Louvre Museum

Located on the right bank of the Seine, Louvre Museum is one of the world’s largest museums with nearly 35, 000 objects in display over 60,600 square metres. Museum is located at the Louvre Palace built in the late 12th century under Philip II. It was officially opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings. But it was closed again in 1796 because of structural problems but was opened again in 1801. The museum’s artifacts are divided into eight curatorial departments as Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.

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Plitvice Lakes National Park

Founded in the Southeast Europe, Croatia, Plitvice Lakes National Park is the largest in the country extending over 296.85 square kilometers. It was founded in 1949 in the mountainous karst area at the border to Bosnia Herzegovina. The name Plitvice was designated due to the natural occurrence of lakes. Currently there are 16 lakes which are grouped into the 12 Upper Lakes and the four Lower Lakes. There have been shallow basins which were eventually filled with water constantly changing the limestone and landscape of the area. The travertine barriers decelerated and retained the flowing water. 

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Alhambra

Lying on the top of the hill of the Assabica on the southeastern border of the city of Granada, Andalusia in Spain is the Alhambra; a palace complex built around mid 14th century. Alhambra reflects Moorish culture and architecture to a great extent and Alhambra reflects the colour of the red clay of the surroundings but originally it was white washed. Also evidence from Arab texts also indicates that the fortress that is seen today was built during the Nasrid Dynasty. 

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Uluru

Some may be familiar with Uluru as the Ayers Rock, which is a large sandstone rock formation found in central Australia. It is about 348m high with a circumference of 9.4km. Uluru is regarded as a sacred place for the Aboriginal people. William Gosse in 19 July 1873, named this as Ayers Rock in honour of Sir Henry Ayers who was the chief secretary of South Australia then. The significance of Uluru is the ability to change colour at different times of the day and year. Another in this territory is the Kata Tjuta which is also known as Mount Olga 25km west of Uluru. 

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Angel Falls

Found in Venezuela, Angel Falls is known as the world’s highest water fall. Starting from the Auyantepui Mountain in the Canaima National Park, the falls droops down to a depth of 979m from the top into the Kerep River aka Río Gauya. Due to the vast amount of height, the water usually turns into mist before catching the bottom. First ever person to fly over the falls is the US aviator Jimmie Angel. The falls was named after him. Sir Walter Raleigh is regarded as the first European to view the Falls but some say it was Fernando de Berrio; a Spanish explorer. The first westerner to reach the river that nourishes the falls is Aleksandrs Laime, also known as Alejandro Laime to the native Pemon tribe from Latvia. His climb was in 1955. He gave this river feeding the falls the name Gauja after a river in Latvia, but the Pemon-given name of the river, Kerep, is still widely used.

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Stromboli

Stromboli is one of the eight Aeolian Islands found in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily. The specialty of this specific island is that it is home to one of the three active volcanoes of Italy. It is also known as the “Lighthouse of the Mediterranean” visibly in height of 926m above sea level with three active craters at the top. Geologically this volcano is special because of its horseshoe shaped depression generated within the last 13,000 years which is known as the Sciara del Fuoco. There is a volcanic plug of basalt found at the Northeast part of the island which is believed that once had been an active volcano before Stromboli reached sea level around 200,000 BC. 

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Komodo Island

Komodo is one of the islands of Indonesia that lies between the neighboring islands, Sumbawa to the west and Flores to the east with an area of 390  km². Island is home for descendants of former convicts who were exiled to the island. Given the name Komodo to this island, it is world famous because of the world's largest lizard Komodo dragon is found roaming here and other small neighboring islands. Apart from this beast, Komodo Island also has a pink beach which is supposed to be one of the seven pink beaches of the world. The beauty of the Komodo Island is not the only fact that attracts tourists but it is a polular diving station. Also Komodo Island was considered in the new seven wonders of the world since 11th Nov. 2011.

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Jiuzhaigou Valley

Jiuzhaigou Valley means the valley of nine villages. It is actually a nature reserve found in the Aba Tibetan Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province of Southwestern China. This valley covers an area of about 72 000 hectares and is a part of the Min Shan mountain range on the edge of the Tibetan Himalayan Plateau. The specialty we find in Jiuzhaigou valley is the colourful lakes with varying heights of water curtains. Although there are originally nine villages found here, only seven of them are still populated up to date. Anyhow their main livelihood is tourism as agriculture is not permitted within the reserve. 

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Ganges at Varanasi

Ganges is the India’s most worshipped river with many religious aspects and Varanasi is well famous for Ganges and its activities and is one of the holiest cities in India. Earlier known as Banaras, Varanasi is found within Uttar Pradesh and it is truly a feast for visitors with warm welcoming citizens and heartfelt ceremonies and rich cultures woven around Ganges. 

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Wat Phra Kaeo

Located in the city of Bankok, is the heart of all Buddhists in Thailand; Wat Phra Kaeo. There lies the Emerald Lord Buddha in central ubosoth and this statue is in standing form with a height of 66cm carved from a single jade stone. Only the king is allowed to touch the statue in order to change the cloak three times a year in the hope of good fortune to the country.  The roots of the statue is from India, according to legends, however its records states that it was found in Cambodia in 15th century and was moved to Laos and Vientiane and it was kept there for 215 years and at last, it was brought to Thailand in 18th century. 

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Mont Saint-Michel

Found in France, one kilometer off the north-western coast near the mouth of the Couesnon River at Avranches, Mont Saint- Michel, earlier known as Monte Tombe”, can be described as a vital point of fortifications since 8th century AD. In earlier times, the bay was a land which was shaped into today’s landscape and several blocks of granite, granulite rose up which later became Lillemer, the Mont-Dol, Tombelaine and Mont Tombe, later called Mont-Saint-Michel. 

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The Monasteries of Meteora

 Situated at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly, are these beautiful monasteries of Meteora extending up to a height of 313m. Meteora gives the meaning, suspended rocks or heaven above and it is supposed to be one of the most important complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece, second only to Mount Athos. Evidences suggest that these pinnacles were formed at least 60 million years ago. A special geographic feature seen here is that the sandstone rocks rise above from the ground. Composition of the rocks is of sandstone and conglomerate. With the time and certain factors like the withering of the rocks, they were shaped into stone pillars seen today. There is also a cave found near the foot of the cliffs. 

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Hassan II Mosque

The Hassan II Mosque can be taken as the largest mosque in the country, Casablanca, Morocco and the 7th largest mosque in the world. Its minaret is however the world's tallest at 210 m. This Mosque, which is a religious building is a design the French architect Michel Pinseau and a creation by Bouygues. The Mosque stands in a way like looking out to the Atlantic. The Mosque is so huge so that it can accommodate almost 105,000 worshippers for prayers and around 25,000 inside the mosque and another 80,000 on the mosque's ground outside.

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Acropolis of Athens

Also Known as the Citadel of Athens, this is so far world’s best acropolis and it is significant because it is an acropolis without a qualification. The Acropolis rises 150 m above sea level in the city of Athens as a flat-topped rock with a surface area of about 3 hectares. It was also known as Cecropia, after the legendary serpent man Cecrops, the first Athenian king. The Propylaea is known as the entrance to the Acropolis and to the south of the entrance is the tiny Temple of Athena Nike. A bronze statue of Athena, sculpted by Phidias, originally stood at its centre. At the centre of the Acropolis is the Parthenon or Temple of Athena Parthenos. East of the entrance and north of the Parthenon is the temple known as the Erechtheum. South of the platform that forms the top of the Acropolis there are also the remains of an outdoor theatre called Theatre of Dionysus. A few hundred metres away, there is the now partially reconstructed Theatre of Herodes Atticus.

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Palace of Versailles

20km southwest of Paris is the beautiful country side of France;Versailles which is enchantingly famous for the castle of King Louis XIV known as Palace of Versailles. The first ever seigneur of Versailles mentioned was Hugues de Versailles and then in 1575, Albert de Gondi bought the Versailles. Gondi had invited King Louis XIII for hunting trips near Versailles during early 17th century which resulted in construction of a hunting lodge in 1624 as the king was pleased. After few years later King Louis XII gained the ownership of Versailles his son, Louis XIV became familiar with the place since he was a boy.  When Louis XIV became king, he renovated the château in Versailles which was the hunting lodge earlier into one of the biggest castles in the world. Its constructions and renovations began in 1661 using the master minds of architect Louis Le Vau, landscape architect André Le Nôtre, and painter-decorator Charles Le Brun. King Louis XIV moved the capital of France to this castle at Versailles from Paris and officially settled down there on 6 May, 1682.

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BIG BEN

One of the few amazing things you can see in England is the Big Ben clock. Although we call it Big Ben, this name is actually belongs to clock’s main bell. Its official name is the Great Bell of Westminster. This is a tower found in Houses of Parliament building at the north- eastern end in London. On October 16, 1834, the old palace of Westminster was burnt in fire and as a result of the new plan of the building suggested, Big Ben was constructed. Tower is 96.3m high which is made of part brickwork with stone cladding and part cast iron. It stands on a 15m x 15m raft, made of 3m thick concrete, at a depth of 7m below ground level.  The over all tower weighs about 8,667 tonnes. And tower leans slightly to the north-west due to ground structure.

It was first placed in New Palace Yard which cracked due to striking hammer while construction in 1856. Then it was recast at White Chapel Bell Foundry. Installed into the clock tower in 1908, another crack formed. To prevent further damage to the bell it was rotated and the main hammer was reduced in weight. There are other four quarter bells which play the Westminster Quarters on the quarter hours. The four quarter bells are G sharp, F sharp, E, and B. They play a 20 chime sequence, 1-4 at quarter past, 5-12 at half past, 13-20, 1-4 at quarter to, and 5-20 on the hour. Their faces are 55m above the ground and even though it is not anymore, it still holds the title, “World’s largest four faced chiming clock”. The dials were designed by Augustus Pugin and the minute hand is 14’ long while the hour hand is 9’ long. There is a Latin inscription at the base saying 'DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM'. It means 'Lord save our Queen Victoria I'. The clock sprang into life for public on September 7th, 1859.

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Registan

Registan meaning “Sandy place” in Persian, was the heart of ancient city Samarkand, now in Uzbekistan. Registan can be taken as a public place of importance given for executions, gathering place for royal proclamations heralded by blasts on enormous copper pipes called dzharchis. The three madrasahs which means school, of the Registan are: the Ulugh Beg Madrasah (1417–1420), the Tilya-Kori Madrasah (1646–1660) and the Sher-Dor Madrasah (1619–1636). 

The first one, Ulugh Beg Madrasah has its imposing portal with lancet arch facing the square where are flanked by the high well-proportioned minarets. The mosaic panel over the entrance arch is decorated by geometrical stylized ornaments. The square-shaped courtyard includes a mosque and lecture rooms and is fringed by the dormitory cells in which students lived. There are deep galleries along the axes. Originally this was a two-storied building with four domed lecture rooms at the corners. The madrasah was one of the best clergy universities of the whole Muslim Orient of the 15th Century CE. Abdurakhman Djami, a prominent poet, scientist and philosopher studied there. Ulugh Beg himself gave lectures there. During Ulugh Beg's government the madrasah was a centre of secular science.

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Sistine Chapel

   Found in Apostolic Palace, Sistine Chapel is the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. Veteran artists like Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio have drawn frescoes in this chapel where it is well known for architecture and decorations. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted 1,100 m2 (12,000 sq ft) of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. The painting drawn in the ceiling; The Last Judgment (1535-1541) is supposed to be Michelangelo’s crowning achievement in painting. The chapel’s name is from Pope Sixtus IV who restored the old Capella Magna in 1477-1480. The paintings were completed in 1482, and on the 15 August 1483, Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine Chapel for the Feast of the Assumption, at which ceremony the chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

The main function of the chapel could be denoted as the venue for the election of each successive pope in a conclave of the College of Cardinals. On the occasion of a conclave, a chimney is installed in the roof of the chapel, from which smoke arises as a signal. If white smoke appears, created by burning the ballots of the election, a new Pope has been elected. If a candidate receives less than a two-thirds majority, the cardinals send up black smoke which means that no successful election has yet occurred. The conclave also provided for the cardinals a space in which they can hear mass, and in which they can eat, sleep, and pass time abetted by servants. Canopies for each cardinal-elector were once used during conclaves as a sign of equal dignity. When a new pope is being elected, he gives his new name and at this, the other Cardinals would tug on a rope attached to their seats to lower their canopies.

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Rocky Mountains

   Spread over western North America, the Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,830 km from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States. This mountain range must have been formed from 80 million to 55 million years ago by the Laramide orogeny. Since then, erosion by water and glaciers has sculpted the mountain range into dramatic valleys and peaks. At the end of the last ice age, humans started to inhabit the mountain range. Today much of the mountain range is protected but still it is a popular tourist destination mainly for hiking, camping, mountaineering, fishing, and hunting, skiing, and snowboarding.

Before the mountains were raised by tectonic forces, the rocks in the Rocky Mountains were formed. The oldest rock is Precambrian metamorphic rock that forms the core of the North American continent. There is also Precambrian sedimentary argillite, dating back to 1.7 billion years ago. In the southern Rocky Mountains, near present-day Colorado, these ancestral rocks were disturbed by mountain building approximately 300Ma, during the Pennsylvanian. This mountain building produced the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. They consisted largely of Precambrian metamorphic rock forced upward through layers of the limestone laid down in the shallow sea. The mountains eroded throughout the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic, leaving extensive deposits of sedimentary rock.

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English Channel

Separating the Northern France and Southern England lies the English Channel also joining the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest, to only 34 km in the Strait of Dover. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2. It is believed that the name “English Channel” was from the designation "Engelse Kanaal" in Dutch sea maps from the 16th century onwards. It was also known as the British Sea, and it was called the "Oceanus Britannicus" by the 2nd century geographer Ptolemy. The channel has been a huge advantage for British specially acting as a natural defense blocking many invasions and as a link between cultures of neighbouring countries.

Around 10,000 years ago, before the end of the Devensian glaciations, the British Isles were part of continental Europe. During this period the North Sea and almost all of the British Isles were covered with ice. The sea level was about 120 m lower than it is today, and the channel was an expanse of low-lying tundra, through which passed a river which drained the Rhine and Thames towards the Atlantic to the west. As the ice sheet melted, a large freshwater lake formed in the southern part of what is now the North Sea. As the melt water could still not escape to the north the outflow channel from the lake entered the Atlantic Ocean in the region of Dover and Calais.

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Andes

   Spreading across countries Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. In length wise, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated by intermediate depressions. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about 7,000 km long, about 200 km to 700 km wide and of an average height of about 4,000 m. Its highest peak, Mt. Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about 6,962 m above sea level. The peak of Mt. Chimborazo in the Ecuadorean Andes is farther from the centre of the Earth than any other location on the Earth's surface. This is because of the equatorial bulge that results from the Earth's rotation. The world's highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina frontier which rises to 6,893 m  and over 50 other volcanoes that rise above 6,000 m.

The Andes can be divided into three sections as the Southern Andes in Argentina and Chile, the Central Andes including the Chilean and Peruvian cordilleras and parts of Bolivia and the Northern Andes in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador that consists of two parallel ranges, the Cordillera Occidental and the Cordillera Oriental. In Colombia, north of its the border with Ecuador, the Andes split in three parallel ranges, the western, central, and eastern ranges. The eastern range of Colombia is the only one that extends to Venezuela. In the northern part of the Andes, the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range is often considered to be part of the Andes.

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Colosseum

     This is an amphitheatre which is also known as Amphitheatrum Flavium, built in the center of the city Rome, Italy shaping in an ellipse. It is also the largest ever built in Roman Empire. Its construction began in 72 AD under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus, with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign. Colosseum accommodates seating for 50,000 spectators which was basically used for  gladiatorial contests and public events such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, and quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.

It has been long believed that the name Colosseum was from a colossal statue of Nero nearby. This statue was later remodeled by Nero's successors into the likeness of Helios or Apollo, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. Nero's head was also replaced several times with the heads of succeeding emperors. Despite its pagan links, the statue remained standing well into the medieval era and was credited with magical powers. It came to be seen as an iconic symbol of the permanence of Rome. In the 8th century, a famous epigram attributed to the Venerable Bede celebrated the symbolic significance of the statue in a prophecy "as long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world.” This is often mistranslated to refer to the Colosseum rather than the Colossus. The Colossus did eventually fall, possibly being pulled down to reuse its bronze.

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Mariana Trench

Just as we have craters on our land masses, oceans too have such trenches. Though there are bit difficult to be visited by most of us, Mariana Trench is a should know place because it is the deepest trench in oceans of the world. Mariana trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands. Amazingly it is about 2,550 kilometres (1,580 mi) long but has a mean width of only 69 kilometres (43 mi). It reaches a maximum-known depth of about 10.91 kilometres (6.78 mi) at the Challenger Deep, a small slot-shaped valley in its floor, at its southern end; although some unrepeated measurements place the deepest portion at 11.03 kilometres (6.85 mi). If Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth at 8,850 metres (29,040 ft), was set in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, there would be 2,060 metres (6,760 ft) of water left above it. So think how deep is that????

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Giant's Causeway

      Located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles, Giant’s Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.  Its tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in places.

The Antrim was subject to intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds to form an extensive lava plateau during the Paleogene period. It was around some 50 to 60 million years ago.  Due to rapid cooling of Lava, contraction occurred and while contraction in the vertical direction reduced the flow thickness, horizontal contraction could only be accommodated by cracking throughout the flow. The size of the columns is basically determined by the speed at which lava from a volcanic eruption cools. The extensive fracture network produced the distinctive columns seen today. The basalts were originally part of a great volcanic plateau called the Thulean Plateau which formed during the Paleogene period.

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Cathedral–Mosque of Córdoba

Located in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain, is the former Great Mosque of Córdoba or the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción which in English means the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. Before the Umayyad Moors converted the building into a mosque and then built a new mosque here, it was originally a pagan temple and then a Visigothic Christian church. After the Spanish Reconquista, it once again became a Roman Catholic Church, with a plateresque cathedral later inserted into the centre of the large Moorish building. The Mezquita is regarded as the one of the most accomplished monuments of Islamic architecture. 

The building was begun around the year 600 as the Christian Visigothic church of St. Vincent. After the Islamic conquest of the Visigothic kingdom, the church was divided between the Muslims and Christians. When the exiled Umayyad prince Abd ar-Rahman I escaped to Spain and defeated the Andalusian governor Yusuf al-Fihri, he allowed the Christians to rebuild their ruined churches, and purchased the Christian half of the church of St. Vincent. Abd ar-Rahman I and his descendants reworked it over two centuries to refashion it as a mosque, starting in 784. Additionally, Abd ar-Rahman I used the mosque as an adjunct to his palace and named it to honor his wife. Traditionally, the mihrab of a mosque faces in the direction of Mecca; by facing the mihrab, worshipers pray towards Mecca. Mecca is in east which means southeast of the mosque, but the mihrab points south. 

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Yellowstone National Park

    This is a national park located in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone was the first national park in the world, and is very well famous for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is dominant. It is believed Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years. The region was bypassed during the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the early 19th century.

The Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km2), with features like lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano on the continent. The caldera is considered an active volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Half of the world's geothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining, nearly intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous mega fauna location in the Continental United States.

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Potala Palace

    Located in Lhasa,Tibet Autonomous Region, China, Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India, after an invasion and failed uprising in 1959. It was named after Mount Potala, the abode of Chenresig or Avalokitesvara. Construction of the palace started in 1645 by Lozang Gyatso, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama after one of his spiritual advisers, Konchog Chophel, pointed out that the site was ideal as a seat of government, situated as it is between Drepung and Seramonasteries and the old city of Lhasa. Today, the Potala Palace serves as a museum.

The building spreads over 400 metres east-west and 350 metres north-south, with sloping stone walls averaging 3 m. thick, and 5 m. thick at the base, and with copper poured into the foundations to help proof it against earthquakes. Thirteen stories of buildings containing over 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues  soar 117 metres (384 ft) on top of Marpo Ri, the "Red Hill", rising more than 300 m in total above the valley floor. It is said that the three main hills of Lhasa represent the "Three Protectors of Tibet." Chokpori, just to the south of the Potala, is the soul-mountain (bla-ri) of Vajrapani, Pongwari that of Manjushri, and Marpori, the hill on which the Potala stands, represents Chenresig or Avalokiteshvara.

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Moai

Monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Easter Island together are called Moai. They were carved between the years 1250 and 1500. There are still half of the originals at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads three-fifths the size of their bodies. The moai are chiefly the living faces (aringa ora) of deified ancestors. Altogether it is believed that there are 887 statues whose production and transportation is considered a remarkable creative and physical feat. The tallest moai erected, called Paro, was about 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighed 82 tons; the heaviest erected was a shorter but squatter moai at Ahu Tongariki, weighing 86 tons; and one unfinished sculpture, if completed, would have been approximately 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a weight of about 270 tons.

It is believed that these statues were carved by the Polynesian colonizers of the island. In addition to representing deceased ancestors, the moai, once they were erected on ahu, may also have been regarded as the embodiment of powerful living or former chiefs and important lineage status symbols. Completed statues were moved to ahu mostly on the coast, and then erected, sometimes with red stone cylinders (pukao) on their heads. Moai must have been extremely expensive to craft and transport; not only would the actual carving of each statue require effort and resources, but the finished product was then hauled to its final location and erected. The quarries in Rano Raraku appear to have been abandoned abruptly, with their working tools everywhere. In the nineteenth century, this led to a theory that the island was the remnant of a sunken continent and that most completed moai were under the sea. That idea has long been debunked but now it is thoroughly understood because, some statues were rock carvings and never intended to be completed and some were incomplete because, when inclusions were encountered, the carvers would abandon a partial statue and start a new one. 

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Hagia Sophia

It is a former mosque and now a museum found in Istanbul, Turkey which served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople of the Western Crusader established Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931, when it was secularized. It was opened as a museum on 1 February 1935. The Church was dedicated to the Logos, the second person of the Holy Trinity, its dedication feast taking place on 25 December, the anniversary of the Birth of the incarnation of the Logos in Christ. 

Incredibly famous for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture." It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. The current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and was the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site, the previous two having both been destroyed by rioters. It was designed by the Greek scientists Isidore of Miletus, a physicist, and Anthemius of Tralles, a mathematician. It also contains a large collection of holy relics. 

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