Category Archives: Structures, History and Countries

Alps

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Alps

Just a bunch of mountains.

  • The Alps is a range of mountains that form a crescent shape in Europe, that covers a distance of 1,200 km (750 miles).
  • The Alps can be found in Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Germany, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Monaco.
  • The Alps is the home of many glaciers.
  • There are 13,000 species of vegetation and 30,000 species of wildlife, many of which are native to the Alps.
  • A mummified man was found in the Alps at the Austrian/Italian border in 1991, said to be 5,000 years old.
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Alps
Image courtesy of Michal Marcol/ Free Digital Photos
  • Fourteen million people live in the Alps region, and the area attracts approximately 120 million visitors every year.
  • In the Alps there are 82 official summits that are at least 4,000 m (13,123 ft) high, and the  highest peak is Mont Blanc which is 4,810 meters (15, 780 feet) high and is on the French and Italian border.
  • The Alps have been the source of many minerals and crystals, which has included copper, gold, iron, cinnabar, quartz and amethyst.
  • It is suggested that between 40,000 to 80,000 men died in World War I due to avalanches on the Alps.
  • The Alps provide water that those in the region drink; use for irrigation purposes; and create hydroelectric power in over 500 power plants, that can produce up to 2900 kilowatts of electricity per hour.
Bibliography:
Alps, 2013 Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alps>

Empire State Building

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Empire State Building

Big, big, big building.

  • The Empire State Building is a skyscraper with 103 floors, mainly consisting of offices.
  • The Empire State Building is located in Manhattan, New York, United States.
  • The Empire State Building is 443 meters (1453 feet) high, and was the first building to have over 100 floors.
  • The Empire State Building was constructed from 1930-1931, and with the property, cost $41 million.
  • The Empire State Building was named after New York’s nickname, the Empire State.
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Empire State Building
Image courtesy of Matti Mattila/Flickr
  • The Empire State Building is owned by 2800 people who have invested in the company, Empire State Building Associates L L C.
  • The Empire State Building is currently under renovation worth $550 million to make the building more ecological and to restore and enhance some of its original features.
  • The Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world for 40 years, from 1931 to 1972.
  • Over thirty people have committed suicide by jumping off the Empire State Building.
  • In 1945, an aeroplane crashed into the Empire State Building, due to foggy conditions, killing 14 people.
Bibliography:
Empire State Building 9 March 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building>

Kilimanjaro National Park

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Kilimanjaro National Park

Game park, forest park, national park.

  • Kilimanjaro National Park is located in Tanzania, Africa, near the equator.
  • Kilimanjaro National Park contains the famous volcano, Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the world’s largest volcanos which is also the tallest African mountain.
  • Kilimanjaro National Park covers an area of over 750 square km (290 square miles).
  • In 1910, Kilimanjaro National Park was declared a game reserve by the German and in 1921, the park was declared a forest reserve.
  • Many animals are found in the vicinity of Kilimanjaro National Park , and the Kilimanjaro tree hyrax (a small nocturnal mammal) and Abott’s duiker (small antelope) are exclusive to the park’s region.
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Image courtesy of Hotel Dephil/Flickr
  • Part of the setting of the popular children’s film, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”, is of Kilimanjaro National Park.
  • Kilimanjaro National Park was opened to the public in 1973 and declared a World Heritage site in 1987.
  • Approximately 52,000 people visit Kilimanjaro National Park every year.
  • In Kilimanjaro National Park there is the opportunity to view wildlife, hike or bush walk, and climb Mount Kilimanjaro, and to fish for trout in the park.
  • The African Chagga people live in Kilimanjaro National Park.
Bibliography:
Kilimanjaro National Park n.d., UNESC, <http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/403>

Moscow

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Moscow

Large city, large population, large money.

  • Moscow is the capital city of Russia, although it was replaced by Saint Petersburg as the capital for more than 200 years from 1712-1917.
  • Moscow is a major city of Europe since it has high political, economical, cultural and scientific standards.
  • Moscow is the 6th largest city in the world, with a population of 11,503,501 in 2010.
  • Moscow has extensive underground rail transportation networks, known in English as the “Moscow Metro”, which includes 188 stations, the deepest being 84 metres (276 ft) underground.
  • Moscow was named after the Moskva River, and the name ‘Moscow’ means ‘city by Moskva River’ in old Russian.
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Moscow
Image courtesy of Cescasawin/ Free Digital Photos
  • Moscow’s earliest known recorded reference as a place was in 1147, and it was a minor town at the time.
  • In Moscow, the temperatures in the weather range from -25°C to 30°C (-13°F to 86°F).
  • Christianity is the main religion of Moscow, most people following the Russian Orthodox Church.
  • Moscow is known for the amazing architecture of the “Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat” or “Pokrovsky Cathedral”, commonly known as “Saint Basil’s Cathedral“.
  • Moscow has 96 parks and 18 public gardens, and has more than three times the number of green ‘park’ space per person than each of Paris, London and New York.
Bibliography:
Moscow 6 March 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow>

Leaning Tower of Pisa

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Leaning Tower of Pisa

Don’t knock it over!

  • The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a tilted, free-standing bell tower that is part of Pisa’s cathedral.
  • The Leaning Tower of Pisa is located in the city of Pisa, Italy and is famous for its tilt to one side.
  • During the construction process in 1178, the Leaning Tower of Pisa began to tilt since the ground was too soft on one side to support the weight of the building
  • The Leaning Tower of Pisa’s height is 55.9 – 56.7 meters (183.3 – 186 inches) and has a total of 296 steps to reach the  top.
  • Before restoration in the late 1900s, the Leaning Tower of Pisa had a tilt of 5.5°, and after the restorations the tilt was reduced to 3.99°.

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Leaning Tower of Pisa
Image courtesy of Matt Banks/ Free Digital Photos
  •  The Leaning Tower of Pisa was built from 1173 – 1372 in three stages, although work stopped for more than 100 years during that time.
  • Since the Italian government was afraid of the Leaning Tower of Pisa collapsing, similar to another tower incident in 1989, they removed earth from underneath the tower, which helped to stabilise the tilting.
  • The Leaning Tower of Pisa has seven bells installed in the tower.
  • Since monitoring began in 1911, it was discovered that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was moving at 1.2 mm (o.o5 inches) per year.
  • No one actually knows who the true identy of the architect is, that designed the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Bibliography:
Harris, W n.d, Will the Leaning Tower of Pisa ever fall?, How Stuff Works,   <http://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/will-leaning-tower-of-pisa-fall.htm>

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
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