Tag Archives: Buildings

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

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Mount Rushmore National Memorial

A sculpture in a mountain!

  • Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota, United States of America, and is controlled by the United States National Park Service.
  • Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved in the side of the granite mountain, Mount Rushmore.
  • The Mount Rushmore sculpture depicts four US president heads – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
  • Mount Rushmore National Memorial was carved in 1927-1941 by Gutzon Borglum, a notable sculptor, and a team of 400 workers.
  • Mount Rushmore’s carved heads are 18 meters (60 feet) high and make up the  largest sculpture ever carved.

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Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Image courtesy of Stock.Xching
  • The Mount Rushmore sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, made plaster models that were one twelfth the size of the finished sculpture so that the workers had a guide to follow.
  • Dynamite was used to carve 90% of the Mount Rushmore heads.
  • Around 3 million people visit Mount Rushmore every year.
  • After approximately two year’s work on the sculpted Thomas Jefferson, bad cracking was found in the granite, so Jefferson was removed and restarted on the other side of Washington.
  • Each day during construction, the Mount Rushmore workers had to climb 700 stairs before they could start work.
Bibliography:
Mount Rushmore 19 February 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore>
Grant, N 1994, People and Places, RD Press, Australia

Big Ben

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Big Ben

Listen to the bells ringing…

  • Big Ben is the nick name of the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, London, and specifically the bell of the clock.  The origin of the nick name is uncertain.
  • Big Ben’s official name is the Elizabeth Tower, only recently renamed from “Clock Tower” in 2012.
  • The Big Ben, a free-standing clock tower, is the third tallest in the world, and holds the largest four faced clock that chimes.
  • Big Ben was completed in 1858 and has become the symbol of London and England.
  • Big Ben is named after Queen Elizabeth II, as a tribute to her in her Diamond Jubilee year.
Big Ben, Elizabeth Tower, London Palace of Westminister, Clock Tower, Ten Random Facts, Free Digital Photos, England Big Ben
Image courtesy of  Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee/ Free Digital Photos
  • Big Ben measures 96 meters (315 feet) in height, around the size of a 16 story building.
  • Although Big Ben is a popular tourist attraction, it is only open for those who are residents of the United Kingdom.
  • The Big Ben has a tilt that can be seen by the naked eye, and it currently tilts a further 0.9 mm each year due to nearby tunnels.
  • On 27 May, 2005, Big Ben’s clock mysteriously stopped at the time of 10:07 pm and again at 10:20 pm, stopping for 90 minutes.
  • Big Ben consists of one main bell, and four quarter bells which play play G#, F#, E and B notes.
Bibliography:
Big Ben 4 February 2013, Wikipedia,  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben>

Eiffel Tower

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Eiffel Tower

La Tour Eiffel: “The Eiffel Tower” in French!

  • The Eiffel Tower is a steel framework tower located in Paris, France.
  • The Eiffel Tower is named after Gustave Eiffel who was an engineer and owned the company that built the tower.
  • The Eiffel Tower is the largest structure in Paris, but not in France, standing 320 meters (1,050 feet) in height which is approximately the height of an 81 storey building.  It weighs approximately 10,000 tonnes.
  • The Eiffel Tower saw 7.1 million visitors in 2011, and it is the most popular ticketed monument in the world.  It had seen 250 million visitors by 2010.
  • The Eiffel Tower has three floors and nine elevators.
Eiffel TowerEiffel Tower
Image courtesy of Matt Banks/ Free Digital Photos
  • The Eiffel Tower construction started in 1887 and was finished in 1889. The grand opening was on the 31st of March 1889, and was made for the World Fair that year.
  • 300 workers were first hired to construct the Eiffel Tower and during the two years of construction, there was only one worker death.
  • The names of 72 male French scientists and engineers, as well as other notable people, were first engraved on the Eiffel Tower when it was built.  The names were painted over in the 20th century, and were then restored in 1986 – 1987.
  • Every seven years, the Eiffel Tower is painted over with 50-60 tonnes of paint to prevent rust.
  • The Eiffel Tower is the home of two restaurants: Le 58 Tour Eiffel and Le Jules Verne and at the top is a broadcaster for television and radio.
Bibliography:
Eiffel Tower January 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower>

Buckingham Palace

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Buckingham Palace

What a palace…

  • Buckingham Palace has been London’s house of Britain’s rulers since 1837.
  • Visitors are allowed inside Buckingham Palace yearly.
  • Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms – 19 of these rooms are State rooms, 52 are bedrooms, 188 are staff rooms, 92 are offices and 78 are bathrooms.
  • Buckingham Palace is decorated and furnished with many priceless furniture designs and art pieces.
  • More than 50,000 guests are invited to Buckingham Palace for ceremonies and functions yearly.

Buckingham Palace, Front View, Gates, Ten Random Facts, Free Digital Photos

Buckingham Palace
Image courtesy of James Barker/Free Digital Photos
  • Buckingham Palace’s throne room has been used to take formal wedding photos.
  • The ballroom was added to the palace in the 1850’s.
  • The ballroom is the largest multi-purpose room in the Buckingham Palace.
  • The full Buckingham Palace building is 108 meters (354 feet, 3 inches) in length, 120 meters (397 feet, 7 inches) in depth and 24 meters (78 feet, 8 inches) in height.
  • The gardens of Buckingham Palace cover an area of 40 acres.
Bibliography:
Buckingham Palace n.d., The British Monarchy, <http://www.royal.gov.uk/theroyalresidences/buckinghampalace/buckinghampalace.aspx>

Stonehenge

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Stonehenge

Stonehenge, large Stonehenge.

  • Stonehenge is a large, circular rock structure in Wiltshire, United Kingdom. 
  • It is believed that the construction of Stonehenge started around 3000 BC – 2000 BC and was built for religious purposes.
  • Stonehenge was declared a World Heritage Site in 1986.
  • Stonehenge is owned by ‘The Crown’, the Royal Family.
  • Stonehenge is believed to to have taken 1500 years to build.

Stonehenge monument, structure, burial place, rocks, bluestone, Ten Random Facts, Free Digital Photos

The Stonehenge
Image courtesy of Matt Banks / Free Digital Photos
  • Stonehenge is a burial place with approximately several hundred burials in the vicinity.
  • William Glowland started a big restoration project on Stonehenge in 1901, which has lasted many years.
  • In British mythology,  it is believed that Stonehenge’s stones were carried by giants.
  • Stonehenge stones, bluestone and sarsen, were from the Preseli mountains, south-west Wales and Marlborough Downs, north Wiltshire.
  • Stonehenge was made from approximately 60 stones that made up the bluestone circle but many have been removed or are broken.
Bibliography:
History15 November, Stonehenge.co.uk, <http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/history.php>
Stonehenge 12 November 2012, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge>

Colosseum

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Colosseum

The one and only Ten Random Facts presents ten facts about the popular amphitheatre, the Colosseum!

  • The Colosseum opened in AD 80 and took 10 years to be built.
  • The Colosseum seated an amazing 50,000 people.
  • 5,000 animals were killed for the Colosseum’s opening ceremony.
  • The Colosseum was badly damaged by a major fire in 217 AD and then was damaged by an earthquake in 443 AD.
  • The Colosseum went into repairs in 240, 250, 252, 320, 484, 508 and around 443 AD. The Colosseum is about to undergo major restoration.
Colosseum, Rome, Building, Ten Random Facts, Free Digital PhotosColosseum
Image courtesy of vichie81/ Free Digital Photos
  • The Colosseum is a theatre and arena and has been used for other interesting purposes like a cemetery, quarry and church.
  • The outer wall of the Colosseum was estimated to contain over 100,000 square meters of travertine stone which is held together by 300 tons of iron clamps.
  • The Colosseum arena is 83m by 48m (272ft by 157ft).
  • The Colosseum starred many animals including rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, elephants, giraffes, aurochs, wisents, Barbary lions, panthers, leopards, bears, Caspian tigers, crocodiles and ostriches.
  • Since 1643 AD, 684 species of plants have been recorded at the Colosseum.
Bibliography:
Colosseum 12 October 2012, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum>
Living History 1999, Two-Can Publishing, London

Fishpond:  The Roman Colosseum (Wonders of the World S.) The Colosseum  Amazon: 

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