Saturday, February 25, 2012

World's Most Popular Landmarks


Empire State Building
Landmarks have piqued our interest for years and some are the reasons why we travel to the cites the reside in. So when I stumbled upon this article written by Sarah Spagnolo about the most popular landmarks in the world I thought it would make a good blog post. Enjoy! Highlighted in purple are the ones I have been to :)

No. 1 Statue of Liberty, New York City
More than a century after France gifted this 151-foot copper sculpture to the United States, three million–plus visitors head to Liberty Island each year to admire it.

No. 2 Empire State Building, New York City
Manhattan’s classic skyscraper soaring 1,435 feet above 34th Street is widely considered the quintessential Art Deco landmark and currently holds the record as the city’s tallest building.

No. 3 Golden Gate Bridge,  San Francisco
Spanning 4,200 feet across Golden Gate Strait, the structure’s dramatic setting, orange color, and sheer size have made it one of the world’s most recognized bridges since 1937.

No. 4 Eiffel Tower,  Paris
Gustave Eiffel’s 984-foot monument of open-latticed wrought iron wowed the 1889 World Expo, instantly becoming a Paris icon—despite initial resistance from Parisians themselves.

No. 5 Big Ben,  London
Though the name refers exclusively to its 13-ton bell, the world’s most famous clock tower has helped keep Londoners punctual since 1859.

No. 6 Colosseum, Rome
When construction finished on this 513-foot freestanding amphitheater in A.D. 82, 50,000 Romans could pack in to ogle gladiator death battles and mock naval combat.

No. 7 Millennium Park, Chicago
The standout features of Chicago’s 24.7-acre Millennium Park include Anish Kapoor’s jellybean-like Cloud Gate sculpture, Frank Gehry’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion, and various outdoor art exhibitions.

No. 8 St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome
It took a star-studded team of Renaissance masters—including Raphael, Michelangelo, and Bernini—more 
than a century to complete the Vatican’s magnificent, art-filled cathedral.

No. 9 Swiss Re Building, London
Nicknamed The Gherkin, the 2004 glass-paneled, rocket-shaped office tower in London’s financial center was designed by Norman Foster using 10,000 tons of structural steel.

No. 10 The High Line, New York City
Flower beds, day loungers, even a bar occupy this once-abandoned elevated rail bed—reconceived by Diller, Scofidio, and Renfro—that now threads through buildings from the Meatpacking District to West 30th Street.



Big Ben

Swiss Re Building 
St. Peter's Basilica 

The Colosseum

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