The Great Wall, China

The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China. It is the world's longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but stretches to over 6,700 km in total. It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass. At its peak the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men. It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall. The first major wall was built during the reign of the First Emperor, the main emperor of the short-lived Qin dynasty. This wall was not constructed as a single endeavor, but rather was created by the joining of several regional walls built by the Warring States. It was located much further north than the current Great Wall, and very little remains of it. A defensive wall on the northern border was built and maintained by several dynasties at different times in Chinese history. The Great Wall that can still be seen today was built during the Ming Dynasty, on a much larger scale and with longer lasting materials (solid stone used for the sides and the top of the Wall) than any wall that had been built before. The primary purpose of the wall was not to keep out people, who could scale the wall, but to insure that semi-nomadic people on the outside of the wall could not cross with their horses or return easily with stolen property.

Image of the Great Wall, China

Image of the Great Wall, China

Image of the Great Wall, China

Image of the Great Wall, China

Image of the Great Wall, China

Image of the Great Wall, China

Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. With a main span of 1,595.5 feet and 272 feet height, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening until 1903, and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. It is highly recognizable landmark and cultural icon. The dramatic buttressed gothic towers are constructed entirely of granite. Each of the four cables is capable of sustaining a live load of 12,000 tons. The roadway platform is hung on two-inch diameter steel suspenders strung from two pairs of cables - the catenaries - sixteen inches in diameter. Each cable is composed of 5,296 galvanized steel wires (the total length of wire used is 14,357 miles. Since its opening, it has become an iconic part of the New York skyline. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972

Image of Brooklyn Bridge

Image of Brooklyn Bridge

Image of Brooklyn Bridge

Image of Brooklyn Bridge

Image of Brooklyn Bridge

Taj Mahal, Agra

The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third beautiful wife, Mumtaz Mahal. (Arjumand Banu Begum before marriage). She was died while giving birth to her 14th child. History of the Taj Mahal India shows that construction began in 1631 with a work force of more than 20,000 men. Masons, stonecutters, inlayers, carvers, painters, calligraphers, dome-builders and other artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the empire and also from Central Asia and Iran, and it took approximately 22 years to build what we see today. It was finally finished in 1653 at a cost of 32 million Rupee or $400 million in today’s prices. The monument was built entirely out of white marble, which was brought in from all over India and central Asia. The Taj Mahal of Agra is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

The Itaipu Dam

The Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The dam is the largest operating hydroelectric facility in terms of annual generating capacity, generating 94.7 TWh in 2008 and 91.6 TWh in 2009, while the annual generating capacity of the Three Gorges Dam was 80.8 TWh in 2008 and 79.4 TWh in 2009. The dam's 14,000 MW installed capacity is second to the Three Gorges Dam's 18,200 MW though.

Image of Itaipu Dam

Image of Itaipu Dam

Image of Itaipu Dam

Image of Itaipu Dam

Image of Itaipu Dam

The Atatürk Dam, Turkey

The Atatürk Dam, originally the Karababa Dam, is a zoned rock-fill dam with a central core on the Euphrates River on the border of Adıyaman Province and Şanlıurfa Province in Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. It was renamed in honour of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), the founder of the Turkish Republic. The construction of the dam was started in 1983 and was completed in 1990. The reservoir created behind the dam, called Lake Atatürk Dam is the third largest in Turkey. The dam embankment is 169 m (554 ft) high and 1,820 m (5,970 ft) long. The hydroelectric power plant (HEPP) has a total installed power capacity of 2,400 MW generating 8,900 GWh electricity annually. The total cost of the dam project amounted about US$ 1.25 billion.

Image of Atatürk Dam

Image of Atatürk Dam

Image of Atatürk Dam

Image of Atatürk Dam

Image of Atatürk Dam

Manchester Ship Canal

The Manchester Ship Canal situated in North West England. It was built between 1887 and 1894 at a cost of about £15 million, and in its day was the largest river navigation canal in the world. It was opened for traffic on January 1, 1894. It is 58 km long generally follows the original route of the rivers Mersey and Irwell, and along its course uses several sets of locks. The minimum depth is 26 feet, and the time required for navigating the canal from five to eight hours. The total amount of excavation in the canal and docks was about 45,000,000 cubic yards, of which about one-fourth was sandstone rock. The lock gates are operated by hydraulic power; railways and bridges crossing the route of the canal have been raised to give a height of 75 feet to vessels traversing the canal, and an ordinary canal whose route it crosses is carried across by a springing aqueduct composed of an iron caisson resting upon a pivot pier.

Boats at Eastham Lock of the Manchester Ship Canal

Motorway over the Manchester ship canal

Image of Manchester Ship Canal during construction work

Ship under bridge in Manchester Ship Canal

Picture of Manchester ship canal

Image of Manchester ship canal

A cargo vessel in Manchester ship canal

Footbridge crossing over the Manchester ship canal

Xihoumen Bridge, China

The Xihoumen Bridge is a suspension bridge built on the Zhoushan Archipelago, the largest offshore island group in China. The main span was completed in December 2007 and was opened to traffic on a test basis on 25 December 2009. It is the second-longest suspension bridge ranked by the length of the centre span. The Xihoumen Bridge links Jintang and Cezi islands.

Image of Xihoumen Bridge

Image of Xihoumen Bridge

Image of Xihoumen Bridge

Grand Canal, Venice, Italy

The Grand Canal is a canal in Venice, Italy. It forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. Public transport is provided by water buses and private water taxis, and many tourists explore the canal by gondola (traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat). At one end the canal leads into the lagoon near Santa Lucia railway station and the other end leads into Saint Mark Basin in between it makes a large S-shape through the central districts (sestieri) of Venice. It is 3,800 m long, 30–90 m wide, with an average depth of five meters.

Image of Grand CanalImage of Grand Canal

Picture of Grand Canal

Photo of Grand Canal

Image of Grand Canal

Satellite view of Grand Canal

Curve of Grand Canal

Sun set at Grand Canal

Image of Grand Canal

Canton Tower, China

Canton Tower is an observation tower in the Haizhu District of Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was formerly called Guangzhou TV and Sightseeing Tower. Construction of the tower was started in November, 2005 and was completed on August 2009 and it became operational on 29 September 2010 for the 2010 Asian Games. The height of antenna spire is 600 m. It is used for restaurant, observation and telecommunications. The tower briefly held the title of tallest completed tower in the world.

Image of under construction Canton Tower, China

Image of Canton Tower, China

Image of Canton Tower, China

Colourful view of Canton Tower, China at night

Colourful view of Canton Tower, China at night