The Taj Mahal

The most beautiful building in the world. In 1631 the emperor Shah Jahan built the
Taj Mahal in memory of his wife Mumtaz, who died in childbirth. The white marble
mausoleum at Agra has become the monument of a man's love for a woman.

Shah Jahan came to power in 1622 when he seized the throne from his father, while
murdering his brothers to ensure his claim to rule. He was known as an extravagant
and cruel leader. But he redeemed himself by his generosity to his friends and the
poor, by his passion in adorning India with some of its most beautiful architecture,
and by his devotion to his wife Mumtaz Mahal - "Ornament of the Palace." He had
married her when he was 21, when he already had two children by an earlier consort.
Mumtaz gave her husband 14 children in eighteen years, and died at the age of 39
during the birth of the final child. Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal as a monument to
her memory and her fertility, but then relapsed into a life of scandalous behavior.
This tomb was only one of hundreds of beautiful buildings that Shah Jahan erected,
mostly at Agra and in the new Dehli that came into being under his planning.

Passing through a high wall, one comes suddently upon the Taj - raised upon a
marble platform, and framed on either side by handsome mosques and stately
minarets. In the foreground spacious gardens enclose a pool in whose waters the
inverted palace becomes a quivering dream. Every portion of the structure is of white
marble, precious metals, or costly stones. The building is a complex figure of twelve
sides, four of which are portals. A slender minaret rises at each corner, and the roof is
a massive spired dome. The main entrance, once guarded with solid silver gates, is a
maze of marble embroidery; inlaid in the wall in jeweled script are qotations from the
Koran, one of which invites the "pure in heart" to enter "the gardens of Paradise."

The Great Wall of China

China's Great Wall is the world's longest architectural structure and is widely
renowned as one of the seven great wonders of the world. The wall stretches 6,700
kilometers (4,163 miles) from the Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu Province to the
Shanhaiguan Pass in Hebei Province. Like a gigantic dragon, this imposing wall
meanders across mountains, spans vast plains and trudges through the barren
deserts of China's northern interior. This amazing marvel of engineering took over
2,000 years to build. It is acclaimed to be a most magnificent miracle created by the
Chinese people demonstrating the tenacity, diligence and wisdom of the Chinese
people.

Construction of the Great Wall began early in the Warring States Period (475BC-
221BC) when independent small states came into existence. In order to defend their
territories, long walls were built along the borders. In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first
emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC), toppled the former states and unified
China. To protect the country from intrusion of the nomadic Hun ethnic minority in
the north, earlier separate walls were joined and extended dramatically. The walls at
that time began at Linyao in Gansu Province and ended in Liaoning Province,
reaching a total length of over 5,000 kilometers, hence it was known as the 'Ten
Thousand Li Great Wall' (Li is a unit of length used by the Chinese and one li is equal
to 0.5 kilometer.).

Thereafter, the Great Wall was restored and lengthened time and time again. The
later walls were not a long and frail wall but were complete fortifications with more
annexes such as: castles, watch towers and beacon towers. In the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644), large-scale extensions generated the 'Great Wall of Ming', the ever
longest wall in the history of China. The wall that we see today is primarily the result
of a restoration that took place during the Ming Dynasty. However, some sections of
the Great Wall fell into ruins.

Petra Jordan

Petra is the treasure of ancient world, hidden behind an almost impenetrable barrier
of rugged mountains, boasting incomparable scenes that make it the most majestic
and imposing ancient site still-standing nowadays.. It has been said "perhaps there is
nothing in the world that resembles it", actually, for sure, there is nothing in the
world that resembles it. The rock-carved rose-red city of Petra is full of mysterious
charm, it was "designed to strike wonder into all who entered it".

Petra is considered the most famous and gorgeous site in Jordan located about 262
km south of Amman and 133 km north of Aqaba. It is the legacy of the Nabataeans,
an industrious Arab people who settled in southern Jordan more than 2000 years ago.
Admired then for its refined culture, massive architecture and ingenious complex of
dams and water channels, Petra is now a UNESCO world heritage site and one of The
New 7 Wonders of the World that enchants visitors from all corners of the globe.

The approach through a kilometer long, cool, and gloom chasm (or Siq) a long narrow
gorge whose steeply rising sides all but obliterate the sun, provides a dramatic
contrast with the magic to come. Suddenly the gorge opens into a natural square
dominated by Petra's most famous monument, The Treasury (El-Khazneh), whose
intricately carved facade glows in the dazzling sun.

Christ the Redeemer

The Statue of Christ the Redeemer history starts in the XVIth Century when the
Portuguese named the mountain Pináculo da Tentação (The Pinnacle [peak] of
Temptation), alluding to the Biblical Mountain. A century passes and the mountain is
re-baptized to Corcovado, a name derived from its form, which resembles a hump or
hunchback. The next recordings of christ the redeemer history is in 1924 when Dom
Pedro personally led the first official expedition to Corcovado Mountain, resulting in
the opening of an accessable way up.

Then in 1859 the Vincentian father Pedro Maria Boss arrived Rio de Janeiro and was
struck by the mystorious beauty of the corcovado mountain and suggested the the
construction of a religous monument in honour of Princess Isabel, which in 1921 gave
way for the idea of a great statue of christ viewable by all in the marvelous city of
Rio. From 1859 to 1921, Dom Pedro gave his consent for the building of the
Corcovado Railroad line between Cosme Velho and Paineiras, which would be an
essential part of undertaking the Redentor.

The ruins of Machu Picchu

The ruins of Machu Picchu, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram

Bingham, are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world.
While the Inca people certainly used the Andean mountain top (9060 feet elevation),
erecting many hundreds of stone structures from the early 1400's, legends and
myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning 'Old Peak' in the Quechua language) was
revered as a sacred place from a far earlier time. Whatever its origins, the Inca
turned the site into a small (5 square miles) but extraordinary city. Invisible from
below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to
feed the population, and watered by natural springs, Machu Picchu seems to have
been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city. Two thousand feet above the
rumbling Urubamba river, the cloud shrouded ruins have palaces, baths, temples,
storage rooms and some 150 houses, all in a remarkable state of preservation. These
structures, carved from the gray granite of the mountain top are wonders of both
architectural and aesthetic genius. Many of the building blocks weigh 50 tons or more
yet are so precisely sculpted and fitted together with such exactitude that the
mortarless joints will not permit the insertion of even a thin knife blade. Little is
known of the social or religious use of the site during Inca times. The skeletal remains
of ten females to one male had led to the casual assumption that the site may have
been a sanctuary for the training of priestesses and /or brides for the Inca nobility.
However, subsequent osteological examination of the bones revealed an equal
number of male bones, thereby indicating that Machu Picchu was not exclusively a
temple or dwelling place of women.

The Pyramid at Chichen Itaa

The famous Mayan pyramids of Chichen-Itaza are over 1500 years old and are
located only 75 miles from Merida. The name Chichen-Itza is a Mayan word: CHI
(mouth) CHEN (well) and ITZA (of the Itza tribe). Some believe people were
occasionally thrown into the nearby cenote as sacrifices, and those who survived
were believed to be seers.

The site is divided into three sections. The North grouping of structures is distinctly
Toltec in style. The central group appears to be from the early period. The southern
group is known as "The Old Chichen." All three can be seen comfortably in one day.
As the most famous of the Mayan pyramids on the Yucatan peninsula, Chichen Itza
has been studied extensively and is the most popular Mayan ruin in Mexico. Much
has been written about it.

Among other names, the Mayans called this god Kukulkán. It is sometimes possible to
visit the inside passageway of the pyramid, but we would encourage visitors who are
claustrophobic to skip that part of the adventure. If you are up to the challenge,
inside you will find a narrowly enclosed staircase that leads to a chac mool, an altar
where offerings to the gods were placed. Climbing to the top of the pyramid is no
longer allowed.

Just beyond El Castillo you will find a large ball court where Mayan men played a
game called pok ta pok. Anthropologists believe that the object of the game was to
hurl a ball through a ring that was mounted on a wall, seven meters above the
ground.

The Roman Colosseum

The Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheater was begun by Vespasian, inaugurated by

Titus in 80 A.D. and completed by Domitian. Located on marshy land between the
Esquiline and Caelian Hills, it was the first permanent amphitheater to be built in
Rome. Its monumental size and grandeur as well as its practical and efficient
organization for producing spectacles and controlling the large crowds make it one of
the great architectural monuments achieved by the ancient Romans.
The amphitheater is a vast ellipse with tiers of seating for 50,000 spectators around a
central elliptical arena. Below the wooden arena floor, there was a complex set of
rooms and passageways for wild beasts and other provisions for staging the
spectacles. Eighty walls radiate from the arena and support vaults for passageways,
stairways and the tiers of seats. At the outer edge circumferential arcades link each
level and the stairways between levels.

The three tiers of arcades are faced by three-quarter columns and entablatures,
Doric in the first story, Ionic in the second, and Corinthian in the third. Above them is
an attic story with Corinthian pilasters and small square window openings in alternate
bays. At the top brackets and sockets carry the masts from which the velarium, a
canopy for shade, was suspended.

The three tiers of arcades are faced by three-quarter columns and entablatures,
Doric in the first story, Ionic in the second, and Corinthian in the third. Above them is
an attic story with Corinthian pilasters and small square window openings in alternate
bays. At the top brackets and sockets carry the masts from which the velarium, a
canopy for shade, was suspended.