Catedral Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro -Powerful and beautiful church-
Birth: 1964
Location: Rio de Janeiro
Architect: Edgar Fonceca
Catedral Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro is the seat of the cardinal archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is dedicated to Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of Rio de Janeiro. The current church was built between 1964 and 1979 and replaced a series of old churches that had served as cathedrals since 1676. It is located in the centre of the city. Conical in form and with a 96 metres internal diameter and an overall height of 75 metres, it has a standing-room capacity of 20,000 people.
The cathedral's four rectilinear stained glass windows soar 64 metres from floor to ceiling.
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Sossusvlei -Namibia dessert with the highest dunes in the world-
Birth: A long time ago
Location: Namibia
Architect: Wind and Ocean
Some of the spectacular hills of sand are, at a height of 300 metres, the highest in the world.
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La defense -An office building with a magic courtyard -
Birth: 2004
Location: Almere, Holland
Architect: UN-Studio
The exterior façade reflects the larger urban condition, while the interior façades of the courtyards have been designed with the office tenants in mind. These façades are clad with glass panels in which a multi- colored foil is integrated and, depending on the time of day and the angle of incidence, a variety of different colours are reflected, animating the courtyards
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lichtdom -A massive space of light-
Birth: 1920
Location: Nurnberg, Germany
Architect: Albert Speer
As part of their campaign to unify the German people behind Nazi ideals, Hitler enouraged his architects, especially Albert Speer, to create places for Germans to have what he termed "mass experiences." To do this, they created assembly halls, stadia, and assembly grounds where thousands could gather to display their patriotism and be edified by the speeches of party leaders. The most significant of these places was the Zeppelin Field at Nuremburg, where the Nazi Party held annual rallies celebrating the anniversaries of its formation in 1920 and the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. The Zeppelintribune was the centerpiece of the Nuremburg party monuments. It incorporated classical elements, but modified them to emphasize line, cleanliness, and order. From this building, Hitler and other party leaders gave speeches to assemblies of tens of thousands of germans. The most effective part of this assembly grounds was not the building, but the light. Speer surrounded the assembly area with hundreds of spotlights pointed skywards. The effect was to create a "cathedral of light," a Lichtdom, and its impact was tremendous.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ronchamp -A pilgrimage chapel and maybe the first postmodern building -
Birth: 1955
Location: Ronchamp, France
Architect: Le Corbusier
Ronchamp is a pilgrimage chapel, though on most days more frequented by architectural pilgrims than the intended variety. Situated on a hill above the village of Ronchamp, it is the latest of a long history of chapels on the site. Its predecessor was destroyed in fighting in the Second World War, though much of its stone is used in the walls of Le Corbusier's building.
The thick, curved walls - especially the buttress-shaped south wall - and the vast shell of the concrete roof give the building a massive, sculptural form. Small, brightly painted and apparently irregular windows punched in these thick walls give a dim but exciting light within the cool building, enhanced by further indirect light coming down the three light towers.
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Salar de Uyuni -The largest salt flat on earth-
Birth: A long time ago
Location: Uyuni, Bolivia
Architect: Earth
The Salar de Uyuni, a sea of salt, a salt desert, in southwestern Bolivia, was once an inland sea, or giantsalt water lake, but the water vanished into the thin dry air of Andean altitude. All that remains is the salt, tens of meters thick, lying stark beneath bright sky: a sun-bleached skeleton of a dead sea.
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The Sacred Mosque of Mecca -The holiest place on earth for the muslims-
Birth: 638 A.D
Location: Mecca
Architect: Various angels according to Islam
The Sacred Mosque, is the largest mosque in the world. Located in the city of Mecca, it surrounds the Kaaba, the place which Muslims turn towards while offering daily prayers and is considered to be the holiest place on Earth by Muslims. The current structure covers an area of 356,800 square meters including the outdoor and indoor praying spaces and can accommodate up to 4 million worshippers during the Hajj period.Islamic tradition holds that the mosque was first built by the angels before the creation of mankind. The Black Stone is situated near the eastern corner of the Kaaba, and according to some people is believed to have 'fallen from heaven' and turned black due to man's misdeeds.
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The Chocolate Hills -Hill formations -
Birth: A long time ago
Location: Bohol, Philippines
Architect: Earth
The Chocolate Hills is an unusual geological formation in Bohol, Philippines. It is composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped hills of about the same size, spread over an area of more than 50 square kilometres. They are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, hence the name.
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Iguazu Falls -The mightiest waterfall on earth -
Birth: A long time ago
Location: On the border between Brazil and Argentina
Architect: Earth
