new one, Cusco
Cusco
–
The first image of Cuzco in Europe.
Pedro Cieza de León. Cronica del Peru, 1553.
Cusco
–
Cristo Blanco in the surrounding mountains of Cusco
Cusco
–
Night view of Plaza Regocijo, Cusco
Cusco
–
Night view of the
Qurikancha and Convent of
St. Dominic
11.
Easter Island
–
Easter Island is a Chilean island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle. Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, in 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park. However, human activity, the introduction of the Polynesian rat, by the time of European arrival in 1722, the islands population had dropped to 2, 000–3,000 from an estimated high of approximately 15,000 just a century earlier. European diseases and Peruvian slave raiding in the 1860s further reduced the Rapa Nui population, Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. Easter Island is a territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888. Administratively, it belongs to the Valparaíso Region, and, more specifically, according to the 2012 Chilean census, the island has about 5,800 residents, of whom some 60 percent are descendants of the aboriginal Rapa Nui. Easter Island is considered part of Insular Chile, the islands official Spanish name, Isla de Pascua, also means Easter Island. However, Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl argued that Rapa was the name of Easter Island. William Churchill inquired about the phrase and was told there were three te pito o te henua, these being the three capes of the island. The phrase appears to have used in the same sense as the designation of Lands End at the tip of Cornwall. He was unable to elicit a Polynesian name for the island itself, according to Barthel, oral tradition has it that the island was first named Te pito o te kainga a Hau Maka The little piece of land of Hau Maka. However, there are two words pronounced pito in Rapa Nui, one meaning end and one navel, and the phrase can also mean the Navel of the World. This was apparently its actual meaning, French ethnologist Alphonse Pinart gave it the actual translation the Navel of the World, another name, Mata ki te rangi, means Eyes looking to the sky. Islanders are referred to in Spanish as pascuense, however it is common to refer to members of the community as Rapa Nui. Estimated dates of initial settlement of Easter Island have ranged from 300 to 1200, rectifications in radiocarbon dating have changed almost all of the previously posited early settlement dates in Polynesia. Rapa Nui is now considered to have settled in the narrower range of 700 to 1100 CE. Significant ecological impacts and major cultural investments in monumental architecture and statuary thus began soon after initial settlement, according to oral tradition, the first settlement was at Anakena. The island was most likely populated by Polynesians who navigated in canoes or catamarans from the Gambier Islands or the Marquesas Islands,3,200 km away
Easter Island
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Easter Island
–
Flag
Easter Island
–
A View of the Monuments of Easter Island, Rapanui, c. 1775-1776 by
William Hodges. The earliest known painting of Easter Island. [
citation needed]
Easter Island
–
Motu Nui islet, part of the Birdman Cult ceremony
12.
Moai
–
Moai /ˈmoʊ. aɪ/, or mo‘ai, are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between 1250 and 1500 A. D. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, almost all moai have overly large heads three-eighths the size of the whole statue. The moai are chiefly the living faces of deified ancestors, the statues still gazed inland across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island in 1722, but all of them had fallen by the latter part of the 19th century. The production and transportation of the more than 900 statues are considered remarkable creative, the moai toppled after European contact when islander traditions radically changed. The moai are monolithic statues, their minimalist style related to forms found throughout Polynesia, Moai are carved in relatively flat planes, the faces bearing proud but enigmatic expressions. The human figures would be outlined in the wall first. The over-large heads have heavy brows and elongated noses with a distinctive fish-hook-shaped curl of the nostrils, the lips protrude in a thin pout. Like the nose, the ears are elongated and oblong in form, the jaw lines stand out against the truncated neck. The torsos are heavy, and, sometimes, the clavicles are subtly outlined in stone, generally, the anatomical features of the backs are not detailed, but sometimes bear a ring and girdle motif on the buttocks and lower back. Except for one kneeling moai, the statues do not have clearly visible legs, though moai are whole-body statues, they are erroneously referred to as Easter Island heads in some popular literature. Some of the heads at Rano Raraku have been excavated and their bodies seen, the average height of the moai is about 4 m, with the average width at the base around 1.6 m. These massive creations usually weigh in at around 12.5 tonnes each, all but 53 of the more than 900 moai known to date were carved from tuff from Rano Raraku, where 394 moai and incomplete moai are still visible today. There are also 13 moai carved from basalt,22 from trachyte and 17 from fragile red scoria, at the end of carving, the builders would rub the statue with pumice. Easter Island statues are known for their large, broad noses and strong chins, along with rectangle-shaped ears and their bodies are normally squatting, with their arms resting in different positions and are without legs. The major of the ahu are found along the coast and face inland towards the community, there are some inland ahu such as Ahu Akivi. These moai face the community but given the size of the island. The discovery was made by collecting and reassembling broken fragments of coral that were found at the various sites. Subsequently, previously uncategorized finds in the Easter Island museum were re-examined and recategorized as eye fragments, many archaeologists suggest that statues were thus symbols of authority and power, both religious and political
Moai
–
Moai facing inland at
Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s
Moai
–
Moai set in the hillside at
Rano Raraku
Moai
–
Moais quarry at Rano Raraku
Moai
–
Re-erected tuff moai at Ahu Tahai with restored
pukao and replica eyes
13.
Ancient Egypt
–
Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
Ancient Egypt
–
The
Great Sphinx and the
pyramids of Giza are among the most recognizable symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt.
Ancient Egypt
–
A typical Naqada II jar decorated with gazelles. (Predynastic Period)
Ancient Egypt
–
The
Narmer Palette depicts the unification of the Two Lands.
14.
Egyptian pyramids
–
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt. As of November 2008, sources cite either 118 or 138 as the number of identified Egyptian pyramids, most were built as tombs for the countrys pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found at Saqqara, northwest of Memphis, the earliest among these is the Pyramid of Djoser which was built during the third dynasty. This pyramid and its surrounding complex were designed by the architect Imhotep, the most famous Egyptian pyramids are those found at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo. Several of the Giza pyramids are counted among the largest structures ever built, the Pyramid of Khufu at Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It is the one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still in existence. By the time of the Early Dynastic Period, those with sufficient means were buried in bench-like structures known as mastabas, the second historically-documented Egyptian pyramid is attributed to the architect Imhotep, who planned what Egyptologists believe to be a tomb for the pharaoh Djoser. Imhotep is credited with being the first to conceive the notion of stacking mastabas on top of each other, the result was the Pyramid of Djoser, which was designed to serve as a gigantic stairway by which the soul of the deceased pharaoh could ascend to the heavens. Such was the importance of Imhoteps achievement that he was deified by later Egyptians, the most prolific pyramid-building phase coincided with the greatest degree of absolutist rule. It was during this time that the most famous pyramids, the Giza pyramid complex, were built. Long after the end of Egypts own pyramid-building period, a burst of pyramid-building occurred in what is present-day Sudan, al-Aziz Uthman tried to destroy the Giza pyramid complex. He gave up after damaging the Pyramid of Menkaure because the task proved too huge, the shape of Egyptian pyramids is thought to represent the primordial mound from which the Egyptians believed the earth was created. Pyramids were often named in ways that referred to solar luminescence. For example, the name of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur The Southern Shining Pyramid. While it is agreed that pyramids were burial monuments, there is continued disagreement on the particular theological principles that might have given rise to them. One suggestion is that they were designed as a type of resurrection machine, the Egyptians believed the dark area of the night sky around which the stars appear to revolve was the physical gateway into the heavens. One of the shafts that extend from the main burial chamber through the entire body of the Great Pyramid points directly towards the center of this part of the sky. This suggests the pyramid may have designed to serve as a means to magically launch the deceased pharaohs soul directly into the abode of the gods
Egyptian pyramids
–
A view of the pyramids at Giza from the plateau to the south of the complex. From left to right, the three largest are: the
Pyramid of Menkaure, the
Pyramid of Khafre and the
Great Pyramid of Khufu. The three smaller pyramids in the foreground are subsidiary structures associated with Menkaure's pyramid.
Egyptian pyramids
–
A view of the
Pyramid of Khafre from the
Sphinx.
Egyptian pyramids
–
The Mastaba of Faraoun, at Saqqara
Egyptian pyramids
–
The largely destroyed Pyramid of Djedefre
15.
Angkor Wat
–
Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world, with the site measuring 162.6 hectares. It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple of god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire and it was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu, as the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture, the temple-mountain and the later galleried temple. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology, within a moat, at the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west, the temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls. The modern name, Angkor Wat, means Temple City or City of Temples in Khmer, Angkor, meaning city or capital city, is a form of the word nokor. Wat is the Khmer word for temple grounds, also derived from Sanskrit vāṭa, the original name of the temple was Vrah Viṣṇuloka or Brah Bisnulōk which means the sacred dwelling of Vishnu. Angkor Wat lies 5.5 kilometres north of the town of Siem Reap, and a short distance south and slightly east of the previous capital. In an area of Cambodia where there is an important group of ancient structures, according to legend, the construction of Angkor Wat was ordered by Indra to act as a palace for his son Precha Ket Mealea. According to the 13th century Chinese traveller Daguan Zhou, it was believed by some that the temple was constructed in a night by a divine architect. The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the kings state temple and capital city. Work seems to have ended shortly after the death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished. In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple a few kilometres to the north. Towards the end of the 12th century, Angkor Wat gradually transformed from a Hindu centre of worship to Buddhism and it has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of. By the 17th century, Angkor Wat was not completely abandoned and functioned as a Buddhist temple, fourteen inscriptions dated from the 17th century discovered in Angkor area testify to Japanese Buddhist pilgrims that had established small settlements alongside Khmer locals. At that time, the temple was thought by the Japanese visitors as the famed Jetavana garden of the Buddha, the best-known inscription tells of Ukondafu Kazufusa, who celebrated the Khmer New Year at Angkor Wat in 1632
Angkor Wat
–
Angkor Wat អង្គរវត្ត
Angkor Wat
–
King
Suryavarman II, the builder of Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
–
Facade of Angkor Wat, a drawing by
Henri Mouhot, c. 1860
Angkor Wat
–
1870 photograph by
Émile Gsell
16.
Borobudur
–
The temple consists of nine stacked platforms, six square and three circular, topped by a central dome. The temple is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues, the central dome is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues, each seated inside a perforated stupa. The monument is both a shrine to the Lord Buddha and a place for Buddhist pilgrimage, the monument guides pilgrims through an extensive system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the walls and the balustrades. Borobudur has the largest and most complete ensemble of Buddhist reliefs in the world, evidence suggests Borobudur was constructed in the 9th century and abandoned following the 14th-century decline of Hindu kingdoms in Java and the Javanese conversion to Islam. Worldwide knowledge of its existence was sparked in 1814 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, then the British ruler of Java, Borobudur has since been preserved through several restorations. The largest restoration project was undertaken between 1975 and 1982 by the Indonesian government and UNESCO, following which the monument was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Borobudur is still used for pilgrimage, once a year, Buddhists in Indonesia celebrate Vesak at the monument, in Indonesian, ancient temples are referred to as candi, thus locals refer to Borobudur Temple as Candi Borobudur. The term candi also loosely describes ancient structures, for example gates, the origins of the name Borobudur, however, are unclear, although the original names of most ancient Indonesian temples are no longer known. The name Borobudur was first written in Sir Thomas Raffless book on Javan history, Raffles wrote about a monument called Borobudur, but there are no older documents suggesting the same name. The only old Javanese manuscript that hints the monument called Budur as a holy Buddhist sanctuary is Nagarakretagama, written by Mpu Prapanca, most candi are named after a nearby village. If it followed Javanese language conventions and was named after the village of Bore. Raffles thought that Budur might correspond to the modern Javanese word Buda —i. e. ancient Boro and he also suggested that the name might derive from boro, meaning great or honourable and Budur for Buddha. However, another archaeologist suggests the second component of the name comes from Javanese term bhudhara, another possible etymology suggests that Borobudur is a corrupted simplified local Javanese pronunciation of Biara Beduhur written in Sanskrit as Vihara Buddha Uhr. This suggests that Borobudur means vihara of Buddha located on a place or on a hill. The construction and inauguration of a sacred Buddhist building—possibly a reference to Borobudur—was mentioned in two inscriptions, both discovered in Kedu, Temanggung Regency, the Karangtengah inscription, dated 824, mentioned a sacred building named Jinalaya, inaugurated by Pramodhawardhani, daughter of Samaratungga. The Tri Tepusan inscription, dated 842, is mentioned in the sima, Kamūlān is from the word mula, which means the place of origin, a sacred building to honor the ancestors, probably those of the Sailendras. Casparis suggested that Bhūmi Sambhāra Bhudhāra, which in Sanskrit means the mountain of combined virtues of the ten stages of Boddhisattvahood, was the name of Borobudur. According to local myth, the known as Kedu Plain is a Javanese sacred place and has been dubbed the garden of Java due to its high agricultural fertility
Borobudur
–
Borobudur, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
Borobudur
–
Candi Borobudur view from the northwest, the monument was mentioned in
Karangtengah and
Tri Tepusan inscription.
Borobudur
–
A painting by G.B. Hooijer (c. 1916—1919) reconstructing the scene of Borobudur during its heyday
Borobudur
–
Borobudur stupas overlooking a mountain. For centuries, it was deserted.
17.
Tihuanaco
–
Tiwanaku is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia. The site was first recorded in history by Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de León. He came upon the remains of Tiwanaku in 1549 while searching for the Inca capital in Qullasuyu, the name by which Tiwanaku was known to its inhabitants may have been lost as they had no written language. The ancient inhabitants of Tiwanaku are believed to have spoken the Puquina language, the area around Tiwanaku may have been inhabited as early as 1500 BCE as a small agricultural village. During the time period between 300 BCE and CE300, Tiwanaku is thought to have been a moral and cosmological center for the Tiwanaku empire, researchers believe it achieved this standing prior to Tiwanaku expanding its powerful empire. In 1945, Arthur Posnansky estimated that Tiwanaku dated to 15,000 BC, in the 21st century, experts concluded Posnanskys dates were invalid and a sorry example of misused archaeoastronomical evidence. These may be visited by the public, the Akapana is an approximately cross-shaped pyramidal structure that is 257 m wide,197 m broad at its maximum, and 16.5 m tall. At its center appears to have been a sunken court and this was nearly destroyed by a deep looters excavation that extends from the center of this structure to its eastern side. Material from the excavation was dumped off the eastern side of the Akapana. A staircase with sculptures is present on its western side, possible residential complexes might have occupied both the northeast and southeast corners of this structure. Originally, the Akapana was thought to have developed from a modified hill. Twenty-first century studies have shown that it is an entirely manmade earthen mound, faced with a mixture of large, the dirt comprising Akapana appears to have been excavated from the moat that surrounds the site. The largest stone block within the Akapana, made of andesite, is estimated to weigh 65.70 metric tons, the structure was possibly for the shaman-puma relationship or transformation through shape shifting. Tenon puma and human heads stud the upper terraces, the Akapana East was built on the eastern side of early Tiwanaku. Later it was considered a boundary between the center and the urban area. It was made of a thick, prepared floor of sand and clay, yellow and red clay were used in different areas for what seems like aesthetic purposes. It was swept clean of all domestic refuse, signaling its great importance to the culture, the Pumapunku is a man-made platform built on an east–west axis like the Akapana. It is a rectangular, terraced earthen mound faced with megalithic blocks and it is 167.36 m wide along its north–south axis and 116.7 m broad along its east–west axis, and is 5 m tall
Tihuanaco
–
The "
Gate of the Sun "
Tihuanaco
–
Snuff tablet ("rapero"), Lombards Museum
Tihuanaco
–
"
Gateway of the Sun ", Tiwanaku, drawn by Ephraim Squier in 1877. The scale is exaggerated in this drawing.
Tihuanaco
–
Gate of the Moon.
18.
Tenochtitlan
–
Mexico-Tenochtitlan, commonly known as Tenochtitlan was a Mexica located on an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico. Founded on June 20,1325, it became the capital of the expanding Aztec Empire in the 15th century, at its peak it was the largest city in the Pre-Columbian Americas. It subsequently became a cabecera of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, today the ruins of Tenochtitlan are located in Mexico Citys downtown. Tenochtitlan was one of two Nahua āltēpetl on the island, the other being Tlatelolco, traditionally, the name Tenochtitlan was thought to come from Nahuatl tetl and nōchtli and is often thought to mean, Among the prickly pears rocks. However, one attestation in the late 16th-century manuscript known as the Bancroft dialogues suggest the second vowel was short, Tenochtitlan covered an estimated 8 to 13.5 km2, situated on the western side of the shallow Lake Texcoco. At the time of Spanish conquests, Mexico City comprised both Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco, the city was connected to the mainland by causeways leading to the north, south, and west. The causeways were interrupted by bridges that allowed canoes and other traffic to pass freely. The bridges could be pulled away, if necessary, to defend the city, the city was interlaced with a series of canals, so that all sections of the city could be visited either on foot or via canoe. Lake Texcoco was the largest of five interconnected lakes, since it formed in an endorheic basin, Lake Texcoco was brackish. During the reign of Moctezuma I, the levee of Nezahualcoyotl was constructed, estimated to be 12 to 16 km in length, the levee was completed circa 1453. The levee kept fresh spring-fed water in the waters around Tenochtitlan and kept the brackish waters beyond the dike, two double aqueducts, each more than 4 km long and made of terracotta, provided the city with fresh water from the springs at Chapultepec. This was intended mainly for cleaning and washing, for drinking, water from mountain springs was preferred. Most of the population liked to bathe twice a day, Moctezuma was said to take four baths a day. According to the context of Aztec culture in literature, the soap that they most likely used was the root of a plant called copalxocotl, and to clean their clothes they used the root of metl. Also, the classes and pregnant women washed themselves in a temazcalli, similar to a sauna bath. This was also popular in other Mesoamerican cultures, and some of our soldiers even asked whether the things that we saw were not a dream. I do not know how to describe it, seeing things as we did that had never heard of or seen before. The city was divided into four zones, or campan, each campan was divided into 20 districts, there were three main streets that crossed the city, each leading to one of the three causeways to the mainland of Tepeyac, Ixtapalpa, and Tlacopan
Tenochtitlan
–
Model of the temple district of Tenochtitlan at the
National Museum of Anthropology
Tenochtitlan
–
The Western side of the shallow
Lake Texcoco. Tenochtitlan is the southern part of the main island (under the red line). The northern part is
Tlatelolco
Tenochtitlan
–
The Tlatelolco Marketplace as depicted at
The Field Museum, Chicago.
Tenochtitlan
–
A picture of Tenochtitlan and a model of the
Templo Mayor.
19.
Persepolis
–
Persepolis or Parsa, also known as Takht-e-Jamshid, was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire. Persepolis is situated 60 km northeast of the city of Shiraz in Fars Province, the earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. It exemplifies the Achaemenid style of architecture, UNESCO declared the ruins of Persepolis a World Heritage Site in 1979. The English word Persepolis is derived from Ancient Greek Persépolis, a compound of Pérsēs and pólis, to the ancient Persians, the city was known as Pārsa. Persepolis is near the small river Pulvar, which flows into the Kur River, the site includes a 125,000 square meter terrace, partly artificially constructed and partly cut out of a mountain, with its east side leaning on Rahmet Mountain. The other three sides are formed by retaining walls, which vary in height with the slope of the ground, rising from 5–13 metres on the west side was a double stair. From there, it slopes to the top. To create the level terrace, depressions were filled with soil and heavy rocks, archaeological evidence shows that the earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. As the residence of the rulers of the empire, however, the countrys true capitals were Susa, Babylon and Ecbatana. This accounts for the fact that the Greeks were not acquainted with the city until Alexander the Great took, Darius I ordered the construction of the Apadana and the Council Hall, as well as the main imperial Treasury and its surroundings. These were completed during the reign of his son, Xerxes I, further construction of the buildings on the terrace continued until the downfall of the Achaemenid Empire. Around 519 BC, construction of a stairway was begun. The stairway was initially planned to be the entrance to the terrace 20 metres above the ground. The dual stairway, known as the Persepolitan Stairway, was built symmetrically on the side of the Great Wall. The 111 steps measured 6.9 metres wide, with treads of 31 centimetres and rises of 10 centimetres, originally, the steps were believed to have been constructed to allow for nobles and royalty to ascend by horseback. New theories, however, suggest that the shallow risers allowed visiting dignitaries to maintain an appearance while ascending. The top of the led to a small yard in the north-eastern side of the terrace. Grey limestone was the building material used at Persepolis
Persepolis
–
Royal palace Of the
Achaemenid Empire Kings
Persepolis
–
Shedu
Persepolis
–
Frieze statues depicting Persian and Median nobleman in friendly conversation.
Persepolis
–
Drawing of Persepolis in 1713 by Gérard Jean-Baptiste
20.
Parthenon
–
The Parthenon is a former temple, on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power and it was completed in 438 BC although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered the zenith of the Doric order and its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy and western civilization. The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a programme of restoration and reconstruction to ensure the stability of the partially ruined structure. The Parthenon itself replaced a temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon. The temple is aligned to the Hyades. While a sacred building dedicated to the patron goddess, the Parthenon was actually used primarily as a treasury. For a time, it served as the treasury of the Delian League, in the final decade of the sixth century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After the Ottoman conquest, it was turned into a mosque in the early 1460s, on 26 September 1687, an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian bombardment. The resulting explosion damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures. From 1800 to 1803, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed some of the sculptures with the alleged permission of the Ottoman Empire. These sculptures, now known as the Elgin Marbles or the Parthenon Marbles, were sold in 1816 to the British Museum in London, since 1983, the Greek government has been committed to the return of the sculptures to Greece. The Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon states that this room was the western cella of the Parthenon, jamauri D. Christopher Pelling asserts that Athena Parthenos may have constituted a discrete cult of Athena, intimately connected with, but not identical to, that of Athena Polias. According to this theory, the name of the Parthenon means the temple of the virgin goddess and it has also been suggested that the name of the temple alludes to the maidens, whose supreme sacrifice guaranteed the safety of the city. Parthénos has also applied to the Virgin Mary, Parthénos Maria. The first instance in which Parthenon definitely refers to the building is found in the writings of the 4th century BC orator Demosthenes. In 5th-century building accounts, the structure is simply called ho naos, because the Parthenon was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, it has sometimes been referred to as the Temple of Minerva, the Roman name for Athena, particularly during the 19th century
Parthenon
–
The Parthenon
Parthenon
–
Detail of the West metopes, illustrating the current condition of the temple in detail after 2,500 years of war, pollution, erratic conservation, pillage and vandalism
Parthenon
–
Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to his Friends, 1868 painting by
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Parthenon
–
Part of the east pediment still found on the Parthenon
21.
Stonehenge
–
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England,2 miles west of Amesbury and 8 miles north of Salisbury. Stonehenges ring of standing stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC, one of the most famous landmarks in the UK, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1882 when legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain, the site and its surroundings were added to UNESCOs list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage, Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, William Stukeley in 1740 notes, Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire. I doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones. Like Stonehenges trilithons, medieval gallows consisted of two uprights with a lintel joining them, rather than the inverted L-shape more familiar today, the henge portion has given its name to a class of monuments known as henges. Archaeologists define henges as earthworks consisting of a banked enclosure with an internal ditch. As often happens in archaeological terminology, this is a holdover from antiquarian use, Stonehenge evolved in several construction phases spanning at least 1500 years. There is evidence of construction on and around the monument that perhaps extends the landscapes time frame to 6500 years. The modern phasing most generally agreed to by archaeologists is detailed below, features mentioned in the text are numbered and shown on the plan, right. Archaeologists have found four, or possibly five, large Mesolithic postholes and these held pine posts around 0.75 metres in diameter, which were erected and eventually rotted in situ. Three of the posts were in an east-west alignment which may have had significance, no parallels are known from Britain at the time. A settlement that may have been contemporaneous with the posts has been found at Blick Mead, a reliable year round spring 1 mile from Stonehenge. Salisbury Plain was then still wooded but 4,000 years later, during the earlier Neolithic, people built an enclosure at Robin Hoods Ball. In approximately 3500 BC, a Stonehenge Cursus was built 700 metres north of the site as the first farmers began to clear the trees, a number of other adjacent stone and wooden structures and burial mounds, previously overlooked, may date as far back as 4000 BC. Charcoal from the ‘Blick Mead’ camp 2.4 kilometres from Stonehenge has been dated to 4000 BC and it stood in open grassland on a slightly sloping spot
Stonehenge
–
Stonehenge in August 2014
Stonehenge
–
Plan of Stonehenge in 2004. After Cleal et al. and Pitts. Italicised numbers in the text refer to the labels on this plan. Trilithon lintels omitted for clarity. Holes that no longer, or never, contained stones are shown as open circles. Stones visible today are shown coloured
Stonehenge
–
Stonehenge 1. After Cleal et al.
22.
Chartres Cathedral
–
Chartres Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, is a Gothic Catholic cathedral of the Latin Church located in Chartres, France, about 80 kilometres southwest of Paris. The current cathedral, mostly constructed between 1194 and 1220, is the last of at least five which have occupied the site since the town became a bishopric in the 4th century. It is designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which calls it the point of French Gothic art. The cathedral has been well preserved, the majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century. Equally notable are the three great façades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives, in the Middle Ages, the cathedral functioned as a kind of marketplace, with different commercial activities centred on the different portals, particularly during the regular fairs. Textiles were sold around the transept, while meat, vegetable. Money-changers had their benches, or banques, near the west portals, wine sellers plied their trade in the nave, although occasional 13th-century ordinances survive which record their being temporarily banished to the crypt to minimise disturbances. Workers of various professions gathered in particular locations around the cathedral awaiting offers of work. In 1258, after a series of bloody riots instigated by the counts officials, even before the Gothic cathedral was built, Chartres was a place of pilgrimage, albeit on a much smaller scale. The widespread belief that the cathedral was also the site of a pre-Christian druidical sect who worshipped a Virgin who will give birth is purely a late-medieval invention. This is one view, however scholars have written about the Cult of the Virgin Mary. Before the Christian church was built, the used to be dedicated to a fertility goddess. When the Catholic church took over the site, they made a nod to the cult by depicting the life of Mary on the tympana. However, the Church also reminded the women that, as women and they did this by placing Mary in the far right tympanum, holding the baby Christ on her lap. By doing this, they reminded the women that they existed only to serve Christ, just as, in biblical stories, around 876 the cathedral acquired the Sancta Camisa, believed to be the tunic worn by the Blessed Virgin Mary at the time of Christs birth. According to legend, the relic was given to the cathedral by Charlemagne who received it as a gift from Emperor Constantine VI during a crusade to Jerusalem. This legend, however, was pure fiction – probably invented in the 11th century to authenticate some relics at the Abbey of St Denis. In fact, the relic was a gift to the cathedral from Charles the Bald, by the end of the 12th century, however, the church had become one of the most important popular pilgrimage destinations in Europe
Chartres Cathedral
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Cathedral of Chartres
Chartres Cathedral
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Chartres Cathedral
labyrinth
Chartres Cathedral
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West façade
Chartres Cathedral
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North façade
23.
Mortar (masonry)
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In its broadest sense mortar includes pitch, asphalt, and soft mud or clay, such as used between mud bricks. Mortar comes from Latin mortarium meaning crushed, mortars are typically made from a mixture of sand, a binder, and water. The most common binder since the early 20th century is Portland cement, there are several types of cement mortars and additives. The first mortars were made of mud and clay, because of a lack of stone and an abundance of clay, Babylonian constructions were of baked brick, using lime or pitch for mortar. According to Roman Ghirshman, the first evidence of using a form of mortar was at the Mehrgarh of Baluchistan in Pakistan. The ancient sites of Harappan civilization of third millennium BCE are built with kiln-fired bricks, gypsum mortar, also called plaster of Paris, was used in the construction of the Egyptian pyramids and many other ancient structures. It is made from gypsum, which requires a firing temperature. It is therefore easier to make lime mortar and sets up much faster which may be a reason it was used as the typical mortar in ancient, brick arch. Gypsum mortar is not as durable as other mortars in damp conditions, in early Egyptian pyramids, which were constructed during the Old Kingdom, the limestone blocks were bound by mortar of mud and clay, or clay and sand. In later Egyptian pyramids, the mortar was made of gypsum or lime. Gypsum mortar was essentially a mixture of plaster and sand and was quite soft, in the Indian subcontinent, multiple cement types have been observed in the sites of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as the Mohenjo-daro city-settlement that dates to earlier than 2600 BCE. Bitumen mortar was used at a lower-frequency, including in the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro. Historically, building with concrete and mortar next appeared in Greece, the excavation of the underground aqueduct of Megara revealed that a reservoir was coated with a pozzolanic mortar 12 mm thick. This aqueduct dates back to c.500 BCE, pozzolanic mortar is a lime based mortar, but is made with an additive of volcanic ash that allows it to be hardened underwater, thus it is known as hydraulic cement. The Greeks obtained the volcanic ash from the Greek islands Thira and Nisiros, or from the then Greek colony of Dicaearchia near Naples, the Romans later improved the use and methods of making what became known as pozzolanic mortar and cement. Even later, the Romans used a mortar without pozzolana using crushed terra cotta, introducing aluminum oxide and this mortar was not as strong as pozzolanic mortar, but, because it was denser, it better resisted penetration by water. Hydraulic mortar was not available in ancient China, possibly due to a lack of volcanic ash, around 500 CE, sticky rice soup was mixed with slaked lime to make an inorganic−organic composite mortar that had more strength and water resistance than lime mortar. It is not understood how the art of making hydraulic mortar and cement, during the Middle Ages when the Gothic cathedrals were being built, the only active ingredient in the mortar was lime
Mortar (masonry)
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Mortar holding weathered bricks
Mortar (masonry)
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Roman mortar on display at
Chetham's School of Music.
Mortar (masonry)
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Laying bricks with Portland cement mortar
Mortar (masonry)
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Mortar mixed inside a 5-gallon bucket using clean water and mortar from a bag. When it's the right consistency as in the photo (trowel stands up) it's ready to apply.
24.
Eglinton Tournament bridge
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The Eglinton Tournament Bridge is a bridge located within Eglinton Country Park near Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland. The bridge crosses the Lugton Water a short distance northwest of Eglinton Castle and was named after the Eglinton Tournament of 1839, the castle and surrounding grounds were once home to the Montgomerie family, Earls of Eglinton and chiefs of the Clan Montgomery. The surviving Tournament Bridge was built to provide a crossing point to gain access to the far side of the Lugton Water. These towers have subtle differences which are significant in the context of the extended history of the bridge. An Adam Russell is recorded as being partner to the agreement, the bridges cast iron parapet is a repetition of the pointed Gothic arch design of the castle, surmounted by a battlement, and relieved in the centre with foliated pinnacles. The Tournament Bridge is B listed by Historic Scotland, the 1839 Eglinton Tournament was held on a meadow or holm at a loop in the Lugton Water. The Knights on horseback and their retinue reached the yard via an enclosed ride, whilst the guests. Both groups crossed over the three arched Gothic bridge. The new Tournament Bridge served as a well used route across the Lugton Water, running through the Deer Park to Eglinton kennels and it was built by Messrs Connell of Dalgarven, using parts of the original bridge and possibly to a design by David Hamilton. Messrs. Connell also built the new Kilwinning Tower to a design by David Hamilton. It was this bridge that was used at the Eglinton Tournament as can be seen from the illustrations of the event, however the name was passed on to the new bridge constructed downstream of it. No clear sign of three arched bridge remains, a weir having been built at its old position, the old bridge was constructed in 1811 according to Close. Therefore around the time of the new castle being built in 1801/2, David Hamilton is recorded on the 1811 engraving as being the architect. A splendid archway was planned to be built for the tournament at the bridge, the point at which the old bridge crossed the Lugton was 102 feet broad and 100 yards downriver from the castle. It had the Montgomerie coat of arms in the centre, aiton describes it as being under construction in 1811. This distance coincides with a weir today and an old path from the castle leads directly to it, dane Love states that the bridge used by the tournament had been built by the 12th Earl in 1811. Lauchlan confuses the issue by stating that a bridge with three arches existed 100 yards up from the present one, however he states that the present bridge was built for the tournament. The old three arched bridge in fact still existed in 1840 and at least as late as 1843, the Gothic embellishments on the engravings of the 1839 Tournament show that the oil lamps were removed for the event
Eglinton Tournament bridge
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Tournament Bridge and castle in 1876
Eglinton Tournament bridge
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The original Tournament Bridge and the procession in 1839. Note the three cast iron arches, crossed finials, pinnacles, and the taller, broader towers, etc. characteristic of that bridge.
Eglinton Tournament bridge
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A map showing the layout of the various features associated with the Eglinton Tournament. Note the lakes either side of the bridge, formed around 1800.
Eglinton Tournament bridge
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The castle and Tournament Bridge in 1884.
25.
Chamfer
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A chamfer /ˈʃæm. fər/ is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. It can also be known as a bevel but connotes more often cutting and is more often 45° with respect to the two adjoining faces. If the un-chamfered intersection of the faces would otherwise form a right angle, 90° as is most common. A fully chamfered square interior would thus be octagonal, Chamfer is a term commonly used in mechanical and manufacturing engineering. Special tools such as mills and chamfer planes are available. In tile work, or furniture such as counters or table tops, where a chamfer does not go to the end of the piece, but lifts out in a smooth curve, the end is called a larks tongue. In non-aesthetic uses, chamfers are necessary in parabolic glass mirror manufacture, a chamfer is also often used to make an otherwise sharp edge safer when a machined metal part is intended to be handled by a person. In architecture, the base of the Taj Mahal is a cube with chamfered corners and its great gate is formed of chamfered base stones and chamfered corbels for a balcony or equivalent cornice towards the roof. Many city blocks in Barcelona, València and various cities in Spain. This pioneering design opens up broader perspectives, provides pleasant pedestrian areas, outside of aesthetics, chamfering is part of the process of hand-crafting a parabolic glass telescope mirror. Before the surface of the disc can be ground, the edges must first be chamfered to prevent chipping and this can be accomplished by placing the disc in a metal bowl containing silicon carbide and rotating the disc with a rocking motion. The grit will thus wear off the edge of the glass. In printed circuit board designing, a chamfer may be applied to an edge of a conductive junction in order to strengthen that location. Chamfering of junctions may also be applied in high-frequency PCB design in order to reduce reflections, bevel The dictionary definition of chamfer at Wiktionary Chamfer
Chamfer
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A chamfer with a lark's tongue upper end
Chamfer
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A vertically-chamfered sidewalk street corner in
historic Ponce, Puerto Rico
Chamfer
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The Great gate (Darwaza-i rauza) gateway to the
Taj Mahal
26.
Lewis (Lifting appliance)
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A lewis is one of a category of lifting devices used by stonemasons to lift large stones into place with a crane, chain block, or winch. It is inserted into a prepared hole, or seating, in the top of a stone. The specially shaped hole that is shaped to fit the device is known as a lewis hole, lewis holes in the uppermost masonry coursings are neatly repaired with matching indented plugs after the stone has been set in place. A lewis is most useful when it is not possible to lift the stone with chains or slings, because of either the location or shape of the stone, or delicate projections. Examples include the stone in a string course, cylindrical column drums, decorated column capitals. Heavy ashlar stones are also bedded using a lewis, for this reason, a safety sling should always be used together with the lewis until the stone is reasonably close to its final position. Lifting the stone a small distance from the ground before hoisting is the best way to test a lewis, any sign of looseness or damage should be corrected by adjusting the lewis hole or packing the lewis with metal shims. Bedding a stone using a lewis, The stone is placed on dunnage laid flat with enough clearance for a bed to be placed beneath it. The safety straps are removed, the stone is lifted using the lewis alone, the stone is then lowered onto the mortar bed, and positioned with sharp taps from a rubber mallet. There are a number of different types of lewis used in the stonemasonry trade, the legs fit into a seating cut in the top of the stone, above the centre of mass. When the top of the legs are pulled together by the rings. The split-pin lewis is similar to the chain-linked lewis in that it uses an action to produce friction against the inside of the lewis hole. The two legs, semicircular in section, lie side-by-side, and fit inside a 32 mm diameter hole drilled to a depth of 82 mm. This type of seating is the simplest to prepare, requiring a single drilled hole. A two-pinned lewis consists of two 13 mm diameter steel pins, linked by a short chain, the pins are inserted into opposing holes that are drilled into the top of the stone at about 15° from vertical, and at least 75 mm deep. It operates by gripping the stone as the weight of the stone is taken up by a crane or winch, the advantage of using this type of lewis is that it is simple to prepare—two angled drill holes are all that is necessary. Like other types of lewis, it is susceptible to pulling out as the stone is lifted and it should always be tested before hoisting, and used in conjunction with safety slings. A three-legged lewis, also known as a lewis, St Peters keys
Lewis (Lifting appliance)
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Lewises in a stonemasonry workshop
Lewis (Lifting appliance)
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Chain lewis
Lewis (Lifting appliance)
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Split-pin lewis
Lewis (Lifting appliance)
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Three-legged lewis
27.
Monumental masonry
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Monumental masonry is a kind of stonemasonry focused on the creation, installation and repairs of headstones and other memorials. In Christian cultures, many choose to mark the site of a burial of a family member with a gravestone. Typically the gravestone is engraved with information about the person, usually including their name. Additional information may include date of birth, place of birth, place of birth, sometimes a verse from the Bible or a short poem is included, generally on a theme relating to love, death, grief, or heaven. The headstone is typically arranged after the burial, the choice of materials and the style and wording of the inscription is negotiated between the monumental mason and the family members. Unlike the work of most stonemasons, the work of the mason is of small size, often just a small slab of stone. Generally gravestones are highly polished with detailed engraving of text and symbols, some memorials are more elaborate and may involve the sculpture of symbols associated with death, such as angels, hands joined in prayer, and vases of flowers. Some specially-made stones feature artistic lettering by letter cutters, the more important shops which purvey marble monuments are, if anything, rather worse, for they stereotype bad designs, which are the more offensive because more ambitious and costly. The clerical tailors who sell most of the engraved brasses have mainly succeeded in making that form of memorial the most dreary, all three sources of supply have added a new terror to death
Monumental masonry
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An example of a signed and dated maker's mark on a wall-mounted memorial to
Mary Carpenter in
Bristol Cathedral sculpted by monumental mason J. Havard Thomas of London
Monumental masonry
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Memorial tablet to Henry Varley, a preacher during the Glynn Vivian Miners' Mission era in Union Chapel, Brighton
Monumental masonry
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Richard Hakluyt 's memorial
Monumental masonry
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Wall-mounted memorial by
Reeves of Bath of Thomas Preston Esq. (d.1820) and wife Jane (d.1823), their daughters, and many subsequent entries. The tablet was created c.1820 but entries were inscribed until 1848. It features the
willow tree motif, and is in the City of London Church of
St Magnus-the-Martyr, near
London Bridge.
28.
Aberdeen
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Nicknames include the Granite City, the Grey City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeens buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, since the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, other nicknames have been the Oil Capital of the World or the Energy Capital of the World. The area around Aberdeen has been settled since at least 8,000 years ago, the city has a long, sandy coastline and a marine climate, the latter resulting in chilly summers and mild winters. Aberdeen received Royal Burgh status from David I of Scotland, transforming the city economically, the traditional industries of fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeens seaport. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world, in 2015, Mercer named Aberdeen the 57th most liveable city in the world, as well as the fourth most liveable city in Britain. In 2012, HSBC named Aberdeen as a business hub and one of eight super cities spearheading the UKs economy. The Aberdeen area has seen human settlement for at least 8,000 years. The city began as two separate burghs, Old Aberdeen at the mouth of the river Don, and New Aberdeen, a fishing and trading settlement, the earliest charter was granted by William the Lion in 1179 and confirmed the corporate rights granted by David I. In 1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a property-owning, granted with it was the nearby Forest of Stocket, whose income formed the basis for the citys Common Good Fund which still benefits Aberdonians. The city was burned by Edward III of England in 1336, but was rebuilt and extended, the city was strongly fortified to prevent attacks by neighbouring lords, but the gates were removed by 1770. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1644–1647 the city was plundered by both sides, in 1644, it was taken and ransacked by Royalist troops after the Battle of Aberdeen and two years later it was stormed by a Royalist force under the command of Marquis of Huntly. In 1647 an outbreak of plague killed a quarter of the population. In the 18th century, a new Town Hall was built and the first social services appeared with the Infirmary at Woolmanhill in 1742 and the Lunatic Asylum in 1779. The council began major road improvements at the end of the 18th century with the main thoroughfares of George Street, King Street, gas street lighting arrived in 1824 and an enhanced water supply appeared in 1830 when water was pumped from the Dee to a reservoir in Union Place. An underground sewer system replaced open sewers in 1865, the city was incorporated in 1891. Although Old Aberdeen has a history and still holds its ancient charter. It is an part of the city, as is Woodside. Old Aberdeen is the location of Aberdon, the first settlement of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
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From the top: Part of the Aberdeen skyline, Aberdeen Harbour, and the High Street in Old Aberdeen.
Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen
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The Town House,
Old Aberdeen. Once a separate burgh, Old Aberdeen was incorporated into the city in 1891
29.
Granite
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Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be white, pink, or gray in color. The word granite comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the structure of such a holocrystalline rock. By definition, granite is a rock with at least 20% quartz. The term granitic means granite-like and is applied to granite and a group of igneous rocks with similar textures and slight variations in composition. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a texture is known as a granite porphyry. Granitoid is a general, descriptive field term for lighter-colored, coarse-grained igneous rocks, petrographic examination is required for identification of specific types of granitoids. The extrusive igneous rock equivalent of granite is rhyolite, Granite is nearly always massive, hard and tough, and therefore it has gained widespread use throughout human history, and more recently as a construction stone. The average density of granite is between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm3, its compressive strength usually lies above 200 MPa, and its viscosity near STP is 3–6 •1019 Pa·s. The melting temperature of dry granite at ambient pressure is 1215–1260 °C, it is reduced in the presence of water. Granite has poor primary permeability, but strong secondary permeability, true granite according to modern petrologic convention contains both plagioclase and alkali feldspars. When a granitoid is devoid or nearly devoid of plagioclase, the rock is referred to as alkali feldspar granite, when a granitoid contains less than 10% orthoclase, it is called tonalite, pyroxene and amphibole are common in tonalite. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary or two-mica granite, two-mica granites are typically high in potassium and low in plagioclase, and are usually S-type granites or A-type granites. A worldwide average of the composition of granite, by weight percent, based on 2485 analyses. Much of it was intruded during the Precambrian age, it is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin veneer of the continents. Outcrops of granite tend to form tors and rounded massifs, granites sometimes occur in circular depressions surrounded by a range of hills, formed by the metamorphic aureole or hornfels. Granite often occurs as small, less than 100 km² stock masses
Granite
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Granite containing
potassium feldspar,
plagioclase feldspar,
quartz, and
biotite and/or
amphibole
Granite
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Close-up of granite exposed in
Chennai,
India
Granite
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The
Cheesewring, a granite
tor
Granite
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A granite peak at
Huangshan, China
30.
Igneous
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Igneous rock, or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava, the magma can be derived from partial melts of existing rocks in either a planets mantle or crust. Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes, an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition, solidification into rock occurs either below the surface as intrusive rocks or on the surface as extrusive rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization to form granular, crystalline rocks, Igneous and metamorphic rocks make up 90–95% of the top 16 km of the Earths crust by volume. Igneous rocks form about 15% of the Earths current land surface, most of the Earths oceanic crust is made of igneous rock. In terms of modes of occurrence, igneous rocks can be either intrusive or extrusive, the mineral grains in such rocks can generally be identified with the naked eye. Intrusive rocks can also be classified according to the shape and size of the intrusive body, typical intrusive formations are batholiths, stocks, laccoliths, sills and dikes. When the magma solidifies within the earths crust, it cools slowly forming coarse textured rocks, such as granite, gabbro, the central cores of major mountain ranges consist of intrusive igneous rocks, usually granite. When exposed by erosion, these cores may occupy huge areas of the Earths surface, intrusive igneous rocks that form at depth within the crust are termed plutonic rocks and are usually coarse-grained. Intrusive igneous rocks that form near the surface are termed subvolcanic or hypabyssal rocks, hypabyssal rocks are less common than plutonic or volcanic rocks and often form dikes, sills, laccoliths, lopoliths, or phacoliths. Extrusive igneous rocks, also known as rocks, are formed at the crusts surface as a result of the partial melting of rocks within the mantle. Extrusive igneous rocks cool and solidify quicker than intrusive igneous rocks and they are formed by the cooling of molten magma on the earths surface. The magma, which is brought to the surface through fissures or volcanic eruptions, hence such rocks are smooth, crystalline and fine-grained. Basalt is an extrusive igneous rock and forms lava flows, lava sheets. Some kinds of basalt solidify to form long polygonal columns, the Giants Causeway in Antrim, Northern Ireland is an example. The molten rock, with or without suspended crystals and gas bubbles, is called magma and it rises because it is less dense than the rock from which it was created. When magma reaches the surface from beneath water or air, it is called lava, eruptions of volcanoes into air are termed subaerial, whereas those occurring underneath the ocean are termed submarine. Black smokers and mid-ocean ridge basalt are examples of volcanic activity
Igneous
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Shield
Igneous
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Forming of igneous rock
Igneous
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Close-up of granite (an intrusive igneous rock) exposed in
Chennai, India.
Igneous
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Extrusive igneous rock is made from lava released by volcanoes
