The World's Must-See Places. A Look Inside More Than 100 Magnificent Buildings and Monuments

266 Pages·2011·103.64 MB·English

by  DK Publishing

: EYEWITNESS TRAVEL

THE
ORLD'S
MUST-SEE
PLACES
Content previously published as
200 of the World's Most Beautiful Places

CONTENTS
Introduction ............................................ 6
EUROPE Gennany
Bremro ToV\ofl Hal .................................. 68
Norway Cologne Cathedral .. .... ... ... ... .. ..... .. 70
Borgund Stave Church .. 12 Wirztmg Residence ................................... 72
Heidelberg Castle ................................... 74
Sweden Neuschwanstein Castle .................. 76
vasa Museum, Stockholm ....................... 14
Switzerland
Ireland St. Gallen Monastery ................................. 80
Newgrange ... .... . ................................... 16
Trinity College, Dublin ................................ 18 Austria
Rock of Cashel ................................................ 20 St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna .......... 82
Schbnbrunn Palace, Vienna .................. 84
Great Britain
Stirling Castle ..................................2 2 Poland
Edinburgh Castle .......................................... 24 Royal Castle, warsaw ............................... 86
York Minster .. .. ................................ 28
Westminster Abbey, London ................ .30 Czech Republic
St. Paul's Cathedral, London ............... ..32 Old-New Synagogue, Prague .............. 88
The Tower of London .............................. ..34 Charles Bridge, Prague .............................. 92
Hampton Court Palace, London ......... .36
Stonehenge ............................................. 38 Hungary
Canterbury Cathedra ..... .......... . ... 42 Parliament, Budapest . .. .. ............ 94
Belgium Russia
Rubens' House, Antwerp 44 The Winter Palace, St. Petersburg .. 96
St. Basil's Cathect-a, Moscow ............... 98
The Netherlands
Het Loo Paace, Apeldoorn .. ........ ... 46 Portugal
Palace of Pena, Sintra ......... 102
France
Ami ens Cathedral ................................... 48 Spain
Mont-St-Michel ............................................. SO Santiago de Compostela Cathedral .. 10 4
Notre-Dame, Paris ........................................ 54 Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao ... 10 6
Arc de Triomphe, Paris .............................. .56 Sagrada Famflia, Barcelona..... . ....... 110
Chateau de Versailles ................................. 58 El Escorial, Madrid .. ..112
Chartres Cathedral .......................................6 0 The Alhambra, Granada ........ ......... 114
Chateau de Chenonceau ......................... 62
Rocamadour . .. ................................ 66
Y Ruins of Machu Picchu, Peru
Y Fresco by Giotto, Basilica of St Francis,
Assisi, Italy
Italy ASIA AUSTRALASIA
St. Mat's Basilica, Venice ............. 116
Doge's Palace, Venice . .. ... 120 Syria Australia
Campo dei Miracoli, Pisa ......... 122 Krak des Chevaliers .. ... .... 172 Sydney Opera House .................................. 224
Cathect a and Baptistry, Florence... .124
Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi .. .. ........... 126 Israel New Zealand
Colosseum, Rome .................................... 128 Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Dunedin Railway Station .......................... 226
St. Peter's Basilica, Rome .......................... 130 Jerusalem . .. . . . .. .............................. 17 4
~m~i -----------·- 1~ Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem ............... 178 THE AMERICAS
Masada ............................................................. 18 0
Croatia Canada
Basi Ii ca of Eu ph rasiu s, Porec ........ .. ...... 134 Jordan Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre .......................... 230
Petra ...................................................................... 182 CN Tower, Toronto ....................................... 232
Greece
Acropolis, Athens ........................................1 36 Uzbekistan United States of America
Monastery of St. John, Patmos ....... 140 The Registan, Samarkand ........................ 184 Old State House, Boston .......................... 234
Palace of the Grand Masters, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
Rhodes ............................................... .. .... 142 China New York ........................................................ 236
Potala Palace, Lhasa ..................... 186 Empire State Building, New York ........ 238
Turkey The Great Wall of China .......................... 188 Statue of Uberty, New York ...................2 42
Topkapi Palace, Istanbul ......................... 144 Forbidden City, Beijing ......................... 192 The White House,
Haghia Sophia, Istanbul ........................ 148 Temple of Heaven, Beijing ....................... 194 Washington, D.C. .. . .. ......... 244
Ephesus ...... .... .... .. .......................... 150 United States Capitol,
Japan Washington, D.C. ...................... 246
AFRICA Tosho-gu Shrine, Nikko .. .... ... . 196 Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco ... 248
Todci-ji Tempe, Nara 198 Chaco Culture Nation a
Morocco Historica Park .............................................. 250
Mosque of Hassan II, Casal)anca ...... 154 India
The Golden Tempe, Amritsar. . ... 202 Mexico
en
Tunisia Taj Mahal, Agra ................................... 204 Chich ltza ....... . . ..... . .......... 252
Great Mosque, Kairouan ...................... 15 6 Fatehpur Sikri .. . . ...................... 206 Metropolitan Cathedral,
The Great Stupa, San chi ........................ 208 Mexico City ..................................................2 56
Libya
Leptis Magna ................................................. 15 8 Thailand Peru
Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo, Machu Picchu .................................................. 258
Egypt Bangkok .......................................................... 210
The Great Pyramid, Giza.... .. ..............1 60 Wat A run, Bangkok .................................... 212 Brazil
Abu Sim bel ... .......... .... ....................... ... .. ........ 16 2 Brasilia .................................................................. 260
Cambodia
Mali Angkor Wat ...................................................... 216 Index .............................................................2 62
Djenne Mosque ....................................... 166 Acknowledgments ......................2 64
Indonesia
South Africa Borobodur Tem pie, Java . .. ................ 218
Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town ..... 168 Pura Ulun Danu Batur, Bali ................. 220
v Chateau de Chenonceau, France Sydney Opera House, Australia>
6 INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Ancient Greek and Roman travelers, whose idea of enjoyment
was probably little different from our own, had few sights
to visit. It was therefore not difficult for Greek writers to list
the seven best and call them the "wonders of the world."
Civilizations have come a long way since then, the world
has shrunk with high-speed travel, and there has been no
let-up in the desire to build. These days, it would be
hard to pin point the seven most wondrous buildings
in the world, but here are 103 sights that should
not be missed.
<St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow,
crowned with colorful domes
CREATED for people of vision and flair to glorify are like palimpsests, written over again and again. In
themselves, their gods, and their power, these Europe, a single building can have within it the marks
sights are Ia ndm arks that tell us about the past, where of half a dozen cultures dating back more than 2,000
we have come from, and what we are capable of years. Also, the use of a building can change, from
achieving. Each one needs close inspection to appre castle to palace, church to fort, and many flourish
ciate its setting, structure, style, and ornament. Palaces, today as museums.
castles, religious houses, and places of entertainment
have been handed to artists and artisans to embellish. UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
Around and within these walls, masons, carpenters, The Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt is the only surviving
wood carvers, ceramidsts, sruptors, glassmakers, wonder of the andent world. In 1979, it was inscribed
painters, metalworkers, cabinet makers, embroiderers, as a World Heritage Site by the l.klited Nations
tapestJy makers, and landscape gardeners have all Education~, Sdentific, and Cultl.f~ Orgarization
sougot some kind of perfection. Some of these QJI\ESC 0), an agency of the United Nations set up
craftsmen are well known, but most were journeymen in 1945. The idea of a fund to preserve the world's
whose names were never meant to be remembered. cultural and natural heritage was sparked in 1959
In the creation of these buildings, they captured the when the temples at Abu Simbel in Egypt were in
glory of their age for all the world to see forever. danger of being submerged in Lake Nasser by the
building of the Aswan High Dam. Following an appeal
It is astonishing that some of these buildings have from the governments of Egypt and Sudan, UNESCO
lasted for so long. With a few exceptions, such as raised $80 million to move the temples of Ramses II
Norway's stave churches and the Todai-ji Temple in and Nefertari more than 200 ft (60 m) out of harm's
Japan, most wooden structures have not survived. way. The work was completed in 1968, and as a result
Even stone buildings have frequently come to grief in of this success, UN ESC 0, with the International Council
earthquakes, wars, fires, and floods. As a result, many on Monuments and Sites QCO MO$), went on to
draft a new convention. Joined by ideas from the
lnternati onal Union for the Conservation of Nature
QUCN), proposals for safeguarding both cultural and
natural sites were formally adopted by UNESCO's
General Conference in 1972.
Today, there are some 800 UI\ESC 0 World Heritage
Sites aound the world, more than 600 of them
cultural, as opposed to natural, sites. Italy and Spain
have the most, followed by France and Germany.
Each year, a dozen or more sites are added to the
list. Proposals for sites can come from any one of the
member countries, which each give one percent of
their U\IESCO dues to the fund. With voluntary
contributions, the fund receives around $3.5 million
a year. The money goes toward preserving the sites,
while some is set aside for those currently deemed
at risk through man-made or natural calamities.
Cambodia's specmwlar Angl<or Wat temple,
A The imposing fa~ade of Edinburgh Castle, Scotland built in the 12th century by the Khmer empire >-

A The Great Wall
of China, a major
tourist attraction
and a powerful
symbol of China
Y Car touche at
Abu Simbel, Egypt
typical of the sensual architecture of the Moors
~The White House, Washington, D.C., the official
residence of the president of the United States