Are one giant leap for mankind
began in the reign of King Suryavarman II (1113-1150) and is thought to have involved around 300,000 workers.
The temple features 13,000 sq ft of wall carvings, including the visual narration of eight major stories in Hindu myth.
One of the most spectacular, depicting the creation myth, the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, shows gods and demons churning the ocean to extract soma, the elixir of immortality.
Linking Manhattan with Brooklyn, the 5,989ft-long bridge was officially opened in 1883.A year later PT Barnum took the world-famous Jumbo and 21 other elephants across to show that it was safe.
The bridge was initially designed to carry horse-drawn and rail traffic with an elevated walkway in the centre for pedestrians and cyclists.
The last trains ran in 1944 and in 1950 the streetcars also stopped. The bridge was then reconfigured to carry six lanes of cars.
Completed in 1973, the distinctive sail-like roof is made of 2,194 precast concrete sections held together by 218 miles of steel cable.
More than merely an opera house, it is a complex of performance and exhibition venues, including a 2,679-seat Concert Hall that houses the world’s largest mechanical action grand organ, above the stage.
A unique circle of huge standing stones on Salisbury Plain, perhaps the world’s most famous prehistoric monument, began to take shape in about 2,500BCE. Eighty bluestone pillars were erected and a huge sandstone “Altar Stone” was laid at the centre of the henge.
Later the massive sarsen (dense sandstone) blocks each weighing up to 33 tons, replaced or were added to the pillars.the function of the henge remains uncertain but from the discovery of cremated bones it is likely to have been used as a ceremonial and burial site.
Designed to hold more than 50,000 spectators, the largest Roman amphitheatre was built after the death of Emperor Nero. It provided a huge space for combat between gladiators and animals, reconstruction of battles and mythical episodes and public executions.
Tiered seating ranged from ringside seats for the emperor and senators, to a zone for knights and for the middle classes to a terrace and standing room in the aisles for plebians and common women.
The amphitheatre fell into disrepair after 404CE when the games were abolished.
ST BASIL’S CATHEDRAL, MOSCOW
Ivan the Terrible’s 16th century Orthodox church was officially known as the Cathedral of the Intercesssion of the Virgin on the Moat. It is more popularly known as St Basil’s after the “Holy Fool” Basil the Blessed, who was buried in the church.
Its onion domes were originally hemispherical and gilded; the cathedral’s bright colours were added from the 17th century on. Legend says the Tsar blinded the architect, Postnik Yakovlev, to prevent him building a more beautiful church.
WINTER PALACE, RUSSIA
Once the St Petersburg residence of the Russian tsars, this Baroque palace contains 1,500 rooms and halls, 2,945 windows and 117 staircases.when work halted in the 15th century, a medieval crane was left on top of the southern steeple until work was resumed in 1868. The Palace is now the site of the Hermitage Museum containing one of the world’s foremost collections of paintings and sculpture.
These astonishing feats of engineering, built during Khufu’s reign (c.2545-2525 BCE), include the 480ft-high Great Pyramid, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Inside, the spectacular passageway, the Grand Gallery, leads to Khufu’s burial chamber, which contains his mummified corpse.
PETRA, JORDAN PYRAMIDS OF GIZA, EGYPT
At the height of its prosperity in the first century CE, the “Rose-red City” famous for the tombs and temples carved into its sandstone cliffs, had an estimated population of 20,000.Visitors usually approach the city via the Siq, its main entrance, arriving at the famous view of the Al-khazneh (“the Treasury”) sculpted in the pink rock-face at the end of the gorge.
The Palace Tomb, largest of the Royal Tombs, is believed to have been inspired by Nero’s Golden House in Rome.
● Manmade Wonders Of The World, foreword by Dan Cruickshank, is published by DK, £30