THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA

1. The seven wonders of the… Click on the different wonders of the world to find out more ANCIENT WORLD MODERN WORLD were are THE STATUE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA CHICHEN ITZA THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES THE TAJ MAHAL THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA MACHU PICCHU THE COLISEUM THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AT EPHESUS THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA THE CITY OF PETRA THE TOMB OF MAUSOLUS CHRIST THE REDEEMER THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

2. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was sculpted out of ivory by the Greek artist Phidias around 432 BCE in modern-day Olympia, Greece. The statue, which showed the god on a thrown, took up the entire width of the aisle of the temple where it sat and was about twelve metres high. It took Phidias more than a year to model the statue, which remained standing for about a thousand years, until earthquakes destroyed most of the temple in the sixth century AD.

3. The Colossus of Rhodes was a very large statue built by Chares of Lindos on the Greek island of Rhodes in 292 BCE. Made of bronze plates laid over an iron frame, the sculpture was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BCE. According to Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer living in the first century AD, it was about 32 metres high.

4. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one still standing. Construction of the pyramid ended around 2570 BCE. The pyramid has three main chambers: the King’s Chamber, the Queen’s Chamber and the Lower Chamber.

5. The Temple of Artemis was located in the ancient city of Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey. Artemis, the daughter of Zeus and Apollo’s twin sister, was the goddess of fertility, the hunt and war in Greek mythology, and a figure who could give and take away life. The temple contained a two-metre-high grapewood statue covered in silver and gold depicting the goddess.

6. The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built in the third century BCE on the island of Pharos in Alexandria, Egypt. It was between 115 and 150 metres high. Fire was used to alert sailors to the presence of the city. Built out of large blocks of marble, the lighthouse was damaged and finally destroyed by earthquakes in 1303 and 1323.

7. Construction on the Tomb of Mausolus began during the king’s reign and concluded around 350 BCE, fifteen years after his death. It remained standing despite invasions and attacks by Alexander the Great, barbarians and Arabs, but was finally destroyed by an earthquake in 1404. Nothing remains of the tomb today.

8. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were constructed in the sixth century BCE in a city on the banks of the Euphrates. They were next to the king’s palace, near the river, where they could be seen by travellers. People from the city, however, were not allowed to enter the gardens.

9. The archaeological site of Chichen Itza, established in 525 AD and located on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1988, and named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007. The above photograph shows the Temple of Kukulkán.

10. The Taj Mahal, a World Heritage Site, is a complex of buildings built between 1631 and 1654 in the city of Agra, India. It is estimated that it took at least 20,000 people to build the Taj Mahal.

11. Machu Picchu (Old Peak) is the name of an ancient village built in the mid-fifteenth century in the Central Andes, in the south of Peru. Designated a World Heritage Site since 1983, it is an architectural and engineering masterpiece that is believed to have been used as a sanctuary and place for retreat.

12. The Coliseum is a massive amphitheatre in Rome, one of the best examples of the grandeur of the Roman Empire and its art. Construction began in 72 AD and the building opened eight years later. It began as a huge amphitheatre seating more than 50,000 spectators; over time, however, it underwent changes and additions. The Historic Centre of Rome, including the Coliseum, was named a World Heritage Site in 1980.

13. The city of Petra (which means stone) is an archaeological site in Jordan established at the end of the seventh century BCE. The facades of its buildings, carved out of rock, are part of what earned Petra its title as a World Heritage Site on 6 December, 1985. The area around the city was named a National Archaeological Park in 1993.

14. The statue of Christ the Redeemer is in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and stands 709 metres above sea level. The monument, which is thirty metres tall, opened on 12 October, 1931. It is made of more than one thousand tons of reinforced concrete.

15. The Great Wall of China was built (and rebuilt) between the fifth century BCE and the sixteenth century AD to protect the northern border of the Chinese Empire from attacks. It is estimated that it once stretched across 8,852 km, although only 6,350 km remain today. The wall is between six and seven metres tall and between four and five metres wide. At its height, it was guarded by more than a million soldiers. Millions of workers died building the wall and were buried near it. It was named a World Heritage Site in 1987.