The Taj Mahal, India.

BANGALORE - Designers of the 17th century Taj Mahal, the finest piece of Mughal architecture, employed the same unit of measurement used by the Harappan civilization as far back 2000 BC, according to a study by an IIT-Kanpur professor. These units were used by builders in India till the British imposed their own units in the 18th century.The study by R. Balasubramaniam of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and reported in the latest issue of Current Science, has for the first time shown that the unit of length called ‘angulam’ - mentioned in Kautilya’s treatise on statecraft “Arthasastra” dated 300 BC — was used without a break in India for over 3,900 years.

Petra, Jordan

Petra is a famous city carved out of stone, hidden by towering sandstone mountains in Jordan. It was an important city, and was the main city of an ancient people called the Nabataens, who lived in southern Jordan, Canaan and the northern part of Arabia, and created a kingdom with its capital at Petra. Lying in the centre of an ancient caravan trade routes, Petra benefited from the resulting commerce. Caravans pass through Petra for Giza in the south, Bosra and Damascus in the north, Aqaba on the Red Sea, and eastward to the Persian Gulf.Until they settled at Petra, the Nabateans were largely nomadic. They founded Petra around the 6th century BC and ruled over it until AD 100, when the Romans conquered Petra. In AD 106 it was absorbed into the Roman Empire and was known as Arabia Petraea.

Machu Picchu, Peru

Machu Picchu was constructed around 1450, at the height of the Inca empire, and was abandoned less than 100 years later, as the empire collapsed under Spanish conquest. Although the citadel is located only about 50 miles from Cusco, the Inca capital, it was never found and destroyed by the Spanish, as were many other Inca sites. Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle grew to enshroud the site, and few knew of its existence. In 1911, Yale historian and explorer Hiram Bingham brought the “lost” city to the world’s attention. Bingham and others hypothesized that the citadel was the traditional birthplace of the Inca people or the spiritual center of the “virgins of the sun,” while curators of a recent exhibit have speculated that Machu Picchu was a royal retreat.

The Great Wall, China

The Great Wall of China is a Chinese fortification built from the 3rd century BC until the beginning of the 17th century, in order to protect the various dynasties from raids by Hunnic, Mongol, Turkic and other nomadic tribes coming from areas in modern-day Mongolia and Manchuria. Several walls were built since the 3rd century BC, the most famous being the Great Wall of China built between 220 BC and 200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (this was located much further north than the current Great Wall of China built during the Ming Dynasty, and little of it remains).
Great Wall of ChinaThe Great Wall is the world's longest man-made structure, stretching over a formidable 6,352 kilometer, from Shanghai Pass on the Bohai Sea in the east, at the limit between "China proper" and Manchuria (Northeast China), to Lop Nur in the southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Along most of its arc, it roughly delineates the border between North China and Inner Mongolia.

Christ the Redeemer, Brazil

The statue of Christ the Redeemer is probably one of the most recognized images of Brazil . It is located in Rio de Janeiro on the top of the Corcovado Mountain . Overlooking the city, it probably has one of the best views that can be found of Rio . The statue is currently 72 years old and has gone under several extensive renovations, which included adding an elevator in 2002.
The statue was first conceived in 1921 when a campaign to gather funds from the Catholic Church was held. The idea for the statue came when the country was to celebrate 100 years of independence. Donations were not received to build the statue until about ten years later. The first person commissioned to design the statue was Carlos Oswaldo. His vision for the statue was for Christ to be carrying a cross, holding a globe in his hands, and standing over a pedestal that was supposed to represent the world. Later, the public of Rio thought that Christ with open arms would be the best representation of the city.The statue was not sculpted in Brazil ; it was instead sculpted in France by a sculptor whose name was Paul Landowski.
Continue reading The Statue of Christ Redeemer, Brazil

Chichén Itzá, Mexico

The list of new world wonders includes The Great Wall of China, Petra, Christ the Redeemer, Machu Picchu, The Colisseum, and Taj Mahal
The Mayan city of Chichen Itza, located in the Mexican state of Yucatan, was chosen as one of the "Seven New Wonders of the World" by approximately 100 million people around the globe, who cast their ballots by phone and Internet.
The selection of Chichen Itza is recognition of the extremely vast and ancient historical and cultural heritage of Mexico, of which very few countries in the world can boast," said Francisco Lopez Mena, CEO of the Mexico Tourism Board.
The announcement of Chichen Itza's selection by the New7Wonders Foundation was made during a spectacular ceremony at Lisbon's Stadium of Light.

The Coloseum

Rome is huge, beautiful, full of attraction by very very dirthy town! Yes, it is the very first thing one can noticed when strolling around. Is it so because of huge number of tourists or perhaps Romans don't like and respect their own town I just couldn't find out.
It is definetely very touristy place with lots of attractions, however, you'll feel kinda robbed here every time you pay your restaurant of cafe bill. The food in the restaurants costs twice more than the food in other Italian cities and besides, it doesn't taste so well. The same goes for the coffee too which is, comparing to the rest of Italy, double in price.On the other hand, Rome offers great deal of superb historical sights, some of them unique in the whole world. Vatican is actually part of the Rome but it is also city in the city and state in the state. It is relatively small and handy but to visit all a must see attractions one need more than a week only. I've skip the museum and cupola, leaving it for my next visit probably in June, because there were long lines of tourists and I had to wait for hours. Instead, having four days, I was trying to see as much as possible of the town itself.